Total Order Plus Newsletter Logo

 

IN THIS ISSUE:                                                                                                                              

Thought For The Month                          Maybe Win XP Deadline

Ban In-Flight Calls                                   Defrag Flash Drives                                             

Things About TOP                                   The 'Tech Line'                                                                          

horizontal rule

Thought For the Month

"The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory".

horizontal rule

Multiple Screens Open on Your Monitor

Now you can have a wider monitor on your PC that will help to increase productivity. As an example, you could have Total Order Plus and your email window on your screen at the same time. The new wide screen monitors will allow you to do just that. Below are the specifications for the new Acer 22" Wide Screen LCD Monitor:

The 22" LCD monitor has a resolution of 1680 x 1050, a 700.1 contract ratio, internal power adapter, VGA and HDCP support, black in color and a 3-year parts, labor and LCD warranty. It comes with a great price of just $259.00! Call Mindware if you are interested in this new concept.

horizontal rule

Please Ban In-Flight Cell Phones!

Say goodbye to one of the last remaining phone-free havens.

Emirates Airlines is outfitting its planes with technology that will allow passengers to use their mobile phones in flight. The system went into effect for the first time this week on an Airbus A340 flight between Dubai and Casablanca. Emirates is partnering on the project with AeroMobile, which has developed technology that allows cellular phones to work at a low-enough level that they don't risk interfering with a plane's other systems. Emirates is shelling out $27 million to roll the system out fleetwide.

Perhaps hoping to allay passenger fears about being stuck next to a cell phone-wielding Chatty Charlie on a 13-hour flight to Tokyo, Emirates says passengers will only be allowed to make five or six calls per flight. And they point out that flight crews will have the power to turn the system on and off as needed, making it less likely that the woman sitting in 26D is able to initiate a conference call at 3 in the morning. Plus, the airline will ask all passengers to switch their phones to silent or vibrate when they board. This is great because as you know, that works really well at the movies or in church!

The airlines have been threatening to do this for years. American Airlines has tested technology developed by Qualcomm, and Air France and bmi have also experimented with the in-flight calls.

Depending on your point of view, this is either a great step forward or just another reason to dread boarding an airplane!

horizontal rule

Should You Defrag Flash Drives?


Defragging speeds up a regular hard drive because of the way it works. The drive head has to move back and forth to read different parts of fragmented files, which slows things down. So defragging (moving all the parts of each file to be contiguous to each other) speeds up access.

Flash drives work very differently. They don't have drive heads or other moving parts and they can access a fragmented file just as quickly as one that's all contiguous. What's more, if you defrag a flash drive, you'll shorten its life because flash memory can only do a certain number of writes before it wears out. That's why you shouldn't defrag flash drives.

horizontal rule

Things You May Not Know About TOP

Several TOP customers have called recently to ask how to do a shutdown on their file server. One customer hadn't done a shut down in months! Periodically, perhaps monthly, a Unix file server needs to be shutdown to clear defunct jobs and to initialize all of the peripherals attached to the server. It is usually necessary to do a shutdown when a SonicWall attached to the server becomes unresponsive and TOP users cannot access the Internet or Mindware is unable to access their system through the SonicWall. Following is the correct procedure:

Prior to issuing the shutdown command, you must determine if all users have exited back to the SCO login prompt. Just because a workstation has been turned off, it doesn't necessarily mean that they have logged off properly. To start the system shutdown, enter the following commands:

Login: root
Password: xxxxxx (ask system supervisor)
# who

The system should only display one user being logged in and that should be root. You can re-enter the who command until you see that everyone has logged off properly. When you are ready to continue, issue this command:

# shutdown -g0 -y (0=zero minutes before shutdown)

Shutdown automatically executes the sync and haltsys command and can allow 0 to 15 minutes before the shutdown takes place, allowing users to complete the work they are doing prior to issuing the shutdown command.

 
The shutdown is complete when you see this prompt:
** Safe To Power Off **
or
** Press Any Key to Re-Boot **

If you are having problems with the Sonicwall, unplug the power to reset the unit and then proceed with the procedure.

Press the Enter key ----> Type CTRL+D keys to proceed with normal startup ---->
Press the Enter key at the system date and time display.
The system will automatically return each workstation to their SCO login prompt.
ALT+CTRL+F1 keys to return to the normal SCO Unix scosysv login prompt on the file server.

Note: If the system is shutdown incorrectly or loses power while users have data files open, there is a probability of damage being done to records within any given file, causing corrupt file integrity. You must either run a restore procedure from a backup processed before the shutdown or run file rebuild programs to try and correct the errors.

horizontal rule

June 30 Deadline for Windows XP - MAYBE!

Microsoft had made it official that there will be no new reprieves for Windows XP. Some customers and partners had been hoping the company might extend again the deadline for all PC makers to be allowed to preload Windows XP, rather then Windows Vista, on new PC's. But Microsoft officials have said the June 30 date would remain in place for the vast majority of machines - but they are now wondering if they should keep to that date.

Microsoft will still provide mainstream (free) support for XP until April 2009 and extended support (free for security fixes and paid for other help) will end in 2014.

horizontal rule

The 'Tech Line'

                      By Joanne Simmons   

Question:

Have you ever lost your mouse control and not have any way to move the cursor?

Answer:

With the popularity of wireless keyboards and mice on today's PCs, one of the downsides is when your wireless device loses its connection or has a dead battery, you are stuck.  The next time you find yourself without a mouse but need to move the cursor, remember this tip:

Press the Alt+Shift+NumLock keys all at once to launch the MouseKey box and press your Enter key.  This will convert your numeric keypad into a functional mouse.  When you want to go back, simply press the Alt+Shift+NumLock again and select Cancel.

horizontal rule

Picture of the Month

Todd and Janet, National Notary Association

                           

horizontal rule

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:

bulletAdded new G/L Prior Month Comparison report

UnForm Enhancements:

Note: UnForm versions 4.X, 5.X and 6.X are no longer supported by SDSI or Mindware Corporation.

horizontal rule

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:  support@mindwarecorp.

horizontal rule

Event Calendar

Location

Date

Father's Day 06/15/2008
Fourth of July 07/04/2008 *
Labor Day 09/01/2008 *
IMIA Indianapolis 09/04/2008
Thanksgiving Day 11/27/2008 *
Thanksgiving Day Holiday 11/28/2008
Christmas Eve 12/24/2008
Christmas Day 12/25/2008 *
New Year's Eve 12/31/2008
New Year's Day 01/01/2009 *

 

* Mindware Closed
Please note: Arizona does not observe daylight savings time. Mindware is on the same time as California while daylight savings time is in effect.

horizontal rule

 
bulletPhone:         800-950-0401
bulletFax:             480-718-7416
Mindware Corporation Support Website

Send all TOP support emails to support@mindwarecorp.com