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Drive Stalker Released
- Details
- Category: Software News
- Published on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 00:53
- Written by Christian Dunn
Drive Stalker makes hard drive monitoring easy by allowing you to select any volumes on a system, mark them and check regularly that they are running and have sufficient space. This is a very simple but very powerful monitoring tool.
Drive Stalker can be scheduled using the Windows Task Scheduler and can send an email notification when drives are full or unavailable.
Process Stalker released
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- Category: Software News
- Published on Thursday, 09 May 2013 23:30
- Written by Christian Dunn
Process Stalker makes custom process monitoring easy by allowing you to select any running processes on a system, mark them and check regularly that they are running. You can truncate the length of process command lines to identify unique processes that you want to confirm are running when required. This is a very simple but very powerful monitoring tool.
Process Stalker can be scheduled using the Windows Task Scheduler and can send an email notification when processes are not running.
Try the free version or purchase the FULL version.
Process Stalker has now been released.
Barley is the new web designer
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- Category: Industry News
- Published on Sunday, 05 May 2013 23:56
- Written by Christian Dunn
Is your small business website looking tired?
A new web editor called Barley is hoping to change that.
Barley is designed to be the absolute simplest way to build and update websites. Barley will host your site, you specify the template, then updating your site is as easy as using Microsoft Office. Simply click where you want and change what you want directly in your browser.
Most new websites are based on Content Management Systems such as WordPress and Joomla which are very powerful but also require a web designer skilled in HTML and CSS. Barley thinks that should change and that anyone should be able to create a website, so no business has an excuse not to be online.
Pricing is based from $18/month and you can find out more here.
A site for the future
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- Category: Site News
- Published on Thursday, 02 May 2013 01:21
- Written by Christian Dunn
As my website celebrates 16 years of being online in 2013 it is time again for a change. As the technology that supports my site nears the end of life I am currently in the process of standardising my site in preparation of an upgrade to a new dynamic website with built in support for desktops, tablets and mobile devices.
You may have already noticed a number of changes including improved URLs and Search Engine Optimisation, cleaner pages, new download sections, the removal of the download mirror and much much more.
Some of these items such as my download mirror have been in operation with only interface updates and unchanged URLs for nearly 10 years so making these kind of changes is a BIG deal and requires a lot of work to ensure my faithful software users and affiliates can still find me and my software online. All of these changes are designed to ensure the next upgrade will be seamless so you can still find your favourite articles and software in the new improved format.
Over the coming weeks some features may go (sorry, this will mainly affect members) in preparation for the upgrade which will result in a totally overhauled new site with heaps of brand new exciting features (especially for members). It will all be worth it and I apologise for any inconvenience as these changes occur. As always contact me with any problems or suggestions.
Christian.
PDFtoExcel.org
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 23:26
- Written by Christian Dunn
Converting PDFs to Excel is always a challenge, especially with complex formats and layouts.
PDFs however are a preferred method of sharing business documents as they are secure and convenient. Unfortunately extracting data from them is often difficult or impossible. Now however all you need is a web browser and you can convert these documents quickly and easily using PDFtoExcel.org in conjunction with CometDocs (www.cometdocs.com).
Joomla 2.5 Responsive Templates
- Details
- Category: Opinion
- Published on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 22:48
- Written by Christian Dunn
I have been testing a wide range of responsive Joomla Templates as part of plans for the next upgrade of my site.
Responsive templates are those which automatically resize based on the screen size of the device viewing the site making them ideal for use on computers, tablets and mobile devices without requiring special mobile sites or multiple templates.
These are my favourites. One of these may become the base for the next version of www.chrisdunn.name.
Print Queue Manager 5.2.0 Released
- Details
- Category: Software News
- Published on Friday, 26 April 2013 08:48
- Written by Christian Dunn
Overnight I have launched the latest update to Print Queue Manager to version 5.2.0.
This version includes a fix to remove comma delimited data from the settings files to resolve issues with international usage, some minor interface updates to improve usability, a fix to CSV log exports, some standardisation in Start Menu shortcuts for consistency with my other applications and a new feature for AutoRelease.
The new AutoRelease feature allows jobs older than a specified number of minutes to be automatically deleted or printed. This can be ideal to continually keep your print queue clean by removing jobs regularly or can be used to ensure users jobs do print if the administrator after a period of time if the Print Queue Administrator is away from their desk.
All of the changes in this release are directly the result of Fixes or Feature Requests from Print Queue Manager users. If you have a suggestion for a fix or feature request send it through so it can be considered for the next release.
I hope you enjoy using my software as much as I enjoy making it. Christian.
Investintech Able2Extract Mobile
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 21 April 2013 16:01
- Written by Christian Dunn
Programs to create and convert PDF files are nothing new and these days most of us use PDF printers or similiar software in our day to day work activities to generate documents for clients that can't be edited or convert provided documentation into an editable format.
Investintech.com PDF Solutions has taken this one step further with their new mobile solution Able2Extract Mobile.
Able2Extract provides all the benefits of Investintech PDF conversion utilities on your mobile device. Are you a mobile office worker? Constantly sending emails, editing documents, responding to enquiries and reading documentation on your tablet or mobile phone?
Able2Extract provides you with the capability to convert Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents to or from PDF on the go. This is the ultimate productivity tool for the mobile worker and it is free to use. A wifi or data connection is required as conversion happens in real time using the Investintech servers.
Not only is it free but it is available for both iOS and Android. Conversion is quick and easy and happens in real time and converted documents can be quickly and easily shared with other users or services in seconds directly from the app.
Already a staple of my mobile business toolkit, add it to yours today.
Check out the easy steps to converting a PDF and download it here: http://www.investintech.com/apps/
New Software Updates
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- Category: Software News
- Published on Monday, 11 March 2013 01:24
- Written by Christian Dunn
TimeTracker and Time Is Money have both been updated with new online help documentation and the new .Net 4 Framework. Built on the latest version of VisualStudio. More software updates coming soon.
Easy one-click ClickOnce installation and automatic online updates.
Both new applications will be coming soon to CNET Download.com.
Try them out today.
Wave Accounting
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Friday, 08 March 2013 01:00
- Written by Christian Dunn
Recently I needed to begin separating my personal and professional finances properly in order to better manage my taxes and invoices. Unfortunately my 6 year old copy of MYOB no longer cut it and I wanted something simple, easy to use and ideally free.
As is the current trend I have been slowly migrating my software and services to the cloud providing complete online access for my site, services, email and finally accounts so that I can work from anywhere, anytime on any device. I decided my accounting software had to meet this requirement.
Unfortunately this made my search harder and my solution simpler as I discovered that when it comes to accounting software my options were very limited, especially when I wanted extensive capabilities to customise my invoices and configure my accounts.
The I found Wave. Wave makes it easy, allowing me to customise my invoices, configure my accounts and even import transaction information from paypal or my bank accounts. Best of all when you setup company accounting they also allow you to track your personal finances but keep them separated from your company information giving my 2 apps in one. In fact, even more than that as they threw in payroll and invoicing.
Now my customers can receive invoices from me anytime, anywhere and pay me online and I have real-time visibility of my business transactions.
Check it out here: https://www.waveapps.com/
Acronis Drive Monitor
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- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 01:00
- Written by Christian Dunn
Recently I was faced with a home computer that intermittently shutdown and a Managing Director's laptop that would have startup and shutdown problems. While everyone suggested a range of problems from hardware to software I was determined to find out for sure.
Fortunately the Managing Director's laptop simply required a repair of the windows system files using the System File Checker, my personal computer was not in as good a shape. Technically my home computer was in excellent condition software wise (as you would hope) but it just wouldn't perform as expected.
This gave me a chance to test out the Acronis Drive Monitor and I couldn't recommend it more highly.
This little utility which is FREE and runs in your system tray provides real time status of the state of your hard drives. As it turned out 2 of the 3 hard drives in my home computer were operating with a health rating of just 30% indicating many bad sectors and faults and ultimately imminent failure.
You can imagine my shock and surprise as this computer holds at least 15 years of my work. Fortunately this heads up gave me time to order some new hard drives, clean and rebuild my computer and even upgrade it to Windows 8.
So if you are concerned about the health or age of your computer try Acronis Drive Monitor and it could save you a lot of heartache.
New email, same .name
- Details
- Category: Site News
- Published on Tuesday, 05 March 2013 01:00
- Written by Christian Dunn
As part of the ongoing upgrades to my site and the changes to my new www.chrisdunn.name I have now updated and migrated my email to Outlook.com.
This means I have a new This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. email address to match my new website address. All my existing email addresses will still work although I will phase these out slowly over time. As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions regarding my software let me know as I am always happy to help.
New TimeTracker Software
- Details
- Category: Software News
- Published on Monday, 04 March 2013 01:00
- Written by Christian Dunn
TimeTracker is a new application from www.chrisdunn.name that allows you to track your time activities throughout the week and generate a timesheet that can be edited in Excel.
Using the latest ClickOnce and .Net technologies, TimeTracker is installed and automatically updated online directly from this site. All data is stored securely on your local machine ensuring you are not breaching your corporate policies and procedures.
TimeTracker is based on TimeisMoney, my time billing application, and is quick and easy to use.
TimeTracker is currently 'In The Labs' at www.chrisdunn.name meaning it is only available to members of my site. Become a member to try out this great new application.
TimeTracker has now been released, is available for all users of www.chrisdunn.name and will be appearing online shortly at CNET Download.com.
I Know IT Cloud Fujitsu Case Study
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- Category: Site News
- Published on Friday, 22 February 2013 00:31
- Written by Christian Dunn
In late 2012 I was the solution architect responsible for designing and delivering I Know IT's leading edge data centre solution based on the latest Fujitsu equipment.
Based on the Fujitsu ETERNUS DX90 storage systems and PRIMERGY RX200 servers, I Know IT can now provide the latest in cloud based services for their managed services customers. With redundancy built in at the hardware and software layers and the ability to scale as their business grows I Know IT can now help more customers move their business to the cloud while ensuring security and sovereignty over their data in PacNet's state of the art tier 3 data centre in central Sydney.
I Know IT customers now have the benefits of highly resilient and reliable infrastructure in one of Sydney's leading datacentre's managed by VMWare vSphere providing the latest hosted email services courtesy of Microsoft Exchange 2013 and always available Citrix client desktops.
Put simply in the words of James Vickery, CEO of I Know IT, "It works.".
Congratulations to the hard work and great result for the team at I Know IT and Fujitsu Australia.
To find out more check out the case study on Fujitsu's global website and learn how Fujitsu's scalable cloud infrastructure is helping I Know IT support their managed services expertise.
 cs-pg-i-know-it.pdf | 255 kB | 2013-02-22 |
Vmware ESXi Snapshots Best Practice
- Details
- Category: Opinion
- Published on Monday, 11 February 2013 02:06
- Written by Christian Dunn
This is probably not the first or last time I will see this but I had the misfortune of discovering the use of VmWare ESXi snapshots as a disaster recovery method recently. From experience I can warn you that while this might seem like a good idea at the time it can cost you a lot of time, money and most importantly unhappy customers in the long term. If you are using snapshots in your production environment you might want to read on.