For years, systems administrators have used SFTP (the SSH File Transfer Protocol) to provide secure access to remote file systems. Based not on FTP, but on the Unix Secure Shell, SFTP allows the encrypted transfer of files over any network. While SFTP’s command options and version compatibility can make it a complicated tool, Magnetk’s ExpanDrive makes it easy to appreciate, offering Macintosh users a near-flawless way to mount and access remote servers as local disks.

Although Mac OS X has excellent built-in PDF support, there are some jobs that only Adobe’s Acrobat can do. The ability to combine existing documents, create editable forms, and encrypt sensitive data all make Acrobat an indispensable tool. It’s too bad, then, that the application has such a checkered history when it comes to stability. Acrobat 8 Professional, for instance, often crashes right out of the box. If it’s doing so in your environment, there are several ways to get things running smoothly again.

In many business environments, instant messaging has replaced email (and even the telephone) as the tool of choice for brief and casual contact. While easy, real-time chat has been embraced by most users, it still poses a number of challenges for network administrators. Most message services use no encryption by default, run your private conversations through their own servers, and offer no means to retain a permanent record of what could be important business communications. Running your own iChat Server can solve those problems.