What Does A Registry Cleaner Do

Writen by A Singh

The registry was designed to speed up the operating system but this very intention and design by Microsoft could prove detrimental to your system is the registry is not serviced and maintained by regularly using a good registry cleaner software to clean the registry of useless entries that are slowing down the system and taking up disk space.

There are many registry cleaners such as the PC Mantra's registry cleaner, the PC registry cleaner and the Windows XP registry cleaner that can spruce up your system and make it much more enjoyable to use. Registry cleaner software, as any registry cleaner software, scans the system and traces obsolete or outdated data. Then after determining the good from the bad the registry cleaner deletes the redundant data enabling your PC to perform error free and more efficiently than before running the registry cleaner.

Ensure The Registry Cleaner Has A Good Backup Function Before using a registry cleaner it is of paramount importance to ensure if the software has a registry backup function. This is important because in case the cleaner goes wrong the system will crash and will need to be restored with this backup to get the system back to its previous level of functioning. This can occur if the registry cleaner inadvertently deletes some file in the registry. You can download a free version of any registry cleaner or a trial version. However, a free or trial version will not have all the features enabled in the download so it is always good to have a licensed version of the registry cleaner software. In fact it is always good to have a licensed version of any software to keep your system running error free and efficiently.

A corrupted Registry Will Crash The System

If the registry of an operating system is damaged or corrupted the entire system will crash or become very unstable. This could render the system unusable. So, the registry is a vital part of the computer that has to be kept in very good working condition. If this part of the computer gets filled with trash, such as broken links caused by uninstalling software and not removing the entries from the registry, or outdated entries that do not need to be there the whole system will slow down drastically. Believe it or not a single day on the system can enter more than a thousand entries in the registry. Forty percent of which will be useless after the days work is done. These entries will have to be removed with the help of a good registry cleaner. Though a few thousand entries will have no significant effect on the system they will over a period of time.

Author is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter etc. More information can be found at http://www.pcmantra.com To know about the Registry Cleaner visit at http://www.pcmantra.com/registry-cleaner.htm.

Free Project Management Software

Writen by Jason Gluckman

Project management, as the name suggests, is meant to deal with the proper management services and scrutiny of various projects, starting from web projects to construction projects. Nonetheless, project management is a particular discipline of defining and achieving targets. At the same time its primary purpose is to optimize the varied utilizations of resource based facilities including the resources such as energy, space, time, people, technology and many others. But for every project management, time constraint plays a major part in the whole process.

For every project management, work is conducted under the supervision of an individual project manager. It is the responsibility of the particular project manager to head the whole project without even participating in the whole work. This web-based software saves much space and is devoid of any maintenance as these are obtained (on many occasions) from a basic free system to a more powerful-hosted package. The free software (web based) can be easily installed on the server to get its optimum utility. Many of the resources provide absolutely free software to help in your project management with advanced multi project management architecture, the industry-standard database. All the free project management software is equipped to perform the functions including statistics and reports, Gantt chart, time schedules, tusk bug or tracking, facilitating multiple projects and multiple users.

Some of the notable free project management software is as follows: ASTS - A Simple Project Tracker, Dot project - a web solution based on PHP and MySQL, Austin - Project Management in XM, Double Choco Latte - Project management tool for programming, LGantt - lGantt (Java Language Application, Incyte Project Manager (IPM) - a web solution based on PHP and MySQL and JProject Timer - java based scheduling tool using Gantt charts

Project Management Software provides detailed information on Project Management Software, Construction Project Management Software, Free Project Management Software, Web Based Project Management Software and more. Project Management Software is affiliated with Inventory Asset Management Software.

Business Software Solutions

Writen by Joshua Feinberg

Business software solutions come in many shapes and sizes. Choosing the right business software solutions at the start will save you a lot of time. Time you can spend growing and developing your business. Here are a few tips.

Keep your business software solutions very simple. Many times we're tempted to think that if we had a magic piece of software, the business would run itself. Not true. Computer consulting is not going to run itself regardless of the type of business software solutions you are running. It's a people business that relies on relationships not software.

Recommended Business Software Solutions

Make real simple choices:

Use Microsoft Office, Outlook, Publisher, Word, and Excel. You will use these business software solutions very heavily.

Use a time, billing, and accounting package that provides business software solutions to small business. Quickbooks is a good, simple choice.

Get a good contact management package. Use a business software solution like ACT.

For basic research use the tools at support.microsoft.com. Their knowledge base is tremendous and you'll likely be working on Office, Windows and Microsoft SBS all day.

Don't reinvent the wheel and try to build these solutions yourself. There are very good and inexpensive business software solutions on the market that will do 99 percent of what a custom built program will do. Your time is much better spent doing more networking.

The Bottom Line on Business Software Solutions

The best business software solutions for a small business are the ones that come pre-packaged. Remember, you're not in business to develop business software solutions. You are a consultant who only needs the basics to run your own business. Leave the fancy business software solutions to others and be there to implement or troubleshoot them as required.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Biz Tech Talk. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Joshua Feinberg can help you grow your computer consulting business, the RIGHT way! Sign-up now for your free audio training program that features field-tested, proven Computer Consultants Business Tools.

Condoms For Your Pc Use An Antivirus Program

Writen by Tim Flynt

WHAT IS A VIRUS - In non-technical terms, a virus on your PC is a program that will cause you a problem. It will jam your ability to use the PC because it makes the PC too busy, it will cause undesirable actions (such as changing files), or it will cause loss of data by deleting files (potentially, all of your files). While it is possible that you will never experience a virus or that you will experience only a mild virus, there is no virus that you want to have any more than you want to have the flu.

HOW CAN THEY GET ONTO MY PC - If you use your PC long enough, you are likely to encounter at least one virus. For the most part, they are distributed through Email attachments. More recent and more clever versions, however, can install themselves from visits to web pages with no warning. Since almost all of us go to a web page at some time, it is more likely that we will encounter a virus at some time.

HOW DO WE AVOID THEM - Beyond the obvious advice of "never open an attachment (even from someone you know) without saving it to your PC and letting an anti-virus program scan it," consider the approach of "don't open an Email from someone you don't know." That one becomes a problem for many of us who get mail from potential customers and don't know them in advance. Perhaps a better rule is "to use caution in opening Email; avoid Email without a subject or with an unreadable subject; and avoid Email from a strange Email address." You would not expect to get an Email from the President nor from Howdy Doody, so don't open one if you see such Email addresses.

The professional answer is to get and utilize a commercial anti-virus program. There are old standby programs from Symantec, McAfee, and Computer Associates (CA). There are newer ones from Trend Micro, PC Tools, and Microsoft. For those who love freeware, try Grisoft's AVG.

IF IT ISN'T UP-TO-DATE, IT ISN'T SAFE - Consider this scenario: Monday you buy an Anti-Virus program which protects against viruses A, B, and C. On Tuesday, someone creates virus D. On Wednesday, your Anti-Virus company hears about the virus D and starts to work on a remedy. On Thursday, your Anti-Virus company issues a patch to address virus D. On Friday, you get the patch to address virus D. If you install the patch to address virus D on Saturday and the virus D comes to you on Sunday, you are protected. If the virus D comes to you on Sunday and you did not install the patch, you get the virus. Thus, it is vital to keep your Anti-Virus product up-to-date in order to keep your PC safe.

IF IT ISN'T RUN, IT ISN'T SAFE - As with the updates to the Anti-Virus software, you also need to run the Anti-Virus software on some regular basis in order to have it check for viruses. If I just ran it yesterday, what's the hurry torun it again? The answer is related to the patches. Those patches may now locate a problem that was missed in previous scans. I run updates and scans on a daily basis. You may wish to do less than that, but you should run an update and a scan at least on a weekly basis. It is better to be safe than sorry.

HOW TO RUN - Most Anti-Virus products offer a scheduler so that it is easy for you to set an update and scan to run on a selected day(s) and at a selected time. Try to run the processes during the day so that you can see the results and address any problems which are identified.

Whatever you do, it is better to have some Anti-Virus product at work for you to help to keep your PC safe.

This article contains suggestions for the use of utility programs under the Windows operating system. They are based on years of use, but they may not be the right suggestions for you and your PC environment. Before you follow any technical suggestion, be sure that you have a current (and tested) backup of all system and data files and that you can restore the system if necessary. You are welcome to contact me if you encounter a problem, but I assume no responsibility for your actions and/or use of the information provided and disclaim any legal responsibility for any negative results of such actions.

Copyright 2006 by Tim Flynt. All rights reserved.

Tim Flynt has spent over 25 years dedicated to efficient application and utility systems. Experienced in higher education, entertainment, and software development organizations. Current interest in "PC Maintenance Management." http://AcceleratedOffice.com

Googleearth The Ultimate Map A Review

Writen by Timothy Trimble

This week I had my socks knocked off! Which, after being in the industry for over 25 years, is tough to do. I came across a posting on Slashdot about a new mapping application from Google called GoogleEarth. At first my thinking was that this was just another extension of the already cool Google Maps online. But then I discovered that it was a downloadable client application. Humm. So I took the plunge. Then I lost over 4 hours of productivity for that day. (And I won't mention how much since then.) And everyone I showed it to that day ended up gawking and drooling as well.GoogleEarth is a new application that jumps leaps and bounds over what we used to consider to be mapping applications. GoogleEarth takes the geo topology data from the satellites and turns it into a earth wide mapping application. Not just pretty pictures! But true mapping functionality layered on top of the pretty pictures. As these screen shots can attest, the capabilities of this application are amazing! Some of the incredible features of GoogleEarth are: Pushpins can be added to the map with notes about the location.

Once you have several pushpins, you can right click and select "Directions from this..." then "Directions to this...", and receive driving directions between the two points. Then, you can have GoogleEarth drive from point A to point B with the "Play Tour" button. Then drool some more as GoogleEarth flys above the entire course. Layers, Layers, and more Layers! Want to see all the street names? Just turn on the "Roads" checkbox. How about the local grocery store? Just click on the "Grocery Stores" checkbox in the Layers window. Little shopping carts appear on the map. Just a small sample of what's avalable in the layers is: City Boundaries, Postal Code Boundaries, Railroads, Water, Coffee Houses, Malls, and much more! Want to see some buildings? GoogleEarth allows you to see computer generated buildings with their true form and shape for various major cities. You should see Las Vegas! Another great jaw dropping feature is the ability to "Tilt" the perspective. You can change your view all the way down to the surface and then pan around in all directions to get the sense of how things look. I could go on for several thousand words about all the features included in GoogleEarth! Oh, and did I mention that it's FREE?

There are several versions of the application but the Free version is the one that will suit the needs of most individuals. But, for just a minor $20 cost, you can add support for GPS, spreadsheet importing, path drawing, and annotations. There is also a $400 Professional version which provides the ability to import site plans and use the business related features. The ART of Software Development in GoogleEarth is in the innovation that the Google folks have introduced in this technology, and making it available to everyone on the internet. Being able to go and visit a location that you've never been to before, can be a great comfort before going on your planned trips. Or you can just do some virtual sight seeing in exotic locations. I spent over an hour just flying around Hong Kong! GoogleEarth has a very easy to use interface. And the streaming data from their servers was a lot faster than I would have expected for the quality of mapping that's being presented. (I am on DSL.) Keep in mind though that GoogleEarth is CPU Intensive! The faster the PC the better. While GoogleEarth might work with dialup, I expect that the data stream would present some long waits for zoomed in details.

Be forewarned! When you download and start using GoogleEarth, be prepared to spend some time exploring. You'll find yourself going back to it every chance you get, just to explore new areas. And be sure to email me if you see any alien space ships at Area 51!

GoogleEarth can be found at: http://earth.google.com

Timothy Trimble, The ART of Software Development

Timothy Trimble is a award winning, freelance writer, and software developer. He has written a book for Microsoft Press, articles for significant computer industry trade magazines, and is currently working on his second computer technology book to be published in early 2006. He is the Blog publisher of The ART of Software Development which can be found via his web site at http://www.timothytrimble.info
Proud member of http://www.WordBrains.com

Passwords Used In Microsoft Word Documents

Writen by Denis Gladysh

You would like to protect your documents, wouldn't you? Reasons may vary but the problem is the same – you need to protect your Microsoft Word documents from unauthorized editing or viewing. What document protection features does Microsoft® Office Word 2003, a part of Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 provide?

Microsoft Word features for document protection. Microsoft Word offers three types of password protection.

1) Password to open requires a password to open a document. By assigning a password to open a document you deny access to this document to anyone who doesn't know the password.

You may assign a password to open both a new document (Save As > Tools > Security Options) and an existing one (Main Menu > Tools > Options > Security).

2) Password to modify requires password to save currently made changes. Password to modify allows every user to view and to edit a document (with a special read-only setting) but not to save these changes. Only an authorized user is allowed to save changes. Please note that by opening a document as read-only and copying it to a new document with a clipboard it is possible to obtain an unprotected copy of your document.

This password is set the same way and in the same window as password to open.

3) Protect Document – document protection. With this type of protection you prevent your document from any alterations. Any user can freely view it but no one is allowed to edit, copy, or format it. To a certain point it is similar to a pdf file viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

It is possible to set or delete this type of protection with : Tools > Protect Document or Unprotect Document; select exclusions and apply protection.

These are the main features provided by Microsoft Word 2003. It is nice when everything is working fine but what happens if somebody cracks your protection by guessing your password? And what are you going to do if you lose or forget the password for your document? How powerful and reliable is Microsoft Word 2003 protection?

When assigning a password the program warns you not to lose it as you can't recover the password. This is not exactly right. Any password can be cracked. The point is how much time it will take for special program to crack your password. For instance, Protect Document password uses a rather easy protection method and a few seconds is enough to recover this kind of password. It is similar with Password to modify. But it is not that easy with Password to open:

The first versions of Microsoft Word had rather weak security; it took a bit more time to crack it compared to the other types used in Microsoft Word. But starting from Microsoft Word 97 version the situation has been improving. The new version had more cryptoproof security; it would take many years to crack it with the brute-force and PIV computer. Please note that it doesn't apply to Microsoft Word 97 version supplied to the French market as these versions had the old protection from the previous Microsoft Office 95. Cryptoprotection options were further advanced in Microsoft Office XP (realization in Office 2003 is the same). At the moment, the user can chose encryption mode to protect his documents.

This option is customized by assigning password to open (Advanced... button). In the window you will see a list of possible algorithms of document protection. Almost all of them are hard nuts for a hacker; it would take him a long time to crack your document. For more detailed information on password recovery see the article on our resource

AccentSoft Team is a privately-held information technology company focused on corporate and consumer software development. The company was founded in 1999 by software engineer Denis Gladysh. We specialize in password recovery and digital imaging software development. Our product catalogue features such popular titles as Accent OFFICE Password Recovery, Accent Excel Password Recovery and SnapTouch. These products are consistently recognized for their quality and have been adopted by industry professionals. For more information, visit http://www.AccentSoft.com.

Microsoft Great Plains Large Scale Implementation

Writen by Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, Solomon and CRM are coming up to satisfy ERP needs for large corporation, including multinationals. In this article we will be describing Microsoft Great Plains as the MRP platform, fitting to multiple industries and business niches: aerospace, defense, textile, pharmaceutical, healthcare, constructions, mining, services, distributions & logistics, wholesale & retail, public sector, chemicals, oil & gas, finance, brokerage, etc. We'll try to give you orientation and set realistic expectations if you are CIO for large publicly traded company and looking for reasonably budgeted solution.

• Technical versus Functional implementation. The trend of our new post-recession era is biased toward technical implementation. If you look back to 1990th Clinton golden days – when we would say huge number of CPA-oriented businesses were realizing and implementing mid-size and large accounting applications. Today – accounting department team is comfortable with generic ERP interface and needs minimal training. Usually we train IT people and they in turn provide Great Plains interface and reporting training to the end users, or end users attend online training to get advanced skills in the application interface.

• Technical Customization & Modification. Well – if you remember old-good-days SAP, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, Oracle ERP systems implementation – you would agree that they required a lot of programmers and developers participation. The same is applicable if you look at Microsoft Great Plains – however we need to make some remarks, related to our new time. First of all – Developers are mow concentrated in the development centers, dispersed across the USA and especially internationally in so-called offshore zones: India, Philippines, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine. We are not talking about China here, because Great Plains is not very popular over there. So, normal situation should be when your have nation-wide consulting company here in the States with regional project managers and Great Plains Dexterity, VBA/Modifier, Integration Manager, eConnect, Crystal Reports, VB.Net and C#.Net developers in Sao Paulo, Moscow or Manila.

• Remote Support. Nowadays technology tries to move us toward the ideal world when you as end-user in Denver could be supported by consultant or developer in Brazil through web session, remote desktop connection, VPN, Skype, VOIP, or other tool. The only requirement is fast internet connection from your and technician side – which is catching up very quickly.

• Multinationals. Multinational corporation has to deal with the following issues: taxes (VAT, GST, Sales Taxes), customs fees, tax filing rules, local chart of accounts regulations (France, Russia), localizations – ERP application should be localized – all the screens should be in local language: Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, French, German, Polish. Microsoft Great Plains is localized for South America, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Poland, Middles East (Arabic language support), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria and central Africa

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 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

Open Impact

Writen by Guy Smith

Don't get me wrong. I like the old model for making money on software. A couple of clever people have a bright idea and cobble together a solution on spare time and credit card debit, releasing their solution to the world and charging obscene amounts of money for each copy. That is the essence of the Silicon Valley dream - digital prostitution (you got it, you sell it, you still got it).

But of late so much market momentum has shifted to Open Source that even the oldest and most cynical in the industry must give pause. And in one case, we may well be seeing the beginning of a revolution and a conspiratorial insurgency.

Here is the basic fact of life about the software industry: nobody buys software. It is the same as drill bits. Last year millions of 1/4 inch drill bits were sold in America, but nobody surveyed wanted a 1/4 in drill bit. They all wanted a 1/4 inch hole.

Software is the same way. The operating system is nearly irrelevant as a purchasable item because what people want is applications. If the application runs only on Macs, people will buy Macs. Sun Micro built their fading empire on growing a base of applications, as did Microsoft. And people buy application not because they need a CD-ROM filled with highly organized bits, but because they want to accomplish something using the software (like surfing the web to learn how to drill 1/4 inch holes).

Recently, IBM -- the once and future 900 pound gorilla of the tech industry -- announced that a client for Lotus Notes would be available on Linux. The IBM spokesman (if such creatures can be believed) noted that "he has personally been 'hammered' for the last several years at Linux and Lotus Notes conferences on the issue of when a client would be available for the Linux desktop." Perhaps he was being hammered by IBM employees who have been shoved into using Linux desktops and likely were disconnected from their groupware grope.

The fact of the matter is that no enterprise will deploy Linux on the desktop (outside of IT) unless their applications -- or reasonable equivalents -- are available. The cost savings on software would be many orders of magnitude less than the lost employee time and productivity. Thus, common applications must be ready for any sane CIO (if there is such a thing) to commit to even a modest test deployment.

But we may well be on the cusp of such a moment. OSDL conducted a survey of tech professionals to determine what enterprises need in a Linux desktop for it to be a practical alternative. The results largely matched early work I did with SuSE when "Linux desktop" was a new concept. Notice that with few exceptions, the list includes only applications, and the exceptions are primarily application development oriented:

Desktop Element Status

• Email & messaging: Done to death
• Office Productivity Tools: Open Office
• Browser: Take your pick
• Database Applications: Undefined
• Developer Tools: Lots, and now Eclipse-centric
• Applications specific to your business: Here is the weak spot
• Internally Developed Applications: Depends largely on staff training
• Secure Remote Access / VPN: Got it
• Personal Information Manager (PIM): Evolution, KOrganizer, et all
• Audio or Video players: Too many options
• Instant Messaging: Many options

There are several take-aways here from a marketing and market perspective:

The Linux desktop "whole product" definition is incomplete, but not by much. The two remaining holes are the toughest to fill and will take the longest time.

As always, there is a check-and-egg issue in that vendors don't want to build Linux desktop applications or clients until there is a significant roll-out of Linux desktops, and CIOs will not roll out Linux desktops until there are sufficient business applications. Catch-22.

Internal application cannot be built until CIOs get their in-house development staffs trained on Linux development, and that won't happen until there is a compelling reason to roll-out Linux desktops ... and that won't happen until there are enough external Linux desktop applications (see above). Catch-23? (Note: This all ignores the elegant solution provided by my pal Jeremy White and the good folks at Codeweavers )

The market is near, but not yet at, a tipping point. To get to the next phase, there needs to be pressure from a few desperate, determined, or demented stakeholders to move key applications to Linux. In short, someone will have to pony-up money and/or manpower to port existing applications to Linux, or recreate them from scratch. Neither will happen quickly as the cost/benefit to the vendors is risky and most enterprises would rather invest that kind of money internally.

The alternative is for vendors to Open Source some of their development work. If they open client code programming to communities with a vested interest in creating Linux desktop applications, then the vendor can get the work done relatively cheaply and quickly. The downside is they face extra support costs on the back end for no new revenues in the short term.

The other alternative is to port clients to web browsers. With AJAX offering elegant ways of creating clients that are portable across most (if not all) platforms, many vendors have a "port once and for all" opportunity.

The key is for vendors to recognize that they must support a Linux desktop in the long term because of Asia. Asia is growing like an economic weed, and they are starting nearly from scratch. Many Asian enterprises have no high switching costs away from Microsoft or Apple, and thus are adopting Linux desktops rapidly. This means whatever applications you sell into Asia must have a good Linux desktop story. If not, those markets may be closed to them, and competitors who do support Linux desktops will prosper.

Asia is the Linux desktop tipping point ... and its coming faster than many people want to admit.

Guy Smith is the chief consultant for Silicon Strategies. Guy brings a combination of technical, managerial and marketing experience to Silicon Strategies projects

Microsoft Dynamics Gp Project Accounting Integration Scenarios Overview For Consultant

Writen by Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Great Plains or former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise is very good platform for service business automation, including midsize and large corporations, specializing in routine projects: placement, small contracts to residential and small business customers, franchisee networks, distribution, etc. In our small article we will be giving you example of medical personnel placement projects, where hospitals and clinics are the customers. The advantage of such standard-functionality system as Great Plains/Dynamics GP is reasonable price and very reliable database platform: MS SQL Server. The other way is to deploy rich-functionality ERP, such as SAP R/3/mySAP, Oracle Financials, however the implementation, customization and integration cost would be a way higher.

• Timesheet import. Placement industry is underserved and placement application market is very weak, this results in a high demand in standard ERP customizations. Usually placement agency has CRM application with sophisticated or simple time and expenses logging functionality. This time logs should be integrated with project accounting timesheet header and line tables. Timesheet import should come in parallel with the import of new customers, new contracts and projects. Tables: PA10000 - Timesheet header and PA10001 - Timesheet line, PA01901 - PA Key Master, PA01301 - PA Budget Master, PA01101 – Contract Master and PA01201 – Project Master.

• Employee Expenses. Your temps usually file you expense reports, especially if they are traveling to remote locations/hospitals/clinics

• Billing Process. In the billing itself you usually need fixes to Project, Contract and Timesheet records – if you deploy simple custom logic and user defined fields plus notes. Prior to billing you typically run SQL scripts and stored procedures. The necessity of this custom logic should be attributed to legacy design – please note that GP was designed as database and graphical platform independent application/MRP back in the earlier 1990th. Its IDE and programming language is kind of a shell written in C – Great Plains Dexterity, current name is Microsoft Dexterity.

• Invoice Formats/Forms. Great Plains Project Accounting is former MatchData Dexterity third party module. The initial design was done in Philippines at the end of 20th century. Since then Great Plains Software tried to integrate PA into DYNAMICS.DIC (as well as its new acquisitions – Great Plains Manufacturing), later on the decision was made to keep third party (now purchased and integrated modules) in their own dictionaries. Further complication – Project Green was intended to merge all the applications into one: Microsoft Navision, Axapta, Solomon, Great Plains – currently the idea is to have web portal type of integration. As you can expect – the invoice form is very flexible and is probably too generic for the standard functionality of GP Project Accounting. You might need Dexterity custom touches to activate required features

• For C#/VB.Net developers. With the version 9.0 Microsoft Dynamics GP will be exposing you Microsoft Great Plains objects and forms. This is not a Dexterity, however you should be familiar with Dexterity design and architecture.

• Dexterity Legacy. You should still see it out there: DYNAMICS.SET, DEX.INI, DEX.EXE. In some cases we see ancient legacy applications, coming back to 1980th – Great Plains Accounting for DOS and MS Windows: 9.2, 9.5. The only recommendation to the customers who are without GP/MS support – upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP Standard 9.0

• Future Directions. Microsoft Dynamics GP has a long history of success. However in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Continental Europe Microsoft Business Solutions is now promoting new MRP/ERP application, originally developed and designed by Navision Software – Microsoft Dynamics AX/Microsoft Axapta/Navision Axapta

Please do not hesitate to call or email usUSA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, Brazil: +55-11-3444 4949, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally. We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Chili, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico

Custom Web Builder Software Looking For Design Programs That Work With You

Writen by Jas Smith

In the 21st century high-tech marketplace there are a number of affordable custom web site builder software programs available. These programs offer a wide array of tools and devices through which a person can design and build a website that perfectly is suited to either personal or business use.

The number one priority that a person needs to take into consideration when seeking custom web site builder software, after cost and affordability, is selecting a program that will work well with your own particular abilities.

In considering the need to find a custom web site builder program that fits snugly with your own abilities and talents, you need to honestly assess your own knowledge of website design and website building. You also need to honestly assess your own abilities as the same pertain to the utilization of software products.

You do not want to purchase a software program that operates in a manner beyond your technical means. You will end up frustrated if not completely defeated. In the final analysis, if you purchase and attempt to use a web site builder software program that has tools and devices that outstrip your abilities and experiences, you will end up with a site layout that is not top notch.

In addition to making certain that the web site builder program that you select is of a user level that matches your abilities, you will want to make certain that such a program includes features that will best suit your own particular needs.

By way of an example, many custom web site builder programs require a user to build an entire site layout -- or at least a section of the site such as a homepage layout -- in one sitting. In other words, there is no proverbial pause button on the program. This type of software would not be well suited to a person who maintains a full schedule and simply does not have large blocks of available time to build a basic website.

There are now custom web site builder programs on the market that allow a person to design and develop a site layout in incremental phases. In other words, you can work for as long as you desire in one sitting on the creation of a website or on the development of a section of a website. You are in charge and you are in control of the timing of the development of a website.

Visit Custom Web Site Builder today and see just how easy it can be to build your own website. While you're there be sure to pick up your free copy of Search Engine Optimization Made Easy ebook.

Software For Dentists

Writen by Damian Sofsian

Most dental offices are now computerized with sophisticated software to simplify the complicated process of clinical practice and patient management. Software serves in a wide variety of applications, ranging from the substitution of routine office paperwork to more sophisticated imaging techniques.

The practice management software (PMS) eases the handling of administrative tasks such as patient recordkeeping, inventory control for dental supplies, appointment scheduling, insurance processing and real-time reporting (billing) when the transaction actually takes place. Many versatile Windows-based software programs exist that allow the dentist to do chair-side data entry and scheduling. At present, many web-based dental PMS programs are also available that provide advanced solutions to improved clinical practices.

The progress in computer technology and improved methods of medical imaging have complemented dentists well in diagnosing and planning the course of appropriate treatment. The imaging software with digital modalities like 3-dimensional modeling, intra-oral video camera and X-ray units, and cephalometric and tomographic X-rays, helps the dentists make crucial decisions. The imaging software has been used in cosmetic dentistry and orthodontics to a large extent.

In cosmetic dentistry, the software has served to enhance the awareness of esthetic dental treatment. The main purpose of the cosmetic imaging software is to allow the manipulation of smiles and simulation of the results in the proposed treatment. There are smile libraries and databases to explore and judge the procedures to be followed.

Computer image-guided surgery is widely followed in several branches of surgical interventions. Introduced in the early 80s in the form of simulated operations, present-day image-guided surgical systems are very precise and safe systems. They are controlled mainly by an infra-red light, and function without a mechanical link between the operative field, instruments and computer. Dentists are widely using this cutting-edge technique in the application of oral implants, considering the need for outstanding safety and accuracy for this procedure.

Dentists provides detailed information on Dentists, Cosmetic Dentists, Software For Dentists, Family Dentists and more. Dentists is affiliated with Dental Implants in Las Vegas.

How To Build A Basic Css Layout

Writen by Herman Drost

Designing without tables by using CSS layouts is fast becoming the new standard on the Web because of the benefits mentioned in my previous article. Web browsers used these days are now able to render web pages proficiently. In this article I will endeavor to create a basic 2 column CSS layout which you can use for future design projects.

Web Page: http://www.isitebuild.com/css/css-layout.html Style Sheet: http://www.isitebuild.com/css/stylesheet.htm

1. Divide your page into sections - the div id tags allows you to create distinct divisions on your web page. They are identified with a unique id. You can then add a style (css selector) that specifically applies to the div of that id. Remember to include the DOCTYPE (to render your page accurately in the browsers) and meta tags (enables search engines to spider your pages).

wrapper: is the div that wraps around all the other divs like a container for the page elements. header: defines the top banner of the page main: defines the main content of the page nav: defines the navigation of the page footer: defines the footer and sub-navigation of the page

2. Create the CSS code - the CSS code styles the page as a centered 2 column CSS layout with a navigation bar and a footer. The div#wrapper style creates the centered box which acts as a container for the rest of the page content. The width: 80% rule sets the width of the div. The background-color:#FFFFFF rule creates a white background for the div. The margin-top: 50px and margin-bottom: 50px rules create a space of 50 pixels for the top and bottom margins for the div itself.

The proper way to center a block-level element with CSS is to set margin-left: auto and margin-right: auto. This instructs the browser to automatically calculate equal margins for both sides, thus centering the div. The border: thin solid #000000 rule adds a border around the outer div. The rest of the CSS code styles the divs for the header, footer, nav, and main content.

The div#header and div#footer styles set margins and padding for those divs. In addition, div#header includes the text-align: center rule to center the header text, and div#footer includes the border-top: thin solid #000000 rule to create a border along the top edge of the div to replace the horizontal rule above the footer in the table-based layout.

The div#nav and div#main styles create the two columns in the middle of the centered box. In the div#nav style, the float: left rule pushes the div to the left side of its parent element (the wrapper div), and the width: 25% rule sets the div's width to 25 percent of the parent element. With the nav div floated to the left and limited to a set width, it leaves room for the main div to move up to the right of the nav div, thus creating the two-column effect. The div#main style includes the margin-left: 30% rule to keep the main text aligned in a neat column instead of spreading out below the nav column. The main div's left margin is set to a value slightly larger than the width of the nav div.

Style Sheet http://www.isitebuild.com/css/stylesheet.htm

If links are placed elsewhere on the page they will inherit the same properties as above..a blue link that hovers to red. What if you wish to create another set of links that are a different color and on passing your mouse over them they are underlined.

4. Create the bottom navigation - to include this in the

section of the page, I use div#footer and code each link accordingly. To make the list go horizontally I use: display: inline;

Now that I have finished creating my style sheet I want to shorten the code on page by linking it to my external style sheet. Here's how:

4. Create an external style sheet - copy and paste all the css code (without these tags: ) into notepad and label it something like "style sheet". Place this style sheet between the head tags of your web page.

This will reduce the code on your page so it will load fast plus the search engines can more easily spider your web page.

4. Add content to your page - after you have got your page looking correctly, you can add more content to it. Adjustments can easily be made to any style on the page (or your whole site) by simply editing one style sheet.

5. Upload your files - be sure to upload your web pages and style sheet to the root directory of your server.

6. Validate your code - be sure to validate your xhtml code: http://validator.w3.org/ and css code: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ and make corrections where necessary.

7. Check browser compatibility and screen resolution - check that your page renders well in the popular browsers (IE6, NN7, Firefox)

If you are beginning with CSS layouts, implement then slowly by making small changes to your pages i.e. creating a style sheet for your main headers and fonts only. As you become more familiar with CSS you may eventually build all your future sites with CSS layouts.

Resources:

Basic CSS layout
http://www.isitebuild.com/css/css-layout.html

CSS Style Sheet
http://www.isitebuild.com/css/stylesheet.htm

Benefits of CSS
http://www.isitebuild.com/css/index.htm

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com Affordable Web Site Design and Web Hosting. Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original articles. mailto:subscribe@isitebuild.com. You can read more of his in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles

What Are Hosted Applications

Writen by Martin Day

As access to the Internet becomes more widespread with faster, more reliable and 'always on' connections becoming the norm the growth of applications using the hosted application model continues to expand.

Although hosted applications will not suit every situation, or every customer, they offer many individuals and organizations, as well as the application manufacturers' themselves, considerable benefits over the locally installed application.

What Is A Hosted Application?

A hosted application, also known as Internet-based application, web-based application, online application and Application Service Providers (ASPs) are software applications where the software resides on servers that are accessed through the Internet instead of the more traditional software that is installed on either a local server or on individual PC's.

The thin client concept is nothing new but advances in Internet connectivity have allowed the application to move from a local server to a server on the Internet.

Example of hosted applications would be Salesforce.com that provides customer relationship management facilities, Netsuite offering all-in-one business management applications and SurveyGalaxy.com that provides their customers with an enterprise survey and questionnaires application.

What Are The Benefits?

Reduced costs, instant deployment, easier to maintain and reduced administration are among some of the main benefits.

Low Maintenance

With hosted applications the hardware and software is the responsibility of the vendor with the client only having to maintain access to the Internet. As there is no software to download a hosted application can be made instantly available across an entire organization even where the organization has multiple regional and international offices.

As there is no software the considerable time and resources required for periodic updates is also completely eliminated.

Reduced Cost

The need to license software through a 'per user', 'per concurrent user', 'per server' or 'site' license has been eliminated. Although some hosted applications still do charge 'per user' many have taken the opportunity to charge on a 'usage' and/or 'period' basis meaning that the customer does not have to estimate the number of licenses that will be required, nor install and pay for full licenses that may only be used by some employees occasionally.

This hosted application model also allows the smaller organization and sole trader access to applications written using advanced software development tools and that utilize sophisticated database technology and high-end servers. The capital investment of the hardware and software as well as the security, backup and server maintenance cost are all the responsibility of the vendor.

Minimal Risk

Many hosted applications require no long term commitment from their customers. New customers can often test hosted applications either through a free introduction offer or with minimal risk using a Pay-As-You-Go model. If after trialing the hosted application the customer finds it unsuitable then they can simply stop using the service.

Access

Because the application software and the data is stored on the Internet server the application and data is available to the authorized client once they have logged on from anywhere there is Internet access. The customer can now work anywhere in the office environment, from remote offices or from their home or hotel without the need to download their work or synchronize with portable devices.

Integration

For organizations that have legacy systems from different suppliers running different operating systems the hosted application will provide an integrated solution to any system that supports a standard Internet browser including Windows, Unix and Macs.

Support

The hosted application vendors benefit by not having to maintain multiple version numbers or individual maintenance and licensing agreements. New updates are installed centrally negating the need for expensive roll outs. For many applications the need for version numbers is eliminated as updates are made incrementally bringing the benefits to the customer without having to bundle new features up into a new periodic version release. In some cases a user can request a new feature in the morning that can be developed, tested and deployed globally by the afternoon.

The Concerns

Internet access

New communication technology is able to bring high speed Internet connectivity to more and more remote places but there are still some regions where internet access is limited or not available.

In some cases such as mobile workers although high speed Internet connectivity is available the cost both in terms of connectivity charges and equipment may, at least in the short term, prove to be prohibitive.

Security

As with everything to do with the Internet security is a justified concern. There is no simple 'one size fits all' solution to the security issue and a lot will depend on the specific hosted application and the nature of the data.

With online banking and shopping becoming common place the vendor should be able to provide their clients with sufficient confidence that the data is secure and that any private information remains private.

Hosted applications will normally operate a login procedure ensuring that only those that are authorized have access. The more sensitive the data, the more sophisticated the login procedure.

A good data host will strictly enforce the stated wishes of their customers and ensure that data is not available or released to anyone that is not legally entitled to see it and they will adopt the latest security measures available to prevent unauthorized access.

There may be some areas such as automatic logins from known PC's and the use of cookies that although they don't necessary represent a significant risk could present a risk under certain circumstances, such as gaining access to a private account through the automatic login using an unattended PC. Although strictly speaking the customer's responsibility the customer should be made aware of the risks so that they can take action to safeguard their own system.

Although security is a concern in some circumstances private data may prove to be more secure than it would be on a private network with less sophisticated security measures or in an environment where there is a risk from within.

Vendor Lock-In

As with all software applications there is a risk that a customer could become locked-in to paying costly monthly subscriptions to maintain access to their historic data. To counter this some applications will allow the data to be downloaded or allow customer to maintain access to their data for a reasonable time free of charge.

Control

Unlike a local application the hardware and software is under the control of a third party. This is a justifiable concern although not too dissimilar to the telephone provider supplying and maintaining the communications equipment and there are considerable incentives for the vendors to ensure high availability and reliability since their business depends on it.

In Summary

Benefits

• No vendor installation or upgrades required
• Low start-up costs
• Minimal Risk, no long term commitment
• Backups and viruses responsibility of the vendor
• Hardware and software server maintenance vendor's responsibility
• Investment in local hardware & software reduced
• No need to synchronized data with multiple devices
• Access to data available globally through any internet connection
• Reduced software licensing costs

Concerns

• Lack of Internet availability
• Security
• Possibility of vendor lock-in

Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy a hosted application that provides an enterprise application to create, design and publish surveys online. For more information please visit http://www.surveygalaxy.com

Helpdesk Amp Asset Management Software Choosing The Right One

Writen by Natarajan Aravind

If you are to buy a HelpDesk & Asset Management software, see the following checklist before you decide on one.

Comprehensive Help Desk Functionality

A good Help Desk product can dramatically rise the productivity of the Help Desk Personnel (which in turn will rise the organisation's productivity as a whole). Computer users can be made to submit their requests by mail, phone or through the web interface provided by the product. These requests gathered centrally will be attended to by technicians (who already are automatically notified about the request). Adding memos/notes to the requests & viewing the history of Requests can help too.

Buildable Knowledge Base (KB)

Even before a complaint is registered, Users can be made to search a prebuilt KB which will result in time savings for the Help Desk Personnel. The KB will also result in increasing the first call resolutions. The Help Desk personnel should be able to add on to, edit & delete from the existing KB.

Asset Managenment

What is considered here as an organisation's Assets are typical hardware components like PCs, Printers, Scanners etc & Licensed Software like MS Office, Adobe Photoshop etc. The product should allow these assets to be well tracked & their records to be maintained - from their purchase till end-of-life. It should also allow easy software license tracking which will contribute to a significant cost saving for the organisation.

Contracts (AMCs) Management

Most hardware components in an IT organisation come under some Annual Maintenance Plan. The product you choose should allow you to create & maintain various AMCs with the various vendors. If the product reminds you days before a contract ends (say, through an auto-generated email), it will be an added advantage.

Purchasing

Your IT department is constantly in need of spendable Hardware (floppies, CDs, printer ribbons, printers, PCs etc) and software. All these needs will be typically taken care by a separate Purchase Department. Seamless tracking between the two departments is an essentiality which will result in getting the required needs on schedule & their optimal use. Also, see whether the product you choose lets you mail the Purchase Orders to Vendors & track them too.

Out-of-the-box

The product installation should go on like a breeze. Moreover, it should be put into operation with nil to minimum initial configuration & all the features should be inbuilt with no extra development effort.

User friendly UI

The product you are looking at should have a very user friendly client interface as it'll be used by all employees in your organisation. The UI should be simple & at the same time offer easy-to-use features. If the product is web enabled, it'll make things much more easier - any user can login from anywhere using just a browser.

Pricing & Licensing

Most Help Desk products in the market are prohibitively costly with many hidden costs associated with them. Coupled with this, the products' licensing models can be tedious to understand & implement. Make sure the product you choose offers affordable pricing with an easy licensing model.

AdventNet's ServiceDesk Plus offers to solve all the above & has much more to offer. The product is available at a very affordable price starting from $495 & there's a Free Edition too that can manage 25 Workstations. For further information, mail to sales@adventnet.com or visit http://www.servicedeskplus.com

Natarajan Aravind
Market Analyst
AdventNet,Inc.
http://www.servicedeskplus.com

Kansas City Computer Repair I Cant Get To My Banking Pages Anymore

Writen by Olan Butler

This is a common problem that occurs on all sites that use the https:// in the web page address. I have seen this problem exclusively on computers that are using Norton Internet Security or Norton Firewall.

The problem stems from corruption in the Norton software. Just uninstall the software and then reinstall. This has fixed my customers problems 100% of the time.

On the Internet, your computer communicates with other computers through ports. Think of a port as a conduit by which computers send information back and forth to each other. In the case of http:// vs https://, the https:// communicates on a different port.

The http:// communications on port 80 which is the default port for all Internet traffic. However, there are specialty sites and pages that need to work more securely such as https:// which communicates on port 443. For whatever reason, the Norton software becomes corrupt and then blocks traffic on port 443. You usually will receive "Page Not Found" error when the port is blocked.

You may also run into this problem when you are using a computer at different locations. Say for instance, you can reach a particular site while surfing at home; however, when you try to reach that same site from a location at work, you get the "Page Not Found" error. The reason for this problem is usually because corporate security has blocked the particular port you are trying to access. All web pages cannot be reached on port 80 even if they are not secure (https://) sites.

Olan Butler is the Chief Architect of BHO Technologists, a computer productivity & organization software provider http://www.bhotechnologists.com with headquarters in Kansas City. Join his FREE newsletter "Computing Success Secrets" for a steady stream of computer, health and overall life profiting tips. You'll be glad you did! Olan provides Computer Services in the Kansas City area. Olan also believes Poor health produces poor computing.

Explore The Internet In A Whole New Way

Writen by Daniel Punch

For a long time now Microsoft's Internet Explorer has ruled as 'King of Internet browsers'. Like many of Microsoft's products an initially brutal marketing campaign pushed Internet Explorer into the mainstream's consciousness and from then on it was the logical, default choice. It's free with the operating system, works well, loads any page and is easy to use. Other web browsers soon faded into obscurity and sometimes even died in the shadow of the new king of the pack. Netscape Navigator, the former 'King of the browsers', has now ceased commercial operations and has been taken over by the fan base. Opera is fading into obscurity and Mozilla was facing a similar fate, until recently.

Mozilla Firefox (formerly known as Firebird) is probably the largest threat that IE has faced in recent times. Currently, according to http://www.w3schools.com, IE is the browser used by 69.9% of Internet users and Firefox is used by 19.1%. This might not seem like much, but according to http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/ an educated guess at the number of people that use the Internet is somewhere around 605,600,000 users (or was in 2002, the number will have increased substantially by now). That means that (after some erroneous math) a rough stab at guessing the number of people using Firefox is probably over 115,064,000, which isn't a bad user base at all.

When a friend of mine from university first tried to convince me to switch to Firefox I wasn't particularly interested. Basically, IE has done everything that I've wanted in a web browser. He went on at great lengths about the security aspects, the in-built popup blockers, download managers and so on, but I'd spent a fairly large amount of time and money on anti-virus programs, firewalls, spyware removers, and my browser was secure enough. I also have a download manager that I'm very happy with and refuse to change from. After much cajoling I finally agreed to try this newfangled software. I'm glad I did too, because now I have no desire to go back.

Firefox is very easy to install and use. There's nothing complicated, you simply download (for free) and run the install file and then when you run the browser for the first time you get presented with the option of importing your IE favourites (a nice feature, with the click of a button everything is moved across to ease your transition) and also the option of making Firefox your default browser. My initial reaction was fairly apathetic; Firefox seemed pretty much the same as IE and in essence, it is. It has all the basic features of IE, but then I discovered it adds so much more.

The first feature to really grab me is the tabbed browsing. Many alternative browsers and even IE plugins support tabbed browsing (where the new pages can be opened in a tab in the one window, instead of filling the task bar with buttons) but Firefox seems to make it so easy and useful. All you do is click a link with the middle button on your mouse (most newer mice have three buttons, the third often being placed under the scroll wheel) and a new tab opens up containing the page requested. Middle clicking on any tab in the window will close it, without having to actually go to the tab and click close. Ctrl-T will open a new blank tab, and Ctrl-Tab will cycle through them (similar in fashion to Alt-Tab cycling through the open programs). What this all leads to is a much neater Internet experience, with you being able to group certain pages into browser windows, leaving the start bar much cleaner and easier to navigate.

The next feature that caught my attention was the search bar built into the browser. It's small, sleek and simple, built into the right-hand side of the main toolbar beside the address box. You can add many different sites to the search bar and then select the site you wish to search from a drop-down menu. Then it's simply a matter of typing your query in and hitting enter to be taken directly to that page and your search results. This makes searching Ebay, Google, Internet Movie DataBase, Amazon etc. very quick and easy as you can simply type in the desired search criteria as you think of it and get the results back fast. You can get search bar plugins for IE but they tend to take up lots of room, contain ads, and you can usually only have one site per search bar.

There are more features than I could write about here but I will tell you that Firefox has impressed me greatly. Browser hijacking: the act of a malicious website script changing your homepage or search page (particularly common on IE, sites will change your default search page so that every time you type an address into your address bar their site gets a hit) is now a thing of the past (at least until someone gets vicious enough to work out backdoors in Firefox, an unlikely event for at least a little while given the massive market share still held by IE). Since changing over I have received substantially fewer attack notices from my Firewall. Sites load quickly, and if you get an address wrong you don't have to wait for a page to load, you just quickly get a message informing you that the site doesn't exist. Then there are the extensions that can be downloaded to add all sorts of new features to the browser.

The only downside that I have found is the fact that because IE is the dominant web browser, some websites are coded in such a way that they don't work properly on other browsers. These sites are few and far between, but occasionally you will still need to fire up IE to view a page. The infrequency of this occurring is enough that it doesn't annoy me too much, but it will be nice when everything works 100%.

At the end of the day, it's probably not a vital switch. Both programs suffice in allowing you to plug in and explore the vast world of the Internet with ease and accuracy. However, it's worth a look though because what starts off initially as "I have no real reason to change back" quickly becomes "I am never going back". So, as the official Firefox website encourages, "Rediscover the web".

Daniel Punch - M6.Net
Daniel Punch is a university student always looking to overthrow the man and support the underdog, provided it doesn't actually cost him anything.

Microsoft Moves To Small Business Accountingretail Market Stakes And Thoughts

Writen by Andrew Karasev

In this small article we will be looking at the new opportunities for Microsoft Small Business Server specialists, but rather look at the global business strategy and possible ways of future ERP modules standardizing and interoperability. This is important to get into consideration for midsize and large corporate business IT decision makers. Let's look at the chronology and possible future development.

• Great Plains Software acquisition. When Microsoft took leading position on the operating system market and released stable and reliable Windows 2000 Server, the next logical step would be getting into ERP market. Microsoft decided to try midsize market, and the reason is probably this – it is wise to create small accounting as the extension to Microsoft Office, not to purchase existing small application. However if you plan to try midmarket – you better purchase something established with broad client base. Developing midsize package from scratch might deplete all the resources. As the stake on Great Plains was high – Microsoft formed business systems subdivision – Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions, later on Great Plains name was taken off and now we see Microsoft Business Solutions.

• Navision Software Acquisition. There are multiple opinions among the MBS partners. Considering the fact that Navision Attain had strong clientele in Europe, and the fact that currently MBS promotes Navision on the majority of emerging markets: East Europe, Russia, Brazil – the point of view that Microsoft got very large pool of clients in Europe and one of the goals of Navision acquisition was geographic expansion.

• Axapta. Navision Software was indeed very robust and it was one of the Danish software "dragons" (in the good sense of this word), the other nice company was MacHanza. We would like here to credit Danish ERP vendors. Axapta was new product on the moment of acquisition and it is rich-functionality ERP and so – a rival to SAP, Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft

• Small Business Manager/Small Business Financials. This was natural way of downsizing the functionality of Great Plains Dynamics/Microsoft Great Plains to gain small business market. Small Business Financials is Great Plains Dexterity written accounting package. You see similar marketing moves from SAP and Oracle sides.

• Small Business Accounting 2006. It took Microsoft about four years to feel itself comfortable on the ERP market before it decided to create its own small business package, targeted to take over market share from QuickBooks, MYOB, PeachTree. Small Business Accounting 2006 is really nice application, which is excellently integrated with Microsoft Office/Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft is right – majority of Windows users spend their computer time in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Excel. And it create accounting application, allowing you to do 50% of work from Microsoft Outlook directly

• Microsoft POS. As you know that there are several thousand small retail businesses in the USA, using just one cash register and these folks have to use a lot of small Retail Management applications, which are competing on this market for a long time. And it is a good momentum to take over this unreliable and turbulent market offering cheap and solid rock solution, working with POS devises. Please, take into account that Microsoft has another high-end Retail Management system – Microsoft RMS, which can automate midsize and huge retail stores and chains.

• Market is taken over? Well – the last flint of Microsoft Small Business Accounting and Microsoft POS give customer an option to stay in Microsoft framework from the company inception till going public as a large corporation. This fact would be very difficult to ignore for such folks out there on the market as BestSoftware, SAP, Oracle, Sun.

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) – USA nationwide Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in the following industries: Aerospace & Defence, Logistics & Distribution, Freight forwarding & Transportation, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Wholesale & Retail, Education, Biotechnology, Chemicals, Healthcare, Beverages, Conglomerates, Food & Drugs.

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Microsoft Crm Development

Writen by Andrew Karasev

Microsoft CRM is CRM answer from Microsoft Business Solutions.

The whole conception behind CRM seems to be different. In case of traditional CRM software (Siebel, Oracle) - the application was designed with platform independence in mind. Microsoft CRM is dedicated to Microsoft technology and so deploys all the Microsoft tools: Windows Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000, SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, Biztalk server, Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Great Plains as backend, etc.

If you are software developer, database administrator or web designer who is asked: how do we customize Microsoft CRM - we are giving you directions in this article.

1. Microsoft CRM SDK - this is software development kit with C# and partly VB.net code samples - it is supported by Microsoft Business Solutions technical support. It is based on web service calls, if you are C# .NET developer - you are excellently positioned to do this type of customizations. This is the preferred modification scenario and this should be easily upgradeable customization. VB.Net examples will be available soon.

2. Legacy SQL Data integration. This is also easy and safe. If you have SQL database, sitting on the same or linked SQL Server - you can create ASPX .Net application and simply integrate it into CRM. You can place it on the navigation bar or menu in isv.config - please refer to MS CRM SDK

3. Legacy ASP integration - this is somewhat more sophisticated. You have to deploy HTTP handler to be a middle party between CRM which is .Net based and ASP which is legacy IIS. The trick is - you have to have INI file with security settings to penetrate into MS CRM with proper credentials, calling web service.

4. Microsoft Exchange Programming. Microsoft CRM has Exchange connector - which moves CRM incoming email to MS if it has GUID in its subject. You can alter this logic (for instance - move email to CRM if it doesn't have GUID but it is from the sender who is contact or account in MS CRM). Refer to MS Exchange SDK onsyncsave event handling. Then simply apply some MS CRM SDK programming - you need some COM+ objects creation and VB programming experience.

5. Direct SQL touch - in #4 above I described you the scenario with MS Exchange handlers - this would be ideal world if MS CRM SDK does the job. But - in real world this is not always true - you have to do direct flags correction in CRM database (like making Activity closed, moving email attachments/octet streams, etc). This is not supported by MBS technical support - but you can rescue to this technique if you have to get job done.

6. MS CRM Customization tool - this is rather end-user tool and we don't describe it here - read the manual. We've described above the options to use when this tool doesn't do the job

7. Crystal Reports - feel free to create Crystal report - tables and views structure is self explanatory. Try to avoid the temptation to create your own SQL view or stored procedure in MS CRM database, instead - create custom database and place your view and stored proc in it.

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, New York, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Canada, UK, Autralia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

akarasev@albaspectrum.com

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Manufacturing Scheduling Software

Writen by Eric Morris

Manufacturing Scheduling Software is special software used by the manufacturers in planning and scheduling various tasks of the firm. It shows the orientation between the various requirements and the progress in manufacturing, thus enabling more accuracy in delivery dates.

Manufacturing Scheduling Software offers a system for planning and scheduling the different tasks of the firm. It offers the manufacturers a better way to control the production environment through forecasting and planning. This acts as a long term strategic tool for scheduling the flow of work and managing the work of the operating team.

During unexpected machine break downs, rework, or immediate order delivery, it might take considerable time and effort for the scheduler to arrange the work properly. It is then that manufacturing scheduling software has a role to play in offering feasible schedules, keeping all the unusual conditions that may occur during the manufacturing process.

A proper and effective schedule management requires a great deal of effort as well as time. This software helps to automate the scheduling, and prioritizing the various manufacturing processes, machine capacity and labor resources. Manufacturing scheduling software also predicts and plans the requirements for the manufacturing resources, and capacity utilization.

It keeps track of the records of various project work schedules and monitors the progress of the project, thus helping in the completion of the work on time. Manufacturing scheduling software offers the reports of various work and operator schedules including the details of the required resources, rework hours, work center and order schedule.

The use of such software solutions helps to increase the productivity, bring down the production costs, and improve customer services. It enables the company to centralize the scheduling information of different areas in a firm.

Manufacturing Software provides detailed information on Manufacturing Software, Manufacturing Inventory Software, Manufacturing Business Software, Manufacturing Management Software and more. Manufacturing Software is affiliated with Free CAD Software.

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Hubris

Writen by Carl Jongsma

Internet Explorer 7 Hits The Mean Streets

It didn't take long after Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7 for download for the exploits and vulnerabilities to appear, with many reporters and security companies scrambling over each other in order to publish about the new Internet Explorer flaw.

Only, it wasn't.

Argument and counter-argument ensued, with Microsoft quickly defending the issue as being an Outlook Express issue and not an Internet Explorer flaw. That sleight of hand didn't satisfy many, who pointed out that the same flaw had been identified back in April, when it was attributed to Internet Explorer 6. At the end of the day, Internet Explorer 7 is a possible vector to exploit an error in the handling of 'mhtml:' addresses - which can result in the disclosure of sensitive information.

Unfortunately, this isn't the only issue to have affected Internet Explorer 7, with earlier beta versions susceptible to the WMF vulnerabilities that were identified and patched over the 2005 - 2006 Christmas / New Year period. The unknown issues with Internet Explorer 7 are going to be a greater concern over coming months, as Microsoft is expected to use Automatic Update to provide the application to Windows XP SP2 users in November.

A positive aspect is that many computer users will get to experience the improved CSS handling, improved security, tabbed browsing, and the other general improvements that Internet Explorer 7 brings to the system.

Every Dog Barks At The Moon Sometimes

Over the last couple of weeks, many security 'experts' and companies (including some of the biggest, most 'respected' names) have been busy displaying an amazing amount of hubris and arrogance in their coverage of what would normally be regarded as minor news items.

After Apple Computer disclosed that an unknown, but believed to be very small, number of iPods were shipped with some Windows malware preinstalled (claims range from virus to adware), there was an almost unanimous hammering of the company's claims. By Windows and Microsoft supporters (such as top Information Security companies and people). Almost all of the vitriol was focussed around the "we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it." statement, which appeared on Apple's site (http://www.apple.com/support/windowsvirus/) in relation to the issue.

Many called Apple 'arrogant', and attacked any perceived ills that they might have had with the company. Unfortunately, in their rush to attack Apple, most completely bypassed (or were unaware of) a broader incident that affected a joint promotion being run by McDonald's and Coca-Cola in Japan, where 10,000 media players were distributed. Only, the players were infected with password stealing malware.

Elsewhere, an unnamed expert, who crusades against hysteria and false claims in security (and, more frequently, terrorism), fell into their own trap recently. They claimed that firefighters who treated jelly (the gelatinous dessert) as a potential HAZMAT threat (before it had been identified) were over-reacting to it as a terror risk. While it does sound funny that firefighters would be running around in HAZMAT suits trying to deal with somebody's unwanted dessert, it is a fairly standard practice when emergency services are faced with unknown substances that have been abandoned.

Perhaps it is my background in aviation and engineering related fields, but nothing is done without a healthy factor of safety (risk management), and the initial response was completely appropriate. People have died because they didn't know enough about the material that they were handling (Goiânia, Asbestosis, Miner's Lung, and others). Sometimes the simple answer is the correct answer, even if it might be misconstrued.

Carl is the founder and lead researcher for Sûnnet Beskerming (http://www.beskerming.com), an Information Security company that services the world and still maintains the local touch. Providing guidance on the latest developments in Information Security threats and news, Sûnnet Beskerming has something for all.

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Computer Business Software What Should You Buy

Writen by Joshua Feinberg

Computer business software is an area where many new network consultants get overwhelmed. There are so many great products out there that it is hard to decide which computer business software to invest your time and money in.

You want to be able to expand your capabilities but you don't want to sink too much time or money into any computer business software purchases until you know you have a market for them. Because computer business software is an investment, you need to think carefully about the programs and packages you purchase.

If you think in terms of whether the business computer software will attract and appeal to sweet spot clients, you are thinking on the right track. You want to ask yourself, "If I invest eight hours in learning this and invest a few hundred dollars in some training or not-for-resale product, am I going to make it back?"

There are two computer business software products I recommend you look at seriously for sweet spot clients.

Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS)

Novell's Small Business Suite

Why I Recommend This Computer Business Software:

Both of these computer business software products are inexpensive buy-ins.

You're not going to have to spend a lot of money to get a demo or not-for-resale copy for you to learn with.

For a few hundred dollars you'll have most of what you need.

With both types of computer business software, you should be able to take eight to ten hours and feel comfortable installing it, breaking it, and then reinstalling it.

I recommend that you just pick one of them. Don't try to support both types of computer business software at the outset unless you already have really strong skills on both Windows and on Netware, and you want to support both of them right off the bat.

Use the computer business software you choose to run your own business. Sooner or later, probably within a month or two, you'll feel comfortable enough to do a simple installation for a client.

Bottom Line on Computer Business Software

Always think of computer business software as an investment. You need to make sure you will recover, and then make a return on, the time and money you put into acquiring and learning new computer business software. If you stick to Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) and Novell's Small Business Suite at the start, your computer business software investment should pay off pretty quickly.

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Joshua Feinberg has helped thousands of small business computer consulting firms get more steady, high-paying clients. Now you can too. Sign-up now for your free access a one-hour audio training program featuring field-tested, proven Small Business Computer Consulting Secrets.

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