Free Computer Consultant ………. Daily Insights

I have mentioned before how I hate Microsoft ActiveSync. In this post I want to tell you how to turn off Microsoft ActiveSync, since there is no “exit” option and it runs as soon as you boot your computer.

(See also Why Do I Hate ActiveSync, Let Me Count The Ways”)

The problem is, many times you will need to install or uninstall software that has it’s bloody little hooks iinto Microsoft Outlook or some other MS Office application.

In order for that install to work properly, the other application may tell you to exit all Microsoft applications. “But I have, darn it!” is your polite response. Well, not quite, because ActiveSync is still running (did you notice you get pop-ups when new email messages arrive but you haven’t opened Outlook yet since you rebooted last?).

What you have to do is invoke Task Manager one of these ways:

• Simultaneously press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC
• Right click the taskbar and select Task Manager
• Simultaneously press CTRL-ALT-DEL and select Task Manager (only works if Windows User Fast Switching is turned off)

Then click on the “Processes” tab, Click the “Image Name” column heading to alphabetize the list, then, in turn, select “WCESMgr.exe” and click the “End Process” button and acknowledge the warning followed by selecting “wcescomm.exe” and click “End Process” button and acknowledge that warning.

Note: the ActiveSync green icon in the system tray may still be visible, but if you hold your mouse over it it will go away.

Now! Microsoft ActiveSync is turned off.

Re-starting ActiveSync is much easier. Microsoft has cluttered your Start Menu with a shortcut to turn it on.. They must have determined that you would eventually figure out how to turn the thing off without their help.

If you would like to create a batch file to kill activesync conveniently:

• Right click on an empty spot on your desktop and select “New”, then “Text Document”
• You will need to rename the file “Kill ActiveSync.bat” or something similar, but it must have the “.bat” extension. (First, you may need to enable seeing file extensions. Open Windows Explorer, go to the Tools menu and select Folder Options. Click on the View tab and make sure  “Hide extensions for known file types is unchecked.)
• Right click this new document and select “Edit”
• Create these two lines in the file, then exit and save.
  • TaskKill /IM wcescomm.exe /F
  • TaskKill /IM WCESMgr.exe /F

Now any time you want to kill ActiveSync you can just double click your new batch file. ActiveSync can be restarted by rebooting or finding the program icon that Microsoft created in the Start Menu for it. You will probably have to unplug then re-plug in your device.

Adobe makes some great products but I haven’t always been fond of certain programming nuances. Like the fact that most Adobe products seem bloated and run slow.

I loaded Adobe CS3 Web Premium on my computer and found Adobe Contribute toolbars on Outlook, Word and Excel.

Going through the normal paces of View | Toolbars and unchecking Adobe Contribute did nothing, still there. Likewise when I chose “customize” toolbars and deleted the toolbar; still there.

I found the answer via Google..

Exit all Microsoft Office applications (even ActiveSync, which, conveniently has no option to exit! See How to Turn Off Microsoft ActiveSync).

Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Contribute CS3″ (the default location unless you changed it) and rename these to files to something else of your choosing - I usually add the extension “bad” to the end.

OfficePlugin.dll

OfficePluginRes.dll

And Voila!, Contribute toolbar is now gone.

I have a number of clients who are making great strides toward being paperless. At least, that is, when it comes to storing documents. A great many more, I might add, are always talking about it.

The problem is absent when dealing with data that is created by your own employees or provided to you electronically. But what to do about the volume of paper dropped in your lap by customers, vendors or whomever?

The answer is to scan it in, obviously.

But to what format? PDF makes sense, but if you just create a document with a high school student doing the scanning you had better hope they name it with something meaningful and store it in the correct location. Why not make the PDF’s searchable? That way, you don’t have to use a 256 character filename to fully describe the document.

And wouldn’t it be nice to turn that PDF into a Word or Excel document on occasion?

Some of my clients fork over big bucks for OmniPage (Save 10% on OmniPage 16! Use coupon code 16OP10) but you don’t have to.

The same company that makes OmniPage 16 also makes a more affordable program called PDF Converter Pro ( Save 10% off PDF Converter Pro! Use code 5PDFP10)

PDF Converter Pro has a lot of the same functionality of it’s more expensive brother at a price that’s just plain affordable.

For business users, PDF Converter Pro delivers the features you need without the complication you tend to find in more expensive alternatives. And what do want most, ease of use, right?

With this software you can create PDF files from any application, convert PDF’s into fully formatted Word and Excel files and even edit PDF files. The program takes the scanned document and turns it into text so that you can use it without re-typing.

How many times haven’t I seen someone print out a PDF form, stick it in the typewriter to fill it out, then SCAN it BACK into their computer? No need for that with PDF Converter Pro.

This software is priced at just under $100 and you can save 10% with this link. (I’m always trying to save my clients and readers money!)

You don’t have to have the latest and greatest PC to run the software, either. The system requirements are ridiculously low.

If you work with PDF’s regularly, or would like to, check out this inexpensive, simple to use package in your work environment. The accuracy of the OCR (optical character recognition) is exceptional and it even has an Outlook plugin. You can convert an email into a searchable PDF document in one easy step.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Omnipage, but I also realize that its price tag is out of reach for a lot people.

Note: Once you convert that paper to electronic format, don’t forget to BACKUP!

With testking now offering complimentary training material for 640-802 and 70-290, more 70-291 and 70-270 students are showing interest in advanced studies.

I have a lot of accounting clients and almost all of them use QuickBooks. So when I received an offer from Intuit/QuickBooks to put a link on my site to save my clients & website visitors 20% on QuickBooks purchases and get FREE SHIPPING, I readily agreed.

As an example, today one of my clients needed another user license for QuickBooks Pro 2008. Online it was shown as $199.95 reduced to $179.95.

But through the special offer QuickBooks extended to me with my website, the price was LOWER still at $159.96, and, if you want the CD instead of downloading it, FREE SHIPPING. I thought that was a pretty good deal.

You can go here to shop and get the QuickBooks Accounting Software special pricing and free shipping.

Microsoft is on version 4.5 of ActiveSync, necessary for any phone/pda with Windows Mobile on it. After all of these years it still sucks. Granted, Palm’s sync is just as bad - it either works or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t there is no knowing how much time you will waste getting it to work.

My Verizon XV6700 phone all of a sudden showed “no service”. I could still get on the internet, though. So 2 hours later after tech support, clearing storage (and losing hours of configuration work that you cannot save) and uploading a newer firmware and OS build, it’s working again.

ActiveSync had been working off and on for months before this (the phone is less than 1 year old, my PC is a clean install of XP Pro just a few months ago).

Now after all of this I think the phone is working again, setup, configured, programs installed, hours wasted.

Then I realize I have only a fraction of my contacts on it. Turns out it is not synchronizing any contact with Notes included. That’s handy - NOT!

Google it and you will find out this is a widespread problem; with no fix. I uninstalled/reinstalled ActiveSync, did some registry & file cleanup after it, still didn’t work.

Finally, I set it to sync off of my Exchange Server directly instead of the PC. Now it works. Not everyone has that option.

Get with it Microsoft. ActiveSync is so widely used; totally proprietary - can’t do without it. Yet so many people have so many unanswered problems with it and so very little help available.

Is the iPhone this bad too?

If you want to get serious about blogging, I highly recommend you check out Yaro Starak. I was watching a free video of his early this morning and he mentioned “Moving The Free Line”.

I like that term.

What “Moving The Free Line” means is giving more away for free than you used to. Maybe it’s an ebook that was free but now comes with a bonus ebook or a video. One way or another you are trying to “over deliver” with what you give away for free.

Here at FreeComputerConsultant.com I think I have done a pretty fair job of “over delivering”. After all, my offline clients pay over $100 per hour for my time and opinions. On this website, it’s free.

In fact, the only thing I have sold, I sell cheaply. Namely my two eBooks.

My first eBook, “How To Improve Your Email Image” has sold for under $10 the whole time it has been offered. I just haven’t gotten around to raising the price and creating new PayPal buttons. To be quite honest, the eBook doesn’t sell all that well because people don’t care about their email image. I see that every day.

People, in general, don’t care if their emails get opened. Again, I see the evidence every day.

I shouldn’t be surprised, a lot of people don’t even care how they look. With the advent of the popular “bed head” hairstyle, the shorts falling off one’s butt to reveal not just designer undies, but as of the 4th of July I have (unfortunately) seen “tightie-whities” prominently displayed this way. Curiously, the young men sporting this look did NOT have a legion of attractive young girls surrounding them.

My other eBook, “One Secret Can Save You 8 - 16% Buying Dell Online” has been a better seller, and I could easily charge more considering how much you save with just one Dell purchase, but I haven’t gotten around to that either.

Here again, most people are looking for a FREE COUPON CODE that will save them a few bucks; without considering how many dollars they could save by spending less than $20 on my eBook. Corporations especially could save HUGE money time and again by buying a $17 eBook (that still sells for $14.95 because I’m too lazy to create a new PayPal button) once.

If you detect a little bit of “grit” in my writing today, it’s probably because I received an email from someone who read this post on my new FREE Support Forum. Here’s the post:

I ordinarily try the free adaware.

http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php

The person emailed me this:

You’r no better sir you refer me to some site to buy a product by clicking on more “blind” links to buy some more crap!
This is what is Killing America the BS crap on the net!
Either sell a good product or take it else where

If you notice in my recommendation, I bolded and italicized the word FREE. I gave the person a link, not cloaked by me in any way, that has a download button for the free version of AdAware. I am NOT a web affiliate for LavasoftUSA and would make ZERO if anyone chose to buy the PAID version available on the same webpage.

Come on, folks! I know everyone wants free, but can you blame LavasoftUSA from wanting to offer a better product for a price? And is that MY FAULT for sending you a link to page that has BOTH? I said to use the FREE one!

Quite frankly, I and my clients have gotten such benefit out of the free version for so many years we probably should send them some money. They have been gracious in offering such a great free version we are indebted to them.

If someone offers you value, please don’t object to paying something for it.

If I tell you something is free, then it’s free; unless I’ve been misinformed. If so, contact me and let me know and I’ll change it.

Free software is free, but they usually want you to buy their paid version. If the free version makes you mad, how likely are you to buy the full version?

I have long used FoxIt Reader for PDF’s to replace the agonizingly slow Adobe Acrobat Reader. But I really get ticked off when I want to open a PDF and have to wait for it to check for updates. If you cancel the check, the program locks up; restart it and it checks again. Gotta wait for it.

Can you turn off the auto update feature? Heck no, only in good software programs can you do that. This latest version, 2.3, even has the annoyance of showing the bookmarks side panel at startup. You can turn it off, but exit FoxIt and come back in and there it is again. I almost never use bookmarks.

You could say I’m cheap, but what if I told you I own the full version of Adobe Acrobat Standard? I just can’t stand waiting for it to load 6 zillion plugins before it opens up a simple PDF.

Anyone from FoxIt reading?

The past few months have seen a wide array of Microsoft services being down for fairly long periods of time. Whether MSDN for developers or hotmail and live messenger for the masses, this is casting some doubts on the whole “Software as a Service” or SaaS concept.

Doesn’t cast doubts for me. I have written before that I don’t like Software as a Service and I’ll say it again. If you don’t control it, you don’t get it when you need it.

Microsoft is trying to get people to use even MS Office in a online mode. The advantages are these:

• All you need is a computer with a working web browser installed - anywhere in the world
• Your data is available to you - anywhere in the world
• You can share your data with coworkers easily - anywhere in the world

But let’s take a look at the disadvantages:

• Your data is available to Microsoft, its employees and any hackers - anywhere in the world
• Not just any web browser of your choosing, Internet Explorer only
• Your internet connection must be working, and at a fast clip
• The browser and the computer you are using must be updated to the latest and the greatest in security patches, updates, plugins, activeX controls, you name it
• Backup is whose responsibility?
• Availability of the service is whose responsibility?

One of my clients had their high dollar internet connection, a T-1, go down about 4:30pm earlier this week. If the company would have been willing to pay someone to stay and wait for AT&T for up to 4 hours to come and fix it, AT&T would have. Instead they opted to wait until morning. It was fixed about 8:30am.

The email server was so backed up that email was not flowing normally until 3pm (mostly spam of course). Everyone was frustrated, many were angry.

We take these services for granted when they work, even though responsible IT people will constantly remind all of those involved that many services, such as email, are anything but guaranteed.

For certain people in certain circumstances, Software as a Service may be appropriate. With data they don’t care if Microsoft, Google, Every ad agency in the U.S., some clever hackers, and the U.S. Government all have access to.

But if your business and livelihood rely on it, keep it under your control. And treat it properly.

It frustrates me enough that software companies don’t bother to optimize their code and instead load up our hard drives with unnecessary files strewn over several directories (known as software bloat). A perfect uninstall is almost impossible. And that new Dell or whoever computer coming loaded with Google desktop, half a dozen instant messaging programs and who knows what else. It takes me a half hour just to sort through and uninstall all of that garbage. Use the restore feature of you computer and you’ll get it all back.

But now more & more software is coming with add ons that will install unless you tell it not to.

Cases in point.

Adobe Reader was also installing, unless you unchecked the box, some photoalbum starter edition (increases download time) that not only loaded junk on your hard drive (slows PC down, takes more to back it up - if you back up) but also started some downloader program that slows the boot up of your PC, slows the operation of your PC, and fills your system tray with yet another icon you don’t need. Now today I looked and saw that they are downloading & installing Adobe Media Player - as if you really need another media player.

Just one media player that worked all of the time would be fine with me. (VLC media player is one of the most reliable.)

Now Sun is getting into the act also by downloading and installing (unless you uncheck the box) OpenOffice installer when you go to get Java.

I’m all for OpenSource software and OpenOffice in particular. But the “you’ll get it unless you notice and go to the trouble to uncheck” mentality is plain wrong. What’s the connection between OpenOffice and Java? None. You’re getting Java because some website told you you needed it. You get OpenOffice when you want to ditch Microsoft Office.

<Update, forgot when originally writing post> Quicktime & iTunes are installing Safari web browser unless you are paying close enough attention to turn it off. Safari is a highly regarded web browser, but if you are using Firefox and quite happy with it then adding Safari is just cluttering up your PC.

Beware the add ons. Don’t ask me later how to clean up and speed up your PC, it’s so much easier to keep it clean to begin with.

Software as a service is a generally bad idea that I have written about before.

For those who don’t value my opinion, perhaps you will listen to security expert Bruce Schneier or Marcus Ranum. In Bruce’s most recent Crypt-O-Gram he and Marcus mention how Software as a Service is really a trick that allows businesses to lock up their customers indefinitely.

He specifically mentions the phenomenally popular iPhone which allows only certain companies to provide software for it. And on the other side of the PC - Mac gulf, Microsoft’s Trusted Computing initiative is really another lock-in measure, one touted as a security measure.

Nice to be in good company.