The LuxMob Info Tags

The world today has gone literally gone acronym crazy. Every industry has its own plethora of acronyms to bamboozle the uninitiated. Acronyms are also often a source of great pain for those people who have to create procedure documents for their industry. There is a way to survive this turmoil through the power of Autocorrect and it will definitely save you time.

Autocorrect was originally developed by Microsoft to help those people using Microsoft Office and in particular Microsoft Word overcome typing issues but it has also become the saviour to those working in an acronym world.

I hear you saying it, HOW!

An acronym in essence is short couple of characters that have a special meaning for example in Australia we have a term called the Australian Business Number which has an acronym abn. If you were producing a lot of documents that refer to the term Australian Business Number you would find it takes a little time to right that whole name. In many cases it would be inappropriate to actually use the acronym. What Autocorrect allows you to do is to program into the application the term abn and associate it with the full name Australian Business Number.

What this means is that when you are typing your documents and you need to refer to the term Australian Business Number, you simply type in abn and as you press the space bar Microsoft Word will then convert the acronym abn to Australian Business Number.

So why does it do this?

Like I mentioned before, Autocorrect was really developed to overcome the issue of people mistyping words. Essentially as you type Autocorrect checks to see if what you are typing is correct and if its not it will correct it with the options in the Autocorrect list. Some of the common typing mistakes you might incur would cna instead of can. If you open Microsoft Word and type in cna it will automatically correct it to can.

Autocorrect is actually available in all Microsoft Office Applications which include Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Outlook and FrontPage. Now the really cool part about this is that if you setup an Autocorrect entry in say Microsoft PowerPoint, it will also be available in all of the other applications. This means that you are going to save time both in the initial setup but also whilst you are creating these documents.

If you find that when you tried the example I gave to you before that it did not convert the misspelt word to the correct word then most likely the AutoCorrect function has been turned off. To turn it on in Microsoft Word 2003 simply choose the Tools menu and then choose AutoCorrect Options. You will see a checkbox next to the words “Replace Text as you type”. If the checkbox does not have a tick next to it then you need to click once on the check box to activate it. Then finish off the process by pressing the OK button.

There are three autocorrect entries which I think are absolutely essential to know and that is how you can insert the Trade Mark Symbol, Registered Symbol and Copyright Symbol without using the symbol command. All you do is type the following -

(tm) - Creates the Trade Mark Symbol

(c) - Creates the Copyright Symbol

(r) - Creates the Registered Symbol

Autocorrect is certainly one of the tools that I think is really cool but is often misunderstood and not used to its full potential. Using AutoCorrect in this way will save you hours of time when dealing with acronyms. It might take a little time setting up your acronyms but once its completed it will save you countless hours and make you far more efficient and effective in using the Microsoft Office Suite.

If you would like to know more about AutoCorrect and how to setup your own acronyms in Autocorrect, Chris has written a Microsoft Word training program that will help you to do this. This training program is available at his website at http://www.1-on-1.biz or http://microsoftofficespecialist.1-on-1.biz

What is CSS?

CSS is the technology used to make the layout for webpages.
They are Cascading Style Sheets, used to style your HTML
documents. They are slowly replacing tables as the preferred
medium to layout your pages. They free your content (the HTML
document) from the layout (the CSS file), so you may change your
website look and feel easily.

CSS basics.

With HTML, you would define the attributes as you write the
HTML. With CSS, you first define the style. Then as you are
writing the HTML, you apply the required style. So the first
step to write CSS document is defining your styles. There are
two ways to apply your CSS to your file. You may either include
it in your HTML file by placing your stylesheet in head of your
HTML as,

…

, The Selectors.

After you write your style, the computer needs to know where to
apply that style. This can be done using the selectors. The
selectors are of three types. 1. HTML tag selector: If you want
to change the look of any of your html tags, you will use this
type of selector. You may decide that all of your h2 elements
must have red text. It is trivially easy with CSS. 2. Class
selector: you would like particular parts of your webpage to
have a style, but that part is not always in same html tag. Not
to worry, you can enclose that part with a div tag and apply
your style. 3. ID selectors: If some element occurs only once it
is styled using id selectors.

Your First Stylesheet.

With your first stylesheet, you will modify the page to look
yellow with a blue foreground.

some text The HTML part
is simple, so let’s look at the CSS part. body{
background-color:yellow; color:blue; }

We wanted to modify the body so we used the body tag selector.
This basically said to the computer that this style needs to be
applied to whole body of html document. Then we used the
background-color property to set the background and the color
property to set the foreground. What if you wanted to set all
the text to bold? Oh that’s simple too, you just add this line
inside the body selector. font-weight: bold;

Getting something useful.

The last css though simple was not very useful. Let us design a
useful CSS which might be used on a site. Before that you must
learn positioning elements using CSS. We would like to have a
three column layout. So I will use three selectors(Id selectors)
named sidebar, content and rightsidebar. Theses lines of codes
declare our selectors. #sidebar #content #rightsidebar. Then we
will tell how these should look like. I want my sidebar and
rightsidebar to have aqua colored background. This is done using
background: Aqua;

Next we add borders to all our selectors and add a top margin of
20 pixels. We would like the contents to be bolder, so we add
font-weight: bold; to content. After that we decide to spice up
our links by making them of a different color and removing the
underlines, by getting a color:#c60; text-decoration:none; To
give the user a visual indication of the link when she moves her
mouse, we swap the link colors. This is done by changing the
style in a:hover.

So this is what our finished page looks like.

, What! Do I have to learn all these tags and
attributes?

No. But you must remember the more important ones. Also the
attributes have very common sense names. What should you do to
change the background color of your webpage. Yeah this.

body{ background:Aqua; } , That’s all. SO if you are going to
use CSS for any length of time, you will get to remember the
tags. A css editor like TopStyle lite can be really useful when
you are learning css. , Thats all for today. Hope you learnt
something useful from this tutorial.

Who needs what?

These tips can be useful for CD and DVD collectors, archive owners, music and movies funs. If you keep hundreds or thousands of disks - you need some plan to manage the heap. Here it is.

Goals

Organizing a huge disks collection. Finding the information that you are looking for. Managing the disks you have loaned.

Outline

1. Think out a plan for the catalog ordering
2. Place your disks in order on your storages and shelves
3. Build a CD categories tree in the catalog database
4. Add disks to the catalog database
5. Fill in disk codes for each disk item in the database
6. Mark disk covers with the codes
7. Follow these steps for each new disk!

1. Think out a plan for the catalog ordering

1. In alphabetical order
2. By categories
3. Combined
4. Other

Invent the system of disk codification. A code should be unique for each disk (you need it for a quick and precise searching). Simple example - just number them at a certain interval, like CD-0001, CD-0005, CD-0010. The interval is important to reserve numbers for a future use (maybe you would buy the missing CD-0002 in the future?).

2. Place your disks in order on your storages and shelves

Place your disks in the selected order. It will require a piece of handwork for the first time, but it’s extremely quick and handy to find a disk box in the ordered storage.
It’s better to return each media item back to its own place once you do not use it.

3. Build a CD categories tree in the catalog database

CD catalog software can store thousands of compounding groups. Use it!

4. Add disks to the catalog database

Scan the disks with CD cataloging program. Disk base will be growing up with each new scanned disk.

5. Fill in disk codes for each disk item in the database

Open the disk properties dialog and type in the unique disk code for each item.

6. Mark disk covers with the codes

You need to add a small sticker or label to the original disk. This makes the disks ordering and finding much easier.
You can select from a several choices:

1. Write the disk code on box or paper cover (with marker or pencil);
2. Print out the disk stickers (from CD database with CD Cover utility) and attach them to disk boxes;
3. Print out the disk envelope with full disk information and use it instead of an original box.

7. Follow these steps for each new disk!

Continue with this plan with all new disks, which you ever get.

You have full control over your CD archive catalog! What are you going to do with all that extra time?

Download the CD archive cataloging software, create your own disk database, and use the full program power for CD archive operations!

Discover all you ever wanted to know about CD archives: latest methods, software and techniques. Click for useful info and daily updated forum of CD and DVD cataloguing news and articles. Click http://www.qunom.com.

It just amazes me how there are companies out there, claiming to be legitimate businesses, who are distributing what can only be known as spyware, adware, malware, badware, and viruses. These companies get away with it due to obscure clauses and legal double-speak in their terms of agreements, if they bother to have one at all.

Some websites will download unwanted spyware and badware on your computer without any consent from you at all. They claim that all of this information gathering has a legitimate purpose and that people are over-reacting.

Some people do not know what a virus is. It is simply a program. Just like any other program you download and use everyday. It must be installed onto your computer. The difference between a virus and a legitimate program lies in the purpose for which it was created.

A legitimate program was created to help you perform a task. A virus was created to harm your computer or steal information from you. The other difference is the first one is legal, the latter is not.

A virus is legitimately defined as an executable program, however, any script or macro should be included in that definition in my opinion. If they are written with the intent of causing harm to a user’s computer or they are written and installed on a user’s computer in order to gather information on that user, then they are no better and no different than a virus, and should fall under the same laws that apply to viruses.

If these programs like GAIN, Gator, and WinFixer are so legitimate, why are the techniques they use to install it on a user’s computer so sly? Why are they using these sneaky tactics, such as downloading it onto someone’s computer without disclosing what it actually is to the user in a clear manner?

Why do they write their malware, badware, and adware in such a way as to have it resist your efforts to remove it from your computer? Your computer is something you bought and paid for. You have the right to decide what will be installed on your computer. Anyone who writes a program that resists your ability to choose to remove it is a violation of your rights.

Our elected officials don’t know how to surf the web for the most part, let alone actually understand what the definition of a virus is and how to legislate against spyware and malware. Software companies who write legitimate programs lobby them to make sure they do not pass any laws that regulate the sale of software.

Example: Name any other product or service where you must pay up front for it before you even see the contract you must sign and agree to before you can use it?

Not only that, but large corporations support the use of malware, adware, spyware, badware, and viruses that gather information from users without their knowledge. They in turn buy that information to build their own consumer databases and use that information to sell you products. They pay to know what your habits are. As long as they are willing to pay for that information, companies like GAIN will continue to steal it from user’s and sell it to these companies.

If you want to know how many programs on your computer are gathering information about you, you will need to get some type of spyware detection software. There are several available, however, be careful, some of those advertising the removal of spyware are actually installing it on your computer themselves. Make sure you do a search in your favorite search engine to find out about the brand of software you are thinking of downloading.

If your computer is infected with Gator or GAIN, you may have to use anti-virus software to remove it. Many of the anti-virus companies have removal instructions on their website. If GAIN were a legitimate company and legitimate software, it’s highly doubtful it would have to be removed by an anti-virus program.

I hope this article has been helpful to you. GAIN, WinFixer, and other programs that act in this unethical manner should be considered viruses and held accountable for the harm they do to your computer and liable for the time it takes to remove them. That’s my opinion.

D. David Dugan is the president of DD&C (www.dugancom.com) and personally helps to maintain their computer support forum at forum.dugancom.com as well as their Spyware Information site spyware.dugancom.com.

The Michigan State Agency that oversees the collection and reporting of State income taxes deducted from payroll checks is:

Department of Treasury
Sales, Use and Withholding Taxes Div.
Treasury Bldg.
430 W. Allegan St.
Lansing, MI 48922
(517) 636-4730
http://www.michigan.gov/treasury

Michigan requires that you use Michigan form “MI-W4, Employee’s Michigan Withholding Exemption Certificate” instead of a Federal W-4 Form for Michigan State Income Tax Withholding.

Not all states allow salary reductions made under Section 125 cafeteria plans or 401(k) to be treated in the same manner as the IRS code allows. In Michigan cafeteria plans are not taxable for income tax calculation; taxable for unemployment insurance purposes. 401(k) plan deferrals are not taxable for income taxes; taxable for unemployment purposes.

In Michigan supplemental wages are taxed at a 3.9% flat rate.

You must file your Michigan state W-2s by magnetic media if you are have at least 250 employees and are required to file your federal W-2s by magnetic media.

The Michigan State Unemployment Insurance Agency is:

Bureau of Workers and Unemployment
Compensation
Cadillac Place
3024 W. Grand Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48202
(800) 638-3994
http://www.michigan.gov/

The State of Michigan taxable wage base for unemployment purposes is wages up to $9000.00.

Michigan has optional reporting of quarterly wages on magnetic media.

Unemployment records must be retained in Michigan for a minimum period of six years. This information generally includes: name; social security number; dates of hire, rehire and termination; wages by period; payroll pay periods and pay dates; date and circumstances of termination.

The Michigan State Agency charged with enforcing the state wage and hour laws is:

Department of Consumer and Industry Services
Bureau of Safety and Regulation
Wage and Hour Division
7150 Harris Dr., Box 30643
Lansing, MI 48909-8143
(517) 322-1825
http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-11407—,00.html

The minimum wage in Michigan is $5.15 per hour.

The general provision in Michigan concerning paying overtime in a non-FLSA covered employer is one and one half times regular rate after 40-hour week.

Michigan State new hire reporting requirements are that every employer must report every new hire and rehire. The employer must report the federally required elements of:

• Employee’s name
• Employee’s address
• Employee’s social security number
• Employer’s name
• Employers address
• Employer’s Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)

This information must be reported within 20 days of the hiring or rehiring.
The information can be sent as a W4 or equivalent by mail, fax or electronically.
There is no penalty for a late report in Michigan.

The Michigan new hire-reporting agency can be reached at 800-524-9846 or on the web at http://www.newhire-usa.com/mi/.

Michigan does not allow compulsory direct deposit

Michigan requires the following information on an employee’s pay stub:

• Gross and Net Earnings
• straight time and overtime pay
• pay periods
• hours worked
• itemized deductions

Michigan requires that employee be paid semimonthly; monthly if wages paid by 1st of next month; weekly or biweekly if paydays regularly scheduled.

Michigan requires that the lag time between the end of the pay period and the payment of wages earned from 1st-15th, pay by 1st of next month; 16th-end of month, pay by 15th of next month; 14 days after pay period for weekly or biweekly paydays to the employee.

Michigan payroll law requires that involuntarily terminated employees must be paid their final pay immediately, or as soon as amount due is determined and that voluntarily terminated employees must be paid their final pay when amount is determined.

Deceased employee’s wages must be paid when normally due to employee’s written designee; if none, surviving spouse, children, parents, or siblings (in that order).

Escheat laws in Michigan require that unclaimed wages be paid over to the state after one year if more than $50.

The employer is further required in Michigan to keep a record of the wages abandoned and turned over to the state for a period of 10 years.

Michigan payroll law mandates no more than $2.50 may be used as a tip credit.

In the Michigan payroll law there is no provision covering required rest or meal periods.

Michigan statute requires that wage and hour records be kept for a period of not less than three years. These records will normally consist of at least the information required under FLSA.

The Michigan agency charged with enforcing Child Support Orders and laws is:

Office of Child Support
Michigan Family Independence Agency
235 S. Grand Ave., Ste. 1406
Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 373-7570
http://www.michigan.gov/dhs

Michigan has the following provisions for child support deductions:

• When to start Withholding? 7 days after service.
• When to send Payment? Within 3 days of Payday.
• When to send Termination Notice? “Promptly”
• Maximum Administrative Fee? no provision
• Withholding Limits? Federal Rules under CCPA.

Please note that this article is not updated for changes that can and will happen from time to time.

Charles J. Read, CPA has been in the payroll, accounting and tax business for 30 years, the last fifteen in private practice. Mr. Read is the author of “How to Start a New Business”. For Professional Payroll services at a Budget Price go to http://www.PayrollonaBudget.com a Paperless Payroll Company. Go to http://www.CustomPayroll.com For a full service payroll service bureau with CPA’s on staff. See an excerpt of Mr. Read’s interviews from William Shatners “Heartbeat of America” television show on the websites linked above.

Hey Guys! Don’t raise your eyebrows or fear by hearing the word Linux. It is as user friendly as windows. Just take a look at the articles below and all myths about Linux in your mind will disappear.

Introduction to Linux:

It’s a free operating system available to download but you have to pay a tiny bit to mail order it or buy it from a company. 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 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.

Linux is based on the commercial OS, UNIX. All the operating systems try 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.

Tips for Home Users:

• If you want to get comfortable with Linux, you don’t have to let go of windows. Get Linux installed on a separate partition and you can switch between Windows and Linux. For new users who don’t have any computer background learning windows or Linux both takes same time and sitting.

• It is suggested that new PC buyers should get both operating systems installed and should use them equally. If you’re getting Linux for more than 2-3 PCs, you can also get training and support at a small free, if you choose to have it. Else it’s the Linux community on the Net to your rescue.

• You don’t have to be a great computer user to work with Linux. There are Desktop environments that let you work in Linux as you work in Windows. As you work with windows, same is the case with Linux.

Linux hands in decreasing PC prices.

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.

The PCs bundle the operating system. Linux being a free open source operating system means that the code that runs is open for everyone to see, work with, modify and develop their own innovative applications for it. But this is nothing compared to the money people spend on Operating Systems like windows. And a company bundles Linux and applications based on it with a computer, quite a bit of the PC cost comes down. Presently some branded PC’s coming with Linux are available for Rs: 25000/- onwards.

Linux is 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. According to a latest survey Web Hosts are using Linux Based Servers for hosting purposes.

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.

Security:

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. There are no blue screens and no viruses to speak of. It is rarely attacked by any viruses and there are very less number of viruses written for Linux. It can be given 10+ points on a 10 point scale for security.

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. These days Linux Versions are easier to install than 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 very difficult and based on text command

Linux has come a long way from being the system of brilliant computer users. It has extremely advanced X Windows systems that have 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 Linux OS 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. All hardware are properly detected and their drivers installed. 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. Almost all excellent software for Linux is free and 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 them as you please.

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 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. The games in Linux are of very high quality and features. You’ll enjoy them. 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 for Home Users:

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 additional software.

RedHat: Probably the most popular and in many ways the leading version. It’s currently in version 9. The installation and configuration is easy. A blue curve file manager and the default GNOME desktop make it look simply stunning. It comes with a host of tools that allow usage as a server and as a workstation. The Red Hat Package Manger(RPM) format developed by Red Hat has almost become the defector for software distribution in Linux world. Installing new software is a breeze. It also has an advanced and easy font management system that makes fonts in X Windows look cool.

Mandrake: Mandrake Linux is now in its 10 version. It can be installed on a native Windows Partition using the Lin4Win tool, but this may slow the machine down. It also lets you do a traditional Linux install into its own dedicated partition. Mandrake’s configuration and software installation is painless. It follows a slightly modified RPM architecture called mdk.rpm but most Red Hat software can also be used for Mandrake. The outstanding feature in this version is the collection of window managers-eye-candy freaks will have a great time.

SUSE: From Germany comes the Chameleon, SUSE. Now in its 8.x avatar, it has one of the most extensive software packages compiled, and getting them installed is easy with yast (Yet another Software Tool) which gives a centralized interface from where you can pick and choose the software to be installed. Among other things, SUSE comes with some stunning 3D games that showcase Linux gamming prowess

Corel/Xandross: Corel entered the Linux market with Corel Linux a few years ago. Now it has merged into Xandross OS, which is based on Corel Linux. This is a Debian-type version, and can be installed without much fuss after resizing the Windows partition. Xandross contains Crossover office, which is a refined retail version of WINE that lets you install and run many Microsoft apps.

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 on Linux. VMWare is another program that lets you run Windows under Linux. Now many software companies have started developing high end software for 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 is 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.

About The Author

Presently working in the capacity of the Technical Director of Birbals, an e-consulting firm based in India dedicated in providing innovative and effective web, Hospitality and consultancy services to public, private and non-profit organizations. Successfully founded Birbals and other IT companies like Ebirbals and SeoBirbals. Responsible for strategy, positioning and branding, designing, planning, organizing and executing various business plans. Have set up various systems and procedures for the smooth functioning of Birbals. pawan@ebirbals.com

With the advent of ‘Service Pack 2′ for Windows XP operating system, Microsoft have really made the forums hum.

Every forum on computer problems is replete with complaints that since downloading and installing ‘SP2′, many ‘third party’ applications don’t work.

This service pack was needed to keep viruses and trojans out of people’s computers when they are on the internet, but it has caused a world wide backlash against the software giant because people’s favored applications won’t work, or the computer crashes when they try to open them. Many people have said they will buy a Mac or try Linux instead.

What causes all this fury against Microsoft who are only trying to make surfing the internet safer?

Maybe there was an almighty rush to release this service pack before it had been thoroughly beta tested on all applications to see what the issues would be.

The complexity of this service pack is such that you really need to have a degree in I.T. just to set it’s parameters, instead of relying on it’s default settings, before you can successfully use it. It really needed a dvd movie to accompany it to visually show what you had to set before starting up any ‘third party’ applications, but this was not thought necessary because Microsoft were offering free technical support via a free phone number.

Some applications require that you open ports manually, but who would know that without clear instructions?

Some of the applications that need ports to be opened for them include the following:- “Visual Studio.Net”, “SQL”, “Backup Exec 9″, “Ghost Server Corporate Edition 7.5″, “Symantec Anti-Virus Corporate Edition 8.0″, “SMS 2003 Server”, “CuteFTP 5.0 xp”, “Exceed 7.0 and 8.0″, “Kea! 340 5.1″, “View Now 1.05″, “Microsoft Operations Manager 2000″, “AutoCad 2004″, “Backup Exec 9.1 4691″, “Windows Scanner and Camera Wizard”, “Cold Fusion MX Server Edition 6″, “eTrust 6.0.100″, “Netshield 4.5″, “IBM Tivoli Storage Manager” …and the list goes on.

Many games won’t work. Games that need “DX9.0c” to run, are not supported by the ‘SP2′, so games don’t run.

Virus scanning software by McAfee, Sourcenet, Sonic Wall, Command Anti-Virus, either give error messages, or crash the computer.

Most scanners including Umax scanners may not work and give error messages, or continually re-boot the computer.

Some of the features of Ebay Toolbar will cease to function. Users of Ebay’s Enhanced Picture Service are locked out.

Applications which may not work are programs that have to contact a server to work at all, some ftp, multimedia streaming software, ‘new mail’ notifications in some email applications. Some programs reported not working are webservers such as “Internet Information Services” (IIS), “Remote Desktop”, “File Sharing”.

Many large companies are so concerned about the applications incompatability issues that IBM have notified all staff not to install ‘SP2′.

Complaints to ‘third party’ software suppliers are soaring as if it is their fault applications don’t work.

Even e-books downloaded from the internet are refusing to fully open.

The only way to get these applications to work is to uninstall ‘SP2′ by going to ‘Start’ then ‘Control Panel’ then ‘Add Remove Programs’.

Microsoft, as if to shove the blame on users, have warned that installing ‘SP2′ on a ’spyware’ infested machine is a ‘bad idea’.

Summing up the pro’s and con’s of installing ‘SP2′, one forum poster stated it simply:-

“Windows XP is incompatable with SP2″.

About The Author

Tony Dean is a published author and runs a web site selling ebooks and software for immediate download: http://www.ebook-sales.com

To subscribe to his weekly ezine ‘Ebook-Sales Ezine’ send blank email: ebook-sales@aweber.com

Designing your small business identity when working to a budget that doesn’t stretch to hiring a professional can be very frustrating. Print ready digital artwork files need to be created to a correct size, resolution and color mode. Providing poor artwork files to printers will result in an unprofessional looking final product which wont make a positive impression on your customers and could loose you business.

This tutorial goes over the basics of creating digital artwork files for creating business cards; it can also be used to create other business stationery items including letterheads, compliments slips and label artwork files by simply adjusting the sizes.

Dimensions mentioned are for landscape business cards and should be transposed for portrait business cards.

To create a new artwork file in Microsoft Publisher select the document type Blank Publication > Business Card.

Adjust the size of the document by selecting File > Page Setup. For business cards set the size to 9.5cm x 5.7cm. The dimensions include the bleed of 3mm (8.5pt) business cards.

Make sure that you set the printing options to 1 copy per sheet using the Change Copies Per Sheet Option.

To set print options select File > Print. From the drop down menu choose “Microsoft Office Document Image Writer”. In the print window click on Advanced Print Settings. Under Separations select Composite CMYK as Output and set the Resolution to 300×300. Close the Advanced Print Settings window by clicking OK and finally just cancel the print window.

Safety Margins

To create guides for the safe area in which you can add your design and text, switch on rulers by selecting View > Rulers. Now you can just drag the guidelines out of the rulers to the required position. You can remove them in the same way by just dragging them back into the ruler.

Any time an image or color is printed to the edge of a page, it must extend beyond the final dimensions of your job to allow for cutting. The size for the bleed of a business card must be exactly 3mm (8.5pt).

Text or artwork you wish to preserve must be at least 3mm (8.5pt) inside of the final dimension of your design (Safety Margins).

It is recommended that you set guides for Safety Margins and Bleed. For business cards set the guides to 3mm, 6mm, 51mm and 54mm vertically and 3mm, 6mm, 89mm and 92mm horizontally.

To save the document in Publisher select File > Safe As and save your artwork as a Publisher file. Email your .pub file to technical@goodprint.co.uk, we will convert it into an acceptable format, upload it into a basket for you and email you a link to view the proof and place your order.

Written for Goodprint Ltd, providors of instant online business cards and matching stationery via their website http://www.goodprint.co.uk.

Until now eScan was available for download in English & Spanish languages. With MicroWorld increasing market share in the European markets and to cater to the need of their products in localized languages, MicroWorld has felt it necessary to have an Italian & German versions for their existing range of software. The release of eScan in Italian & German language has been highly appreciated by its partners & resellers in Europe.

The following eScan range of products are available for download in Italian & German language;
eScan Virus Control Edition, eScan Professional Edition, eScan Internet Security Suite, eScan Corporate Edition, eScan Corporate for MailScan, eScan Anti-Virus Edition, eScan Corporate for Citrix, and eScan Enterprise for Microsoft SBS.

MicroWorld products are reliable and time tested and have been awarded some of the most prestigious awards and certificates in the internet security industry like VB 100%, Checkmark, People’s Choice Security Award, Advanced CheckVir, 5 cows by TUCOWS, Best Content Security and Antivirus Software -by VAR magazine to mention a few.

MicroWorld (http://www.mwti.net) is the publisher of world’s first real time antivirus and content security software eScan and MailScan, for desktops, file servers, citrix servers, proxy servers and Mail Servers. Working on revolutionary MicroWorld Winsock Layer(MWL) technology, MicroWorld’s time tested and reliable products have seen bestowed with certificates and awards by some of the most prestigious testing bodies like Virus Bulletin, Checkmark, TUCOWS, and Advanced CheckVir, Red Hat Ready, Novell Ready etc.

MicroWorld is headquatered in Michigan with offices in Germany and India and large number of partners worldwide.

For additional information please visit http://www.mwti.net or write to sales@mwti.net

In my last article, we covered four basics: 1. take advantage of any free trial periods, 2. watch out for long contracts, 3. get references, and 4. don’t be too concerned with high prices. For this article, we will assume that you have diligently followed the 4 steps in the first article and are ready for the next evolution – how to your answering service running smoothly. We will explore a few industry tips & tricks on how to keep your service professional and reliable.

First & foremost, don’t ask too much of your call center. This is not meant as don’t expect your answering service to do their job, but instead, keep their responsibilities short & sweet. As with any individual, the more tasks they are required to do, the more room arises for error. The main point here is “Shortness Equals Success”. What do I mean by that? First, keep your answer phrase short (i.e. how the operators pick up your line). Second, keep the information they gather from the caller at a minimum. Third, make sure your contact information is not a labyrinth of pager numbers, e-mail addresses, home phone numbers, and cell phone numbers (i.e. call Jim at home, if he is not there, e-mail him, if he does not respond page him and call his cell phone, etc.). Try to make sure your employees keep their cell phones with them at all times as this seems the best way to keep steady contact with the call center.

Second, place regular test calls to your call center. Consider your answering service your employee. As with any employee, if left un-supervised, they will start to evolve into a less than model representative of your business. Make sure every 10 or so days you place a test call to your answering service to see how they are managing your calls. Don’t always call at the same time of day, instead try to stagger the times when you call as sometimes the afternoon staff is more efficient then the evening staff or vice versa. If you experience any problems, notify your call center liaison immediately and place another test call shortly thereafter to ensure the problem was rectified.

Third, make sure you have a healthy relationship with your call center. Treat them as you would treat your own employee. Be friendly and courteous and you will be treated the same. Imagine your own business and your own clients. Are there clients that are never satisfied no matter what you do? Would you rather lose their business than spend 10% of your day managing their complaints? Rather then the “the more I yell, the more efficient they will be” premise, try to base your relationship on “the nicer I am, the nicer they will be” premise.

Fourth, perfection is not immediate. Based on the conjecture that your answering service is your employee, they are probably not going to “get it right” the first time you forward your phones. As with any employee, they need time to grow and learn about your business and their duties relative to your needs as a business owner. Have patience, be helpful, keep it simple, and they should flourish.

Todd Cardin is the eastern regional sales manager for Specialty Answering Service (http://www.specialtyansweringservice.net). For more information on Specialty Answering Service, please e-mail us at info@specialtyansweringservice.net or log on to http://www.specialtyansweringservice.net. This article may be reproduced as long as it remains wholly intact.