Affinity Law Office Technology Blog

Windows Remote Desktop without a static IP address?

If you are using Windows XP Pro or Vista Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate, you have the ability to remotely connect to your computer without additional software or using services such as GoToMyPC or LogMeIn.  All you need is the Remote Desktop (aka RDP) feature built-into your operating system.

Generally, your host computer needs an Internet connection with a static IP address to use Remote Desktop.  It is a permanent unique address you can use to connect to your PC from any computer (and some PDA's) with Internet access.  But a static IP address from your Internet Service Provider may cost more than the more typical dynamic IP address, and may require installation of new equipment such as a different cable or DSL modem and/or router.

If you want many of the benefits of a static IP address without paying more and swapping equipment, consider the free DynDNS service.  Simply create a free account (with user name and password), select a host name in one of the available domains, and download a DNS updater utility to automatically keep your dynamic IP address in sync with your host name.  A good set of instructions can be found here.

Remember that if you are using a router between your cable/DSL modem and your computer, you will need to set the router for forward port 3389 (the port used by the RDP service) to your host PC.  This should be fairly simple, but you may need to consult the configuration manual for your router.         

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) on a smart phone

This tip is from InTouch Legal President Debbie Foster.  Yesterday Debbie sent an email to the other Affinity Consulting Group consultants about iSkoot.  Although still in beta, iSkoot is one of the first services to make good on the promise of VoIP calling from a data-enabled cell phone.

So long as you have one of many smart phones with Internet access, including our recommended Palm OS-based Treo phones as well as Blackberry devices, you can let iSkoot connect to your Skype account to make free or very low cost telephone calls from your cell phone.  When using iSkoot, you are on your phone's data plan, which may be unlimited, instead of churning through your limited voice plan minutes.  This could be a real money saver.     

What determines hard drive life? Mostly luck!

You've been advised over and over to back up your data because the issue isn't if your hard drive will fail.  It is when your hard drive will fail.  A post by Robin Harris to his blog on ZDNet summarizes recent hard drive lifespan research by Google and Carnegie Mellon University.

The bottom line is that luck is the primary determining factor of when your hard drive will fail.  There some known risk factors, however.  A drive more than three years old has a much higher failure rate.  So if your important data is on a drive older than three years, be extra careful to make sure your data is backed up.  You may also want to replace an old drive.  Most drives more than three years old are much smaller and slower that what you can buy today for far less than you paid for the old drive.

Also, handling can cause hard drive failure.  Banging your computer around, especially when the computer is running (and the drive spinning) is a bad idea.  Also, dropping a drive just a couple of inches onto a table can cause or accelerate failure.         

Don't touch that mouse!

Windows is very mouse-centric.  But computer users from the pre-Windows era know that the keyboard is faster than the mightiest mouse.  There are a ton of useful Windows and application-based keyboard shortcuts you can and should use to speed your work.  PC World Magazine compiled many of them on their web site.  There is also a list specifically for MS Office, including Word. 

Commenting on PDF's without Acrobat

You need the full-version of Adobe Acrobat, not just the free Acrobat Reader, to edit, mark-up, or comment on PDF files.  There are good reasons to have the full version of Acrobat, but you may not need it on all of your firm's PC's, or may not be able to afford the expense for every computer.  But there is a free alternative that, although it can't create PDF's, will let you mark them up in a variety of ways.  Download PDF-Xchange Viewer to be able to highlight, circle, add sticky notes, and otherwise comment on existing PDF files without the full version of Acrobat.

This is important for law firms.  We've cautioned against sending editable word processing files (Word, WordPerfect, etc.) via email to clients, co-counsel, and opposing counsel (at least without appropriate security precautions) for fear that unauthorized changes could be made to those documents.  Instead, send them as PDF's.

But if you send them as PDF's, does that mean the recipient (or you if you are the recipient) must go "low tech" and print out the PDF, hand-mark changes and comments, and then scan and send it back to the author (or, worse yet, fax it back)?  With PDF-Xchange Viewer, you can do all of your commenting on-screen, save some trees, and stay high tech. 

   

Windows on a Mac?

Yes, it is possible.  Why would you want to do it?  Maybe you prefer the Mac for your art or music production hobby or side business at home, but you still want to run Windows applications needed for your law practice.  Or maybe you just want the best of two worlds (we can't say "both" worlds because Linux may also become an attractive law office choice in a Web 2.0 world). 

When Apple switched to Intel-based machines, that opened the door to run Windows XP or Vista on Mac hardware.  Apple offers its Boot Camp utility, but a better overall choice may be Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0.  You can run the Mac OS X and Windows XP or Vista simultaneously, even dragging and dropping files between Windows and Mac folders.  Although not a free download like Boot Camp, Parallels is not unreasonable at $80 and there is a 15-day free trial. 

Off-line with Web 2.0 apps?

While Web 2.0 applications (software that runs in your web browser) may be the future of law office computing, the primarily shortcoming is the current inability of those programs to work and access your data when you don't have an Internet connection.  Web 2.0 application providers appear aware of this shortcoming, and are beginning to offer solutions. 

Google is probably the best-known purveyor of Web 2.0 applications with its Google Apps suite.  Recently it released its Google Gears API that will eventually lead to the ability to copy your data to your local PC, work on it while off-line, then seamless sync your data back to its on-line repository.  So far, this ability to work off-line is limited to the Google Reader RSS application.  But once it expands to the full Google Apps suite, we could see law office users more willing to try Web 2.0 apps.  This will also depend on the ability of Web 2.0 application providers to assure security and confidentiality of a firm's data.