Spyware Protection: A Must for Any Home Computer
May 31, 2008
Now that spyware is the single most dangerous threat to home computers connected to the internet today, getting your hands on some sort of spyware and adware protection is critical. Spyware has outpaced computer viruses in its prevalence, and in the kind of damage it can do to your system.
If you plan on using your home PC to do anything on the internet, even minor emailing or a little light surfing, this kind of protection is a must-have.
What is spyware? Spyware is basically any kind of software that gets installed on your machine without your knowing it, and tracks your actions on the internet for marketing purposes, or causes your computer to perform tasks that you didn’t request.
You can accidentally get this stuff installed on your computer, by downloading trials and demos of certain programs that have it "bundled", like a lot of file sharing programs, (a lot, but not all of them) viewing email attachments, or even just visiting certain websites. Sometimes you get lucky and all it does is put a cookie or two on your machine and influence the types of banner ads you see (based on your web surfing habits) or give you a few pop-up ads.
Microsoft Great Plains: Customization Upgrade & Recovery ? Visual Studio VB 6.0
May 30, 2008
Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics, eEnterprise has very long, about 12 years customization & integration history. In earlier 1990th ? the customization tool was mostly Great Plains Dexterity, later on when Great Plains was successfully moved to MS SQL Server 6.5, 7.0 and 2000 ? we see more historical custom projects done in SQL stored procedures and front ends coded in VB in Visual Studio 6.0. This was probably wise and natural choice in that time (around 1997-2001), but if you consider Microsoft move to .Net platform and reshaping its own programming environments (ADO, OLE, VB, etc) ? you would nowadays rather be nervous relying on VB 6.0 custom front end, calling stored procs via ADO. Let’s consider your options:
? Upgrade to .Net. As natural it might sound and look, however it might not be feasible. The reason is - .Net is the whole revolution to Windows object model (or its introduction, somewhat more revolutionary, than J2EE/EJB/Java). Your old VB code is not object oriented in the sense of .Net and majority of technologies are now obsolete or in phase out mode
25 Things Mapping Software Can Do For You
May 29, 2008
1. With mapping software you can create a report that tracks your retirement plan for you.
2. Use mapping software to create an Executive Dashboard, which tracks the bottom line.
3. Use mapping software to find the snowfall reports for your favorite ski resorts in Idaho.
4. You can even use mapping software to explore an interactive map of India for school reports, business, or travel.
5. Track your store incoming and outgoing inventory, including shipping information and warehouse location, mapping software.
6. You can conveniently book your own airline seat, so you don’t need to worry if you are a "window person" as opposed to an "aisle person."
7. Know the who, what, when, where, and how of your department by using mapping data to interactively manage your department.
8. Receive production information in real-time reports.
9. Look up CIA World Facts online to see how you can look up virtually everything you wanted to know about geographical and population statistics.
10. Get your daily stock quotes, or track their changes over time.
11. Create interactive marketing reports that can be "drilled down" from general to specific trends and statistics.
Off The Record - Tips For Picking Recording Software
May 29, 2008
Need software to record your voice, streaming audio or musical instruments? There are dozens of great products on the market. Some cost up to five hundred dollars, but here are some of the low cost alternatives you might want to consider.
n-Track Studio
The program uses 24 bit (32 bit floats) resolution for mixing and effects processing. Various wave files formats are supported, mono & stereo tracks are can coexist in the same song and wave editing operations can be performed from within the program. MIDI tracks can be imported end exported to regular MIDI files, and edited using the built in piano-roll based MIDI editing. All the audio tracks are saved as standard wave files and mixed “on the fly” during playback. Volume and pan evolution can be programmed by drawing on the timeline window. When all the tracks have been recorded and all the settings are correct, it’s possible to mix-down all the tracks to a single wave file for recording it to a compact disk using a CD recorder or for distributing it through the Internet (using the built-in mp3 encoder).
More Information: http://www.deprice.com/ntrackstudio.htm
Audio Record Wizard 3
Microsoft CRM Data Conversion FAQ
May 28, 2008
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM data conversion deserves FAQ type of article, where IT people could get initial directions. Even if it seems as a trivial task, we would suggest you to think about these possible scenarios: objects mapping between your legacy CRM: GoldMine, ACT, Siebel, Lotus Notes Domino. When you think about MS CRM switch over ? do you think just to transfer master records: Leads, Contacts, Accounts, or you are thinking about historical activities: emails, faxes, calls, appointments, etc?
? MS CRM Import tool. You can import contact and leads using MS CRM import, your source files should be text files and import tool doesn’t validate duplicates, dirty records and similar potential pitfalls. Well, Import wizard comes free with MS CRM purchase, but in our opinion, you should just continue reading and go to the next bullet.
? Scribe. This is the first professional level option you should consider. The nicety of scribe lays in the fact that it has mappings for ACT for example and you will need just select the destination. Again, please understand that each CRM solutions has its own master and activity objects categories. Scribe should resolve 85% of your conversion issues and if not you should check with scribe. Some issues are not resolvable in scribe: Siebel email attachments, records duplications and others.
Linux Vs. Windows
May 27, 2008
This article will not attempt to advocate the use of Linux over Windows or vice versa. I will try to present the differences and similarities between Linux and Windows in a fair manner.
Overview:
Both Linux and Windows (2000, NT, XP, Vista) are operating systems. Linux was inspired from Unix, while Windows was inspired from VMS.
While no single company "owns" Linux, Windows is owned by Microsoft. Various distributions (often referred to as "distros") of Linux come from different companies (e.g. Red Hat, Novell SuSE, Mandrake etc.), while all Windows flavors (95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista) come from Microsoft.
Both Linux and Windows come in Desktop and Server editions.
Cost:
As far as cost is concerned, Linux is very cheap or free. I used the word "very cheap" for enterprise users. While anybody can download, install and use Linux, the distribution companies usually charge for technical support. Windows is expensive. You first pay for the copy of the software and then again for the technical support if you ever want it. There is another catch though; Windows enforces you to use a single copy on a single computer. This is not the case with Linux though, once you purchase Linux, you can run it on an unlimited number of computers.
Lotus Notes Domino and Microsoft CRM Integration
May 26, 2008
Well, even if the combination might look very unusual, we see the coexistence of these two systems, especially in large corporations, non-profit organizations. Technically Lotus Notes Domino has parallel structure, including Domino email server. Lotus is extremely flexible and you can program your own CRM or purchase CRM for Lotus, however Microsoft CRM has Microsoft SQL Server database and very simple Sales automation module. Let’s look at the integration reasons and scenarios. Be sure that each specific case requires custom programming, tuning and support.
? Why Lotus & MS CRM? There are several reasons to combine the two. First ? Lotus Domino has very long history and is present on the market over 15 years. Corporations might have business system built upon the Lotus Notes Domino platform and it is not desirable or even feasible from the complexity standpoint to phase it out. The second reason is possible IT strategy to balance multiple platforms to avoid over-dependence on one vendor (such as Microsoft). There might be also licensing issue ? if corporation has several hundred Lotus licenses ? it doesn’t want to lose them and pay for 200 Microsoft CRM users. In this case MS CRM might be the solution for Sales department and all the other departments should stay on Lotus
ERP for Large Corporation ? New Selling Strategy
May 25, 2008
Our opinion is based on our Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Microsoft CRM sales and marketing campaign to large businesses in the following industries: Aerospace, Furniture, Beverages, Placement, Distribution & Logistics, Textile, Services, Food, Manufacturing. With the new economy recovery we see signs on the market, signaling selling strategy change. On the other hand this is normal process and each time you sell different, probably keeping your personal passion to sell and help your customers. Let’s look at the trends:
? IT Director new role. If you remember old-days sales techniques bestsellers, Joe Seemore was the guy in IT department, who wanted to see more. These folks were actually the problem to make sales through. Nowadays, due to the fact of open information, including all the features, bells and whistles of the specific ERP system, CEO or business owner, after making his own decision on purchasing a new ERP ? delegates selection research to IT director, who in turn, selects project manager and this guy contacts analyzes the information on the internet and then contacts ERP VAR/reseller/integrator. Again, this would be difficult in 1970th or 1980th when internet was not yet in place and the access to the newest systems information was not available through public libraries
ERP Remote Support: Microsoft Great Plains Analysis ? Pluses & Minuses
May 24, 2008
Former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise and currently Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains serves midsize and corporate clients as ERP system in the following countries and regions: USA, Canada, Mexico and Latin America, Brazil (where MBS actually promotes Navision and has GP for multinational corporations), Saudi Arabia, OAE, Egypt and the rest of Middle East, South Africa, Nigeria and the whole African continent, U.K. and Ireland, partially France and Belgium, Poland, Pakistan, South East Asia, Philippines and Pacific. The fact that Ernst & Young consulting subdivision was specializing in supporting Great Plains eEnterprise for clients in remote locations, such as Bermuda, having small offices over there and later on E&Y had to stop it ? due to the fact that Microsoft purchased GPS ? left large number of so-called orphan clients, who are still without support and using Dynamics, eEnterprise or even old DOS-based Great Plains Accounting. As the result ? there is very lucrative market niche for Microsoft Great Plains remote support. In this small article we’ll give you pluses and minuses of GP remote support ? so to say optimistic and pessimistic points of view.
Optimistic View:
ERP Implementation: Success Factors
May 24, 2008
As seeing large number of implementations ? in our case these are Microsoft Business Solutions Products: Great Plains, MS CRM, Navision ? we would like to give you our opinion on what should you consider to do to secure implementation success. These principles should work as for large corporation as well as for midsize and even small business. We will not be talking about old-wisdom, which you know from the college classes or business school about management and staff involvement into the decision making, brainstorming, etc. ? we’ll be ERP specific
? In-house Technical Expertise. Well, complication of computer networking and its security, plus the fact that SQL is now standard for the database platform (Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, etc.), plus internet connection line and its support make it inevitable to have IT expertise in the company ? this might be the whole department or just coming or part time networking consultant. Our experience indicates that the lack of internal or always available onsite specialist decreases the chances of success dramatically. And the explanation should be simple to this fact. Nowadays ERP system requires minor or major customization, integration and reporting and all these steps in turn require patient coding and testing in the test environment or on the sample dataset/database
