In most programs, when you goof up, you get some kind of a sterile, impersonal, message that sometimes makes you wonder exactly what you've done (or not done) wrong. 

Sorry, I'm too lazy to go looking for a good example right now.  But, next time your computer bonks at you and a little window pops up complaining about something you only vaguely understand, remember these words. 

By contrast, some programs are designed with a little more of a personal touch.  Take for example this dialog, from DVD Decrypter:



To get this warning, I clicked on the 'Cancel' button, then when I didn't think it was responding quickly enough, I clicked it again.  Apparently, it just wanted a little more time to handle the first click, and didn't appreciate my lack of patience!

I had a great time last month, teaching a "Windows Basics" class at the Gerrish-Higgins (Roscommon) Public library.  Demand was (is still, I hope!) high, and we ended up with a fairly long waiting list for the next class, along with requests for a variety of specialized topics. 

The Gerrish-Higgins library is hosting more computer classes this Spring; this time there are two different classes being offered.  I'll be teaching another 'Windows Basics' class on Mondays (3/10, 3/17, and 3/24), and an 'Internet and Email' class on Mondays (4/14, 4/21, and 4/28).  The classes will run from 5:30pm-7pm at the library. 

The cost for each class is $30 per person, and registration should be done through the library.  The Basic class is coming up fast (less than 2 weeks from this writing), so it's important to get registered quickly!

Windows Basics

(3 night class; 3/10, 3/17, and 3/24)

As before, the 'basics' class is for both new users and everyday users who would like a better understanding of their computer.  It will cover these topics:

• the differences among files, folders, programs, shortcuts, and documents
• the 'My Documents' folder, what it is and what it does for you
• using the mouse - click, double-click, right-click, and scroll - what do they all do? 
  
• CD's, DVD's, floppy disks, and flash drives - what they can do and what they can hold (probably NOT how to burn CD's/DVD's)
  
• power cycling - 'Turn Off', shut down, restart, suspend, hibernate
  
• special keys on the keyboard - Windows key, context menu key, Esc, Ctrl, Alt, Enter, and the Fx keys
  
• understanding the Windows file system - how are files stored and how can I find them when I need them?
  
• navigating Windows - maximizing, minimizing, restoring, and resizing windows
• the Windows desktop - including the start menu, the task bar, the Recycle Bin, and all those desktop icons!
• managing/running more than one program at a time, and switching between them
• keyboard shortcuts for common tasks (cut, copy, paste, print, open, close, exit, etc.)
• printing - and the printers collection
  

Due to time constraints, this class will NOT cover any topics related to the Internet, including:

• web browsing
• search engines
• email access
• advanced networking topics - dial-up networking, cable, or DSL Internet connectivity

Basic Internet and Email

(3 night class; 4/14, 4/21, and 4/28)

This class will be aimed at users who are comfortable with the computer in general, but would like a better grasp of what the Internet is all about (it's not complicated, I promise!).  Registrants for this class should be comfortable using the computer keyboard and mouse, but don't necessarily need experience with the Internet or Email before registering. 

The Internet

• Connection types - dial up, broadband, and wireless
• How the 'web' works - Servers, clients, requests, and responses
• What is a web page – understanding HTML
• What's out there, and how to find what you're looking for
• Internet security - Spyware, Adware, viruses, firewalls, certificates, and more

Email

• Email fundamentals - anatomy of a message
• Email addresses - what are they and how do they work?
• Different types of email accounts that are available
• Mail servers and DNS - why they matter
• How to send and receive email messages
• Developing a contact list
• Filing email into folders
• Email viruses

Purpose

To configure a printer driver so it will automatically print in 'duplex' - on both sides of the same sheet of paper

Assumptions

• You already have a printer capable of printing in duplex
• You have that printer configured for printing on your computer (it's in your Windows Printers Collection)

Process

Basically, you are going to set up an exact copy of your current printer, but with different default settings.

1. Open your printers collection, right click your printer, and make a note of the port it is using (click the 'Port' tab to see the port information).
2. Close that printer's settings windows, then click 'Add Printer'
3. Click 'Next', then 'Next' again (with local printer selected).
4. On the ports list, choose the port to which your printer is already connected; click 'Next'
5. Find the manufacturer and printer name on the following list, click 'Next'
6. Choose 'Keep Existing Driver', click 'Next'
7. For 'Printer Name', enter any name you want - I recommend putting the word 'Duplex' in there somewhere so you know it's the duplexer
8. Select 'Do not share this printer'; click 'Next'
9. Print a test page if you like; click 'Next'
10. Click 'Finish'

You'll now have 2 printers in your Printers Collection that (except for their name) are exactly the same. Now you have to edit the properties of your new 'duplexing' printer:

1. locate the duplex settings in 'Printer Preferences..." (often on the 'Finishing' tab)
2. modify the settings so the printer prints in duplex, click 'OK'
3. Close the printer settings dialog

Now, any time you want to print in duplex, just select your new 'duplexing' printer, and it will happen automatically.

I recently needed to size an image, using Adobe Photoshop CS, to a 1:1 scale.  This was needed because I wanted the image to print out in its 'actual size'.  Photoshop probably has this capability built in somewhere as a tool, but I haven't seen it.  For sure, there are some third party tools out there, but I stumbled through a no-frills, simple approach using just Photoshop's built-in toolkit.

Since I had a scale (a ruler) in the actual photograph, I was able to use this method to modify the scale of the image to make it 1:1.

• Open the image file
• Click Image>Image Size
• Change the 'Width' dimensions to 'mm' if it isn't already set that way
• Make a note of the width (in my example, the width was 1,587.5mm)
• Close the Image Size Dialog
• Switch to the 'Measure Tool' (it shares a button with the 'eyedropper tool'
• Using the Measure Tool, measure the scale (the ruler) in your image as exactly as possible.  In my example, I was able to measure 23mm on the scale.
• Make a note of that measurement, and of the distance Photoshop says you've measured (in the top bar, there is a 'D1' measurement; in my example, it was 1,035.2)

Now it's down to simple math.  You can figure out the ratio by which the whole image's size needs to be scaled by dividing the distance Photoshop says you measured by the measurement you took.  In my example, 1,035.2/23 = 45.001.  So the reduction factor I need is 45.001.

• Take the width of the image (mine was 1,587.5) and divide that by your reduction factor (mine was 45.001).  That result will be the proper width of your image (mine was 35.271)
• Click Image>Image Size again.
• Make sure the 'resample image' checkbox at the bottom of this dialog is 'unchecked' (otherwise, the quality of the image will get hosed)
• Enter your new, proper, value for the width of the document
• The document's height should change too...keeping the image's scale intact
• Click OK, and your image is now sized 1:1!

As I said, this worked for me because I had an actual scale in the digital image to use for measuring.  As long as the photo is taken at a right angle to the face of the subject, you should be able to use anything in the photo that is of a known distance.  For example, you could follow this method using the diameter of a penny if one was visible. 

My UT Startcom PPC6700 Windows-based smartphone recently died (OK, it's just having trouble holding a charge, frequently locking up, won't sync with Windows XP, generally being a pain, etc.).  Anyway, I've ended up buying and returning a couple potential replacement devices for various reasons, so I thought I'd list them here.  Most of these 'issues' are just differences in the portable Operating Systems, with a few of my own specific experiences thrown in.  Your mileage may vary. 

UT Starcom PPC6700 - (Windows Mobile 5.0 device)

Pros:

• Syncs flawlessly with Outlook
• Syncs OK with Thunderbird (with BirdieSync add-on)
• is able to access all the IMAP4 folders in a mail account
• comes with Office Portable - able to open/edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint docs
• uses a mini-SD card for external storage (which I already have)
• Integrated WiFi
  

Cons:

• Can't 'delete' messages from IMAP4 mail account - Can, however, 'move' them to the 'trash' folder, accomplishing the same thing with an extra couple strokes
• poor value - my device went belly-up after less than a year; wouldn't take a charge, wouldn't sync to any PC at all
  

Palm 755p

Pros:

• true sync with IMAP4 server account
• able to delete IMAP4 mail messages naturally (just 'delete' them from the device, and they're gone from the server)
• great interface - having only had Windows mobile in the past, it was easy and intuitive to get used to navigating around
• uses a mini-SD card for external storage (which I already have)
  

Cons:

• unable to view any of the IMAP4 folders on my account with the included mail software - may be possible with add-ons like:
• Chattermail ($40)
• Snappermail ($25-60)
• No WiFi antenna - can't connect to higher speed hotspots
  

Blackberry 8830

Pros:

• very natural, clean UI - I like it best of the three compared here
• integrated GPS service/device - works great with Google Maps Mobile
• Sweet (bundled) Yahoo! messenger app. I don't normally use IM much, but I used this within three hours of starting testing (I needed to communicate with a vendor who only would chat via IM). Looks like this is available for other OS's too - at least Palm
• The BlackBerry can tell when it's in its holster, which is cool, because when you pull it out, it turns on, and when you put it away, it turns off on its own. You can even set different ring/notifications, depending on whether the device is holstered or not.
  

Cons:

• Can't connect to (and view) IMAP4 folders - and I can't find an add-on that will do it, either.
• uses a micro SD card for external storage - I'd have to buy one to replace my mini-SD version
• No WiFi antenna - can't connect to higher speed hotspots
• No ability to open/edit Word/Excel/OOo documents - $99 add-on looks like it should work
• can't find a way to sync contacts with Thunderbird at all - had to sync with Outlook to get addresses on the device
• I hate the desktop software that comes with it - specifically, the separate 'media manager' was a pain for me - wouldn't close/restore/minimize; it just didn't respond like a good application should
  

I'm excited about the new dasBlog (2.0), if only because it promises to give me better control over comment-spammers. It was pretty satisfying to watch the (dasBlog 2.0) updater tool wipe out all the 'bad words' that had accumulated in this blog's entries, and hopefully now I'll be able to keep a better handle on it.

If you're reading this, I was able to upload the new blog engine and get things going on the live site!

Early this summer, I had a customer who bought a notebook PC (an HP) which happened to come pre-installed with Windows Vista on it.  Business requirements demanded that it should have Windows XP Professional instead, so I offered to 'downgrade' (ha ha) to XP Pro for him. 

As I learned (after hours scouring the Internet and chatting with HP technical support), this particular notebook _can't_ have XP Professional installed, because you can't disable 'Native Mode' for SATA in the system BIOS, and you can't install XP while the SATA drive is in native mode. 

That was the third strike for me.  I've had two other bad experiences with Vista 'upgrades', and have lost a good deal of time and money trying to work through it.  I've been a Microsoft Partner for several years, but I just can't support (pun intended) a system that is _so_ broken.  I refuse to recommend Windows Vista to any customers who rely on their computers for more than very casual use. 

Maybe Vista Service Pack 1 will be more useable. 

I'm not quite ready to let go of Windows...there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but I'm learning...

In the process of cleaning up a Windows XP (Home) PC, I ended up with a situation where it would get to the 'Windows is starting up...' screen, and just stay there for 20+ minutes.  Doing a hard reset didn't help; it would boot back to that same spot and just hang there. 

I found this forum post, where they've suggested to plug the PC's power cord directly into the wall instead of a power strip.  Since I had just purchased a new power strip, and then plugged that PC (and another one) into it, I thought I'd give it a try. 

Yeah, it worked.  The PC booted up as fast as XP ever could.  I'm assuming the two PC's together must be drawing too much current for the power strip/surge protector, and so the troubled computer wasn't getting enough juice to boot properly...? 

I have a UT Starcom PPC-6700 SmartPhone, through Alltel, that I use essentially for running my small business.  Alltel's data service add-on (~$40/month) gives me unlimited Internet access with the device, so I can Google search, watch the weather radar from the boat, check email, and get notifications of messages left on the company voice mail system. 

On the email side of things, I have the device synchronized with an Exchange server running in my office.  I can 'force' the device to sync with the server whenever I feel like reading email, just by clicking send/receive in the phone.  With Exchange Server 2003, I can also enable Microsoft's 'Direct Push', which keeps the phone synchronized with Exchange in real-time.  There are plenty of articles out there on how Direct Push works, so I won't regurgitate that here, but essentially as messages come in, they're 'pushed' directly to the phone, so I always have the most recent message list in my hand. 

One significant problem I've noticed is that with Direct Push enabled, the battery life on the PPC-6700 is slashed severely.  I can expect that if I take the phone off charger at 7am, it will be dead (powered off dead) before 5pm.  By contrast, with Direct Push turned off and me synchronizing manually 3 or 4 times during the day, the battery will last 3 days pretty easily. 

It's weird, because Direct Push is touted as a technology that should save battery life.  Instead of the device connecting on a schedule – say, every half hour – and downloading '0' messages while wasting battery juice, it's supposed to be 'smarter' and only connect when there are messages to download. 

I can't find the article now, but one writer suggested that if you don't want your device connecting a hundred times a day and downloading messages, don't receive so many emails!  I would agree, but I think the problem is bigger than that.  I think the problem is with spam, and here's why:

Most of the time, when I 'force' a download with the phone, it will say something like “Email: 0/8” in the phone's Messaging status bar.  When it completes the download, though, I might actually only see 1 or 2 of those messages in my inbox.  I'm left to assume that the other 6 or 7 were spam...and that the Exchange spam filtering rules don't get applied until the download is requested.   

If that's true, then something similar is probably happening with Direct Push enabled.  The difference, though, is that Direct Push is causing as many as 8 connections to (downloads from) Exchange to accomplish the same thing.  Essentially, it's connecting 8 times, and each time it's just running the rules and putting messages in the spam folder...it's a wasted connection. 

[EDIT 2007-05-23]

I almost forgot.  One other problem with enabling Direct Push is that people who call me often get sent directly to voice mail.  The phone never even rings, because the line is tied up with the data connection.  Since the phone spends so much of it's day connected to Exchange, this becomes a problem - think 'teenager tying up the phone all day'.  

Some people never learn, I guess.  After my first horrible experience trying to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista Business, I said I wouldn't do it again.  A few weeks later, here I am trying to upgrade my main computer - the desktop machine on which I do most of the 'important' things. 

After a solid half hour, the upgrade let me know it wouldn't continue, because it doesn't like 'Nero Burning ROM'.  Then it exited.  I removed Nero (even though it's my favorite CD/DVD burning tool), and started the upgrade process again.  You don't get to fast-forward to the point you left...you have to re-do that half hour. 

This time, it keeps going.  It was taking forever (3 hours and we were still 'Expanding' files), but it did warn that it would take 'several hours' to complete, so whatever.  I check back after three hours, and all I see is a mouse arrow on an all-blue screen...nothing else.  The mouse moves the cursor, but after 20 minutes, it's still just stuck there.

I hard-reset the machine (reset button), and watch anxiously.  The BIOS screen just stays up for 4-5 minutes...hard reset again.  This time, it gets past the BIOS post and continues setup.  Whew. 

As I write this, the Windows Vista Business Upgrade has been stuck at 'Expanding Files... 21%' for over an hour.  When I click the little red 'X' to close the setup window, it tells me the setup process cannot be canceled at this point, because it could leave my system in a potentially unstable state.  That would be funny if it weren't so pathetic...the system is already unusable...since it's stuck in this stupid upgrade. 

I'll update this entry when I have some kind of resolution...

I recently tried to upgrade a Toshiba Satellite laptop (Model A35-S159, running Windows XP Pro SP2, fully patched, with BIOS flashed to the latest - September 2004) to Windows Vista Business Edition.  Apparently, I'm one of the many people lucky enough to have a computer that, while being ACPI compliant, isn't quite ACPI compliant enough for Windows Vista.  I'm not even sure what that means. 

I ran Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor, and the machine passed with no problems.  I ran the upgrade, and that seemed to go great too (though it took a long time).  On the first boot (which should have been into Vista), I got the popular Blue Screen of Death telling me my system's 'BIOS isn't fully ACPI compliant'.  Great. 

The only bright spot (if you can call it that) is that, if I'm quick, I can catch the boot screen as the laptop powers up and choose 'Earlier Version of Windows', which will take me back to Windows XP.

But that just gets me back to where I was before I ever tried Vista.  I can't find any hope on the web, except Microsoft saying the vendors will have to update the BIOS...that's apparently not likely in Toshiba's case, as they say right on their web site they won't support Vista except on PC's with the Vista Capable logo.  From their support web site:

Q: If my Toshiba computer does not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, does Toshiba offer drivers and BIOS upgrades for Windows Vista?

A: No. Toshiba offers Windows Vista drivers and Windows Vista-compatible BIOS upgrades for computer models that have a valid Windows Vista Capable sticker. It may be possible to upgrade to Windows Vista on some Toshiba computer models that do not have a Windows Vista Capable sticker, but Toshiba cannot guarantee that all features of the computer will function correctly after the upgrade. Microsoft’s Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor may be able to indicate whether or not your computer has the minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista, but a positive report from the Upgrade Advisor is not a clear indication that the specific features of the computer will function correctly after an upgrade to Windows Vista.

I'm not much for conspiracies, but this stinks of 'plot to make people buy new hardware'...

I still feel a little blind working with Linux...like I'm constantly bumping into things, then feeling them to figure out what they are.  When I want to find them again, I sort of have to stumble around again and the process repeats.  It's getting better, but it's just a steep learning curve for a Windows-only boy like me...

My Own Confluence
I've managed now to get a Confluence personal installation running nicely (with hands-on help from Atlassian) inside Ubuntu 6.10. 

Confluence seems to be the perfect solution to a problem I've had in managing certain kinds of customer and company information...I can create a 'home' page for each customer, new pages for each of their computers/systems, pages for repair notes and site visits, etc.  So far, it's just about perfect...for one thing, all the information is available anywhere I can get an Internet browser fired up, and having complete searchability is a huge bonus.

One other nice benefit is I can configure each customers' entry in Business Contact Manager so their BCM 'home page' points to their 'Home Page' in the Confluence installation.  This links the two systems pretty cleanly, as I can quickly pull up their extended information in Confluence by clicking the link inside Outlook. 

Of course, Confluence is excellent for managing all kinds of information, and I'm using it daily to store all kinds of phone, meeting, and other data.  If I run into problems with this combination, I'll post it here; but for now, Confluence is perfectly filling a huge information management void for me. 

Version Control via SVN, too!
I've also now got SVN installed, configured, and working very well on that Ubuntu box.  Previously, I had 'local' SVN repositories on 3 different machines at 2 locations.  Having a 'real' SVN server means I can consolidate all those projects (sheesh, there are more than I thought!) in one place.  While I'm the only developer that uses them, it's nice to just have one system to worry about backing up. 

It's worth pointing out that while I found a lot of articles explaining how to install/configure SVN server on Linux/Ubuntu, this one was perfect in it's detail (for me, at least).  After that, this article was just as good at helping me move the subversion repositories from the Windows local repositories to the Linux server. 

After installing ISA server on an internal network, I noticed that file upload via FTP no longer worked.  It took way too much Googling to find this link, which explains the simple solution:

• Right-click the 'SBS FTP Outbound Access Rule' (in a default installation)
• Choose 'Configure FTP' from the bottom of the context menu. 
• Deselect the 'Read Only' box on the dialog
• Restart your FTP client application, and voila!

Alright, mostly for Wende, because apparently she looks for this stuff when she should be working...

The Lab Christmas Party, 3rd annual Kids' Movie Party, and plenty of other new photos are up on our Flickr account. 

Several years ago, I bought a Red Hat Linux CD at a local retail store.  I never figured it out...I couldn't get it to install, and didn't really 'get' the whole Linux thing anyway.  Recently, I gave Linux another look, after reading an article about how a bootable Live Linux CD might be useful in rescuing a Windows system that can't boot. 

Since then (just a couple weeks), I've tried both Knoppix and Ubuntu flavors of Linux.  I've booted both from Live CD versions, which is sweet for Windows users that just want to check it out without losing their Windows systems.  Essentially, Linux loads from your CD drive, and once it's loaded it acts like it would if it were the only operating system on the computer. 

Of the two, I like Ubuntu a little better, I think...for two reasons.  It comes in 3 different flavors (desktop, server, and alternative install), and if you boot from a Live CD and decide you love it, you just click a shortcut to completely switch over and ditch Windows. 

Anyway, I've decided I definitely 'like' Linux now...for several reasons. 

1. It works.  You just run the installer, and Linux figures out how to use the hardware you've got.  Printers are easy too...you add them much like you do in a Windows system (wizard style).  
2. It's intuitive.  Well, it's as intuitive for the casual user as is Windows.  You have nice, pretty UI's with meaningful buttons and labels...you can find what you want at least as well as on a Windows machine.  You can surf the Internet, check email, and type documents largely like you do in Windows. 
3. It's free...as in no money.  Even better, it lets you turn that old junk PC into a really nice server or extra computer for the kids. 
4. Related to #3.  It doesn't demand great hardware to install and run.  I have an Ubuntu file server runnning (amazingly well) with 128MB of RAM, a 6GB hard drive, and a 733Mhz processor.  
5. With Ubuntu at least, adding and removing programs is a breeze.  Much like the add/remove programs applet in Windows, you can easily see a list of programs installed on your computer.  The big difference is that Ubuntu lets you see a list of all the (free) software available for your computer.  If you want it, just check the box, and it installs. 
6. Updates don't force a reboot.  I'm only a beginner here, but Ubuntu has downloaded and installed hundreds of updates, never once complaining that it has to restart to apply the changes. 
7. Community support - It does feel strange for a Windows guy to be typing on the Linux command line (shell) all the time (sudo this, grep that, nano this, etc.).  The best part of that, though, is when you're stuck, you can Google the error you're seeing, and a half dozen forums and articles show up to guide you through.  To be fair, I'm comfortable with the Windows (DOS) command line because I've been using it for 12 or so years...I'm confident the Linux shell is just 'hard' for me because it's 'new' to me. 

I can see tremendous potential for many of my clients here.  Linux plays nice with Windows computers on Windows networks, can act as a file/print server, and a dozen other useful things.  The potential is that the price point is low, the reliability is high, and the price point is low (oops, did I already mention that?) 

As I get further into this, I want to post more about my experiences with Linux.  So far, though, what I've seen is very exciting and promises to help with a number of problems I've seen in the past. 

Wow.  This is one of the driest, funniest sites I've ever seen...

http://www.dullmen.com

Hours of 'entertainment' in there...

I've found the Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard (FAST) to be a great tool...you just run it on your 'old' computer, run it again on your 'new' computer, and voila!...your old desktop, files and network connection settings all appear like magic. 

I just had a problem, though, that caused a little panic.  The situation was that the 'old' computer and the 'new' computer are the same machine.  I ran the wizard to an external (USB) drive, formatted drive C: and reinstalled Windows.  When I re-ran the wizard, I got a message that apparently means the FAST backup is corrupted:

"The location that you specified does not contain any stored information."

The solution (for me, at least) was to run Windows Update until there were no more updates to be had...install everything.  After that, I re-ran the wizard, and the files restored beautifully.  Bottom line...the data wasn't corrupted at all, but for some reason Windows couldn't see it. 

A few extra minutes of preparation would have prevented the panic.  One good suggestion is to run the wizard on the 'old' computer right after you do the FAST backup.  If it starts to restore your data, you're in good shape.  If you get the above error, delete the backup and try again.  Thanks to aumha.org for the tip (though I didn't find it until after I was dead in the water). 

Finally, a solution.  I must have right-clicked an de-selected the language toolbar 50 times.  You'd think I'd lose patience waaaay before this and look for an actual answer. 

http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/144689.html

In case that link becomes unavailable, the answer is in Control Panel>Languages and Regional Settings.  Look around in there for the 'load language bar on startup' checkbox (that's paraphrased)...

For some reason, my Windows Mobile 5 device (a Dell Axim x51v) recently stopped sunchronizing completely with Windows XP.  I started seeing the following error whenever I'd try to sync:

"Synchronization cannot be started because you are not able to log on to the network and access information. Restart your desktop computer and synchronize again. If the problem persists, contact your network administrator."

It appeared that everything synchronized except for Notes, which would be left with the 'Attention Required' comment next to it.  On closer inspection, though, there were a number of tasks that I'd created on the device that weren't making it back to the PC's task list. 

I found a suggestion on the Internet that I should use 'scanpst.exe' to repair the Personal Folders file.  That didn't really apply to me, since my Outlook 2003 installation is synchronized with an Exchange Server, but I thought I'd try it anyway.  Once I got to the folder where 'scanpst.exe' is located, I saw that there is a 'scanost.exe' program too.  It turns out that an OST file is the local cache of the Exchange Server data. 

I ran 'scanost.exe' and let it repair all folders...and it worked! 

By the way, both scanpst.exe and scanost.exe can be found here by default:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

After updating Small Business Accounting to SP2, I found that I could no longer export an invoice to my custom template as I did before.  I would just get this error message in a dialog:

OLE received a packet with an invalid extension

To resolve the problem, I (eventually) opened my custom invoice template for editing, then closed it without making any real changes.  When the dialog asked if I wanted to save changes, I clicked 'Yes'.  After that, exporting to my template works just like before. 

I'm assuming the template had to be updated with the new fields that SP2 allows in templates...the memo field is the only one I can recall reading about at the moment. 

Aagh!  I bought a Dell Axim x51v (with Windows Mobile 2005), and only THEN did I see the fine print on this page..."NOTE: This version does not currently support Windows Mobile 5.0 devices."

Apparently, you can safely extend that message to mean "there is no version that currently supports Windows Mobile 5.0 devices". 

Great.

I haven't bothered to look, but I bet this is documented somewhere in a 'worst practices' list...

I recently logged in to my PC (on a SBS domain) and found that I was not connected to the server (or anything else, for that matter).  I tried troubleshooting the PC's connections, rebooting, etc., but got nowhere. 

I ended up logging on to the server itself to see what was up, and found the old "Invalid System disk or disk error..." message on the screen.  It turns out that Windows (SBS 2003) had updated itself and forced a reboot, but couldn't finish the process because a floppy disk was in the server's drive.  Removing the disk was all that had to be done to fix the problem. 

I'm assuming they didn't come up with this on their own, but I have to give credit for this one to the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP), from their January 2006 publication. 

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says......

"When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, education, and corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

• Buying a stronger whip.
• Changing riders.
• Appointing a committee to study the horse.
• Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
• Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
• Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
• Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
• Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
• Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
• Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
• Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
• Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses. And of course....
• Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

I've been struggling with a seemingly simple problem in Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2006...how to document a refund from a vendor where the money went from the vendor straight back into a checking account.  I can't find documentation of it anywhere...everything stops just after explaining how to create the 'vendor credit memo'. 

After a brutal stretch of trial-and-error (that will probably make my accountant stroke out), I think I have finally figured it out. 

1. Create the 'vendor credit memo' following the normal procedure
2. Go to 'Banking'
3. Choose 'Make Deposit'
4. Change the deposit date to match the original refund date
5. Select the financial account (i.e. checking) where the money was refunded
6. Enter something useful in the 'Memo' field (i.e. 'Refund from return of XYZ product')
7. Click 'New Deposit Line' in the title bar
8. Change the date to match the refund date
9. Under 'Deposit money from', choose, 'Vendor', then select your vendor from the list
10. Enter the amount of the refund (deposit) in the 'amount' field
11. Click 'Record'
12. Click 'Save and Close'

I hope this helps someone else out. 

I recently had to move a Windows XP pc to a new domain, taking the user's settings with him to the new setup.  I found some great instructions here (Google Groups is becoming a fast favorite of mine for troubleshooting-type issues) for migrating the user account to the new domain...I would just make one extra suggestion.  Make sure, when you copy all the files from the old profile to the new one, that you have selected all the hidden and system files as well. 

The problem I ran into was in trying to get a Business Contact Manager database migrated to the new domain.  You can't just open the database with the new profile, because it's 'owned' by the first profile. 

It turns out you can just backup the database as the 'old' user, then log in as the same user in the new domain, and 'restore' the database with BCM. 

I couldn't find documentation that said this was a preferred method, butit worked for me! 

I thought I might put my home-grown 'accounting' system to rest and give Microsoft's new Small Business Accounting 2006 a try.  I'll try to post back here with an opinion when I've had a chance to try it out. 

I ordered the free trial CD from Microsoft and installed it tonight.  If anyone else tries this, make sure you turn off your firewall software.  In my case, ZoneAlarm didn't allow the installation to finish correctly, even though I 'Allow'ed everything it asked about.  With ZoneAlarm shut down, the installation went smoothly.