More Good Stuff

Wrapping up the year just past - where did it all go ? - here's a some more stuff which I use regularly and reliably.
FIREFOX - the best web browser for me. I do use IE 7.0 and like its facilities, but the Fox is faster and easier to use, especially if using the "Vista-Aero" IE7 clone theme.
COBIAN BACKUP - I've mentioned Cobian Backup previously and use it on all my Windows PCs. The new Vista PC (aka BigBox) now backups to internal and external drives, and if I can get it sorted out will have a wireless NAS in the New Year, yet more rescued kit pressed into service.
AVG7.5 Free - I fix loads of nasty infected PCs but never seem to be hit by viruses or spyware/malware. Thanks in part to AVG 7.5 Free edition, which now auto updates on at least a daily basis, which indicates that there are a whole load of nasties out there.
AVAST! Anti-Virus - and this is the other protection tool. Auto updates and verbally tells you that it has done so. Good marketing trick, audible reassurance that you are protected. Also gives one years free protection when you register on the site with your email address.
SPYBOT - yet another extremely useful free utility - removes Spyware/Malware etc, used in conjunction with
ADAWARE - which does the same as Spybot, but always throws up a wee bit more. These two are essential & should be used to scan your PC every month or so.
BLOGGER - yeah! this is it! - wish I had more time to update it more often but I do have a life to live.......... B-)
KOMPOZER - this is a free website design tool which is the "fix" for NVU which I have used previously to create & maintain my website. Which is another thing that I don't get a lot of time to do.........
POWERPOINT - I use this quite a lot at my "day job" and although I did not like using it to begin with, I've grown accustomed to it. I won't even admit to being an expert, but I have produced some good enterprise dashboards with it, one set actually being called "funky" !!
CX NOW! - a free application from Business Objects, which I use to add interest to the graphs I produce.
The promo sez: "CX Now is the free, fun and easy software that transforms your everyday Excel spreadsheets into persuasive presentations and dynamic business dashboards, and then share them easily via Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, or the Web. Download CX Now In 5 minutes you will transform a dull spreadsheet into an interactive and persuasive PowerPoint presentation. Move a slider, and watch your column chart change. Push a button, and see your projected sales for the next three years. It's that easy. Don't bore another audience with the same old static presentations."
OK Dokey - the reality is that CX Now! makes a boring or poor graph into an interesting & interactive graphic. End of Story. To do the rest requires investment in the other Business Objects applications, and also a lot of time investment as well. However the results I have produced so far do the job for the client. Good Enuff 4 me!
VISTA - yep, MicroSoft VISTA - I have it on two PCs and its pretty good, either that or I have got used to looking at it. It freezes often, especially on the iDeq PC, and it still won't do simple things like copy CDs easily, or write DVDs, and it requires tweaking to work with some older applications, but for the large part it is a useful and usable operating system. Mind you, I do have it customised a fair bit with sidebar apps which I would use regularly, and which with just a wee bit of effort could easily be replicated in Windows XP. Furthermore, I am convinced that the reason that Vista runs so smoothly most of the time is the amount of RAM which is installed - 2Gb on both PCs.
TOSHIBA LAPTOP - I resurrected a damaged Toshiba L20 a while back, basically a complete rebuild with new components. Apart from the mousepad & buttons not working everything else is just dandy. Yet again, the 2Gb of installed RAM helps, and its realistically too slow for Vista, but runs Win XP with ease. And doesn't fall over losing all the data. The Tosh has relaced my Fuji laptop as my "work" PC, because it runs XP and Office XP & so is compatible with the day job platform. My next NEW LAPTOP will be a Tosh with a 17" screen.

Best on the Web ?

Hi again - I've been gradually converted over to using the Web2.0 facilities on Google - i.e. Gmail, Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Maps, WebHistory etc and really now find them invaluable, in particular Googlemail aka Gmail. What I really like about Gmail is that spam filter - it really ships out all that crap that gets sent to me, a considerable amount - I cleared 200+ spam email from my ISP account which were received in only a couple of days. In fact I think I'll drop the ISP email addresses and only use the Gmail email in the future.

Google Calendar is also really useful for me, I can schedule appointments, to dos' etc and the calendar reminds me by email & popup onscreen. Docs & Spreadsheets I don't use too much, but all of the blog files are stored there ready for posting when I have the time.

Using Google Maps I recently calculated a 90-mile round trip for a tech. support job, and so decided to charge mileage and time instead of time alone as I would have done previously. WebHistory isn't (to me) all that useful as I have installed the Google Desktop, so any item I need to find is available. However it is good to run through the WebHistory occassionally to look again at research on stuff which I was intending to do. [The best laid plans of mice & men......]

So, after some consideration, I have this year become an entrenched user of Google and reckon that the web applications are "Best on the Web"

XMAS 2007 - FREE STUFF!

Aye - Christmas 2007 - hope you had a good 'un, and are ready for the New Year!
I had a cracker of a Chrimbo, kids back home, dog in tow, a real family "do" with enough dinner to feed a regiment.....B-O
Anyway, some free stuff to kick off with.
Small Businesses TAKE NOTE: good old Microsoft has launched a FREE accounting package called Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 - Google it and download the application. I checked it out...... it seems to be similar to QuickBooks / Sage and is free to try out. There is the usual nag screens, but we can live with that. The COST of the application is just £149.00p, worth it if you need a fully blown accounting package, and cheaper than the other packages Sage & QuickBooks. HOWEVER the free version does all that a small business would require to do, VAT Return, Sales and Purchase Invoices etc so pretty much a good enough to get started freebie. Plus points are that it is MS Office compatible, so if you have set up your business planning/costs/etc using Excel or Word you can import that data into the accounting package. Very Useful indeed, as a lot of wee businesses use basic spreadsheets to plan & kick off an enterprise idea. Therefore it saves a load of work, and it is free!
Have a look, try it out, at the end of the day you'll only have spent time on it...... B-)

BigBox update

Aye aye - where huv ye all been ?

Latest update to BigBox is a Xerox 20" LCD with glass screen - got it el cheapo, & its a vast improvement on the 19" CRT, which is now sperfluous to requirements.

Thats it - Sayonara !

Quick Books Install to Windows Vista

Quick Books Install to Windows Vista

Supposedly the world’s most popular accounting program, Quick Books is not (unfortunately) compatible with Windows Vista.

Here's the solution though:
1 - place the QB cd in the drive and OPEN / EXPLORE the CD - DO NOT USE THE AUTO RUN options if it appears.
2 - Select the SETUP file on the CD & right click - select Properties and choose Compatibility
3 - Place a tick in the box in Compatibility Mode & select Windows XP SP2, then Apply & OK. You may have to select Win98 if you are attempting to install QB8 or lower.
4 - Right Click on Setup & select RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR option - the installation should start and complete as normal. You may be prompted to enter the installation key code, this is on the back of the QB manual, typically takes the format nnnn-nnn-nnn-nnnn
5 - You should now have a QB icon on your desktop. Run QB and either set up a new company, or copy over your old company file (your_co_name.QBB) into the folder C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks, and choose that file when prompted to open a company. Check all your entries are correct - sales & purchase invoices, profit & loss, and stock entries if you use the facility.
6 - After you have checked all is OK, run the backup option. Modify the backup destination to (if possible) a different drive i.e. D:\DATA\Intuit, or even better a removable USB hard drive such as a Western Digital Passport or a Buffalo external drive (NOT A PEN DRIVE - the data is too large). Make sure that the destination backup folder name is kept short - I've tried G:\Petes\Intuit\QuickBooks\Backup and it fails, but worked OK with G:\Petes\Intuit as the target backup.
7 - When you start up QB again, you will be prompted to REGISTER the program. I make a point of keeping all the key codes reqrd, and in this instance choose the PHONE option and then entered the registration key code, which takes the format nnnn-nnnn-nnnn. ( I didn't want to listen to the Intuit support people telling me that it wouldn't work and that I HAVE TO UPGRADE....... )
8 - Finally, use a program such as Cobian Backup (its free) to make a regular scheduled backup of the whole Intuit folder & sub-folders - I do mine every night around 8:45pm and once it is set up it is automatically completed.

Print this note off and keep it with your QB cd & manual.

Hope this helps

BTW - tested with QB 2001 on Vista Ultimate and QB8 on Vista Home Premium - both working just fine.