Beefing up browsers - plug-ins and helper applications - Putting the Internet to Work - Internet/Web/Online Service Information - Column

Communications News, Oct, 1996 by Daniel Dern

It's the same with hard disks. Today's browsers start by demanding 5 to 10 MB for their files--not a lot, given the size and price of disks today, but when was the last time you upgraded disks for your users? Also, they'll need probably 5 to 20 MB of disk space for parking temp files created during the session (for each HTML, graphic, audio, and other file).

Don't forget disk space for plug-ins and helper apps, either; they'll chew up 5 to 50 MB depending on how many of these programs your users need.

SECURITY: JAVA, WORMS, MACRO VIRUSES

Next, there's a little matter of security.

Your users can now grab files in many more formats, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel. How safe are these? If they only want to view these files, you can alleviate most of the worry about macro viruses by using viewer helper apps (which don't trigger the virus) instead of the full program. But some users will suck down and use documents as is. Do their computers automatically scan for viruses? User A may practice "safe nets," but suppose User A forwards a macro-virus-laden Word file to User B, who opens it with Word, rather than the Word viewer?

Ditto Java. Will you require users to disable Java so that no applets will run? Or will you bite your nails and hope nothing bad happens?

This, of course, begs the question as to whether the main browser, helper apps, and plug-ins are safe to use (that is, robust and reliable, not buggy and crash-prone). Now is a good time to make sure all important data files (including bookmarks and hot lists) are backed up to external media.

Another danger posed by today's "exciting" Internet applications is that they'll consume disproportionate amounts of your Internet connection (the leased line between your site and your Internet service provider).

Network managers used to worry about users grabbing weather and radar maps from the Internet, as it only takes three or four users like this to max out an Internet connection.

Today, streaming applications like RealAudio and cyclic ones like PointCast gobble up bandwidth all day long. Sites have reported seeing 30% to 50% of their Internet link going to PointCast updates for a few dozen users, for example.

One answer is to upgrade your connection. Or you can ask your users to try to reduce unnecessary consumption.

TIME WASTED

The biggest danger linked with viruses, in my opinion, is theft of time. Making Internet resources, especially the Web, available from every desktop is like providing a pinball machine whose use is semi-justifiable. It's no longer possible to tell people, "Don't use the net, don't search the Web" if it's part of getting their job done. But it's so easy to follow hyperlinks, keep checking search results, and get lost in the Web for an hour or more.

There are no easy answers here. Your people need to learn how to use the Internet productively, and they will need to use it to be productive. But they'll also need to learn how to get OFF the Internet.

The moral, in short, for network and MIS management: If your users hadn't learned about these latest and greatest net-toys, would they miss them? And are you gaining productivity ... or losing it?