Three Bears IT Consultancy

Archive for November, 2009

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We’re aware of a number of people who have been experiencing problems with downloading and installing updates from the Microsoft Update site.  Microsoft Vista, as users will know, often has two phases to installing updates – the first happens after the download, the second phase happens when you subsequently reboot the machine.

We’re aware of a number of users for whom the second phase does not execute correctly.  During the boot up sequence, the computer displays the message “Configuring Updates.  Stage 3 of 3.  0% Complete” and at that point, the machine shuts down.

This is due to an issue with Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and a required update which was released around April 2008, but which was never flagged as being essential.  As a result, your machine may not have downloaded it, depending upon your individual settings.

For more information, visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358

Microsoft have released the next generation of their SharePoint Server system to Beta testing.  We’re in the process of installing and configuring the system and will post a review here shortly.

More information is available from the Microsoft web site at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/ee391660.aspx

Parents and carers are again having problems with the Computer Share Vouchers (previously Busy Bees) scheme.  The scheme allows parents to sacrifice part of their salary to pay for childcare costs saving the cost of National Insurance and Income Tax deductions.  Reports are surfacing of carers not being paid and parents’ salaries being deducted, but no credits to their online accounts.

The site has suffered from IT issues in it’s previous Busy Bees incarnation.  In February of this year, user details were exposed following a system upgrade including email addresses of Busy Bees customers, National Insurance numbers, bank account details, payment logs and service logs.  It would appear that the scheme clearly have not learned from their mistakes, as the problems have only occurred after the most recent update to their system as reported at: http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=9535&d=23&h=0&f=0 .  I’m not sure that I agree with the quotation saying that the scheme is now in the 21st Century, as ancient as the differential engine may be, at least is works.

The site has since been upgraded from an old Citrix system which was besieged by connectivity and other problems, but the latest issues being experienced are just more power to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s attempts to remove this tax benefit.  This has sparked a number of campaigns by the provider to save the scheme, but recent issues with crediting parent accounts has harmed the credibility of the scheme.

The Computer Share Vouchers system is also equally as baffling to carers as to parents.  Whilst paying a childcare provider, parents are offered the chance to enter a suitable identifier – such as invoice number of equivalent.  However, this information is not subsequently passed on to carers, making it impossible for them to correlate payments with invoices.  As a result, parents are being fined with late payment fees and similar financial penalties, as carers seek to protect their cash flow; something which has increased significance in the current financial crisis.

The Computer Share Vouchers web site proudly boasts that the company “is at the forefront of the global investor services space.”  We’re thinking of running a competition for the first person to decipher exactly what this means, but if someone out there has access to an Enigma machine, could they please run this through it and provide a suitable translation into English.

Further reading is available on a number of blogs and support sites, including:

http://www.daddacool.co.uk/2009/11/computershare-voucher-service.html
http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/house-garden-194/money-saving-budgeting-bargains-609/344674-missing-busy-bee-computershare-childcare-vouchers.html

We’d love to hear your experiences.

Microsoft have recently announced that their popular Microsoft Accounting package is to be discontinued on November 16th 2009.  The reasons cited are that, for most home and small businesses, improved templates and functionality within Microsoft Office Excel 2007 are more than adequate; medium and large businesses are being redirected to the Microsoft Dyanmics ERP range of products.

This announcement appears to be the latest in a trend of Microsoft closing down standalone applications and suites, preferring to redirect users to more corporate systems or integration of functionality into a new release – as with Windows Form Server and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

This announcement affects all versions of Microsoft Accounting with support for the product transferring to Mamut Software Ltd.  More information is available via this link.

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