How much computer can $40,000 get you?

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with a local business (that I will not name) to help them change their computer setup. The business is of the type that they need to worry about security, privacy and large-scale record keeping.

When I help out with this sort of job, I have no problem admitting where my limits of expertise are and I help the client find another business that has the book learning to do the job they need. I am grateful for the real geeks who can do this type of job because I prefer to work with the people rather than the machines.

The business client has kept me on board for the job though because I will be there to setup the individual computers and help the employees through the process.

When I talk about a new computer system, I don't mean a few new Dell's, this business is setting up something big. They will have at least two big servers, some real firewalls (not ZoneAlarm and Linksys routers) and a whole bunch of stuff for VPN and SQL. Have I lost you? Well, I was lost too.

We have a lot of paranoid people call the show and ask how they can be protected from hackers. Some of these people are running two or more firewalls, several anti-virus programs, virtual machines, etc. We typically tell them that the don't need to worry about that stuff and all they need is good anti-virus and spyware protection.

This business I am working with has put $40,000 into this new computer system and, in my opinion, they are getting a pretty good deal. One reason we typically tell people that they don't need to bother with lots of protection from hackers is because, beyond the Windows firewall and a small router, no home user needs or can afford true hacker protection.

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