0 2017 ChMS Article Released to Publisher!

By Baraya Global | At 10.01 | Label : ChMS/CMS , Church Administration | 0 Comments

The research is done, and I've just released the 2017 ChMS article in final form to the publisher! It amazes me that this simple, objective article has become the most referenced dataset for churches and ministries... to see a free advance copy, click here!

0 New Article: What Churches Should Learn from the Recent DDoS Attack

By Baraya Global | At 10.25 | Label : Church Administration , Cloud , Cool Technology , Goin' Mobile , IT Strategy | 0 Comments

 

Late last month, the world saw a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack of historic proportions. Anyone who uses a computer, tablet, smartphone, or web-enabled technology—including many churches and church leaders—needs to understand the significance of this attack and what they can do to minimize their vulnerabilities when future attacks occur.

Want to read a free copy? Click here! 

0 New Article: Nick's Printer Picks & Tips

By Baraya Global | At 12.05 | Label : Church Administration , Cool Technology , Goin' Mobile , IT Strategy | 0 Comments

I just released an article to the publisher on this topic... see a free version of it by clicking here!

0 Mac OS Sierra - Caution!

By Baraya Global | At 11.12 | Label : Mac | 0 Comments

Apple has released Mac OS Sierra (version 10.12), and folks are asking questions!

1. Should I upgrade?
2. Are there incompatibilities with some of the apps I use?
3. How do I un-upgrade?

Here is the answer key:

1. Be cautious! Read the answer to question 2 before upgrading.
2. I've been running it a couple of weeks, and find it mostly good. In our configuration we have found two incompatibilities so far: Bria (our VoIP softphone app) and Thirtyseven4 (our anti-malware app). So, to answer question 2, check with the developer of your must-have apps to be sure there are no incompatibility issues before proceeding.
3. Apple calls it a rollback, and another common term is downgrade. There are steps to do this that work; I recommend Googling downgrade sierra to el capitan to get the steps.

 I'll post updates as I have them.

0 New Article: IT Security Essentials

By Baraya Global | At 13.43 | Label : Church Administration , Goin' Mobile , IT Strategy , Mac | 0 Comments

IT security is an important piece of the IT puzzle that many in church and ministry leadership don't understand. I wrote a brief article that covers some of the most important, easy-to-fix, and affordable-to-fix issues. The article has been released to the publisher, but you can access a free copy on my firm's website by clicking here!

0 How NOT to Do Tech Support

By Baraya Global | At 13.13 | Label : CITRT , IT Strategy | 0 Comments

Today's call to support of an app is a perfect example. Because I've probably been just as guilty, the company name will not be mentioned.

• MBS: Since upgrading our Macs to MacOS Sierra, your app crashes a few times throughout the day with no identifiable pattern. Is it because of Sierra?
• App Support: Let's have you uninstall the app, delete a bunch of hidden files and folders in the system library, then restart and reinstall the app.
• MBS: Okay, we did all that. It still crashes.
• App Support: That's because the current release isn't compatible with MacOS Sierra. We'll be releasing an update in a few weeks.

Two thoughts:

1. Wouldn't it have been better to tell us of the incompatibility up front and encourage us to wait for the coming update? (Their website still doesn't warn of MacOS Sierra incompatibility...)
2. Three weeks? Really? Did the MacOS update catch them by surprise? Perhaps they're appropriately embarrassed and that's why they had us do a bunch of things most wouldn't do (deleting hidden files and folders in the system library). Or, at least, they should be.

0 We Finally Moved Our Last Netware Client to Microsoft

By Baraya Global | At 09.22 | Label : CITRT , Cool Technology , IT Strategy | 0 Comments

There's no doubt that everyone in IT owes a debt of thanks to Novell. They standardized networking with their core product, Netware. Eventually Microsoft saw the opportunity and won the battle, but Netware was a terrific Network Operating System.

This week we finally got to move our last client who was using Novell Netware to a Microsoft Windows Server network! They had been using their most recent version of Novell Netware for over a decade, and it just kept working! 3-4 years ago we moved them from Novell GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange. And this week we finally got to move them to Novell Netware to Microsoft Windows Server.

Thank you, Novell, for helping to get IT moving in such a good direction! You served well... rest in peace...

Update:
We just received this pic from the client...