Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the US software market plus it makes advances in Europe. We expect substantial number growth of Microsoft CRM implementations across South and Central America and the need for Microsoft CRM implementation, support, tuning, reporting, training services, especially in such countries as Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Chili, Costa Rica. In this small article we try to project US market lessons on Latin American business climate.
• Sales. Microsoft CRM in opposite to former CRM leaders, such as Siebel, Onyx, Saleslogix doesn’t need hard pushing sales efforts. It also should probably not be sold to the company top management, but rather to IT department enthusiasts, who are in charge for specific legacy business system support and data fixing. Microsoft CRM is very simple from business logic and intuitively understood by IT group. It is rather very simplified version of full-featured CRM, such as again Siebel.
• Installation. Microsoft CRM should be either hosted or installed by in-house IT group. And this is due to the fact, that MS CRM utilizes all the resent Microsoft technologies: MS Exchange Server 2003/2000, Active Directory, MS SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, MS Outlook client, Microsoft IIS, .Net components, etc. This makes installation sensitive to existing setup of the above components
• Implementation. The crucial in the implementation is Workflow design, which should be probably done by consultant with IT in-house specialist. This process doesn’t require a lot of business consulting knowledge and in our experience company middle management actually makes suggestions in the time of initial presentation. In the case of MS CRM Sales module – the workflow should organize leads processing up to the point of closing the deal and following invoicing. When workflow is realized sales team works as excellent orchestra.
• Customization. Usually MS CRM ties together existing legacy business systems and replaces large portion of them. Typical case – if you are freight forwarding client and have cargo tracking system – you should more likely have lookup from the MS CRM account screen to the customer current shipments statuses. This is usually made as small web application, created in Visual Studio.Net with MS CRM SDK and SQL queries to legacy database.
• Support. Because MS CRM is web application – it can be used by remote users and automate operations across the whole South America and even Worldwide. The same should be said about MS CRM support – your Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Partner can support your installation remotely from say office in San Pablo as if it is located across the street.
|W|P|114300722457244788|W|P|Microsoft CRM in Latin America: Implementation, Customization, Support - Overview for Consultant|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comWords we choose to describe things and phenomena often show our attitude towards what we say. They imperceptibly reflect our opinions and judgments, prejudices and preferences, moral convictions and beliefs. Whether we like it or not, good deal of words we use are biased, or should I say "slanted", --positively or negatively. Two people will call the same thing differently, depending on their points of view.
Look at this example: "Monitoring", "surveillance", "control", "data interception", "gathering evidence of wrongdoing" -- on the one hand; "sleuthing", "spying", "eavesdropping", "snooping", "peeping", "prying", "tapping"--on the other. A neutral "information gathering device" vs. negatively loaded "bug"--choice of words clearly shows whether we approve or disapprove it.
If you feel you have right to do so, you are "monitoring my kids' online behavior"; your resentful kids, however, might think you are to poking your nose into their lives. The same at work--but here it is you who is the person under surveillance, and your opinion might differ from the CEO's, who probably thinks that "workplace surveillance software improves employees' performance and prevents violations of security policy and corporate code of conduct" (or something similar).
Most of arguments on this issue start right here; the crucial point is whether those who perform monitoring are authorized to do so.
Computer monitoring and email monitoring have been in the limelight for several years, and public interest is not going to fade. The very issue of monitoring is extremely complicated. Here technical matters become directly connected with wide range of political, legal, economic and moral issues. The data interception technology has everything to do with a wide range of very serious matters--from identity theft to various aspects of national security.
The problem is that this technology is a double-edged sword. Software used for parental control or workplace surveillance often apply the same mechanisms as malicious programs used for data stealing and plain spying. But there are differences.
These two specific program functions are typical to spy programs:
First, preliminary configuration of the monitoring module (it is usually called "client" or "agent") is possible, with a compiled executable file as a result. This file, when installed, doesn't display any messages or create windows on the screen. It "hides itself" and "shows no signs of life". It is impossible to notice whether the particular PC is being secretly monitored or not. Of course, the user is not aware of being spied – until the consequences show up.
Second, spy software always has built-in means of remote installation; as a rule, the pre-configured module (agent) is installed into the target PC remotely. Then the files with obtained information are sent via local network or emailed to the person who installed the spy program.
Last, but not least – spyware is always used illicitly and behind the user's back – here monitoring is performed by a person who has no right for it. Unlike spyware, legally used monitoring programs are seldom used furtively. Though in many states it is officially permitted not to let employees know about monitoring, companies--especially large ones--rarely make a secret out of it.
Remove these two functions - and you will get a monitoring program instead of spy software. If it is impossible to pre-configure the monitoring module and install it remotely; if you should have administrator privilege to install the program, it is monitoring software, not spyware.
As we can see, monitoring products in themselves are neither good nor bad. Compare them with a knife--one may use it both for cutting cheese and for stabbing a neighbor to death. Tool is only a tool, but be careful--this one is of a dangerous kind.
|W|P|114300717232163367|W|P|S is for Spying, Surveillance -- and for Software as Well|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comThe software giants don't do everything and don't always produce the result that we want. At least if you're like me, and you're not where you would like to be (profitwise).
The fact is that there are tons of small software companies looking for niche markets with products that do some very unique things such as: gather auction data from ebay, send masses of mail (not intended for spamming), keep track of your bowling league stats and so much more. The majority of these are marketing their stuff as shareware.
If you haven't heard that word before, it means that you can download software and test drive it for a short time (generally a month). If it does what you want/need done then you must register (pay).
Pricewise most of it is far less expensive than the major vendors, though it is usually more specific in it's purpose. In other words they don't try to be everything to everyone.
The good part is that when a company narrows its' focus the results can be very impressive. If you're not selling fluff you can get a lot done.
Of course, when you look for something among hundreds of producers it can get a little complex. There are dozens of sites that host these programs and put them in categories to make them easier to find.
If this sounds interesting try a few of these links to get started. When you get to the site and find something that looks good just follow the links, download it to your hard disk, double click on it and follow the installation program. The next thing you know you have a new program.
|W|P|114300712130996977|W|P|Put Some Pizazz in Your Software Arsenal|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comSo, why should you use any O/R mapping tool? I am not talking about a specific tool but rather all O/R mapping tools in general. There are a number of reasons for using an O/R mapping tool but before I dive into that, let me give you a brief overview of what an O/R mapping tool really is.
An O/R mapping tool generates persistence objects for your .NET application. It is a modeling and code generation tool that connects to your database and reads its schema, then lets you map objects to database tables and views, specify single-row insert, update, load, and delete operations, queries and stored procedure calls, as methods to these objects. And, it also lets you define one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relationships between objects based on relationships between tables in the database. It then generates fully working persistence objects code for you.
There are many other features that a good O/R mapping tool provides but I’m keeping my description brief so I can talk more about the benefits.
Reason 1: Cuts down your development time
First benefit of an O/R mapping tool is that it saves you a ton of development time (20% to 50% time depending on your situation). Now, O/R mapping tool is not generating any “rocket science” code for you and you could definitely do it manually if you wanted. But, this is a lot of tedious work and you would definitely be happier if you didn’t have to do it yourself. Let’s do some simple math.
A typical application with 15-20 database tables has 30-50 objects (including domain and factory objects) and this is roughly 5000 to 10,000 lines of code. It is likely to take you a few weeks to a couple of months to develop and test this code. And, if your application has more tables than this (which many do), then just multiple the above numbers by that much.
On the other hand, an O/R Mapping tool would generate this code for you in a day or two. Even here, you need these 1-2 days primarily to determine your object mappings to the database. The actual code generation is instantaneous. So, your time saving is tremendous.
Reason 2: Produces better designed code
Second benefit of an O/R mapping tool is that it lets you produce better designed code than doing it yourself by-hand. I know what you’re thinking. You think you can do a better job than an O/R mapping tool because you write every aspect of your code. Some of you definitely can but not everyone. Consider this. An average development team has different levels of expertise and experience and not everybody is a good designer. As a result, they may not follow design patterns in their code and end up with a lesser quality code. And, if multiple developers are writing code, their code is very likely going to be inconsistent with each other. And, inconsistency itself is a big source of poor quality in an application’s code.
On the other hand, a good O/R mapping tool uses code templates that have excellent design because they are very likely designed and created by very senior (architect level) engineers. And, these code templates almost always follow known design patterns. So, the code that you’ll generate from an O/R mapping tool is very likely going to be better designed than code designed by your own development team.
Reason 3: You don’t have to be a .NET expert
Third benefit of using an O/R mapping tool is that you don’t have to be a .NET expert to develop your persistence code. As you know, data access code is critical for the overall performance of your application. If this code is designed and developed poorly, it can severely affect your application. So, if you developed this code by hand, you need to be an export of .NET, COM+, stateless components, and MTS.
However, if you use an O/R mapping tool, you can focus primarily on the “logical design” of your persistence objects including object mapping and the different types of interactions with the database including insert, update, load, delete, queries, stored procedure calls, relationships, and more. And, the O/R mapping tool would do the rest for it. It would ensure that the generated code follows all the best practices of writing stateless .NET components to run in COM+ and MTS.
Reason 4: Saves you testing time
Fourth benefit of an O/R mapping tool is that it reduces your testing effort dramatically. If you developed all the persistence code by hand, you would also be responsible for testing it yourself. And, as you know, testing is as much effort as development in any project.
On the other hand, if you generated code from an O/R mapping tool, it is coming from code templates that are very likely thoroughly tested by the software vendor itself (more so than you because it is their primary focus). And, on top of it, most likely hundreds or perhaps thousands of other customers are using this tool and have tested the code generated from this O/R mapping tool. As a result, many of the bugs that you might not find in your own testing have already been found and fixed in the generated code of an O/R mapping tool.
Reason 5: Simplifies your .NET development
If you have to write all the persistence code yourself, you’re bogged down into the details of ADO.NET, COM+, MTS, stateless .NET components, and more. And, you end up spending a lot of time in details that you really don’t need to. On the other hand, if you generate code from an O/R mapping tool, you get well design objects and you only need to deal with their public interface.
Below is an example of code you’ll write if you used an O/R mapping tool.
try {
Employees objInfo = new Employees();
EmployeesFactory objFactory = new EmployeesFactory();
objInfo.EmployeeID = EmployeeID;
objFactory.Load(objInfo);
// code here to use the “objInfo” object } catch(Exception ex) {
// code here to handle the exception
return; }
As you can see, the generated code is very simple to use than actually writing the .NET components yourself.
Many people have never heard of O/R mapping tools and many more have heard of them but are afraid to use them. I hope I have made a strong enough case here for you to give a serious consideration to O/R mapping for your project.
|W|P|114300707158844053|W|P|Five Reasons for Using an O/R Mapping Tool|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comWhether you need to close a sale, gather end-user feedback, show progress to your customer, or simply explain how your product works, sooner or later, you will need to demo your software product.
Over the years, I've had the opportunity to perform hundreds of demos to audiences of various sizes. I've also had the chance to attend demos hosted by others. The following represent the top 5 tips I've learned over the last decade regarding demos.
Manage Your Audience's Expectations
Have you ever gone to see a movie everyone raved about and walk out totally disappointed? More often than not, moviegoers feel let down not because the picture was bad, but rather because it was worse than they anticipated. It didn't meet their expectations.
Similarly, if people show up to a demo thinking they're about to see a finished product, they expect it to be virtually defect-free, aesthetically pleasing, and user-friendly. They wouldn't be impressed for example with a Web-based application that contains typos or JavaScript errors if they're under the impression it's going live in a week. However, if they know beforehand that you're presenting a throwaway prototype, this same audience will be much more lenient. And they will gladly provide much-needed feedback to help you with your work in progress.
Managing your audience's expectation is critical to a successful demo. If you want them to walk away from your presentation pleased, make sure you set the right expectations beforehand. Be honest with them. Don't try to oversell your demo. Just sell it, and try to over deliver.
One Bad Apple Spoils The Whole Bunch
All it takes to screw up a demo is one person. If someone starts negatively critiquing every single widget in your application or constantly interrupts you simply because he/she likes to hear the sound of his/her own voice, your demo will be a disaster. It is your job to ensure that these bad apples don't show up to your presentation.
Unless you're hosting a closed-door demo, it's very hard to control who will attend it. Omitting someone from your invitation list doesn't guarantee they won't hear about your demo through word-of-mouth and simply show up.
Here are a couple of ways to trick bad apples into not attending your demo:
I'm well aware that these two tips sound like an excerpt from Scott Adams's Dilbert And The Way Of The Weasel, but unless you feel comfortable telling your peers, superiors or customers not to show up to your demo, these two options are pretty much all you're left with.
Do A Practice Run
I attended a demo last week hosted by the CEO of a local start-up. After meeting with him at a trade show, he managed to convince me that his company had developed a technology that could solve one of my client's needs. I therefore agreed to give him 30 minutes of my time so he could demonstrate his product's capabilities.
I didn't need 30 minutes to realize I didn't want to do business with him. All I needed was 30 seconds.
This guy couldn't even log in his own Web-based application! He spent the first 10 minutes of the demo looking for a password.
Always do a practice run on the system that you're going to use during the actual demo. You might know the application like the palm of your hand, but if someone else has access to your demo system, who knows what shape it's in. They might have removed services, upgraded components or, as was the case with this CEO, changed the user credentials without informing you.
Unless you don't mind looking like a fool, always do a practice run on your demo system before presenting to your audience.
Pay Attention To Details
The hundreds of demos I've performed over the years have taught me that people pay more attention to how the application looks than what it does. You software might be the solution to world-hunger but if a member of your audience notices a typo in your GUI, he/she will point it out!
Readers are especially distracted by readable content – and that's a fact. Deal with it by carefully reviewing the text on your interface and in your graphics. If you don't have the time to review and finalize the text, use Lorem Ipsum.
Lorem Ipsum has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, thereby making it look like readable English yet not distracting your readers. I now develop new prototypes strictly with Lorem Ipsum and add actual text when and only when I have time to write content that I know won't become a subject of discussion at my next demo. I strongly advise you to do the same.
Point Out The (Obvious) Bugs
Software contains bugs. It's that simple. Anyone who doesn't agree with that statement clearly hasn't worked in the software industry for long. Although we sometimes strive for defect-free products, reality is complex systems always contain defects – even when they're generally available.
Doing a practice run before your demo will allow you to identify and resolve the showstoppers, and using Lorem Ipsum will deal with the nitty-gritty details that would otherwise distract your audience. But what about the other defects attributed to Murphy's Law?
In the event that an obvious bug does display itself during your demo, point it out!
In all likelihood, your audience will have already noticed the bug. Any attempt to hide it will give them the impression that you're not being honest. Consequently, they'll start to wonder what else you're trying to cover up.
Point out the bug, explain that you have a solution, confidently state that the fix will be implemented by a specific date, and move on. This sincere behavior will reassure your audience that (a) you're not trying to sweep one under the rug and (b) the defect will be resolved by the time they deploy your system.
I'm not advocating that you go hunting for bugs during your demo. If you can circumvent them by any means, please do so. But if a defect does surface during your presentation, don't pretend it doesn't exist. The only person you'll be kidding is yourself.
Conclusion
There you have it. Five tips for a great software demo.
Do these 5 tips represent all I've learned over the hundreds of demos I've hosted? Absolutely not! The hardest part about writing this article was probably limiting it to 5 tips. I could have easily thrown in 5 more tips such as (a) control the situation, and (b) always have a plan B. But the goal wasn't to point out all the tips that can help you out. Only the very top five!
|W|P|114300702559587419|W|P|Five Tips For A Great Software Demo|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comAre you lost in the mess of documents that get passed around your company, never knowing what the latest version is and which one you should work on without worrying if someone else has already made the same editions that you are making? Perhaps you have heard of collaboration software solutions such as Documentum to help your company manage its documents that are passed around. Documentum is a very good solution to this problem but is it the only one? In this article you will be presented with some basic information about the differences in collaboration software from Documentum and NextPage.
Collaboration software allows business professionals to work directly with other business professionals by allowing them to work together to create business documents, presentations, and budgets. Most collaboration software is centralized. This allows business professionals to work on the same documents at the same time from different locations. Some centralized collaboration software solutions include Groove Network, Microsoft SharePoint, Documentum, and Filenet.
There are a few advantages to using centralized collaboration software such as Documentum. The main advantage being that they work very well for team collaboration. Documentum’s software keeps all files, projects, and data in one centralized location that everyone who is working on the project can access. This allows them to review and update the same document that everyone else has used, which essentially keeps everyone working on the same page.
While the collaboration software solution provided by Documentum is very useful and beneficial, there are a few drawbacks to using it. The main disadvantage being that Documentum’s software requires the use of an IT infrastructure. Another potential drawback is that it requires an extensive amount of installation time. This can be a major inconvenience to those business professionals who are always busy and on the go.
Other collaboration software options out there also require everyone you work with to have the same software in order to share information. All of these drawbacks to centralized collaboration software can be very expensive and inconvenient.
NextPage provides an alternative solution to the centralized collaboration software. NextPage 1.5 Collaboration Software tracks documents with Digital Thread technology. Say, for instance, that you are working on your company’s budget. You want to make sure that your facts and figures are correct so you send your spreadsheet to several of your co-workers for review. They look over the spreadsheet and make the necessary changes. They then return their spreadsheet version to you, and with NextPage 1.5, you simply merge the document versions together into one. NextPage 1.5 lets you see all of this visually via a graphical version history. With the graphical version history, you would always know where the various versions of your spreadsheet are stored, what changes have been made, who has reviewed your spreadsheet, when the revisions were made, and how the revisions fit together. NextPage makes it easy to see where the document has been and what revisions have been made, eliminating the confusion of who did what and when it was done.
The major advantages to using NextPage’s collaboration software include
the following:
• Do NOT need a centralized server
• Do NOT need an IT infrastructure
• Installation can be done in a matter of minutes
• Will work with associates who are NOT NextPage subscribers
• Solves document management problems where they originate
If your company is getting lost in the mess of documents then you can benefit greatly by implementing a collaboration software solution. Solutions from Documentum or NextPage will enhance your overall organization and productivity. In this article I have got the ball rolling for you. All you need to do now is to see what solution will best fit your company. So get out there and get your company documents organized!
|W|P|114300698265589915|W|P|Does your Company have Documentum?|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comMicrosoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with Great Plains Software. Now Microsoft Business Solutions offers the following ERP applications: Navision (former Navision Attain), Microsoft Great Plains (former Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise), Solomon, Axapta. Formerly Navision had strong positions in Europe. Now it is being promoted in USA and Europe. Navision has a quite advanced manufacturing module.
We would like to give you manager, information and guidance concerning the Sales module of Navision
• Focus on Relationship with your Client - The main objective of Navision Sales is to improve your relationship with your client, therefore this module was designed to store and relate all information concerning transactions with a certain client, or group of customers.
• Marketing Tools - The Sales Module also gathers and filters important information pertaining to Marketing decision making, based on your company's criteria and set up, the system is prepared to provide only the truly relevant data.
• Task lists – The best way to have control over the tasks given to your employees. They know what they have to do, and management knows whether they have completed it or not. Being that these lists can be automatically updated, based on activities performed throughout the system, and also with Microsoft Outlook interaction.
• Opportunity Management – The Sales Module can even control and flag your opportunities, including substitute products, sales campaigns, discounts based on product and customer (or families of products and customers).
Reporting Options - Aside from the powerful internal reporting tool which requires an in-depth knowledge of C/SIDE to make it useful the other options are:
• Jet Reports- Jet Reports is a complete reporting package utilizing Microsoft Excel. Using Excel you can create reports on any table of data from within any granule in Navision.
• C/ODBC - Using the ODBC driver, the entire Microsoft office suite and programs such as Crystal Reports can access the database. I would recommend using this tool for occasional reporting requests only. If you need to pull data out of the Navision database on a regular basis one of the other options is a better choice
• Business Analytics (SQL Server Required) - Using Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) from Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000, Business Analytics organizes all of your business data into information units called cubes. Using a familiar Microsoft Outlook®-style interface, Business Analytics presents this information to your desk top where easy to use analytical tools allow you to carry out targeted analysis that is tailored by you, for you
• XBRL - Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for Navision enables simple and dependable distribution of all a company’s financial information and ensures smooth and accurate data transfer. XBRL is an XML-based specification that uses accepted financial reporting standards and practices to export financial reports across all software and technologies, including the Internet
|W|P|114300694697356904|W|P|Navision Sales Module & Reporting: Jet Reports, C/ODBC, XBRL, Business Analytics - highlights|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comMicrosoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies as well as Navision (which has very good positions in Europe and emerging markets where it can be easily localized). Great Plains Inventory control is pretty robust and here we would like to give you highlights on standard functionality as well as what could be added to its standard features.
Historically Great Plains Dynamics / eEnterprise was designed with modules structure with very clear ERP workflow – Inventory control had a link to General Ledger and was interacting with Sales Order Processing, Invoicing, later on with Purchase Order Processing (it was some development and unsuccessful marriage with Intellisol Purchase Order Processing third party module), Project Accounting and Manufacturing set. Inventory control has addition in the form of Bill of Materials module (we see the whole spectrum of downsizing manufacturing companies, who are switching from full-featured manufacturing to Great Plains Inventory control with Bill of Materials). Features:
• Inventory Allocation – from SOP Sales Order, Invoice you can automatically of manually allocate Inventory items
• Sales Item, Service, Misc Charge, Flat Fee, etc – these are types of the Inventory items.
• Serial and Lot Number tracking – serial number is unique, while Lot Number might be assigned to the lot of items
• LIFO, FIFO, Average with Periodic or Perpetual – these terms should be familiar to accountant
• Inventory Class – you can group items into the class and have reporting in ReportWriter or just Crystal Reports to summarize by inventory class
• Kit – item might be a set of items – or a kit
• Substitute items – you can have two (GP version 7.5 and 8.0)
• ABC Codes – is you are familiar with replenishment or manufacturing
• Accounts distribution – Great Plains first look if you specify accounts on the item level, then if these are empty – it look at the class level and then to Setup->Posting->Posting Accounts
• Inventory Count – this nice feature was added several years ago with version 5.0
Add-Ons:
• Barcoding – you have to check with your Microsoft Great Plains Partner which third party solution fits to your needs.
• Manufacturing – Great Plains Software bought Icontrol Manufacturing and integrated it into Great Plains about 8 years ago and now it is seamlessly integrated with Inventory Control module
• Web front – there are eConnect (SDK for eCommerce developer), eOrder, and other eXXX series products that you could deploy. There is a good chance that you will have to develop custom web-interface to your Great Plains back end
|W|P|114300690899282165|W|P|Microsoft Great Plains Inventory Control - Overview For Consultant|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comMicrosoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies as well as Navision (which has very good positions in Europe and emerging markets where it can be easily localized). Great Plains Inventory control is pretty robust and here we would like to give you highlights on standard functionality as well as what could be added to its standard features.
Historically Great Plains Dynamics / eEnterprise was designed with modules structure with very clear ERP workflow – Inventory Control, Sales Order Processing (SOP), Purchase Order Processing (POP), Project Accounting (PA), US Payroll, etc. were posting transactions all the way to or through GL, creating double entry GL transactions with audit trail back to original records in corresponding modules
Features:
• Account Segment Structure – Great Plains GL allows you to have up to two segments with maximum 60 characters account length. You use segments to sort by Account, Unit, Location, etc. You will find segment structure design useful when you design reports in FRx or ReportWriter
• GL Multicurrency – was realized more than 10 years ago. All multicurrency transactions from modules are posted to GL as multicurrency GL transactions.
• Unit and Variable Allocation Accounts – these are for tracking units – if you use just GP GL – you can have primitive count of your Fixed Assets as Unit accounts, for example
• Quick Journal – you can create transaction template in Quick Journal and then use it to expedite transaction entry
• Batch Posting – is useful when you want to post group of transaction upon the approval
• Routines: Period Consolidation, Year End Closing, Multicurrency revaluation – we recommend backup prior to these routines
• Summary and Detail current and historical inquiries – where you can restrict your inquiry by date, etc.
• FRx financial reporting – this topic deserves special publication, you can have consolidated reports by multiple companies, when you use reporting tree, plus you can pull info from MS Excel
• Clearing Transactions – these will allow you to reverse GL transaction
|W|P|114300687302437100|W|P|Microsoft Great Plains GL: General Ledger - Overview For Consultant|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comIf you are in a business that passes documents around to be reviewed and edited over and over before they are ready to be posted for advertising or for a client, then you have probably already heard of a software solution to help keep your “floating” documents organized from Groove Network. You may not be aware that there is another option out there. In this article you will be presented with some basic information about the differences in collaboration software from Groove Network and NextPage.
Idea behind collaboration software.
The central idea behind having collaboration software is that it allows business professionals to work directly with other business professionals by allowing them to work together to create business documents, presentations, and budgets. Most collaboration software is centralized. This allows business professionals to work on the same documents at the same time from different locations. Some centralized collaboration software solutions include Groove Network, Microsoft SharePoint, Documentum, and Filenet.
Groove Network Advantages.
There are a few advantages to using centralized collaboration software such as Groove Network. The main advantage being that they work very well for team collaboration. Groove Network’s software keeps all files, projects, and data in one centralized location that everyone who is working on the project can access. This allows them to review and update the same document that everyone else has used, which essentially keeps everyone working on the same page.
Drawbacks to Groove Network.
While the collaboration software solution provided by Groove Network is very useful and beneficial, there are a few drawbacks to using it. The main disadvantage being that Groove Network’s software requires the use of an IT infrastructure. Another potential drawback is that it requires an extensive amount of installation time. Other collaboration software options out there also require everyone you work with to have the same software in order to share information. All of these drawbacks to centralized collaboration software can be very expensive and inconvenient.
Are there any other options?
An alternative solution to the centralized collaboration software is NextPage. NextPage 1.5 Collaboration Software tracks documents with Digital Thread technology. Say, for instance, that you are working on your company’s budget. You want to make sure that your facts and figures are correct so you send your spreadsheet to several of your co-workers for review. They look over the spreadsheet and make the necessary changes. They then return their spreadsheet version to you, and with NextPage 1.5, you simply merge the document versions together into one. NextPage 1.5 lets you see all of this visually via a graphical version history. With the graphical version history, you would always know where the various versions of your spreadsheet are stored, what changes have been made, who has reviewed your spreadsheet, when the revisions were made, and how the revisions fit together. NextPage makes it easy to see where the document has been and what revisions have been made.
So what are the major advantages of using NextPage?
The major advantages to using NextPage’s collaboration software include the following:
• Do NOT need a centralized server
• Do NOT need an IT infrastructure
• Installation can be done in a matter of minutes
• Will work with associates who are NOT NextPage subscribers
• Solves document management problems where they originate
In conclusion, if you are in a business that could greatly benefit from using collaboration software, look at and evaluate the possible software options out there and see which one will be of the most benefit to you in your company. I have presented a few ideas for you to think about and get you started in your decision. So get out there and organize your document management!
|W|P|114300683360821801|W|P|Groove Network. Are you in it?|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comVince Lombardi once said that, “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” If this is the case, then what do we need to do in order to insure success in our companies? How can we combine the efforts of each individual as Mr. Lombardi said was so key to the success of a particular organization? While there are many possible solutions to these questions, I have found something that will help your company become more organized, and your employees more unified in their work. I am talking about groupware.
What is Groupware?
Groupware is software that facilitates the communication between the members of a network workgroup. It allows people within a company, whether they are physically in the same location or in several locations all over the world, to share documents, information, and data. It allows them to collaborate on ideas and projects, by allowing them to essentially work on the same page at the same time. With groupware there is no limit to the number of people that can work on the same project without creating duplicate ideas and work. Since groupware can track all document information, you will never wonder if you are using the latest version of a document.
What about CSCW?
If you have ever heard anything about groupware, you have probably also heard of CSCW. CSCW stands for Computer Supported Cooperative Work and is the study of groupware, i.e. how it is designed, developed, adopted, and used. People that are involved with the study of CSCW not only include software designers and computer scientists, but also researchers and people that study organizational behavior.
How does Groupware differ from the Traditional User Interface?
Where a traditional user interface generally focuses on the use of only one person, groupware relates to groups and understanding how people work and function in a group. Groupware is also more focused on the ease of use for the user because the system must be more responsive as the pace of a particular application is generally driven by the pace of the conversation. Other factors, such as the size of the group, and the roles that people play are taken into consideration when designing groupware.
What can Groupware do for you?
Groupware has many functions and can be a very useful tool to keep your company organized and your employees working in unity. While there are many advantages to using groupware I have listed a few key ideas below. By having some sort of groupware in your company you can allow your employees to:
• Share information
• Keep common schedules
• Manage e-mail
• Maintain bulletin boards
• Have several people work on one document
• Write Collectively
• Hold real-time network meetings
• Share files
• Share calendars
• Share database access
• Share spreadsheets
• Have electronic conferencing
• Have cooperative project management
As you can see, there are several advantages to using groupware to keep your company more organized and unified. Groupware will allow your employees to collaborate on information, ideas, and many other facets of their work and allow them to be more effective, productive, and organized. We already know that when we combine the efforts of each individual in an organization, we will see greater achievements and more success. If your company could benefit from groupware, then I encourage you to find out more about it and explore different possibilities to see which one will fit your needs the best. It will be one of the best decisions you will make with regard to the organization of your company documents, ideas, and information.
|W|P|114300678676247390|W|P|What is Groupware?|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comWhat is Spyware?
Spyware monitors your surfing habits and sends the data off to some remote server in cyberland. Your computer can get infected with spyware easily by visiting a web page or installing a software program. Kazza is a classic example of a free software download riddled with spyware. More info here: http://compactURL.com/sdft
Spyware Detection Alert
Every week I do a full system scan with Norton Internet Security Professional.
This version of Norton is the top of the range when it comes to detecting all manner of viruses including Trojan horses, spyware, scumware, joke programs and other programs which can cause harm or pose a security risk.
It is an excellent program and I believe my computer would be dead and buried if it was not for Norton.
My most recent scan detected a Trojan Horse called Download.Trojan. This little meanie will attempt to go to the originators site and download more Trojans, worms, viruses and execute them. Scary stuff but Norton nipped it in the bud before any problems were created.
Also, every day Norton detects threats contained within my incoming emails. It immediately removes the threats by either fixing the infected files or deleting infected emails. This can be a reason I can be accused of not answering emails. Bad luck I say to that.
Ever since I have been running Norton, I have not been scanning with Ad-Aware. I recently discovered that Anti-Virus programs, as good as they are, sometimes fail to detect all threats from a computer. So I did a full scan with Ad-Aware and was surprised to discover even more spyware on my system. So now I will also be scanning once a week with Ad-Aware.
Free Spyware Removal Software
Ad-Aware is so good and yet it is free. It is available from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/
There is more good free spyware detection programs available here: http://www.spybot.info/en/index.
Find out what Scumware is here: http://www.scumware.com
Symantec has an Online Virus Encyclopedia which after a little browse, should be enough motivation for anyone to get some kind of anti-virus and security program installed on their computer. Find the entire A-Z known viruses encyclopedia here: http://compactURL.com/qhdf
Conclusion
Do a full system scan at least every week. Download the latest Anti-Virus definitions as soon as they become available. Use more than one program to ensure all threats are detected and removed immediately. Always enable your anti-virus and security program to scan all incoming and outgoing emails.
If you do not have the very best anti-virus protection, do not complain if your emails get no response. I allow my anti-virus program to delete all infected emails along with any attachments.
|W|P|114300673984466401|W|P|Free Program Removes Spyware not Detected by Premium Security Scan|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comeStore Advantage allows front-office applications to communicate with back-office business environments. It has a built-in support for electronic payment processing, and serves as a core integration platform for Nodus Technologies front-to-back office connectivity suites including RMS and CRM Advantage.
eStore Advantage for Microsoft Business Solutions-Great Plains leverages Microsoft eConnect to provide seamless integration into Great Plains back office. Here are some of the highlights of eStore Advantage, and how it extends eConnect’s EAI interface to provide a complete end-to-end solution.
Reduced Deployment Time:
Microsoft eConnect is a powerful tool for Great Plains back office integrations. Although it provides a robust XML interface, the system integrators still need to be familiar with MBS Great Plains table structures and field names. eStore Advantage simplifies Microsoft eConnect’s XML document interface by providing an easy to use business object layer. Application developers don’t have to know about Great Plains or eConnect, they just utilize the provided objects to implement their business logic. All the underlying integration issues are handled by eStore Advantage, thus reducing the deployment time and the learning curve associated with eConnect implementations.
Connected / Disconnected Modes:
The eStore Advantage framework is designed to operate in both disconnected and connected environments. In disconnected mode information is exchanged through Nodus Web Service hosted at the back office, in cases where web service is down or not available, messages are queued at the front office till the communication is restored. In connected mode all the data follows to the back office without being queued, however the web service can still be deployed if deemed necessary.
XML-based Architecture:
Designed for easy maintenance and durability eStore Advantage Business Objects utilize XML for serialization, queuing and data transport between front and back office environments. It not only offers existing storefronts, web solutions, and custom applications the ability to integrate with back office environment, but also provides developers a powerful infrastructure for their electronic commerce and enterprise applications. Customers don’t have to worry about different eConnect intrinsic XML documents types and field names. They have the flexibility to define their own fields, and customize how they are mapped to eConnect documents. In addition they have the ability to access custom tables defined within Great Plains or an external database.
Simplified Integration - Helps You Focus on Business Level Issues:
In short eStore Advantage significantly decreases implementation time from months to days, enabling customers to focus on business logic and application development rather than integration issues. eStore Advantage for Great Plains comes pre-packaged with Credit Card Advantage and Microsoft eConnect Runtime providing a complete solution that’s both practical and cost effective.
For more information contact Nodus Technologies, Inc.
(909) 482-4701
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Does eStore Advantage come with eConnect?
A: Yes. eStore Advantage comes pre-packaged with Microsoft eConnect for ISV.
Q: What documents are supported by eStore Advantage?
A: Current release of eStore Advantage provides objects for SOP, Inventory, Cash Receipts, Purchase Orders and Customer Maintenance.
Q: How can we access information from other modules not supported by eStore Advantage?
A: eStore Business Objects include a DataSet object, which can be configured to access any eConnect XML Document. In addition you can use the same DataSet object to get information from custom tables defined in Great Plains database.
Q: Can I process electronic payment using eStore Advantage?
A: eStore Advantage has a built-in support for processing electronic payments. Using our transaction server you can process credit cards, echecks and ACH transactions through variety of payment gateways. The approved transactions are added as payment lines to new or existing SOP transaction and carried over to Great Plains.
Q: What if we want to pre-authorize credit cards from the web site, and charge them later upon shipment?
A: When processing pre-authorizations through eStore Advantage, the payment information is saved in Nodus-specific tables. No payment lines are created for the associated order or invoice. When shipping department is ready to fulfill the order they use Nodus’ Credit Card Advantage to charge the credit card. This automatically creates the payment line and sets the amount received.
Q: Is it possible to migrate from Microsoft eCommerce to eStore Advantage?
A: Yes. Microsoft eCommerce uses a disconnected model, where Front and Back Offices are kept in-sync through Business Document Exchange (BDX) messaging. By replacing the BDX components with Nodus Web Service, and modifying Front Office Commerce Server pipeline to use eStore Business Objects, we can provide the same integration using Nodus’ eStore Advantage and Microsoft eConnect.
|W|P|114300669610687042|W|P|eStore Advantage - Extending Microsoft eConnect for MBS Great Plains|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comEvery day millions of new web documents emerge on the Internet, and the amount of web management tools is growing simultaneously. These tools are usually referred to as Content Management Systems, CMS for short. If you have a web site and still do not use any CMS, you will definitely face a choice to buy or to develop an enterprise content management solution in the near future. What would you do if you wanted to develop a CMS, your own software that has a WYSIWYG editor and perfectly meets all your requirements and security standards? Can this task be fulfilled? Which ROI should you expect? You will have to answer all those questions all by yourself. Your chance to success can be increased if you gain an understanding of basics of a web content management system.
There are two models of any Content Management System. For visitors, the CMS displays web site content. Let us call it a site presentation mode. In admin mode a web master or a site administrator can update content and manage structure and templates. Here we speak about the insides of the website, i.e. the web site’s admin mode.
Every page of the site is a web document that has its own address. The web site is a set of such hyperlinked documents. To make the web site user-friendly links to other documents and web services are displayed in various navigation bars and menus according to their logical interconnection. That is how the site structure is created. The document structure presupposes some categories of documents, identical by their logical architecture and presentation.
So, in admin mode the CMS presents the interface with categorized documents and the interface for document structure. The former will contain web document templates determining their logical architecture and presentation. The latter, structure interface, enables to update content and add, edit and delete documents, as well as set related pages. The way your CMS assigns the document structure of your web site is up to you. The simplest and the most common way is to make a hierarchical structure tree. We all saw it in site maps. However, we should keep in mind that the web site may require another language version in the future. Accordingly, the site will lie as the root, and language versions will be its branches.
The document structure interface allows managing web document attributes (name, URI, pointer to template, etc.). An attentive reader shall ask “And what about the document contents?”
As said above, the document template determines document presentation and its architecture. So, the document is not the data. In order to get some data and then put it as content into a web document, the system needs a template. As a result, a next interface for content query can be generated for example, name field, summary field, and WYSIWYG editor for the text body and image upload field.
It is clear that presentation can be done not only in HTML, but XML also. If you use XML in templates, you can manipulate Flash documents and update Flash sites.
This article can't cover all the questions that can arise during Content Management System's implementation. When assembling
a programming core for your web solution, you should be certain to think of template pointers syntax and development of other
Internet services and modules. However, XML Sapiens Specification, developed by Red Graphic Systems, gives a detailed explanation how it works.|W|P|114300660438704658|W|P|How to Make Own CMS|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comIntro This concise article will tell you in plain English how you can promote your software easily and effectively.
Submit your software I recommend submitting your software to upload.com. It costs $79 dollars a year, but is well worth it. It will display your product on download.com and its partner network made up of 20 other major download sites. Download.com is so popular that if your product was only listed on download.com it would still be worth the yearly fee.
Use Rudenko's (submit.rudenko.com) software submission service to submit your software to hundreds of software archives. Unlike auto-submit programs, Rudenko has employees manually submit your software to each archive so it is less likely to be rejected.
Rudenko's software submission service is also beneficial because most of the software archives will have a link to your website. Relevant pages that link to your website increase your link popularity. The higher your link popularity the better your search engine ranking will be, especially in Google. Rudenko's software submission service costs $70 and if you include "David Mahler - 10% discount" in the comment field you will receive 10% off.
Promote through your website If you have a website than you can promote your software for free by utilizing effective search engine optimization techniques.
The two key factors for search engine optimization are effective titles and clear body text. Make sure that the titles are relevant, unique to each page, and include key phrases that are likely to be searched. Body text should be clear, concise and saturated with key phrases. Feel free to add your key phrase as many times as it seems natural to do so. Before you publish your masterpiece, test your website copy by reading it out loud to yourself or to a friend. If it sounds awkward you probably need to take a few of those key phrases out. Remember it is important to write for both people and search engines.
For more information on search engine optimization I highly recommend highrankings.com.
Have someone else do the work Websites like shareit.com and cj.com allow you to partner with affiliates that distribute your software for you. This is an easy way to get your product out there but you can expect to pay a commission to the affiliate.
Conclusion Whether you are a sole proprietor or a major corporation, these software marketing techniques will be effective in promoting your software.
|W|P|114292131915715121|W|P|Guide to Software Marketing|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comHave you ever noticed that when you look at your browser favorites menu or the address bar, some entries have their own little icon beside their URL?
It's called a "Favicon" (a graphic file with a .ico extension) and it's placed in the root directory of the web site. Everytime you bookmark a site that has its own favicon.ico file, it is added to your browser, and it will be visible from then on in the favorites menu and in the address bar.
At the beginning, only large websites had a favicon, but now you too can create one and use it to brand your website. The first thing you have to do is to create your favicon. To be displayed by browsers, it must have a size of 16x16 pixels. To create one, you can use a graphics program called Icon Forge (you can download a free trial version in CNET):
You can either create an icon from scratch, or import a 16x16 '.gif' or '.jpg' file and save it as a '.ico' file.
You will then have to save your icon with the default name of 'favicon.ico', and upload it to the root directory of your website (where your index page is). Finally, after that, you must associate your icon to your web page. You do that by including the following HTML code immediately after the HEAD tag of your page:
link REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="http://www.yourwebsite.com/favicon.ico"
Once you've done that, that's it. To try it out, go to your web page and add your page to your favorites. You should be able to see the favicon next to your bookmarked page title. Also, the next time you type your URL in the address bar, you will see your favicon to the left of the URL.
|W|P|114292127602263415|W|P|Brand Your Website's URL With a Favicon|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comIn this article you will find some background information about screensavers and their history. You will also learn how Windows screensavers differ from other programs and how you can use it to your own advantage. Also there are some tips for users owning laptops, notebooks or CD-burning devices.
Have you ever asked yourself a question like "What is a screensaver actually?" I did. And now I will gladly share the results of my investigation. As you can see easily, splitting the word "screensaver" into two words will give us the phrase "screen saver". This isn't a rocket science and it's clear that the phrase suggests our subject somehow saving the screen. So the word "screensaver" can be applied to some sort of good things that save the screen of our so much beloved baby-computer. But what does it mean exactly? Who is going to harm our computer screen? Who could be such a bad person? The answer lies in the exact definition of screensavers.
If you are a meticulous person then you can search the Internet and come up with some of the existing definitions. But don't hurry. I will list some of the most often found. Here they are:
The picture is getting clearer, isn't it? Let's make it plain. The "burn in" or "damage" used in these definitions refer us to the time before 90-ies. At that time many cathode ray tubes in TVs, computer monitors or elsewhere were prone to be damaged if the same pattern (e.g., the WordPerfect status line; the Pong score readout; or a TV channel-number display) was shown at the same position on the screen for very long periods of time. The phosphor on the screen would "fatigue" and that part of the screen would seem grayed out, even when the CRT was off.
TIP: Be careful when using a screensaver on a computer with an LCD screen (most laptops and notebooks). A pixel on an LCD screen is on when it's dark; therefore, blacking the screen as some screensavers do would cause more damage.
Eventually CRTs which were resistant to burn-in (and which sometimes went into sleep mode after a period of inactivity) were developed. But in the meantime, solution was found: home video game systems of the era (e.g., Atari 2600s) would, when not being played, change the screen every few seconds, to avoid burn-in; and computer screensaver programs were developed.
The first screensavers were simple screen blankers - they just set the screen to all black, but, in the best case of creeping featurism ever recorded, these tiny (often under 1K long) programs grew without regard to efficiency or even basic usefulness. At first, small, innocuous display hacks (generally on an almost-black screen) were added. Later, more complex effects appeared, including animations (often with sound effects!) of arbitrary length and complexity.
And now we live in the world full of fun and entertaining screensavers. Many of them produce amazing and very attractive effects. You can find a screensaver on any theme you like, download it, install and enjoy.
This means that a typical screensaver is a program. And it really is. But isn't there something different? Is there something that distinguishes a program running as screensaver from other typical programs? You're right, there is a bit of mystery. In order to demystify it we should plunge deeper into screensaver mechanics. But don't be afraid. It isn't complicated at all.
First, as you already know, screensavers are launched automatically by the operating system.
TIP: Be careful if you use CD-Burning devices regularly and your system is configured to launch screensaver after some period of inactivity. Some screensavers produce very sophisticated effects but for the price of intensive CPU load. If you leave your computer while CD-Burning software is working, screensaver will be launched. This can sometimes lead to the CD-R/RW disks burned improperly.
During their installation process screensavers are copied to the system directory (years ago users had even to copy screensavers by themselves). Once they are there, Windows finds them and puts in the list of available screensavers. You can see this list in the Display Properties dialog. But how does the system know that the program in its system directory is a screensaver? The answer is simple. Any screensaver program has a name ending with ".SCR" extension, while a typical program has the ".EXE" extension at the end. This is the first difference.
Second, almost every screensaver has a bunch of settings allowing you to change its appearance in many ways. This isn't a much difference because many typical programs have options and settings too. The difference lies in the way the user invokes configuration dialogs. Windows provides the only way to do it. It's the Display Properties dialog mentioned above. Other programs usually have their own buttons or menus to do that. Why are we talking about it? It's simple. The whole process means that the system has a way to communicate with screensavers: to launch them, preview and configure on your demand while other typical programs don't have it. Usually they are simply launched and that's all. This is the second difference.
So what? How can we use it to our own advantage? Imagine yourself downloading a new screensaver, running it and finding it rather amazing. The screensaver can be so amazing and entertaining, that you would like to show it running on your screen to the friend of yours. But wait. How do you do that? What if your system is configured to launch the screensaver after 5 minutes of inactivity only? Or after 10 minutes or even more? Will you wait for this eternity? You can say that there is always a way to launch the screensaver from the Dialog Properties. But in order to do that you should launch the dialog, find the Screen Savers tab and click the Preview button. Quite a lot of things to do. And if you are willing to demonstrate two or even more screensavers the things get complicated even more. And what if the screensaver you've found looks best when the whole desktop wallpaper is seen on the screen? The Display Properties dialog will simply destroy this unique beauty you were willing to share.
Now imagine that double-clicking an icon on your desktop could do all this. Simple action, no unnecessary dialogs. Sure, some preparation steps are needed. But they are done once. After that you can enjoy launching screensavers using icons as many times as you wish. Is it worth doing? Try it, the result can be very effective. Once you manage the process, you can proudly call yourself a "Professional Screensaver User". If you like the idea then there's the way to achieve it:
Now you can launch the screensaver at any time. Simply double-click the created icon. Enjoy! I will be glad if you feel a bit more control over the system.
|W|P|114292121718432198|W|P|Windows Screensavers Explained|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comDo you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an interesting screensaver and can't install it on your computer? This article will help you to never have it again.
Back to when Windows 95 started to find its home on many computers there was just half a dozen of screensavers preinstalled with the system. All you could do was selecting one of these. It was as simple as boring.
Luckily those times are left behind. Now we have hundreds of screensavers developed throughout the years and available for download. Finding a nice screensaver matching your taste and style can be a hard task. How much disappointing is it when you are unable to install the discovery on your computer then? I bet you know.
Often you come across a screensaver with an intriguing description and no screenshots. You are curios to see it in action. But: SLAP! You can't figure out the way to make it work on your system and you will never know what you have missed. What a pity! I know.
Well... Enough! Enough of this! There should be a way to make us, screensaver hunters, luckier. Keep reading. There's something that can open a whole new world of screensavers to you.
First, in order to fight this evil, we should find its roots. Why is it so that we have the problem? Mainly it's because there are several ways to distribute screensavers:
The self-extracting packages are the easiest to install. You just download the screensaver and double click it. Then the installation program starts and performs all the steps necessary to install the screensaver. That is, you have it ready for use just with a few mouse clicks.
You can recognize the ZIPped installation packages by their names. They have ".zip" at the end. Double clicking such files will probably get you nowhere unless you are well prepared.
The third category is represented by files with names ending with ".scr". Activating such file usually launches the screensaver. That's not bad. At least you can see what it's all about. But this way it won't appear in the list of available screensavers that the operating system starts if your computer goes to rest. That is, you have to use a little trick if you like the screensaver.
Now that the reason of our problems is a bit more obvious, I almost hear your question. Once the self-extracting packages are the easiest to install, why just not to stick with them? Okay, you are right. It makes a perfect sense. But you forget one important thing. Screensavers are created by programmers.
And programmers differ from other computer users in that they see everything from their very specific and technical point of view. It's not a problem for them to extract files from ZIPped packages as they work with them very often. It is rather natural for them to copy files into secret system folders that 80% of users didn't hear about and don't have to.
That's why they create screensavers and put them on download sites in the form that is hard to install for you. But don't hurry to blame them. They mostly do it unintentionally, not because they hate people who can't handle ZIP archives or bare screensaver files.
I know it because I am one of them. In fact (my face goes red here) my Rainy Screensaver ( http://www.elasticsystems.com/rainy/ ) was distributed as a ZIPped package until version 1.7. Thanks to the people who provided me with their feedback. I really don't see any reason to hurt those who use their computers as tools or source of entertainment. These people don't have to know all technical aspects.
I hope more and more screensaver writers will understand this and will make their screensavers easier for you to install. Meanwhile you yourself can get the knowledge needed to handle not so friendly installations without a problem. So let's get back to installing ZIPped packages and bare screensaver files.
* ZIPped installation packages
These ".zip" files are known as archives. It is very popular way to spread software and information over the net. They let you to "pack" many files into one that is much easier to download. They also use special methods known as compression to reduce the final size of the packed files and thus save your time and money spent downloading them.
In order to unpack (extract) files from a ZIPped package you should use a special program. Probably the most popular and easy to use is WinZip. You can download it from http://www.winzip.com. Windows XP has a built-in support for ".zip" files so, if you use Windows XP, there's no need for additional software.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that a ".zip" package usually contains a collection of files that should be extracted somewhere before you can use them. It doesn't matter what program you use to extract the files. Just follow its instructions to do it and put extracted files in the place of your choice. It's better to create a special folder for such cases. Alternatively you can use temporary folder provided by Windows.
Once the files are extracted you should examine them. If you see one named "Install.exe" or "Setup.exe" among them then you can double click it to complete the installation process. Even though archives are very convenient when used on a bunch of files, they can be used to pack a single file to reduce its size. So if you have extracted a single file with its name ending with ".scr" then you should keep reading.
* Bare screensaver files
As I have said before, these files have their name ending with ".scr". They are screensavers themselves. That is, they are the programs that create all these amazing effects when started. You can find some details about them in my article "Windows Screensavers Explained" at http://www.elasticsystems.com/articles.html .
The easiest known way to install ".scr" files is to right click on them and then choose "Install" from available menu options. Once you do this, Windows will set the screensaver as default and open Display Properties dialog where you can adjust screensaver's settings if you wish.
This way has some disadvantages though. First, you should be careful with where you keep the screensaver file. If you have put it in the temporary folder and it is likely to be deleted or moved somewhere else later, then the system won't find the screensaver anymore. So you'd better create a special folder for screensavers that you choose to install this way. Second, if you select another screensaver from the list in Display Properties dialog then Windows will forget any screensaver installed using the described method. That is, you will have to right click it and choose "Install" once and again.
Nevertheless, this way is very convenient if you just want to take a look at the screensaver, play with its settings and delete it. If you really like the screensaver and want it to brighten boring cloudy days then you'd better find a cozier place to keep it.
How do you find such place? It's easy. What you need is to drag the screensaver into your Windows folder. If you use Windows 95/98 or Windows Me then chances are this folder is on your drive C: and has a name of "Windows". If you use Windows NT/2000 or Windows XP then it's probably on your drive C: and is called "WINNT". Once you put the screensaver in this folder it will be available in the list of installed screensavers in Display Properties dialog. Now you can select it whenever you wish. Furthermore, you should worry no more about reinstalling it every time you change your mind and select another screensaver.
TIP: Sometimes you download a ZIPped installation package for screensaver, extract its contents to some folder and find there both "Setup.exe" (or "Install.exe") and ".scr" files. In this case double clicking "Install" or "Setup" is the preferred way. That's because the installation program will perform all the steps needed to install the screensaver like copying necessary files, updating system registry, providing uninstaller and so on. Simply copying the ".scr" file to Windows folder apparently won't do it.
Now that you have a few more useful tricks under your belt, you can install much more screensavers. Add here acquired confidence that those screensavers you like are ready to please you whenever you wish and there's a good reason to become a bit happier.
|W|P|114292117211209299|W|P|What You Should Know About Installing Screensavers|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comHere is some free software tools to help you build your own websites and create web products.
Learning new skills is not difficult. It just takes a bit of willingness to give it a go. You will feel great satisfaction knowing that you can do this stuff.
Zip Utility
HTML Editor
FTP Software
Screen Shot Software
Zip Utility
You just gotta have a zip utility if you intend to spend time on the Internet. I use Winzip for all my zipping and unzipping needs. It is fast and easy to use. If you would like to check out other zip utilities, go to download.com and do a search.
HTML Editor
To build web pages and eBooks, you'll need some kind of HTML editor. I use 1st Page 2000 for all my HTML editing. It is 100% Free for ever with all features working. This page and web site is being built with this editor.
After the editor is installed, you'll need some web pages to study. Search Google with the key words "free web page template". Don't worry, I just did it. Here is the search results.
Quick Lesson:
All I did to begin learning was to simply open up these templates and study the code from within the editor and try to relate it to what I could see on the actual web page. For example, here is a shot of code from within the HTML editor:
This is a screenshot of some code from this web page. Study the code and relate it to what you see on this page. The red and blue codes are commands which create a hyperlink and cause the link to open in a new browser window.
Take it easy. Learn one command at a time. It won't be long before you get some web pages happening.
When you are ready to learn some more commands, go to HTML Goodies for a good range of Free tutorials.
FTP Software
To transfer your web site to the Internet, you'll need an FTP program. Go to download.com to find several Free FTP programs available for download. I like WS_FTP because it is fast to learn and easy to use. Another popular program is CuteFTP.
Screen Shot Software
To capture images from your computer screen, you'll need a program that will cut the image quickly and easily. I use a freeware program called SRip32. No installation is required and it is very user friendly.
You can also do a search at Google for even more free screen capture software programs.
|W|P|114292113284406700|W|P|Free Software for Newbies and Web Developers|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comLinux essentials:
Linux hand in decreasing PC prices.
The PCs bundle the operating system. Linux being an open source operating system, means that the code that runs is open for everyone to see, work with, modify and develop their own innovative apps for it. The deal with this experimentation is that you have to share the knowledge you gained and the software you created with the public domain. So the operating system comes to you for free, or if there are some copyrighted application on it, you play up a bit. But this is nothing compared to the fortune people spend on OSs like windows. And a company bundles Linux and applications based on it with a computer, quite a bit of the software cost comes down.
Linux came into being about 11 years ago- it was developed by Linux Tornados of Finland along with a group of programmers from the open source software movement. Linux was mostly something only the geeks worked with. And yes, it was mostly about commands and programming. But over the years with so many Linux enthusiasts (about 50 million of them) working on it and sharing knowledge about it, quite a few versions have come up which are as easy to use as windows. And developers are still free to work with code and enhance it.
Linux is growing steadily year after year. With a passionate community backing it, with big companies Like IBM and HP pledging their support for it, it’s no wonder Linux- the wonder operating system for servers of the past, has also made it to the desktops of today. Not in a sweeping way yet, but in ways that will help you –the user. PC prices are already on their way down. And you get more choice with operating systems and applications. From being an OS only computer professionals had heard about, Linux, in a short time, has made a transition into the lucrative and high profile home PC segment. Most of the decision to switchover sounds very economical. From a measly base of a few thousand users, Linux now boasts of close to 50 million users, cracking the monolith of Microsoft’s monopoly.
Companies like IBM, HP and Dell have also taken to Linux in a big way. Microsoft doesn’t agree with the free concept at all-the software is free but the support isn't Windows code to outsiders so they could build on to it. Very recently though, the company has allowed part of the code to be opened up to some US government are vying with each other to get tech-savvy and help the citizens through e-governance, the opening up of the OS code is important, countries like India need a variety of regional language fonts and content to be created which can’t done without Microsoft’s help, if the choice is Windows. Since this isn’t happening much, they have gone ahead with adopting Linux.
Linux is based on the commercial OS, UNIX. All the OSs tries to pack in command line management of systems. System administrators of companies use command lines all the times as their lifeline, but it’s not really meant for regulars users. But UNIX and Linux are not all about just command line stuff. UNIX has had a graphical user interface for 30 years. In its 11 years Linux has always had always had a GUI too-in fact a choice of GUIs.
Linux Versions:
If there are so many people working on it. There’s likely to be many Linux versions too. Many companies working on Linux have come up with what are called Linux distributions. There are Linux versions that are compiled and packaged and released with various additional software.
The popular distributions or destroys include Red Hat Linux Mandrake Linux, Corel Linux SUSE Linux and Debian . it’s just like having different flavors of ice cream. True to the spirit of open source, if you download the distro from the company’s Website, it is free for use. But the distros are usally quite huge. If you are getting the distorts from the company, be ready to pay up a tiny bit. Companies compile the packages, make installation hassle free, bundle applications, add a manual, and extend any support you need. So they charge a fee for all this.
One note here though: the free in Linux stands for freedom of choice, to redistribute, to install a feature, freedom to modify the source code. That’s the spirit of Linux being free.
Linux better than other OS
Linux users won’t even bat an eyelid before they say an emphasis comes from a deep dislike of Microsoft’s practice of changing the earth for software. But a lot of it comes from the fact they are ready to swear upon-that Linux is more stable. There are no blue screens and no viruses to speak of. Linux has a better security support for multi-users, lets you set up a stable server, internet gateways etc, and still lets it-self to be used as a desktop workstation. Add to that it being free, and they argue that you don’t lose anything by giving it a try. You get free support on the Net quickly on any query you may have. And you don’t even have to wipe out your Windows. Just get Linux on a different hard disk partition and free to switch between the OSs as you please .
Myths about Linux
Installation:
Linux is hard to install, isn’t it? Not really. Most people haven’t ever installed Windows on their computers either-since it comes preloaded. Linux is as easy-some say easier-to install compared to Windows. You can install it through a graphical user interface like Windows. But what really stumps most people in installing Linux on a second partition on their hard disk, when they want to be able to use both operating systems.
A partition is a way of organizing space on your hard disk by creating virtual sections that are separate from each other. Most computers that are running Windows or MS DOS have one large chunk of space holding the OS. This space is the C drive. If you have a large hard disk, it’s likely that it has been divided up into smaller bits called partitions to help you organize your data better. These partitions are usually called D:, E: etc. you could have Linux on any of these.
Windows 98 creates a file system called FAT32 on the entire hard disk, DOS and Win95 use FAT16. Linux has many file systems-on the most popular is ext3. But you could have Linux installed on Fat32 partitions also.
Linux is geeky and based on text command
Linux has come a long way from being the system of geeks. It has an extremely advanced X Windows systems that has a complete graphical user interface-you know, like Windows. It also has a large number of window manager that let you work with different levels of customization of your desktop.
Linux has a robust character-cell interface where commands need to be typed in. x Windows is a free program that runs with Linux to provide a GUI where the mouse and keyboard can be used extensively. But the X system itself is quite primitive and needs a window manager, or a desktop environment- like GNOME or KDE- to be really usable. Window managers are programs that let you interact with the underlying X system and LinuxOS by relaying commands. The popular window managers are Sawfish, Enlightenment, Black box, after step and Window maker.
As for desktop managers, they have their own window manager and other tools that make you feel that you are working in Window! GNOME and KDE are the most popular of these. GNOME stands for GNU Network Model Environment and KDE for K desktop Environment. They have tools that allow drag and drop, have panels and taskbar- almost like clones of windows.
Hardware compatibility problem and few applications that run on Linux
Well, most new distributions will detect and configure your hardware in a jiffy, unless you have some really old or exotic piece of hardware. Only Win modems (internal modems driven by Window drivers) face problems.
As for software, there’s plenty. And most of it comes free-free for you to use, modify and configure according to your needs. Other packages are commercial and you have to buy the software-but this is mostly for the software and training you need, and not for the support and training you need, and not for the software itself. Sometimes, if you have the Windows version (as a doom) you can download a small program that will allow you to play the game in Linux. Here what’s available?
Office suites: Star Office, Open Office, Applixware, Corel WordPerfect
Graphics: GIMP, Corel Photo paint
Music: XMMS, Free amp, Real Player
Video: MTV, Xine
Games: FreeCiv, Tux racer, Doom, Quake, Heretic, Unreal
And the list is growing.
Linux varieties:
Windows applications in Linux
Some applications have been ported over to Linux, other run with a program called WINE (Wine is Not an Emulator). Crossover, commercially available software also lets you use your Windows programs Linux. VMWare is another program that lets you run Windows under Linux.
Bottom Line:
The cool thing about Linux is that most software is free, and you can legitimately use them without worrying about piracy. If you’re worried that Linux won‘t look as pretty as windows can, all you have to do is check out some of the cool Linux interfaces and Window managers. But you don’t find a lot of multimedia titles for Linux. And if you’re into a lot of these, Windows in the way to go. So if you have a PC that runs both, you can easily switch between the two, and get the best of both worlds.
|W|P|114292104754577530|W|P|Know Linux|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comIf you feel intimidated when someone tries to teach you something new on the computer, this article is for you!
In the course of my career, I’ve worked with many people who I knew were smart but were convinced that they couldn’t learn how to do new things on a computer. At some point, they’d convinced themselves that they weren’t one of those “computer people”. I would try to teach them how to do something that would make their work a lot easier or faster, and I could see them shut down immediately. “I can’t do stuff like that. I’m just not good at it.”
In a few cases, my colleagues were simply amazed that I knew how to do things like upload photos to the Internet or how to start a new folder in Windows. Some would tell me that I must have some special gift for technology. I would just laugh and tell them that nothing could be further from the truth! I have a degree in psychology. I’m not a math and science type of person, and if it weren’t for the patience of my tech-minded husband and friends, I never would have learned how to do these things.
The fact is, computers are such a part of our lives, that you can’t afford to think of yourself as not a “computer person”. The reason I think that a lot of people are intimidated when learning about computers is that so much of the instructions and directions are full of jargon and assume that people have as much technological knowledge as people who work with computers for a living.
I’m convinced that if I can do it, anyone else can do it too. All it takes is an open mind, confidence, and someone to explain things to you step by step in plain English.
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Aside from using anti-virus software, there is another way to keep some email viruses or worms from driving you crazy and clogging up your inbox. While the "Sobig" virus seems to have died down, there are sure to be some like it in the future. If you would like to prevent these bogus Emails from reaching your inbox, you can set up rules in Outlook or Outlook Express to send them directly to the delete folder.
Although the Sobig virus seems to be under control, it might be good practice to do this now. That way when the next big virus comes around, you'll be able to filter it out right away. It might seem like its difficult, but I know that anyone can do this. If you're smart enough to do your taxes and balance your checkbook, you can do this, trust me.
If you're using Outlook Express, go to Tools, then select "message rules" and then "mail". A box will pop up with buttons on the right side of the window. Hit the "new" button. Another box pops up with three windows. In the first box, click the box next to "Where the subject line contains specific words".
In the second box, click "delete it". Now in the third box it should say, "Apply this rule after the message arrives/Where the Subject line contains specific words/Delete it." Click on the words "contains specific words".
This is where you tell the program what words to look for in the subject line. It’s very important to remember that this is case sensitive, meaning that if you put "abc" in, it will only delete emails with "abc" in the subject, and not "ABC" or "Abc". For the Sobig virus, there were seven subject lines that were commonly used. If you would like to read more about this, go to http://www.webpro.com/iq/SobigF.asp The subject lines are:
It’s a good idea to copy and paste the phrases above to make sure the capitalization is exactly the same. (copy=control C, Paste=Control V)
Enter the first phrase into the box and then click on the "add" button to the right. That phrase will appear in the box below. You can add as many phrases as you'd like, clicking "add" after each one. When you're done, hit "ok" Then hit "ok" again.
At this point, we are back to one box open with buttons on the right. Be sure to click the "apply now" button if you want the rule to apply to the email that is already in your inbox as well as any future emails.
When you are done with that, click the "ok" button and you're finished.
If you use Outlook, the process is a little different.
First go to Tools, and then choose "Rules Wizard". Click on the "new" button on the right. It should say at the top of a new box "What type of rule would you like to create?" There will be a list of types of rules: you want to choose "Check messages when they arrive", which is at the top so it should already be highlighted. Simply click on "next".
The next box asks you "which conditions do you want to check?" with a list of choices, each with an empty box next to it. Scroll down until you get to "with specific words in the subject", and click the box in front of it.
Once you click it, you'll notice that "with specific words in the subject" appears in the box below. Click on the "specific words" in the lower box here to specify which words the program should look for.
This is where you tell the program what words to look for in the subject line. It’s very important to remember that this is case sensitive, meaning that if you put "abc" in, it will only delete emails with "abc" in the subject, and not "ABC" or "Abc".
For the Sobig virus, there were seven subject lines that were commonly used. If you would like to read more about this, go to http://www.webpro.com/iq/SobigF.asp The subject lines are:
A new box will pop up that says, "search text" at the top. Enter one of the phrases you want to filter out and click "add". You may enter as many phrases as you'd like, clicking "add" after each one. When you're finished, click "Ok". You'll be taken back to the previous box. Click "next" at the bottom.
At this point, you have two choices. You can either specify that these emails go into your delete file to be reviewed later, or you can specify that they be permanently deleted from Outlook so that you never see them. At this point, either click in the box next to "delete it", which simply moves it automatically to the delete folder, or click "permanently delete", which means that you will never see the email at all and won't be able to get it back.
Click "next" again and you're now at the exceptions box. I can see no reason to use the exceptions when dealing with the Sobig viruses and others like it. There might be a temptation to make an exception for people who are in your address book or close friends. But remember, a virus will take over someone else's address book and send you emails without the person ever knowing. Anyone in your address book could send you an infected email without knowing it. I recommend that you hit “next” without selecting any exceptions at this point.
In the next box, the program would like to know the name of the rule you've just created. You might want to call it "viruses #1" or something similar. Click finish after naming your rule. At this point you have another choice: you can apply the rule you just created to the mail already in your inbox, or you can choose to have it apply only to the incoming mail from now on. Choose either "run now" or "ok".
You're finished. That wasn't SO hard, was it? You might even want to set up some more rules to help you organize your inbox or to filter out spam or unwanted email.
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Some more information about attachments and viruses/worms:
Email viruses and worms almost always are transmitted through attachments. Remember after the Anthrax scare in the US a couple of years ago when everyone was very picky about what mail they accepted and opened? Anything that looked suspicious or didn't have a return address wasn't opened.
Think about attachments in the same way. If you get email from someone you don't know, don't open the attachment! If the email doesn't say anything personal to you or use your real name, don't open the attachment. You can always send an email back to that person asking them about who they are or what the attachment is for if you're in doubt.
What you need to know about the difference between spam and viruses:
Recently online I've seen a couple of people referring to the emails they get from viruses as spam. If you want to impress your friends and coworkers with your technological savvy, you need to know that spam is unwanted and unsolicited email you get for a commercial purpose. The intention of the email is commercial. Someone wants you to buy something, be a part of their program or visit their website.
Email you get because of viruses is technically not spam. Although it is unwanted, its intention is not to advertise or market anything, it’s simply a nuisance created by someone with too much time on his or her hands!
Also keep in mind that viruses commonly get into people's address books and send out automatic emails to everyone on the list. Your friends and relatives are not sending you infected email on purpose.
|W|P|114292099534330980|W|P|An Easy Way to Deal with Email Viruses and Worms|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.com