Archives 2017

Summer vacation finally! I returned from college and enjoyed sweet family life. But there is a little trouble with my computer. Today when I attempted to logon my home computer, I found I could not remember the password (which was set almost one year ago) at all. I did have a Windows password reset disk with me when I bought the computer, but at this critical time, it could not be found anywhere. So I had to try several ways including the password hint, but this did not work. Then I tried using Ophcrack, which was recommended by my brother, to reset Windows 8 password.

My brother recommended it as “very easy to use”. He said he had used it before and it worked very well and effectively. He gave me an ISO image CD and my computer booted from this CD. Then the Ophcrack program started. It began recovering passwords after locating all Windows user accounts. Honestly, all work was completed automatically and very easy to use indeed.

I had hoped that I could get access to my computer after seconds or at most several minutes, because my brother said this program only took several seconds to recover his lost password. However, to my great disappointment, after more than 15 minutes, the password recovery work was still “in progress” and there was no sign of quick recovery soon. I felt very puzzled. Ophcrack did not seem to work very well with my Windows account.

Why? What could I do?

So I called the company’s consumer service hotline, and got the explanation. The consumers service staff told me how long it takes Ophcrack to reset Windows password depends on the complexity, i.e. the type and length of the password. For example, a password made up of 6 simple characters can be recovered very quickly while a 12-digit complicated one containing numbers and special symbols can take much longer. Although most users give back positive feedback of fast recovery, some very complicated Windows password recovery does take a very long time, maybe days or even weeks. He said that the software could not complete password recovery within a short time because of the nature of my password, maybe it was set too complicated or too long.

The consumer service staff also said that Ophcrack can’t be 100% successful at finding every password because some computer users tend to set their password too complicated or too long (just like me). He recommended that if this software did not work very well with my computer, maybe I could try out other password recovery tools because Ophcrack worked by actually “recovering” the password while there are other tools which “delete” the password and allow users to get access to the computer account without a password and then set their own password afterwards.

I thought about this and decided to give Ophcrack a little more time. So I went out shopping and when I come back for dinner after two hours, I found Ophcrack had got the password back for me. I looked at this recovered password. Admittedly, it was a complicated one. And I Wondered how I managed to find such a complicated password for my computer at that time.

Yes, just as one coin has two sides, having a complicated Windows password has two sides too. It can help prevent unauthorized users snoop into your computer, and become a big problem for yourself when you forget your Windows password. I guess maybe next time I should try to set my Windows password a little bit easier to remember. Although password recovery software is effective and convenient, I figure the best solution is to keep passwords well in my heart at any time.

Source by Walker Stewart

With the advancement of the technology, the innovations have advanced as well and have been helping us in our day to day lives. Microsoft hosted SharePoint web site is one of the latest of these kinds of innovations. SharePoint workflow helps the workers to effectively collaborate on different tasks and projects. SharePoint 3.0 hosting includes a particular component known as ‘workflow foundation’ which is known for providing the backbone for all the applications it has. This appears in 3 distinct forms:

· Readymade SharePoint workflows which are built in the product (suitable for people those who have limited literacy in computer).

· Workflows which are open to customization by the use of SharePoint designer – it is similar to Microsoft FrontPage (suitable for those who have moderate computer literacy).

· Workflows having custom applications which are programmable using visual studio and the .NET framework. (Suitable only for advanced computer users).

The best part as evident is that it caters to all the levels of computer literacy, for instance, beginners, intermediate users and advanced users. This feature allows the organizations to customize the work flows according to the needs and competency of the workers and meet the ever changing needs of the work environment.

People who want to implement SharePoint WSS 3.0 hosting, they have two options open. They need to have a dedicated server, which can be housed within the organization or, outsourced to a SharePoint Server hosting provider. The basic essence of the SharePoint work flow is to increase the collaboration among the users. This is because of the fact that not all workers will have same competency level and they will need some way or the other to increase the efficiency of the workers with increased collaboration. For organizations, it is time to revamp the work space and enjoy more organized work than ever before.

Source by Adrian Gates

When you want to reset your computer modifications to the factory default or remove trail versions but face the problem of “Bootstrapper has stopped working” or “Error 40” then here are the possible solutions to fix it.

If “Data Execution Prevention” (DEP) is turned on for all program and services with Windows Vista or Windows 2003, that might be the cause of the problem. If you check your DEP settings to make it turned on for the selected programs and services, that might help you to resolve this problem.

In order to change the settings for DEP, you have to follow the following steps. Go to the control panel and click on the system icon. In the left pane click Advance system settings; you will get a popup window, prompting you to verify that you want to continue, click on yes. Then go to the settings, a button under performance on the advanced tab of the system properties screen that is displayed.

Check if the box is selected for “turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select”, then you need to change the setting to “turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services”. If that does not work then go to the same properties again and add “autorun.exe” to the exception list. To add “autorun.exe” to the list, you have to click add button at the bottom of the screen. You will find an Open dialogue where you have to navigate to the folder that has “autosun.exe” and select the program.

Once you have either selected the different box for DEP or added “autorun.exe” to the list click OK button. You will have to restart Windows to let the changes takes effect. These steps should allow the installation to run the boot system software. After doing these steps and installation is complete, don’t forget to remove the “autorun.exe” from the list, added to the list above, as it creates a security hazard.

Source by Celly Kayser

The Cloud means different things to different people.  Everyone has their own views of the Cloud and myriad usage patterns have evolved, even while new and innovative options are emerging everyday.

So in essence, the Cloud is an environment where all aspects of computing are availed of as a service and consumers, be they individuals or business entities, do not own any part of it.  To host and run a small application, all areas of the computing infrastructure come into play, such as the infrastructure in terms of the server and storage; the application components, including the web/application server; and the actual application, which either has to be built in-house or purchased from a vendor and customized if necessary.  After the initial application is built and hosted, then other aspects come into play, such as ongoing maintenance in terms of bug fixes, upgrades, maintenance etc.

The Cloud offers three primary service options, which can be mixed and matched as per your unique requirements:

–          SaaS:  Software as a Service

–          PaaS:  Platform as a Service

–          IaaS:  Infrastructure as a Service.

Today, all of these aspects are available off premises via the Cloud. There are options to avail of pre-built solutions that are hosted on platforms from SaaS providers.  Or, if you want to customize and/or build your own application then PaaS platforms are available, in which case capital costs in terms of server, storage, and application license costs are totally eliminated and the same application is provided as a service either on a per transaction, pay per use or subscription basis.  Many larger organizations are leveraging the third option—IaaS—in order to incorporate virtualized scalability and availability into their core business applications without having to utilize their whole IT budget and server storage space just to manage peak loads.

Now let us study how different users avail the Cloud and what benefits they derive out of it.

a.        End Users: The end user is an individual who is availing the Cloud for his own personal use.  Most end users probably don’t even realize they are using Cloud-based applications.  A typical usage scenario could be doing a Google search to find out Thai Restaurants in your neighborhood or availing of an online application to have your taxes done.  In both cases, the application is hosted in a Cloud environment, and, in the former, the service is free, while in the latter, there may be a per-use charge or a subscription.

The key driving factors for end users to use the Cloud are:

–          Location independent access to application functionality

–          Cost effective and innovative payment models

–          Low barriers for entry

b.       Developers: This community will typically look for platforms that will provide the entire infrastructure needed for off premises product development—or the typical PaaS environment where complete platforms including the tools and APIs needed to build applications from scratch are available.

c.       CIO/IT: IT Organizations, depending on their size and budgets can run the gamut in terms of Cloud consumption, deployment and service models.   There are organizations that can consume as well as provide all the types of Cloud patterns such as SaaS, IaaS and PaaS.

d. Cloud Service Providers: The early adopters of these various strategies of SaaS, IaaS and PaaS are now leaders in their respective spaces, but there are a lot of new entrants and there is still a lot of scope in all areas—especially Cloud Services Aggregation.

e.      Cloud Integrators: With myriad options presented to users and CIOs everyday and the rate at which the Cloud space is growing and evolving, it is no longer an easy decision when it comes to determining the most leveraged short-term and best long-term approach to the Cloud.

Source by tajinder

Drake tax software is one of the most affordable and features rich tax return filing application available for tax planners. But most importantly drake tax software offers full financial management options with its vast number of add-ons, diverse forms and import/export features compatible with large number of accounting and CRM applications.

Many tax preparers have realized the benefits of having tax preparation software hosted in the cloud environment with benefits such as anytime anywhere data accessibility, collaboration and security of the data. Before going into the details of benefits of Drake tax software hosting here are the list of some Drake features that are very useful for the tax preparers.

• Diverse number of forms:  Drake tax software includes the most comprehensive list of tax forms and state specific forms to help tax preparers. Further the tax software offers comprehensive tax research features for tax planning for the clients.

• Easy Export and import of data: Of all the tax software, Drake tax application is the most comprehensive in terms of import and export of data from diverse application be it they accounting or  CRM application and in the process saving data entry time and costs. Not only excel import bust also scanned document data can be imported to the Drake tax application.

• Drake Add-ons: Drake provides a large number of Add-ons to make the tax practice both faster and to offer diverse range of services for their clients. The add-ons include drake tax planner, Drake document management systems, client write ups and payroll applications.

Drake Tax preparation in the cloud environment

The efficiency of tax return filing process and use of the other features of the Drake Tax program can be considerably enhanced if the Tax application is accessed through third party terminal servers or cloud servers. This means hosting the database on third party terminal servers and accessing the application as a local desktop interface instead of that on Local LAN. The benefits of Drake tax Application hosting are:

Cost Reduction: Application lifetime costs may involve software licenses, servers installations, occasional upgrades and technical support costs. With Drake accessed on a  terminal server there is no need to install local network, neither there is any requirement of dedicated technical support professional as IT help desk is provided by the service provider.

No IT obsoleteness: Since the local IT infrastructure needs are considerably reduced, Drake Tax software hosting also means that obsoleteness of the IT infrastructure is a thing of the past. With the application installed and run on the latest terminal server, users have the advantage of access to most advanced technology without any upfront costs involved.

Reacting to the market forces swiftly: Since the cloud hosting services are available on demand and the infrastructure bought at a short notice the tax preparers are able to cater well to the increased demand during the tax preparation season without any additional IT costs involved. Further they have to buy the services only when they need and hence further save IT costs for unutilized IT Infrastructure.

Collaboration and sharing with Drake Tax software hosting

A major handicap for the mobile tax professional is the inability to access the tax application beyond the LAN or the office premises. With Drake tax software hosting not only they can share and collaborate with other users in real time but also share, review and oversee what changes are made to the files by different users.

Collaboration feature allow the tax professional to:

• Have better clients interaction and available to troubleshoot clients issues  or share files with them from anywhere remotely not necessitating one to one physical interaction and thus saving both time and transportation costs.
• Use outsourced cheap labour for tax season and still being able to keep a tab on the quality of work done or the progress of the tax preparation process through real time collaboration.

Drake Tax application hosting and financial data security

Remote data backup is more secure than the local back up as:

• Data is stored in multiple locations automatically on a daily basis in case of remote backup which may not be possible in case of locally backed data due to unavailability of technical professionals.
• Monitoring of the local network for security threats may involve dedicated IT professionals and thus involving recurring costs which can be easily possible and in more comprehensive ways in a hosted environment.

Multiple Applications hosting in an integrated manner with Drake Tax software

Drake tax software not only comes with most comprehensive list of Add-ons bust is also easily integrated with many other applications in comprehensive manner for easy import and export of data to enable financial consultants to offer diverse solution to their clients and thereby increasing business profitability. Drake tax software can be integrated with accounting software such as QuickBooks and Peachtree as well as CRM software such as ACT! By sage.

Source by williamsmith

On-premise and hosted are the two main classes of customer relationship management solutions available today. Although the tools offered by both of them are almost the same there are many differences in terms of cost, implementation, performance and customization. This article will help you to know both on-premise and hosted CRM solutions are differentiate between them, and can guide to choose the right CRM for your business area.

On-premise CRM solutions are licensed stand-alone locally managed customer relationship management solutions. Companies purchase them from the software providers and install the on client/company computers to run special tasks. Hosted CRM solutions are on the other hand mostly open-source remotely manage ready-to-go solutions. They do not require purchasing, the CRM vendors allow the users to use solutions installed on their computer by charging a monthly usage fee. Hosted CRM solutions are the typical example of Software-as-a-Service or SaaS.

The difference between on-premise and hosted CRM solutions are increasing day by day. It is estimated that most small to medium size businesses prefer hosted solutions and large one prefer on-premise solutions. There are many reasons for it. And below are some most prominent ones.

We will start with cost, the most important factor in any business. Large corporations usually have good financial background are can afford great initial investments for purchasing and implementing the software, and also for setting-up servers, databases and internal networks. They usually have hundreds or thousands of users, which rules out the opportunity to subscribe software with monthly fee per user. Hosted CRM solutions do not require any upfront investment or maintenance cost. The limited number of users in small scale companies makes hosted CRM an excellent choice to avoid large-scale investments.

The second factor to consider is the data security and data back-up. On-premise systems do not require any intra-company data transfer, except those initiated by the user himself. All documents are saved and treated in local database which greatly enhances the data security, which is very important for many big companies. On the other hand small scale businesses do not have that much important data; so they can host this data in a remote database, which is maintained by the vendor. Hosted CRM solutions offer almost same level of data security as on-premise systems by using secured data transfer pathways and encrypted data.

Other reasons include technical knowledge and easy to implement. On-premise CRM implementation require the assistance of some skilled workers who are good in software development and network administration. The implementation period is also fairly lengthy for on-premise systems. These two factors work against small businesses. Hosted CRM solutions use web based graphically enhanced easy-to-follow interface for software implementation and are ready-to-go systems, just after the completion of sign-up process.

Source by Praveen Ortec

Gone are the days when companies just developed web sites and were able to survive. In today’s changing times, custom web development and custom software solutions are required to meet the specific needs and requirements of clients. The emphasis is on providing tailor-made solutions to meet the customer requirements and mechanize business processes.

Custom software development includes, the development of portals, document management solutions, e-commerce applications, business application and computerization software, custom software solutions and online applications supporting business-to-business collaborations. No matter what the project entails – whether it’s a custom application, a complex IT solution or a remodel of an existing network structure – the Software Development Company should be able to create a development composition that will provide the client with the value, timeline and the budget they need.

In assessing the project requirements the company should work closely with client to map project specifications and make tangible recommendations concerning the ideal development environment, whether it involves domestic resources, offshore capabilities or a combination of the two. Apart from the custom software solution developed by the best talents available in the industry, the solutions should be affordable, practical, and efficient. By leveraging the immense power of the Internet, companies have succeeded in creating virtual offices resulting in increased productivity and overall efficiency improvement.

The expertise to use latest programming language tools and platforms for client-server applications allows companies to be flexible and explore the pro’s and cons of a solution before recommending it to the client. These custom solutions not only establish an identity for its clients on the Internet, but also help in increased sales by traffic generation and brand promotion on the web. The customers range from medium scale companies trying to establish an online identity to large corporate houses focusing on enhancing their online existence. The key is to work with clients to convert their idea into a usable, practical, secure and cost effective solution.

Custom Software development starts from analyzing the business needs, documentation, and consultation to project delivery, implementation and on-going support, following standard development life cycle processes at each stage of the project. The stress is on delivering tailored, cost-effective, high quality scalable custom solutions that perform. The relationship and cooperation between the developers and clients should be given due recognition. The negotiation process itself should be viewed as a means of achieving and maintaining a viable relationship. A reputed IT solution provider believes in putting their main strength of application development to optimum use and promotes recognition of people as the primary drivers of project success coupled with effectiveness and adaptability in their work methods.

A reputed company relies on cutting-edge tools and technologies to provide solutions in domains such as engineering, hospitality, manufacturing and accountancy to name a few. Successful project is not only a result of good planning and clever management; it is also a result of insightful communication with the client and understanding his needs. The development process should be established in a way that the clients can control any stage of project implementation. Every step should be negotiable. A risk list should be maintained and developed for all critical projects and honest realistic reports about status of identified risks and any issues that can affect project deadline should be reported. The development process should be well documented, so it is easy to control remote projects.

Source by DeepRaj Srivastava

Police force, doctors, and fire brigade men are most wanted during an emergency. A sergeant on duty would roll up his sleeves and be ready at all times in case a frantic call for help. To meet up this sudden demand, the surveillance department uses cell phones to track people who seek their help during emergencies. These special mobile phones are technologically powerful with a mobile phone tracking system to locate people quickly and accurately.

GPS Tracking Technology

The technology that is used in tracking people, automobiles, objects located anywhere on the earth is Global Positioning System (GPS). The know-how uses satellite signals to locate the distance between the object and the satellite and the time when the measurement was done.

Although invented for US Defense team, the concept has found immense use in the mobile phone tracking system. As the signal used in GPS methodology can go through tangible and opaque objects, it is simply effective way to locate cell phones that may be kept in a pocket, suitcase, or wrapped up in a cloth.

Different Tracking System

Different handsets are compatible with different mobile phone tracking system. For instance, there is network-based GSM Mobile Phone Tracking System that uses the network of the mobile service provider to locate phones. A handset-based GSM Mobile Phone Tracking System would use the handset’s identification, strength of its signals, and latitude-cum-longitude of the earth’s axis to locate objects. Hybrid GSM Mobile Phone Tracking System has the capacity of using both network and handset tracking system to track the mobile phone.

Uses of Mobile Phone Tracking Know-How

Locating a mobile phone is the most essential use of a mobile phone tracking system. One can find out the phone and consequently, its user through GPS technology. However, this is not the only utility of the tracking system. Other benefits include capturing of photos, videos of a memorable holiday trip.

In fact, many holiday enthusiasts use the mobile phone tracking system to find out locations of trips using Google Earth and 3D maps. You may also share data while you are traveling through GPS mobile phone tracking utility.

Today, mobile phone tracking system is used even in corporate sector where the management intends to know the exact location of a worker. It is quite effective, affordable, and efficiently manageable. When one needs to save time and reduce work pressure, mobile phone tracking tool is a wonderful means to make this effort a reality.

Future

GPS-enabled mobile phone tracking system has a bright future. It has already made its way into the tracking system for serious and recreation works. If the tool is picked up from an excellent firm, it can be unique in itself, reliable to the users, and effective in users’ requirements.

So, next time your child goes for an excursion or trekking trip to a remote area, don’t lose your sleep. Track your child with the mobile phone tracking system. Similarly, you can also find out what your sales guy is up to during an outdoor session.

Be sure to get all this and much more – through mobile phone tracking system.

Source by I Mobile Phone Tracking