All posts by DigitalNetHosting

Windows 7 continues using a registry similar to that of windows XP. In the same way, with frequent installing or removing Programs, the registry will keep bloating, which will not only be a waste of hard disk space, but will affect system boot speed and the efficiency of the registry access in programs running. So, the first thing to maintain the registry is cleaning up it. I will introduce two ways.

Method 1:Clean up registry manually, which contains 5 steps

Method 2 Clean up registry by a professional registry cleaner

Method 1: Clean up registry manually

Step 1: Rebuild registry

The registry file use a way similar to database records that when delete a key at a certain time, just removed the logo, but not the actual information. The information is still retained in the registry file; of course, the space occupied by the key will not be released. After a period of time, the registry will be significant growth in volume. However, rebuilding the registry is a good method to reduce the volume of registry.

First, click START menu, run the regedit program, export the whole registry from the Registry menu and then save it as new.reg. Then go into the state of pure DOS by using use DOS boot disk, and rebuild the registry through the command “C: Windows regedit / c new.reg”. The parameter “/ c” express that re-generate the entire registry from the specified file in the later. The reconstruction of the registry files are often much smaller than the original ones, so you can optimize the registry.

Step 2: Delete useless registry files

There are many useless programs in Windows registry. You can find and delete those sub keys which have been deleted under primary keys “HKET_LOCAL_MACHINESoftware” and “HKET_CURRENT_USERSoftware. And you can also delete unnecessary key values. For example, you can delete languages and input methods under the primary key “HKET_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlKeyboardlayouts”.

Step 3: Remove invalid files association

The contents related with files association the registry file are stored in the key “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT”, whose “a-z” section is used to define the file type and “A-Z” section is used to record the application that open the files. Generally speaking, when the second section of the keys opens a suspicious key, if there is no content in sub key, then this key is empty.

Step 4: Remove rudimental key of uninstalled software

Much software will leave some useless information in the registry files after uninstallation. They are generally stored in the keys “HLEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software” and “HKEY_CURRENT_USERS _T (Software AppEvents EventsLabels . Default”. You can find and completely remove the residual information of the uninstalled software.

Step 5: Delete redundant DLL files

A number of useless DLL file information or VxD file information can be found through registry, after delete which the system can improve the operation efficiency . The specific approach is to open key “KHEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software Microsoft CurrentVersion SharedDLLS” in the registry, the project under the sub-key contains the number of applications that shared this DLL files. If a DLL file corresponding to the number zero, it means that it is no longer useful to system, you can delete it without worry.

Method 2:Clean up registry by a professional registry cleaner

The method 1 seems too complicated to many people who are unfamiliar with windows registry. They may easily remove important keys. The best choice I think is to use a professional registry cleaner.

To choose a registry cleaner, the most important thing is that it should be a safe and stable one to operating system. It won’t delete useful files from our computers and then strongly impact computer performance. It should have a powerful function of fixing registry errors and optimizing registry. Personally, I like Wondershare registry optimizer which has integrated functions like clean and optimize registry, IE manager, Stat up manager, uninstall manager and back up tools. It is very easy to use, just click START button, your registry will be clean up soon. What’s more, you can use its additional functions to optimize registry and system. For example, Wondershare registry optimizer has a fixing function, by which you can fix registry errors.

It is very easy to use, and can be divided into 4 parts: registry cleaner, privacy cleaner, shortcuts cleaner and restore.

I will introduce the operation of the main cleaning function.

registry cleaner is used to scan and clean your cluttered registry. Simply click the scan button to run a comprehensive or customized scanning through Windows registry.

After scanning your Registry, there will be a brief report for it. Click Continue button to clean the unnecessary information.

Click continue button, you will see all errors with different risk ranks and you can choose to repair them or not.

Click repair button, you will see the same dialogue window like the below one. You have easily and quickly fix all your registry errors.

The registry optimizer can also optimize system, clean privacy, remove useless shortcuts, and make backup for your computer. If you want to know more information about it, just have a try.

Source by Samaire Cage

MSSQL 2005 and 2008 get famed in software development industry as well as these database management applications are responsible to handle huge databases that further leads to make the businesses smooth. SQL database can easily used via technical person having complete know-how about database management but, when untrained users utilize SQL database then chances of data loss or destruction get increased. Problems in SQL databases are reflected via systems with an error code. Different issues over there that are recognized as erroneous messages in SQL databases and all these reflect that SQL database is not in healthy state. SQL Database Recovery with technically sound application to recovery SQL database is the only solution of the problem. This article includes problems that affect SQL files as well as it also contained proper and effective solution for issues in SQL files.

Some Errors- Responsible To Pull SQL Users In SQL Server Data Recovery Need In this section we included some errors due to which SQL files reach to inaccessibility as well as we also included explanations for the same errors.
• “Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.” This error displayed by computer screen when Server firewall refuses the connection of SQL.

• “An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections.” This error knocks the door due to various reasons and all the causes cannot be explained here.

• “A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the login process.” The message you will surely get once while using SQL databases, establishing SQL Server area configuration to find out and approve remote connections is the only solution for this problem.

• “Could not obtain exclusive lock on database ‘%.*ls’. Retry the operation later.” This error can also pull you in SQL server file recovery need. You can avoid this error via removal of all other connections established with the specific database. Many other errors over there that force you to SQL Server recover MDF file, we have listed here only those that are commonly seen by SQL users.

Want To Revive SQL Data without Any Annoyance MS SQL Recovery is one of the top-most applications designed with the purpose to perform SQL database recovery properly and intelligently. This application has expertise to resolve all errors in SQL databases without investment of extra efforts. Whether you have created SQL database in SQL Server 2005, 2008 or any other, this application is wrapped up with unfailing abilities for SQL database revival so, SQL Recovery for any version is possible with this utility.

Source by Fadric

The following tutorial shows you how to export image frames from flv videos and save them as jpeg, png and even pdf formats

Assuming you have a HD flv movie video, you want to capture some frames from it (if you don’t know how to get a HD flv video, you can use 7isv Flash Video Converter, a software that can help you convert videos from other formats to HD flv ones)

Let’s take the Iron ManTM trailer for example.

1. Open vob video file from dvd disk by clicking the FILE -> OPEN or the OPEN button directly,

2. You’ll see 7 thumbnails on the bottom of the main window of IM Video Image Capture,

3. In most cases, you can click on the thumbnail to select to the frame, But if you want to be more accurate about location, you can drag the slider directly to the frame. In addition, you can also click the STEP ONE FRAME button or just move frames with the keyboard direction keys,

4, Create a new category for the video, or use an existing one,

5, Seek your favorite frame and click the CAPTURE button to capture it,

6, Click the OK button to save captured frame into built-in image library,

7, Now you can find it in the image library,

8, Right-click on the image and select SAVE menu item to save the frame as bmp, jpeg or png images,

9, You can also export the frame as PDF, or windows wallpaper directly, or even you can export the whole category to an online album.

Thanks for your watching!

Source by Ken Thomas

Web  site and application code is becoming progressively more intricate. Dynamic Web sites and applications might contain defective code that leaks memory or causes errors such as access violations. Therefore, a Web server Application must be able to handle active manager of the application and able to handle runtime error and detect send response automatically to application server.

Microsoft includes unique capabilities for server administrators intended to appeal to Internet service providers (ISPs). It includes a single window (or “console”) from which all services and users can be administered. It’s intended to be simple to add components as snap-ins that you didn’t at first install. The administrative windows can be customized for access by individual custom

Use the following checklists given below to ensure that you have correctly implemented all security settings and actions given

Configuring Active Directory IIS Server OU Structure

• Create the IIS Servers OU.
• Create the Incremental IIS Server Policy
• Link the GPO to the IIS Servers OU
• Import the security template for the corresponding client environment into the newly created GPO.

IIS Server Hardening Steps:

Install and configure Windows Server 2003.

Install and configure IIS services:

• Install only necessary IIS components.
• Enable Only Essential Web Service Extensions.
• Place Content on a Dedicated Disk Volume.
• Configure NTFS permissions.
• Configure IIS Web Site permissions.
• Configure IIS logging.

Apply any required service packs and/or updates.

Install and configure a virus protection solution.

Install and configure MOM agents or similar monitoring solution as required.

Move appropriate server to the corresponding IIS Servers OU.

1. Secure well-known accounts           Rename the built-in Administrator account, assign a complex password. Ensure      Guest account is disabled. Change default account description.

Secure services accounts.

Consider implementing IPSec Filters.

Verify Incremental IIS Server Policy has replicated between domain controllers.

Run GPUPDATE.EXE /FORCE.

Restart the server.

Check the Event Logs for errors.

Source by Andrew Demmy

With the registry you can do almost anything, but how to quickly find the right registry keys without a registry cleaner software.If you not only want to change the local machine’s registry, but also modify remote machine. How to do? This article tells you a good tool Regfind. Regfind can be find from Windows 2000 Server’s Resource Kit Supplement One, or downloaded from the Internet. Regfind applies to all versions of Windows, including Windows 9x series.

Regfind is a command line tool. With no option to perform Regfind, it will show help information.The simplest usage is the implementation of search, such as the implementation of Regfind ‘QQ’,Regfind will find all contain the string ‘QQ’ registration keys, as shown in Figure 1.

In addition to simply search, Regfind also been able to execute replace: Just add the-r option at the end of the command in Figure 1 and a replacement string. For example, suppose your company’s name changed to BGroup from AGroup, now you want change all the products registration information on the registry, simply execute: Regfind ‘AGroup’-r ‘BGroup’. Note that if the search string contains spaces or punctuation marks, the string should be surrounded with quotation marks.

If you want to change a remote machine, just in front of the command with the-m option and specify the remote machine’s UNC (Universal Naming Convention, Universal Naming Convention) path, such as: Regfind-m server03 ‘AGroup’-r ‘BGroup’.

Search the entire registry is a very time-consuming thing. To improve efficiency, you can limit Regfind search operation to a branch or sub-registry key, just write the registry location you want to search behind the-p option. For example, suppose  you want to limit the search operation ‘AGroup’ to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft subkey, and replace the AGroup to the BGroup under sub-key, execute: Regfind ‘AGroup’-r ‘BGroup’-p ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE Microsoft. ‘

Source by manyu

With the registry you can do almost anything, but how to quickly find the right registry keys without a registry cleaner software.If you not only want to change the local machine’s registry, but also modify remote machine. How to do? This article tells you a good tool Regfind. Regfind can be find from Windows 2000 Server’s Resource Kit Supplement One, or downloaded from the Internet. Regfind applies to all versions of Windows, including Windows 9x series.

Regfind is a command line tool. With no option to perform Regfind, it will show help information.The simplest usage is the implementation of search, such as the implementation of Regfind ‘QQ’,Regfind will find all contain the string ‘QQ’ registration keys, as shown in Figure 1.

In addition to simply search, Regfind also been able to execute replace: Just add the-r option at the end of the command in Figure 1 and a replacement string. For example, suppose your company’s name changed to BGroup from AGroup, now you want change all the products registration information on the registry, simply execute: Regfind ‘AGroup’-r ‘BGroup’. Note that if the search string contains spaces or punctuation marks, the string should be surrounded with quotation marks.

If you want to change a remote machine, just in front of the command with the-m option and specify the remote machine’s UNC (Universal Naming Convention, Universal Naming Convention) path, such as: Regfind-m server03 ‘AGroup’-r ‘BGroup’.

Search the entire registry is a very time-consuming thing. To improve efficiency, you can limit Regfind search operation to a branch or sub-registry key, just write the registry location you want to search behind the-p option. For example, suppose  you want to limit the search operation ‘AGroup’ to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft subkey, and replace the AGroup to the BGroup under sub-key, execute: Regfind ‘AGroup’-r ‘BGroup’-p ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE Microsoft. ‘

Source by manyu

Windows Strengths and Weaknesses
The overwhelming majority of computers, both personal and corporate, use Microsoft Windows, which has included Internet access for well over a decade and as Windows became more complex, so has its Internet connectivity software. Windows 98 Second Edition introduced Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to provide group access to the Internet from a local network. More complexities were added with the outbreak of Routing and Remote Access Service in Widows 2000 Server with its Network Address Translation (NAT) functions.

It took awhile before experts noticed that ICS has specific shortcomings. ICS changes network card addresses, which can cause problems on intranets. Because of this, ICS can only be used in small office or home networks and even then, ICS in office networks is not recommended, because there is no user authorization or validation with ICS. Even using it on a home network makes any connection to the Internet insecure, since it is so easy for criminals to gain access to your computers by falsifying where they are coming from (their IP and MAC addresses).

Some Help is Needed
Windows can organize Internet sharing, but security has never been a strong point. In practice either hardware or software solutions from other companies are generally purchased to provide the security solutions needed. One of the more important of these is UserGate Proxy Server.

UserGate Proxy Server provides local network users with a secure Internet access by defining policies of this access, forbidding particular Internet resources, and limiting traffic or time of a user’s work on the Internet. Additionally, UserGate can keep distinct traffic calculations of users and of protocols, which greatly simplifies Internet traffic cost control. Lately, among Internet Service Providers (ISP) there has been a tendency towards unlimited traffic and for that purpose, UserGate Proxy Server provides a very flexible system of rules.

UserGate Proxy Server with NAT support works on Windows 2000/2003/XP with the Internet (using the standard TCP/IP protocols). UserGate can also work on Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0, but without NAT support. UserGate does not require any special resources for its operation; it simply needs a relatively small amount of hard drive memory for its cache and log files. UserGate can also be installed on a dedicated computer to maximize your network’s resources.

Proxy Servers
Your web browser (whether it is Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Opera or Mozilla to name the most popular) is already able to cache documents. However, significant disk space is not reserved for these purposes if the Internet connection is shared by an entire office. The reason for this is that the probability of one person visiting the same web pages is far less than if dozens or hundreds of people are sharing the connection. Creating a common cache for a company can greatly decrease bandwidth waste as well as make almost instantaneous the receipt of documents that are commonly accessed by employees. UserGate Proxy Server can also link with the external cascade proxy servers (of your Internet Service Provider) to increase the speed of receiving data and reduce your Internet bills (traffic costs for a provider are usually less when a proxy server is used).

Program Configuration
Configuring the cache settings is done from the «Services» page. The first step is to enable the cache, then you can set its separate options, which include caching of POST requests, dynamic objects, cookies, and FTP content. You can also set the size of the disc space for the cache and the time-to-live of cached documents.

Other options must also be set before you can start working with the program. As a rule, this task is completed in the following order:

1. Create users of the program.

2. Configure DNS and NAT on the UserGate server. At this stage you can configure NAT using the wizard.

3. Set parameters of the various protocols (HTTP, FTP, SOCKS), the intranet interface on which they will be listened for, and whether cascading will be done. All of these can be set at their corresponding pages of service settings.

4. Configure the network connection on each client computer, including gateway and DNS in TCP/IP in network connection properties, which must be set.

5. Create an Internet access policy.

Modules to Make Things Easier
To make the program more user-friendly, we divided it into several modules:

The Server module is started at a computer that has Internet access. This module controls the execution of all tasks.

UserGate administration is performed with the help of a special module: UserGate Administrator, which handles all server settings.

UserGate Authentication Client is a client application installed on each user’s computer. This module monitors and controls user authorization to the UserGate server, if you choose an authorization independent of IP or IP+MAC.

Security and Permissions
UserGate Proxy Server locks out unauthorized access. Each user can be authorized automatically by their IP address alone or by a correct combination of IP and hardware (MAC) address. Each user can be assigned specific permissions

To make it easy to add users and to quickly assign the same permissions to a group of similar users a separate page is provided for the managing of users and groups. Groups make it easy to manage users that should have common settings, including network access and rates. You can create as many groups as you need. Groups are usually created based on company structure and hierarchy.

Each group can be given its own rate that is used to manage Internet access expenses. A default rate can be set or left empty, in which case the connections of all users in a group are not paid unless a different rate is set in a user’s own properties.

There are a number of default NAT rules provided in the program. These are access rules through Telnet, POP3, SMTP, HTTP, ICQ and other protocols. While setting group properties you can identify which rules will be applied to the group and its users.

A dial on demand option can be used when an Internet connection is through a modem. In this case the modem dials up the connection only when it is requested. Dial on demand can also be used with ADSL, if in order to get connected to the Internet provider it is necessary to dial up a VPN connection. In this case the VPN connection can be set as dial on demand.

If a computer with UserGate is in an Active Directory domain, users can be imported to it and then divided into groups that need similar access rights: authorization type, rate, NAT rules (if group rules do not fully meet the user’s needs).

Authorization Types and Rules
UserGate Proxy Server supports several authorization types, including authorization through Active Directory and Windows Login, which allows integrating UserGate into existing network infrastructures.

UserGate uses its own client authentication module for some types of authorization. Depending on the type of authorization you choose it is necessary to indicate, in user options, either the user’s IP address (or IP address range), assign a login (username and password) or assign just a username. If you want to send to a user, reports of their Internet traffic use you can enter the user’s e-mail here.

UserGate rules can be more flexibly configured than RRAS Remote Access Policy. Using rules you can lock access to specific URLs, limit traffic on certain protocols, set time limits, set a maximum file size that a user can download, etc. Windows does not provide the functionality needed to fulfill these tasks.

Rules can be created with the help of the wizard provided. Each rule has application conditions and an object it is executed when one or more conditions are met. For examples, close a connection, assign a rate or speed, etc. Conditions include protocols used, time of work, a user’s traffic limits (incoming and outgoing), money remaining on account, as well as, IP address list and URL list. Settings also allow the specifying of any file extensions that users cannot download.

In a number of organizations the use of instant messengers, such as ICQ, is prohibited. This is easy with UserGate. To prohibit ICQ you simply create a rule, locking out any connection with the host ‘*login.icq.com*’ and apply it to all users.

UserGate Proxy Server provides rules to allow varying rates for day or night time access, to local or common resources (if such variations are offered by your Internet provider). For instance, for switching between day and night rates two rules are created: one that performs the switching at a fixed time from day to night rate and the other that switches back to the day rate.

DNS and NAT Settings
DNS (Domain Name System) is what is used on the Internet so you don’t have to remember a site’s numbers (its real Internet address), such as 53.128.182.67), but instead you can just remember its name, such as www.famatech.com. One of the controlling parts of the Internet’s DNS is the DNS server, which is a computer (there are many DNS servers) on the Internet that translates the names of sites to their numbers, so when your browser goes to www.famatech.com, the DNS server knows the correct IP number to send the browser request to.

The DNS setting in UserGate Proxy Server is simply the locations (IP addresses) of one or two of these DNS servers (the closer the DNS server is to your ISP’s physical location, generally the better), where each client’s DNS requests will be forwarded to. It is necessary to indicate the IP address in your network interface of UserGate Proxy Server as the gateway and DNS in the TCP/IP properties of each user’s network connection on their local computer.

There is another way to set the DNS. You can add a new NAT rule, in which the IP receiver (the internal interface) and the IP sender (the external interface) are set to port 53 and the protocol to UDP. If you use this method, this rule must be applied to all users. In connection settings of each local computer, the IP address of the ISP’s DNS servers must be set as the DNS and the IP address of UserGate Proxy Server set as the gateway on each local computer.

Mail clients can be set either through port mapping or through NAT. If instant messengers are allowed to be used in the organization, the network settings must be changed for them: both user firewall and proxy, the IP address of the internal network interface of UserGate Proxy Server must be indicated, and the protocol HTTPS or SOCKS needs be selected. If you use Yahoo Messenger, you should keep in mind that when you work through a proxy server, Yahoo’s chat rooms and video chats are unavailable.

Statistics for each user are recorded in a log. These include data on the time each connection started, its duration, total cost, the URLs and IPs visited, the number of bytes received and bytes sent. It is impossible to cancel or falsify the recording of any of this information about user connections in UserGate Proxy Server’s statistics file. The statistics can be viewed either from the Server Administrator or from a special module Statistics. Statistics data can be filtered by user, protocol and time period; and these stats can be exported to Microsoft Excel for further processing.

The early versions of UserGate Proxy Server cached only HTTP (web) pages. The latest version introduced new components designed to guarantee information security. Now UserGate users can take advantage of the built-in firewall and Kaspersky Antivirus modules. The firewall can control (permit or block) specific TCP ports and can also publish a company’s resources on the Internet. UserGate Proxy Server processes all packets received from the network. Every port that is open in the program, for example HTTP, SOCKS and others, are either selected by the administrator or can be opened in the firewall automatically. You can see which ports are open in the auto rules table on the Firewall Rules page.

Future development plans for UserGate Proxy Server include creation of its own VPN server—so you have an alternative VPN solution to that offered by Windows—an introduction of a mail server that has its own antispam support and the development of an intelligent firewall at the application level.

Source by Helen Markova

We will talk about some related to your office daily work. Did you encounter the following situation? You want to send an email with a Word file attachment, but the email cannot be send out cause the Word file is too large. And you waste many efforts in making the file slim. You can try the following methods, which can reduce the size a lot.

1. Save as

In Menu, choose “File > Save As”, and save the file with a new name. You can compare the new file with original one; you will find that the file size of new one is much smaller.

You can also work in this way. Select the whole content of the document, copy and paste it to a new blank document and save it. Again, you will that file size of two documents is different.

1. Delete old versions

If there are many old versions kept in the file, the file size will be larger. In Menu, choose “File > Version”, check to see if there is any old version saved. You can delete those versions with no value to make the file slim.

1. Insert picture wisely

“Insert Picture” is one of the main reasons for the word file get fat. Try to insert a smaller picture. You can use graphic editor to reduce the size of picture before insert into the file. The file format should use GIF or JPG and do not use those high-resolution graphic, like BMP.

1. Don’t “Embed True Type Font”

“Embed True Type Font” will increase the size of word file. In Menu, choose “Tools > Options”, switch to “Save” tab page. Confirm that your word file have no true type font, and cancel the “Embed True Type Font” option. If you embed true type font, then choose “Embed characters in use only”.

Try the above four methods, you will see your word file getting slim.

Source by Isaac Chu

There has been a lot of talk about outsourcing – from good to bad to evil, US has started to penalize the firms which outsource their work (by imposing additional taxes) US claims that outsourcing to developed countries leads to unemployment in their country. This article looks at ‘what exactly is outsourcing’ Does it really help the customers and the parent companies Further, does it encourage unemployment in the parent country.

Outsourcing defined

Simply put outsourcing implies passing out some of the in house work to outside agencies for execution. The reasons for doing this can be many Following are some of the more publicized reasons for resorting to outsourcing include the following

• The third party agency delivers the work  of the same quality in less cost(price)
• The Outsourcing  strategy does not require the company to take up resources on a regular basis and yet it enables it to take care of fluctuations in work load
• The Outsourcing of secondary tasks (non critical work)  permits the parent company to focus on major /key issues

There are as many unsuccessful instances of failed outsourcing initiatives as there are success stories. Let us look at the key critical components of outsourcing and try and list the causative factors that lead to its success. Following are some of the more important elements of outsourcing

• Project Management
• Communication
• Defects Prevention
• User Requirements

These are briefly discussed below.

Project management requires that the project is adequately staffed with the requisite skill sets it has been provided with the necessary aids and tools and the infrastructure. Further, the work environ encourages productivity and the project team gets the proper guidance as and when it may be required.

The work environ assumes existence of efficient work processes – processes which may encourage team work, motivation and efficient grievances and conflict resolution processes. Further the work processes assume that well established and laid down monitoring processes are present.

Communication assumes a very significant role in all outsourcing environ. The customer is made to feel that he is in total charge and is monitoring the projects in a virtual environ. He not only gets the formal progress reports but is also on top of the informal reporting and has a complete pulse of the work environ. The technology supports this environ and facilitates audio and visual contacts in a regular manner.

Defects prevention processes assume that efficient quality systems are in place These systems assume – both in letter and spirit quality is a way of life – it is built in the deliverable rather than controlled from the outside The project organization supports this framework – and the quality function becomes an integral part of the project organization.

User requirements freezing is and important component and really forms the first stage of any effort infact confirmation of the user requirements is usually considered an ongoing  process  and is the real reason for continuous customer reports  and periodic customer meetings and updates.

Typically the success of most outsourcing projects can be assessed in terms of the success of these elements – and corrective actions during the currency of any engagement revolves around correcting any of these elements.

Source by Lalit Kamar

If in your organization you are deploying FA module as one of the critical ones, we would like to share some experience maintaining it in large organizations.  Let’s review such procedures as mass change, retire, transfer and partial versions of transfer and retirement.  Plus, some hints on how to automate the procedures, designed for manual data modification.  We will be basing our recommendations on version 2010/11.0, however Fixed Assets module is probably the same with minor improvements down to version 7.5, 7.0, where you do not have home page, lists, and advanced navigation pane, which is present in 9.0, 10.0 and newer releases:

1. Mass Change, open it in Financial Transactions Fixed Assets info pane (for older versions Transactions -> Financials -> FA Mass Change).  This is the tool to update info for the Asset Group.  Asset Group should normally be created and updated every time before mass transactions, as if you added new assets since the last group build, the new ones are not included in the old group.  Mass change doesn’t create audit trail, use mass transfer if future auditing is important in your organization.  Mass transfer, however can only do part of the job, that could be done on mass change.  For example, you cannot reset Book, Class and Book/Class depreciation information, as well as user defined fields.  Both Change and Transfer should be a good tool, if you are reassembling moved quantities from the same asset under new Master Asset ID.  If the fields you need to update are not present in these forms, you can still mass update by using FA Import tool, just prepare text files for the assets to update.  Consider exporting the group into the text file, then update the fields in Excel and reimport it back

2. Partial Transfer and Retirement.  These are possible for the individual asset only.  Partial logic is not available in mass versions.  When you transfer or retire portion of the asset, new asset with the same id and incremented suffix is created for the moment and immediately turned into transferred or retired.  Transfer portioning could be based on percentage, quantity or cost.  If percentage, quantity or cost is entered, the system adjusts percentage if it is with discrepancy with quantity.  If quantity is in discrepancy with cost, the cost is used for resetting the quantity.  Partial retirement could be undone in Retire Undo (Transactions -> Fixed Assets -> Retire Undo).  In order to undo, original asset (with originally created suffix) should exist and be active and retire should be being done in the current fiscal year

3. How to do mass partial retire or transfer?  If you have to apply fractional retire or transfer for tons of thousands of assets manual update might be not practical.  We recommend you to use macro technique.  Record macro, where you are retiring just one partially (close all the forms, you do not use in the logic and be very laconic in recording).  Then open macros as text file in Excel, split each of its parts into columns on the first row, especially important to have separate columns for asset specific information: ID, Percentage, Cash Proceeds, Non-Cash Proceeds, Expenses of Sale, Cost, Quantity, retirement date, type (as it is participating in deciding if the gain is recognized or non-recognized).  Use Excel formulas and Series to produce the number of lines, coinciding with the number of assets to process.  Then save it back into the text file and try your macro against the test company to be sure that it does the job

4. Bonus topic.  Back out depreciation.  Elegant way to roll out incorrect depreciation, that was already posted or created and ready to be posted to General Ledger is this.  Open Financial Routines and pick Depreciate One Item, here backdate it and you will get the prompt “The target date you have entered is before the depreciation to date for this asset.  Should you continue, depreciation will be backed out…”.  Here the original depreciation which was probably already interfaced with GL will not be deleted – it will be reversed next time, when you do GL posting routine in FA

Source by Andrew Karasev