Windows is Your Friend!

This is actually a feature built in to all versions of Windows, a free gift from Microsoft. The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is there to help you. Sometimes people work too hard, and they need a break from the computer. Windows automatically senses this (although sometimes it is fooled by excessive cursing and/or pounding on the keyboard), and forces you to take a break by displaying the BSOD.

Most people find that if they shut down the computer, consume a mind-altering substance, and then resume working, things work pretty much better for the rest of the day. However, if you find that the BSOD is popping up even when you’re NOT over-worked or over-stressed, there may be a hardware and/or software issue involved.

What Causes the Blue Screen of Death?

Sometimes bad or flaky memory (RAM memory, not your hard drive) can cause seemingly random system crashes. If you have just the right combination of programs open and system memory in use, and your computer tries to access a "bad spot" on a RAM chip, the results can be unpredictable. Or they can be the Blue Screen of Death. You can try replacing your RAM sticks one at a time to see if the problem goes away. This involves opening up the system unit and looking at scary wires and stuff, so for some people just living with the problem may be a workable option.

More likely, you have a software problem. Some programs just don’t get along… they trample on each other’s memory spaces and confusion (or the BSOD) results. And it seems that Windows just gets old and cranky the longer you have it installed. You may solve the problem by re-installing the Windows operating system and/or your software packages. If the problem seems to be limited to one particular program, try re-installing just that one first.

Time For a New Computer?

And sometimes, bad things just happen to good computers. If your computer is more than three years old, it may be functionally obsolete. Read How to Buy a Computer article for help in determining if a new PC is the right solution for you.

BOB RANKIN… is a tech writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and sharing the fruit of his experience with others. His work has appeared in ComputerWorld, NetGuide, and NY Newsday. Bob is publisher of the Internet TOURBUS newsletter, author of several computer books, and creator of the http://LowfatLinux.com website. Visit Bob Rankin’s website for more helpful articles and free tech support.

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was purchased from Great Plains Software and Great Plains Software itself had strong international marketing plans and campaigns. If we look back to 1990th – we’ll see that GPS had Multilanguage support and Great Plains Dynamics / Dynamics C/S+ was localized and translated into multiple languages, including Spanish. Localization means not only the translation, but also adaptation to specific local country tax rules (Sales Tax versus Value Added Tax VAT, GST, specific payroll taxes, etc.). Let’s consider typical case when we see international company with headquarters and distribution centers in the US and manufacturing and purchasing in Mexico

• Multicurrency. As we expect to do the business in Mexican pesos – all the Purchase Orders, Vendor Invoices, Some sales invoices (what we sell to the parent company in the USA, for example) will be stated in Peso. But the Mexican company will report in USD and its financial statements will be in US$ for consolidation and reporting in the USA. Nowadays you usually see this work done in FRx financial reporting, where Mexican facility will be a leaf of the FRX reporting tree. In any case – all the historical exchange rates will be recorded (you can also create Web Service, updating these rates from the published exchange rates). In Great Plains you do it by setting USD as functional currency and issuing docs in Peso and then revaluating and posting Gain or Loss on multicurrency transactions to GL

• Sales Tax/VAT. Mexico uses VAT, which is very common also in Europe. However if in Europe it is usually incorporated in the price list – Mexico may use both approaches. Great Plains has pretty comprehensive VAT support.

• Spanish Alphabet. Is supported and you can have both English version in the US and Spanish version in Mexico working of the same Great Plains environment

• Central Location. You can host your Great Plains installation in the US and have Mexican users connected over the remote desktop connection. Consider Windows 2003 Terminal server licenses. Some functionality could be realized through Microsoft Business Portal – which is web-based application. The other way is to have server in Mexico and have relatively inexpensive Microsoft Great Plains data be consolidated with Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft based system in the USA.

Good luck with support and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is a Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Mexico-city, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, Toronto, Montreal and having locations in multiple states and internationally