Phil's Techno Talk

Fix your Broken Windows PC with System Restore

Phil Rogers — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:17:20 +0000

I am a regular user of the Alexa Toolbar. This toolbar monitors browsing habits and sends information back to Alexa to help them determine the most popular websites. Because of what it does, some people consider the Alexa Toolbar to be spyware. However, it doesn’t do anything malicious, when you install it, you should be aware of what it is doing.

Spyware Doctor, an anti-spyware program decided that the Alexa Toolbar was spyware and removed it from my system. It didn’t do it the friendly way by running the uninstaller provided by Alexa; instead it entered the system Registry directly and went on the rampage, deleting all manner of data that it considered to be connected with the Alexa Toolbar.

Once I realised what had happened, I went back to Alexa and reinstalled their toolbar, but now it no longer worked. After several reinstallations and system restarts, it still wouldn’t work properly. Spyware Doctor had broken my PC.

So What Do You Do When Your PC’s System Files Get Messed Up?

Thankfully, Microsoft have incorporated System Restore into their most recent operating systems (XP and Vista), and I was able to reinstate my system and Registry files to how they were before I installed Spyware Doctor (which has now been banished from my PC).
I then reinstalled the Alexa Toolbar and it works just fine now.

How to use System Restore

Here’s what Microsoft say about System Restore: “System Restore works a lot like the Undo command in Microsoft Word. You can use System Restore to remove any system changes that were made since the last time you remember your computer working correctly. System Restore does not affect your personal data files (such as Microsoft Word documents, browsing history, drawings, favorites, or e-mail) so you won’t lose changes made to these files.“.

If you have System Restore enabled, every day that you use your computer, Windows saves the current state of the system files. This means that you can roll-back to any previous “restore point”. So if you install or run a program that affects the system files and makes the system unstable, you can undo those changes.

Here’s how:

Click Start, and then click Help and Support.
Under Pick a Task, click Undo changes to your computer with System Restore.
Follow the instructions on the wizard:

Select “Restore my computer to an earlier time” and click Next.

A calendar is displayed. Dates are displayed in bold if there is a restore point on that day. Click on a bold date in the calendar, and you will see a list of changes that the restore point incorporates. This includes software installed, Windows updates, and system checkpoints.

When you have found the day when you installed or ran the program that broke your system, choose that day or the one before it. I was fortunate enough to be able to find the day when I installed Spyware Doctor, and then selected the day before that.

Click on Next and you will see a confirmation page for the selected Restore Point.
Read this page. It is important to know what will happen next.

Click Next. Your system will shut down and apply the selected Restore Point to your system files settings.
Don’t worry about any other files that you have on your system, such as emails, Word documents etc. They will be unaffected. System Restore is not a time machine – it can’t save and restore everything that is on your computer to a previous time – only the system files.

When your computer restarts, you will see a message stating whether the restore was successful or not.

If you find that other software that you installed after the time of the Restore Point is no longer properly installed. You will need to re-install it. In some cases, you might even need to go into the Remove Programs control panel and remove the software and then reinstall it.

If it still fails

If your restore made no difference, or made things worse, you can even undo the change and bring the system back to today’s settings using the same System Restore mechanism.

A Final Word

It’s possible to switch off System Restore so that it doesn’t make daily backups of the changes to system files. I thoroughly recommend that you leave it switched on. You never know when it might get you out of a tight spot!

Phil Rogers is a professional software engineer who runs Phil’s Techno Talk.

How Safe is your Computer System?

Phil Rogers — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:36:20 +0000

Your Choice of Password May Be Letting You Down

Passwords. We have them everywhere now. Whether it’s the PIN (Personal Identification Number) for your ATM card, the password that logs you into your email account, or to set up your Internet Router, we have this need for security that our money, our personal details and our private information is kept away from people we’d rather not let near them.

However, your choice of password can let you down and even though you think you are safe, you could be leaving the doors wide open to unsavoury characters who don’t think twice about stealing your identity and looting your bank account and credit cards for as much as they can get their hands on.

There are thousands of websites that let you register and sign in with an account; each of which requires another password. It’s getting to the point where it’s difficult to remember which password you used where. And this leads you to disregard security to make your life easier.
It’s too tempting to choose a password that is easy to remember, or even use the one supplied by the manufacturer. Unfortunately, that often makes them easy for other people to guess.

Believe it or not, when faced with the pressure to choose a password, people are not very creative, and statistics show that many people choose the same ones as everyone else. Here’s a list of top-10 passwords:

password
123456
qwerty
abc123
letmein
monkey
myspace1
password1
link182
(your first name)

When they say “Enter password”, it doesn’t mean enter the word “password”! It means choose one and enter it!

If you use any of those passwords, you’ve fallen into the same trap as everyone else.

Don’t Keep Default Passwords
Here’s an example. My wireless Internet router is made by D-Link. To log in to the set up page, the account name is set by D-Link to be Admin, with the password set to “password”. Very easy to remember, and most people don’t bother to change it.
Now, I take my wireless laptop or PDA and go somewhere and find an open wireless network. What if the router being used is also by D-Link? What if the owner didn’t bother to change the account name or password? I can now log in and change the password, thus locking out the owner from their own router setup.
I can now come back at any time and browse the computers on that network. Who knows what personal information I might find on there?
And if “password” doesn’t work, I might try any of the ones from the above list.

Don’t Use Familiar Words
Instead of using one of the common passwords, some people resort to using the name of someone or something close to them, such as the name of their spouse, child, pet or street.
Here’s another example. When I was at university, my room-mate was a huge fan of the UK football team, Manchester City (also known as Man City). Just for kicks I thought I’d try and log into his university computer account. I knew his username, but needed his password. So I tried “mancity”. That didn’t work, so I tried the names of their star player. That didn’t work, either. Then I remembered the name of the team manager, and tried that. I was in to his account in just 3 tries.

Don’t use familiar numbers
Just like family names, some people use birthdates. Again, these are too easy to guess.

Use a Strong Password
A strong password is one that is more difficult to guess. Here are some suggestions for creating a strong password.

Don’t use words that appear in a dictionary. If you really must use a word to help you remember (but it’s not recommended), you could try replacing some of the letters with numbers or symbols that resemble the letter. For example, let’s say you wanted to use the word GUITAR as part of your password. You could change the G to 6, the I to 1, and the A to @ to make 6U1T@R.

Use numbers as well as letters. Very often, this is a requirement that is enforced when you choose a password, but looking at the list of common passwords, people are still using simple ones such as abc123.

Use symbols. Using punctuation and symbols makes passwords much more difficult to guess than if you had simply used letters and numbers.

Use upper and lower case letters. Passwords are usually case sensitive to increase the pool of letters available when choosing the password. This makes it much more difficult to guess.

Use longer passwords. It is now recommended that the minimum length of password that you use is 12 characters, using a mixture of character types as mentioned above, and preferably a non-dictionary word.
Example: 4doFg*lf /Y7s

Remember your password.
So now that you have chosen a totally random password, how do you remember it? Some browsers can remember them for you, but what happens if your browser loses that data, or you are trying to log in from somebody else’s computer?

One technique is to choose a password that looks random but has some mnemonic attached to it.
Here’s one example I just thought of:
4&20bBbIaP
This fits in with many of our criteria; it’s what looks like a random mixture of letters, numbers and symbols, with upper and lower case.

The mnemonic for it is a line from a children’s song:
“Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie”.

After the 4 & 20, the remaining letters are the initials of the words, alternating lower and upper case.
(Please don’t use this example – now that I’ve mentioned it, hundreds of people will start using it!)

If you still can’t think of a good password, have a program generate one for you. There are a lot of free password generators on the Internet. Personally, I wouldn’t use one of the online ones – they might be logging my IP address and the passwords I generate.

So, think creatively about your choice of password. Somebody could be trying to hack your PayPal account right now!

10 Ways to Speed Up Your Windows PC For Free

Phil Rogers — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:19:32 +0000

When you unpacked your PC the first time you got it home, or it was installed in your office, it worked like a dream. The system started quickly, programs opened quickly, did their job as expected and closed down with no problems.

Then after a few months, or maybe even weeks, the rot set in. Your PC started taking ages to start up, programs took an age to open and load your data, and then to add insult to injury, takes an eternity to close down.

So what’s going on? Why the big difference in performance? And more to the point, can you get it working as it used to again?
The good news is basically “Yes, you can”, but there are so many things that contribute to the lack of performance that it’s difficult to know exactly what is causing the problem. In most cases, it can be a combination of different factors all working against each other to bring your system to its knees.

Here is a list of things to try to get back some or all of the performance you used to get with your PC.

1 Free up disk space
We’re all guilty of saving more files, documents and images than we really need. In some cases, we save something and then cannot remember where we put it, so we end up with a lot of “lost” files scattered around our hard disk.
Another common thing is to keep copies of files, or older versions “just in case”. There’s definitely nothing wrong with keeping backups – I recommend it. However, keep your backups on another disk – preferably a removable one such as a CD or DVD – or maybe even on a flash memory drive.

When the computer’s hard disk is getting full, the computer starts to have a hard time finding space to store things – including temporary files that it uses during its normal operation. So, we need to clean out all the rubbish. Delete unused files and folders (taking care not to delete system files and folders) to free up some of that wasted space.

Using browsers on the Internet leaves a huge number of temporary files on your hard disk. You can remove them by opening My Computer, right-clicking the C: drive and clicking the Disk Cleanup button.

2 Repair Disk Errors
From time to time, the computer’s filing system gets a bit confused and data is not saved properly. Files get cross-linked or truncated making them unreadable. They are still taking up disk space though, so you need to repair the disk to recover the documents.
Click the Start button, and select Run. In the prompt that opens, enter
Chkdsk c: /f
This will run the disk checking utility that sorts out cross-linked files etc.
It might say that you can’t run chkdsk but you can schedule it to run at the next bootup. Choose the option to run Chkdsk at startup and then reboot your PC. Chkdsk will automatically run, detect and repair any errors it finds.

3 Defragment your disk
Your disk doesn’t really get fragmented, but your files do. It means that the file is split up into small pieces, each stored in different places on your hard disk. When you want to load that file into a program, it has to go and gather up all the pieces and fix them all back together again. This takes a lot longer than if the file was already in one piece.

Fragmentation happens when you create files, add to them and re-save them or move them, delete them, install programs, load photos etc.

As disk space is used and released, the available spaces on the disk become small and scattered over different parts of the disk. As a result, if you have a large file, the filing system can’t find a large enough space to store it, so it has to split it into smaller pieces and save the fragments in the available spaces.
This takes more time to save the file, and more time to re-load it as all the pieces have to be gathered up and put back together.

Some people will tell you that with modern disks, this is not such a problem because they are so much faster. This is true to some extent, but in practice, it really does seem to make a difference. It is certainly true on slightly older PCs.

Luckily, we have a tool called a defragmenter.
1. Open My Computer.
2. Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
3. On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.
4. Click Defragment.

If your disk is severely fragmented, this might take a long time to complete. It’s best to leave the PC to get on with it than try and do something at the same time. Once done, try to remember to do it about once a month – it will take a lot less time if done regularly.

4 Remove Software You Don’t Use Any More
When you click Start and then All Programs, is the list you are presented with getting bigger and bigger? The chances are that there are programs in there that you haven’t used for months. Maybe you even forgot they were there.
These unused programs are occupying disk space (see Tip 1).
But some programs can use more than disk space; they can use system memory and processor time as well.
When you install the software for a printer, for example, it very often includes a program that runs in the background, monitoring the printer status etc. You might see evidence of this as an icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen, unless you hide the unused icons.
Open your control panel, select Add or Remove Programs and wait for the list of programs to appear. Then go down the list and remove anything that you no longer use.

5 Remove Spyware and Viruses
If you’re a regular Internet user, receive spam email or have installed unknown, free programs from a web site, you could have one or more viruses or spyware programs installed. Not only is this a security risk, it could damage files on your computer. In addition, the spyware is eating into your processor time which will slow your computer down.
Install and run spyware removers and antivirus software. There are a number of free ones available, such as AdAware and AVG.

6 Clean the Registry
The Registry is a set of system files where Windows and programs that you install save data and settings about themselves. Some programs are not very good at cleaning up after themselves when you uninstall them, so data gets left behind, and links get lost.
Windows itself is just as guilty of leaving the Registry in a mess and provides no tools to clean it up. However, Microsoft have created RegClean a free tool you can download from their website. It does a very basic job though, and doesn’t fix all problems.
Several 3rd-party Registry cleaners do exist, but you generally have to pay for them.

7 Delete Unused Network Connections
If you connect to a network, whether it’s in an office or at home, if you have set up a network connection, Windows will spend time trying to establish that connection when it starts up. If it can’t make the connection after a specified time, it gives up (called a time-out) and tries the next one. If computers to which you connect are frequently switched off, Windows will not make the connection, so you’ll have to wait until the connection attempt “times out”.
Delete network connections you don’t ever use so that you don’t waste time trying to connect.

8 Remove Fonts that you Never Use
Many people, when they first get a PC, discover fonts that they can download from the Internet, or see discs of 1000 fonts in their local PC store, and catch font-fever. In no time at all, they have a huge selection of fonts on their PC, most of which are never used.
Some software installs additional fonts without you even knowing it, too.
Each of those fonts uses up a little disk space and some system memory. The more fonts you have, the more resources are used up and your system takes a hit in performance.
Go to your Control Panel, open up Fonts and delete the ones you never use.

9 Keep Drivers Up-To-Date
Drivers are small programs that let Windows access a certain piece of hardware, such as the video card, sound card, or a printer.
New hardware often comes with drivers that were hurriedly put together, almost as an after-thought.
In some cases, they rely on generic Windows drivers for them to work. These are seldom optimised for a particular piece of hardware.

After the product has gone on sale, the developers have more time to improve the drivers and eliminate errors in them. Very often, these updated drivers improve the speed of the device, or use fewer resources, so it is worthwhile checking with the manufacturer to see if they have updated drivers. You will often find them by going to the manufacturer’s website and looking for the Downloads or Support links.

10 Reinstall Windows
This is a very extreme way of getting your PC to work the way it did before, and I’d only recommend it if your PC is performing very badly, crashes often, or often runs a disk check when you start it up.
Whatever you do, backup your important data, photos, files etc., before you start.
Bear in mind that if you do a full, clean installation, you will also have to re-install any programs that you had installed before.

You will need your original Windows installation disk or rescue disk that came with your PC. If you don’t know what you’re doing, seek further advice, or leave your system as it is.

This Site is Undergoing an Upgrade

admin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:07:29 +0000

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Kodak PhotoCDs - A Warning

Phil Rogers — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:29:41 +0000

Back in the early 1990’s, when I took a photographic film to my local shop to be processed and printed, I chose to have my negatives scanned and the resulting digital images written to a Kodak PhotoCD. At the time, it cost an incredible £16, including the disc to have this done.

But how fantastic to collect not only a set of photographic prints, but a shiny, Gold coloured CD with all my pictures on in digital format. Now I could load any of my photographs into Paintshop Pro, remove any unwanted artefacts, crop it, zoom it, change the brightness and contrast, and generally process it into a form that I wanted. Best of all, I could save the image as a Windows Bitmap and then load it in as my Windows wallpaper. You might not hink twice about doing that today, but at the time, it was cutting-edge.

I recently came across my old PhotoCDs and I thought it would be interesting to go through those old pictures again. Most were from a holiday in Australia, and some from time spent in India.

So I loaded a PhotoCD into my DVD-RW drive on my PC and found that it couldn’t read the disc. I tried another disc and it struggled to read that one, but managed it in the end. The third disc was ok though.

I tried the first disc again and this time it managed to read it and I was able to open some of the pictures.

The discs were all clean and had been stored in a cool, dry place. None of them had warped or become damaged in any other way.

It is my guess that the technology of my DVD-RW is quite different from the CD writer used to create the gold PhotoCD. DVDs use a higher track density, so the laser beam used to read them is narrower. To achieve this, they use laser light of a different frequency (colour) than used in earlier CD drives. It is also possible that the alignment of the tracks on the PhotoCD are not as precise as on a modern disc because the beam width was much wider, meaning a lower tolerance was required. Finally, the gold surface of the disc will have different characteristics to the modern silver surface.

All these factors put together could mean that the old gold PhotoCDs are not compatible with modern CD or DVD drives.

If you have any of the old gold coloured PhotoCDs, I’d dig them out and see if your computer can still read them. If not, find somebody with an older computer that can read them, and get the files copied onto a new CD or DVD.

In fact it’s worth making a copy even if your PC can read them. It’s always better to have a backup. And as technology changes and improves, you might find that some time in the future, you won’t be able to read them, and your pictures will effectively be lost.

The Xbox 360 Red Ring - Is It Really The End?

Lee McPherron — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:13:06 +0000

Congratulations, you have just joined the thirty per cent of Xbox 360 owners who are experiencing the red ring problem. This problem is very apparent when the screen turns blue and the message to contact xbox support or a disk read error will appear. You will also have the 3 flashing red rings instead of the normal green rings around the power button.

The Xbox 360 red ring is caused by a general hardware failure condition brought on by too much heat in the console box. Just like any high powered computer with advanced microelectronics, the Xbox 360 will generate a lot of heat internally.

The small case size of the console is also a part of the problem. The cooling fans do not circulate enough air flow to properly cool the chips on the computer mother board. Unlike a larger desktop computer, the small console does not have the capacity for large cooling heat sinks and fans. This causes the internal temperature to rise very fast. When the temperature gets too high, the computer goes into a “standby” mode and displays the 3 red rings.

Once your console is affected by the red rings, it is just a very expensive paperweight until repairs are made.
Microsoft has extended the warrenty on most Xbox 360 consoles for up to 3 years. If you are the original purchaser of the unit and have not opened the box you may have a shot at getting the problem fixed under the warrenty. Providing that you have the original paperwork of course.

Repairs usually take from four to eight weeks and can cost around $150 dollars if you are not under the extended warrenty. It will be up to you to pack, insure, and ship your console to the repair facility located in McAllen, Texas.

Click Here to learn a lot more about keeping your Xbox 360 playing those great games!!

Computer virus, Spyware and Adware - What Is The Difference?

Lesley Febis — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:58:20 +0000

Computer virus, spyware and adware share some similarity. All three are extremely irritant for surfers and other computer users. Let’s distinguish the three.

Spyware is software that does not purposely damage your hard disk. They make pathways in which someone else then the owner of the computer can be in touch with the computer. More often than not spyware record the diverse types of sites you go to. Afterward online marketers use these records to send you spam mails and pop-ups.

This is why computer users find spyware very irritating. They are more disturbing than adware. Spyware have their own unconnected executable software programs which let them look at applications that you are using. They also record your keystrokes after they scan the files on your hard disk.

Next the spyware sends the information that it had collected to the spyware programmer, often it is an online advertiser. The advertiser will then use this collected information for marketing and advertising purposes. In some cases the advertiser sells the information to companies that are looking for leads.

In contrast to spyware, adware is a more rightful form of free to download software. Just like spyware, adware contains software advertising programs. The difference is that adware installed itself on the computer after you have download software into your computer and spyware installed itself without any action of you.

There are also forms of adware that download marketing and advertising programs as a particular application is being utilized. It is very regrettable that the majority of the adware programs take the structure of spywares and that is track and report information from your computer to the programmer.

When Windows application takes too much time to load and unwanted pop-ads are coming up in front of your screen, it’s in 9 of the 10 cases a sign that your computer is infected with spyware.

Compared to spyware and adware viruses are super bad. A virus is a destructive form of software and is only create and design with the purpose to destroy whatever it comes in contact with. The nasty thing about viruses is that they replicate their self and this way they destroy as many elements of the computer’s operating system as possible.

These days, numerous anti-virus software programs also provide adware and spyware scanning and elimination functions. There are also some programs that are specialized in destroying adware and spyware programs. Both, Anti-virus software and anti-spyware/adware are dedicated to search your computer and identify any spyware and virus installed on your system.

They then get rid of it as well as their elements positioned in the system registry amongst other spaces in your computer. It is thus important to often update your spyware or virus scanner to make sure that your computer is protected against the millions of adware, spyware and viruses on the internet.

Don’t let the ads that claim that the download does not contain adware or spyware fool you. Learn how you can protect yourself against these spyware and adware. Be sure that your computer is protected with high quality antivirus and spyware/adware programs.

That’s why finding an anti adware and anti spyware program for your use must be a well researched project. You’ll need to take the time to fully learn about the product and you also must be alert for scam programs. But don’t worry! We have done the hard work for you.

We reviewed 15 registry programs - only 2 met our criteria- Ease of use, Improvement in PC Performance, Speed of Scan and Customer Support.

To read more about our review we invite you to visit our site.

Nintendo Wii - tips for installation

Michael Pratt — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:05:03 +0000

Before connecting you Nintendo Wii anywhere, decide first how you would like to position it. You can choose whether you want to lay it flat or let it stand vertically using the Wii console stand and plate that comes with the package. This allows you a little flexibility in terms of storage options so you won’t have a lot of concerns when it comes to space. An important thing to note though: position your Wii to allow enough space for the internal fan to work.

Plugging the console
Next, plug the AC cord into the input connector that is located at the back of the console. The Wii console has an AV (Audio/Video) Multi-Out plug that lets you connect to most TV and VCR units. Connect the Wii AV Cable plugs into the connectors on your TV. Take care to note the color code of the connectors: red for right audio input, white for left audio input and yellow for video input.

After the connectors are in place, turn on the TV and the Wii console. On the TV, look for Input Select, AUX for auxiliary or Source or EXT for external. Use the channel where you’re usually tuned in to view videos. Choose the Nintendo game.

Connecting to the VCR
If you want to use the VCR, set the unit to VCR and then put in a tape, press play and then press stop. The Wii game image should show up on the screen. If your speakers are plugged in, the sound should come out from there.

Locating the sensor bar
The Sensor Bar may be placed near the TV, ideally above or below the screen. Insert the Sensor plug into the Sensor connector found on the back of the console. However else you may wish to mount it, make sure the Sensor Bar is aligned close to the TV, preferably in front.

Check the System Setting of the console to ensure that the location option for the Sensor Bar is set accordingly. To check if the location is ideal, take note of the reception and make necessary adjustments.

Using the Wiimote
Two AA batteries are used with the Wiimote. Use the wrist strap to keep the remote snug and fit in your hand. There is no problem about synchronizing the Wiimote that already comes included in your package, but if you are using additional Wiimote units, you might need to synch them to use them properly.

To synch, you can use the standard mode or the one-time mode. The one-time mode is reserved for Wiimotes you don’t usually use with your console and the standard mode is used for additional units.

Career Oriented Online Computer Training

John Mahoney — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:29:29 +0000

Now, different categories of computer trainings are available online. Comparing to the classroom trainings, these online courses are economical and effective. Anyone who has a computer and an internet connection can endure these trainings. But most of the advanced computer trainings have the prerequisite of certain qualifications and experience. However in general, any one can appear for computer trainings which offer fundamental knowledge of computers. With the advent of internet technology, people from different parts of the world get closer and involve in various transactions and communications.

Importance of elementary computer training

Earlier, learning to read and write was considered as the basic objective through education. These days, emails, chats etc have replaced the conventional mode of communications like sending letters or telephone calls. In addition, any dealings can be performed through computer and internet. It is common that people depend on internet for daily activities like shopping, banking, entertainment, knowledge etc. Thus, learning basic computer skills and internet technology has become a requirement to survive in this IT era.

Institutions providing Online Computer training

Most of the people prefer online computer courses rather than classroom trainings. A substantial amount of commutation time can be saved by this mode. Another major advantage is the flexibility and comfort for the learning schedule through online option. Once enrolled for a computer course, you will get instructions and courseware from the institution and there will be tutors to assist you for the learning process. Most of the learning materials can be downloaded from the website of the e-learning providers. Online exams and assignments are provided by the authorities to assess the learners.

Advanced computer training through online courses

Information technology is advancing day by day. Most of the enterprise applications use advanced software and tools and hence, lots of job opportunities are available in the IT sector. The job prospects of candidates holding certifications and degrees are more in many multinational firms. Many employment firms are providing advanced computer training to their employees to update them with latest tools and technology. E-learning facilities are supported by many course providers due to its flexible nature. The certification courses provided by many leading multinational IT companies like ORACLE, SUN Microsystems, CISCO etc are very popular among employees and job seekers.

Computer training through software tutorials

Software tutorials are applications designed to train learners by giving step by step instructions. Anybody who has reasonable computer aptitude can learn any new tool using the software tutorials. A great advantage of this type of learning is that it can be done through self study. Most of these tutorials can be purchased online or most of then are available at major retail outlets. Comparing to online trainings, this mode of learning doesn’t require the presence of internet connections. Most of these computer trainings are highly interactive with graphics and multimedia. Computer training is now a compulsory factor for efficient communication and productivity to survive in the modern IT world. Exploring the world of computers and related technology can be done in a number of ways according to the interests and convenience of an individual.
About the Author:

John Mahoney is a freelance author who writes about various technology related subjects including Computer Training . For more information about John, visit his website: www.techstore.ie

MS Access Tip - Quick Cash Flow Calculator

Jon Watson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:55:18 +0000

Access Success Story: Document Scanner Interface

Access Tip: Quick “Cash Flow” analysis tool

This is a simple tool but very handy Access tool that you can use to estimate how your cash or budget is going to expend over time. I use it and it is pretty handy, especially if your deposits and debits are irregular.

To use the tool simply enter all of your credits and debits in the cash amount column along with the date that the transaction will occur. There is a place for a description of the transaction as well. For example, if you know your payroll each month, enter the amount ahead of time with the dates as negative amounts in the “cash” column. I estimate my expenses and other costs and enter those amounts as well. Now that I have my regular expenses entered I can instantly see the impact that a credit will have on my cash balance in the future, or see how long the money will last. Again, once the data is entered you can instantly get a look at the impact of a date change for a payment s going to affect your cash balance out in the future.

You can change any future amounts and edit dates then press button to recalculate the cash amount in your account and instantly get a preview/estimate of your cash flow into the future. Preparation: Create a table with these fields and attributes:

Id ……autonumber

Cash ….currency

Date ….Date/time

Balance..currency

Desc…..Text

Save the table as “cashflow”

Next create a form with “cashflow” as the record source. Use a continuous form and place all the fields from the cashflow table on the form. Place the field labels in the form header, place the fields in the detail section and place a button to click for the calculation also in the form header.

Use any descriptive text for the button and any labels you desire to fill out the form.

Select the form and make it active. Then set these values on the Data tab:

Record source = cashflow

Order by = cashflow.date

Allow filters = yes

Allow deletions = yes

Allow additions = yes

Data entry = no

Enter this code on the Event tab “On Click” Event on the button you created to perform the calculations.

Dim sql1 As String

Dim db1 As DAO.Database

Dim rec2 As DAO.Recordset

Dim amnt As Currency

Dim bal As Currency, newbal As Currency

Dim cnt As Integer, counter As Integer

DoCmd.Requery

newbal = 0

Set db1 = CurrentDb()

sql1 = “SELECT cashflow.id, cashflow.Cash, cashflow.date, cashflow.balance, cashflow.desc FROM cashflow;”

Set rec2 = db1.OpenRecordset(sql1, dbOpenDynaset)

rec2.MoveLast

cnt = rec2.RecordCount

rec2.MoveFirst

counter = 0

DoCmd.GoToRecord , , acFirst

Do Until counter = cnt

newbal = newbal + Cash

Me.Balance.Value = newbal

counter = counter + 1

DoCmd.GoToRecord , , acNext

Loop

rec2.Close

Save the form and give it a try.

Notes: Enter debits as negative values in the amount column. Note: that as you proceed through the year, the fields get locked for past dates to preserve the data.

You must set the Microsoft DAO 3.6 VBA reference for this example to work. Look in the toolbar for Tools/References when you have the VBA editor open and check the box labeled Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library.

Access Solution Success: Document Manager for Scanning system

Situation

This customer had a small shop that ran a service to scan paper documents by the pallet load and return them electronically archived on DVD’s. The scanning software did not provide a cost effective way to categorize and search for the documents once scanned and stored. The customers needed a way to quickly find documents or folders of documents by searching for dates, or names, or record numbers etc, either singularly or in any combination without having to buy the expensive document manager from the scanner manufacturer.

Solution

We developed and access database that would interface with the output file of the scanner and automatically index all of the files in an access table. Then we provided a robust search environment allowing the user to enter any combination of search strings to locate a document or folder on the DVD. Lastly we provided a way to display the files quickly using the standard windows picture viewer.

Benefits

Our customer was able to provide a free tool to her customers for search and retrieval and gain an edge on her competition and increasing her sales.

You can find more Access help from BioMation Systems at any of the following locations: http://www.accessdatabasehelp.com

http://www.accesshelpebook.com

http://www.biomationsystems.com/AccessTips.htm

BioMation Systems develops and implements custom database applications for businesses of all sizes that solve complex office automation and data management problems enabling our partners to focus more on growing their business and satisfying their customers.

The information in the Access tip is for educational purposes aimed at the novice to intermediate Access user. This tip worked as described on the computer systems at BioMation Systems using Access 2000 and is not supported.

BioMation Systems, Inc. www.biomationsystems.com

Jon Watson is the founder of Biomation Systems, Inc. With over 20 years experience helping Fortune 500 companies with process improvement he formed BioMation to bring the same expertise to smaller companies that need the same improvements at an affordable price.

Contact the Author

Jon Watson
jonw@biomationsystems.com

Keywords: Access tips, cash flow, ms access tips,