What is Spyware?

Spyware monitors your surfing habits and sends the data off to some remote server in cyberland. Your computer can get infected with spyware easily by visiting a web page or installing a software program. Kazza is a classic example of a free software download riddled with spyware. More info here: http://compactURL.com/sdft

Spyware Detection Alert

Every week I do a full system scan with Norton Internet Security Professional.

This version of Norton is the top of the range when it comes to detecting all manner of viruses including Trojan horses, spyware, scumware, joke programs and other programs which can cause harm or pose a security risk.

It is an excellent program and I believe my computer would be dead and buried if it was not for Norton.

My most recent scan detected a Trojan Horse called Download.Trojan. This little meanie will attempt to go to the originators site and download more Trojans, worms, viruses and execute them. Scary stuff but Norton nipped it in the bud before any problems were created.

Also, every day Norton detects threats contained within my incoming emails. It immediately removes the threats by either fixing the infected files or deleting infected emails. This can be a reason I can be accused of not answering emails. Bad luck I say to that.

Ever since I have been running Norton, I have not been scanning with Ad-Aware. I recently discovered that Anti-Virus programs, as good as they are, sometimes fail to detect all threats from a computer. So I did a full scan with Ad-Aware and was surprised to discover even more spyware on my system. So now I will also be scanning once a week with Ad-Aware.

Free Spyware Removal Software

Ad-Aware is so good and yet it is free. It is available from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/

There is more good free spyware detection programs available here: http://www.spybot.info/en/index.

Find out what Scumware is here: http://www.scumware.com

Symantec has an Online Virus Encyclopedia which after a little browse, should be enough motivation for anyone to get some kind of anti-virus and security program installed on their computer. Find the entire A-Z known viruses encyclopedia here: http://compactURL.com/qhdf

Conclusion

Do a full system scan at least every week. Download the latest Anti-Virus definitions as soon as they become available. Use more than one program to ensure all threats are detected and removed immediately. Always enable your anti-virus and security program to scan all incoming and outgoing emails.

If you do not have the very best anti-virus protection, do not complain if your emails get no response. I allow my anti-virus program to delete all infected emails along with any attachments.

Copyright 2004 Ed Zivkovic

About The Author

The author, Ed Zivkovic owns his own website which contains articles with all sorts of tips for work at home webmasters. Here is the site: http://www.ezau.com

Microsoft Business Solutions has several products, targeted to all the variety of businesses: from small to middles size and large. Microsoft is in the process to transfer all of them to Microsoft SQL Server platform. In this small article we would like to give you highlights on localizing Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Dynamics / Great Plains eEnterprise. If you are programmer, business owner, software developer – read this and you will have the clue on where to move on

• Great Plains Dexterity – this is programming language and application creation environment, designed by Great Plains Software in earlier 1990th. Dexterity is written on C programming language with believe that it is easily transferable to all major computer platforms and database environments. Remember the battle of Hardware / OS in earlier 1990th between IBM/Microsoft and Apple Computer? Now we know that the battle is almost over – and new game is taking place (Linux, Java, etc), but we should admit that the market prediction was really shrewd.

• Dexterity resources. Dexterity has String resources, these are stored in the core dictionary – DYNAMICS.DIC. If you translate these strings – your are pretty much done with localization.

• Tax Code compliance – this is really tough problem – it is not enough to translate strings - you have to adjust all these government regulated issues, such as taxes, payroll, financial reporting, etc.

• Customization Anatomy – Great Plains Customization is usually done in Great Plains Dexterity and you should understand the difference between DYNAMICS.DIC and your CUSTOM.DIC. Your customization dictionary should probably use its own string resources where you have descriptions of custom logic in your local language.

• Great Plains Engines. Consider Tax Engine for example – if you plan to replace it with your custom local tax engine – you should use so-called Dexterity triggers to fire before original DYNAMICS.DIC logic. This should allow you to use your engine instead of the standard one.

Good luck with localization, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Introduction

During the early years of our modern computer era, very few standards and protocols existed between various manufacturers. However, as time went on and computer technology continued to improve and become more widespread, it became apparent that standards would be necessary to ensure compatibility. This was especially true with regard to networks, and networking technology. Since the main purpose of a network is to share information, a standard that governs how this information is formatted, transmitted, received and verified would make it possible for information to be shared openly, even when dealing with dissimilar networks.

This need for a standard means of implementing open communications led the ISO and ANSI to develop the seven-layer network communications model known as Open Systems Interconnect. By providing guidelines regarding the way network equipment should be manufactured and how network operating systems communicate on a network, the OSI model became the common link that allows data to be transmitted and exchanged reliably. Although it does not actually perform any functions or do any of the actual work, the OSI model defines the way things should be done by the software and hardware on a network so that communications can take place between two computers or nodes.

In this way, the OSI model provides a universal set of rules that make it possible for various manufacturers and developers to create software and hardware that is compatible with each other. This makes for organized communications. As I thought about this, I related it to the freeways that connect the various states of the mainland U.S. Because all of these freeways were constructed with the same set of standards regarding the width of each lane, the proper side that a person should drive on, the speed at which they should travel, and so on, people can comfortably drive across the country in an organized and efficient manner and car manufacturers are able to design cars within these guidelines as well.

On the other hand, if each state had devised its own set of rules, each differing from the other, not only would there be a lot more chaos on the roads, but also car manufacturers would have a hard time designing vehicles that would be compatible with each state’s roads. To me, this illustrates the importance of the OSI model with respect to network communications. Not only is it the foundation for all network communications today, but also because it is such a fundamental part of these communications, it becomes very apparent to me that it is very important for a network technician to understand the OSI model in full detail.

The OSI model is made up of the following layers: the physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation and application. Together, these seven layers are collectively referred to as a stack. As a node receives data, each layer starting with the physical layer extracts the various portions of the packet and this process works its way up to the application layer. When data is sent, it begins at the application layer and travels down to the physical layer. The information is pushed to the next layer of the stack by means of commands called primitives. Each layer uses a peer protocol to encode the information, which ensures that the same layer on the receiving node will be able to understand the information.

Physical Layer

Beginning at the bottom, the first layer is the physical layer. It governs the actual voltages, type of electrical signals, mechanical connections and other items relating to the actual data transmission medium. This includes cabling types, distances and connectors, as well as protocols like CSMA/CD.

Data Link Layer

The next layer is the data link layer. This is the layer that actually constructs the frames, and it also performs error checking using CRC. It ensures that the frames are sent up to the next layer in the same order that they were received, providing an error free virtual path to the network layer. The data link layer consists of two sub layers; the logical link control (LLC) and the media access control (MAC), which provide reliable communications by ensuring the data link is not broken and also by examining packet address information. A bridge is an example of a device that works at this layer. A bridge learns, forwards and filters traffic by examining the layer 2 MAC address. This helps segment network traffic. More recently, bridges have been replaced by switches, which performs the same functions as a bridge, but can do so on each port. To find out more about switches, visit the Products link on the left.

Network Layer

Moving up to the next layer in the stack we come to the network layer. This layer actually routes packets of data, finding a path (both physical and logical) to the receiving or destination computer. It provides a unique address for each node through address resolution. One of the most common protocols for routing information at this layer is the Internet Protocol (IP). An example of hardware that can operate at this layer is a router. Although routers are often used to allow a LAN to access a WAN, layer 3 switches can also provide routing capabilities, but often at full wire-speed.

Transport Layer

The transport layer makes sure that the data arrives without errors, in the proper sequence and in a reliable condition. It uses flow control to make sure that information is sent at the proper speed for the receiving device to be able to handle it, and it repackages large data into smaller messages and then back again at the receiving node. An example protocol at this layer is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Layer 4 switches can use the port information found in the TCP header to provide QoS (Quality of Service) and load balancing. To learn more about multi-layer switches, visit the Products link.

Session Layer

The session layer establishes the link between two nodes and ensures that the link is maintained and then disconnected. This is referred to as the session. It also makes sure the session is orderly, establishing which node transmits first, how long it can transmit, and what to do in case of an error. It also handles the security of the session.

Presentation Layer

The presentation layer deals with the actual formatting of the data. It handles compression, encryption, as well as translation to make sure differences in formatting can be read by the receiving node. For example, data might be converted from EBCDIC to ASCII formatting so that the receiving node can understand it.

Application Layer

This brings us to the seventh and final layer, the application layer. It allows applications access to network services, such as file and printer sharing, as well as file transfer and management services. This would be the layer that a programmer uses to allow his application to access a network service, such as linking into a database.

Although this explains the flow of data and what processes are performed by each layer starting with the physical layer and working to the top, or application, layer, the process would be the same, only reversed, for data flowing from the application layer and down to the bottom, or the physical layer.

Conclusion

By adhering to this standard model of communications, modern networks, including the Internet, have come into existence. For anyone interested in implementing and supporting today’s modern networks, an understanding of the OSI model and its various layers is crucial. Indeed, this standard of communications lays the foundation for all of todays modern network hardware and software.

Kashif Raza http://www.networkingtutorials.net

The professional term for ensuring colour prints look their best, is colour management. Colour management involves different steps, but the most important one is to use a colour profile per paper you intend to use.

Most inkjet photo printers come with the ability to print your photographs using the printer’s built-in settings. These settings are hard-coded in the printer’s firmware, and they often produce very nice results if you don’t mind getting results that are nice, but not the best your printer and paper is capable of.

In order to get the best performance out of a printer, you need to allow the image editing (or DTP) application to decide how the colours will look. Programs like Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, and their siblings like Photoshop Elements and iPhoto, all enable you to set up a colour management workflow.

Setting one up is usually a simple affair, but if you have doubts, there are a few simple guidelines that will put you in pole position. The first is to choose AdobeRGB as your working colour space. If you don’t have AdobeRGB, then use another large enough colour space. sRGB and your monitor’s colour space are too small. Setting the working colour space simply involves selecting the profile with the name “AdobeRGB (1998)”.

Then carefully read your program’s instructions on choosing the right colour profiles for prints. Usually, this will amount to setting up your printer dialogue so that the image is printed using a colour profile that matches your printer AND the paper you’re using. And here is something that you can do to dramatically improve the output…

The manufacturer of your printer will have included a whole bunch of colour profiles, but the truth of the matter is that those generic profiles will again not deliver you the best results in terms of colour brilliance. To obtain the best, you will have to create a colour profile for each printer/paper combination you’re going to use yourself. That’s one of the reasons why professional photographers can print such vibrant photographs. They use a profile for every different paper they use with their printer.

Creating such profiles is a bit difficult, and very expensive because you’ll need specialist equipment to do it. Fortunately, there are a number of service providers who will create profiles for your particular papers and printer. You will have to send them a test chart that you forst printed on the printer/paper combination you want to use, and they’ll process your target and send you back a custom profile.

If you want to learn more about how colour profiles can improve your photo printing, visit my online magazine. It contains a large database of information on the topic: IT-Enquirer.com

Erik Vlietinck is the Publisher of www.it-enquirer.com , an online magazine for desktop publishers, graphic designers, and photographers. IT-Enquirer deals with amateurs as much as with professionals. There have been a series of articles on colour management that explain how you can get brilliant colour results time and again.

Ever since my college days, I always loved to have my own
compiled
kernel. It gave me that special feeling of “my machine is better
than
yours”. I am sure each time my new kernel boots up the feeling I
have
is is the same as what Super Man has when he bashs up the bad
people.

A custom kernel boots up the system faster, it takes up lesser
memory space and one can install drivers for hardware not
supported by a default kernel. Besides these benefits, a custom
kernel
serves as an interesting conversation topic with geeks. Just ask
them
“What is your kernel size ?”. This would keep the Geek busy for
sometime where he would explain all the great things he did to
the
kernel options to optimize his box.


If you happen to be a geek yourself, this is a great question to
put forward to those lowly Nubies. They’ll never trouble you
with stories of their nephew or kid sister after this

Before we get down to compiling our own kernel, it is a
wonderful idea
to backup the present kernel.

# cd /boot

# cp -pvr kernel kernel.orig



The original generic kernel is now stored as kernel.orig. In
case the
kernel does not boot (which has happened with me many times)
boot up
with the generic kernel and try again. Booting any other kernel
is
simple. At the boot time goto to the boot prompt and simple say
“boot
kernel.orig” and the default kernel would boot up.

The kernel sources are located in the /usr/src/sys directory. If
not
installed, the kernel sources can be installed with the
following
commands. First insert the FreeBSD install CD in your CD drive.

# mount /cdrom# mkdir -p /usr/src/sys# ln -s /usr/src/sys /sys# cat /cdrom/src/ssys.[a-d]* | tar -xzvf
 -
 

Then go to the director where the configuration files are
located.

#cd /sys/i386/conf



In this directory the GENERIC kernel configuration file is
located.
Copy this file and it as your custom name.

#cp -pvr GENERIC BABYBSD

# vi BABYBSD



First change the ident value from GENERIC to BABYBSD (or
whatever name
you prefer). I have given my sample configuration file at the
end of
this article. The options are quite easy to understand and a
good
starting point would be the FreeBSD
Handbook which has documented most of the kernel options.


You can also go to a shell and run the command #make LINT
in
this directory which would create a file called LINT which has
all the
options supported by the kernel listed.

After this stage just run the following commands

#/usr/sbin/config BABYBSD

#cd ../compile/BABYBSD

#make depend

#make

#make install



Please note that you must be root to run the make install.
Reboot and
the kernel should boot with your shining new kernel.

machine i386

cpu

I586_CPU

cpu

I686_CPU

ident

BABYBSD

options SCHED_4BSD

# 4BSD scheduler

options INET

# InterNETworking

options INET6

# IPv6 communications protocols

options FFS

# Berkeley Fast Filesystem

options SOFTUPDATES

# Enable FFS soft updates support

options UFS_ACL

# Support for access control lists

options UFS_DIRHASH

# Improve performance on big directories

options MD_ROOT

# MD is a potential root device

options NFSCLIENT

# Network Filesystem Client

options NFSSERVER

# Network Filesystem Server

options NFS_ROOT

# NFS usable as /, requires NFSCLIENT

options MSDOSFS

# MSDOS Filesystem

options NTFS

options CD9660

# ISO 9660 Filesystem

options PROCFS

# Process filesystem (requires PSEUDOFS)

options PSEUDOFS

# Pseudo-filesystem framework

options GEOM_GPT

# GUID Partition Tables.

options COMPAT_43

# Compatible with BSD 4.3 [KEEP THIS!]

options COMPAT_FREEBSD4

# Compatible with FreeBSD4

options SCSI_DELAY=15000 #
Delay
(in ms) before probing SCSI

options KTRACE

# ktrace(1) support

options SYSVSHM

# SYSV-style shared memory

options SYSVMSG

# SYSV-style message queues

options SYSVSEM

# SYSV-style semaphores

options _KPOSIX_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING # POSIX
P1003_1B
real-time extensions

options KBD_INSTALL_CDEV #
install
a CDEV entry in /dev

options
AHC_REG_PRETTY_PRINT #
Print register bitfields in debug

# output. Adds ~128k
to
driver.

options
AHD_REG_PRETTY_PRINT #
Print register bitfields in debug

# output. Adds ~215k
to
driver.

options ADAPTIVE_GIANT

# Giant mutex is adaptive.

device
apic

# I/O APIC

# Bus support. Do not remove isa, even if you have no isa
slots

device isa

device eisa

device pci

# Floppy drives

device fdc

# ATA and ATAPI devices

device ata

device
atadisk

# ATA disk drives

device
atapicd

# ATAPI CDROM drives

options ATA_STATIC_ID #
Static
device numbering

# SCSI peripherals

device
scbus

# SCSI bus (required for SCSI)

device ch

# SCSI media changers

device da

# Direct Access (disks)

device cd

# CD

device
pass

# Passthrough device (direct SCSI access)

device
ses

# SCSI Environmental Services (and
SAF-TE)

# atkbdc0 controls both the keyboard and the PS/2 mouse

device
atkbdc

# AT keyboard controller

device
atkbd

# AT keyboard

device
psm

# PS/2 mouse

device
vga

# VGA video card driver

device
splash

# Splash screen and screen saver support

# syscons is the default console driver, resembling an SCO
console

device sc

# Enable this for the pcvt (VT220 compatible) console driver

#device vt

#options XSERVER

# support for X server on a vt console

#options FAT_CURSOR # start
with
block cursor

device
agp

# support several AGP chipsets

# Floating point support - do not disable.

device npx

# Power management support (see NOTES for more options)

#device apm

# Add suspend/resume support for the i8254.

device pmtimer

# PCI Ethernet NICs that use the common MII bus controller
code.

# NOTE: Be sure to keep the ‘device miibus’ line in order to use
these
NICs!

device
miibus

# MII bus support

device rl

# RealTek 8129/8139

# Wireless NIC cards

device
wlan

# 802.11 support

# Pseudo devices.

device
loop

# Network loopback

device
mem

# Memory and kernel memory devices

device io

# I/O device

device
random

# Entropy device

device
ether

# Ethernet support

device sl

# Kernel SLIP

device
ppp

# Kernel PPP

device
tun

# Packet tunnel.

device
pty

# Pseudo-ttys (telnet etc)

device md

# Memory “disks”

device
gif

# IPv6 and IPv4 tunneling

device
faith

# IPv6-to-IPv4 relaying (translation)

# The `bpf’ device enables the Berkeley Packet Filter.

# Be aware of the administrative consequences of enabling
this!

# Note that ‘bpf’ is required for DHCP.

device
bpf

# Berkeley packet filter

# USB support

device
uhci

# UHCI PCI->USB interface

device
ohci

# OHCI PCI->USB interface

device
ehci

# EHCI PCI->USB interface (USB 2.0)

device
usb

# USB Bus (required)

#device
udbp

# USB Double Bulk Pipe devices

device
ugen

# Generic

device
uhid

# “Human Interface Devices”

device
ukbd

# Keyboard

device
umass

# Disks/Mass storage - Requires scbus and
da

device
ums

# Mouse

# Specific to my Machine

device
atapicam
# for CD Writer to be detected by K3B and other CD writing
software

device
sound

# To Enable Sound

device
“snd_ad1816″

device
“snd_als4000″

device
snd_cmi

device
“snd_cs4281″

device
snd_csa

device
“snd_ds1″

device
“snd_emu10k1″

device
“snd_es137x”

device
snd_ess

device
“snd_fm801″

device
snd_gusc

device
snd_ich

device
snd_maestro

device
“snd_maestro3″

device
snd_mss

device
snd_neomagic

device
“snd_sb16″

device
snd_sbc

device
snd_solo

device
“snd_t4dwave”

device
“snd_via8233″

device
“snd_via82c686″

device
snd_vibes

device
snd_uaudio

device pcii

device
acpi

device
acpi_asus

device
acpi_video

device
cbb
# cardbus (yenta) bridge

device
pccard #
PC Card
(16-bit) bus

device
cardbus #
CardBus
(32-bit) bus

options DEVICE_POLLING

options HZ=1000

options PERFMON

device
apm_saver # Requires APM

options
AUTO_EOI_1

options AUTO_EOI_2

options VESA

A basic understanding of computers is all a person needs to create their own graphics with today’s design software. Even with just small amount of design understanding, people can still use simple design programs to build their own cartoons strips, holiday cards, flyers and invitations. Your business and yourself can save money on special occasions by using one of the several user friendly affordable programs that are out there.

The number one choice for design software by both professionals and amateurs is Adobe PhotoShop. By cropping, recoloring and adding special effects, PhotoShop allows users to change photos anyway they wish. Entirely new pictures can also be created by using special drawing tools, or existing pictures can be modified anyway the user desires. PhotoShop uses a system of “layers.” By using layers, separate pieces of a picture can be changed while keeping the changes separate. For example, you can change the color on the bottom layer without affecting the color on the top layer. If you wish to draw more than creating full pictures, Adobe Illustrator may be the choice for you.

PhotoShop is a pixel-based program while Adobe Illustrator is vector based. What does this mean your probably asking yourself? When you make a picture in PhotoShop, you must use a certain resolution. A computer screen displays 72 pixels per inch for a clear picture, but when you print a 72 dpi picture, it appears blocky and blurred. If you are making a picture for printing in PhotoShop, you need to use 300 pixels per inch to get a nice, sharp image. Because Illustrator is vector-based, it uses a system of paths rather than pixels. In simple terms, it uses lines rather than colors. This means that everything you create in Illustrator can be enlarged up to any size you wish without ever becoming blurry or grainy. Designers often use Illustrator software to build logos for a variety of advertisements. The same picture or logo drawing can be used on a small business card or enlarged to fill an entire billboard.

For those wishing to create simple greeting cards or party invitations, there is a variety of user friendly software programs made specifically for these purposes. Many offer templates for several print sizes and folding options. For the more experienced user, the software program Quark is an excellent print layout tool. Adobe InDesign also offers professional quality layout options along with many of the same tools used in Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator. If you are to use these two programs, you will easily be able to create professional quality materials with InDesign.

There is a wide variety of file types used in graphic software programs. Most have their own native formats that can only be read by the parent programs. PhotoShop files have a .PSD extension, and Illustrator files are AI, making them only accessible by PhotoShop. When you are working with a work in progress, it is a good idea to save files in these formats, as they offer you the greatest flexibility in altering your creation. However, once you have completed your work and are ready to print your materials, you can save them in a variety of ways. Web pictures should saved as JPEGs, GIF or TIFF files. Pictures ready for printing are best saved as EPS files, to preserve color accuracy. If you plan to send graphics via e-mail, PDF offers the greatest flexibility, as most computers have Acrobat Reader, the program needed to read the PDF file type.

No matter what software fits your needs, making digital graphics can be a enjoyable and simple hobby, or even a professional career. It can take some time to get used to the terminology, but once you learn the tools of digital art, you will be on your way to building functional and decorative graphic masterpieces to share with the electronic world.

Sintilia Miecevole has a great deal of experience in computers and technology. Click on www.fmlasoftware.com to see the huge selection of software and the latest downloads available. Be sure to visit www.fmlasoftware.com for your favorite software tools.

Wallpaper can enhance the appearance to a home by bringing in
style. The variety of wallpaper available can make room for
blending. The patterns of wallpaper can bring in a new modern
appeal, or else bring in an antique capture.

At what time you purchased your home you vowed to invest your
time to keep the equity of the home at value, or above value.
When a person remodels or repairs the home, it increases the
equity at a greater value. Before starting repairs or
improvement however, homeowners are wise to consider what
approach they will take, or else what they intend to do to
increase equity. What do you want from improving your home is
one of the questions you should consider? If you are considering
wallpapering your home, thus consider each room in the house
before making the purchase. If you fail to blend the rooms, it
may affect the appearance and if you decide to sell the home, it
may discourage the potential buyers. The wallpaper you select
may determine the coziness of the home as well.

Before hanging the wallpaper, you will also need the systematic
steps. Some wallpaper is simple since you peal the paper off the
back and wet the paper, applying it to the wall. Still you must
remove any old wallpaper, and smooth out the surface before
installing new wallpaper. You will also need to make sure the
walls are clear of any dust or other particles that may
interrupt the hanging of the new paper.

For the most part wallpapering is simple, but it is up to you to
take the time to prepare the area for wallpapering. Sometimes
home improvement is time consuming, therefore find an area in
your life were you could take the time to do what is necessary
to prepare the walls and paper the walls once it is finished.

If you notice holes in the wall, you may want to apply a bit of
Joint Putty to the holes, fill in the holes and allow the area
to dry before papering the walls. Putting up wallpaper covering
holes will only indent the area. Therefore, putty the walls if
holes exist for the best results.

Lumpy areas may need sanding. If you notice, lumps in your wall
sand down the area with sandpaper before applying new wallpaper.
You will also need to free of the walls of any dust, clean the
walls, allow it to dry and then wallpaper the room.

Once you finish the project you might want to look about the
room and decide on curtains or other enhancing objects to bring
out the new look. If you hang up colorful wallpaper then try to
find matching curtains to enhance the appeal.

Flower vases and flowers can also bring out the texture of the
room once the wallpaper project is finished.

Furthermore, if you wallpaper the room with an antique appeal,
then search for furnisher in your home that matches the area.
The more you apply coordination the more appealing the area will
become.

Wallpaper only costs around a hundred give or take, but the
purchase will increase the equity of the home immensely. Thus,
home improvement is making the equity of your home increase, at
the same time enhancing the home for improvement.

Home improvement can extend further than wallpapering. Thus, if
you have leaky faucets or cruddy showers you may want to
consider kits to install the new materials on your own rather
than paying high-dollar construction workers.

Most kits have systematic instructions, which are easy to
follow. Learn to follow instructions and read the instructions
carefully before repairing or remodeling your home.

Following instructions will help you to prevent problems while
improving the value of your home, or repairing old non-working
materials. The few pennies you spend now to improve the value of
the home, will save you time and money over the long term.

Improving the home makes room for making money while spending a
few dollars over the course of the home’s living arrangement.
When you improve your home, later when you decide to sell your
home your hard work and little cash spent will payoff.

Transportation management software is a broad term. Large shippers and carriers began developing transportation management software in the 1960’s when mainframe computers became more widely available and affordable. Large LTL carriers such as Roadway Express and Red Ball were pioneers in the field. It is a little known fact that the freight industry created E.D.I. (electronic data interchange) during this time frame. Early transportation management software was custom built and run on company mainframes at the large carriers and shippers. As with so many other fields, transportation management software for small or medium sized companies did not begin to materialize until after the introduction of the I.B.M. personal computer in 1980. Transportation management software can be as simple as software used to calculate point-to-point mileage or complex enough to manage virtually all shipping functions of a carrier, broker or shipper.

Modern transportation management software has standardized into basic functional groups based on the needs of shippers and carriers/brokers. Much of the available transportation management software is sold with these functions as modules that can be purchased separately. Which modules are purchased is usually driven by the size of the company looking for the transportation management software.

Transportation management software as applied to shippers can be part of the much larger field of supply chain management or more narrowly focused on supply chain execution. Supply chain management can be defined as the application of information technology to economic order quantity theory. It encompasses virtually every function within a company that deals in tangible products and is usually best preceded by ERP. Enterprise Resource Planning is the company getting its data house in order. It can then think in a more focused way about supply chain management and execution.

Transportation management software as it applies to shippers is most often associated with supply chain execution. The main functional groups here are the preparation of goods for shipment and the effective management of transportation vendors. The preparation of goods for shipment is a function of warehouse management software. The warehouse must stock the products that will later be shipped, pick the products that have been ordered and package or unitize those products for shipment.

Management of transportation vendors is an important function of supply chain execution software. Shippers usually need a number of vendors to cover their territory or find it beneficial to have vendors competing for business. Vendor management software uses objective measures to point out the best vendor for any given shipment based on price and service accomplishment. The best supply chain execution software allows for effective communication with vendors throughout the shipping process.

Transportation management software as it applies to trucking or broker companies has standardized into three basic functional groups; dispatch operations, equipment management and accounting. Much of the available trucking software is sold with these functions as modules that can be purchased separately. Which modules are purchased is usually driven by the size of the carrier or broker looking for the trucking software. Very small carriers and brokers can manage dispatch and or equipment on paper. Accounting functions at this level are well served by software packages such as QuickBooks or Peachtree. Carriers that grow beyond 10 so trucks and brokers with 20+ loads per month or can usually begin to see the value of having one or more of the transportation management software modules.

Transportation management software designed for the accounting functions is the least likely of three to be offered as a stand-alone product since it depends upon the others for data. Payroll functions can be derived from dispatch operations data such as which driver went where. Invoicing and receivables are also derived from dispatch operations data as in which customer sent what where. Equipment expenses are derived from equipment management functions. Transportation management software designed to integrate with the over the counter accounting packages such as QuickBooks can ease the transition for many small carriers and brokers.

Equipment management functions of transportation management software revolve around fuel and maintenance costs. Fuel, tires, periodic maintenance, and repairs are all important costs to be managed by every trucking company. This type of software can get very complex but is essential to larger carriers and can be a good value to smaller companies. The availability of fuel cost data on the internet has given carriers a new tool to manage those costs as in where and when and how much fuel to buy. Transportation brokers do not have these concerns.

Transportation management software designed for dispatch operations is the most likely of the functional groups to be offered as a stand-alone product. It is also arguably the most important of the three functional groups. It is the most important because it can have the greatest impact on customer service. Freight brokers in particular should recognize that this software can give them a competitive advantage. Equipment management and accounting functions are internal; dispatch operations touch every customer the carrier or broker has in one way or another. Dispatch operations is all about keeping the right drivers with the right equipment in place to services the customers’ needs and take advantage of opportunities that arise. Managing those resources is important but the best dispatch software also gives dispatchers and managers tools to monitor work in progress and communicate effectively with customers.

The internet has given rise to two interesting new developments in the field of transportation management software; software as a service and networking as a new functional group. Software as a service is delivered via the internet by subscription and has the following advantages:

No large upfront investment as in traditional buying of software.
No new hardware costs. Your existing network, internet connection and browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer are all that are needed.
Pay as you go. This type of software is often available month to month without a contract.
Maintenance and upgrades handled at the web server with little or no bother to the user.

Networking as a functional group is a new development made possible by the internet. Dispatch software can now be extended onto the customers’ desktops. Carriers, brokers and shippers can collaborate to give and get the data that they need to get the job done. Customer service is greatly enhanced with true real time communications and the customer as a larger part of the process. TDNweb.com is an example of this new breed of transportation management software.

Van Wooten is the vision behind Transport Data Networks (TDN) an innovative online application that is revolutionizing the www.tdnweb.com”> transportation management software industry.

It is possible that the breakdown of a payment into principal and interest that Microsoft Money makes will be incorrect. Rounding errors, payment delays, and perhaps even a bug in either Money’s or the bank’s calculations may mean that the loan balance that Money shows for a loan or mortgage is incorrect.

Understanding the problem

When the ending balance that Money shows is incorrect, it simply means that Money has incorrectly split one or more loan payments between principal and interest. What you need to do, in this case, is adjust the ending balance and categorize the adjustment as falling into the same interest expense category and subcategory as you are using to track the interest component of the loan payment.

To make this sort of adjustment, display the account register for the loan or mortgage that you need to adjust. Then click Update Amount Owed in the list of common tasks. Money then displays the Adjust Loan Balances dialog box.

Fixing the principal balance error

To adjust, or correct, the loan balance, enter the correct ending balance in the New Ending Balance box and the ending balance date in the As Of Date box. You should be able to get this information from the end-of-year or end-of-month loan statement that alerted you to the loan balance error.

Fixing the interest expense error

To fix the interest portion of the loan record-keeping error, enter the interest category and subcategory you used in the Category For Adjustment boxes. For example, if you used Loan as the category and Mortgage Interest as the subcategory, enter this category and subcategory in the two boxes.
While it might seem curious to use the loan interest categories for categorizing an adjustment to the loan balance, remember that loan payments are split between principal and interest. Therefore, if you overstate the principal components of a loan payment, you implicitly understate the interest components—and vice versa.

In effect, adjusting the loan ending balance is the same thing as adjusting the cumulative principal payments made on the loan. And that means you need to also adjust cumulative interest payments made on the loan.

Seattle CPA Stephen L. Nelson is the author of Quicken for Dummies, The Microsoft Money Guide to Personal Finance, and more than 100 other books as well. Nelson holds an MBA in Finance and an MS in taxation. His web site is http://www.stephenlnelson.com