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I don’t really know why I’ve chosen to do this, but this summer will be forever known as the “Summer of Certifications” as I will attempt to complete various CompTIA certifications. I’ve had my A+ for some time — the old one, remember? Lifetime, never take again, certification? Well, I’ll talk about that later in another post. I’ve also had my MOUS (Expert level), MCP and a help desk certification. Long story short, my IT certifications are old but also unneeded in some ways as I have three Master degrees and have continued to teach in the field over these many years keeping my skills up to date. Needless to say, there has been some unknown desire to go forward and get these certifications from CompTIA.
Now, I know most people would be considering the cost involved and would weigh this against that strange desire. I know for years I did but over the last couple of years I worked with our college to join the CompTIA Partner program. This program is:
CompTIA’s Academy Partner Program is intended for schools, not-for-profits, job corps centers and correctional facilities. Our program provides resources for recruiting, training, certifying and upgrading the skills of students in IT.
Among the various benefits for our students (better pricing!), marketing materials and news, instructors have access to vouchers depending on program use. It’s a good program that has reaped benefits for our students but the instructors have not truly taken advantage of the vouchers… until now. I’ll be taking several this summer and looking forward to seeing how closely the curriculum I teach relates back to the certification examinations.
My plans for summer are to take the following: Security+, Cloud Essentials, Linux powered by LPI I and II, Server+, A+, Network+, Project+ and CySA, PenTest and CASP. I’ll make posts as I pass these exams with some thoughts of each. Here’s to a great summer!
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So, if you’re like me and you have to support a wide variety of software, you inevitably will run into something you begin to hate. For me, this is Sage, i.e. Peachtree. In our most recent update to v2019, everything worked fine for awhile… then not so much. I typically try not to panic as you can usually find what you are looking for, the only issue is that it usually takes trying several things first. In this case, this is the error message popping up:
Finally, after looking around the Internet, I found a fix that worked. The steps go as follows:
- Ensure that Sage 50 is closed on any machines
- Copy the following command line to Notepad: sc create “Sage 50 Smart Posting 2019” start= auto binPath= “C:Program FilesSage50SmartPostingService2019.exe” DisplayName= “Sage 50 SmartPosting 2019”
- In Notepad, update the binPath= to match your program path exactly
YOU NEED TO LOOK FOR THIS, CHECK YOUR SHORTCUT FOR THE PATH IF NEEDED! - If using a different Release, then change the year 2019 in all three places to the correct Release Year
- Click Start, Run
- Type cmd in the Open field
- Click OK
- Paste the updated command line you created in step 3 into the DOS prompt window and hit enter
- IF all goes well, you’ll see SUCCESS appear on the screen…
IF NOT, CHECK YOUR PATH! - Next, Click Start, Run
- Type services.msc
- Click OK
- In the list, right-click on the newly installed Sage 50 SmartPosting 20XX and click Start
- Verify that SmartPosting service is now running by starting Sage
Hopefully it goes well for you…
If not, don’t expect support to help much.
Phone calls take hours, they don’t call back, and Live chat is minimal at best.
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Blog / Business / Lifestyle / Ramblins / Reviews / Technology / ThoughtsJanuary 14, 2019
2 Min ReadDuring the Christmas season, Hulu ran a special where a person could get Hulu with commercials for $1.00/month. Even though I had used Hulu before, in its infancy, I figured it was time to give it another go. Afterall, my cable bill is now approaching $200/month including Internet. Personally, if I had 10 channels, I would be more than happy as everything my wife and I watch can be found on those 10 channels — especially if I can watch them whenever I want to.
My thoughts so far? The picture is already much better than what I get from Spectrum. The audio is comparable at the very least and in some instances, even better! It’s a bit getting used to the My Stuff area, but so far it has done a good job of collecting what I want to find.
I’m used to using a DVR and having everything in a folder but ordered by Most Recent. Truthfully, I’ve not spent a lot of time to see if there is a way to set this or not. In any case, I don’t see any benefit of cable over Hulu or even some of the others I have seen mentioned, except for Sports.
As long as I can see the Kentucky Wildcats play, I should be okay. I don’t watch them Live now, so it shouldn’t really matter. I’ll spend some time trying to find the options for this, and then I’ll make a choice. Another key will be if Jacque can find what she wants to watch as well.
Want to give it a try? Here’s a referral link that you can use: Hulu Referral Link
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A great feature included in IOS12, Scheduling Do Not Disturb, has been a fantastic addition to the iPhone for most of us that want to schedule after-hours for our phones but if there is an emergency, we’d like to still be notified. What’s great about the feature is that it allows for those in your favorites list or even those that repeat call will be allowed through. What it doesn’t intuitively do is allow that other form of communication — the text! — through. If you have family or friends that would die before calling, they would be out of luck unless you find this other feature.
Emergency Bypass! Introduced in IOS10, you’ll need to implement this if you want the texts to roll through. It’s not hard to do, but you’ll need to pay attention to do it correctly. The steps are as follows:
- Launch Contacts from your Home screen.
- Tap on the contact you want on Emergency Bypass.
- Tap Edit.
- Tap Ringtone.
- Tap the Emergency Bypass switch. The switch should be green when it’s enabled.
- Tap Done.
- Tap Done again.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll now receive calls and text messages regardless of what state you’ve left your phone in.
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[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o, Windows 8 pretty much worked if you used it on a tablet, used it with a touchscreen or if you added other software to make it work/operate like Windows 7. Now, Microsoft comes out with Windows 10 and due to the ineptness of Windows 8, offers it as a free upgrade. Really?!? Where is the ‘gotchya’? I don’t know if I can believe it to be true or not, but I have scheduled my upgrade (well, at least have it downloaded) and may upgrade another PC. I just don’t know if I could do this to my primary laptop or not. What do you think? Do you believe all of the other tech blogs? -
[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ver decide you wanted to reset your iPad for one reason or another and it just won’t erase all settings? Perhaps you had it jailbroken and now your stuck? Never fear, DFU is here. DFU (Device Firmware Update) is an Apple setting that forces iTunes to restore your apple product when it seems like there isn’t anything else left to do. How do you get into this magical mode? It simple, follow these steps:
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[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ave you ever received a text message from someone and it had a picture that you really wish wasn’t there? Ever try and delete that message and you couldn’t get it to go away? Finally, iOS8 has come to the rescue of all iPhone users! Continue Reading…
