Stuck in a mind-numbing career, recently redundant or ready to work after study or childbirth? You might be leery of the job market but worried that setting up a business is beyond you. Perhaps you don’t think you’ll be able to raise enough capital. But did you know that most things you need to run a business are now available in monthly installments on the internet? Accountants, project management, web hosting, even entire call centres (thanks to web hosted telephony and dialler systems that can be run remotely) – so you might not need as much cash up front as you think. And there’s always Kickstarter…
Anyway, if you’re stuck on the fence, see if our reasons can’t give you a little shove…
1. It’s better than being unemployed. Many people are facing – or have already endured – redundancy over the past few years of economic uncertainty. And they weren’t the first ones. Going to the Jobcentre, relying on state (or, indeed, anyone else’s) handouts for your income (which equals safety, food and well-being, when it boils down to it) is depressing. Money for nothing sounds all very well but you don’t get much of it, and not actually earning it is not great for self-esteem.
2. It gives you a more personal sense of security. This may seem counterintuitive, since you’ll be fending for yourself. But you’ll be relying on you. Not the whims of shareholders or the narrow confines of an employer’s market. If work dries up in one area, you can go and find a new motherlode somewhere else. You will have to save up an emergency fund that can tide you over if times get tough, but otherwise you’ll be free to develop yourself and your business in whatever direction feels most rewarding – financially and personally.
3. You get to make the decisions – creatively & financially. Sure, you might make the WRONG decisions sometimes, but that is pretty much a core mechanic to actually learning anything, ever. Wrong decisions teach you how to rebound, adapt, and try again. But imagine working for someone else who frequently makes bad decisions and you have barely any control over that – over the decisions themselves, or how they’re dealt with afterwards. That’s pretty frustrating. Running your own business puts you in control.
4. You learn a lot. There’ll be all that research you do to make sure you know what you’re doing, and the people you speak to will all have something to teach you, if you’re observant. And those decisions – the ones that don’t work out and the ones that give you satisfying glow – will all stack up in your “experience and insights” hopper for retrieval next time you’re weighing something up.
5. Bragging rights – or more importantly, self-confidence. When you take all those lessons you’ve learnt, make some good decisions and things go well, you’ll receive several valuable assets: a strong indicator of what you should do more of, in order to keep succeeding; a blend of security and gratitude for proving to yourself that you’ve got your own back; and far better Facebook updates than “look what I had for lunch again”.
6. You may get to create jobs for people. If you can expand enough to become an employer, you can provide work and income for someone else. This feels really, really good.
7. It’s liberating. Becoming self-employed makes the world look like one big opportunity – to meet people, have new ideas and explore emerging trends. Reading newspapers, looking out of train windows – they all become opportunities for Having Creative Thoughts, which is a nice sensation and may lead to the next stage of your career.
Domain controllers are servers that perform routine security requests like ensuring the user has access to certain files or logging a user into the network. While domain controllers take some time to install and configure, there are a few advantages to having them installed. Here are seven reasons why you should have domain controllers installed.
1. Faster Authentication. A domain controller is made only for routine security processes. Due to this, it can perform these processes much faster than another server that is busy running programs and processing resources. Using a domain controller makes it easier for a user to access the domain and network, and the time savings are often rather large if this is used across a big network.
2. Resource Authentication. Aside from authenticating users, domain controllers are also used to authenticate resources. For example, before a user opens a certain type of program, the domain controller will authenticate the user’s ability to use those resources. This ensues that users are not allowed to use resources that are above their clearance, and this is faster than forcing another server to do the same thing.
3. Resource Utilization. Handing out resources can require a lot of power and processing. Normally the regular servers are expected to hand out these resources, but that often gets in the way of programs being used. This inevitably ends up creating a digital traffic jam that can take several minutes to clear up.
Domain controllers are able to assist in handing out resources, ensuring that these digital traffic jams are minimized.
4. Better Computer Speeds. Computers often need to perform some server processing on the client side to get the necessary resources for a program to open, or to authenticate a process. This takes away a lot of energy from the computer, which can cause programs to quickly slow down.
A domain controller exists outside of the workstation, and it cuts out all this extra processing. The controller performs the necessary authentication and resource utilization work, so the workstation does not need to waste power on this. This makes the computer function faster.
5. Decreased Network Traffic. Large networks tend to have a lot of traffic going back and forth. Workstations are demanding resources and servers are processing the requests and doing their best to rush resources back to the workstation. This causes a different type of digital traffic jam, but it has the same effect: it causes the entire network to slow down and lose power.
A domain controller can step in and regulate all the network traffic. It can help direct traffic to different servers or workstations, which greatly reduces the chance of any jams occurring.
6. Better Password Management. A lot of digital and mental resources are needed for password management. Users need to remember all their passwords for the various logins they need to perform at work, and servers need to both remember and authenticate these passwords for users. People sometimes forget things, and it can be a massive issue if someone forgets his or her password. It can reduce the amount of work a team can complete in one day. Servers also have to dedicate a good amount of their processing just to passwords.
Domain controllers handle all of this. They can replace the normal servers for password management, which frees up those resources. It is generally easier to make a new password with a domain controller, so a forgetful employee can quickly get back to work.
7. Better Security. A normal sever has a relatively high chance of letting a user through the system without proper authentication. Normally this doesn’t last long and the effects are typically minimal, but this may enable unauthorized access to certain files.
Since a domain controller is made specifically for safety, the chances of unauthorized access are significantly lower.
Conclusion: Installing a domain controller is a great way to make your network move faster and function better. The controller is better with authenticating users and resources, and it can help in many other ways. Most businesses report that they are able to perform more work with a domain controller installed. Try one out and see how much better your business can be with a domain controller.
Author Bio: Tom Demers writes about domain controllers for Bit9 a company dedicated to helping protect clients online.
Today’s guest post is written by Sally. That is all we know about her. We suspect, judging by her use of ‘z’s instead of ‘s’s, that she resides on the other side of the pond. Other than that, our file is empty. You might think letting such a mysterious character onto the 7 Reasons sofa is as dangerous as the 7 Reasons cushions themselves. For the sake of keeping you entertained this Saturday though, it is a risk we are prepared to take. And it means we can watch the cricket. After the nice picture, it’ll be Sally.
Did you know people actually used to get dressed up to fly on an airplane? I mean, people were so excited to fly that they would actually break out their Sunday best for the flight. Why? Because flying was seen as such an exciting, high-class event that it was as much a highlight of their trip as actually getting to the destination. Most travelers could not imagine that today, as it feels like these once great sky coaches have been reduced to little more than a cattle car that flies. With that in mind, here are seven reasons why traveling in the year 2011 can be a giant pain in the butt.
1. Packing. Some of us were born without that organizational gene. You know, the one that lets people organize their sock drawers and car glove compartments. I never quite figured these out. Normally, it’s just a minor inconvenience. But when it comes to packing for a trip, I’m hopeless. I might as well just pile my clothes on top of a suitcase and hire a fat guy to sit on it.
2. Getting To The Airport. I’d like to send a message to all my friends. I am not a cab driver. Do not ask me to take you to the airport. First, people never fly at normal times, and waking up 4 hours before I have to go work is not worth you saving $15 in cab fare. Also, you’re about to go on a fun trip and I’m about to turn around and drive home from the airport in morning rush-hour traffic by myself. Hearing you talk about it on the way there makes me want to drive off the road into a tree. And I’m pretty sure your travel insurance doesn’t cover that.
3. Airport Check-in Staff. Okay, I just wanted to ask a simple question and see if there was an available window seat on my flight. You don’t have to talk down to me. You have the easiest job in the world. You type my name into the computer, you asked me a couple of dumb questions about my luggage (by the way, don’t you think anyone carrying contraband in their luggage would just lie?), and then you print out my ticket. Don’t act like you invented the airplane.
4. Airline Security Staff. Pretty much the same as reason three, except they’re more smug, less competent and fondle people’s legs for a living. We were never destined to get on.
5. Safety Speech Freestyling. Yes, we know! We have all heard it a million times. Just because it’s rehashed, I still don’t want to hear your lame canned jokes. I understand this is your one chance to show a little personality during the flight, but hearing Bob the flight attendant – not his real name – rap about oxygen masks makes me want to strangle myself with one.
6. Fellow Passengers. Sadly, I can’t charter my own flight, which means I have to travel with other people. At least I think they’re people. Sometimes you wonder given that don’t seem to get that the big piece of plastic in front of them is a seat with someone in it. Usually me. Kicking it makes me want to stop strangling myself with the oxygen mask and instead have a go on them. Either that or I regret not driving into that tree on the way to the airport.
7. Baggage Claim. Seriously, all you have to do is get the baggage from there, bring it here, and put it on the little conveyor belt. Why is this a half-hour long process? And why is my bag always last? And why do I only spot it when it’s passed me which means I look an idiot running after it?
Remember those great days when you’d put the chairs together, turn the table upside down and grab ever available cushion in the house? That’s right, when you were making a fort. You probably haven’t done that for a while have you? We can’t help but think that’s wrong. Which is why we are delighted to welcome Ewan MacDougal to the 7 Reasons sofa. He’s going to put it right. And given that he spends most of his time playing around with Furniture 123’s living room furniture, he probably knows what he’s talking about. Here’s Ewan:
The relaxed ambience of The Keep
So over the last two or three years I’ve regressed, I don’t think it’s that uncommon – something to do with not wanting to be called a grown up I guess, anyway I’ve noticed a definite increase in the amount of toys I’m buying, cartoons I’m watching* , Dinosaurs I’m absent mindedly doodling**. I’ve even suddenly got an obsession with wanting a pet tortoise, mostly because I think it will look like a baby dinosaurs. In essence I think I’ve become about 7 years old (which is actually about a third my age). A few things are different about being 7 this time around though, one is that I have a job, so I can buy the big box of second hand dinosaurs from eBay without being forced to save up for a year, and another is that I now live with “contemporaries” rather than “parents” meaning that when I decide it’s a good idea to scrap the traditional living room lay out in favour of a fortress built out of living room furniture. The idea should theoretically be open for discussion rather than immediately vetoed as it was in 1994. So here are my seven reasons why having a fortress in place of living room furniture would be infinitely better.
1. End To Classism. So nearly everyone I know around my age in this area lives in basically the same pre furnished rented house, if they’re paying a lot the furniture looks quite nice, if they’re not it’ll smell a bit damp and has the odd hole. Basically you can walk into any house and instantly know what they’re paying and judge for your self if you’re socially better than them. I believe this is unfair, I believe that we should judge people not by the tatty state of there furniture but by the quality of there posters and there DVD / CD collection. I’m no historian, but I am vaguely aware that communism made similar attempts, and tried to get rid of this kind of class signifier. Where they went wrong, however, was to try and standardise everything***. How boring. No, no one wants to live in a generic living room, so instead let’s let creativity flow, let’s all spend our free time draping sheets over armchairs and turning sofas upside down. Let’s make tents out of cushions and barricades out of book shelves. I want all our furniture over turned and torn apart until it no longer has any value as furniture, but instead must be appreciated for the creativity and effectiveness as an awesome fort.
2. Privacy. So windows, yes I guess they were a good idea, the whole day light thing and being able to see what’s going on outside are all pretty handy traits. The trouble is though windows work both ways, people can look in at you whilst you’re looking out. I’m part of the anonymous internet generation.. by that I mean, I’m not always that sociable. I’m not that sociable and some times I have shameful TV taste that I don’t want the neighbours and passers by to know about. Curtains might be a temporary solution, but let’s face it, if I start closing the curtains every few hours; it’s going to look suspicious. Net curtains will work for some purposes but you can still see TV screens. The only real way to find privacy in the 21st century is to build a fort. Forts are all about secretness. The more secret a fort is the better, and let’s face it even if you have nothing to hide, pretending that you have can be really fun. Watching the lunchtime news under a duvet canopy with headphones, knowing the postman won’t even bother ringing your bell to deliver that parcel because it’s so obvious you’re “out” is incredibly exciting.****
3. Home Security. When I was growing up I never actually built forts, I built hide outs. I think this is probably because of my pacifist parents thinking that fort was too violent a word. However you’ll notice that I’m arguing that we build a fort. Why? well simple, reason 3 home security. Part of being a grown up now means that if a big nasty robber decides to break into the house, it’s now my job (as probably the biggest boy in the house) to defend us. What happened to the idea that Mum and Dad would always be able to protect you from everything? Despite my excellent Batman knowledge, I’m not sure how easily I can fend off these villains, so I need every advantage possible. Having an intricately built fort in the living room, with all kinds of escape hatches, hidden home alone style weapons and booby traps that only I, as architect of the fort, know the locations of would defiantly be an asset. These villains probably have all kinds of murdering experience, but when I’m hidden in my fort they’ll have no idea where I am, then when they least expect it, KAPOW I’ll pop out behind them with a water pistol filled with slippery oil. I’ll squirt them and the floor behind them. The shock will make them slide on the oil and they’ll fly all the way out of the house. Problem solved!
4. Exercise. One of the reasons why I’m a bit nervous about taking on all these villains is that I’m probably not in my peak physical shape, I’ve never been to a gym, and running seems incredibly boring. What I really need is some kind of obstacle in my living room that I had no choice but utilise several times a day. One of the arguments I’ve heard against building a fort in the living room is that it’d be like having a “blinking obstacle course in the way.” Well I think it’s in the whole homes interest that we are able to defend our selves against any attack, therefore the extra exercise we will get from this obstacle is indisputably a good thing! Anyone who doesn’t want it is surely in league with the murders and robbers and should be treated accordingly.
5. Squatter’s Rights. I only work part time*****, as a result I don’t earn that much, therefore paying rent seems to take a rather large amount out of my pocket. I’d rather not pay it to be honest. I don’t claim to understand the intricacies of squatters rights, but I know it has something to do with being allowed to live in a place for free if you stay there for a long time without being kicked out first. I quite like the idea of living in my home for free. I think if I just stopped paying the rent though Mr Shake the landlord would probably evict me fairly quickly. Now if I had an incredible fortress that I could hide in, filled with midnight feast supplies and spy holes, I’m sure I could hide from him with out being caught for literally hours. I’m sure that means that eventually squatter’s rights would be declared mine and I’d be able to live in my fort forever. Maybe I could even raise a family there?
6. Safety In Wartime. We live in uncertain times, terror attacks, a recent wave of revolutions, people over reacting to reality TV shows. War could break out at any moment, and with most WWII Anderson shelters turned into garden sheds, and 1950’s nuclear bunkers being kept top secret, a well built living room furniture fortress would probably be my place of choice to feel safe when the sirens go off. Shelters with walls made from pillows and blankets are going to make for a far more comfy retreat than the cold out door and underground shelters of the past, and let’s face it, in this age of advanced nuclear weaponry they’ll probably be just as effective.
7. Just Because. Building forts out of furniture is an awesome fun activity and anyone who disagrees is just a big loser face!
*My Batman knowledge is now amazing!
** These dinosaurs by the way tend to be locked in epic wars against robots, there pretty incredible!
*** Also maybe labour camps, mass executions and those kinds of things were a bad idea too? I think there traditionalist view of forts missed the point.
****Where as having a basement room with no curtains, where your woken up every day off by the postmen peering in your window and knocking on the glass to deliver your house mates parcel is not fun.
***** Perhaps the free time this leaves me with has contributed to my desire to build a fort
