FAQ

How do I archive my Sage 50 data?

It is imperative that throughout the life of your Sage 50 product, you archive your old data at every Year End. Due to the restrictions on Sage 50, the archiving process can only be carried out when running the Year End procedure. Once you have stepped through the Year End wizard, the final wizard screen will ask you to confirm all settings and continue with the Year End close down. Before you select this confirmation, you will notice a  small tick-box above asking you to archive information. Select this tick box and enter the date range for the data you wish to archive, then continue with the Year End process.

Your archived data can be viewed at any time be selecting ‘File -> Open Company Data or Open Archive File’ then choosing your archive data file.

Archiving data ensures your Sage package runs efficiently while only searching through the relevant records to find data, making your Sage system much faster and easier to use.

What is a Trojan Horse?

You may have heard the Greek fable about the Trojan Horse, used to infiltrate Troy and wreak havoc from the inside. In computer terms, it’s not too different. A very harmful piece of software (malware) masquerades itself as a useful program, prompting you to run or install it. While very convincing, if you fall into its trap there are very severe consequences. Some Torjan infections search your computer for personal information, while others try to convince you to give them your credit card details. Either way, it’s not a nice situation to be in. Making sure you have a fully licensed, up-to-date Internet Security Suite is a good form of prevention, as free Anti-Virus and Internet Sucurity packages can only protect you so far.

Thinking of Donating or Selling your old PC?

It is becoming increasingly popular for businesses to donate their old office PC’s, and if you’re thinking of donating or selling a computer, it’s easy to think that by hitting ‘delete’ on all your files including the recycle bin, you’re ready to hand it over. Unfortunately this is not quite the case.

Why is deleting not enough? Files are saved in various layers, and all you’ll essentially remove will be the most visible layer. So while the files will be a little harder to find, they will still be there. Unless you’re truly confident you don’t have sensitive information on there, there are a couple of additional and recommended options to simply ‘deleting’ your files.

First and foremost, before taking any action, be sure to make a back up of all your files and keep that back up in a safe place. Then consider wiping your computer entirely clean with the following options:

1.  Disk erasing tools. There are various ones available online, some free some not. Here is an example: Softpedia/DP Wiper. What to look out for? There are no guarantees and you are really going to be doing this on your own.

2. Have it professionally wiped and have the operating system reinstalled (you don’t have to reinstall the system provided the person your are selling or donating it to, is fully aware that it won’t include the operating system).

So what is IPTV?

If you have looked at purchasing a new TV of late, you will notice how many of them are labelled as being ‘Internet ready’ or named a ‘Smart TV’. This simply means the TV will allow you to connect to the Internet so you can stream movies, watch YouTube, talk on Skype, share photos and more.

But IPTV (which stands for Internet Protocol Television), is actually a little different. Essentially, instead of viewing TV programs via your TVs traditional antenna (satellite or cable), your programs are delivered via your Internet connection and reassembled into TV content by a variety of different devices, such as the ‘Boxee Box’ or ‘Slingshot’ devices.

There are 3 types of IPTV Services which are Live TV, Catch up TV and Video on Demand.