Kyle's Technobabble

QuickBooks Payroll Service Alert - endless reminders

2011-06-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Problem

I do manual payroll... no service... no tax table download... all manual (I created a little Access application to help with the calculations). Anyway, after upgrading to QuickBooks Pro 2011 from my old QB Pro 2006, every time I went to Pay Employees, I got this annoying dialog. If I clicked Remind Me Later, it went away and let me do the payroll but it just came back again the next time. I could not figure out how to make it go away permanently.

I had to call Intuit anyway to register the product (dumb that you have to do that) and it took about 30 minutes and about 5 transfers but they helped me get rid of the pop-up. The problem was that way back in 2006 when I originally purchased Pro 2006, apparently I had signed up for the service for 2 days (a trial?) but ended up doing it manually. Well, the company file remembered that I had service and when I upgraded to 2011, it could not comprehend that perhaps I had been doing it manually for the last 5 years and so it figured I needed to reactivate, verify or be reminded endlessly.

The solution

It is pretty easy once you know what to do. Go to Help>QuickBooks Help. Do a search for 'manual payroll', somewhere in the one of the first articles will be a link titled manual payroll calculations. Follow the directions (just a couple clicks) and voilà! You should get the following:

There is probably a more direct way to get to that option but I do not know where it is. If you do, please comment and I will update the post. Have fun doing your payroll manually! I know I do.

QuickBooks on Windows 7 - Why 2 icons when running?

2011-06-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to upgrade my QuickBooks to a version that is 'officially' supported on Windows 7. I bought QuickBooks Pro 2011. Don't get me started on the registration process... maybe another article.

This issue
For now, I was disappointed by the fact that this version, which is officially supported on Windows 7, does not behave on the Taskbar as well as the 2006 version (which is not officially supported) that I had to manually install (see old post). Unlike every other program that I currently have a Taskbar shortcut for, when I open QuickBooks from the Taskbar icon, it creates another icon to let me know that it is running. It is supposed to use the same icon and thus save space on the Taskbar but it doesn't.

The Fix
The fix is pretty easy. If you look at the properties of the shortcut, it points to an executable file QBW32Pro.exe. But if you look in the Task Manager when QB is running, you will see that the file QBW32.exe is actually running. So, presumably, when QBW32Pro.exe is launched, it does something and eventually launches QBW32.exe. What that something is, I don't know. But, knowing QuickBooks, it is probably something I don't care about. Possibilites: looking to see if an instance is already running, checking to see if there are multiple versions of the program installed or possibly just a way of enforcing the particular version. So, I just browsed to the folder where the QBW32.exe lives (C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks 2011 for me) and created a TaskBar shortcut for that file and removed the one for QBW32Pro.exe. It works fine. Whatever QBW32Pro.exe is doing before it launches QBW32.exe doesn't seem to be necessary on my machine. Your results may vary.

Capacitive touch console in the Chevy Volt

2011-05-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Capacitive touch doesn't make sense in a car.

The other day I test drove a Volt. The exterior is nice, the interior is nice. The only thing I really disliked was the center control panel because of the capacitive touch sensor 'buttons'. To me this makes no sense in a car. The whole point of this technology is for use in things like touch screens and smart phones where the display changes. With these interfaces, the action resulting from touching a particular spot on the sensor depends on the state of the display at the time. In this case you are viewing the display and can easily determine the state and thus you have a good idea what the 'touch' is going to do (launch an application, open the keyboard, type a letter etc.)

In a traditional car control panel, the interface is made of buttons, knobs, sliders etc. all of which have very good tactile feedback and a certain level of resistance. I.e. you can feel the control without activating it. Typically, once you have had your car for a while, you have a good general idea of how it is laid out and you can reach for a control without taking your eyes off the road. Or, you can make a quick glance to pick a target and reach while your eyes go back to the road. If you 'miss', you won't necessarily activate anything, you can feel that your hand is in the wrong spot and can navigate by touch. While you are driving, it is easy to miss because everything is shaking (not saying the the Volt isn't smooth but it is moving). I have the same issue with my smartphone navigation system when it is mounted in the car. I need to the grab the phone with my thumb and pinky so that my hand is not moving relative to the device. In the Volt, you cannot 'grab' the center console.

In a traditional car, when your hand gets to the correct control, you just apply a little more pressure in the appropriate manner (push, twist, slide) to activate the control you want. In the Volt, if you 'miss', you have probably activated something you did not intend. Now you may have to deactivate whatever it is you messed up and find the right control to do what you want. If you try to do this by touch, you may inadvertently make more incorrect choices. Most likely you will have to take your eyes off the road to find and touch the correct control. This is an obvious safety concern. It is like trying to dial your phone while driving, it can be done but it is generally not a good idea (and illegal in some places?).

On touch screens, a touch sensor makes economical sense too because instead of having a bunch of different controls which might not cover every situation, you can have a single 'all-in-one' control that can be reconfigured on the fly. Again, this works because you can see the display before you make your decision. In the Volt, there are a set number of controls anyway and their positions never change. So why use this technology? It isn't necessary. It would be much simpler to just have buttons with actual tactile feedback so that you do not accidentally tap the wrong thing. What is the advantage? Weight reduction? Cost reduction? I can't imagine that a set of 'regular' controls would add more than a half a pound and/or a few dollars and probably would have saved on the R&D. It seems to be a solution for problem that does not exist (although it is probably easier to clean, I'll give it that).

Volt engineers: You did a great job with styling, aerodynamics, power management, requirements (I think the 40 mile electric range was a good compromise) and a bunch of other stuff, but I really question the thinking on this interface, please reconsider for future models.

First post on the Cr-48

2010-12-24T21:28:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I was surprised to receive a package from UPS with no return address other than UPS. Since I did all my Christmas shopping online this year, at first I thought that maybe I ordered something and forgot about it (it happens)..... and that was sort of true. About a week earlier I had learned about the Google Cr-48 pilot program and I immediately applied. I told Google that I am mainly a Windows developer but that I would use the Cr-48 for everything I could and that I'd let my kid play with it. I guess they thought I was a good candidate to test their new web-only computing paradigm; and I am certainly willing to give it a shot, even though I am accustomed to having a powerful computer in front of me most of the time. If you still don't know what I'm talking about and you want to, click here.

Unboxing

Who cares? Why do people write about unboxing a product? As long as it is reasonably packaged and arrives in good condition it doesn't matter to me. That said, it came in a cool box.... and since it was free I don't feel ripped off for paying for fancy packaging.

Announcements
I was so excited to check this thing out and brag to my fellow geeks that I posted on Facebook about it using my regular computer at home. For those who don't know me, I rarely do anything on Facebook, I only have an account because everyone else does and sometimes it's the only way to keep up with family news. But anyway, the point is that I instinctively went to my 'regular' computer instead of using the Cr48... it is a hard habit to break since I have my 'regular' computer all set up and customized the way I like it so I can do things fast and with little effort. There is not much customization in Chrome OS (besides the theme) which makes it very simple but only if you like to do things the Chrome way.

The Machine - plain and simple.... nice.
I like the black grippy texture... similar to my ThinkPad. I also like the lack of markings.... of ANY kind (except on the keys of course). No 'Intel inside', no 'Designed for OS whatever', no 'super duper hyper-gizmo enabled', not even an FCC sticker (is that legal? never mind, I found it. It's under the battery) or even a marking of what it is. For all I know it's really a Cr47 and already obsolete. The whole machine is geared toward simplicity from the lack of external connections to the lack of a caps lock and function keys. There are no switches, the power button is the upper-right key. There are no adjustments to be made. There's not even a latch for the lid. Even a caveman could figure this out (no offence to cavemen, I liked the show). Katie (my daughter) took to it in seconds (granted she's a lot smarter than a caveman but still.... pretty cool).

Hardware - hope you like wireless

All wired up and no place to go :-(

Now, I know that Google's main point in this pilot program is to get feedback on Chrome OS (i.e. the software) but even perfect software (which doesn't exist) will be perceived as unusable unless it is running on suitable hardware. Having worked in the wireless industry for over 10 years I have come to learn that if you have the option of using a wire (instead of a radio) ... USE THE WIRE. It is always going to be more reliable, secure, easier to set up and faster compared to wireless (of a similar generation of technology). How many times did you ask 'can you hear me now?' before wireless phones? It drives me nuts that people spend good money buying a wireless keyboard (and batteries) that always sits within a few feet of the computer. Anyway, the point is: there is no Ethernet connection on this thing. You MUST use either Verizon's 3G or Wi-Fi (it'll do 802.11n) to get connected to the Internet and it is useless without a connection to the Internet (which is the point, I understand this). I do have wi-fi and I can get onto Verizon's 3G network but the speed and reliability would be much better if I could just plug in my Ethernet cable, which is already ready to go, sitting helplessly right next to the Cr48 on my desk. Note: The post was delayed by a couple hours because my wi-fi stopped working at my office and I had a heckuvatime fixing my wireless router. I had to do it using a computer with an Ethernet connection to the router. There's no way I could fix an existing or setup a new router without an Ethernet connection. I understand the simplicity/cost vs. functionality trade-off but IMHO, an Ethernet connection is just too important and not that expensive to be left out of a computer who's sole purpose in life is to connect to the Internet.

More Hardware - hope you don't need any peripherals
Here are the external connections:

Power - duh, no nuclear batteries yet, but it is very efficient since it does not do much.
External monitor - it does work sort of (Ctl+Full Screen) but I tried it with two different monitors and it behaved differently, with a big monitor, it switched over completely. With a smaller monitor it displayed on both using the resolution of the external monitor. To get it back to normal, disconnect the external monitor and hit Ctl+Full Screen again.
Audio out - works fine. Is it a dual audio-out/mic in? I don't know but there is no dedicated mic. in.
SD card - I don't have any SD cards to test with and I'm not sure what you'd do with it anyway.
One USB port, yep, just one. I use it for my mouse because I think that's all that the OS can really handle, it doesn't do printing or scanning. It can be used to charge your phone but it doesn't seem to do anything if I plug a thumb drive into it. There is a basic interface for files (for when you download from or upload to a website) but it doesn't seem to recognize anything from the USB port

Other stuff

Built-in microphone - I've been told I sound like I'm in a tunnel.
Webcam - See my test video here.
Tracpad - I've read and been told it is very similar to Mac Books. It recognizes two fingers at a time which I've gotten used to with my Android phone.
Keyboard - it's a little different, there's no cap locks key, no function keys, no windows or apple key and no delete key (but Alt-Backspace works for delete). It has some other keys instead: Back, Forward, Refresh, Full-screen, Search (which is really new tab), Next window and dedicated brightness and volume keys.... and the power button is a key. So, it looks like Google has hardware-ized some of the buttons in the browser. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not yet. Since my hand is almost always on the mouse or tracpad anyway, I just use the browser buttons. The Next Window key seems to be not very useful right now but I can see the potential. If you're familiar with having multiple desktops, then you can see the use of the Next Window key. Currently you can only have one desktop which is used by the Chrome browser and (multiple) limited terminal windows (Ctl+Alt+T) which are not really meant to be used by the average user.

So, this device is not meant to connect to any other device, it is meant to connect you to the Internet, that's it.

Secret stuff

I found a hidden card slot (or maybe SIM card) under the battery. I don't know what it's for but I'm tempted to put something in it. There's also a weird very small hole right next to the power connector. I have no idea what that's for.

Software - Do you use Chrome? Yes? then you already know.

There's a little more to it than that, but not much. When you open a new tab, you will see your bookmarks toolbar (which is automatically synced if you use Chrome elsewhere with a Google account), your installed 'applications', and an icon for the Web Store. The idea is that instead of installing big applications like Microsoft Office onto your computer which takes up hard drive space, uses a lot of memory, needs to be updated periodically and is generally a hassle to maintain, we now use web apps. Web apps are fancy web pages that let you do a whole lot more than just view some static content like documents and pictures. The web is now able to deliver full-blown interactive applications that run right in your browser. You don't need a Cr-48 for this, you can use Chrome or any other browser to experience these things right now like Gmail, Google maps, and all kinds of silly Flash games. Google just feels that the time is right (or getting close) that we can ditch the slow bootup times, viruses, failing hard drives, backup problems, installation hassles etc. and just visit web sites where we are guaranteed to always get the latest and greatest version of an application and have our data stored securely in .... here it comes ......the Cloud. Ooooooo fancy. Not really, the cloud is just servers (computers maintained by professionals that you will never actually see) on the Internet. So, if your data and your applications are all on the Internet, then you don't need an expensive computer to store that stuff. You just need a very cheap computer that's good at one thing.... connecting you to the Internet. That's what the Cr-48 is. This has been tried before and failed. The difference now is that web is better, the Internet is more widely available and Google is behind the effort. These are three distinctions that might just make it fly.

Fit for a kid

When I let Katie play with it, she immediately found You Tube in the new tab page and did a search for Puff the Magic Dragon. From there she found endless videos to keep her happy until bedtime. She has a 'real' computer with a real keyboard and a real monitor in her room. She could just as easily watch Puff there but she prefers the Cr-48. Why? I'm still not sure, but I think it's the speed and simplicity. She doesn't need Dad to login, or launch the browser program. Also, the thing boots in a time-span appropriate to a kid's attention span (about 10 seconds from a cold start, instant from sleeping). Sometimes when we turn on her real computer (which is pretty new), she's bored and leaves the room before we even get the desktop showing.

Although Katie thinks it's hers, I will keep using the Cr-48 for whatever I can find to do with it. I just won't be using it to develop Windows programs, configure my routers, printing, loading camera pictures or anything else that requires a specialized program or a connection to anything other than the Internet. This is an experiment in computing and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Local to UTC date conversions: Microsoft vs. Java

2009-04-20T22:10:00.001-07:00

I was recently working on project for a client that involves a Java-based enterprise content management system (FileNet P8). In this version of FileNet, all dates are stored as UTC. In previous versions of FileNet, this was not true, thus to upgrade, all datetime fields must first be converted to UTC before being put into the new system. Otherwise, FileNet will assume that the datetime you give it, which is probably in local time, is in UTC and will be wrong. Later, when you view that datetime in the user interface (called Workplace), it will get converted to your local time (using Java) and thus probably shift several hours (unless your local time IS UTC). If your datetime was really meant to be just a date, then the time was probably stored as 12:00 AM. If it gets shifted back, then the date will change to the prior day... probably NOT what you had expected.

If you use a Microsoft based program to help you convert, as we are, then you might assume that using the conversion function in .Net (TimeZone.ToUniversalTime()) to convert your local datetimes to UTC datetimes would do the trick. If you have dates prior to 2006, however, you would be wrong.

It looks like Microsoft decided on a pattern for daylight saving time and applied it to all time in the past…. never mind that it did not exist before 1918. The Microsoft daylight savings times are wrong all the way up to 2006. Even FileNet's own FileNet Enterprise Manager, which is a Microsoft MMC snap-in, does the wrong conversion. To be fair, this conversion is very difficult because before we had standard time zones and politicians deciding what time it is, it was up to each locale (state, city, village etc.) to decide how they would determine the time compared to UTC. How can you determine what UTC time they thought it was in Timbuktu in 1849 when somebody's birth date was recorded? To make it simple (I'm assuming) Microsoft just took the current rules (on some date) and applied those rules to all time which makes for easy, but inaccurate, conversions.

The Java solution, however, which is really the Unix solution is to use the Zoneinfo database (also known as the tz or Olson database) which attempts to record all the rules for all the times for all the locales. Although it's probably impossible for this database to ever be completely accurate, it's a lot better than applying a single rule for all time. This database contains the various daylight savings time rules for various locals. Here in California we use the 'America/Los_Angeles' locale.

To solve this problem, I created a class in VB.net which wraps a Java .class file. The Java .class file provides a function (using the TimeZone.getTimeZone() and DateFormat.setTimeZone() methods) for converting a local datetime string into a UTC datetime. I then wrote a small program to loop through and calculate the offset (in hours) between the local time (in California) and UTC time for every day from 1900 to 2009 using the Java methods and the Microsoft function TimeZone.ToUniversalTime() and saved the data in a database. The results are shown below. If you look at the graph and read the history below (borrowed from the U.S. Navy) you can see how the Java offset is much more accurate. You can see how in 1918, daylight savings time was first implemented and then repealed. It was then re-established for a few years starting in 1942. What you cannot see in the graph is that even after it was set 'for good' in 1966, the Microsoft offset is wrong a few days of every year around the 'spring forward' and 'fall back' dates until 2006 at which point the Microsoft functions and Java functions are completely in sync.

From http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.php

History of Daylight Time in the U.S.

Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 30 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.

During the "energy crisis" years, Congress enacted earlier starting dates for daylight time. In 1974, daylight time began on 6 January and in 1975 it began on 23 February. After those two years the starting date reverted back to the last Sunday in April. In 1986, a law was passed that shifted the starting date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight time was not subject to such changes, and remained the last Sunday in October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed both the starting and ending dates. Beginning in 2007, daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

For a very readable account of the history of standard and daylight time in the U.S., see Ian R. Bartky and Elizabeth Harrison: "Standard and Daylight-saving Time", Scientific American, May 1979 (Vol. 240, No. 5), pp. 46-53.

Although the Java solution works and we are currently using it, I've since discovered that there are several completely .net implementations of conversion functions using the Zoneinfo database which can be found if you know what to search for (ie. Zoneinfo database .net).

My Favorite Free Utilities

2008-07-08T22:02:00.001-07:00

Depending on the supplier, when you buy a new Windows computer, it often comes with a bunch of junk and ads that you don't want while missing some utilities that you may need. To address the first problem, I don't buy from Dell or HP or Acer or anything that you might find at Best Buy or Costco. I like to build my own machine or buy from a supplier that doesn't pre-load a bunch of junk. These include (but are not limited to)

MPC (formerly Micron PC, formerly just Micron)
Puget Systems
Lenovo (formerly IBM)

Now, for stuff that you may need or want that didn't come with your computer, here's a list of the free utilities that I like. Note that many can be installed all at once by using Google Pack.

Google Pack: Google pack is (IMHO) both a good and bad thing. It's good because it allows you to install a lot of useful software all at once. It's bad because it allows you to install a bunch of not-so-good software at the same time and also because it sticks around after you've installed the software you want contacting home base to see if there are any updates. Both of the bad things can be defeated leaving you with an easy way to download a bunch of good stuff all at once. Here's a link to download just the stuff I recommend. Once you have installed everything, you can use Add/Remove programs to uninstall Google Pack and leave your software installed on the computer.

There are several things I haven't checked in the above screenshot. I have nothing against Skype, StarOffice or Google Talk so if you want those also, go ahead and check them. Google Earth is not really necessary but it's really cool. I always avoid any Norton (Symantec) stuff or anything from Real. I've tried Google Desktop and it just doesn't work well for me. I don't like to see my desktop search results in a web page mixed with other stuff. I've never checked out Spyware Doctor but I know it's a 'trial' version which means they'll probably try to get you to buy something. Just use Ad-Adware (mentioned below) instead.

Adobe Reader: (Available in Google Pack) You'll end up installing this eventually and the latest version looks nice. However it's bloated, and tends to keep running in the background even if you aren't viewing any pdf files (I hate that!). An alternative which I use as my default is...

Foxit Reader: This does just about everything Adobe Reader does but it's much smaller and faster and doesn't hang around after it's no longer needed. I usually let this be my default pdf reader but keep Adobe Reader around just in case I come across a pdf file that Foxit can't handle.

AVG (Free version): Many years ago I was on a business trip in S. Korea and I plugged my unprotected laptop into the company network. Soon I saw .eml files popping up on my desktop and everywhere on my hard drive. I did some research and discovered I'd been hit with the nimda virus. I came accross GRISoft which makes AVG anti-virus and they had a free utility specifically to clear the nimda virus of my machine. It worked great and so I installed their free complete anti-virus product. I've been using it ever since. It doesn't bug me about renewing, it stays out of the way, it's got one icon in the tray to let me know it's working and it will certify both incoming and outgoing email (configurable). That's all I need in an anti-virus product. Personal flame: If your computer came with any Symantec stuff, get rid of it as fast as possible. It will bug you all the time for renewal and try to sell you more products you don't need. My mom ended up buying a product for which she didn't need or even understand what it was. UPDATE: AVG 8.0 includes anti-spyware and and kind-of-cool link checker for IE, but not Firefox :( so maybe you don't need Ad-aware anymore.

Ad-Aware: This anti-spyware product has been around since spyware and has always worked well. I used it all the time before Microsoft came out with Defender. I tried Defender but it bugs me all the time and I don't think it's ever found any spyware on my machine. So now I've disabled Defender and I just run Ad-Aware every once-in-a-while when I think my computer is being slow.

Firefox web browser: (Available in Google Pack) I don't know if this even needs to be mentioned but if you are still using Internet Explorer, then definitely download Firefox. While IE now (finally) has many of the same features as Firefox, Firefox is still more secure and there's a lot more extensions available which make browsing a much more pleasant experience. These are my favorites (most not included in Google Pack):

Gmarks - Allows you to have a side pane with your bookmarks stored on Google servers.
IE Tab - Allows you to open a web page in an Internet Explorer tab. Handy for Microsoft sites which tend to only work with IE.
Google Toolbar - (included if you install Firefox from Google Pack) Put's a very nice search box on your toolbar along with an Auto-fill button and some other neat stuff.
GMail Manager: Great if you have more than one gmail account nice even if you only have one.
Fire FTP: This is a full-fledged FTP program built into a Firefox add-on. It's free but they take donations half of which are donated to charity.

Google Picasa: (Available in Google Pack) If you've purchased more than one digital camera, then you probably have multiple picture managing programs on your computer. You don't need to use the program that came with your camera, they all do pretty much the same thing. I don't use any of the software that comes with my digital cameras because Picasa does everything I need and it integrates well with Picasa Web Albums. See my web album here.

Google Screensaver: (Can only get it through Google Pack) If you really want to save your screen or save power, you should just have Windows shut off your monitor. If you want to see your latest pictures while dozing off at the office, then get this screensaver. You can configure it to use pictures from a folder or from your Picasa web album or any photo RSS feed.

7-Zip: Shortly after installing Vista on my home computer, I tried to unzip a large file with Vista's built-in zip utilities. It was waaaaaay to slow. While Vista was chewing on the zip file, I Googled for zip utilies, found this one, installed it and unzipped my file. Vista never did finish unzipping the file. Sheesh! You'd think they would test this stuff.

Paint.net: Windows Paint hasn't changed much since Windows 3.1 (remember that?). While there are tons of fancy graphics programs out there, I've found most of them difficult to learn and way more powerful than I really need. Paint.net does everything I need including transparencies, converting formats, pngs and icons (with an extension).

FileZilla FTP: I used to use CuteFTP but now they charge you for it. This one is open source so they never bug you to pay for it.

Revo Uninstaller: Many programs do not completely uninstall, this will help get rid of junk leftover by lazy uninstall programs.

CCleaner: Get rid of junk on your hard drive and registry.

Auslogics Disk Defrag: This defrag program works way better than the one that comes with XP or Vista. The only problem with it (at the time of this writing) is that there is no command-line option which means you cannot schedule it to run.

Install QuickBooks Pro 2006 on Vista/Windows 7

2008-05-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

Intuit does not support installing QuickBooks 2006 on Vista. They recommend that you upgrade (big surprise). I have, however, successfully installed it on my Vista Ultimate machine (twice).

When you try to install a program with known problems on Vista, you'll often see the following dialog.

This is far as the setup.exe in the root folder ever got. When you click Run Program the dialog disappears but setup.exe is still running in the Task Manager. I just killed it. Of course Checking for solutions online is about as useful as most Microsoft help that takes you online.

I have not done extensive testing to figure out exactly what you need to do and what you do not need to do but I'll post here the things I did. Probably some steps were unnecessary. Note: To be safe I ran everything I could as Administrator.

1. Uninstalled my latest version of Flash
2. Installed 'Macromedia Flash' from the QuickBooks CD in the folder \ThirdParty\Flash7
3. Installed the .Net framework 1.1 from the QuickBooks CD in the folder \ThirdParty\DotNET11
4. Tried to install Jet40 from the CD but it didn't work so it's probably not necessary.
5. Installed MDAC from the CD in the folder \ThirdParty\MDAC28 - it was quick.
6. Did NOT even try installing IE6 from the CD. Vista and IE have enough problems without confusing it by trying to install an old version.
7. Ran the Setup.exe program in the \QBooks folder. The Setup.exe in the root folder never let me get past the screenshot shown above.

During setup I encountered the following dialog. I clicked Ignore and it seemed to continue on just fine.

After it finished up I ran QuickBooks and did an update. It took a while but it seemed to update a bunch of stuff. I told it where to find my Company file and viola! I was up running. Then I reinstalled the latest version of Adobe Flash player again.

Ooops! Not quite. After I closed QuickBooks and tried to reopen, it told me that it had downloaded some updates but not installed them yet and asked if I wanted to install. I said OK and it tried but failed on the same file as shown above (ZRush_ShipRush3_QB.ocx). I tried clicking Ignore again but it kept looping between installing and unistalling the updates. I went through the loop a few times and manually registered the file with the command line:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intuit\QuickBooks>regsvr32 ZRush_ShipRush3_QB.ocx

But I don't know if that was really necessary. I finally just rebooted the machine, ran QuickBooks and let it try to install the updates again. It complained about another file but I clicked Ignore and let it go and it did complete. Now it seems to have the latest updates and it doesn't bug me anymore. Also, I turned off Automatic Updates because I don't like stuff running in the background and bugging me when I'm trying to do work.

That's it. I'm sure it would be almost trivial for Intuit to release an install program to help with Vista but it's also almost trivial to download payroll tax tables and they make you pay extra for that.

UPDATE: Charles Russell commented that this may not work with UAC enabled. Good point. I always have UAC disabled so that very well could be why it works for me and not some others.

Connect to your home computer from anywhere

2008-03-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

There are several services which will allow you to connect to your home PC through the Internet (GoToMyPC and PC Anywhere come to mind) but if you have the right operating system and some patience you can do it for free. Here is a quick checklist of the steps you'll need to perform. Each step is detailed below. The machine at home that you are connecting to is called the host. The machine that you are connecting from is called the client.

Checklist:
1. Have an OS that supports Remote Desktop at home (host machine), this means XP Pro or Vista Business/Ultimate. The machine you use to connect from (the client) can be any version of XP or Vista (or even Linux).
2. Enable Remote Desktop on the host.
3. (Optional) Change the port number on the host that Remote Desktop uses.
4. Open the Remote Desktop port on the firewall of the host computer.
5. On your home network, make sure your host computer has a static IP.
6. On your router, forward the port to the host computer's static IP.
7. (Optional) If your ISP gives you a dynamic IP (most do), then get an account at dyndns.org (free) or something similar so you can easily find your network from the Internet.
8. Make sure the host computer is turned on and doesn't go to sleep while you are away.
9. From outside your home, run Remote Desktop Connection on the client machine and give it your dyndns alias name followed by a colon and port number.

Details:
1. Host Operating System. For XP you must have XP Pro. For Vista you must have Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. If you have XP Home or Vista Home, you're out of luck because they don't have Microsoft's Remote Desktop service. You can still use a service like GoToMyPC and PC Anywhere .

2. Assuming you have an OS that has the Remote Desktop service, you'll need to enable it. By default it's disabled for security reasons.
XP Pro - Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click the Remote tab and check Allow users to connect.. in the Remote Desktop section. You can then select which users are allowed to connect.

Vista Business/Ultimate- Right-click on Computer and click the Remote Settings link. In the System Properties dialog click one of the two lower options in the Remote Desktop section. The Help me choose link should help you choose which one. You can then select which users can remote connect in.

WARNING: Windows will let you select any user, even if they don't have a password, including the Guest account. If you plan to allow connections from the Internet it would be a REALLY BAD IDEA to allow the Guest account access or any account that is not password protected. Otherwise anyone who guessed your IP address or alias could log onto your machine and do anything.

3. Change the port used for Remote Desktop. Although this is completely optional, there are two (maybe three) very good reasons to do it. First, for security; the default port for Remote Desktop is 3389 and anyone who might want to break into your computer knows this. So, by changing it, you are making it a little more difficult for the casual hacker to find you. Second, many workplaces may block outbound traffic on 3389 precisely because they don't want people using Remote Desktop to connect to a machine which may be unsecured. If you change to a port that is allowed from wherever you may be connecting from, you'll be able to get through. I use port 8080 because this port is sometimes used for web servers (and is a high number out of the well known port range) and is thus usually open to outbound traffic but it is unlikely that you are using it for anything else. You need to pick a port that you are not using for something else. Thus, if you are running a web server on the standard port 80, you don't want to set up Remote Desktop to use port 80. To change the port, you need to edit the registry. The registry key that needs to be changed is the same for XP and Vista:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber

The third potential reason to change the port number is that if you want to have multiple host machines on your network, they must use different ports to avoid collisions.

4. Open the port used by Remote Desktop on the firewall on the host machine . If you didn't change the port, then this will be 3389 (and the firewall was probably already adjusted when you enabled Remote Desktop), otherwise you need to open the port for whatever you set in the previous step. The firewall settings can be found in the Control Panel.

Steps 5-6 only apply if you have a home network with a router
5. Make sure your machine has a static IP address on your home network (for example: 192.168.1.42). You can either set this up through the Network Settings of the machine or (with some routers) tell the router to always assign the same IP address through DHCP to your machine.

6. On your router, forward the port to the IP address of the machine. Every router has a different way of doing this. You only need the TCP protocol, not UDP. For my example I would forward any incoming TCP traffic on port 8080 to the IP address 192.168.1.42. Here's what the screen looks like on my Linksys router. Note the text in the Application column is informative only, it doesn't do anything.

7. Most ISPs give you a dynamic IP address which means it could change anytime; although it usually doesn't change very often. There are many ways to find out the IP address that your ISP gave you if you are at home. You can check your router settings or you can visit one of many web sites that will tell you such as findmyip.com or kmwTech.com. When you are NOT at home, however, it is difficult to find your home IP address unless you already know it from the last time that you were at home. Of course it could have changed since you left the house.
There are many ways to overcome this but the easiest that I've found is to use a free service called DynDNS. This service will give you a domain name (like myhouse.dyndns.org) that will not change. Then, by installing some software on one of your computers at home, it keeps track of your IP address. Many routers (including my Linksys WRT54G) know how to update DynDNS so you don't even have to install any software on one of your computers, the router keeps DynDNS informed whenever it detects that your IP address has changed. This step is optional but very handy so you don't have to keep track of your own IP address.

8. Make sure your computer at home is on and doesn't go to sleep while you are out trying to remote connect in. Seems obvious but still worth mentioning.

9. Now the fun part, from work or your laptop or your friend's house or wherever run the Remote Desktop client. This is found in Start>Programs>Accessories>Remote Desktop Connection.

You'll be asked for your user name and password to log onto the machine. Check out the options to set screen resolution, sound etc. Of course if you didn't take my advice in step 7, substitute your IP address for the DynDNS alias.

Note that using your DynDNS alias or outside IP address from inside your own network might not work. To test within your network, use your local IP address and port. In this example it would be 192.168.1.42:8080.

Links:

Windows XP FAQ on Remote Desktop
Set Up Remote Desktop Web Connection with Windows XP
Google Remote Desktop

Using Gmail and IMAP

2007-10-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

Google has finally implemented the IMAP protocol for Gmail. This is very good news for people like me who use an email client like Outlook most of the time from home or office but want access to their email elsewhere. IMAP lets you do this and keep all of your read, sent, and deleted messages in sync along with folders that you can create on either your email client or as labels in the Gmail web interface.

I (and Google) recommend using IMAP instead of POP for anyone who accesses their Gmail through an email client like Outlook. In this post I'll try to explain what IMAP does for you and how it works with Gmail in particular since Gmail does things a little bit different than other internet based email systems.

Get Started
Once Google has made IMAP available on your account, you'll need to enable it; unless you already have POP enabled, in which case IMAP will be automatically enabled. To enable IMAP, log into your Gmail account and click on Settings. In the main menu bar at the top you will see an item titled Forwarding and POP/IMAP (this bar used to be titled just Forwarding and POP). On that tab, you'll find the IMAP Access section where you can enable IMAP.

Next, you'll need to create an account on your email client. Google has excellent directions for this which you can get to by clicking the Configuration instructions link. Once you have your account set up (properly) and do a Send/Receive you'll get all of your Gmail into your email client.

How Gmail implements IMAP
Gmail is different from most other Internet based email systems in that it does not natively use the concept of folders. Most Internet based and client email systems use folders to let you organize your messages. Each message can exist in only one folder. You could, of course, make copies of your messages in other folders but this is a hassle and is generally not a good idea.

Instead, Gmail uses the idea of labels. This has nothing to do with IMAP, Gmail has always used labels. A label (or tag) is a piece of text that helps identify or categorize a message. A particular message may have many labels applied to it. For example, if you have a message from your uncle who is a dentist, you might apply the labels "Family" and "Doctors". Then whenever you looked at all messages from "Family" or from "Doctors", you would see the message from your uncle.

IMAP uses the traditional idea of folders; meaning that a particular message can belong to only one folder. So, how does Gmail IMAP resolve the folder vs. label dillema? Simple, Gmail makes copies if a message has more than one label (actually, it makes copies even if only one or no labels are applied). So, for the example of the message from your dentist uncle, your email client will have a folder called "Doctors" and another one called "Family" and your email will appear in both folders in your client email program.

The figure below shows that all of the Gmail labels are mapped to folders in an Outlook IMAP account.

In Gmail, all of the emails that you have not deleted will show up when you click on All Mail. In Gmail, Inbox is just a label that is applied to every message when it comes in. To remove the Inbox label, select the message and click the Archive button.

What happens if....
..you delete a message from a folder in your IMAP client program?
A: The corresponding label is removed from the message in Gmail. It will still show up in your inbox (if it was there) and in All Mail and in any other folders that correspond to labels that have not been removed.

...you remove a label from a message in Gmail?
A: It disappears from the corresponding folder in your IMAP client program but it's still in any other folders that correspond to labels that have not been removed.

... you create/remove a folder in your IMAP client program?
A: A new label is created/removed in Gmail

... you create/remove a new label in Gmail?
A: A new folder is created/removed in your IMAP client program.

Starting to get it?

What happens if you send an email through your IMAP client program? Is is saved in Sent Mail?
A: Yes, it's saved in the Sent Mail folder in your IMAP client and it gets the Sent Mail label in Gmail. If the message was a response to an incoming message and you didn't change the subject line (except for the RE: that was prepended), then you'll see the message in a Conversation in Gmail. A Conversation is just a way of grouping messages (both sent and received) that have similar subject lines so that you can see a whole conversation at once. Outlook and some other email clients let you group messages by Conversation as well but it's enabled by default in Gmail so you're more likely to see it there.

Comments welcome.