Tech Tip: Get Rid of that Annoying Apple Updater!

Are you sick of seeing this pop up and taking the focus away from what you were doing?



Go to Start -> Programs -> Apple Software Update.

Click on Edit -> Preferences, go to the 'Schedule' tab and select Never.

Click Ok, then Quit.



If you want to update your software at any point in the future you can always go back into Start -> Programs -> Apple Software Update and download & install them.

Spiceworks

A few months ago I changed jobs and moved industry from Architecture/Construction to the Travel Industry. As part of the job I inherited I got something I had been looking to implement for quite some time (already handily implemented for me by my predecessor!), a Helpdesk.

The Desktop Support aspect of IT can be tricky. Dealing with the organisation of a network, tracking devices, consumables and all the rest in addition to fielding user requests can sometimes become overwhelming. (When you've got someone at your desk, emails coming in and your phone ringing you'll know what I mean.)



So, saying all of this, my life has become so much simpler. Spiceworks included a Help Desk (which will connect to either MS Exchange or a pop3 email address), a network Inventory and some other cool features. It runs on either a windows desktop machine or a windows server. It's completely free, running ad supported on your network or you can also pay $20/month or $220/year to brand it with your own logo and remove the ads.

Visit the site - www.spiceworks.com to check it out for yourself.

Full disclosure: I don't work for Spiceworks or make any gains from writing about their product, I merely use their software and have found it good enough to post about it.

So, things have been quiet around here for a while...

It's been a busy few months so we haven't been posting as much as we should have (or at all). One of the interesting developments we've been working on is home.system.

It's going to be a purpose built smart home / integrated computing system for one of our new homes. We will update shortly on its progress.

Tech Tip: Flash Earth - Google Earth Alternative

For the past few weeks at work, every so often, someone would complain about Google Earth... Officially this isn't a program we use in the office but some of the people find it useful in the free version. The complaint would usually either involve the entire screen going Green or Black. Apparently, this is an issue with some graphics cards. Instead of trying to remedy the problem now, I usually uninstall Google Earth and direct them to the mashup website Flash Earth.



The Flash Earth API integrates with Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Yahoo Maps, Ask.com (aerial & physical), OpenLayers and NASA Terra data.

Click here to go to Flash Earth

Categories: Google|Maps|Microsoft Virtual Earth|Flash|Mashups|Flash Earth

Tech Tip: Saving in Microsoft Office formats by default in OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.

That's from the OpenOffice website. I like to recommend OpenOffice to friends and family members who ask me to 'get them' Microsoft Office because it's free and open (and its one less piece of pirated software in the wild...). The only problem is, when they save files to give to others for presentations or to print or whatever and that person uses Microsoft Office. If it were me, I'd automatically know to 'Save As...' a Microsoft .doc/.ppt/.xls file rather than just save in the default OpenOffice format.

For those and others who want to learn how to save in Microsoft formats automatically, read on.

In OpenOffice:

Go to Tools -> Options

Expand the 'Load/Save' section.

Click 'General' under 'Load/Save'

You need to change the default for each type of document (ie Text document, spreadsheet, presentation etc). To do this:

Select the type of document under 'Default file format' and 'Document Type' eg Text Document. Then select the format you wish to save it in under 'Always Save As' eg Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP. Obviously you don't have to switch it to a Word Document, you could as easily save it as a Lotus Notes something or other...

And that's it. Simple, huh? If you have any trouble with this, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you with a solution (if I have it!).

Technorati Tags: Windows|OpenOffice|Microsoft Office|File Formats

Tech Tip: Using 'No to All'

Came across this handy tip via Reddit : Using "No to all" while replacing files in Windows

Thanks go to Vijeesh at Tech Xpress for that handy tid-bit!

Categories: Reddit|No to All|Windows|Replacing files

Tech Tip: AutoCAD Fatal Error

When installing AutoCAD ADT 2006 recently I came upon this error when starting CAD to configure settings:

AutoCAD Error Aborting.

FATAL Error: Unhandled e0434f4dh Exception at 7c59bc81h

This happened after installing Express Tools for ADT. The fix I came up with was to install the latest ADT Service Pack...

Categories: AutoCAD|Fatal Error|Service Pack