Mastering Administration
- The Desktop Tech: A Modern-Day Hermes
- User Accounts
- Computer Management
- Sharing System Resources
- The System Window
- More Useful Tools
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
In This Chapter
- The Desktop Tech: A Modern-Day Hermes
- User Accounts
- Computer Management
- Sharing System Resources
- The System Window
- More Useful Tools
The Desktop Tech: A Modern-Day Hermes
If you research the Greek god Hermes, you come to appreciate the similarities to your desktop administrators. He was the chief messenger between humans (computer users) and gods (network administrators). He was the swiftest—nobody could get there faster than Hermes—and was later called Mercury in Roman mythology. He was also called the "most shrewd and resourceful" of the gods. Yes, all these descriptions aptly fit our desktop admins.
Although the Control Panel tools (discussed in Chapter 2, "Mastering the Control Panel") are a necessity to an admin. It's the Administrative Tools specifically and the System tools that are your greatest allies. We are going to discuss the tools and then some of the important considerations within Vista for desktop admins to keep in mind.
Depending on the situation, the desktop admin (also called the desktop tech, hardware tech, and so forth) can be the put in the role of network admin for a small network that uses all Vista machines instead of servers (or a mixed Vista-XP-Other) environment. The admin can be responsible for a department of systems that are connected to a larger network, in which case the responsibility would most likely include troubleshooting desktop issues, printer connectivity issues, hardware problems, and so forth.
The website www.infotech.com gives some clear job descriptions for the technology world.
Regardless of the role you play, be it a professional administrator or an at-home PC guru, you should be prepared to use the tools at your disposal. It's true that being part of a larger network can tie your hands on some of the resolution options. You might just have to call in the network systems admins. But the focus here is purely on what Vista has to offer. What can you, the Vista Master, do to administer the system? Well, you start by adding other user accounts to the network (small office or home).