Computer Technology Support

All of us know that Microsoft bought former Great Plains Software and formed Microsoft (Great Plains) Business Solutions in the earlier 21st century. It was total success for GPS, we guess, but for Great Plains Dynamics / eEnterprise / Dynamics C/S clients it was the time of change. First of all – Great Plains Software, as being independent corporation in 1990th had to stake on certain future predictions. They decided that future should be based on these two basic principles:

• Database Independence. Nobody could predict if Microsoft, Ingress, Oracle, IBM DB2, Btrieve, Ctree/Faircom or somebody else from newcomers will win the market. In such a situation, if you are growing ERP publisher – you need to be flexible and have the ability to switch quickly from one DB platform to another

• Universal Graphical interface. Some illusions were related to 1972 invented C language – now it is clear that each computer manufacturer tries to stick standards to its own platform and universal graphics is somewhat no-one uses because of the slow performance. But it is seen now – not in 1990th
These two above principles resulted in creation of Great Plains Software development environment and language – Great Plains Dexterity. This is history.

Now let’s go to nowadays realities. We see large number of so-called orphan clients (who lapsed to pay annual enhancement/maintenance fee to Microsoft Business Solutions) and still sits on two legacy platforms (not supported anymore): Pervasive SQL 2000 and Ctree (we are not talking here about Great Plains Accounting – this ERP was phased out in 2001). We see common frustration, when something happens with performance, for example – these clients are trying to appeal to regular MBS VAR/Partner and figure out that the partner doesn’t have expertise to support this phased out platform. We’ll give you some hints, before you call the specialist:

• Pervasive SQL had multiple service packs and you probably have multiple CDs of various Pervasive versions in your library. Use the latest one to reload Pervasive for your workstations

• Pervasive SQL 2000 original (1999) should not be installed at all – it will not work if any service pack was applied from the server side

• Typical workstations slowdown issue is resolved by removing (on the workstations) these files: wbtrv32.dll, w32bticm.dll, and wbtr32.dll

• Expect old hardware and disk space issues – these could be monitored by IT department

Good luck with support and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is a Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( albaspectrum.com albaspectrum.com ) – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, Toronto, Montreal and having locations in multiple states and internationally

Occasionally video games are released that you just know will become classics. Like The Matrix of the movie world, sometimes a video game comes a long that brings a freshness that is totally satisfying. Not that they’re without flaws (we’ll come to those), but they’re special enough that you don’t really notice them. The Star Wars Legos games fit this bill, and in particular, LEGO Star Wars II. From the quirky, comical style of the game that sets the whole theme of the game, to the complex character interaction and multiple playing modes the video game is gaining a growing fan base. Notwithstanding the great features, there are also some annoyances worth mentioning. This article will provide an overview of the Lego Star Wars and some of the main features that are attracting fans from all over the globe.

If you were to summarize its main selling point, it would have to be the comical sense of fun the game creates. The whole idea of a video game based on lego characters based on a movie series has got to be a great starting point for a spoof game! From the way the classic scenes are done in a comic style to the way Chewie rips arms off the stormtroopers its pretty hard not to smile when playing the game. The graphics are just right too - somehow they’ve got the animation just right - they move just like you’d expect lego characters to move. Not that I’ve ever seen one move, of course.

Star Wars Lego II is suitable for adults and children alike and because it has multi-player multi-character functionality adults are able to jump in and help them out when required. Dedicated Star Wars fans will be delighted to hear that John Williams’ classic music accompanies the game as it moves through the different chapters and episodes. It covers episodes 4-6 and follows the movies quite faithfully in story mode.

The game has two main modes to play - story mode, where you can re-enact the scenes from the movie, and free-play mode. It probably takes about 5 hours of game time to complete all three episodes in story mode - but don’t fret, there is plenty of fun to be had in free play mode. In this mode you can move away from the script, so to speak, and use different or new characters in different roles and explore alternative areas within the game. Some characters can access special areas that may not be available in story mode. Ewoks, for example, can enter vents and hatches to areas that are inaccessible to others.

The characters are really the heart of the game. The way they interact and the way you are able to interact with them is what makes the starwarslegos.org” target=”_blank Star Wars Legos game so great. As you move through the episodes (or in free-play mode), you need to use different characters to solve different problems. Each character has a unique attribute - for example, Jedis can use The Force and droids can open certain doors. You play one character at a time and can switch between them to complete the various areas. More than one person can play at a time. You can even create you own characters - Han Solo’s head with Princess Leia’s body with Darth’s legs, if thats what turns you on. You can also name your characters.

Using a game save from the original Lego Star Wars will give you an additional 50 characters that you can unlock. You unlock characters and buy “cheats” by earning money, which is achieved by destroying the enemy or certain objects along the way.

There were a few issues when using the game. Probably the most annoying thing I found was the lack of control of the camera - a legacy from the original Star Wars Legos original game. Ol’ Chewie can be a bit annoying as he goes into arm-ripping mode just when you want him to be shooting out in a firefight. In fact, thats a general problem - characters go into close combat mode automatically and this can be a bit frustrating at times. If you’re busy blasting walls or whatever and your friend gets too close, you’ll find that you fry them as well.

My final point is to remember this game is about fun and entertainment. In reality there isn’t a great deal of challenge in the Star Wars Legos games. If you’re a hardcore, ultra-competitive gamer then this isn’t for you. If you want a good laugh and a bit of entertainment then you’ve got a winner here.

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I’ve used Norton Internet Security for as long as I can remember, and I consider it the best out of all that I’ve tried, I had a brief period when the firewall was playing up about 12 months ago but they soon updated it and it was sorted. It might be a resource hog but I’ve never noticed it, I lose about 1,000 in Aquamark once it’s installed.

People do have problems installing it, I’ve been asked on numerous occasions, to help people with installing the package, and on every occasion, the persons concerne haven’t read the instructions properly, Symantic could improve the install considerably.

Every time I have to reinstall Norton it was becomming a pain to do all the updates and whatnot. There are a couple easy steps you can take to update the CD with some newer files so you can bypass some of the updates later on.

First, you can update the “LiveUpdate file.” If you are currently running any Symantec product, odds are you have LiveUpdate. Might want to check what version you are running and update it if need-be. I found on a lot of my PCs I was running 2.6, and the latest version is 3.0.

Symantec Downloads Page: First, download the liveupdate .exe file: lusetup.exe

Second, download the Intelligent Updater Package, it would be under product updates Virus Definitions, just navigate to do it manually, it’s not too hard to find.

Then I copied my NIS 2005 Antispyware Edition CD to a directory on my PC. All the Antivirus / NIS have similar directory structures so it should be pretty generic to do this.

First, to update the live update file, navigate to the supportlupdate directory. Replace the lusteup.exe file.

Second, extract the Intelligent Updater Package, use winrar, it’s a sfx file. Inside those extracted files will be a virscan.zip file. Extract that file into its own directory. Compare those files you just extracted with the files in the virisde directory on the CD image. There should be the same number of files and names. Delete all the old files and the copy over the news ones.

That’s it, now burn that temp directory onto a new CD and your program is a little more up to date. This is especially useful if you want to do the pre-scan before installing norton.

In theory it would be possible to update some of the other things. Live Update keeps temporary files of everything you download, you just have to dig around in the documents & settings directory. You could then probably take those files, extract them, then update the corresponding files on the CD. But I find that having Live Update plus Virus Definitions up to date is the most critical. The rest of the updates are usually less than 5MB.

If you are having problems with your virus definitions updating, or live update in general, you can dowload the two files and it will update your existing install.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for pcsupplies.info/ PCSupplies.info/. PCSupplies.info carries the best selection of computer accessories and PC supplies on the market. Start shopping by category here: pcsupplies.info/menu/category.html PCSupplies.info/menu/category.html.