Small b Systems blog

Information for small businesses

Open Invitation to Windows Developers

clock June 27, 2009 19:21 by author Administrator

We are starting a project for Senior Citizens. It will be Free Ware and we could use some help.

The project is to develope an Email Program which a family member (admin) can set up for a senior in their family. We envision the windows form to be one screen and use the mouse as little as possible. The admin would enter the http email address and password for the senior's account on Gmail, Windows Live or Yahoo. They would also establish a contact list that the senior would use.

When the senior opens the program, it will automatically log onto their email account and read messages. Messages would have index numbers so the senior can type a number or use the mouse to select messages to read. To send a message, they would choose a SEND button which would open a list of contacts to be selected, including group account. The message textbox will be plain text with large bold font.

A simple MAIL IT button would finish job.

Of course, with your input, this plan can be altered. Our goal is to get some older people into the game. I have been programing and building computers for 32 years and I am amazed at how little many of my friends know about computers. I think they are missing something that would enrich their lives and that of their families. At the age of 72, I think I have the right to make this observation.

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Personal Notes Software

clock June 21, 2009 11:44 by author Paul

There are many good note keeping programs available which can be used to save and organize research.

One of the oldest and still excellent is AskSam which I have been using way before Windows existed. It is the king of free form databases. It was used by United States intelligent services to solve the Iran Contra affair in 1986.

Today I use Microsoft's Onenote® but it is too much for quick notes and screen captures that I only need for a short time.

We wrote our own Small b Systems Personal Notes which is fast and does not use many system resources. The notes are saved in an embedded Microsoft Access® database. Functionally includes a rich text formatting, formatted printing and one button backup to detination choosen by user. You can also paste images into the rich text box and they will be saved in the database.

FREE TRIAL download

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First experiences with Vista 64

clock June 12, 2009 02:13 by author Administrator

I am running Vista Ultimate 32 (x86) and 64 (x64) bit. The 64 bit version is faster because it allows some programs to run in 64 bit mode and it uses all of my installed memory. Vista 32 is limited to 3GB of memory.

Vista 64 comes with a 32 and 64 bit version of Internet Explorer 8.0. The 64 bit version is very fast but will not work with Adober Flash.

Programs installed on Vista 64 are put into c:\Program Files if they run in x64 mode. The 32 bit applications are put into c:\Program Files (x86). A programmer should check which folder his application is loaded to.

Visual Studio 2008 users who embed Access databases in their application without changing the default compile will get an error message on Vista 64.

There is no 64 bit version of the Jet.OLEDB.4.0 data provider. You need to compile the program in x86 mode as shown below.

 

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About the author

My name is Paul Steinberg and I am the owner of Small b Systems. I am 71 years old and have been working with computers for 32 years. I have been designing business and manufacturing systems for 49 years.

A system is a collection of orgainized tasks which guide an operation to a predictable conclusion. Unlike an individuals's routine, a system can be used by anyone.

I have worked on Wall Street, in military electronics, retailing, professional photography, manufacturing, barter and woodworking. I have designed systems in all of these industries.

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