|
|
| Software Information |
|
|
|
|
Save Your Resources - Combine Your IM Clients
There are so many different programs that clutter up your desktop and icon bar, every program using up your precious resources! How much faster would your PC if you could run one single program as opposed to three or more instant messenger clients? Let me give you an example of how much resources are eaten up by using a couple of instant messenger (IM) clients. On a normal day I have two instant messenger clients running at any given time, both of these programs use up hard drive storage space, memory resources and cpu processes. MSN 7.0 loads roughly 14.5 megabytes in to memory as it's running, ICQ 5 Lite uses about 11.9 megabytes of ram. That's around 26 MB of ram that you are using just to have them sit idle in your icon tray! So these programs use three major resources on your system, memory, hard drive storage space, and cpu processes! If you computer isn't top of the line you might start to feel the lag caused by all these additional programs. Guess what? There is something you can do about it! Some people have developed their own instant messenger client that will let you combine other networks all in to one handy client! Linux has several really great programs that do this for your system, Gaim, and KoPete are two that I have used on a regular basis in the past. However, I never really found one that I liked for Windows, until just recently! I've been testing a copy of Instan-t Messenger v4.5 from Interactive Networks Inc. and quite frankly I believe it is the best combine messenger client that I've come across for Windows. Instan-t Messenger has many great features, as I mentioned above it combines several clients in to one handy client. Instan-t supports MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, and it's own network. I ran the Instan-t client with MSN, ICQ and their network loaded and it took up a mere 16.2 MB of memory while loaded, which is significantly less than running the other two clients! Instan-t Messenger is a great way to breathe a little life in to an older over tasked PC and give you an exciting new way to clean up some of those huge tray icons that seem to develop. It's about 6.2 MB to download their program, it's simple to install and is really worth checking out. My only critique of their program is the sorting options of contacts. I feel it's a bit clumsy and takes quite a bit of time to setup the way I want. Also, you can't "hide" offline clients, they just dim the icon. I hope that perhaps that can be rectified in future versions of this program. Happy IM'ing! Ken Dennis
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Microsoft CRM Integration with Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS) ? Overview Microsoft Client Relation Management system (Microsoft CRM) and Microsoft RMS are both Microsoft SQL Server based applications, however historically Microsoft was purchasing industry leading software applications, such as QuickSell which is now Microsoft RMS. So, RMS design fundamentals were minted a long time before Microsoft CRM. But, still integration between the two is straightforward and what you need is consultant, who is familiar with both systems structures and customization scenarios. Microsoft CRM is currently integrated with Microsoft Great Plains and will be integrated with Microsoft Navision in the close future, RMS integration is not planned to our knowledge, so you should seek third party solutions or create your own integration. We see the need for such the integration when you sell on account in RMS and have customer support call center automated with Microsoft CRM. Let us give you highlights: Microsoft Great Plains: Government & Non-Profit Organization ? Workflow Implementation Usually workflow & messaging is realized in CRM and then transactions are just logged into Accounting/ERP/MRP. In the case of Microsoft Business Solutions products: Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta the natural CRM choice would be Microsoft CRM. However typical CRM application targets Sales automation, which is usually not applicable to government structure, non-profit or public company (community services, public utilities, churches, charities, etc.). Not-for-profit organization needs purchasing and requisition workflow, payroll approval workflow, and in certain cases special General Ledger (GL) transactions workflow. Microsoft CRM doesn't provide the functionality. Then how could this be realized? We'll provide two scenarios to realize this customization: Selecting Corporate ERP: Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains ? Estimation Parameters As we could imagine, if you are reading this article ? you are in the decision making mode, probably replacing legacy system with the new one or abandoning either Unix/Mainframe or Apple direction for your corporation. In any case, nobody should make an outside influence on your decision ? you should be maximally objective. Let us give you our estimates and the parameters to check on the pool of the possible ERPs/MRPs. A Time-Saving Programming Tactic that Doesn?t Work Let's say that you have a software project that's under severe time pressure. Let's say that this deadline is so tight that you already know it will involve many late nights of black coffee and frenetic programming. What can you do to make this process go faster? Microsoft CRM: Data Conversion ? Import from Act! Best Software Act! is very popular CRM for small and mid-size organization. This system attracts business owner by its low price, plus system is very easy to use. However if your business is growing you should reach the moment to implement more advanced CRM solution. Natural question is ? how do we convert the data from Act! to new CRM solution and the mapping of your objects for conversion. You would probably like to avoid operator data entry with potential numerous errors and mistypes. Assuming that you are IT specialist, we'll give you technical side of Act to MS CRM data migration: Troubleshoot Windows with Task Manager Task Manager is a Windows system utility that displays thetasks or processes currently running on your computer. Toopen Task Manager, press Ctrl+Alt+Del. The Applcations tablists the applications currently running on your computer.A single application may actually consist of several runningprocesses, and many programs that run in the background arenot listed (you can see icons for some of these programs inthe System Tray). Windows Screensavers Explained In this article you will find some background information about screensavers and their history. You will also learn how Windows screensavers differ from other programs and how you can use it to your own advantage. Also there are some tips for users owning laptops, notebooks or CD-burning devices. Understanding Document Management The term "document management" and "paperless office" is the subject of countless articles and books. Everyone wants to achieve this lofty goal but not everyone understands what the terms really mean. Before you can embark on the journey of achieving total document management, it's important that you have a good basic knowledge of the terms and concepts that go with it. Professional XP Style Icons in Software and Website Development Using professional icons in your application or website can bring a modern and aesthetically pleasing appearance to your product or service. This will not only help you to attract potential customers but also give you that "edge" you need to stand out from your competitors. In an internet age, it's important that your interface looks professional or your potential buyer might move on without really giving your product a chance to prove itself. eConnect: eCommerce Development for Microsoft Great Plains Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has several options to enable web ordering. Traditionally Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise had eOrder ? this is ASP pages based ordering application, enabling you to place or retrieve your Sales Order Processing (SOP) Sales Orders over the web. There were several drawbacks however with eOrder. You should be the customer in Great Plains company database to be able placing the orders. Also if you were planning to customize eOrder ? you could only do cosmetic style changes only ? if you wanted to alter scripts on the ASP pages ? then you would have very serious eOrder upgrade issues. Upgrade simply wipes out your custom scripts and you had to reapply your customization to new version enriched ASP pages. Instead of following the way to move eOrder to ASPX or .Net platform ? MBS introduced eConnect, enabling web designer to "connect" eCommerce site to Great Plains backend. This is very elegant module and solution, however we are hearing a lot of complaints from developers on eConnect restrictions. Builders Beware Which Type of Shop Can Rely On A Home Built System? Microsoft CRM Customization Microsoft CRM customization techniques are very diversified and based on the whole spectrum of recent Microsoft technologies. The main terms you should know are: Microsoft CRM SDK 1.2 and Visual Studio.Net 2003. And of course you should be familiar with all the legacy internet technologies, such as HTML, XML, XSLT, JavaScript and be good C#/VB/Net developer. What You Should Know About Installing Screensavers Do you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an interesting screensaver and can't install it on your computer? This article will help you to never have it again. Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager: Using Continuum ? Overview for Developer Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has I'd say end user integration tool ? Great Plains Integration manager. Integration Manager itself uses OLE functionality to validate text or ODBC integration files data through Great Plains forms behind the scenes. This sounds very promising and powerful ? however the realities place the restrictions. We heard a lot of complains about Integration Manager slowness and inability to integrate data to multiple companies automatically ? without operator intervention. This is probably true if you do not have IM expertise in your company. However there are Microsoft Great Plains maestros who could make magic things happen Microsoft Blues With the advent of 'Service Pack 2' for Windows XP operating system, Microsoft have really made the forums hum. Microsoft Navision Customization and Reporting ? Tips For Programmer/IT Specialist C/SIDE (Client/Server Integrated Development Environment) - The core of Navision is the C/SIDE. C/SIDE is the foundation for all the business management functionality of Navision. It is made up of five building blocks, called object types, which are used to create the application. These five object types are shared throughout Navision to create every application area, and give it a unified, consistent interface. This powerful language allows for the internal construction of new business logic and sophisticated reporting. Because of the internal nature of modifications it's highly recommended that you develop all your code in "processing only" report objects and called from the native code base. By grouping all your code in logical units, upgrades and additional modifications are easier to manage. Databases ? How We Love to Hate Them! You've finally created databases that you can actually use to store and manipulate all your critical data. That's great news and quite an accomplishment. But in your rush to get your employees to start entering information into these databases, you skipped the training process and let them go at it alone. Basic Tips and tricks for Windows XP Running Applications in Compatibility Mode With Windows XP, you can run programs as if though they were being run under a different operating system. (This is known as "emulation".) Simply right-click a shortcut, select "Properties" and then check "Run in compatibility mode" and select the operating system you wish to make the program believe it is being run under. This fools or tricks the program into thinking you are really using a previous version of Windows, such as NT, 2000, 98, or 95. This is especially useful for certain games that won't run properly. Be careful *not* to use this with certain system utilities, such as antivirus, defrag, registry, and disk tool applications. ERP Implementation: Success Factors As seeing large number of implementations ? in our case these are Microsoft Business Solutions Products: Great Plains, MS CRM, Navision ? we would like to give you our opinion on what should you consider to do to secure implementation success. These principles should work as for large corporation as well as for midsize and even small business. We will not be talking about old-wisdom, which you know from the college classes or business school about management and staff involvement into the decision making, brainstorming, etc. ? we'll be ERP specific Lotus Domino: Reports and Connectors ? Crystal Reports, XML, ODBC/JDBC, OLE Lotus Notes Domino is very efficient in electronic document workflow automation. Unfortunately the electronic document workflow can not replace paper documents completely. For example some documents should be sent to your suppliers or customer in paper form. Lotus Notes (as a client) has built-in tools for printing documents, views and folders. But inbuilt Lotus Notes mechanisms providing such services as printing on the paper Domino database contents can not solve all reports generation objectives.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2005 |