Category: Microsoft Tips

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Sage v26 Install Windows Server Essentials

To bypass the message about compatibility and get Sage Accounts 50 working on Microsoft Server 2012/2016/2019 Essentials you need to extract the files manually:

  1. Log out of Sage from all computers.
  2. Download the sage install file (eg: SageAccounts_26.2.139.0.exe)
  3. Download and Install 7-Zip
  4. Use 7-Zip, right click on the Sage file and select “extract here”
  5. You must now run the following msi installer files in this order 1) Sage50Accounts_DataAccess.msi 2) Sage50Accounts_Client.msi 3) Sage50Accounts_ODBC_x64.msi 4) Sage50Accounts_ReportPack.msi
  6. If you get an error complaining about the need for C++ runtimes when you try and install the Sage50Accounts_DataAccess.msi – simply install the runtime library from this link onto the server.
  7. Reboot the Microsoft Server 2012/2016/2019 Essentials server and run the Sage Accounts icon on the desktop. Select the company you want to login as and allow Sage Software to do the data conversion from the old version to new. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour depending on the size of your company data.
  8. Once the data conversion is done, that should be it, simply install the regular sage installation file you downloaded from Sage on all the other PCs on the network that need access to Sage and you should now be able to login and use Sage on the latest version from PCs and Server.

This has been tested on Windows Server 2012/2016/2019 Essentials edition. The process may work on other Windows Server 2012 Essentials or previous Windows SBS 2011 or 2008 verisons.

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How to use RDP Client with multiple displays

If you have multiple monitors you would like to use when connecting to another machine via RDP client you must first make sure that are using the correct version of windows on both computers. Here is a list of the versions of windows which support this feature:

Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows 7 Enterprise

Windows 8.1 Pro

Windows 8.1 Enterprise

Windows 10 Pro

Windows 10 Enterprise

**Please note both computers must be using an operating system on the supported list above.

Once you know you have the proper setup, configuring Windows 7’s Remote Desktop multiple-monitor feature is easy. To begin, Launch Remote Desktop Connection and select the system you want to connect to with multiple-monitor support from the Computer drop-down list. Then, click the Options button to expand the Remote Desktop Connection window so that you can see all the tabs. Next, choose the Display tab and select the Use All My Monitors for the Remote Session check box, as shown in Figure 2.

 

To complete the procedure, return to the General tab and click the Save button.

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Changing default app choices

Something many users have been complaining about is default app choices, i.e. browser, word processor, and so on – changing when updating Windows 10.

Here is a quick and simple guide to change the settings back to the way you want them;

Head to Settings > System > Default Apps. From here, almost every major default app – music, email, maps, calendar and so on – can be chosen based on the ones you have downloaded.

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Choosing Google over Bing in Windows 10

Microsoft has set Bing and as the default search engine in Windows 10, if you prefer to use Google. Here’s how you can change it;

Changing Edge over to Google is relatively simple. While using Edge, navigate to Google.co.uk (or Yahoo, or whatever your preference) and click the ellipsis button in the top-right corner. A drop-down menu will appear: select Settings, and then navigate down to click View Advanced Settings. From here, scroll down to ‘Search in the address bar with…’ and select Add New.

Some people have reported that Add New often has no results in it, suggesting that no new search engine can be added. To get past this, close and then reopen Edge and (hopefully) some results will have appeared.

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Changing privacy and Wi-Fi Sense settings (Windows 10)

Data security is incredibly important, especially as hackers become increasingly sophisticated and the number of cyber-attacks is constantly rising.

Windows 10 comes with a decent set of built-in protection measures, but you can never be too careful. One such feature that should be disabled by privacy-minded individuals is Wi-Fi Sense, which automatically shares the Wi-Fi password across all Windows 10 devices on the same account.

Microsoft updated Wi-Fi Sense to share less data, but switching it off is the ideal solution. To turn it off, go to the Start Menu, click Settings and then click on Network & Internet, then Wi-Fi, and head to Manage Wi-Fi Settings – turn off all the options in here.

Also in Settings, it’s possible to get an overview of everything else happening on Windows 10 in terms of privacy – unsurprisingly, under the Privacy section. In here, you’ll be presented with a bunch of toggles that adjust some privacy options to help keep everything under control – Well worth a read to make sure you are not sharing more than you thought

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Creating a signature in Outlook

Creating a signature in Outlook 2016 & 2013;
1.Create a new email message.

2.On the Message tab, in the Include group, choose Signature > Signatures.

3.Under Select signature to edit, choose New, and in the New Signature dialog box, type a name for the signature.

4.Under Choose default signature, set the following options for your signature:

In the E-mail account list, choose an email account to associate with the signature. You can have different signatures for each email account.
In the New messages list, choose the signature that you want to be added automatically to all new email messages. If you don’t want to auto sign your new email messages, accept the default option of (none). In the Replies/forwards list, choose the signature that you want to be added automatically (auto sign) when you reply to or forward messages. Otherwise, accept the default option of (none).

5.Under Edit signature, type the signature, and then choose OK.

 

Creating a signature in outlook 2007 & 2010;
1.Open a new message. On the Message tab, in the Include group, click Signature, and then click Signatures.

2.On the E-mail Signature tab, click New.

3.Type a name for the signature, and then click OK.

4.In the Edit signature box, type the text that you want to include in the signature.

5.To format the text, select the text, and then use the style and formatting buttons to select the options that you want.

6.To insert a picture simply “Click picture”, browse to a picture, click to select it, and then click OK. acceptable image file formats for pictures are; .bmp, .gif, .jpg, and .png.

7.To finish creating the signature, click OK.

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Time is running out for Windows Vista

Mainstream support for windows vista ended in April of 2012 but Microsoft will be ending its extended support of the operating system on 11/04/2017.

If you are using windows vista now is most certainly the time to upgrade your computer or operating system to a much more fluid and user friendly version like windows 7, 8 or 10 support for these operating systems is due to end in 2020, 2023 and 2015 respectively.

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Outlook always starts in safe mode

Adding Outlook Mailboxes

Adding Outlook Mailboxes

Microsoft recently released an office update that for some reason always forces outlook to start in safe mode. If you are having this problem, follow the steps below to resolve it.

Windows 7

  1. Click Start, then Control Panel.
  2. In the Top-Right corner of Control Panel, next to View by: select Large icons from the drop down.
  3. Click on Programs and Features.
  4. On the left side of Programs and Features, click View installed updates.
  5. There is a box in the top-right called Search Installed Updates. In here type KB3114409. This should give you a view like this one:Update
  6. Right-Click the update in the list and click Uninstall. If it asks you if you are sure you want to uninstall the update, click Yes.
  7. On the box asking you to restart your computer, click Restart Later.
  8. You can now close this window.
  9. Now click Start, and in the Search Programs and Files box, type Windows Update and press enter. A box similar to this will appear:Update2
  10. On the left-hand side, click Change settings.
  11. In the dropdown box where it says Install updates automatically (recommended) – click this and select Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
  12. Click OK
  13. Reboot the PC

Windows 8 / 8.1

  1. Move the mouse pointer to the bottom-right of the screen until the side menu pops in.
  2. Click the magnifying glass.
  3. In the Search box, type Programs, then click Settings underneath.
  4. Click Programs and Features in the search results on the main screen.
  5. Now follow steps 4-8 above.
  6. Once 4-8 have been done, move the mouse pointer to the bottom right again and click Settings.
  7. Now click Change PC settings, then Update and recovery.
  8. Click Choose how updates are installed.
  9. Under Important updates, select Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
  10. Click Apply.
  11. Reboot the PC.
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Outlook crashes after Windows Updates installed

Microsoft recently released some updates to their Windows operating systems that unfortunately seems to have had the side effect of crashing Microsoft Outlook when you open or create some HTML formatted emails. To resolve this, these updates need to be uninstalled, and Windows Update prevented from installing new updates automatically. The steps to do this are below.

Windows 7

  1. Click Start, then Control Panel.
  2. In the Top-Right corner of Control Panel, next to View by: select Large icons from the drop down.
  3. Click on Programs and Features.
  4. On the left side of Programs and Features, click View installed updates.
  5. There is a box in the top-right called Search Installed Updates. In here type KB3097877. This should give you a view like this one:Update
  6. Right-Click the update in the list and click Uninstall. If it asks you if you are sure you want to uninstall the update, click Yes.
  7. On the box asking you to restart your computer, click Restart Later.
  8. In the search box where you previously typed the KB3097877 entry, delete this and type in KB3101746.
  9. As before, when the entry in the list appears, Right-Click it and click uninstall, click yes to confirm and then click Restart Later.
  10. You can now close this window.
  11. Now click Start, and in the Search Programs and Files box, type Windows Update and press enter. A box similar to this will appear:Update2
  12. On the left-hand side, click Change settings.
  13. In the dropdown box where it says Install updates automatically (recommended) – click this and select Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
  14. Click OK
  15. Reboot the PC

Windows 8 / 8.1

  1. Move the mouse pointer to the bottom-right of the screen until the side menu pops in.
  2. Click the magnifying glass.
  3. In the Search box, type Programs, then click Settings underneath.
  4. Click Programs and Features in the search results on the main screen.
  5. Now follow steps 4-10 above.
  6. Once 4-10 have been done, move the mouse pointer to the bottom right again and click Settings.
  7. Now click Change PC settings, then Update and recovery.
  8. Click Choose how updates are installed.
  9. Under Important updates, select Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
  10. Click Apply.
  11. Reboot the PC.
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Windows XP Snipping Tool

Snippy

Windows Vista and Windows 7 both come with a handy snipping tool. However any desktop edition of Windows XP is sadly missing this feature.

However we have found a useful substitute until you upgrade to the latest version of windows.

You can download the tool from this page. There is no installation needed, just download and run it.