Access Accounting - Blog

Vista Explorer

This is article 2 of my Vista Blogs. I have spent some time looking at, and working with, Vista, and have separated various new features into several different articles.

In this article I am going to talk about the additional features in the Explorer window.

Windows explorer

It is now possible to not only see an icon for a document, but also preview the actual document contents.

Users can then highlight a document, see the document text and even copy and paste from that document, all without actually opening it!

There is a lot more information presented in these windows now as well, including links to edit the document, as well as all the property information, without having to right click the file and open a separate Properties window.

It is also possible to right click a file and view a list of the previous file versions, very handy if you need to go back to an earlier version!

Fig 1. Explorer with the preview pane and property information in view.

Kirsty Lowe

Internet Explorer v7

In this Blog I am going to cover 3 of the new features available in IE v7; Tabs, Phishing Filter and Quick Search. 

This new release will be sent out as a Windows update in the next few months. 

For further information on this update, including how to prevent the automatic update from occurring, what the supported O/S’ are etc. See:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx?mg_ID=10010#ie7rss

Tabs
Microsoft have picked up on the tab user function available in other browser applications, and have integrated it in with the new IE release.

As a user that hasn’t used this functionality in a browser before, I can say that it is very handy, and it makes it difficult to go back to IE v6!

As can be seen in Fig. 1 multiple internet pages can be opened in the one browser application, by the use of tabs.

Fig. 1 Example of the multiple tab functionality in IE v7

(Multiple pages are opened by using Ctrl/left click to click on multiple URLs.)

Additionally, to make it easier for users to view all of their open web sites, in order to decide which one to maximise, Microsoft have added a Quick Tabs window, so that all pages can be seen as thumb nails.  See Fig. 2.

Closing IE then allows the user to choose to close all tabs, and to reopen them next time IE is run.  See Fig. 3.

Fig 3. This is the prompt message that appears (with options in view) when closing IE

Phishing Filter

Information from Microsoft:

Proactively warns and helps protect you against potential or known fraudulent sites and blocks the site if appropriate. The opt-in filter is updated several times per hour using the latest security information from Microsoft and several industry partners.

This filter gives the user a warning if a site is suspected of phishing.  If a site prompts this message, then users can report the site to Microsoft using a link on message.  Reports are then sent to staff at Microsoft who check the site, and then update the list of phishing sites as appropriate.  This will mean that the next person to visit the site will be told it is a confirmed Phishing Site, instead of suspected, or the warning on the site will be removed, whichever is appropriate.

For users who do not know to check for padlock symbols in their browser, to ensure the site is secure, this will be a very helpful feature.

I hope that it helps to cut down on the number of fraudulent web sites out there, to allow the internet to be a safer place to ‘play’.

Quick Search

An additional search bar has been added to the IE Browser window (See Fig. 4).  This allows users to search text on the web page they are currently viewing.

Users can select their preferred Search Provider, as well as set a default.

Fig. 4 The Quick Search Bar and menu

For users needing to find specific information fast, this is a great tool, and one that I will be making the most of.

Kirsty Lowe

Feel Good by Payroll Giving

What is Payroll Giving?

Payroll giving is an easy way for you to make tax-free donations to your chosen charity. For each £1 gross you wish to donate, only 78p will be deducted from your pay if you are a standard rate tax payer.  This means you can give money to your favourite charity every pay day in the knowledge that they will be better off by an extra 22% - or 40% if you are a higher rate tax payer.

How does it work?

If your employer does not already run a Payroll Giving scheme you will need to persuade them to start one. It is easy and inexpensive to run, and if they are an SME (with less than 500 employees) they will be eligible for a grant of between £300 and £500 if they sign up to a scheme before the end of December 2006. Additionally, a grant matching the employee contributions (up to the first £10 per month) will be paid for the first 6 months, up to the end of March 2007.

It's easy for your company to set up - all they need to do is sign up with a Payroll Giving Agency - a list of these can be found at http://www.payrollgivinggrants.org.uk/. Each pay period they will need to collect the donations from their employees, and each month send the money to the Payroll Giving Agency by BACS or cheque, together with a listing of the employees and the amount of their donations. The employee will have completed a form instructing the agency with the details of the charity they wish to donate to, and if they wish to change the charity, again, this is done direct with the agency and not via the employer.

How much does it cost?

There are little or no costs to the employer - all payroll systems offer the facility to make charitable deductions, and if they are eligible for the grant this will more than offset any start-up costs. The agency does charge a small administration fee per donation which can either be deducted from the donation or be paid by the employer and offset against company profits.

So everyone can feel good - the employee by knowing that they can make tax-efficient regular donations to their favourite good cause, the employer by demonstrating that they are committed to working in partnership with the community and care about their employees, and the charity because they know they will receive regular, committed income which enables them to plan for the future.

Pip Trowles

Vista Sidebar

This is article one of a series of four Vista blogs which I will be writing over the coming weeks. I have spent some time looking at, and working with, Vista, and have separated various new features into several different articles. In this article I am going to talk about the Sidebar.

The Vista Sidebar is a feature that allows gadgets and RSS feeds (for more information on RSS see the note at the bottom of this article) to appear on the desktop.

I have found this sidebar to be a very helpful tool. It also allows any software house to create a gadget for their users to place on their side bar.

Microsoft has many gadgets you can download from their website; see http://gallery.microsoft.com/default.aspx?l=1 for examples. The Sidebar is set up from Control Panel \ Appearance and Personalization \ Windows Sidebar.

This allows users to select which gadgets to appear on the sidebar, and how the sidebar will be displayed. Gadgets can also be placed on desktop by dragging them from the sidebar; these items can be games, information, pictures, mini applications and more.

Fig 1 (left): Sidebar example containing calculator, RSS Feed, Note, a numbers game and an analogue clock.

Users can interact with any gadget at any time. I have found the note gadget the most helpful, as I can enter in names or numbers to store quickly, and for quick access. It works well as a ‘to do’ list for me!

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

This is like a summary feed of information be it the news, weather or stock exchange data which is updated in ‘real time’. This is really helpful because it can set this up for a particular feed and then I don’t have to load Internet Explorer to see the information; I can just go to my desktop or stay in my current application (if the sidebar has been set to always appear on top).

Users have been able to set RSS feeds up in Internet Explorer for some time, and now with Vista it comes to the desktop, by using the Sidebar. There are many RSS feeds to sign up to, and they are free (for the moment anyway!).

For more information on RSS see http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3223484.stm and http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/reference/rss/ (this gives information specific to Vista, including which RSS versions will be supported by the sidebar.)

Kirsty Lowe