Neil Hoskins of ManSys

Synology DS Series

2011-05-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

We implemented a Synology DS device a while ago, with 2Tb of storage available. Fantastic device, it's quick, very capable and just "does what it says on the tin" and more. We're only using it as a file store and FTP server but it does a heck of a lot more.

Highly recommended device!

Apple, iTunes & iPhone

2010-08-13T00:21:00.001-07:00

Since I went for an iPhone I've warmed to Apple but over the last few weeks that warmth has fast turned to icey cold!

I can't believe the lack of support you can get from the internet on any Apple product. I don't believe anyone from Apple read any of their support forums, certainly when they do their resolutions are concise and illogical and simply don't work!

I have two outstanding issues with Apple at the moment;

iPhone 4 - iOS 4.0.2 - the signal strength issue - is it hardware or software? Well, if I turn 3G off I get a much better 2G signal. At home, with 3G on, I get no signal. This has only started happening in the last 2 or 3 days too (mid-August 2010) so it can't be an OS update. Come on Apple, sort this problem out!
iTunes - error 3259 - if you look for a resolution on this Apple tell you turn off your firewall, which I did and it happened to resolve the problem. However, the 20 minutes my firewall is off gives potential hackers plenty of time to pillage my system. Every other piece of software I have updates fine with the firewall on, what is wrong with Apple?

This is my rant about Apple before I get on to the pricing differential between the UK and the US for the iPad (not that I am considering buying one). What exchange rate are Apple using and why is it much more expensive in the UK than the US when they're shipped, in massive quantities from China. I know this is a common problem with most products but when are we in the UK going to stand up to it?

Sorry, this has now turned into a "rip off Britain" rant.

I'd better stop . . . .

Dynamics CRM & Firefox

2010-08-05T05:06:00.000-07:00

We've managed to get Dynamics CRM 4.0 running under Firefox 3.6. There's plenty of help articles out there but what they didn't say is you need IE Tab Plus, not IE Tab 2.5!

Just install IE Tab Plus as an Add-On into Firefox and add a Site Filter for your CRM domain, but make sure you do http://mscrm.domain.com/* - the star is important because CRM can open other windows.

Out with Sage, in with Xero

2010-07-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

We've now dropped Sage in favour of Xero accounts, on online provider. I have to say the user interface is clean, well laid out and very user friendly. It's almost an accounts system that most people will understand!!

Outlook Add-Ins

2010-07-05T03:44:00.000-07:00

Did you hear the trumpets? Well, I was certainly blowing them this morning!

We now have an Outlook to ManSys Correspondence Manager Outlook AddIn working, with installer, that will work with Outlook 2003 upwards (including 2010).

We also have another AddIn working which will create Outlook Tasks from our support system's outstanding calls.

Svetlana, your team are stars!

Delete folders permanently?

2010-06-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Just read the Windows 7 Newsletter I get from Win7News.Net and found a way to delete a whole folder properly (so that it can never be retrieved).

Use the 'CIPHER' command from an elevated command prompt!

ManSys is now signed!

2010-06-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Finally we get a code signing certificate and get ManSys signed, plus all the other add-ons we've developed like the Outlook Add-In for Correspondence Manager!

Whoohoo Whoohoo.

Sorry, I'm getting a little too excited over this!

Tooled-Up.Com

2010-06-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

I bought a Ryobi petrol brushcutter / strimmer at the beginning of June from Tooled-Up.com and their service was excellent.

However, the strimming head fell off and the bolt that holds it on wouldn't go back because the corresponding internal thread was damaged. I emailed Tooled-Up.Com twice but heard nothing back in 5 days!

I then called them and spoke to a guy in their technical department called Andy, who dealt with the matter perfectly. I emailed him a copy of the email I sent to sales and he rang to say a replacement part has been despatched!

Great company but call if you have problems - don't email!

MS-Dynamics CRM 4.0 & Outlook 2010

2010-06-23T05:25:00.000-07:00

I had some difficulty getting Dynamics CRM working with Outlook 2010 but found a nice registry hack for it: HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft and add a key MSCRMClient - then within that add a DWORD entry for IgnoreChecks and set it to 1.

It still gives you an error but doesn't disable the "Next" button!

Onwards . . .