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!