The blog from your trusted tech guys…
Tips and Tricks
The Joys (and pains) of Multiuser Mode in Quickbooks
Nov 12th
Sherry and I both have Quickbooks 2009 on our systems and we share one data file.
It’s a great system – Sherry takes care of the day to day invoicing, I can run reports, enter stock, and all those other Quickbooksey things that one does in the daily running of a business.
Sherry had been using an old Dell desktop since she started here over a year ago (I know, the cobbler’s kids have the worst shoes) and we finally built her a very nice replacement system. All the bells and whistles, including an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional – woohoo!
So we get the new system installed, all of her data transferred over, her Outlook up and running, MS Office up and running, Mozy backup setup, etc. and we get Quickbooks installed.
When running in multiuser mode Quickbooks requires one to run a little program called Quickbooks Database Server Manager – you simply run the program and it scans your drive for Quickbooks files that you wish to share. Easy peasy. We ran the program, it found the data file and we shared it.
Sherry opened up our company file in Quickbooks with no problem and set Quickbooks for multi-user mode.
I head back to my office to fire up Quickbooks – I have stock to receive, invoices to print and mail, it’s time to get to work!
Alas, Quickbooks has other plans. I can see the Quickbooks file on Sherry’s system but Quickbooks is not having any of it. Nuh-uh. No way. Not gonna happen. Quickbooks gleefully points out that it can’t open the file on Sherry’s system. I hear sounds Nelson on The Simpsons “Ha-ha“.
Quickbooks can’t open the file – it tells me that the file is not properly setup for sharing on Sherry’s system; it can’t connect.
Hrrrmmm.
Much troubleshooting ensued. Data file moved from Sherry’s machine to mine, new data shares setup on both systems, and so on.
What we ended up discovering was a nifty little utility from Intuit’s site for troubleshooting network connection issues from within Quickbooks. We downloaded and ran the tool and it generated two errors for us to research.
After a bit of research we the found the cause of the issue to be……
Undocumented ports that needed to be opened at the firewall! No really. That was the issue.
In all of the troubleshooting and knowledge base searching at Intuit’s site nowhere did we find any mention that certain ports needed to be opened on the firewall software in order for Quickbooks to function in a multi-user environment.
It seems that the Windows 7 firewall blocks these ports by default. The fix took all of 30 seconds to implement. Opened up the firewall on Sherry’s system and allowed access to ports 8019 and 55333.
We are quickbooking away now – woohoo!
-Daniel Scurlock
Scurlock Systems and Associates LLC
Feeling Bloated?
Mar 10th
So, you buy a new computer. You may wonder what all those programs that came with the system are used for. Consider this: they aren’t necessary. Most of the factory-installed programs are what are considered bloatware. Let me explain…
Software manufacturers are paid to design a good product that has good loading times. To achieve these loading times, they load a “launcher” which typically shows up as an icon in the tray (the area near the clock). In their ideal testing conditions, this speeds the launching process significantly. The unintended side effect is that if you get just a few of these programs, they start to slow the system down significantly, defeating their original purpose entirely.
Other instances of bloatware are little “extras” that manufacturers put on their systems such as games, trial programs, hotkey launchers, and things of that nature.
To combat this, we offer a remote cleanup service that eliminates this bloatware (among other things) and restores your system to a state that’s quite possibly faster than it was when you purchased it.
If you want to know more about bloatware and its’ problems, don’t hesitate to call Scurlock Systems at 972-633-1111. We’ll be glad to answer questions and clean up your system.
www.scurlocksystems.com
E-mail Security
Feb 12th
Dear Colleague/Friend/Family/Mom,
I love hearing from you and knowing you’re thinking of me. I’m flattered that you know my taste so well: I enjoy the strategic advice you’re forwarding about shopping mall parking lot safety and the pithy anecdotes about dogs getting into Heaven. However, regarding what are commonly referred to as chain e-mails? Please exclude me from your list of recipients. I rarely open them and I never pass them along to others.
This type of e-mail poses a threat to the security of my computer. One of the worst things a computer user can do is share her e-mail address with too many people, which gets it added into any number of address books.
Whenever an e-mail is forwarded to others, all the e-mail addresses that came before are also forwarded. Did you know that all of those people you sent the chain letter to now have my e-mail address? I would never share your e-mail address with anyone without your permission, and I hope that from now on you will return the favor.
Also, you’d be surprised at how many computers have some sort of malware residing on them. Many users don’t even know there is malware on their computer. Some of the sneakier malware harvests e-mail addresses from your address book and e-mail.
If you do want to send an e-mail to more than a few people, you can help protect those email addresses by using the BCC (blind carbon copy) field instead of the “To” or “CC” fields. This will hide multiple addresses from prying eyes.
And, by all means, please first check the validity of the story on a trusted web site such as: www.snopes.com.
Thanks for listening. I hope we can still be friends.