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Communication in Action – April 2001
Newsletter
Joint Ventures and Increased Support Options
We are moving away from offering our own support services on
networks etc and will be using Supima (Pty) Ltd to do our outsource
hardware and network support. They have a strong team of engineers,
as well as a laptop repair centre and a fully authorised HP repair
centre. They are able to supply PCs, servers and all networking
equipment including cabling. We will continue to install solutions
and to recommend to you what to use in your environment, whilst
letting them do what they do best. It will free us up to give better
service in the areas that we are best in as well.
We are also moving back into supporting and selling Maximizer and
Maximizer Enterprise. This powerful Customer Relationship Management
solution has been a leader in SA for some time and the new versions
are proving even stronger than their predecessors. We will configure
the systems and then train users on their use.
Remember, if you are using Pastel Accounting, Maximizer and
Pastelizer make your company’s departments fit perfectly together.
Software Licensing Options
D-Day has come and gone – please check now that you have complied
with the licensing requirements. The fines are R5 000 per program
loaded illegally or 6 years in jail. Since software licences do not
cost that much, is it worth being illegal?
If you really want to avoid paying for Office software, download
Star Office from the Sun Systems site.
Please note that by buying software, you are contributing to the
growth of the economy, providing jobs and growth opportunities as
well as increasing the revenue collected by SARS. As we are aiming
at a minimum of 3% per annum growth, your contribution will help.
To find out more about this issue, call the BSA hotline on
0800-110-447, or e-mail info@bsa.co.za
or go to their website
www.bsa.co.za/truth.
Templates for your Company
How do you market your company electronically? We can develop
templates to send out of Word and Excel to your customers, which are
protected against changes to your corporate image and logos. These
also ensure a corporate feel and identity is delivered by every
communication you and your staff send out.
Community Spirit
SA Guide Dogs are having their annual raffle and we are selling
tickets. If you would like some, please call and we’ll arrange to
bring them around!
Anti-Community Spirit
If you are offered suspect second-hand computers or they are brought
to you for repair, please do not ignore it – and thus contribute to
more crime– call 10111! (Visit
www.crimestop.co.za before accepting a cheque or second-hand
goods, and list your stolen goods there)
A customer recently had all their computers stolen at gun point. One
of the thieves really had brazen cheek – he asked the person he was
holding up for a job!
Tips from the Help Line: Problems we solved
recently
Hiding e-mail addresses
Do you want to conceal addressees? Use the BCC option for them and
no one will see the list of addresses. BCC means Blind Carbon Copy
and is intended to hide its contents.
Signatures in Outlook
Save yourself having to type your name and address details at the
bottom of every e-mail you send. Add your signature through Tools |
Options | Mail Format | Signature Picker and create a signature
using New. Select the file when you have saved it and your signature
will appear automatically. The signature file can include
disclaimers and other information.
This can be done for everyone in the company and again enhances your
corporate image.
Organizer and Smart Suite
We are finding that many people are having corruption problems with
these packages. If you are suffering the dreaded “illegal operation”
when trying to start any of these packages, reload it into a new
directory before you remove the old load. This will prevent the
software loading over the problem areas. If you know how to, run
Scandisk to mark the damaged areas of your disk after you have
removed the old version.
How can I learn Microsoft Access?
Our two courses, Access Beginners and Access Intermediate, provide a
good grounding in the program and principles of good database
design. There are also two courses on Visual Basic. We run courses
for companies (3-8 people), but we will also license the manuals and
examples diskettes to individuals. You can then go ahead and design
your own database (we like to be involved in the specification, it
saves time later) and then just call us for support when you get
stuck.
That’s all for now!
Yours sincerely
Judith Taylor
Director, Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd
PO Box 2077, Rivonia, 2128 South Africa.
Tel: (+27 11) 802-2685. Fax: 802-4576. Cell: 083 626-5339.
E-mail: judith@softwareafrica.co.za
This entire newsletter is Copyright© 2001
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd. Please feel free to share this
newsletter with your friends or post it on your site as long as it
is left intact with all links unchanged and includes this notice. To
unsubscribe, e-mail info@softwareafrica.co.za
with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Back to top
Communication in Action – March
2001 Newsletter
Useful Free Software
Last month we mentioned the programs Match (for DOS) and WinMatch
(for Windows), which allow you to compare date/times and sizes of
files with the same names on two paths and optionally copy later
files to the other path. This month we tell you where to find them!
Click Here.
There are several other programs available on our site, many of
particular interest to programmers in various dialects of Basic. The
programs are Shareware: If you find them useful, we ask for a small
contribution to encourage us!
Software Licensing Options
E-mail
judith@softwareafrica.co.za and we can arrange to do a full
audit of your software. This month is the final deadline for
legalising your software and obtaining certification from the
Business Software Alliance. There are a number of options available
and the issue does not only cover Microsoft licences, but Adobe
Systems Incorporated, AutoDesk, Corel Corporation, Lotus Development
Corporation and Symantec. Penalties are heavy and the BSA will take
action from 1st April.
To find out more about this issue, call the BSA hotline on
0800-110-447, or e-mail
info@bsa.co.za or go to their website
www.bsa.co.za/truth.
Not Quite Famous…
On Valentine's Day Rick was invited to participate in the Radio SAFM
Computer Help Line presented by Tony Lankester from 9 to 10 pm. As
luck would have it, our expert in 1-2-3, Excel, Access databases and
Visual Basic programming was given questions mostly about hardware,
iMacs and operating systems!
Redfern Label Templates
We have set up Word 97/2000 templates for a large number of layouts
of labels produced by Redfern Labels and Colour Jet Labels. These
are A4 sheets of peel-off labels that you can print with a laser or
inkjet printer. The Redfern labels can be downloaded from their site
at www.redfern.co.za (click
on the Download button). For Colour Jet Labels, see
www.portamex.co.za (click on Adhesive Labels and Software
Downloads).
Community Spirit
With the support of Communication in Action, Rick is setting up the
Sandton Precinct web site as a community service. Sandton Precinct
is a Section 21 (non-profit) company dedicated to improving the
security of Sandton residents. It collects money from the community
for the Police and other emergency services, and has done tremendous
work in keeping the tottering emergency services going. Your R30
monthly debit order (R50 for companies) is money well spent and also
entitles individuals to free emergency SOS rescue.
Communication in Action also supports the computers of the Sandton
Community Police Forum and SA Guide Dogs Association for the Blind
on a non-profit basis.
Anti-Community Spirit
The SA Guide Dogs Association for the Blind was burgled early in
February. Their Server and several of their PCs were stolen. These
disgusting thieves will target even charities –no one is immune!
If this happened to you, would your business survive? Make
sure that you have backups (Guide Dogs mostly did), mark and
preferably bolt your computers to a bench, wall, or floor! If you
are offered suspect second-hand computers or they are brought to you
for repair, please do not ignore it –and thus contribute to more
crime– call 10111! (Visit
www.crimestop.co.za
before accepting a cheque or second-hand goods, and list your
stolen goods there)
Tips from the Help Line: Problems we solved
recently
Lotus Word Pro: How do I get all my paragraphs in Arial always?
Set your SmartMaster's "Default Text" style to Arial, as follows:
Open the relevant SmartMaster – typically default.mwp (File Open >
Files of Type: Lotus Word Pro SmartMaster (*.MWP) > locate
default.mwp > Open). Press Alt+Enter to get Text Properties. On the
last Tab (Named Styles) make sure you have "Default Text" selected.
On the first Tab (Font, attribute and colour) set the Font name to
Arial. On the last Tab (Named Styles) click Redefine Style . OK.
Save the SmartMaster.
Doing the same in Word
Click on Format > Font and choose Arial and the size that you want.
Then click on default and OK before closing. The Normal template
will then keep Arial as your default font. In general, clicking on
Default in any of the dialog boxes where you change things makes the
new choice operative from then onwards.
How do I Automatically Check my Spelling when I send e-mail from
Outlook?
Avoid the embarrassment of sending out e-mails like this: " Thak you
for yor sevice, it is much apreciated, I ahve fowarded teh mesage to
hte clinet."! In Outlook, under Tools > Options > Spelling, turn the
automatic spelling checker on by ticking "Always check spelling
before sending". In the same area you can set it to use the English
UK dictionary instead of US.
Activating Insert Mode in Word and WordPro
Word is more user-friendly as you will see that OVR is showing on
the bottom bar. This means that you will overtype anything to the
right of your cursor. If this is happening in either package,
pressing the Insert key on the keyboard will push the text along in
front of your cursor instead.
That’s all for now!
Yours sincerely
Judith Taylor
Director, Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd
PO Box 2077, Rivonia, 2128 South Africa.
Tel: (+27 11) 802-2685. Fax: 802-4576. Cell: 083 626-5339.
E-mail: judith@softwareafrica.co.za
This entire newsletter is Copyright© 2001
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd. Please feel free to share this
newsletter with your friends or post it on your site as long as it
is left intact with all links unchanged and includes this notice. To
unsubscribe, e-mail info@softwareafrica.co.za
with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd.
–
February 2001 Newsletter
Out of Action
Lightning did what nothing else has been able to – down our e-mail
and Internet connection on the 2nd February. We came back on-line
yesterday, so if you have had e-mail returned, please send again!
Coming Soon...
We expect to have our web site enabled for e-commerce this month
(February). Visit us from time to time!
Useful Free Software
Have you ever had two copies of a folder, each one with some later
files than the other, and you wanted to reconcile them? How long did
it take you? It can take just a few seconds if you look on our web
site under "Free Stuff", and download the programs Match (for DOS)
or WinMatch (for Windows). Match will compare date/times and sizes
of files with the same names on two paths. There is an option to
make a batch file to COPY later files to the other path. WinMatch
will compare two folders and automatically mark newer files. You may
change the selection by clicking check boxes. You may then copy or
move selected files in either direction, or delete them. The
programs are Shareware: If you find them useful, we ask for a small
contribution to encourage us!
Software Licensing Options
E-mail
judith@softwareafrica.co.za and we can arrange to do a full
audit of your software. This month and next are the final deadline
for legalising your software and obtaining certification from the
Business Software Alliance. There are a number of options available
and the issue does not only cover Microsoft licences, but Adobe
Systems Incorporated, AutoDesk, Corel Corporation, Lotus Development
Corporation and Symantec. Penalties are heavy and the BSA will take
action from 1st April.
To find out more about this issue, call the BSA hotline on
0800-110-447, or e-mail
info@bsa.co.za or go to their website
www.bsa.co.za/truth.
Templates
What do DaimlerChrysler (formerly Mercedes-Benz SA), ABSA Bank and
African Rainbow Minerals have in common? They are among the
companies for whom we have created templates for business letters,
faxes, memos, and e-mails. These often incorporate the company's
corporate identity in the form of logos, special fonts etc. For some
clients, notably dsgn and Ninham Shand Consulting Engineers, we have
included automation: When a new document is created, a dialog box
asks for the recipient’s and sender’s details and then fills them in
on the template, which can be protected. It remembers the details of
previous senders and recipients who can be chosen from drop-down
lists to avoid retyping and possible typing errors. We can also save
documents to specified folders, give them sequential numbers, and
keep a log of documents produced. This is ideal for controlling
correspondence and ensures a uniform presentation to your clients.
Along with this expertise we have built up a list of things to look
for when creating templates, so it is good for your designers to
involve us at an early stage. Examples: Do not use less than 8-point
text on a fax (unreadable!), and if you put footers on a fax it
increases faxing time.
Insurance Information eXchange (IIX)
This product grows almost by the day! The Claims module is up and
running. Split Expenses now make it possible to identify commissions
to a broker within the brokerage and for subagents.
We are negotiating with Application Service Providers to give small
clients a cost-effective access to a fully licensed solution for
their systems.
Tips from the Help Line: Problems we
solved recently
Lotus 1-2-3 Millennium Edition 9.5:
How do I get the "Classic" WYSIWYG Menu?
This is the "colon" menu "Worksheet Format Graph Print Display..."
used for formatting, as opposed to the "Classic" Slash (/) menu
"Worksheet Range Copy Move File...". This menu is now hidden, but
you can still get it by creating a macro as follows: Find two blank
cells in your spreadsheet that will not be interfered with. In the
left-hand of these two cells, type the following: ^\M (caret,
backslash, M). Press Enter, then /RNLR Enter (slash for the "Classic
menu, Range Name Labels Right, Enter). Move one cell to the right,
and enter a colon (:) in that cell. Now you can press Ctrl+M (hold
Control, press M) whenever you want the old Classic WYSIWYG menu.
Note: The file with the \M macro must be open for the Ctrl+M macro
to work!
How can I calculate the split of the Pay Packets for my 200 staff
members?
We recently created a spreadsheet that will work out pay packets
(minimum number of each available denomination of coin and bank
note) for a customer. It totals each denomination so that you know
exactly how many of each to ask the bank for. This spreadsheet is
too complex to give here, but is available from us for a nominal
R120 + VAT. E-mail Rick
and specify Lotus 1-2-3 or Excel version.
How can I get Subtotals and Grand Totals in Excel?
Use the function =SUBTOTAL(9,range) for each range (smaller ranges
for the subtotals, the entire range for the Grand Total). Unlike
SUM, the SUBTOTAL function does not include other SUBTOTALs in its
calculation. You can also do other calculations by changing that
first parameter (9). Use: 1=AVERAGE, 2=COUNT, 4=MAX, 5=MIN, 9=SUM.
Consult Help for others. You can use this function to any level,
i.e. Subtotals, sub-subtotals, sub-sub-subtotals, etc.
How can I get Subtotals and Grand Totals in Lotus 1-2-3?
Use the function @SUBTOTAL(range) for the Subtotals and
@GRANDTOTAL(range) for the Grand Total. @SUBTOTAL sums any numbers
in its range. @GRANDTOTAL will only sum @SUBTOTALs in its range. For
extra levels of total (great-grand-totals!), use @GRANDTOTAL
functions with larger ranges.
That’s all for now!
Yours sincerely
Judith Taylor
Director, Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd
PO Box 2077, Rivonia, 2128 South Africa.
Tel: (+27 11) 802-2685. Fax: 802-4576. Cell: 083 626-5339.
E-mail: judith@softwareafrica.co.za
This entire newsletter is Copyright© 2001
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd. Please feel free to share this
newsletter with your friends or post it on your site as long as it
is left intact with all links unchanged and includes this notice. To
unsubscribe, e-mail
info@softwareafrica.co.za
with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Back to top
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd.–
New Year 2001 Newsletter
What’s new?
Apart from the year and the millennium of course – definitely a
feeling of optimism and we’ve come back raring to go.
We have a full e-commerce facility in development and already have
the go-ahead from a bank to use credit card authorisation via the
Internet. We are intending to have everything up and running by mid
February.
As usual, we will let you know how this progresses!
Useful URLs
Here are some resources we've found useful in the last year:
- Peter Carruthers's Free Weekly Business Idea for Small
Business Owners:
www.PetesWeekly.co.za
- List and search for stolen goods and cheques:
www.crimestop.co.za.
Visit it before accepting a cheque or second-hand goods!
- To subscribe to our own occasional anti-fraud newsletter (tips
on avoiding cheque fraud, hot cheques, etc.) send an e-mail to
rick@softwareafrica.co.za
with the word SUBSCRIBE in the Subject. The last issue described
how to find your cell phone Serial No so that you can block it
if it is stolen, so no one else can use it.
Software Licensing Options
Are you finding that licensing is a nightmare? Did you know that you
can rent software? Providing your total requirement is R100 000 or
more for your order, this is a reality. No more “assets” on your
books, just a current liability and an arrangement with your
supplier and the rental company to make sure that your licensing
situation is up-to-date. For more information, please contact
judith@softwareafrica.co.za
and I will arrange for the Rental company to come and discuss the
opportunity.
Remember that Microsoft Systems Management Server can assist you in
tracking your software licensing, as can other non-Microsoft
solutions. They also help you to keep an on-line Asset Register of
your PCs and printers.
Website Challenges
The banks are not infallible – their sites do crash. We wanted to
access our account and could not so rang to find out what was the
matter. On being told “Nothing, contact your administrator”, we
disputed this but ran the command tracert followed by the
site name (for instance tracert www.softwareafrica.co.za) at the DOS
prompt. This returns the full route to the site, how long it takes
to do each “jump” on the way and the IP addresses.
We were then able to ascertain that we could reach the site but it
was not displaying. A further call established what we knew – the
site was down!
Insurance Information eXchange (IIX)
This product grows almost by the day! The Claims module is in final
testing with clients and the batch printing solution goes out for
client testing next week. Many simple improvements have been made to
make data entry easier – street addresses can be copied to postal
where they are the same for example.
The reporting functionality becomes more and more dynamic. It is so
exciting working with clients to meet their needs – and being able
to roll-out the new functionality for everyone.
The robustness of the product is its major strength – across
diginet, analog and ISDN dial-up it performs the same.
Troubleshooting - It’s the Little Things that Matter
Can’t Log on – invalid password etc
- Let’s be honest, we’ve done it too and felt idiots when the
penny’s dropped! Check that someone else hasn’t logged onto your
PC and that it really is your logon name there.
- However, we came across an unusual one some time ago, and
thought that reminding administrators that it still can happen
is never lost. If a user cannot logon despite their user name
and password being correct, check in User Manager that there are
no spaces AFTER their name. It has happened!
- Are you on the Domain? Or have you returned to a workgroup
or (if on NT Workstation or 2000 Pro) just on your PC?
- Also check CAPS LOCK – most passwords are case-sensitive.
That’s all for now!
Yours sincerely
Judith Taylor
Director, Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd
PO Box 2077, Rivonia, 2128 South Africa.
Tel: (+27 11) 802-2685. Fax: 802-4576. Cell: 083 626-5339.
E-mail: judith@softwareafrica.co.za
This entire newsletter is Copyright© 2001
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd. Please feel free to share this
newsletter with your friends or post it on your site as long as it
is left intact with all links unchanged and includes this notice. To
unsubscribe, e-mail info@softwareafrica.co.za
with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Back to top Communication in
Action (Pty) Ltd
–
November 2000 Newsletter
This is our new HTML format - please let us know how you feel about
it!
What’s new
The changes that we have been making over the past eight months are
paying off – we are now ready to focus on our strengths and improve
our service to our clients further. We will be launching our new
website (still the same address) within the next few days. It has a
very different look and feel and we want your feedback!
Also, would you like us to design and maintain your websites?
Pastelizer 5.2
Is released and already enhanced - See our web site for a FREE
download!
http://www.softwareafrica.co.za/pastelizer.htm
A special version –Pastelizer 5.2 Recurring Billing– is now
available. This version is ideal for organizations that do repeat
invoicing for memberships, service contracts, etc. Billing can be
done monthly, or annually the month before the anniversary of
joining, and can take place on or after a specific date in the
month, the last day, or last weekday. In Maximizer, you can create
different membership categories at different prices. Pastelizer
pushes the invoices through directly into Pastel, where they are
ready to be printed.
Website Challenges
Why did we design our own website? There are so many companies out
there doing it daily, so surely one can meet our needs?
Yes they can and they did, with one small problem – we had to nag
them for updates, links and placement on search engines. There was
no after sales service!
Having designed our website, we are now empowering ourselves to meet
the needs that we have. Is it possible that they are also your
needs?
Using Maximizer effectively (or any good contact management package
for that matter), we intend to make sure that website services keep
your web presence alive! We will even nag your website developer for
you!
If this idea appeals – let Judith know. She’ll come and talk
possibilities with you and see how to make your site sparkle all the
time!
Insurance Information eXchange (IIX)
Just an update – the Claims module goes live this week. Never has
processing your client’s claim been more straightforward and easier
to track. Insurance Information eXchange is a living and growing
solution to making short term brokering fun again!
Sit at the beach and keep your customers happy!
If it can happen to Microsoft – how safe are you?
Doesn’t it give you a feeling of power when the big guys get zapped?
Yet your data is just as valuable and as vulnerable. Are you sure
your backup software works? That it actually restores the
information? That your antivirus is regularly updated and stops
Trojans entering (that’s what got Microsoft)?
Backup Online offers a remote backup service with testing – but
we’ve had no answer from them! We know that McAfee Antivirus works
and we do regular updates both at our site and at our clients.
If a nasty doubt has entered your mind, get your IT guys to do those
routine checks and report back. If you see a problem, call us and
we’ll come to the party to make sure everything is safe.
Troubleshooting - It’s the Little
Things that Matter
Microsoft Word does not spell check when a document is protected
At least it does not auto spell check. To make sure that your
spelling is as it should be, press F7 when you have finished to
start the spell check. There’s nothing worse than spelling errors
that you didn’t see!
Keeping important e-mails in Outlook
Well – not quite! If your e-mails are important, then save them to
the relevant folders on your server or PC as text files. Always save
important attachments to the relevant folder. This lowers the risk
of losing these documents.
1-2-3 returns fatal errors on File Open
This is a problem that recurs every six months or so. When a 1-2-3
file corrupts, the first solution is to open it in Microsoft Excel
and resave it with a different name. Then reopen in 1-2-3. If it
will not open in Excel, you can send it to
rick@softwareafrica.co.za
and he will attempt recovery – there is a charge for this however.
Again, to all 1-2-3 users – BACK UP your files!
Other file opening problems
Word often crashes with illegal access problems. When this happens,
use Ctrl-A (Select All) followed by Ctrl-C (Copy) and then open a
new document. Paste the copied material into it and save with a new
name
This method has recovered many desperate situations. It also works
for Excel spreadsheets.
Database files are more of a problem and will need someone who knows
about recovery to rehabilitate them!
Cannot Rename, delete etc a file on a server
This happens often and always when you’re in a hurry. There are two
reasons – one you don’t have rights to perform the operation and two
– the file is in use.
If the first is not true – you do have the rights, then the second
is true. Ask everyone to close their files and you will be able to
do the changes.
Hard Drive Problems
If a lot of your files are giving problems, you may also notice a
strange sound coming from your hard drive. This indicates a problem
with the drive and your support person will normally advise
replacing it before it implodes with all your data – another reason
to keep your data on the server (Not much use if you’ve only one PC
however).
First – BACKUP all your data, then install the new drive. We have
found that making your original drive the D: drive means that you
can easily access the data to copy it across to the new drive once
everything is up and running. Having a backup is insurance in case
the thing packs up completely beforehand.
That’s all for
now!
Yours sincerely
Judith Taylor
Director, Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd
E-mail: judith@softwareafrica.co.za
This entire newsletter is Copyright© 2000
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd. Please feel free to share
this newsletter with your friends or post it on your site as long as
it is left intact with all links unchanged and includes this notice.
To unsubscribe, e-mail info@softwareafrica.co.za
with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Back to top Communication in
Action (Pty) Ltd
–
October 2000 Newsletter
This is our new HTML format - please let us know how you feel about
it!
CiA (Pty) Ltd (and other TLAs)
In keeping with the professional image our clients expect of us,
Communication in Action cc has upgraded to a Proprietary Limited
company. The Directors are the previous cc members, Judith Taylor
and Rick Raubenheimer. Our contact details remain as below.
Pastelizer 5.2
IS RELEASED - See our web site for a FREE download!
http://www.softwareafrica.co.za/pastelizer.htm
Insurance Information eXchange (IIX)
This product is changing the way insurance companies work. Are you
motivated by the prospect of being able to work with your customers
at their premises? On the phone from anywhere not just your office?
Insurance Information eXchange enables you and your staff to do just
that, whilst working live onto the company’s database.
Everything is in one place – client policy information, insured
risks and their photographs, all your correspondence, e-mails, faxes
and telephone logs plus the financial data through to Trial Balance
and the all important Bordereaux reports.
Want production data on your desk daily or hourly – just ask
Insurance Information eXchange to send you a report or use Excel to
produce the pivot table of your needs!
Check that your client’s policy includes all the insurable risks
they require? E-mail the document to them for confirmation and have
the answer in moments.
For NON-Insurance business – need to
keep up with Contacts and Accounts?
Maximizer 5.0 with Pastel Accounting 5.0 or 5.2 using the Pastelizer
5.1 or 5.2 link software can again put everything that you need in
one place. It will soon be Christmas and Maximizer solves the
printing of envelopes or labels for your customers and suppliers. A
quick merge gives a professional approach plus you know how many
cards to buy as well!
Forgotten that all-important birthday? Maximizer acts as your silent
secretary, reminding you of all the important events in your life.
What’s more, you can work from home or on the road with it as well
using MaxExchange to synchronize with the office.
With either solution, you can increase your customer satisfaction
and yours as well. Contact us for a live demo of these powerful
productivity solutions.
New Service – Keeping Your Web Page
up-to-date
Do you find that you once had a beautiful, state-of-the-art web page
that looks old hat now? Would a reminder service be of value to you?
One which also makes sure that your web design company delivers
timeously for you and stays ahead of the trends, keeping your web
presence alive and part of the e-commerce revolution?
If so, please contact Judith at
judith@softwareafrica.co.za
to discuss how we may be of assistance.
It’s the
Little Things that Matter
Numbering in a document
Sometimes, when we are trying to achieve a particular objective, we
come up against the little things that somehow stop us. Recently, I
was editing a document in Word, which used legal numbering. The
fourth level would not number correctly, whatever I did.
Finally, I deleted that level from the document and tried again. Lo
and behold, it worked perfectly and I was then able to reset indents
and tabs throughout the document at every level without a problem.
Try my solution first – you may well save a lot of time!
Anchoring a picture
Microsoft Word first: Anchoring is best done with the hidden
paragraph marks all on, then you can see the picture’s anchor. It is
particularly necessary when you do not want the picture to move onto
the next page. To be sure that it will not move, it needs to be
anchored to the margin above it. If the picture is in a table as
well as below it, then anchor it to the cell next to it.
The latter requires care, as Word will do its best to put the entire
picture in the cell and this may not be what you want!
Lotus WordPro is more difficult at first sight. You need the
picture’s properties. Once there, Placement gives you the option in
Advanced to place the anchor position above the picture at the top
of the page.
In both cases, no more movement can happen onto other pages.
Many modems, too long at the fax machine!
Or maybe only one modem! Did you know that if you have 5 users or
less, you can use GFI Fax for free and send and receive faxes
electronically? This award-winning program can make paper faxing and
standing resending the same fax history. Try it on
http://www2.iix.co.za - there’s all the information you need on that
site where it is called FaxMaker. Check out Mail Essentials at the
same time.
Many modems, no lines left for customers to call as everyone
dials out for e-mail!
You may remember that we mentioned a FREE e-mail spooling
program some time ago? Well we can still e-mail it to you and then
you can free up your incoming lines to do business on! One modem
dialling out to send and received e-mail makes much more sense.
After all, can you evaluate how much business was lost from a call
that you did not receive? Mail us on
info@softwareafrica.co.za and we’ll send it to you.
Antivirus solutions
Make sure that you are updating yours weekly and that you renew your
precious licences annually. Viruses do hurt. On the fun side, we
received the dumb one written by non-programmers. It says, because
we don’t program, please delete all the files of your hard drive
after receiving this virus!
That’s all for now!
Yours sincerely
Judith Taylor
Director, Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd
This entire newsletter is Copyright© 2000
Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd. Please feel free to share this
newsletter with your friends or post it on your site as long as it
is left intact with all links unchanged and includes this notice. To
unsubscribe, e-mail
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with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
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Communication in Action Newsletter –
September
2000
Spring is in the air, so it’s time to clean up and get going. We
apologise for not yet putting our download page on the Web Site – it
will be there soon to celebrate the launch of Pastelizer 5.2! So
this month, you will receive a second newsletter announcing its
release!
What's new with us?
We are successfully up and running with Windows 2000 server and
Workstation. The environment is proving exceptionally stable and a
delight to use. However, here are some tips for changing over:
- Check how much RAM you have – we recommend at least 128MB
to successfully run 2000.
- Check how big your hard drive is – 4GB or more is best.
- We are running on a Pentium 200 and a Pentium II Celeron
so PC up-to-dateness is not a problem. 2000 does not run on
some none Intel Processors however so check that yours is
not one of them.
- Check on the Web and with your hardware support people for
the latest Windows 2000 drivers. If you use the wrong
driver, you will have to reload.
- Back up all your data first and then use fdisk to delete
your drive. Reformat and then load Windows 2000 Professional
- We recommend keeping the operating system and the data
drive separate. Windows 2000 requires 1GB of space.
- Check with your software provider that the version you are
loading will work on 2000. AntiVirus software is
particularly inclined to crash the system if it is out of
date. CD Writer software can be obtained from HP via their
helpline and they will charge for it.
- Service Pack 1 is out and can be ordered from Microsoft!
Problems encountered
Glad to say none other than those mentioned above.
Advantages
Many – drivers are recognised easily and many are included with the
operating system. I have sound after many moons without it and the
mouse roller works on the Internet. It is also faster to use and
more informative.
Moving from Windows 9x, you will find a number of differences,
because it is NT based and people have unique profiles.
Security is better particularly if you make a secure log in the
default.
Insurance Information eXchange
This is now rolling out at customers throughout the country. We are
having to plan ahead so help us by contacting me for demonstrations
and to discuss your brokerage’s needs.
Security Hassles
On the Internet and not sure that your site is secure? We have found
a number of solutions.
To run an initial test, go to
www.netice.com and download their trial program BlackIce to see
if you are getting violations.
If you are – talk to us about local well-supported firewall
solutions. No on-line site can be safe enough these days. Also check
your anti-virus software is totally up-to-date and is being updated
WEEKLY. The Internet and e-mail opens you up to viruses.
We recommend McAffee (was Dr Solomon’s) and have had no virus
violations on any fully protected sites. To make doubly sure, we can
come and update your antivirus package regularly for you.
How is your backup? Not backing up leaves you open to loss of data
and no repair company recovers your data for you. They regard its
security as your responsibility. Solutions range from Microsoft
Backup using a stiffy or a low cost Colorado drive for small volumes
right up to large backup solutions using AIT tape drives.
Remember that the Internet also offers www.backuponline.com as well.
We’re not sure of costs for this so check their website.
Loss of data can be caused by the following factors:
- Hard drive failure
- Theft
- Lightning strikes
- Motherboard failure
- Viruses
- Accidental deletion by users
- Intentional deletion by users
If you want some assistance in deciding on the right solution for
you – call us and we will come and discuss the problems and their
possible solutions.
For Netaholics
Engineering News reports that, for those of us who are addicted to
computers, help is at hand: "At
www.netaddiction.com you
can actually seek counselling – but that is like holding an
Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in a bar."
Yours sincerely
Judith Taylor
Director, Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd
PO Box 2077, Rivonia, 2128 South Africa.
Tel: (+27 11) 802-2685. Fax: 802-4576. Cell: 083 626-5339.
E-mail: judith@softwareafrica.co.za
The entire contents of this newsletter Copyright©
2000 Communication in Action (Pty) Ltd. Please feel free to share
this newsletter with your friends or post it on your site as long as
it is left intact with all links unchanged and includes this notice.
To unsubscribe, please e-mail
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