Discussions

@figuerres:Yes, I can well appreciate that for larger implementations (like a 'News' website) the ability to quickly scale from minimal to as far as you need, as the demand varies during the day, would be very attractive. However, for small business requirements, I'm yet to see anyone justify the entry level. This is where cheaper hosted VPS solutions using Hyper-V or Citrix-XEN come into their own.

Self-hosting a server (out of your garage, no less) just doesn't compare to something sitting in a datacentre with a high-speed internet connection and 24/7 support. If uptime and latency are important, don't even think about doing it yourself, unless you can provide that level of performance/reliability.

I've been using CrucialParadigm's Citrix-XEN based VPS.

http://www.crucialp.com/virtual-dedicated-servers-vds/windows-2008-server.php

There are add-on services available, such as R1Soft-Backup (for data versioning backup) and external 'hardware' firewall.

I'm using one to support multiple specialized websites, with different domains, and running specialist local services, that my CMS application requires, and that I wouldn't be allowed to install with traditional web-hosting.

As with any hosted VPS, you get to call the shots on how the O/S is configured and what you do with it, just as you would a dedicated server - e.g. security config is your problem/choice. 

I have customers with their own VPS service (running additional apps that I don't support) and am able to configure a 2nd private LAN to move files between multiple VPS.

Strictly speaking, the self-managed service means re-boots only (if RDP doesn't respond for some reason) but in practice I've found them far more helpful than that, and prepared to assist troubleshoot every problem I've encountered (which are usually Windows software based). I have never been left waiting for a tech-support response for more than 10 mins. Mind you, I'm using the local (Australia) branch, so can't vouch for elsewhere, 

I'm sure there are other services out there that are cheaper, and others that are equally as good - but this is what I've used.

58 minutes ago, cbae wrote

...is networking equipment. It's not even close. I can't recall how many times I've had to replace a network switch or WiFi router over the past several years.

I think you perhaps need to qualify that with the equipment quality and environment.

All of the networking equipment in our server room is either HP or CISCO, is all a minimum of 3 years old, and is all totally reliable.

I even have 3 x HP 10/100 switches that are now 12 years old, but I can't bring myself to throw them out, because they just keep doing their particular job perfectly.

Of course, this is all expensive equipment (or was when we bought it) and is running in a controlled environment.

However, even at our remote home-offices, I've only had one failure over many years - and even that was caused by a lightning strike on the comms link to the cable-modem.

Where possible, I prefer to use SOHO equipment with metal chassis, as I believe it dissipates the heat better for environments that are typically not air-conditioned.

For our remote offices we typically use Cisco-800/900 and Netgear-ProSafe equipment, and always install an APC UPS with comms surge-suppressor options. None of it's cheap, but it all just keeps working, so I don't have support issues with it.

24 minutes ago, sysrpl wrote

I don't have a virus scanner. I turn off Windows defender right after I install (along with windows firewall). I don't install much on my PCs, just textpad (I own a license), vcl, google chrome, and mingw on dev machines or utorrent (downloading mp4 movies) on my htpc.

Personally, I've had Windows Defender block trojans encountered just by normal web-browsing - and I'm not talking porn-sites or anything like that.

3 hours ago, Ian2 wrote

It works on my machine (with Windows Defender)

Perhaps because Windows Defender detects the least amount of virus/malware?

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-8/janfeb-2013/

@evildictaitor: Obliterating an account and all of its posts, in one step, should be a boon for mods. Combined with post throttling, so you can catch them before they have posted 99 pages, and you might start to get the upper hand.

10 hours ago, spivonious wrote

Can any web servers deliver that bandwidth anyway?

I'd love to have a VPN from home to the office running at that speed.

38 minutes ago, DeathBy​VisualStudio wrote

Now all they have to do is find a similar advantage on the W8 Pro front and they may be able to salvage this whole W8 strategy.

I thought that the point of Atom (Bay-Trail) is that it's x86-64, meaning that we are talking Win8-Pro.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57579935-92/windows-8-touch-devices-to-drop-to-$200-says-intel-ceo/

If you've been following the specs of BT, you already know that it has a lot of promise.

http://www.forum-3dcenter.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=9602732#post9602732

The big unkowns were battery-life and price.

Now the price looks like being a winner, that just leaves battery-life.

If Intel can pull this off, and allow production of $200 Win8 tablets, I wonder where this leaves WinRT ?

 

5 hours ago, jinx101 wrote

*snip*

The rumor mill seems to indicate that it would be optional which is great IMO.  Everyone wins in that case, you can get Windows to work like you prefer in a supported manner.  Sounds positive. 

Now, if they officially sanctioned running Metro apps in a Window (on a desktop or laptop) I would be giddy.  I like everyone wins scenarios.

Stardock have shown MS how to do it - Start8, ModernMix and DeskScapes - the functionality of these 3 add-ons would satisfy a large proportion of the noisy objections to Win8, and significantly reduce the 're-training cost' argument that keeps coming up from business users.