10 steps to creating a numbered heading style in Word

Handy tip....

10 steps to creating a numbered heading style in Word: "

If you want to incorporate automatic numbering in your document headings, the quickest and most foolproof route is to create a custom style.

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You have two choices when faced with the task of numbering headings in a Word document. You can enter the numbers manually and hope nothing changes — lots of luck with that one. Or you can opt for the more efficient solution and create and apply a numbered style. Unfortunately, that can get you into even more trouble, if you don’t know what you’re doing. To avoid surprises, follow these 10 steps to add a numbering scheme to a style.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Start with a new, blank document

If possible, open a new document to create your numbered style. Working with an existing document and all its in-use styles can be troublesome. It can be done, but changing styles that are already in use almost always has far-reaching repercussions. Admittedly, this advice isn’t always practical, but it’s the best way to start if you can.

2: Use what you have

You could create a new set of styles, but for our purposes, Word’s existing heading styles, Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on, provide a good foundation. Most everything you need is built in and can be easily modified. If heading styles are already in use and you must work in a production document, you’ll have to create new styles.

3: Open the main heading

The existing heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on) are based on the Normal style. All you have to do is add a numbering scheme to the top heading style and watch the settings trickle down. Always begin with the main level heading. In this case, that’s Heading 1. To edit Heading 1, do the following:

1. Open the Styles And Formatting task pane by choosing Styles And Formatting from the Format menu or clicking the Styles And Formatting tool on the Formatting toolbar.


2. Right-click Heading 1 in the Pick Formatting To Apply list and choose Modify, as shown in Figure A.


3. In the Modify Style dialog box, shown in Figure B, choose Numbering from the Format button’s list.


4. Click the Outline Numbering tab in the Bullets And Numbering dialog box.


5. Choose the predefined scheme that’s most similar to what you want. For instance, if you want sublevels indented, choose the indented form; similarly, if you don’t want sublevels indented, choose the flush left form, as shown in Figure C. Try to make the best choice right now because changing your mind later will present so many problems that starting over will be easier.


6. If Reset is enabled, click it now to remove residual settings.

Figure A

Open the style to add numbering.

Figure B

Choose Numbering to open the Bullets And Numbering dialog box.

Figure C

Start with the numbering scheme that’s closest to what you need.

4: Modify Heading 1

At this point, you’re ready to modify the Heading 1 style. First, click Customize. The resulting Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, shown in Figure D, is the heart of this technique. This is where you’ll define the numbering scheme for Heading 1 as follows:

1. In the Levels control, Word offers nine numbering levels. Select 1 and click the More button, if necessary to display more options. (This button with display Less if already clicked.)


2. From the Number Style drop-down list, choose a style, if you don’t care for the default.


3. In the Level Format control, add the components you want to appear along with the heading number. Figure E shows the word Section and a colon character with the number.


4. At the bottom of the dialog box, make sure Heading 1 is the Link Level To Style setting. (Since you began by modifying this style, it should be the default.)


5. Change the Follow Number With setting to Space.


6. Give the new numbering scheme a descriptive name, such as NumberedHeadings. Always name your new schemes to avoid confusion.

Figure D

This dialog presents all of the settings you’ll need to add numbers.

Figure E

You can add text to your numbering scheme.

Do not click OK — you still have to define the numbering style for the sublevels.

5: Modify first sublevel

You just added a numbering scheme to the main heading style, Heading 1. Beginning with Heading 2, add the scheme to the sublevel headings, as follows:

1. Select 2 in the Level control.


2. Choose a Number Style and make any necessary changes in the Number Format control.


3. The Link Level To Style setting should be Heading 2.


4. Change the Follow Number With setting to Space.


5. Check the Restart Numbering After option, if you want sublevel numbers to start at 1. In most cases, you’ll want to set the After option to the previous heading, as shown in Figure F. Doing so forces Word to start renumbering Heading 2 paragraphs after each new Heading 1 paragraph. In other words, when Heading 1 updates to 2, the sublevel number will start over at 1, generating 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and so on.

Figure F

Choose to restart numbering in subsections.

Do not click OK yet — you’re still not done.

6: Indent sublevel 2

Right now, all eight sublevels are aligned with the left margin. It makes sense that you’ll want to indent at least a few subheadings. To indent sublevel 2, simply change the Aligned At setting in the Number Position section. For instance, Figure G shows this setting at .25.

Figure G

Indent sublevels, if you like.

You’re still not ready to click OK!

7: Format remaining sublevels

For most documents, you’ll need only a few levels, but Word offers nine. Format several, even if you don’t think you’ll use them. Simply select the appropriate number in the Level control and repeat the steps outlined above, updating the settings as necessary. When you’ve formatted all your number levels, click OK — finally!

8: Don’t update

Once you’re back in the Modify Style dialog box, don’t be in a hurry to click OK. First, uncheck the Automatically Update option (at the bottom right). You don’t want Word to automatically update any styles in your numbering scheme. Once you’ve unchecked this option (if necessary), click OK.

9: Number as you go

When creating the document, you can assign styles as you enter new text. Simply position the cursor at the beginning of a new line and choose the appropriate style from the Styles control on the Formatting toolbar. For the main heading, choose Section 1: Heading 1, as shown in Figure H.

Figure H

Choose the header style before entering heading text.

Word will insert the appropriate number and components, as shown in Figure I. Simply type the heading text and press [Enter]. Figure J shows a Heading 2 sublevel, 1.1. If you add a second sublevel, as shown in Figure K, Word again generates the appropriate sublevel number, 1.2.

Figure I

Inserted numbering

Word generates the appropriate main heading number.

Figure J

The first sublevel heading displays the section number, 1, and the sublevel number, 1.

Figure K

Word generates the sublevel number 2 but doesn’t update the main section number.

10: Put it to use after the fact

Sometimes, text comes before the formatting. In this case, you simply select the heading text and choose the numbered style from the Styles control. When you do, Word automatically inserts the formatted number. Figure L shows selected text after assigning the Heading 2 style.

Figure L

You can also select text and assign a numbered heading style.

"

(Via 10 Things.)

Photography: Depth of Field

Here's a good easy-to-understand article on depth-of-field and aperture courtesy of MacWorld.

In Depth: Essential tips for every Dropbox user

If you aren't already using Dropbox, why not???

In Depth: Essential tips for every Dropbox user: "

For those not already familiar with Dropbox it's an ingenious file-sharing and synchronising service that works across any operating system, including PCs, Macs and even the iPhone.

Available from www.dropbox.com, you can set up a free account that gives you 2GB of storage space, or get a 50GB Pro account for $9.99 a month.

Once installed, Dropbox appears as a folder called My Dropbox within your Documents folder. But this is no ordinary folder: whatever you copy into it is automatically uploaded to the Dropbox server. Install Dropbox onto another computer, log on using the same details and the files will automatically be downloaded onto that computer too.

Leave it logged in and, no matter which machine you're using, whatever you update on your Dropbox will be saved on all your other devices as well. This means you can leave those easy-to-lose USB sticks at home and still have the most up-to-date versions of the files you're working on to hand, provided you've saved them into your Dropbox folder.

Even if you haven't installed Dropbox onto the PC you're working on, you can still access your files by logging into your account on www.dropbox.com, where they appear as files that can be downloaded from the site. (Bear in mind, though, that this method lacks the automatic synchronisation option and you'll have to remember to upload any files you've worked on back onto the Dropbox site yourself.)

Secure sharing

There's no need to be worried about security, either: Dropbox uses very secure AES-256 encryption over an SSL-encrypted channel to share and save your data. Just make sure you use a strong password!

The only slight worry we can think of is the fact that you're entrusting your documents to a cloud-based app that, despite its burgeoning popularity, could disappear overnight. However, provided you also back up your files at home, this shouldn't be a problem.

The beauty of Dropbox lies in its simplicity. It just works quietly in the background. Even if you aren't online when you make changes to a file in your Dropbox folder, when you connect to the internet, Dropbox will detect the file changes and update the document.

But don't be fooled by that simplicity – the app may only synchronise files, but people are using it in many different ways. From working on collaborative projects to hosting websites and remote controlling BitTorrents, Dropbox's functionality knows no bounds. We'll explore a few of these possibilities here.

Collaborative projects

As well as sharing files across computers, you can use Dropbox to share files with other people. In fact, because Dropbox is so accessible it can often be a better solution than a network share.

It also keeps a revision history, so you can see who added what and when – meaning that tracking the collaborative process is done for you automatically. You can even go back to previous versions of files and restore them if a mistake is made or a file is overwritten (see the 'Undo history' box, below).

Your Dropbox account lets you share files in two ways: with everyone in the world (by putting your file(s) into the Public folder in your My Dropbox folder) or with chosen individuals who can also add files to the shared folder.

To share a folder with specific people, log on to the Dropbox site, go to the Files tab and click on 'Create a new folder'. Right-click on the new folder and choose 'Share this folder'. Next, send an email to the people you'd like to collaborate with. Those with Dropbox accounts will have the folder appear in their Dropbox if they accept the invitation, and those without are prompted to sign up.

Store all documents

Dropbox is all very well as a USB stick replacement, but you still have to remember to copy your documents into the My Dropbox folder. One solution is to keep the master files saved only in your Dropbox folder, but it can quickly become a mess of image files and documents. It would be nice to keep all your files in the folders you'd usually put them in, without having to copy them somewhere else for synchronising.

Well, provided your Documents folder doesn't take up more than the storage space available in your account, you can put it into your Dropbox in its entirety. To do this, right-click on your Documents folder, choose 'Properties' and move its location into your My Dropbox folder. This means you can carry on working as before, while having your entire Documents folder available wherever you go.

However, in the unlikely event that Dropbox disappears, this means all your files could also be lost. Plus, should someone get access to your Dropbox account, they could delete it all (although the undelete function does mean you could get it back again). Provided you keep a regular backup of your files elsewhere, the benefits may still outweigh the possible costs.

Synchronise programs

Wouldn't it be handy if the Firefox browser on your laptop had all the same user preferences, extensions, bookmarks and themes as your PC? Wouldn't it be satisfying if any changes you made to your Firefox profile were automatically changed on all the computers you worked on?

If you have Windows Vista or 7, then with the help of Mklink you can do just that. The Mklink function is essentially a shortcut creator, where you can create a file that points or links to another file or directory on a different part of your computer.

The difference with Mklink is that it creates these 'hard links' or 'symbolic links' at command-line level, so programs that wouldn't accept normal shortcuts can use them. Couple this power with Dropbox and now you can sync programs as well as files.

Take Firefox as an example. All your personal data (browser settings, bookmarks, history and so on) is saved as a profile, which is typically found at this location: C:\Users\[your PC name]\App Data\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\ Profiles.

Once you've ensured that Firefox isn't running, select this folder and copy it into your Dropbox, then delete the original folder. Open a command prompt (type cmd into the Search box on the Start menu) and type mklink. You should see a series of the commands available to you along with a description of what they do.

Now, using the 'J' command to create a directory hard link, enter: mklink /J %APPDATA\ Local\Mozilla\Firefox C:/ dropbox/Firefox. You'll need to change the address lines to where your Firefox profile and Dropbox are located.

Repeat this process on all your PCs (you'll need to have administrative rights) and whatever you do to Firefox will now be mirrored wherever you go and whatever PC you use.

This basic process can be applied to any program you wish: you could store your Thunderbird mailbox on Dropbox to have your emails available everywhere, or use it to store your game saves so you never need to repeat a level.

Store passwords safely

Secure passwords are difficult to remember. That's why more and more people are using open source programs such as KeePass to manage their passwords.

KeePass lets you generate long, complicated and unique passwords for each of your logins and remembers them for you. This means you only have to know one long secure password (for the KeePass login) to increase your online security exponentially.

However, if you're on a different computer to KeePass then you can't find out what your password is and you can't log in to that essential site. The solution is to use Dropbox to store both KeePass and your password archive.

If you're worried about security, KeePass (and, for that matter, Dropbox) uses the same security that banks and the military use to send and store their data: AES 256-bit encryption. So provided your KeePass password is a secure one, a criminal won't get any joy from your archive file.

Encrypt your data

Are you still worried about how secure Dropbox is, despite the site's many assurances? Do you want to synchronise sensitive data across all of your computers?

By using Truecrypt, you can create an encrypted drive that's accessible from any computer. This is a file of a fixed size that looks like a normal file but acts like a drive partition. You can hide other files within the volume of this file and it disguises their size and the data that they contain.

To add Truecrypt protection to your Dropbox, download the program from www.truecrypt.org/downloads, double-click on the '.exe' file and choose to extract it to your My Dropbox folder. This puts the portable version of the app into your Dropbox.

To create the encrypted file, open the 'Truecrypt.exe' file and click on the 'Create a volume' button. Choose 'Create an encrypted file container', then 'Hidden Truecrypt Volume' and lastly 'Normal Mode'. Give your file partition a name, choose AES encryption, set the size of the file (the outer volume) and create a username and password. Any encryption is only as strong as your password, so choose a long, complicated one. Now click 'Format'.

You need to do the same again to set the inner partition size – where you'll put your files. You also need to leave room for some decoy data, which is placed between the inner and outer volumes to give the impression that this outer layer is the real encrypted drive. Choose a very different password for the inner volume so it isn't compromised if the outer layer is accessed.

To open your partition, start Truecrypt, click on 'Select file…', choose your file and click 'Mount'. After entering your password, you can drop files in here to encrypt them.

Note that it's best only to access it from one machine at a time to prevent conflicts.

Portable Dropbox

There are still some situations where it may be useful to carry Dropbox itself around with you – say, if you can't install Dropbox permanently on a public PC that you use often. Step forward DropboxPortable, which is available from here.

Once you've successfully installed it you can get access to your Dropbox files from pretty much anywhere you fancy. So, why not carry the files on a USB stick instead of a portable version of Dropbox?

Well, imagine you need a work file you haven't put in your Dropbox, such as an image for a presentation. If you've shared a folder with a colleague then they can drop it into your shared Dropbox folder – so when you plug your USB stick into the computer at your destination it'll be downloaded automatically and end up sitting on your USB stick waiting for you.

This means that you can be on the train to a meeting while your presentation is having the finishing touches added to it back at the office.

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• Gary Marshall: The Times: paywalls, porn and iPads

"

(Via TechRadar: All latest feeds.)

Generate Reports About User Actions on Windows Servers

Very Helpful, could have used tis a while ago more than once!

Generate Reports About User Actions on Windows Servers: "

Whenever there is need to generate reports about what users have been doing on your servers, most administrators are left empty handed. This need may arise due to some misconfiguration that someone did, a deleted configuration file, a registry key that someone edited, Active Directory objects such as users, groups or OUs that were changed or even deleted and many more. These configuration changes and other actions can potentially render a server or even the entire system inoperable, but the sad thing is that there are very few ways in which an administrator can truly see or tell what exactly happened and who did it.

The lack of reporting capability in Windows-based operating systems is not new. Administrators have been left 'in the dark' ever since the old days, and although Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista/7 have changed the way administrators work with the Event Viewer, it's still up to us to perform the tedious task of decrypting long and poorly written events, decipher event IDs (many of which share the same number, but for a wide variety of error codes and sources).

Even with the new and re-designed Windows Server 2008/Vista/7 Event Viewer, many human actions are still not recorded. For example, unless you specifically enable Object Access auditing in the local policy of the system (or through a GPO), there is no way on earth to tell what files have been modified or deleted, by whom, and in what context. For example, getting a security event saying that someone tried to delete the Web.Config file of a web server repeatedly means nothing on it's own, unless you can see who did it, what else did they do (or attempt to do), and under what context.

Now, lets say that your job requires you to perform a daily audit of all the privileged users' actions on a bunch of servers. How would you approach that kind of task? Is this something that Windows logs, Event Viewer, or any other type of built-in tool can give you? Can this help?

The answer to this is no. No matter how hard you try, no existing built-in Windows tool can even come close to getting you near the type of information you're after.

Enter ObserveIT.

ObserveIT is a company that has an amazing solution for one of the toughest questions that IT professionals face in today's dynamic IT world: Who touched my servers, what did they do, what did my privileged users do, what did my external vendors change on my servers. ObserveIT's product allows enterprise-wide recording and indexing of any human interaction with the servers, and what makes it so awesome is the fact that it indexes this data alongside with detailed metadata of what is seen on the screen, allowing full searches within the database. I've written more about ObserveIT's recording capabilities in my 'Record and Audit Terminal, Citrix and RDP Sessions – ObserveIT Product Overview' article.

ObserveIT Express is a freeware version of ObserveIT's flag ship product - the Pro edition. Read more about it on my 'Free Remote Desktop, Terminal & Citrix Session Recorder: ObserveIT Express' article.

By implementing the freeware version of ObserveIT in your environment, you can get full visual recordings of up to 5 monitored servers. Another limitation of the Express edition is the fact that you can only reply the past 24 hours, however, detailed textual information is still available even past this time . The Pro edition is licensed, and there is no limit to the number of servers that can be monitored by it, and no limit on the recorded data replay capabilities. Furthermore, the Pro edition has many interesting configuration capabilities, as described in the above article.

One of the coolest features of version 5.0.0 is its ability to create and generate very complex and detailed reports that are extracted from the recorded data. The Reports View allows the administrator or security auditor to get aggregated or summary information about server and user activity. In this version, ObserveIT offers a newly designed and feature-rich reports generator that can be used either by novice administrators to generate reports based on the pre-configured and built-in reports, or by advanced administrators and security auditors that require flexible application usage reports and trend analysis reviews alike.

Experienced administrators or security auditors can create comprehensive reports based on their requirements. Reports can be created to identify trends and usage, identify applications and users, and specify enhanced filters and sort-by columns.

The built-in reports can be run by pressing one button, and within moments (based on the type and range of report), the administrator will be able to review the results in a separate window, print them or export the information to an Excel spreadsheet.

Reports can also be scheduled to run at pre-defined intervals, and the results can then be e-mailed to SMTP aliases that need to review the results. This allows the administrators or security auditors to get daily, weekly or monthly reports of any type of user activity that was performed on the monitored servers, without having to manually dig through tons of log files and event IDs, most of which cannot even come close to giving them the entire picture of what happened on the monitored machines.

The reports generator is controlled by the same granular permissions model that is used for Console Users, and this means that a report will not reveal information that the administrator does not have permissions to view.

In this example, lets say that a  company's security auditor has deployed ObserveIT, and now wants to generate a report of all the instances of Remote Desktop access that were performed on any of the organization's servers. After logging on to the ObserveIT web console, the administrator reviews the existing sample reports that were built-in into ObserveIT.  One of these reports does exactly that. It generates a report of all the instances of Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe) usage on the monitored servers.

The administrator runs the built-in sample report. Within a few seconds, a detailed report of all the RDP sessions in the past week is displayed.

This sample report includes 3 results, representing 3 different sessions to 3 different servers.

Information can be expanded, as needed.

Reports can be edited to fit your needs. In this example, the built-in report looks at a one week period, but the administrator needs to get just the past day's results. So, they edit the report and save it. Note that editing reports is only available in the Pro edition.

As noted above, reports can be e-mailed to specific administrators or security auditors, making their job a lot easier. All the needed information is sent to their inbox, daily.

You can obtain the freeware version of ObserveIT Express edition from this link:

Download ObserveIT Express

"

(Via Petri IT Knowledgebase.)

10 things to remember when upgrading servers

10 things to remember when upgrading servers: "

You can avoid problems and gain peak efficiencies by following certain practices when upgrading a server. Erik Eckel offers this field-tested list.

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Servers are almost always deployed, at least initially, with specific objectives in mind. Regardless of whether the server is deployed in a small business or large enterprise, frequently the server’s role changes over time. Due to growth, budget cuts, rack limitations, or other factors, servers deployed for one purpose must often begin fulfilling additional services and responsibilities.

That’s why it’s important to periodically audit systems. Reviewing a server’s resource load helps ensure the organization optimizes performance and prevents downtime. However, system administrators can’t just break a case and drop in more RAM here or upgrade disks there. Server upgrades always require planning. Here are 10 things to remember when upgrading servers to ensure systems perform at peak efficiencies.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Always start with a verified data backup

Never make any changes to a server, even minor upgrades, before confirming a verified data backup exists. Whenever a server is powered down, there is no guarantee the server will come back online. While rare, I’ve seen servers that were shut down simply to install Windows performance and security patches fail to restart.

2: Consider creating an image backup

Several manufacturers offer IT professionals disk cloning technologies that simplify recovering servers when failures occur. Some, including Acronis Inc. and StorageCraft Technology Corp., provide a universal restore option that enables recovering a failed server even to a different bare metal chassis. Downtime is drastically reduced. When upgrades go south, disk images can help recover not only data but a server’s complex configuration in a hurry.

3:    Don’t make multiple simultaneous changes

Most every IT professional understands the importance of minimizing server restarts, so novices are tempted to complete multiple simultaneous upgrades using a single shutdown. But adding disks, replacing memory, installing additional cards, and other tasks should all be performed separately. Why? When things go wrong a day or two later, the process of isolating the change responsible for the error is exponentially more difficult when multiple simultaneous changes were made. If only a single change is introduced, it’s much easier to track the potential culprit.

4: Monitor logs closely after making changes

Following server upgrades, never assume all is well just because the server booted back into its OS without displaying errors. Monitor log files, error reports, backup operations, and other critical events more closely than ever. Leverage Windows’ internal performance reports or third-party monitoring utilities, such as those from GFI Software’s HoundDog or Quest Software’s PacketTrap, to ensure all is performing as intended whenever changes or upgrades are completed.

5: Confirm the OS

It’s easy to forget the operating system a server is running. This is especially true when a server room isn’t standardized and multiple boxes sport a collection of operating systems. Even veteran administrators, caught within the whirlwind confusion that marks many enterprise IS departments’ days, have tried installing 8GB of RAM on a 32-bit Windows Server 2003 machine. Only by first performing a quick audit (including a quick 32-bit versus 64-bit check) of the system to be upgraded can you confirm the OS is compatible and will be able to use the additional RAM (or other resources) being installed.

6: Confirm the chassis supports the upgrade

Server hardware is famously inconsistent. Manufacturers frequently change model numbers and product configurations. Whenever installing additional disk controllers, disks, memory, or other components, you can review the manufacturer’s technical specifications online before ordering upgrades. But only by opening the case can you be 100% confident that the actual server deployed within the organization will accommodate the upgrade.

7: Don’t assume plug-and-play

Whenever installing new hardware, don’t assume the device will plug-and-play well with the server’s operating system (even if the manufacturer states the component is compatible). Before you order upgrades, perform a Google search to learn the experiences other technology professionals encountered when deploying that same component using the same OS. Since the upgrade is being completed on a server, confirm the component is listed on the OS vendor’s hardware compatibility list. It doesn’t hurt to check the server manufacturer’s forums, too, to learn of issues other techs encountered when installing the same device on the same server.

8: Optimize performance

Be sure to follow up on any upgrades requiring associated software adjustments. For example, just adding memory to Windows servers doesn’t automatically optimize Windows’ performance using the additional RAM. System administrators must also update a server’s virtual memory settings to optimize Windows’ operation following a memory upgrade. Further, when new disks are introduced, the page file may need to be moved to the new disk to gain performance advantages.

9: You get what you pay for

Certainly, less expensive disks, RAM, power supplies, and other components are always available. But when it comes to servers, it doesn’t pay to cut corners. Only high quality, high availability components should be deployed in servers. While these items may cost marginally more than other (lesser quality) alternatives, the performance and uptime benefits more than offset the additional expense.

10: Document changes

Surely you’re maintaining log files for each server. Within the documentation for the server just upgraded, update the documentation to note the component that was upgraded, the manufacturer, the vendor and even the order number and serial numbers, if possible. Include warranty and support information as well. The more documentation you have on hand, the easier it will be to isolate and repair issues that arise later.

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Check out 10 Things… the newsletter

Get the key facts on a wide range of technologies, techniques, strategies, and skills with the help of the concise need-to-know lists featured in TechRepublic’s 10 Things newsletter, delivered every Friday. Automatically sign up today.

"

(Via 10 Things.)

10 ways failure leads to success

10 ways failure leads to success: "

It may seem like a contradiction, but thinking you’re always right is a sure path to failure, while admitting and learning from failure inevitably leads to success.

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From the time we’re little, we’re told that time heals all wounds. But nobody tells us it’s only half true. When the wounds are inflicted by somebody else, fine. But when wounds are self-inflicted — also known as mistakes — all the time in the world won’t heal them if we don’t acknowledge them.

Failure is a little bit different, but the concept is similar. Failing to admit and learn from failure will only lead to more dramatic failure. The converse is also true: Admitting and learning from failure will ultimately lead to success.

Unfortunately, many leaders seem to be allergic to the whole idea of admitting failure. I’ve seen it dozens of times with business leaders, political leaders, CEOs, and executives. Why that is, I don’t know, but it may have something to do with how success gives leaders a big head, as we discussed in The Problem with Know-It-All Managers.

Regardless, systemic business failure, corporate failure, and personal failure typically come down to leaders or managers sticking their heads in the sand. Don’t be one of them. Instead, master these 10 ways failure leads to success.

Note: This article originally appeared as an entry in BNET’s The Corner Office blog. It’s also available as a PDF download.

1: Change management

Ever try changing a company system or process that involves lots of people? If you have, you’ve failed. And if you didn’t learn from it, you’re still no good at it.

2: Employee

What, you were a great employee out of the gate? Come on, tell the truth. You made mistakes; that’s how you learned how things work, how to get things done, when to take a stand, and when to suck it up. Or maybe you didn’t. Hmm.

3: Turnarounds

Turnarounds start by clearly stating the problem, what went wrong. Sometimes it takes a few iterations, as with IBM, Apple, and HP. Some boards wait too long, as with Nortel. Are Sprint, Sony, and Dell next?

4: Managing people

I don’t care what business schools say: You don’t learn this in school. You learn it on the job by making mistakes and learning what works and what doesn’t. Period.

5: The scientific method

It’s built on the concept of making an assumption, experimenting, proving it wrong, and continuing until you can’t prove it wrong.

6: Innovation

The whole startup innovation loop is a learning curve based on trial and error. Sure, we love the Google and Facebook founders’ stories, but far more common are entrepreneurs who failed multiple times before nailing it.

7: Consulting

Um, not to get too specific, but the only reason I have any success as a consultant is that I made dozens of mistakes over two decades in corporations. It’s called ‘learning the ropes.’

8: Strategic planning

Any strategic planning process must begin with an analysis of what’s working and what isn’t. The ‘W’ in SWOT stands for weaknesses, and with good reason.

9: Postmortems

If you don’t do postmortems on lost customers and failed product launches and marketing campaigns, you’re far less likely to get it right the next time.

10: Relationships

If you need me to explain how failed relationships — personal, business, whatever — make you a better partner and team player, you have bigger problems than I can help you with.

---

Check out 10 Things… the newsletter

Get the key facts on a wide range of technologies, techniques, strategies, and skills with the help of the concise need-to-know lists featured in TechRepublic’s 10 Things newsletter, delivered every Friday. Automatically sign up today.

"

(Via 10 Things.)

10 ways to achieve growth through innovation

There were some good 10 ways articles on TechRepublic today. First of them here....

10 ways to achieve growth through innovation: "

Companies that manage innovation with the same rigor and discipline they bring to other business processes can see sustainable growth and a higher return on their innovation investments.

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Accenture has completed new research and analysis about the state of innovation with more than 900 companies in 11 industries. The industries included information technology/high tech, electronics, wireline and wireless communications, automotive, banking, capital markets, consumer goods and services, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and medical products, and retail. The research sought to gain insights about management perceptions of innovation processes and investments.

Based on this research and analysis, I propose 10 actions companies in the business technology and other industries examined should consider taking to improve their innovation performance.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Conceive of innovation as a business discipline, and then manage and execute it systematically.

That means as an end-to-end, uniform process, from insight development to idea generation to development to marketplace launch.

2: Craft a precise definition of innovation’s role in the overall corporate strategy based on the company’s industry, market, and competitive environment.

Specify the types of innovation being sought to build a sustainable competitive position and the specific value the innovations are expected to generate. To be effective, this definitional approach needs to be broad enough that no one in the firm is let off the hook. If innovation is defined too narrowly, executives can always say that it’s not relevant to the business. But if innovation is about continuously finding new sources of value, defined in whatever terms are appropriate for a particular industry, executive teams have no choice but to look at the processes they currently have in place for identifying new sources of value, setting up teams to explore and execute around those sources, managing the teams, and measuring results.

3: Focus much more time and resources on breakthrough, long-term, game-changing innovation.

Spend less time on incremental innovation that yields only short-term benefits. Several of the world’s greatest companies have performed exceptionally well by delivering breakthrough innovations based on ‘big bet’ initiatives.

4: Take more risks, reward failure, and encourage continuous improvement.

The fastest and most effective path to breakthrough innovations is to think big and act big. Be bold in your actions and decisions. Create a corporate culture that not only tolerates risks but rewards it. And when employees fail while taking big risks, reward them. Without such a culture, breakthrough ideas are impossible to consistently identify and capitalize upon.

5: Measure innovation performance and results as you do other business functions, such as marketing, strategy, and operations.

There’s a tendency to keep inconsistent and unusable records about corporate innovation. This makes it tough to measure innovation performance. Tracking more detailed, disciplined, consistent metrics about innovation performance will translate to better innovation performance. Ensure that the metrics span the end-to-end innovation process. This means beyond the customer and embracing both forward- and backward-looking metrics. Tracking only backward-looking metrics is insufficient. Without the ability to measure past successes and estimate the future market impact of new products, companies will continue to ‘fly blind.’

6: Focus on the customer experience and less on technology.

Zero in on a problem looking for a technology solution rather than a technology solution looking for a problem. High performing companies use ethnographic, best-practice observational customer understanding techniques, whereas lower performers rely more heavily on traditional market research. You can’t ask people what they want, because when it comes to technology, they usually don’t know. On the other hand, you can’t develop something just because a room full of engineers think it’s cool. You have to know whether the idea will resonate as a real benefit to people. The way you hear the voice of the customer is to listen better to the customer. A key metric should be how well you are meeting your customer’s expectations of your company.

7: Embrace open innovation and open innovation tools.

This means tapping external sources, such as universities and corporate start-ups. Keeping all innovation activities within your company is a recipe for failure.

8: Encourage idea generation from everywhere, both inside and outside your company.

Include everyone from the highest levels of the company to the lowest. Often the most innovative ideas are submitted by junior employees.

9: Consider appointing a chief innovation officer and setting up a uniformity of command for corporate innovation accountability.

Accenture’s research found a direct correlation between the level of successful innovation within companies and the presence of a chief innovation officer (or an executive who has innovation as a major part of his/her job responsibility). Companies designating one executive to be accountable and leading innovation execution report dramatically higher satisfaction levels across all aspects of their innovation performance. This performance includes developing a product or service pipeline of initiatives and extracting value from innovation programs. Having an executive in this role creates a more focused, continuous process for improving corporate innovation. Companies that don’t have such executives tend to be less skilled and lower performing in innovation.

10: Have a dedicated budget for innovation.

Appointing a chief innovation officer isn’t enough. Too often, companies have appointed someone to lead the innovation charge only to run up against the crippling ‘who owns the budget?’ problem. A dedicated budget is a vital component of successful innovation. But there does need to be an adequate level of resources to fund the innovation infrastructure.

Conclusion

These recommendations are part of a large set of new Accenture research results about the status of corporate innovation around the world. Overall, Accenture’s research revealed that innovation is a top priority for companies seeking to grow. But flaws in managing innovation, such as overemphasis on incremental improvements, are resulting in poor returns on innovation investments. Accenture believes these poor returns can be turned into profitable, sustainable growth by systematically managing innovation end to end with the same rigor and discipline as other major business processes.

Adi Alon, North American managing director - Accenture’s Innovation Performance Group, can be contacted at adi.alon@accenture.com.

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(Via 10 Things.)

Terminal Services Printing

One of the guys encountered something fun on terminal server printing today that was unique to one particular XP Pro client that was just installed last week. The computer was based on a factory HP/Compaq build and was pretty clean with the exception of the usual preload with trial Office. We pulled that and installed our usual kit and updated it and thought it was good to go.

The user called today and said that the terminal server wasn't sending the print jobs to her local PC today. Odd, sounds more like behavior from the old Server 2003 days. We installed her print drivers, updated them, tried old ones, rebooted several times, all no good. Finally, we uninstalled .Net 3.0 & 3.5 and respective updates and reinstalled (they were include in the HP build). Upon reinstalling, all the print jobs came through!

Bizarre!

Biggest VM Yet!

We just finished migrating our biggest server to virtualization yet, we created a 2 TB iSCSI LUN and moved a 1.0 TB application server overnight with everything intact and after making some minor adjustments to the networking on the VM, it works flawlessly and with the default settings is quite a bit faster than the physical machine it came off of, all while using less than 25% of the available horsepower of the VM host machine (a 2U 8 core HP server with 32 GB RAM).

It's running on Hyper-V on Server 2008 R2 and we used Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager (a part of Systems Center) to do the migration. Interestingly we couldn't do a 'live' migration so we did the migration option for shut down mode, all with only a minor notice about the aforementioned networking.

A couple of reminders, when virtualizing in the shut down mode, don't forget to note the old machine's local admin account and password and it might be wiser to build the VM without networking and add it once it's online. Only 2 more big old machines to go at this client's site and this was the hairiest of them!

Cool Technology of the Week

John hit it on the head--wind technology is really coming along. This is a pretty small turbine however you can find lots of bigger ones for under $10k and if you live in a moderately windy area, they can pay for themselves pretty quickly. I may have to check this out though for camping with the Airstream.....

Cool Technology of the Week: "

My parents recently moved to a new home on a hillside in Southern California. It has a great view and frequent gentle breeze. My father and I were talking about windpower as means of adding green energy to their property. Green energy sounded great, but I was not sure it was ready for the mainstream of the average homeowner. It's not as if you can buy wind turbines or Bloom boxes at Home Depot.

Whoops - it never pays to bet against the rapid advancement of technology. You can buy a complete home wind turbine at Lowe's right now for under $600.

The Southwest Windpower 400 Watt Wind Generator generates 400 Watts at 28mph, has 3 Carbon fiber composite blades to ensure low wind noise, and electronic torque control for overspeed protection up to 110mph

What can you do with 400 watts?

Remember back to physics - Watts= Amps * Voltage i.e. work is done at a rate of one watt when one ampere flows through a potential difference of one volt. 1W=1V×1A

In my cool technology of the week on February 26, I outlined my effort to replace the light bulbs in my house with high efficiency LEDs.

I've found that I can light an entire room brightly with 50 watts of LED power (each 40 watt equivalent bulb uses only 8 watts to generate 350 lumens of light)

That means I could easily light my entire home with wind power.

Hey Dad, maybe wind power from Lowe's for Father's Day?

"

(Via Life as a Healthcare CIO.)

Virtual Machine Manager

I was working in the Virtual Machine Manager the other day and noticed that two of my Hyper-V Host machines (the bare-metal boxes) were listed as 'needs attention.' I went to each machine and tried to run Windows Update but that didn't yield any unapplied updates so I dug further. Soon I came across this article on Microsoft's KB. I went into VMM's Administration section, looked at the managed machines, right clicked them and chose 'Update Client'. That took care of it!

Remove Cached Install Files on Windows

Helpful tip if you're looking to tidy up your Windows desktop.

In Depth: 4 of the best online data storage services on test

In Depth: 4 of the best online data storage services on test: "

With 500GB disks now shipping as standard on all but entry-level PCs and 2TB disks costing less than £130, storage space has never been more abundant or affordable.

So the recent proliferation of companies offering online data storage products and services might seem surprising – except when you factor in the features and benefits online storage offers that could never be met by local storage alone.

Among the list of unique benefits are fully automated backups, synchronising files between different PCs and sharing files with colleagues, friends or even the whole world. Here we investigate these benefits and take a look at four products that claim to offer all of these services and more.

File synchronisation

USB flash drives enable us to carry large amounts of data around in our pockets. But in order to benefit from them we must be organised enough to make sure that they always contain the files we're likely to need.

An online service also suffers from this problem to some extent, but it has several advantages over using a thumb drive. Going online lets you access a document from several computers or mobile phones while also allowing you to modify that document from any of those devices and then make that modified version accessible.

LIVEDRIVE: Online backup services allow you to access your files wherever you are

Read TechRadar's Livedrive review

You could create a document on your desktop at home, read and modify it on your laptop in a hotel room and then work on the updated version when you get back home, all without any manual moving of files.

A typical additional feature is that previous versions of files are saved, so you can roll back to an older copy if you've made a mistake or decided you don't like your changes.

File synchronisation is the tech behind all this functionality, and while it's very useful, you should be aware of its potential problems.

Say both you and a colleague start to edit the same file at the same time. When you close the file it's written to the online drive but if your colleague then does likewise, without special precautions, it would mean that your edit gets lost.

HUMYO: File locking is a must if you want to share the same file with different people

Read TechRadar's Humyo review

If you intend to use this service collaboratively, you'd be advised to check that it offers a suitable fix for such conflicts. The classic solution is to employ file locking so that as soon as one person starts to edit a file, subsequent access to that file won't be allowed until the first person has finished editing it.

File sharing

Although the main benefit of file synchronisation is the ability to work on files from several computers, another is the way it allows you to share those files between a small group of individuals who can also modify them.

SUGARSYNC: You can also set it up to allow read-only access to certain people you dont want to edit your files

Read TechRadar's SugarSync review

Regular file sharing is also offered for distributing your files to a larger circle of contacts without providing them with the ability to modify the documents. Generally, these services allow you either to share an online file or folder with certain individuals or to make it public, which means that anyone can see it.

In essence, the end result is much the same: a URL is generated to permit access to your shared files. The only difference is that if you decide to share it only with certain individuals then an email is sent to them containing a link, whereas if you make it public then it's up to you to publicise that link for the world to see.

Automated backup

You don't need an online service to back up your data, but it does make the process easier and more secure. Local back-up software lets you perform backups automatically at preset times, but unless you've made sure your back-up media is connected and ready to go, that backup will fail.

DROPBOX: They also provide a good alternative to home backups that will be lost in the event of something drastic occuring

Read TechRadar's DropBox review

To prevent this, you could keep your back-up drive attached to your PC. This would protect against a failure of your main disk, but if your PC is stolen or destroyed in a fire, an external drive sitting next to it would likely suffer the same fate.

Ideally you need a method of backup that is both automatic and remote. Online backup provides just that. Online backup services often use client software installed locally that allows you to mark files or folders for backup. Then whenever a file is modified, the new version will be automatically uploaded to your secure storage space via the web.

The only thing that could prevent a file from not being backed up is the lack of web connection – but the transfer will take place as soon as web access is restored, rendering it a temporary problem.

All the services here provide the three basic services described above, and all offer encryption. Differences mostly come down to personal preference on matters such as which user interface you prefer, which facilities you prioritise and, of course, the price you're willing to pay.

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(Via TechRadar: All latest feeds.)