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About fifteen years ago, there were very few people who had personal computers at home. And those who had them were the lucky ones because computer was an expensive and rare commodity. Today, one computer at home is a rare thing because an average western family is also likely to have a laptop or two, a pocket PC, an iphone and what not. While it is certainly a good thing that we can have many computers instead of one, this means we have to learn how to manage data stored on them effectively.

What could be the issue of data management if you have several computers, you may be wondering. The problem is when you have all your data scattered across more than one device, this is where you begin to lose clue as to where everything is. Do you always know what data are stored on each of your computers? “My wedding photos? Oh, they should be somewhere in my laptop, or my iphone, or my pocket PC. I am not really sure, though.” When you start thinking like that, it’s high time you get a reliable synchronization program which can help you keep the same information on each of your computers without much hassle.

So what is a synchronization program and how does it help you keep your data well-organized across all of our gadgets? The synchronization software makes sure you always have access to the new and updated files on each of your computers. Generally speaking, synchronization is the process of copying data from one location to another in order to keep the data in two or more locations identical. With regard to synchronization software, it means that the software can copy data from one computer to another with several useful options.

To choose good synchronization software, you need to carefully study its functionalities, so here is the description of a possible feature set that good synchronization software must have. To start with, it must be equipped with the task scheduler to run synchronization on a schedule as specified by the user. Secondly, it should support one-way and two-way synchronization. The one-way synchronization copies data only in one direction, the two-way synchronization, which is often called mirroring, copies data in two directions depending on where file changes take place.

In addition, good synchronization software should have the option of data filtering while performing synchronization, and other data management options, such as how many copies of the same file should be saved and how may should be deleted. Another good functionality which is certainly a competitive advantage for any synchronization software is the ability to synchronize data over FTP.

This, quite simply is an amazing program that will banish all forms of malware from infecting your computer. This is one program that you simply cannot afford to miss out as it keeps your computer free from the daily onslaught of malware.

With normal surfing information is loaded from your hard drive and then through your browser where information is then written back to your computer, if it’s a malicious site then you will also have malware written to your drive, as well as registry entries being changed, programs being hijacked, BHO’s added etc. We all know the effects that a single piece of malware can have, to the point of searching for removal programs or at worst, losing vital documents, photo’s and even carrying out a format to start again.

A ‘Sandbox’ creates a ‘virtual area’ in which you can run your browser, email reader, instant messengers and programs in complete safety. The information is loaded from your hard drive into the sandbox environment, from there the read/write operations are carried out within the sandbox environment and never back to your computer.

You can download programs, email attachments etc in total safety as each is still contained within the sandboxed environment. You can open attachments, run programs and scan for malware and if malware free you can then ‘recover’ them from inside the virtual safe area and save them to your computer quite safely. Should you find malware it is safely contained, and when you terminate programs, browsers, email readers etc within the sandbox, these disappear, as they appear to have never existed because they were in the ‘virtual’ area created by the Sandbox environment.

If an architectural company has an urgent need to cut on costs, it can be said that outsourcing of 3d architectural rendering has arrived like a deus ex machina. It is not the trend for companies in titanic Western economies to provide 3d architectural renderings anymore. Companies in emerging economies such as China, India and The Philippines, have inoculated that 3d architectural renderings should be outsourced to them. The competition between the providers of this service has become so fierce that there are already hundreds of firms offering this service in emerging economies. Architects are also imbuing the idea of outsourcing, as it is becoming a competitive criteria to present certain buildings before they have been constructed.

The main reason for outsourcing, is the very attractive prices provided by companies in emerging economies. Due to the low labour costs in such countries, it is not uncommon to see architectural renderings for around $300 per image, whilst companies in developed countries often charge $2000 or more. Thus there is no reason to muddle away with costs. Although some skeptics have the chutzpah to call their quality mediocre, this is far from the case. Countries like The Philippines are well-known for having a large pool of talented 3d artists, which are frequently being demanded by large animation companies, such as Dreamworks and Warner Bros.

It aids clients, shareholders, contractors and others involved in the design and execution process to better know the intent and beauty of the design. Creating a rendering of an architectural design is a more detailed way to explain and sell ones design. The architectural renderings may also be used as marketing and promotion in advertisements and brochures. Hand drawn works are thus slowly being phased out of the architectural design environment, although it is still being used by architects and designers during the preliminary stages of planning and design development.

The growth in 3d architectural rendering services is also a result of the growth of the global construction industry. According to consultancy Davis Langdon, all the major Western European countries experienced a growth of 2-4% of their construction spending in 2006-2007. The same tendency was seen in Australia, where a growth of almost 4% was reported, whilst several Asian countries experienced a similar trend. The only exception was the U.S. where a decrease of almost 2% was seen. The biggest market per se is still the U.S, so it remains a highly interesting market for architectural renderings. Since outsourcing leads to Brobdingnagian savings, it is here to stay, and it can undoubtedly lead to a pungent feeling of control over costs.

Former Great Plains Small Business Manager, recent version s 9.0, Small Business Financials is in essence GP Dexterity application with similar code base as regular Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics GP, but with scaled down functionality. SBF is available exclusively on Microsoft SQL Server platform and this fact opens great opportunities for SQL programmers and consultants to fix SBF data and program integrations. In this small publication we would like to give your reports design highlights

1. Report Writer Reporting. Small Business Financials allows you only to change the position of the fields, if you need to really change report design - place new fields, add calculated fields, then you need to do it in GP ReportWriter module, and then transfer it back to SBF in the form of Export (or package). This is pretty much a standard practice in supporting and upgrading Small Business Financial customers - they need to be backed by Great Plains Dynamics GP customization partner

2. Advanced Financial Analysis reporting. Yes, SBF has AFA as default and preferred reports for Balance Sheet, P&L, Cash Flow Statement. AFA is another Dex module which builds its reports on GP account categories

3. Crystal Reports for SBF. Here you have the opportunity and the challenge as CR is just a tool and it doesn’t give your GP report wizard. We recommend you to familiarize yourself, if you are software developer or programmer with SBF tables structure, this is very similar to GP. If you have MSDN subscription, please download Dynamics GP 9.0 demo CD and install it for testing with demo company

4. SRS or Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services. Similar to Crystal Reports, SRS should be based on SQL Stored Procedures, however it gives you more freedom in deploying ecommerce or web interface for report users

5. eConnect. This SDK is not available in standard package for Small Business Financials. You would need to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Ready to deploy eConnect integration and reporting functionality

This is an Anti Malware program which is provided completely free of charge for private use. This is not a limited version but a full tool to clean your computer from Malware, Spyware, Trojans, Backdoors, Worms, Dialers, Keyloggers and a lot of other destructive nuisances that we all encounter as we surf the web.

The free version contains only the scanner to clean infected computers. It does not come with the following features: background guard, Auto-Update, scheduled scans or HiJackFree.

The disk scan checks all files on your system disks for Malware. The scanner scans for Spyware Traces. Currently there are more than 1.2 million different types of Malware that can be detected and removed.

Free daily updates provide the best protection. Version 3.5.0.11 can also be run from removable device, like USB Sticks without the need to install the software, which is great for those that use more than one machine at home.

You do need any expertise to use this program and rid your system of Malware and whether you are a novice or an expert you will soon adapt to its easy to use interface.

You have the option to put Malware it finds into quarantine, then prior to deleting it you can verify that it is Malware. This program does not just scratch the surface, it looks deep for all forms of Malware including searching the registry for any traces and will also quarantine them prior to you deleting them.

This does not offer real-time spyware protection, and it does not protect your PC against infections in the first place, for that you’ll need another piece of anti-spyware to do this, but it is an excellent removal tool.

Okay, so we all know that there are things that you would like to speak to your whole team about without having to go through the hassle of calling a meeting.

For example, when I first started using the Sharepoint system I was interested in getting my entire team using the same instant messenger. Obviously, this is not something that calls for a formal meeting in the company board room. However, in order to get everyone on the same page, it is important to be able to have an open meeting platform.

So, how did I do it?

Let me break it down.

Step 1 - Log in to your Sharepoint account. You do NOT need to have admin access to operate the team discussion feature.

Step 2 - In the menu bar located down the left hand side of your home page will be an option titled “Team Discussion”. Click on that tab.

Step 3 - Once you have logged into your Sharepoint account and selected the “Team Discussion” tab, you will want direct your attention to the tab that is titled “New” in the top menu bar that is located above the existing team discussions.

Step 4 - Create your Team Discussion! The next page to appear will look like an email format. There will be a subject part and a body part. In the subject, I would put something catchy like…….”Who wants to make life at work easier?” or something to that effect. In the body, put the main topic such as “I propose that we all get set up on the same instant messenger. Anyone oppose?”.

Step 5 - Once you have finalized your entry scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “OK” tab.

Now that you have completed your Sharepoint team discussion all you can do is wait for responses from your co-workers.

Yes, it is that simple. It takes 5 minutes out of your day and will allow you to communicate swiftly and effectively with your teammates.

There you have it! Good Luck!

If you are as picky as I am, little things like how your menu bars are set up matters a great deal to you. So it comes as no surprise to me that you are really interested in how to adjust the view of your Sharepoint home page menu bar.

For those of you who do not know, I will give a brief description of what the tree view is. The tree view is simply an alternative viewing structure as it relates to the look and feel of your menu bar. This view offers a chronological order of your SP features and displays an icon next to each feature. This is oppose to the traditional view with a heading above each group of features.

So here is how you do it.

1. Log into your Sharepoint account. You will need Admin Access to make this adjustment so don’t even bother if you do not have administrative rights with your login.

2. Look toward the right hand side of your computer screen for a tab entitled “Site Actions”. Select this tab.

3. Next, a screen will appear that has a horizontal menu bar. The second heading in from the left hand side of your screen should be titled “Look and Feel”. Under that heading you will find an
option that says “Tree View”. Select that option.

4. After you have clicked on this tab, a screen will appear that has 2 descriptions in the center of the page. To the right of those descriptions will be 2 empty check boxes. Find the box that says “Enable Tree View” and check the empty box next to it.

5. Once you have done this, click the “OK” box at the bottom of the screen.

Congratulations! You have now enabled your Sharepoint Tree View!

When you are an individual who is sitting at home and you have taped your kid’s special events and you want to make movies out them, then a freeware movie editing software package is recommended for you, that is unless you already have a pre-installed movie maker on your machine.

Freeware is computer software that is available for no cost to use or it may have an optional fee but that is usually a website asking you to support them by giving them a donation.

This type of software is usually good for beginners who want to experiment with and get acquainted with a full price version before they possibly spend money on a full program. There is a massive amount of free software throughout the internet today. You can research all of the available freeware movie editing software to find the one that fits your needs the best.

When you purchase a computer with the Windows operating system on it, Windows Movie Maker comes with it, and this is considered this category application.

If you don’t have it, you can use Internet Explorer to download it to your computer for free. Other names of freeware movie editing software are Blender, Jashaka, Virtual Dub, Wax, Zwei-Stein, ZS4 Video Editor, Avedit, Avidemux, DDClip Free 2.23, Atomic Learning’s FREE Video StoryBoard Pro, and SolveigMM AVI Trimmer.

This is only naming the main ones but there are a lot more out on the internet. All of these freeware movie editing software usually have the basic functions of putting together clips into larger videos, adding simple transitions, and making basic edits.

Some of these freeware software even is equipped to add scrolling texts, add subtitles, and add custom animations.

There are also a great selection that you use online. With this type of programe you don’t have to download anything to your computer. You access the website, and you upload your videos and or photos. You do all your editing from that website. This is a good option for those that want to use an automatic editor or those that are creating videos mainly for sharing. The movies and videos that you create using the online freeware movie editing software are automatically published online so it just takes a couple of clips to have all your family and friends watch what you created.

In today’s day and age, there are many options for anyone who wants to dive into using freeware movie editing software.

My boss likes to see the work that he is paying me for. However, in today’s day in age it would take to much time to print out all of the writing that I do and then walk it over to his office for review at the end of every day. He also does not want his in-box infiltrated with word documents.

As I am sure you can imagine, my boss was ecstatic when he discovered that he could have me upload all of my work into a Sharepoint shared document library. This allows him to have access to all of my work with just the click of a mouse. He can review it at his leisure and he does not have to be bombarded with e-mails at the end of each day. Well, at least not from me.

So, the question is how do you upload files into the shared document library?

Well, that’s exactly what this article is about and I will, as always, break it down into a step by step process.

Let’s get started.

1. To start things off, you will need to log in to your Sharepoint account. For this activity you do not need to have admin access.

2. Once you are logged into your account find the “Shared Documents” web part which should be located on your home page either in the left hand menu bar or in the cluster of options taking up the center of your page. Once you find this option, click on it.

3. Next, a screen will appear with a number of options in listed in a horizontal menu bar in the center of the page. Find the tab that is titled “Upload” and click on it with your mouse.

4. Following your click, a new screen will appear with an empty box in the center of the page. To the right of this box will be a tab that says “Browse”. Click on this tab.

5. After you have done this, a box will appear that will allow you to search for the file that you would like to have uploaded to the library. Select the file and then hit the “Open” button located in the bottom right hand corner of the box.

6. Now, you will simply hit the “OK” button below the browse tab.

And there you have it! You are now officially a Document library uploading expert!

Pass on your Sharepoint knowledge to another.

Unlike the ASP runtime, ASP.NET uses the Common Language Runtime (CLR) provided by the .NET Framework. The CLR is the .NET runtime, which manages the execution of code. The CLR allows the objects, which are created in different languages, to interact with each other and hence removes the language barrier. CLR thus makes Web application development more efficient.

In addition to simplifying the designing of Web applications, the .NET CLR offers many advantages. Some of these advantages are listed as follows.

Improved performance:

The ASP.NET code is a compiled CLR code instead of an interpreted code. The CLR provides just-in-time compilation, native optimization, and caching. Here, it is important to note that compilation is a two-stage process in the .NET Framework. First, the code is compiled into

the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL).

Then, at the execution time, the MSIL is compiled into native code. Only the portions of the code that are actually needed will be compiled into native code. This is called Just In Time compilation. These features lead to an overall improved performance of ASP.NET applications.

Flexibility:

The entire .NET class library can be accessed by ASP.NET applications. You can use the language that best applies to the type of functionality you want to implement, because ASP.NET is language independent.

Configuration settings:

The application-level configuration settings are stored in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. The XML format is a hierarchical text format, which is easy to read and write. This format makes it easy to apply new settings to applications without the aid of any local administration tools.

Security:

ASP.NET applications are secure and use a set of default authorization and authentication schemes. However, you can modify these schemes according to the security needs of an application.

In addition to this list of advantages, the ASP.NET framework makes it easy to migrate from ASP applications.

Creating an ASP.NET Application

Use a text editor:

In this method, you can write the code in a text editor, such as Notepad, and save the code as an ASPX file. You can save the ASPX file in the directory C:inetpubwwwroot. Then, to display the output of the Web page in Internet Explorer, you simply need to type http://localhost/.aspx in the Address box. If the IIS server is installed on some other machine on the network, replace “localhost” with the name of the server. If you save the file in some other directory, you need to add the file to a virtual directory in the Default WebSite directory on the IIS server. You can also create your own virtual directory and add the file to it.

Use the VS.NET IDE:

In this method, you use the IDE of Visual Studio .NET to create a Web page in a WYSIWYG manner. Also, when you create a Web application, the application is automatically created on a Web server (IIS server). You do not need to create a separate virtual directory on the IIS server.

From the preceding discussion, it is obvious that the development of ASP.NET Web applications is much more convenient and efficient in Visual Studio .NET.

ASP.NET Web pages consist of HTML text and the code. The HTML text and the code can be separated in two different files. You can write the code in Visual Basic or C# . This separate file is called the code behind file. In this section, you’ll create simple Web pages by using VB as well as C#.

Before you start creating a Web page, you should be familiar with basic ASP.NET syntax. At the top of the page, you must specify an @ Page directive to define page specific attributes, such as language.

To specify the language as VB for any code output to be rendered on the page.

This line indicates that any code in the block, <% %>, on the page is compiled by using VB.

To render the output on your page, you can use the Response.Write() method.

Creating a Visual Basic Web Application

You can create an ASP.NET application using Visual Basic by creating a Visual Basic

Web Application project. To do so, complete the following steps:

1. Select File ® New ® Project. The New Project dialog box appears.

2. Select Visual Basic Projects from the Project Types pane.

3. Select ASP.NET Web Application from the Templates pane. The Name box contains a default name of the application. The Location box contains the name of a Web server where the application will be created. However, you can change the default name and location. In this case, the name of the sample application is SampleVB.

Deploying an ASP.NET Web Application

After creating and testing your ASP.NET Web applications, the next step is deployment.

Deployment is the process of distributing the finished applications (without the source code) to be installed on other computers.

In Visual Studio .NET, the deployment mechanism is the same irrespective of the programming language and tools used to create applications. In this section, you’ll deploy the “Hello World” Web application that you created. You can deploy any of the application that was created by using VB or C#. Here, you’ll deploy the application created by using VB. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open the Web application project that you want to deploy. In this case, open the SampleVB project.

2. Select File ® Add Project ® New Project to open the Add New Project dialog box.

3. From the Project Types pane, select Setup and Deployment Projects.

From the Templates pane, select Web Setup Project.

4. Change the default name of the project. In this case, change it to “SampleVBDeploy.”

5. Click OK to complete the process. The project is added in the Solution Explorer window.