Even if your users aren't being tempted by forbidden fruits, the boss would likely be happier if they weren't spending so much time on eBay.

Web filtering tools such as Websense can help. These let you limit employees' access to particular Web sites. They also ensure that casual clickers aren't introducing worms or other problems into your network. Just remember to strike a balance between security and happiness on the job.

Many companies are endlessly buying disks and management software to store every last byte of data. But that's like adding a room to your house to store junk you don't use. Far better is to pursue a clear, structured records-management and retention strategy.

For all the focus on front ends for business users and links to back-end data sources, it's the actual data that really matters. Doing the initial cleanup, then building uniform processes for data organization and input, will improve the quality of your business information. Unless you take these steps, other projects that use this data for analysis will just be providing more people in your company with the same inaccurate view.

The pay-for-play model of many search Web sites has created a whole cottage industry of services that will help you bid for—and win—the top spot on search sites. While this is good for advertisers, it's bad for helping us find what we want—or what we don't yet know we want.

On the other hand, some of the old knowledge-management technologies are resurfacing in a practical way—as communities of knowledge about the Internet. Yahoo's acquisition of del.icio.us shows that the traditional portal folks are very interested in how we can build an Internet map by drawing on the bookmarks and experiences of others. Let's hope their enthusiasm translates into more practical search tools.