Archive for September, 2011
Sunday September 25th, 2011
As some of you may know, keeping your software up to date makes your system more secure. You may notice that Microsoft, Adobe and many others are regularly prompting you to install the new version of their program due to security vulnerability concerns. Many of these are what are known as ‘Security Patches.’
Simply put, a ‘security patch’ is like a ‘fix’ to mend a program. It is like having a hole or a gap in a fence. If there is a loose bit of wire in the fence the fox will get in. So, in our case, if the program doesn’t get fixed, it could allow a hacker to get in.
Sunday September 25th, 2011
21. Do not ask to recall a message.
Biggest chances are that your message has already been delivered and read. A recall request would look very silly in that case wouldn’t it? It is better just to send an email to say that you have made a mistake. This will look much more honest than trying to recall a message.
22. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission.
Do not copy a message or attachment belonging to another user without permission of the originator. If you do not ask permission first, you may be infringing on copyright laws.
23. Do not use email to discuss confidential information.
Sending an email is like sending a postcard. If you don’t want your email to be displayed on a bulletin board, don’t send it. Never, never make any potentially libelous, sexist or racially discriminating comments in emails, even if they are meant to be a joke.
24. Use a meaningful subject.
Try to use a subject that is meaningful to the recipient as well as yourself. For instance, when you send an email to a company requesting about a product, it is better to mention the actual name of the product, e.g. ‘Product A information’ than to just say ‘product information’ or the company’s name in the subject.
25. Use active instead of passive.
Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. For instance, ‘We will process your order today’, sounds better than ‘Your order will be processed today’. The first sounds more personal, whereas the latter, especially when used frequently, sounds unnecessarily formal.
Thursday September 8th, 2011
If you hate having to press umpteen buttons just to fire up MYOB
software. Instead, you can pop an icon on the desktop so that all you have to do is click and you’re away.
If you use a PC, go to Windows Explorer or My Computer and click
once on the myob.exe file (myobp.exe in MYOB Premier, or bbasics.exe for MYOB BusinessBasics) that is in your MYOB program folder. Navigate to the File menu and click Create Shortcut, as shown in the screenshot below.
Next, Look in your MYOB program folder and check that you have
something called Shortcut to MYOB. Drag this file up to your Desktop folder (right in the top left) and drop it in there. Simple isn’t it!
Macintosh people have to take a different approach. First, go to
your MYOB program folder and highlight the MYOB Accounting, FirstEdge or AccountEdge icon. Then from the File menu, choose Make Alias.
Finally, drag this alias onto your desktop. It’s now ready for
action.
NETWORK TIP : If you’re on a network, make sure your shortcut points to the MYOB program application that is
on your local machine, not to the one on the server.
Friday September 2nd, 2011
16. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons.
In business emails, try not to use abbreviations such as BTW (by the way) and LOL (laugh out loud). The recipient might not be aware of the meanings of the abbreviations and in business emails these are generally not appropriate. The same goes for emoticons, such as the smiley 
. If you are not sure whether your recipient knows what it means, it is better not to use it.
17. Be careful with formatting.
Remember that when you use formatting in your emails, the sender might not be able to view formatting, or might see different fonts than you had intended. When using colors, use a color that is easy to read on the background.
18. Take care with rich text and HTML messages.
Be aware that when you send an email in rich text or HTML format, the sender might only be able to receive plain text emails. If this is the case, the recipient will receive your message as a .txt attachment. Most email clients however, including Microsoft Outlook, are able to receive HTML and rich text messages.
19. Do not forward chain letters.
Do not forward chain letters. We can safely say that all of them are hoaxes. Just delete the letters as soon as you receive them.
20. Do not request delivery and read receipts.
This will almost always annoy your recipient before he or she has even read your message. Besides, it usually does not work anyway since the recipient could have blocked that function, or his/her software might not support it, so what is the use of using it? If you want to know whether an email was received it is better to ask the recipient to let you know if it was received.
