A while back I was lamenting the fact that Intel vPro technology promises to end the need (at least among businesses at the moment) for all of the creative low-tech fixes we all use when our PCs crawl onto the shoulder of the Internet and expire as if they've just ran out of electrons.  I asked you for your most useful low-tech fixes and many of you responded.  We also made this video that captured the secret tricks some San Franciscans use to pump life back into their under-the-weather PCs.

I asked my buddy Dave Buchholz in Intel’s internal IT group if he had any low-tech fixes.  Dave’s title is IT Technology Evangelist.  If his title conjures up the vision of someone perched atop an equipment cabinet with a tech manual cradled in one arm and soldering iron raised high in the other, well, that’s Dave.  He’s an accomplished IT professional and something of an IT historian as well.

Dave recalls years back that there was a period when the bearings in certain hard drives were typically the first thing to go.  An audible clicking noise was the giveaway to the problem.  Dave says he’d put the ailing drives in a freezer where the bearings would contract slightly as they froze. Once back on a computer, the chilled drives would spin just long enough to offload the data.  Dave must have been working for a appliance company at the time because his fix for a gummed-up keyboard was to run it through a dishwasher.  Dave, this was a specialized IT dishwasher?

I say low-tech, but when I asked readers to document their surefire fixes for getting their failed computers running again, solutions ranged from the spiritual (“shut down and restart and pray”) to "alchemy” (interestingly from an IT pro) with some tech solutions mixed in.

In the interest of archiving the responses for businesses who may not yet have vPro or consumers interested in bettering their computer capabilities, I’ve taken a shot below at cataloging those I deem key for quick reference.  I’ve placed them under appropriate tags that will make them easy to reference when the need arises.

vPro, of course, makes it possible to diagnose and fix problems even in computers that are turned off, or have toasted operating systems or hard drives, and it’s capabilities are now reaching the small-business world with Intel IT Director and even virtualized worlds.  Nonetheless, not everyone has vPro.

For that reason, this undoubtedly will become a watershed resource.  So, it’s important that it is complete and thoroughly thought through. If you want to propose a category to those below and add any solutions from the complete list of fixes into it or suggest fixes of your own, now is the time to append them in the comments before catastrophe strikes.

My thanks along with the appreciation of those who may eventually need this resource to all of you who contributed.

PC Fixes in Absence of Intel vPro Technology

KISS

Turn it off and on

Slightly Less Simple

Ctrl+Alt+Del, then task manager and ending a whole bunch of tasks so only a few are left. If that doesn't work, restart the computer…after two minutes.

KISS Plus

Turning it off and then turning it back on again. Then hitting it really hard and see if something gets knocked loose.

Wisdom from IT Pros (Apparently from different schools, however)

Extend the life of your computer - buy a desktop KVM and instead of chucking out the PC keep it as an internet-browsing "NetTop". Also useful for long-lasting downloads. Use the KVM to flick between your "main" PC and the NetTop

Black tape. Or sometimes a good kick will do.

Confidential – Not To Be Shared with the IT Department

Defrag, registration defrag and spyware removal

Complete Emotional Breakdown

Start crying, hit the delete button 1,000 times, and if all else fails call my sister and have her boyfriend save me from my tech catastrophe

Tears - it must be the salt or maybe the computer gods taking pity on me but it seems to work

Reboot, reboot, reboot!

Oxygen Depleted Environments

Worst comes to worst, I always just take the battery out of my laptop and let it "breathe" a bit before plugging it back in and booting it up

Try blowing air into any port - battery, power cord, usb port -- sometimes it actually works

Call In the Marines

Call my dad; he's some kind of a computer engineer

Pick the Right Man

Pawning it off on my boyfriend to fix!

Man Up and Do What Feels Right!

I've become very accustom to using hibernate and sleep modes. Why bother with a full shutdown and startup. But - IT support got a little upset…stating I was reckless, the system wasn't "made to do that", and so forth. So - back to the wasted time of shutdown and power-up

When Melt-Down (Structural or Emotional) Is Imminent

Close my eyes and hope the problem goes away

Call the geek squad – ask my children

Don’t Even Mess with It, Refresh

Accelerated upgrade cycle

TriActive, Inc., founded in 1997, has recently added AMT (vPro) capabilities to their software. This product is called Systems Management On Demand and you can read more about it here. In their own words, "TriActive was a pioneer of delivering Systems Management solutions using a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) model to organizations of all sizes for laptops, desktops, servers, and network devices." (from their website) Below we have provided some screen shots of their newly acquired AMT capabilities...

• Systems Management Overview Video
  • LAN and Web-based remote control & diagnostics
  • Intel vPro with AMT support when Microsoft Windows is not running
  • Asset hardware, software, security inventory with change history
  • Fully integrated SW delivery, Patch mgmt, License Compliance
• Case Studies - From Newsweek to the YMCA, they've aquired a pretty good range of customers.
  • "We were very keen on getting full infrastructure coverage almost instantaneously. TriActive's hosted service got us up and running within days. We did not have to install any software, and we have no software to maintain. TriActive promised us a solution that worked immediately, and that's what we got, without any of the hassles of typical software installations," says the CTO of Newsweek.

TriActive - Systems Management On Demand - Screen Shots

AMT Remote Options

AMT Status

AMT Event Log

Initiate SOL

SOL Boot to BIOS

AMT PowerOn

AMT PowerOff

Intel recently commissioned a study, conducted by Wipro Product Strategy and Services, that analyzed the costs of refreshing business PC fleets.  Wipro interviewed CIOs and IT professionals from 106 companies in the U.S., United Kingdom and Germany on many different aspects of the refresh equation, but three stood out as the most important to businesses – security, cost reduction and payback period.

Security is a big concern for businesses these days and their angst appears to be well founded.  According to the study, by the time a PC is four years old, security incidents have increased 52 percent from when it was new.  You don’t want to even peek at the data about what happens after that.

Software-based attacks, viruses and other threats continue to grow, of course, and that's the reason Intel has focused so much attention on incorporating new ways to defend against these attacks into its platforms. The 3X performance increase in the latest Intel Core2 processors help to keep antivirus software, patches and encryption from bogging down the system.  A host of features incorporated into Intel vPro technology have been aimed across the board at the points of vulnerability to protect applications, the platform and the network.

The big question keeping CFOs and CIOs awake at night revolves around how often to buy new PCs.  If we could only get by for one more year…. The study found that operational costs of four-year-old PCs can be reduced up to 52 percent for laptops and 46 percent for desktops by purchasing new systems.  In addition to rising maintenance costs, year four also is typically when warranties have expired and companies begin picking up the repair tab.

To make the data more meaningful, Wipro used the data from the companies polled to create a “model company.” The model company has 11,500 mobile PCs and 19,300 desktop computers at various ages.  For the first three years, acquisition and maintenance costs decline, but going into year four they begin to rise at a steepening rate.  The data shows that if the model company replaces its PCs at three years it saves $3 million versus holding off for just one more year.  The study also found that costs could be reduced another $3 million with vPro technology.  Wipro also determined that the model company would recoup its investment in 17 months by just purchasing new computers, but would it get its investment back in 10 months with vPro technology-based systems even with a $150 premium for the systems.

OK, I can feel the doubters – the study is by a reputable research company and appears objective, but it was commissioned by Intel…and it’s a PR guy interpreting it.  So, let’s get away from empirical evaluation and hear from someone whose business strategy reflects the results of the study to see how he’s faring.  Terry Jocelyn is president of Western Blue, a Northern California-based service and solution provider for more than 20 years.  Western Blue is implementing laptops and desktop systems based on Intel Core2 processors and vPro technology.  I had a chance to talk with him recently about how PC refresh and vPro technology worked into his business strategy and benefited his customers.

I attended an eye-opening press briefing the other day where George Thangadurai, strategic planning director for Intel’s Anti-Theft Program, Ponemon Institute founder Larry Ponemon; and Rex Rountree, an encryption expert from Intel’s IT group disclosed details from a study that calculated the actual cost of losing or having notebook computer stolen, a rapidly growing problem.  The basic message to the millions of us mobile workers was: Hang onto that laptop.

Chain it to you if you must because if it’s lost or stolen the bill to your company will be $49,264 on the average.  The “Cost of a Lost Notebook,” study was commissioned by Intel and conducted by the Ponemon Institute.  You can find an overview of the findings in the news release.

Intel undertook the study to better understand the problem and devise remedies that are simpler than handcuffing yourself to your notebook.  In January, Intel introduced Anti-Theft Technology as one way to help make laptops less appealing to thieves.  Anti-Theft Technology works by locking a computer reported lost or stolen either from a remote server or from policies embedded into the PC.  Once locked, the computer is useless until recovered at which time IT can issue the owner a password to make it functional once again.

Intel works with computer makers and service providers, such as Absolute, Lenovo, PGP and Phoenix to implement Anti-Theft Technology.  If used in conjunction with a hard-disk encryption service vendor, such as PGP, Anti-Theft Technology can house the encryption keys, which are normally stored on the hard disk, in the chipset.  If the PC turns up missing, the keys can be deleted.  So, even if a thief has the passwords to unencrypt the drive, they are useless and the data protected.  If the thief removes the hard disk from a locked computer in hopes of installing it in another computer to gain access to the data, he leaves the keys locked behind  But, back to the study.

That $50,000 cost, which I suspect has any CFO reading this clutching his chest, results, of course, from this potential compromise of data.  In fact, responding to a data breach is responsible for about 80 percent of the cost, according to the study.  The rest covers investigating the loss, the price tag for any lost intellectual property, legal expenses and making regulatory disclosures.  Let’s also not forget the disruption to an employee whose entire job function likely hinges on his computer.

So, what can a company do?  The study concludes that encryption helps.  It knocks about $20,000 of the bill.  Why doesn’t it eliminate all of the expense?  Encryption depends on who has access to the encryption credentials to decipher the data.  If they’ve somehow been compromised or you’re dealing with a disgruntled employee, then even the most elaborate cipher won’t help.  It also depends on employees actually using the encryption features and on which data they encrypt.

So, in the end, cutting the cost of missing laptops requires a multifaceted blend of technology and practices.  Rex added that training employees how to protect their notebooks goes a long way in cutting the risk as well.

After the briefing, I still had some questions and caught up with George, Larry and Rex for a chat.  If you’d like to listen to the briefing, it’s available at 1-800-475-6701, conference ID# 997098.

Ever had a laptop stolen or have any thoughts on preventing theft?  I’m sure everyone would be interested in your comments.

Intel and Symantec have landed another punch on the chin of excess energy use. In an enhancement akin to putting a horseshoe in a boxing glove, Symantec’s new Altiris Client Management Suite 7.0 takes advantage of Intel vPro technology’s latest capability to extend IT’s reach outside the corporate firewall.

As a result, IT can literally shut the lights out on the PCs that were previously bobbing and weaving just outside its reach. Many companies have an always-on rule – everyone has to leave their computers glow all night so IT can perform routine maintenance, install patches and other tasks.  Of course, this makes electric bills soar and leaves an enormous carbon footprint.

With advent of vPro three years ago, Altiris Management Suite users began turning off PCs when not in use. Intel vPro enable IT to turn them back on remotely just long enough for the task at hand and then turn them off.  However, this was only as long as the PCs were on the corporate network.

With the latest version of vPro, the firewall is no longer an obstacle with a couple of benefits.  First is extending IT’s reach, but second is enabling those remote end-users to place a fast call for help.  With a few keystrokes, a telecommuter or traveler with computer trouble now can immediately connect with IT for a fix.  But, of course, wasted energy isn’t the only opponent IT is nose to nose with these days.

The shrinking IT budget has a number of moves that has IT professionals worldwide feeling punch-drunk.  In this conversation, Intel Product Manager Tracie Zenti and Symantec Strategic Alliance Director Kevin Unbedacht discuss additional tactics, including a rather counterintuitive approach in a recession – spending money to save money.  I hear you, but give them a listen, especially how the State of Indiana saved $1.4 million.

Hey, you guys, those of you makin’ like you’re part of the décor in an airport lounge or imitating camouflage behind a fern in a hotel lobby waiting for some mark to get distracted so you can lift his laptop. I’m going to save you some major grief. I’m feeling like a snitch doing this since I’m an Intel flack, but even criminals deserve an inside tip once in awhile. So, listen up, swifty. Before you slip ‘n slide that notebook under your trench coat, look it up and down carefully. If it says Lenovo Thinkpad T400 anywhere on it just put it back and save yourself a raft of frustration. Here’s the inside skinny: Absolute Software, Lenovo and Intel ganged up to develop this diabolical security stuff that’s … well, I was going to say almost criminal. They took these Lenovo ThinkPad T400 notebooks and booby-trapped ‘em with Intel’s new Anti-Theft PC Protection and Absolute’s Computrace technology. Here’s what’s gonna happen if you’re a sucker enough to boost one of these units. First thing you’re gonna do is turn it on to see if you can crack the password. These guys are just waiting for you to do that. They’re probably standing behind the other fern laughing their beanies off. After a few missed tries this notebook’s going to shut down like an iron door on the hole. It won’t do nothin’. It becomes a brick. Good luck tryin’ to hawk that. It’s because of this Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection. But let’s say you’re smart enough not to try to crack the password. Instead, you’re sitting there admiring the family of five on the screensaver trying to figure out what it will go for on eBay when WHAM! the thing shuts down. Won’t turn back on or nothin’. That’s ‘cause of Absolute’s Computrace. What happened was that soon as the mark saw his computer flew the coop, he called the guys at Absolute and they fixed their servers, so as soon as that computer came online, they sent it a poison pill through the Internet and that laptop became, yep, a brick. You’d do life for sending a poison pill, but these mugs got good lawyers and get away with it. But let’s say you’re a real Einstein, and you’re casing the airport parking lot and see some stiff shove one of those T400s in his trunk, grab his suitcase and head for the terminal. You’re figuring he’s gonna be gone for days, long enough to fence that T400 before he even knows it’s gone. So, you’re hanging out in a back alley, whispering “Hey, you wanna good computer cheap?” to every Joe that strolls by, until you finally hook some patsy. But you hit the button to turn it on and nothing happens. Yeah, you guessed it. You’re peddling that brick, again. This is because these Lenovo, Absolute, Intel guys covered that angle, too. Turns out the pigeon’s computer geniuses at the office set that ThinkPad T400 so it has to check in regularly, like it’s on parole. If it misses even once, it gets the poison pill treatment thanks to Computrace and Intel Anti-theft PC Protection, and, of course, dem guys at Lenovo who stick that stuff into those ThinkPad T400s in the first place. In the end, filching these rigged T400s will drive you crazy. Worse than being in the cooler. I know what you’re thinking, I’ll just grab another brand of computer. All I can say is, Are ya feelin’ lucky, punk? ‘Cause Lenovo is gonna be putting this Computrace and Anti-Theft PC Protection in their other computers. And, well, this ain’t no exclusive deal, if you know what I mean. So, before you do something stupid, my pal Josh Hilliker spills all the beans here. Check it out and save yourself some time…maybe hard time, not to mention saving you’s from going crazy frustratin’ yourself.

Going with GoDaddy

GoDaddy is one of the more popular sources for SSL certificates that support remote configuration. But GoDaddy doesn't take security lightly and will do a good bit of homework to validate that you are authorizated to recieve a Deluxe High-Assurance certificate on behalf of your organization. In order to make your purchasing process smooth and successful, here are some tips.

Bill York wrote an excellent blog on how to order such a certificate from GoDaddy that can be found at: http://communities.intel.com/openport/blogs/proexpert/2008/03/03/steps-to-purchase-a-godaddy-certificate-for-the-purpose-of-vpro-remote-configuration. Start by reading this article to familiarize yourself with the technical steps to complete the order. There are some tips below for setting up a new account that you may want to refer to as you start to follow his steps.

GoDaddy performs a good deal of "due diligence" research before they will issue a Deluxe High-Assurance SSL certificate. You can help to ensure the ordering process goes smoothly by anticipating the GoDaddy requirements to facilitate their research.

The "checks" that GoDaddy needs to perform are: domain authorization, corporate document approval, and online and verbal phone verification. You can see the on-going status of these steps when you log into your GoDaddy account after placing your order. As each step is completed, the icon next to that step will change in the Certification Steps Status page, shown below:

Account Setup

But prior to even ordering your SSL certificate, if you have to create a new account, be sure to use your company's formal legal name. GoDaddy will attempt to look up the company in a database, such as your state's list of registered companies maintained by the Secretary of State to see if your company is established. If not found, you may need to supply a letter of authorization from the company on letterhead for "Corporate Documents Approval" (see below).

Also be careful with your company address and phone number. GoDaddy will lookup your company in a online phone directory for the "Corporate Phone Number Found" step. If your business and location are listed with a phone number where you can be reached, you are in good shape since they are going to want to call a published phone number and be transferred to your extension.

If you are in a remote office that is not listed in a directory, be prepared to supply a phone bill in your name where you can be reached instead. Your mobile or home phone may be used if you cannot get a transferred call from an office that resolves to your business in a db like Yellowpages.com or Yellowbook.com. If you know that your address and office number will not be found in an online directory, have a copy of a phone bill (mobile or home) on an account in your name available to fax to them.

When ordering your Deluxe High-Assurance SSL certificate, be sure to follow the instructions from the articles shown above to generate the CSR and specify the appropriate OU to equal "Intel(R) Client Setup Certificate". Once the order is placed, you can start to monitor the status of your order.

Administrative Approval

As soon as you place the order, check the WHOIS lookup for your domain by using the link on the form or another method. Then, call or email your internal administrative contact for the domain to let them know to expect an email from GoDaddy requesting authorization for the certificate. Ask that person in your organization to let you know when they've replied and log back in to check the status after they do. The first three steps, "CSR Being Generated", "WHOIS Lookup Being Performed", and "Awaiting Administrative Approval," should be completed at this point. If not, you may want to call GoDaddy Technical Support to let them know of your progress.

Corporate Document Approval

At that time while you have GoDaddy on the phone, inquire as to whether they can find your company in the Sec. of State database and if not, verify what will substitute for Corporate Document Approval. In some cases, be prepared to submit Articles of Incorporation or copies of a SEC filing at this stage if necessary.

In other cases, you will need to fax a letter that includes the date and CommonName for the certificate signed by the department manager that authorizes you getting the certificate. This manager's position or title will need to be verified through either an on-line directory on your company's web site or by calling your HR department or contact. If you know that person's position or title cannot be verified on-line by GoDaddy, include the phone number for HR in the letter.

Corporate Phone Number Found

At this point, GoDaddy may need to forward your corporate documents to an administrative researcher within GoDaddy and there may be a delay for the documents to be verified. After this is done, and your "Corporate Document Approval" step status changes from In Progress to Completed, you may want to call Technical Support to help them find the best phone number to reach you at in an online directory. If this doesn't work for your phone number, ask for the Request for Verification form that you can complete and fax with the phone bill described above.

Once they have found the right number to call or received your phone bill and Request for Verification form, all that is left is to wait for the call. Verbally verify your identity and soon the certificate will be issued. In some cases, GoDaddy has sent an additional certificate with a P7X file extension, along with instructions on how to install it. I've not seen a case where the installation of this was necessary, and it may only serve to confuse you. You should only need to install the SSL cert for your domain in accordance with the documentation for your management console or provisioning server such as Intel's Setup and Configuration Service (SCS).

Remember, your certificate needs to have a CN matching the domain suffix of the machine where it will be installed and an OU matching "Intel(R) Client Setup Certificate" in the details of the Subject field. Also, the cert will need to "chain up" to the GoDaddy trusted root cert with a thumbprint matching one of the pre-installed trusted root CA thumbprints in the AMT firmware. For more information about certificate format requirements, installation of this cert, and other PKI-related questions regarding remote configuration, as alway,s a good place to look online is here at the vPro Expert Center.

Best of luck in getting going with GoDaddy!

Ah...I love talking about virtualization. Virtualization feels like some non-reality spectrum. It is as if you can manipulate it to do anything with it. The topic just seems endless; technology is starting to run with the idea of that. With vPro, virtualization will be able to go farther. Remote manageability aids in the virtualization area. The thought of two different versions of a program being on the same client and the computer not being able to have them up is a thing of the past. They wouldn't even know that each other were there.

With the real world in mind, big companies with many different offices could stream private information to each other with vPro. This would prevent sensitive information from leaking out to the wrong hands. Hospitals would benefit from this because when their patients' files are in their data base they can just stream the whole data from their server to the client computer where the doctor is, again security would help aid against any tampering of sensitive documents.

Besides sending out vital and sensitive information, there are also necessary items that people would need that they could stream. School is a great area for that. They are implementing it in a few schools(St. Agnes Prep School Use emerge Compute Models With video). I know there are plenty of times where I have to carry three books and my back felt as if it was going to break. Also, I hated switching the books around depending on what day it was. I could have all my information on the laptop that I was carrying anyways would do me a lot more good.

With vPro, the universities will be able to have a few servers that will check on the laptops that are given out to the students. If there are any problems with the software (it wouldn't have to be just with the books, it could be with software that the university has rights to) that was being streamed the server computer can detect it and fix them remotely. As a college student, I would love to have all my information just through my computer. I wouldn't have to worry about trucking all my stuff everywhere and it's all centrally located in one area. For a company, it ensures that all information needed is gathered in one area that can be obtained by the employees and it can be relayed back and forth.

How many times have you gone to the ATM and it says that it's out of service? For the financial intuitions, how about all of those remote ATM that is difficult to go out and service the computer? With vPro the sever will be anywhere and it can service the client away from the machine, saving the financial institutes plenty because the service guy does not have to go out at all hours. They can check if there is anything wrong with it's software or hardware away from the computers within minutes.

vPro is able to extend the possibilities of virtualization. It has helped to be able communicate two (or more) computers together and talk to each other. knowing that we could go farther and farther with the technology of vPro and having Centrino2 coming out, it's only going to be even more endless. The excuse that the dog ate my homework will not work anymore. (I think I am going to try to find a virtual dog!)

Understanding vPro- Chapter 5: Enhanced Maintenance (I just want to wrap a big hug around AMT!!)

Understanding vPro: Chapter 4 vPro: What is with this trusted environment?

Understanding vPro: Chapter 3- Proactive Security- did Intel put a tiny guard dog in my computer???

“The Intern’s” Understanding vPro: Chapter 2-What is it used for/ why should I use it?