http://www.deprice.com/stickynote.htm

With StickyNote 9.0, you can create beautiful 3D notes on your desktop or send them instantly over the Internet.

StickyNote also enables you to adhere notes to documents or windows AND to attach documents to your note.

StickyNote eliminates the clutter and confusion of keeping up with the reminders and phone numbers that never seem to be where you left them. Forget jotting down messages and let StickyNote deliver them for you. You can even customize a note’s texture, color and priority with a few simple clicks, and you can set an alarm to have notes appear at a certain time or at regular intervals.

Cute Reminder

http://www.deprice.com/cutereminder.htm

With the help of Cute Reminder software you can easily create desktop sticky notes and make reminders for an appointment, birthday, phone call, bill payment, meeting, oil change, TV show and other events or tasks. Take a pill reminder, break reminder, gift reminder, etc., and you will never miss anything important. The program automatically tracks the history of related events and stores the information into archive. Individually colored skins, support for audio files in various formats, schedule, linking files and Web pages to reminders and printing. The user-friendly interface provides comfort at your workplace whether at the office or at home.

Ideal Calendar

http://www.deprice.com/idealcalendar.htm

The IDEAL Calendar allows the user to insert an unlimited amount of occasions. The program displays a dialog and plays a sound on the selected occasions. The program runs in the system tray and contains enough options to satisfy any user. The excellent options and user-interface make this program truly ideal.

Features:

* Print calendar exactly as you see it (WYSIWYG)

* Select any image for your background (JPG/GIF/BMP)

* Share occasions over the network (Private and Public entries)

* Create multiple calendars

* Backup/Restore capabilities

* Various types of recurring events

* Plug-ins to add more features. (PDA Export/Import, HTML Calendar, etc…)

SpeedUpMyPC

http://www.deprice.com/speedupmypc.htm

SpeedUpMyPC makes it easier than ever before to optimize your settings, free up resources, and remove resource hogs. With simple explanations and real-time graphs for all vital system resources, SpeedUpMyPC identifies performance bottlenecks in minutes. With a heavy-duty arsenal of optimization tools, such as RAM recovery, CPU optimization, startup management, and automatic crash recovery, SpeedUpMyPC is THE must-have utility for both beginner and power users.

John loves discovering software “jewels” - computer applications that actually make the life easier. His small but proven collection is publically available at http://www.deprice.com/desktop.htm

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Installation - Since our host installed the TikiWiki, I cannot comment on ease of installation.

While TikiWiki has many features, only the features used on the Spotlight on Lake website will be reviewed.

Administration - It is hard to determine what some features are and do, such as the Ephemerides feature. Documentation is sadly lacking! The most complete documentation is for Version 1.6, and Version 1.9 is the current release - so many of the newer features do not have any documentation. While there are Forums and a documentation website, the “Search” feature does not work for either site! Many Forum questions are not answered in a timely manner or incorrect information is supplied. Asking a question with IRC chat may also be an exercise in futility or frustration. On the plus side, it is a simple process to turn features on and off by unchecking or checking a box.

User Rights - It is easy to set user rights to groups or individuals.

General Preferences - While you can add the site’s title in this section, you cannot add metatag keywords or description. In order to add this information, you will need to modify the “header.tpl” file.

Theme - If you want to create a custom design or to modify an existing CSS theme, be sure to select the “moreneat” theme. After basing my design on a different style, I was later informed, “The others are buggy at best, use ‘moreneat’ as it’s the most stable CSS template”.

Home Page - Do not select the “custom home” option. I originally selected this option, and was told “It doesn’t work correctly - don’t use that feature”.

The Wiki - This section was easy to set up and use. If you have never used a Wiki before there are several items of note: (1) to create a link to a new Wiki page, do not use any spaces in the link text and add double parentheses before and after the link text; (2) use the question mark (”?”) link, to add content to the new Wiki page; (3) with spellchecking, there are times when the Wiki will place a question mark after a business name or word. To avoid this, use double parentheses around the word.

Articles and Submissions - This section was also easy to set up. It was also easy to add new Types and Topics. However, it is difficult to display only one Type or Topic on the Articles page. It was easier to use phpAdmin to modify the database tables than it was to use the Articles Administration Section to make this simple type of modification.

Calendar - There are 2 calendars: one is for private use in the “My Tiki” section; the other is for public use. The public feature Calendar is “buggy”. There are so many steps to complete in order to add an event to the Calendar that I found it was necessary to include “How-To-Use” instructions on the Calendar page.

Banner Ads - Simple to set up and allows text or image displays. There are several options for frequency and you can set the zone where the add is to be displayed.

Featured Links, Forums, and Polls - These features were also easy to set up, and no problems were encountered.

Category System - There are 2 Category Systems. One is for the Directory feature, and the other is for the Wiki.

Directory - The Directory feature automatically checks for URL validation.

Email - The Email system uses only a very basic form with input boxes for user email address and comments. Ease of Modification

With college courses in C and C++, it has always been easy to read and understand other programming languages. However, the Smarty Template Engine code was a new experience. Quite a few hours were spent searching through the Smarty site, my PHP books, and both of the TikiWiki sites. I even asked the assistance of a friend who is a PHP whiz, and he couldn’t figure out the problem.

Modifying the existing TikiWiki code should only be attempted by experienced programmers. After many hours searching through the Development section of the TikiWiki website looking for a flowchart, I was finally able to find a section that contained file relations.

With perserverance, I was able to modify the Directory, to build a Listing feature based on the modified Directory, and to include a customized Email system for the Advertising Contact page. By modifying the database, I was able to have only Articles listed on the Articles page and only Events on the Events page.

TikiWiki Rating

If I were to rate TikiWiki on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it an 8. This is due to the lack of documentation and also due to the fact that “buggy” sections are included. In my opinion, if a feature does not work correctly, it should not be included as an option!

Diane Hildebrandt owns MsDetta, Inc., a Northwest Indiana web development firm. Diane has a B.S. in Computer Science and believes that websites should be designed to be accessible by every visitor. Diane also emphasizes relationship marketing - turning a visitor into a potential customer of your product or service. Web development services include scripting, programming, Flash and graphic design, ecommerce solutions, database management, and content management systems.

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Well, screensavers are still "in", but not as "in" as they used to be. In fact, back in the old days, screensavers were essentially used to keep monitors from getting their images "burned in". Back in those days, the phosphors could be burned out of a monitor by leaving items displayed on the screen. Nowadays, we don’t have that problem. Our high resolution screens don’t get "burned in" anymore.

In fact, when you use screensavers, you hog important resources on your PC. Not only does it take up unnecessary space, but you will need at least 64 MB of RAM and a card that displays 256 colors just to run a screensaver. It’s especially important to make sure that if you should choose to download a screensaver, to make sure it’s from a trusted source. You wouldn’t want to download viruses along with your cute screensaver.

Truth be told, there essentially isn’t any real purpose to screensavers any longer, except to password protect your PC when you’re away from it, or better yet? when you want to enjoy that afternoon staring at your co-worker’s monitor at the cubicle next door!

Demetria Zinga is the founder and owner of http://www.faith-media.com, a technology and consulting firm which specializes in web design and hosting, graphics and print designs, internet marketing, and e-training. She is also the founder of http://www.christianladies.net, an interactive ezine, blog, and podcast for Christian women.

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For those of us who don’t keep up with recalls in general, it’s just as easy to be unaware of the fact that Microsoft Windows offers us this wonderful service called a Service Pack, which is essentially a recall service for Microsoft Windows. Most people are not aware of service packs, what they’re for, and how to use them. Let’s talk for a minute about how service packs can help save or even lengthen the life of your PC.

First, you’ll need to set up your PC to receive those service packs on a regular basis. This keeps your computer safe from hackers. Oftentimes, Microsoft discovers faulty code or loopholes in the operating system which also, unfortunately, gets detected by hackers. If your computer is not serviced and updated, you open the door for hackers to step in and take over.

They way to set up your service pack for automatic updates is to open your Control Panel, and then open System. You will then select the Automatic Updates tab. You can also choose to have your updates downloaded but not installed automatically. Be sure to check this often to make sure you still have your automatic updates for service pack selected.

Service Pack by Microsoft will speed up and automate your critical tasks, fix bugs, install updates to Microsoft applications, repair compatibility problems with third-party software and hardware, add pop-up protection and firewalls, add protection for communication tools such as Outlook and Messenger, and improve user interface features.

You literally have nothing to lose by making sure you keep your PC patched, and it only takes a moment to be sure that your automatic updates for service packs is selected. This is a great way to protect the life of your PC and relieve your mind of hackers, which, of course, preserves your own sanity! So patch away!

Demetria Zinga is the founder and owner of http://www.faith-media.com, a technology and consulting firm which specializes in web design and hosting, graphics and print designs, internet marketing, and e-training. She is also the founder of http://www.christianladies.net, an interactive ezine, blog, and podcast for Christian women.

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Here are the seven things you must consider before making a purchase that will help you achieve your businesses goals.

1. Scalability

Businesses change over time so it’s critical that the small business accounting software you choose can change too. Some things that often change are the number of products and services offered and the number of employees. When you choose your package try and imaging the business in 5 years or 10 years time and how different it will be. Use this information to guide your purchase decision. It may well be better to pay a little more now for the software knowing that it can be easily upgraded when needed with minimum disruption and cost to your business.

2. Support

It is important that any software has great support for when something goes wrong (and it always does). Most major companies offer support but you also need to think about support in your local area. It’s often much easier to have someone locally come in and do things you need done with your software than have someone trying to help you over the phone. Make some enquiries with other businesses about the package they use and who helps them.

3. Accountant Interface

It’s most unlikely you will handle every aspect of your businesses accounting. Your accountant is an important factor in making the right decision. What software are they used to working with and what do they prefer? Can you easily supply them data and reports from your package without the need for any extra work (which you’ll have to pay for). Don’t be afraid to ask their opinion as they live and breathe this stuff.

4. Best Value For Money

Once you have selected the right package for your business you may as well get the best value. Shop around as the price can vary greatly and the product is exactly the same. Online merchants such as Amazon may offer better pricing because of the sheer volume of products they sell. However price is only one part of the equation so if their is great merchant locally with support or installation assistance this may be far more valuable.

5. Major Brands

There are two major players in the small business accounting software market. They are QuickBooks and Peachtree. Microsoft is expected to enter the market soon. I recommend choosing a major brand so that you can get regular updates and you know the company will be around as long as your business needs them.

6. Ease of Use

Ease of use is a personal thing but it is worth trying the software before you buy it if you can. Remember to get the person who will be the main user to test the software as well. Also consider how well the package can interact with other software you use. This is an advantage the Microsoft package may have when it’s available.

7. Features Needed

I touched on this earlier when talking about thinking ahead as to where you business will be in 5 or 10 years time. Most accounting software packages come in several different versions. If you don’t need certain features now and can’t see a need for them in the future then don’t buy them. The major differences are usually - number of users allowed, inventory management capability and number of reports available.

To sum up think ahead when planning your purchase of small business accounting software. You will make a much smarter business decision that will save you plenty of trouble and money in the future.

Please visit us for more information and a feature by feature comparison of: Small Business Accounting Software

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? Lifecycle. Each application has its lifecycle: from inception and initial fighting for the "place under the sun", to maturing and then slowly or rapidly declining. Great Plains Software Dynamics, which is prototype of our days Microsoft Great Plains was released in 1994-95 as the first Graphical Accounting/MRP application, working on the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Plus Great Plains Dexterity ? Dynamics platform was designed as both computer graphical platform as well as database platform independent (to some extent of course, especially when we talk about tuning it to the database platform for performance reason). So, technically Microsoft Great Plains has 10 years of history and is currently in the maturity phase.

? Database Platform. Current trends in the IT applied science are biased toward reliable and standard database platform. If you look at such product as SAP (Abap) or Navision (C/Side native database). This is probably reflection of the future multiple OS harmony: Linux, Windows, Unix systems will coexist communicating via XML (pure text) inbound and outbound streams. We’d say you should be looking for ERP which sits in the standard database: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DBII, Ingress, Sybase, Unidata. SQL is the survivor and it will stay for a very long time. It should be possible to query your data via SQL queries ? this will make your life easier when you face integration, customization and reporting needs. Microsoft Great Plains uses MS SQL Sever.

? Positions in your country. If you are in the USA ? you should know these facts about Microsoft Business Solutions. First jewel, that was bought by Microsoft was Great Plains Software, in fact Doug Burgum, GPS leader was old friend of Bill Gates. Few years before acquisition by Microsoft GPS bought Solomon Software, its old and major competitor. Currently Microsoft Solomon is targeted to Project Oriented Business ? Construction, Consulting, etc. Few years after Great Plains acquisition, Microsoft Business Solutions purchased Denmark based Navision Software. Navision had long presence in the USA, especially in the manufacturing ERP market. But, as we believe ? and this is our private opinion ? Navision acquisition allowed Microsoft to gain substantial portion of the European ERP market. We think that if you are in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, Latin America and your are not a construction company ? then Great Plains is good choice for you.

? Industry specifics. Microsoft Great Plains should be considered as ERP platform ready for tuning to your business needs and so, you should make your decision if you would prefer customization or purchasing so-called rich-functionality ERP. Great Plains is the platform for the customization. It fits to all the spectrum of industries: apparel, medical, pharmaceutical, distribution, logistics, aerospace, defense, wholesale, metals, chemicals, retail to name a few.

Good luck with selection, implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns ? we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 866-528-0577 or 630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) ? Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Russia

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But there’s an additional field that you should know about, labeled “Bcc…,” which stands for “Blind carbon copy,” or the updated version, “Blind courtesy copy.” This field is for the names of anyone that needs a copy of your e-mail without the other people (in the “To…” and “Cc…” fields) knowing about it. That’s why it’s called “Blind.”

“But wait a minute,” you might be saying. “I don’t have a “Bcc” field just after the “Cc” field in my version of Outlook.” When you launch a new mail message, you might have “To…,” “Cc…,” and “Subject…”–nothing more. That’s because “Bcc” is on a toggle; you can turn it on and off from your “View” menu. If your “Bcc…” is not showing, you can turn it on when you are in a mail message by going to the “View Menu” and selecting “Bcc Field.” A checkmark will appear and the field will become visible at the top of your mail message, just above “Subject…”. (Similar applications should also give you the option to turn “Bcc” on if it is not continuously visible.)

You should know about and carefully use “Bcc” for a number of reasons. I’m going to cover some of the most important.

Use Bcc to protect privacy ? When an e-mail is sent to a whole group of people with all of their names in the “To…” or “CC…” fields, each one of them has access to the e-mail address of all the others. Normally this would not be a problem internally, but if you are sending an e-mail to employees as well as some outside of your company, use the Bcc field to hide all of those internal addresses. You will be preventing your company’s people from getting spam and other unwanted e-mails.

Use Bcc to keep upper management informed ? Sometimes you are sending an e-mail message at a manager’s request, and you want to let the manager know that you complied. It may not be helpful, however, to make the manager’s name visible in “Cc,” because this may add stress or cause unnecessary concern for the addressee. If you consider that to be the circumstances, use Bcc for the manager’s copy. But this is always a judgment call, because sometimes it is important for addressees to know the manager is looking over their shoulder, especially if you have a tight deadline.

Use Bcc to make your message more personal ? Do you feel differently about a message addressed solely to you versus one sent to all of your company’s employees? The same principle works in the opposite direction, as well. If you place everyone’s name in the Bcc field, then each will have the impression that you wrote your e-mail just for them. Be careful in your wording, however, because this tactic will backfire if your letter contains second-person plurals, such as “All of you may be wondering…”.

Use Bcc to keep an archive of your correspondence ? This nifty trick depends of having or obtaining a separate e-mail address from your conventional business address. Place that address in the Bcc field, e.g., “yourname@freemail.com,” and Outlook will send a copy of your e-mail to that address. This can be helpful if you are wanting a quick way to keep track of all of the e-mail you send out regarding a particular project or issue.

Caution: When Bcc can backfire ? There are times, however, when you should think twice before entering a person’s name in Bcc. If your addressee hits “Reply to all,” the reply will not go back to the BCC addressee(s). But still, that reply might not be worded as carefully as it would be if the sender knew everyone listed in Bcc. To put it bluntly, this is how people get insulted and feelings get hurt. If you are dealing with an issue that is the least bit touchy or even volatile, you would do well to steer clear of Bcc.

* * *

Copyright ©2005 Steve Singleton, All rights reserved.

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles on subjects of interest to Bible students. He has been a book editor, newspaper reporter, news editor, and public relations consultant. He has taught Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses Bible college, university, and adult education programs. He has taught seminars and workshops in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.org for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore “The Shallows,” plumb “The Depths,” or use the well-organized “Study Links” for original sources in English translation. Sign up for Steve’s free “DeeperStudy Newsletter.”

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If your company plans to outsource manufacturing in Brazil by purchasing existing facility there, the first step would be to implant new management team and revise business processes and procedures. The way there comes through the new ERP/accounting system implementation from scratch. We’ll show you the way to implement new system on the base of Microsoft Great Plains. You may have two reasons to place Great Plains, first ? you company has Great Plains implemented in the headquarters and this is worldwide policy, second ? if you have high end ERP at the headquarters, such as SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft ? it might be too complex/expensive for Brazilian facility. Looking at the Brazilian ERP software market you will find out that the leader there is local ERP application ? Microsiga and it is relatively easy to implement it there, however you will have language barriers, plus differences in reporting and tax rules, when you consolidate the statements to the corporate report. Let’s review Microsoft Great Plains option:

? Licensing. You should consider two options. First, if you host your Brazilian company GP databse in the USA, Europe, Australia, or where your headquarters is located, you do not need to pay additional fee to Microsoft Business Solutions. You may have connection performance issues, but this is separate consideration. Alba Spectrum Technologies owns Great Plains Brazilian version through our office in Sao Paulo ? Enterlogix.com.br. Second option and this is applicable if you have high end accounting application in the Headquarters ? you can purchase Brazilian version through Enterlogix.com.br and in this case software price would be about half of what you would pay in the USA or Eurozone.

? Localization. Brazil is self-contained large country and people, including executives and accountants speaks Brazilian Portuguese there, not necessarily English. Plus all the local reporting and documentation, including expenses and invoicing should be done in Portuguese. You need localized version and in the case of Great Plains it is available.

? Implementation. Again, consider that Microsiga holds huge percentage of the Brazilian ERP market and the majority of local consulting folks are Microsiga gurus, you probably have to deal with the multinational consulting company with the presence in USA, Europe and Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro

? Customization. Microsoft Great Plains stays in the low end of the pricing pyramid and so, instead of long implementation cycle you should expect light or mid-level customization to meet your unique business processes requirements. In this case you need Great Plains Dexterity, Modifier/VBA/Continuum developers, who are working on the Brazilian market.

Final words: Brazil is excellent manufacturing place for beverage production, especially the one, related to fruit juice concentrates, food import to the USA, restaurants suppliers, automakers, especially in the Salvador area.

Good luck with implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns ? we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call São Paulo 55-11-3826-3449! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) ? Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Manaus, Lisboa, Coimbra, Porto, Cascais and having locations in multiple states and internationally

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In the recession time of recession 2000-2004 ? a lot of clients decided not to pay the enhancement program and save some money, needed for staying in business. Among them were mostly small and mid-size businesses, however we see corporate clients as well with 40 users Great Plains eEnterprise and more. In 2004-2005 the economic situation improved substantially and businesses are back to IT investments. In this small article we’ll show you your options to re-enroll into enhancement program and upgrade your system:

? Re-enrollment fee. If you need to get back to enhancement program, minimal re-enrollment fee is 35% of the software price list. This amount incorporate 16% enhancement program plan. So, the penalty of being out of the program is 19% - if you stayed without support all the recession years ? say four ? you saved some money and I don’t think you should be unhappy. Go ahead and re-enroll

? VAR of Record. Your company had tough time three years ago, your former Great Plains Partner had the same of even larger problems, trying to stay in business. Maybe it is not around anymore. Then you need to do research ? who could be your new MBS reseller. Choose between local and nation-wide MBS partners. If you have a lot of customization and integration ? you probably have to sacrifice local presence and seek somebody who has very good customization experience. The switch from your old partner to the new is very straightforward ? you need to sign Change VAR form and fax it to MBS or your new MBS partner

? Upgrade. If you on MS SQL Server and do not have customization, only ReportWriter reports: SOP Invoice, POP Purchase Order, etc., then the upgrade should be simple. Great Plains Professional (high end, more than 10 users) and Standard (low end, up to 10 users) are still Great Plains Dexterity based applications and now they are on MS SQL Server only (Pervasive SQL and Ctree support and upgrade is discontinued). Upgrade should be done by outside consultant through Great Plains Utilities. If you have customizations, then your new partner should explore your Great Plains Workstation: DYNAMICS.SET (to identify Dexterity third parties, you use), FORMS.DIC (Modified forms: Modifier/VBA), REPORTS.DIC (Modified reports: Invoice, PO, or the like) plus if you have Integration Manager integrations (IM.MDB) and SQL custom stored procedures ? if any. This might be paid assignment to estimate ? and you will have the clear picture on what you have, and what you might need for the new version.

? Additional Considerations. Other custom pieces you might have could be: Crystal Reports, web applications, such as eCommerce ? this is good candidate to be rewritten in Vb.Net or C#.Net with Great Plains eConnect

Good luck and you can always seek our help in customization, implementation, integration and support. Call us: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Germany, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer

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