Log in



Archive for December, 2009

Addiction: When Gambling Becomes a Problem

Posted in Technology Support
December 26th, 2009 by admin

While most people enjoy casino gambling, sports betting, lottery and bingo playing for the fun and excitement it provides, others may experience gambling as an addictive and distractive habit. Statistics show that while 85 percent of the adult population in the US enjoys some type of gambling every year, between 2 and 3 percent of will develop a gambling problem and 1 percent of them are diagnosed as pathological gamblers.

Where can you draw the line between harmless gambling to problem gambling? How can you tell if you or your friend are compulsive gamblers? Here you can find answers to these questions and other questions regarding problem gambling and gambling addiction.

What is the Meaning of Problem Gambling?
Problem gambling or compulsive gambling is defined as an uncontrollable urge to gamble despite the destructive effect of gambling on the gamblers life and despite feelings of guilt and remorse. Problem gambling tends to have a negative effect on the gamblers financial state, relationships and daily life. Severe cases of problem gambling can be defined as pathological gambling.

Am I a Compulsive Gambler?
1) Do you gamble until your last penny runs out?
2) Do you gamble to win back your former losses or debts?
3) Did you ever had to borrow money to continue gamble?
4) Did your gambling habit ever made you lie to your friends or family?
5) Did you ever skip work or other obligation to gamble?
6) Do you tend to gamble to forget about your personal problems or to celebrate happy occasions?
7) Does gambling have a negative affect on your daily life or relationships?

If you have answered yes on at least one of the questions listed above, then you have a problem.

Can Anyone Become a Compulsive Gambler?
Theoretically, yes. Any gambler can develop gambling problem regardless to the type of gambling he is occupied with, the amount of money and time he is spending on gambling. Researches show that slot machines that can be found in bars and convenient stores are the most addictive type of gambling activity, while lottery draws and bingo games are located on the other end of the scale. Gambling addiction is an emotional problem; its symptoms, causes and treatments are similar to any other form of addiction.

How Can I treat Gambling Addiction?
1) Group Therapy:
Gamblers Anonymous offers a 12 step self help program similar to the one offered to alcohol addicts in Alcoholics Anonymous. Group therapy also offers gambling addicts advice and support from professional counselors and other gambling addicts in different phases of their recovery process. Gambler Anonymous centers are available in more than 1,200 locations statewide.

2) Individual Therapy:
Cognitive or behavior therapy can help gambling addicts to identify their unaware thinking and acting patterns, which led them to gamble compulsively, and to replace them with controllable and healthier ways of thinking.

3) Psychiatric Medication:
It has recently been proven that antidepressant medications from the family of SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be affective in treatment of gambling addicts.

Tags:
No Comments »

ACT Consultants Play Pivotal Role in Maximizing ROI

Posted in Technology Support
December 17th, 2009 by admin

Today, millions of individuals and tens of thousands of companies are using ACT! software solutions to organize contacts and leads, manage daily responsibilities, track sales opportunities, communicate more effectively, and gain insights into their businesses. With options for deployment in a Windows environment, in mobile computing, and in a Web-based interface, ACT 2008 software is a critical tool for helping a wide variety of businesses succeed.

Yet those companies that achieve the best return on their investment make it a point to use ACT consultants in their software implementation. That’s because ACT certified consultants can perform a variety of services that ensure that the software’s effectiveness is maximized for your company’s specific needs.

In essence, ACT consultants meet with you and your team to explore cost effective options to increase the performance of the ACT 2008 software. This translates to less effort on the part of your employees while increasing productivity. They can help increase business performance by providing:

Specialized Training: Although ACT 2008 is superior software, staff training is a crucial component of any systems integration. ACT consultants can determine which components are most useful to your company and conduct extensive staff trainings that will enable your employees to get the most out of ACT 2008. The best ACT consultants offer both on site and online trainings, and offer free follow-up phone support. They can also train your in-house trainers so that new employees can easily come up to speed and consistently and effectively use ACT 2008 software.

System Administrator Training: ACT consultants can train your system administrator in best practices, and will focus on the most useful ACT features for your company. When your system administrator is trained, you will have your own in-house expert.

On-Site Support: If you don’t have an in-house IT department, ACT certified consultants can save you time and money by maintaining your system for you. Service techs can both install and maintain the software on your system.

Customization: ACT consultants can upgrade your ACT software and customize your ACT 2008 to ensure that it provides the highest functionality for your specific business. For example, ACT consultants may be remote sales force automation experts and can integrate your software with handheld devices, providing remote access to your databases.

Data Recovery: Although no business ever dreams that they’ll need data recovery experts, if a worst-case scenario comes to pass, ACT certified consultants can work their magic, recover your data, and minimize your downtime.

There’s no doubt that ACT 2008 provides more features and functionality than previous versions of the software. But in order to get the best return on your investment, it pays to turn to ACT certified consultants to guide you through your purchase, integration, customization, training, and – heaven forbid – data recovery. Experienced ACT consultants have extensive software knowledge and understand the needs of various industries so that they can provide you with the computer system that performs.

Tags:
No Comments »

ACT Consultants Help Determine Which System is Right for You

Posted in Technology Support
December 12th, 2009 by admin

ACT Consultants Help Determine Which System is Right for You

For years, ACT! software has been the leader in customer relations management. ACT 2008 brings an even greater number of features and additional functionality to the sales room and the boardroom. If you’re a business owner it’s often difficult to determine which version of ACT 2008 will provide your enterprise with the best return on investment. This is one of many areas where ACT consultants can help.

ACT certified consultants have achieved the highest level of excellence in selecting, integrating, and managing ACT 2008. The best ACT consultants have also had years of experience in the CRM field, and understand the special needs of various industries. Obtaining ACT help from consultants before your software purchase can lay the groundwork for an imminently successful implementation.

ACT 2008 is available in the regular version, the Premium version and the Premium for Web version. All three versions allow you to organize contacts and leads using a variety of features, such as over 60 pre-defined fields, extensive notes and history, and the ability to track appointments, opportunities, and task lists.

When it comes to managing daily responsibilities, all three versions of ACT 2008 enable you to manage calls, meetings, and tasks, see multiple calendar views, and schedule recurring events. The differences between the versions come into play with group scheduling, managing resources, and synchronizing with Outlook.

The features involved in tracking sales opportunities are constant across all three versions of ACT 2008 software, with the exception of customization of fields and types. Otherwise, there is a graphical sales tool, a feature called “Instant Quotes,” pre-formatted sales reports, and the ability to export data into Excel.

Communication features include mail merge via letter and email, address verification, customer correspondence history, and Outlook integration. Depending upon the version of ACT 2008 that you choose, you may also access an email client.

All three versions of ACT 2008 give you a suite of tools with which to manage your business, although the specific features vary from version to version. They all have a variety of search capabilities and an interactive dashboard, as well as advanced reporting features. The Premium and Premium for Web versions of ACT 2008 are designed to accommodate large teams, and include special security features and password rules.

ACT consultants can meet with you and analyze the needs of your company and industry, and then recommend which system you should license. Equally important, ACT certified consultants can perform a complete implementation so that your company can get the best possible return on investment. They can also conduct specialized training, system administrator training, on-site support, extensive customization, and data recovery. Moreover, many ACT consultants are remote sales force automation experts and can demonstrate each option so that your sales force can access the system remotely.

There’s no doubt that ACT consultants can effectively serve the interests of your company by offering recommendations, customization, and support.

Tags:
No Comments »

7 Great Computer User Tips – For Windows Users Only

Posted in Technology Support
December 2nd, 2009 by admin

7 Great Computer User Tips – For Windows Users Only

An Easy Performance Enhancement

If youre using the NTFS filing protocol on your system, instead of FAT32, you can get a bit more speed by disabling Windows Indexing. The downside to this is that searching your drive for a specific file might take a moment or two longer, but everything else should run faster.

To disable this feature open My Computer and then right click on the drive you wish to reset usually C-drive. Now click on Properties and then uncheck Allow Indexing Service. It will take Windows a few moments to accomplish this task, based on your processor speed. If you have other hard drives, perform the same process for them. After this is done, its a good idea to empty the Recycle Bin and then Defragment your hard drive(s).

FREE Software

If you have a system and it does not have an office suite, such as Microsoft Office, and you dont want to pay several hundred dollars to have one, try Open Office. This is a great alternative to other suites, and its free! Simply direct your browser to www.openoffice.org and follow the instructions for downloading and installation. Make no mistake, this free office suite is an extremely powerful set of software tools easily a match for any competitor.

Internet Explorer (Microsofts Internet browser) is unarguably the standard in computers. This is why hackers develop so many malware applications to invade it. If you use a different browser, you have much less chance of an invasion by malicious software. There is a great alternative available, and its free. You can download a copy of Firefox at www.mozilla.org/products/firefox. You can even move your Internet Explorer settings into Firefox automatically so you dont lose your Favorites, etc.

Laptop Printer Fix

If youre using a laptop that is running Windows ME, and youre having trouble printing through the USB, try this simple fix. Go to the website for the company that manufactures your printer. If you use a Hewlett-Packard, for example, go to www.HP.com and download the appropriate drivers and install them. ME has drivers that recognize the USB printer is present and attached, but not the drivers needed to make it print. Which drivers you download and install will be dependant on your printer. After installing new drivers, update the printer as necessary in the Control Panel.

Save $$$ When Shopping On-line

If youre making a purchase on-line, and you know the item you want to buy, you can easily compare pricing all across the Internet. This can amount to a very substantial savings.

At this writing, I went to www.mysimon.com and typed in that I wanted to buy a printer: a Canon PIXMA iP4000. The service instantly checked the Internet and returned prices ranging from $62.00 up to $286.00. This kind of price spread is not at all unusual, especially for computers and electronics.

The My Simon website service only checks pricing, it does not provide a platform for purchasing anything, though it does link to such places. It also gives a rating for the sellers and other users input regarding their experiences with the company. You can order the results of the search for your product by price, so that you can quickly find the lowest price from the highest rated dealer.

Windows XP Professional Only

A feature of Windows XP Professional, that is not available in the Home Edition, is the ability to encrypt files. This encryption prevents others from opening the files in the folder you encrypt. To encrypt one or more a folders, follow these easy steps.

Click Start, then My Documents. Now locate the folder you wish to encrypt and right click on it and choose Properties.

On the General tab, click on Advanced. Put a tick mark in the box for Encrypt Contents to Secure Data. Click okay two times and the confirmation dialog box will appear allowing you to select the folder, the folder and all files, and/or the subfolders within it.

Now you’ll be able to place files in this folder (or folders) and since they’re encrypted, others will not be able to access them.

Internet Safety

You should never reveal your username or password to anyone who e-mails you and asks for it. This information is frequently asked for by an Internet scheme called phishing.

In a common phishing scam, you receive an e-mail that looks quite official. It usually appears to come from a bank or credit card company. A common title for these e-mails is We need to verify your account information. Another is Please logon to your account and verify your settings. If you do click where instructed, youll end up on a site that appears to be the real one. If you fill in the username and password for of your on-line banking account, you can expect serious problems within twenty-four hours.

If you believe that a company or business that you do on-line business with really does require your information, then simply contact them. This way, you will know where you are sending your information, and what it will be used for.

CD Burning Error Fix

Burning music, video, and data CDs has become quite popular over the past few years, and the evolution of the supporting technology has yielded hardware and software that is better than ever and very reasonably priced. CDs offer a great place to store substantial amounts of data in a small, easily retained format. They also give us new control over aspects of our entertainment.

A relatively common error received during CD burning informs you that the CD cannot be burned, or that there was an error during burning. Of course, you could actually have a defective CD drive, but this is usually not the case.

If you receive a message indicating that your CD cannot be burned, go to the website of your CD drive manufacturer. Look for the list of CD types (manufacturers/numbers) that are compatible with your device. Most often, youll find that your CDs are not listed. The two types that seem to have the least difficulty being burned are manufactured by Sony and TDK. These cost a bit more, but they burn very reliably.

Along the same lines H-P has introduced a new CD burner. This new burner requires the use of special CD blanks, but after you burn your data into the CD, you can flip it over and close the drive again. Then you can use the laser to burn a title for the CD directly onto the CD itself. Its new technology, but perhaps it will catch on and well see newer, better such devices in the near future.

Tags:
No Comments »