Software

Everyone in Europe who is currently using Internet Explorer as their main internet browsing program is powering on their computer to find a screen like this appearing on their screen. Without going into the details, this is the culmination of a dispute between the EU and Microsoft over its dominant position in internet browsing software. The outcome is that all of us here in Europe are being forced to choose a browser for our PC, even though most of us don’t really care that much as long as we can see our web pages. continue

In cases where you have an old McAfee backup disk but no longer have McAfee, don’t despair. McAfee provide a free tool which allows you to recover your data from a McAfee backup disk. It is located at http://us.mcafee.com/root/eol_mback.asp though at the moment it doesn’t appear to support Windows 7, so you’ll need to use a machine with either Windows XP or Vista.

Download the tool and install it. You might also have to install Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1 if you don’t already have it.

Then pop your backup disk in the your DVD drive and start it up. By default it will scan the DVD automatically and show you the difference between your system and the files that are backed up.

Be careful here, if you are restoring to a new machine, it will map the previous users path to your current path. So if your old path was, for example “Ted\My Music” and you do a restore to the “Simon” account, then the restored music files will appear in “Simon\My Music” unless you change the settings. Nevertheless, at least you get your files back…  So tick the boxes next to the files you wish to restore,  press  the “Restore” button and watch your files flood back in.

If you have any problems with these steps or any other problems please don’t hesitate to call one of our qualified engineers and technicians and we will be delighted to perform the required steps to deal with your problem.

| Lo-Call 1890 219 219 (Ireland) | Freefone 0808-CALHELP (UK) |

| Business Hours: Monday – Friday 9:45 to 6:30 & Saturday 9:00 to 12:00 |

On installing Windows 7 RC 1 on my PC the other day I  installed LogMeIn Free with no problems. On trying to access my home PC from a computer outside my network it denied me access even tho the password was the same.

It eventually locked me out.

 after a while I finally discovered what the issue was:

Usually with Windows XP and Windows Vista you only need your Login name and Password for that machine to gain remote control of that machine. But with Windows 7 you need to enter your “computername”/”user name” as your username for it to work for example look at the screenshot below

Username : Homehelptech-PC/David

Password: Letmein  (dont even try… its not my real password)

after this you should be able to access your Windows 7 machine. Good Luck!!

If you have any problems with these steps or any other problems please don’t hesitate to call one of our qualified engineers and technicians and we will be delighted to perform the required steps to deal with your problem.

| Lo-Call 1890 219 219 (Ireland) | Freefone 0808-CALHELP (UK) |

| Business Hours: Monday – Friday 9:45 to 6:30 & Saturday 9:00 to 12:00 |

For those customers in Ireland who use the Netgear DG834G v4, the most recent firmware version v5.01.14 claims to resolve a DSL problem specifically related to Irish connections. We recently upgraded a router to this version of firmware and it completely disrupted SIP based VOIP calls over the network concerned. The symptom is that you are unable to hear the person at the other end of the phone, even though they can hear you. There are also reports that it breaks skype. So if you use Skype or SIP based telephony, be wary of upgrading to this version of firmware.

Downgrading back to version 5.01.09 resolved our telephony problems.

If you have any problems with these steps or any other problems please don’t hesitate to call one of our qualified engineers and technicians and we will be delighted to perform the required steps to deal with your problem.

| Lo-Call 1890 219 219 (Ireland) | Freefone 0808-CALHELP (UK) |

| Business Hours: Monday – Friday 9:45 to 6:30 & Saturday 9:00 to 12:00 |

Business Accounting Packages

Sage is, of course, king of the small business accounting packages in Ireland but with the recession now in full swing, people have been asking about lower cost or free alternatives. With this in mind, it’s worth noting that there are finally some free small business accounting packages available on the Irish market.

TAS books now offers a basic accounting package, aptly named TAS Books Basic does the basics for a small business at no cost.

I can’t help suspecting that in offering a free basic package, TAS is “getting their retaliation in first” against the rumoured release of an international english edition of Microsoft Office Accounting Express which already free in the UK. This package is tightly integrated with the other Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft Office. There is also an easy upgrade path to the inexpensive Professional edition which scales to multi-person and server installations. In fact, the UK version is already quite usable in an Irish context and if you google around enough, it’s even possible to find an unsupported Euro configuration file for those who really want to use it.

Update 1st November 2009: Microsoft are exiting the UK accounting market and will not support Microsoft Office Accounting Express long term

Free Payroll Software

Also getting in on the free software act is Sage themselves, who now offer their Quickpay Free payroll software free for businesses with 1-3 users. Phone registration is required after which you can get free upgrades any time the PAYE/PRSI rules change. The downside of this product is that you will need to buy custom payroll stationery which can erode the value of the “free” offer.

Free payroll software

If you’d rather avoid the need to buy custom blank payslips, we’d recommend that you consider Thesaurus as a payroll package. Thesaurus is an Irish company and is generally considered easier to use than Sage Quickpay. Unfortunately there is no free version of Thesaurus, though there is a free trial available if you wish to try before you buy. The standard version costs €140 per annum. We are agents for Thesaurus, so if you wish to source a copy, do give us a call and we can help you.

Links

Links for each of these packages can be found below.

TAS Books Basic

Microsoft Office Accounting Express (link removed due to product discontinuance)

Quickpay Free

Thesaurus

If you have any problems with these steps or any other problems please don’t hesitate to call one of our qualified technicians and we will be delighted to perform the required steps to deal with your problem.

| Lo-Call 1890 219 219 |Business Hours: Monday – Friday 9:45 to 6:30 & Saturday 9:00 to 12:00 |