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Microsoft released a critical update for users of Office 2008 today. The update is said to improve security features of the program with some frighten specifics of problems that have been occurring with Office 2008.

The update description reads:

“This update contains several improvements to enhance security, stability, and performance, including fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.”

Keep checking your updates to apply this patch since it is an important one.

Windows released an update last weekend for Vista and XP which is causing Quickbooks 2008 a lot of problems. Users are reporting they will open Quickbooks and the program immediately disappears and does not give them access to the program. www.Quickbooks.com has the steps needed to resolve this issue and we will repost them for you here.

For XP:

Uninstall and reinstall Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0:

1. Click the Windows Start button and select Run.
2. Enter control in the Open field and click OK.
3. Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Select Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 in the list of programs and click Remove.
   

   If you are unable to remove .NET using these instructions, download and run the dotnetfx_cleanup_tool utility to remove .NET, download .NET from the links below, and reinstall Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, and 1.1 SP1.

5. Download and install .Net Framework 2.0 from the Microsoft Web site

For Vista:

.NET Framework 2.0 is built in to the Windows Vista operating system. Because of this, it cannot be uninstalled from Vista. To repair .NET Framework 2.0, follow the steps below to run the System File Checker tool:

1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box. Do not press Enter
2. Right-click cmd.exe in the Programs list in the search results, and then click Run as administrator.
   If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue
3. At the command prompt, type the following line and then press ENTER:
   sfc /scannow
4. After the tool has finished running, double-click the QuickBooks icon.

There are instructional videos in the Support section of Quickbooks.com if you are having problems with the steps. The current wait time for calling Quickbooks Support is 2 hours so it’s worth giving the steps a try first.

Just a side note, could Microsoft have picked a worse time to give an update that causes this type of Quickbooks problem? The weekend before taxes are due and the end of the first quarter. Now that is timing.

Did we mention it’s a great time to buy a Mac?

Like entering into a foreign land many new Mac users switching from Windows systems say the same thing “It’s like a different language.” For people who are comfortable with Windows but are looking to switch over to the Mac, one helpful book is the “Crossing Platforms a Macintosh/Windows Phrasebook” by Adam Engst from the O’Reilly technical book series. The book offers a general overview of differences between Macs and Windows along with a “dictionary” type section where Mac users can look up the Windows terminology and then the reverse where Windows users can look up Mac terminology.

So whether you’re a new switcher or an old pro this little guide can help broaden your knowledge of both systems and also offer a few Windows shortcuts. Buy it used at www.powells.com for $4.95.

Reviews are in for the new Office 2008 for Mac, and the overall tone is not one of joy. Most users are disappointed to see the Ribbon that failed so royally in Vista present in Office 2008. Having to learn a new layout is one thing but when all the features people use the most are difficult if not impossible to find, there is a problem. Not to mention Mac users are not fond of a bulky interface taking up space and not being useful.
The biggest disappointment is the exclusion of VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) from Excel 2008. Users who depend on features such as solver, extended statistical analysis, ANOVA and histograms will find them simply non-existent on Office 2008. These feautres however are usually used by heavy Excel users looking for complicated math and scientific functions.  Excel 2008 will still perform simple functions for summing up categories. Many people are upset the Home and Student version does not have support for the exchange server however this is not the primary function of a Home and Student user and the price cut reflects the limitations.
The few positives are that Office 2008 is Universal and noticeably faster. PowerPoint received a complete makeover for the Mac. PowerPoint seems to run much faster and is more operational in the 2008 version. The new feature of ‘My Day’ is a great first step towards managing a ‘to do list’ through a Microsoft product and we look forward to the updates for this program in particular. Office 2008 is the new product that Microsoft has moved onto though, so all the software updates released now will be for Office 2008 and all of Microsoft’s care and focus will be on their newest product. We’re recommending the update for all our Clients as new computers are coming with Office 2008 standard. For the benefit of congruency and ease within a company it’s important to bring everyone up to speed through this newest version.