Beta Bust: Links for ACT< --> Quickbooks

Call for participants to test various add-on solutions that link ACT! to QuickBooks to replace the hole left when Sage chose not to release an update to ACT! Link for QuickBooks. The Enterprise version of QuickBooks will be tested too.


Time: Now through Nov 5th, 2009
Where: Virtual and in Southern California
Who: ACT! and/or QB Certified Consultants

Test four solutions coming into addon marketplace:

• dbLinkUp -- RDA Enterprises, Inc.
• DataPlus for QuickBooks -- DataPlus
• QBSalesData -- Effective Solutions
• Xact Link for QuickBooks -- Xact Software

Contributors to the collective KB will be entitled to receive a solution matrix, a comprehensive comparison chart. In addition, demo databases may be available to those who exhibit significant contribution to the comparison worksheet.

Prerequisites: ACT Certified Consultant and/or QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor with recent versions of both ACT! and QuickBooks software. NFR versions of addon link software can be arranged.

To be considered for beta testing team, visit www.crm-it.net and click on Contact to send email.

Fall Out of Blocked Email Hits Thousands of Verizon Subscribers But Has Little Effect to Stem Spam

Verizon internet service division has recently changed policy which effectively blocks ordinary outgoing email from any non-Verizon address in a strategy aimed at reducing Verizon’s ignominious title as the largest ISPs in the United States permitting spam. Yet according to a published study by University of Texas Center for Research in Electronic Commerce, this step “did not stop increasing spam coming from Verizon…”.

Brian Krebs, a security expert blogger for Washington Post says, “Verizon.net is home to more than twice as many spam-spewing zombies as any other major Internet service provider in the United States, according to an analysis of the most recent data from anti-spam outfit Spamhaus.org.”

Recently Verizon spokesman Clifford Lee announced the company plans to shift to using Port 587 for e-mail originating on the Verizon network. This notice particularly affects Verizon DSL subscribers who have a professional email addresses associated with a business or organization using e-mail clients like Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Thunderbird. Unless the e-mail is routed thorough Verizon e-mail server, email just sits in the Outbox.

In practical usage, some email clients and servers can be configured to use port 587 instead of 25, but there are numerous cases where this is not possible or convenient. Many third party providers do not recognize 587 as an allowable port. For instance, Networks Solutions has an alternative SMTP port 2525. However, Verizon does not recognize this access. Further testing shows, despite the ability to configure Port 587, it is impossible to log into a third party incoming mail server.

According to research Verizon Port 587 Requirement: Effects on Anti-Spam Blocklists published in July 2009 by University of Texas examined anti-spam blocking by Verizon over a three months period. The analysis of 31 Verizon owned ASNs (Autonomous System Numbers), concluded, despite the fact that Verizon has required the use of port 587, the tactic did not stop or even reduce spam coming from Verizon. In addition, study authors note that no other ISP has publicly announced port 587 requirements.

On August 8, 2001, Verizon made a similar move in New York which was quietly withdrawn when users objected to the address blocking by writing to the New York Public Utility Commission and the Federal Communication Commission.

Whack Whack

Folks at Engadget are pretty smart, but they just don't know how to whack it.

In an article paraphrasing Tim Berners-Lee, the man apparently having to do more with creating the World Wide Web than Al Gore, recently revealed that his only regret is that folks are forced to type out the, essentially unnecessary, double forward slash to begin a network path or URL.

So my fav folks at Engadget got all that right but missed the opportunity to use one of my favorite terms "whack, whack" used by IT pros to refer to the double forward slashes . So when your networking guy says "whack, whack", don't be scared. He's not signaling his plans to do a mobster mash up on you. Trust me though, he's capable of it.

Microsoft Vista a Bowser?

Microsoft, in my humble opinion, is in general completely over engineered yet poorly documented. Here's an fine example Microsoft's quality control. Click on the image to get a closer look.

I discovered this the other day when I was troubleshooting a client's network and grabbed a screen shot. Click on the image to get a closer look at MS's "bowser".

When a colleague saw it, he got real excited and asked for a copy so he could put it on his blog. Well I don't mind sharing, but geez I got first dibs.

Notable Quote in Passing of Robert Isabell

It's sad to see someone so gifted, so young, in the NT Times obituary.

From the Archive: A Q&A With the Late Robert Isabell

"If people are going to spend money, they want to make sure the job is going to be done right," he said. "They're going to go to somebody more professional. In good economic times, a lot of people go into business. And when the economy slows down, they get out, probably close their business and go to work for somebody else. The last time there was a recession I actually got busier."

Isabell's work was outstanding. So as I read one of his last interviews, I'm struck by how apt his observation is about hard times. Indeed, the points he's making seem to be true now for me and my business. I have to work harder and strive for excellence, but the rewards are out there. It should be noted that the business he was in, floral decor, was of such an ephemeral nature, that I would consider it to be the very first cut on someone's budget.

Thanks Robert for telling it like it is.

Favorite David Pogue Quotes

As an avid reader of David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times, here's a few of his recent and most notable quotes.

"Isn’t it amazing that, after all these years, it still hasn’t dawned on companies like D-Link that simplicity sells? They still don’t get it: spending a little money up front —on hardware design, streamlined software, better manuals — would save a fortune in tech-support calls and store returns."
[so true]
State of the Art: A Router So Complete, and Vexing
New York Times - July 02, 2009

"For the last 15 years, Microsoft’s master business plan seems to have been, “Wait until somebody else has a hit. Then copy it.”
[I'd say, in most cases it's more like, hack at it!]
State of the Art: Bing, the Imitator, Often Goes Google One Better
New York Times - July 09, 2009

"It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Google Voice."
[I find it ironic that he goes on to quote himself.]
From the Desk of David Pogue: Updates to Google Voice
New York Times - July 16, 2009

Here's a bit more about Pogue:

With over three million books in print, Pogue is one of the world's best-selling how-to authors. In addition he is an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News, a frequent guest on NPR's "Morning Edition," and a regular on CNBC.

Maybe you want to bookmark his blog: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com.

Maxfield Parrish Moment at Palisades Park

Wednesday afternoon June 3rd, Palisades Park, Santa Monica

Acknowledgement

This blog, The Wow Factor, pulls it name from the technical support community. The "wow factor" is the flash of delight when one discovers an amazing new feature or software tool.

I first learned of this insider term from a technical support representative, Yvonne Guzman, staffer at Intuit. She spent considerable time to help me rebuild a corrupted backup file, after being mangled on an unsupported 64bit computer. During the idle moments while reindexing she clued me in to what it means to present software that exceeds expectations.

This was some time ago. I didn't have a chance to write a timely letter of thanks to this great lady who was pitch perfect in so many ways. Besides give a name to this column, she was instrumental in relieving my considerable anxiety. Now it's time for me to give her her due for all of her assistance. In appreciation, Ms Guzman, here's a blog for you, The Wow Factor. Cheers!

I also dedicate this blog to all of you that play a part in creating the software/hardware that makes the "wow factor" so abundant in our modern lives.

Walking to Work - Part Two - It's a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Project

Since my friend and fellow technical writer, Menno Schoone, of the Netherlands asks, here's the specs on my walking desk:

- Used Healthrider treadmill $400 - most important feature is the arms which jut out at a 90 degree angle from the vertical upright posts. This is vital and was chosen to support the desktop portion.
- white melamine shelf, 16"x 32" wide, selected for its ideal size, originally from bookshelves unit. It has a smooth, finished surface.
- two 3' heavy duty black rubber bungee cords from Home Depot linked together to wrap around the treadmill arms to secure the shelf.
- a wireless keyboard and mouse.

- optional accessory - a thin, black surface pad, probably from Staples or Ikea, so that the keyboard and mouse don't slip off.

Walking Desk or Torture Device, You Decide

read more about the inspiration for this in the post of October 2008

Treadmill is tilt adjusted to the maximum incline and set to walk at 1 mile per hour. Typing and data input is not affected however precise mouse movements for graphic work requires keen hand-eye coordination. Walking and talking over the phone presents no challenges and the party on the other end doesn't even realize you are exercising. Use of a cordless headset or bluetooth is a given.

Unresolved problem: Monitor. My flat screen (19") is too small for this setting given it is positioned 37" away from my face. It's not easy to focus. So I need a 24" mounted with an articulating arm. These expenses will add maybe more than $800.

Close up of Healthrider with jerry rigged accessories

In the mean time, I'm not exactly walking to work everyday. Have laptop and comfortable chair, instead I will write to work.

FAST File and Settings Transfers - Does it work if you have a corrupted system?

FAST, File and Settings Transfers, is it really a wizard?

I'm perplexed. Why would a techie use the FAST tool to restore a legacy system which is running so poorly as to be suspect of either OS corruption or hopelessly infected?

As an example, take this laptop-centric client; she travels extensively and thus works exclusively from a laptop. This lovely creature, let's call her Dana, has much better things to with her time than be an expert with computers. Interestingly, during her travels, when she needed computer help to reformat or upgrade, no one had the brains or balls to denied this lovely lady her request to replicate the old system on a new laptop because she lacked original disks of her software applications.

The results: Her last two laptops have evidence of an unholy amalgamation by bringing over that which should have been left behind. Given her travels, logic follows that this would have to be the work of unrelated pseudo-techie characters seemingly with instinctual co-conspiratorial intent, to engineer this cyber-monstrosity which crawls slower than a centipede.

As luck would have it, she accidentally dropped the latest laptop on it's head and cracked the case. I"m thrilled she's got a new notebook for her birthday. Hopefully she's not feeling another year older, just wiser. My birthday wish for her is that she's no longer besieged by well meaning but still questionable technical assistance.

Most folks realize that it's important to have original software CDs or equivalent. My advise is to make sure you save your downloads or have the latest versions of your favorite applications somewhere.

Do not just copy the folder from your C:\Program Files – THIS WILL NOT WORK AND HAS NOT WORKED SINCE DOS DAYS!!! You must have the original setup files to correctly invoke the dynamic link libraries during application installation.

The moral of the story: Prepare for your evolutions. When you purchase applications, get a CD. Or if you buy online, download the application to a reliable location to a dedicated folder named Downloads, or My Downloads for archival purposes. Go one better and create a new folder for each application; label it with the software version. Other best practices, save the license key codes in a text file under the same folder. Always.

FAST has its purposes. Here's a bit more of information regarding FAST, Files and Settings Transfer Tool (XP/Vista/System7). This wizard can be configured to backup specific data. While it is usually reliable, it isn't foolproof if you are considering reformatting due to a damaged system.

You can find this wiz at Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools.



FAST is not suitable for user friendly back-up purposes. It compiles all of the data in a series of humongous files. Unless you want to extract all of the files and folders, use a file by file type of back-up. Because you wouldn't want to restore the whole computer just to retrieve a certain file. Best practice for either backup is to use a large storage media, either a CD or external hard drive. Better yet, step back and look at your system from a disaster recovery standpoint. My mantra: Redundancy in terms of media as well as location. Look for an online repository for your backups especially if you have mission critical data.

FAST is possible to use the wizard to transfer the settings and files from one user account to another. You can individually select either or both files and settings. However, in my experience, this isn't a quickie task for Windows.

Bottom line: Get an easy backup tool which gives you auto backup features. Set it; but don't forget it.

For further reading, here's a great source of information: Optimizing PC - Backup Data