Office 2007 SP1 Released

Microsoft released the SP1 update for Office 2007 a couple of weeks ago. We have installed the update on several machines and have had no problems.

SP1 addresses issues in all the Office modules. One of the most significant is a fix for an Excel issue that was causing erroneous calculations.

If you are using Office 2007, I would suggest you install this update. You can download the update here.

Our New Phone System

About a week ago we installed our new Microsoft ResponsePoint VOIP (voice over IP) phone system. Actually the phone system is manufactured by Syspine and the software running it is made by Microsoft. ResponsePoint is a phone system that is designed for small businesses. Although the marketing people say it can handle up to 50 phones (technically it can), right now it really fits the 5 to 15 phone scenarios fairly well. I believe that with upcoming software updates it will handle to needs of companies with 15 to 50 phones but not yet.

So what's cool about this system? Several things actually. First, our regular analog phone lines plug right into the system. Currently, it supports up to 8 lines right out of the box. Unlike traditional phone systems, the handsets plug in to a network connection. We just unplugged the network wire going in to our computer, plugged it in to the phone and then plugged another network wire from the phone back to the computer. This network connection allows us to do a bunch of things including connecting to Outlook.

The phone system is fully voice activated. On the inside, if I want to call someone I pick up the phone, push the ResponsePoint button and say "Call Gayle at Mobile". The system then dials Gayle's cell phone. If I say "Call Gayle at Work" it will call her at work. The system works the same on incoming calls. When the automated attendant answers callers can simply say "Ed" or "Ed Davis" and they will be transferred directly to my extension. Say "Operator" and you will be transferred to Ray. You can also ask for "Directory" which will list off all the people you can ask for. Want to know our fax number? Say "What is your fax number?" Of course you can also simply press zero for the operator or type in our extension number (mine is 101), but that's not as cool!

It took me less than an hour to set up the whole system with 7 phones and that includes taking everything out of the boxes! We are still playing around with the various operating options on the system to make sure it works the way we want.

So far we are pleased with the system. There are a few things we miss from our old system but one thing I don't miss is the cost of setting up a new phone when we hire or want to make a change. I can do that myself now and usually in 5 minutes or less!

I'll post more about the system as we become more familiar with it. Actually, we are the local authorized reseller of the system so if you would like to check it out, call the office number and say "Ed"

MS Office 2003 No Longer Available

Microsoft released Office 2007 in January of this year. They indicated that Office 2003 would be available until June. It's now November and we are finally no longer able to find Office 2003 in the distribution channel. This means that from this point forward Office 2007 is the only version of Office that we are selling.

Although the Office 2007 interface is quite a bit different than previous versions of Office, most users should be able to use it without much difficulty, other than a search for the location of certain functions that might have moved.

Office 2007 file formats have changed as well. The new file format is much better but it does cause compatibly issues with older versions of documents. This will cause problems for employees or outside people that share your documents. However, there is a switch that can be turned on to save files in the older format. This will impede some of the new features of Office 2007 but will insure your documents can be read and updated by all users.

We can provide an overview of the Office 2007 changes for our Clients. We have also been posting Office 2007 tips on our Answers website. This should not be a major issue for most users. We have been using Office 2007 since the beta versions and find it to be a very good upgrade. It's time to move forward!

Some Email Tips

We get lots of questions about email.  One of the most asked is "Why do I get so much spam?"  There are several reasons of course but there some that you may not be thinking about.  Here are a couple.

First, some Domains are just more prone to spam due to the nature of the business.  If you do business around the world and your email addresses are used by companies around the world, you will be more prone to spam.  If you sell products and/or services to your local market you will be less prone to spam.  Generally, there isn't much that you can do about this except to filter your email as well as you can.

We see companies that put email addresses on their websites.  This is one of the easiest ways for spammers to target you.  There are automated programs called bots that scour the Internet just looking for such addresses.  There are ways to handle information requests from your website that will minimize if not eliminate this issue.

We also see users using both Out of Office Messages and Delivery Receipts with their email.  While these functions can be very nice, they are another easy way for spammers to get your address.  You see, spammers will often send a bunch of spam to random addresses that they don't know are valid.  When they see an Out of Office Message come back they know they have a live one.  This known valid email address is like gold to them.  They can sell it to other spammers and make good amounts of money.  Then before you know it, your on their lists.

And of course using your real email address to fill out forms on the Internet is asking for trouble. The fix for this is to use a disposable email address on these forms if you need to fill one out.  That way you can kill the email account should you start seeing lots of spam come to it.

Spam is a pain in the neck.  And unfortunately, it's here for a while.  Spam filters do help.  They actually capture the majority of the spam.  If you see 10 spam items in your Inbox, you can be pretty sure that the spam filters have blocked an additional 90 to 95 from getting to your Inbox.  Taking some precautions can help.

Spam Email Problems

We have been seeing huge amounts of spam messages coming through email servers over the last couple of months. This news article describes the 1700% increase in spam during the month of July, the worst ever. Unfortunately, August is actually looking worse.

What does this mean. First, you will probably see patches of time where you will see an increase in spam messages hitting your inbox. Next, email performance will be slow as the spam and virus filters must process this huge increase in traffic. In addition, you will probably have issues sending or receiving messages to or from certain Domains as the IT people there try to mitigate the flood of spam messages.

We use 3 different email hosts and all 3 are seeing these issues. Hopefully, the sources of this increased junk will be located and shutdown as soon as possible. In the meantime, just be aware of the issue and be patient.

CCH ProFx Vista Compatibility

CCH has posted this document which describes its roadmap for Vista compatibility for its products. It looks like by the end of 2007 its products should be compatible with Vista and Office 2007. Note that Vista Home versions will not be supported. The document describes several Office 2007 issues that you should be aware of.

I would suggest that accounting firms do not attempt a Vista or Office 2007 migration until after the upcoming tax season. Tax season is not the best time to see if something will work or not!

Windows Vista Modem Driver Update

When I first installed Windows Vista on my workstation I found that my modem did not work. I checked the vendor website and found that there were no Vista drivers available for it. No problem, I can just get another modem. At least that was what I thought. I searched everywhere for a Windows Vista compatible modem. No luck. I have been living without a modem since then.

Over the weekend I spent some time revisiting the modem situation as I really need to send faxes from my workstation and I still connect to a couple of Clients via good old fashion dial up believe it or not. I was pleased to find that the situation is much better. US Robotics, Zoom, and Hawking Technologies have updated most of their current modem lines with Vista drivers. And they even work! Although I noticed a couple of interesting things when using the Vista dialer.

So the Vista modem situation is much better than it was a few months ago. For those of you using PCAnywhere, you must use version 12 or higher for Vista.

What's New In Windows Vista?

Windows Vista replaces Windows XP as the next desktop operating system. Microsoft has spent several years building what it calls its best operating system yet. While Vista is still Windows, there are many changes, some visible and some under the hood, that will both help and frustrate users. Over the next several posts I will review some of these changes.

When Vista starts up the user interface presents changes immediately. The login dialog looks different but acts the same. You supply your password and you're in. The desktop has some major changes. First, there is no Start button, or at least it doesn't say Start. It's just a round button with a Windows flag in it. When you click on it, the menu make look similar at first but it really is a much better place to "start". I will get into more detail of the Start Menu in another post.

When you start Windows Vista you may also see the Vista Sidebar. The Sidebar is a place where you can put little gadgets (small programs) That can be fun and even useful. The Sidebar can be turned on or off and there are hundreds of gadgets that can be downloaded and run in the Sidebar. At first this may seem a little silly, but I have actually found some gadgets that are very useful.

You will also notice that when you right click on the desktop the menu presented is different than Windows XP. In fact, instead of selecting Properties from the menu, you now select Personalize. This brings up a whole new menu of items. At first I found this frustrating as I couldn't find things that I could easily find before. However, as I continue to work with Vista I am getting used to the new locations for things and for the most part, I like where they are located.

Click here for a short demo of some of the new Vista features. (Click on See it now)

Office 2007 Versions

Just as there are several versions of Windows Vista, Office 2007 has several versions to choose from, actually 8. Similar to Vista, our Clients really only need to consider a couple of versions. The 8 versions are as follows: (Click on any item for more information)

Basic
Home and Student
Standard
Small Business
Professional
Ultimate
Professional Plus
Enterprise

This document describes what is included in each version. I will present an overview of each of the Office products as this blog series continues. For most of our Clients either Standard or Professional will be the suite of choice.

In addition to these Office versions, there are several Microsoft Office Server products. These server products are intended to help organizations that share Office files: (Click on any item for more information)

Forms Server
Groove Server
Live Communications Server
PerformancePoint Server
Project Portfolio Server
Project Server
SharePoint Server
SharePoint Server For Search

Most of the server based products are for larger organizations although some smaller organizations may find Forms Server, Groove Server, and SharePoint Server useful.

I know this seems like a lot to digest, but it really isn't. You will generally choose one Office suite and for most Clients no Office Server products.

Next, we will start looking into what makes Vista tick. You'll even get a chance to give it a test drive!

Windows Vista Versions

Most people don't realize that there were 6 versions of Windows XP. So when I say there are 6 versions of Windows Vista you may be surprised.

The six versions are:

· Starter (Not available in USA)
· Home Basic
· Home Premium
· Business
· Ultimate
· Enterprise

For most of our Clients only two versions need to be considered, Business and Ultimate. In fact the Business version will be what most Clients will use. The Business version is the replacement for Windows XP Professional. Similar to the XP home versions, the Vista home versions will not connect to a business network. The Home versions are also missing some other critical business functionality.

The Business version includes the following features:

Instant Search - A great new search process. Searches drives, emails, databases, etc extremely fast and easy to use.

Windows Photo Gallery - Manages photos much easier and better than ever before.

Internet Explorer 7 - Internet Explorer 6 does not run in Vista. I will post a separate article on IE7.

Windows Defender - Built in, auto-updating spyware protection.

Windows Aero Interface - A very cool new way to view and use windows on your desktop. You'll see this at our seminar.

Windows Tablet PC Functionality - Tablet PC functionality is built in to Vista. It was a separate version of Windows XP.

Built in fax and scanning functionality.

New backup and restore functionality.

The Ultimate version adds Windows Media Center functionality which was a separate version of Windows XP and some cool Vista add-ons.

Price wise Vista Business is the same price as XP Pro. It will be the version that comes on most new PCs purchased for business.

Vista Enterprise is another business version that may be applicable to Clients with a large number of workstations.

So there are six Windows Vista versions but most of our Clients only need to worry about one, the Business version. See, it's really not that bad!

Next, I'll review the various versions of Office 2007. That is a completely different animal!

What Is Windows Vista?

Over the past week I have had several conversations with Clients regarding some confusion over Windows Vista and Office 2007, so I thought I would try to clear up some of the confusion.

Windows Vista is a computer operating system. It replaces Windows XP. A computer operating system is the brains of the computer. It is software that makes the box of hardware into a computer. It communicates with all of the hardware components to make them do the functions they were designed to do. For instance, it is the operating system that makes characters and graphics appear on your video monitor, saves data and reads data to/from your hard drive, keeps track of the date and time, handles system security, etc, etc, etc. When a programmer writes a program to run on the computer he does not have to worry about how to do these things as they are taken care of by the operating system. For instance, the programmer can just say "save this file" and the operating system does all the dirty work of formatting and writing all those 1s and 0s to the hard drive, CD, DVD, etc.

Office 2007 is a computer application. Office 2003 is an application, Misys is an application, Internet Explorer is an application. Applications are computer programs that accomplish tasks for you. These tasks can be simple or very complex.

The relationship between the operating system and an application is crucial. When a programmer writes an application he/she takes advantage of the operating system's "brains". The application becomes dependent on the methods that the operating system uses to perform technical functions like saving files, etc. When new operating systems are created new functions are included (Vista has lots of new DVD stuff, whereas XP was not aware of DVDs as they were not mainstream when it came out), and existing functions may be changed to take advantage of new technologies or to address security issues.

What does all this mean? Basically, programs are written and are dependent on certain operating systems. Some programs are generic enough to be able to run on several operating systems and some are very dependent on a certain operating system version.

Office 2007 will run in Windows XP and Windows Vista, although it is optimized for Vista in some areas. Office 2003 will run in Windows XP and Windows Vista although, it is more comfortable in XP. Currently Misys runs in Windows XP but not Windows Vista.

You can migrate to Windows Vista and still use Office 2003. (Other office versions will be problematic). You can can install Office 2007 on Windows XP workstations.

Migrating to a new operating system is much more challenging than simply upgrading to a new version of a program. I think brain surgery is more complicated than trying a new diet!

Next, we will look at the different versions of Windows Vista that are available.

It's Time To Think About Windows Vista and Office 2007

At the end of January 2007 Microsoft released Windows Vista, the replacement for Windows XP, and Office 2007, the newest Office Family release. As is always the case, we have been advising Clients that they should not jump out and purchase new releases of software as soon as they become available. In the case of Windows Vista, there are several issues that need to be evaluated before a plan is put into place to upgrade to the new operating system.

However, this does not mean that Clients should not plan on doing the updates at some point, and the time to develop that plan is now. I'm not saying to start buying computers with Windows Vista on them or buying Office 2007. I am saying that you need to start evaluating these two products now so that you will be ready to migrate when the time comes. The issue is that you will no longer be able to purchase Office 2003 after June 30, 2007 and you will not be able to purchase a computer without Windows Vista after January 31, 2008. So its time to get to work on determining what this means to your organization!

We are here to help our Clients with this process. Over the next several weeks I will be writing articles on this Blog that will overview Windows Vista and Office 2007. We will be presenting a couple of seminars in July that are intended to present an overview of these products and yes, we will be demonstrating both products during the seminars. We will also assist our Clients in setting up a test environment at their locations to help them test their applications and look for issues specific to their environment. We have installed and have been using both products in our own office for some time now. This will help us help our Clients with issues that may arise during their implementation of these products.

So let's get started! Check back here regularly to catch the articles or better yet, subscribe to this feed with your RSS reader. If you don't have an RSS reader (one is built into Internet Explorer 7 and Outlook 2007), you can simply enter your email address on the sidebar and click Subscribe to this Blog. When I post new articles an email will be sent to you. Details on the seminars will be posted here and will be emailed to you as they are finalized.

Now that DST has occurred ......

Now that the DST time change has occurred there are a few things you should check and monitor. Here’s a short list.

1. Check the time on your computer. If it’s right, good. If it’s not, double click on the tine and set the time manually. Make a note of the computers that you have to do this to as it indicates the DST patch was not installed. The patch can and should still be installed.

2. If after you set the time on your computer the time reverts back to the wrong time, you probably need to check the time on your servers. If it is wrong, you can manually set it but give us a call as this indicates that the DST patch has not been installed on that server.

3. Check your Outlook appointments. If they are correct, good. If not, you can manually fix the appointments or you can run the Outlook DST tool which we can send you. Keep your eye on your reminders as well.

4. If you use any other scheduling programs (that means you VNAs), check the schedules to insure they are correct. All appointments and schedules should be suspect until verified.

5. Remember that even if you took care of all the DST stuff and your systems are fine, others may not have dealt with the DST changes. If you use meeting invitations to either invite others to meetings or if they send you meeting invites, you need to keep your eye on the meeting times and verify everyone invited to the meeting has the correct time.

6. Check your phone and voice mail systems. Many of them may not have handled the DST changes. If your phone system is not switching to day and night mode properly, the problem is probably that the DST transition did not occur.

7. I have found that if applications were running on your desktop when the time changed, those applications may not operate properly until they are restarted.

8. Continue to monitor your system backup to make sure everything is working correctly. DST changes can affect them.

9. Check your watch and other clocks.

10. Please change the batteries in your smoke detectors!

And of course feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

More DST Updates

This Daylight Savings Time issue is getting fun! Microsoft has updated a couple of its fixes and moved most of them to the Critical Update section of the Microsoft Update Service. One nice thing is that they have created a website where Windows Mobile 5 cell phone users can browse to to download the DST fix directly to their phone. I've tried it and it worked flawlessly. I have updated our DST document to reflect the most recent changes. It can be found here. Just open the PDF attachment. I will update this document as more information is available.

One new thing since I updated the DST document; Symantec has indicated that Backup Exec uses the Windows date and time functions for backup scheduling. As long as you have the Windows DST updates installed you should be good. However, if your backup is scheduled between 2:00am and 3:00am, you may have problems. When DST comes on in March there will be no 2:00am to 3:00am and when DST ends in November there will be two 2:00 to 3:00am! Fun right?

2007 DST Changes Need Some Attention

The beginning and ending dates for Daylight Savings Time will change this year. The start date will be the second Sunday in March (March 11) instead of the first Sunday of April (April 1). The end date will be the first Sunday of November (Nov 4) instead of the last Sunday of October (Oct 28). Because Windows is aware and adjusts for DST, it will need to be updated to properly handle the change. I have created a document that details the changes and what need to be done. You can locate the document here.

Microsoft is still in the process of testing and releasing patches for the various programs that are affected. I will update this document as new information is available.

It would also be a good idea to check with your other software vendors to see if the change affects their software. This would be mostly applications that use date and time functions like scheduling applications.

I Was Wondering When This Would Happen

This week, at MacWorld, Apple announced the long anticipated iPhone. It's looks like a pretty cool phone, although I think I will stay with my Windows Mobile phone for now. However, there is one slight problem. Cisco released their iPhone a couple of months ago. It turns out that a company that Cisco purchased several years ago launched the iPhone product in the late 90s. Cisco patented the name in 2000. So Cisco is now suing Apple. This blog written by a Cisco legal VP, is Cisco side of the story. Obviously, Apple is aware and must think they have a good chance to beat this. Otherwise a lot of money and marketing will go down the tubes.

Another cool or at least amazing CES product launch is the Hitachi 1 Terabyte hard disk drive. 1 Terabyte is 1000 Gigabytes! Truly amazing! Just think, the first hard drive I worked with was 5 Megabytes. 1 Gigabyte is 1000 Megs, 1 Terabyte is 1000 Gigabytes. And to think that I am constantly telling people to clean up old files! Here is more information on the drive.

Busy IT News Week

This week is one of the busiest IT related news weeks of the year. The Consumer Electronics Show is happening in Las Vegas (I should have gone). CES is where all the major (and not so major) consumer electronics manufacturers show all the new cool stuff that they are working on. Some of the products are available now and some will be available over the coming year. My technology blogs are going crazy with articles about all this new stuff.

So far, the most interesting thing to me is the Microsoft Home Server. Yes, a server for your home. Think about it. How many homes now have more than one computer. The home is now where small businesses were 6 or 7 years ago. Multiple computers mean the need to share stuff and the need to back stuff up, and how about the need to access your stuff when you are away. You can bet there will be a Microsoft Home Server at 87 Barton Street!

Here is a video of an interview with Bill Gates. The interview was run by Robert Scoble, one of the bloggers I follow, and several other industry news people. Very interesting. Gates looks and sounds better than ever. And here is the link to his CES Keynote Address. If you want to see some really cool stuff check it out.

Next year I will be at this thing!