IN THIS ISSUE:
Thought For The Month The Laptop As Desktop
Mindware Email Support TOP Monthly Support Contracts
Things About TOP The 'Tech Line'
"Treat your computer password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it and get a new one every six months".
Mindware has an email address that should always be used by our customers for technical support - support@mindwarecorp.com to make certain that every employee at Mindware gets a copy of the email. All emails sent to this address are received by Archie Tucker, Connie Breon and Joanne Simmons, so you don't have to copy anyone else in the To address. This also helps to ensure your response is handled in a timely manner if one of our employees is out of the office.
Total Order Plus Monthly Support Contracts
Your Total Order Plus monthly support contract includes the following services:
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Free upgrades to the latest version of Total Order Plus |
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Technical support on all TOP software modules via phone, email and the Internet |
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Repairing any Total Order Plus software 'bugs' |
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800 toll free number and 24-hour answering service |
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New software features added to Total Order Plus |
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Support website www.mindwarecorp.com that includes accounting manuals in PDF format, electronic newsletters, TOP upgrades, UPS WorldShip files and interface, TOP latest features, links to customer and vendor websites, the latest news regarding TOP, hardware specifications and information on some of the latest hardware models available in the industry that will interface with TOP, etc. |
What your Total Order Plus monthly support contract DOES NOT include are:
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Adding hardware to your existing network (printers, monitors, etc.) |
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Changing printer configurations |
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Changing settings for new Internet connections |
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Windows issues |
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Adding new or modifying existing personal computer settings, user names and passwords, etc. |
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Sonicwall problems |
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UPS WorldShip issues |
Over the past year or two, the non-support contract issues are what we are spending all of our time on and therefore have not been able to enhance Total Order Plus to make your business more efficient. We cannot stay in business by providing support for these services for free. Some of our customers have been using their TOP support contract as a replacement for their own IT department. If enough customers want to pay Mindware for additional support, we could then afford to add the necessary resources to our staff.
Computers save businesses money but they have become more complex, requiring more expertise to maintain them. That is why many of our vendors offer support contracts directly to our customers to insure the security of your business needs. Basis International offers a SAM contract to cover any Business Basic problems and UPS ODBC driver licenses, Microlite offers a contract to ensure that BackupEdge software continues to provide a complete and verified nightly backup, SonicWall provides security with Gateway Security Suite and AntiVirus software and DTR provides hardware warranty contracts to cover your file server(s).
Customers have wondered why they need to purchase support contracts - you can ask yourself if it is worth having protection from viruses, spyware, content filtering from unwanted websites? Is it worth knowing that your data is secure and validated and knowing that you have access to your data right at your finger tips on a daily basis. Peace of mind is important and as with everything in life, there are pluses and minuses, and the pluses are to have your business enjoy the latest technology that only large corporations could afford only just a few years ago!
Please take a few minutes to offer feedback on this article to support@mindwarecorp.com.
Total Order Plus User Conference
Mindware Corporation will be having a user conference in Napa, California, over the Labor Day weekend. The dates for the conference will be September 1-3. Sunday, September 2, will include a tour of wine country. There is room for only four more people on the wine tour.
Anyone interested in this conference please email support@mindwarecorp.com. You can download the registration form by clicking on the Download Upgrades button on our home page.
Until now, conventional wisdom has held that in order to do heavy duty tasks on your computer at home, you must have a desktop personal computer. But with a slew of powerful notebook computers hitting the market, consumers may ditch their desktop and make their laptop as their primary home computer.
PC makers Acer, Inc., Sony Corporation and Hewlett Packard just this month unveiled laptops that rival desktops at performing multimedia tasks. Many of these notebooks use an Intel chip called Centrino Duo that offer greater processing power and faster wireless networking. Many of the new notebooks are known as 'desktop replacements', a category of laptops that have emerged in the last two years. These replacements usually have a minimum of a 17" screen, faster processor, more memory, a larger hard drive, Microsoft's Vista operating system and you can take them with you if you want!
Notebooks are projected to make up 51% of all PC's shipped world wide by 2011, up 37% from last year. They are expected to increase their share of the laptop market to 10% in 2011, up from 6.6% in 2006. Performance has dramatically increased on the laptops, allowing the notebook market to close the gap with the desktop market.
But before you decide to dump your desktop for a laptop, there are several considerations to consider. Desktop PC's still remain cheaper in price, laptops are more cumbersome because of their larger screen, they are not high-def enabled, cannot handle high-end designing for engineers or architects and of course, the battery life.
The Acer TravelMate is on the lower end of the price range around $1300.00. The specifications for the TM8210-6245 include 15.4" screen, 160GB Hard Drive, 1GB Memory, Radeon Graphics, Wireless LAN, 12.1 lbs., Video conferencing, Webcam, NIC card, 9-cell battery, 3.5 hour life and Windows XP.
By Joanne Simmons
We want to be able to add our own order types in Total Order Plus. Is this possible? We only have (O)rder and (Q)uotes set up at the present time.
Answer:
Total Order Plus provides an Order Type Maintenance in the O/E Options Menu window. You can set up any order type you need. You will notice that the order type is an option in Order Data Entry but not in Invoice Data Entry. If you want to be able to input or change an order type once an order is converted into an invoice, you can change the Order Type flag in Invoice Parameter Maintenance on the O/E Definition Menu.
Note: TOP has the following reserved order types: (O)rder, (W)ork order, (P)erforma, (Q)uote and (M)anufactured.
Remember When . . . . . . . .
1998 TOP User Conference - New Orleans
Things You May Not Know About TOP
Total Order Plus allows you to modify the screen colors to your own color combination. You can modify the screen background/foreground, the screen border and highlights, the screen heading, company name, color of the window and the window border and highlights and the messages. You can change colors per company so users can differentiate between company numbers. If you get a color combination that you do not like and want to restore the color, you can select (R)eset and the colors will default back to the original color settings.
To change colors in TOP, go to the TOP Main Menu --> Select System Utilities (Password: MCA) --> Select System Utility System Menu --> Select System Color Maintenance. As you scroll through each field, note the colors available on the bottom of your screen.
New Changes To Total Order Plus and UnForm
Changes to Total Order Plus and UnForm are made on a continual basis. We will keep you updated by listing the most recent changes in each of our newsletters. Following are the most recent:
TOP Enhancements:
| Added advanced options to the Item Royalty Report |
| Option added to Inventory discontinued items that allows you to set up an O/E Notepad specifying what item to use in the place of the discontinued item. You have the option to go ahead and use the discontinued item, use the replacement item or input a new item. |
UnForm Enhancements:
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UnForm 7 uses PostScript as well as PCL5 printer language
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Note: UnForm versions 4.X and 5.X are no longer supported by SDSI.
Toner Cartridges Available at Mindware
Toner cartridges for the Lexmark laser series can be ordered through Mindware Corporation. There are four cartridge price ranges for the Optra S, Optra E and the Optra T series, with prebate pricing for returned cartridges:
| Printer Cartridge | List | Prebate | Price |
| Optra S Series High Yield | 230.00 | Prebate | 200.00 |
| Optra T52x Series High Yield | 373.00 | Prebate | 325.00 |
| Optra T61x Series High Yield | 348.00 | Prebate | 285.00 |
| Optra T62x Series High Yield | 414.00 | Prebate | 360.00 |
To place an order call (800) 950-0401, fax (480) 718-7416 or email your order to: jsimmons@mindwarecorp.com.
Event Calendar
| Location |
Date |
| Independence Day | 07/04/2007 * |
| IMIA Show, Baltimore | 07/12/2007 |
| TOP Conference, Napa, CA | 09/01/2007 |
| Labor Day | 09/03/2007 * |
| Daylight Savings Ends | 11/04/2007 |
| Thanksgiving Day | 11/22/2007 * |
| Thanksgiving Holiday | 11/23/2007 * |
| Christmas Eve | 12/24/2007 |
| Christmas Day | 12/25/2007 * |
| New Year's Eve | 12/31/2007 |
| New Year's Day | 01/01/2008 * |
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* Mindware Closed
Send all TOP support emails to support@mindwarecorp.com
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