We have come across an issue recently with the new version of the Citrix online plugin (now called Citrix Reciever). Installation of the Citrix Reciever software from the OSX App store is not sufficient to allow the downloaded ICA file to auto open. The result is, you install Citrix Reciever and login to the Citrix site only for the ICA file to download, but not open. This makes it look like Citrix isn’t working properly.

The fix is simple:

• First, you have to modify what Safari considers as a “safe” file. Ensure that in Safari’s Preference panel that ‘Open “Safe” files’ is checked.
• Next, download this zip file: http://www.jaytag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Auto_Open_ICA.zip
• Extract the plist (preferences file) from the downloaded zip file
• Drag and drop the file to /Library/Preferences. (On OSX Lion, type \library in the ‘Find’ box and double-click into the preferences folder)
• Restart Safari

The ICA files should now automatically open, allowing Citrix to work as intended.

If you try to update a freshly installed copy of WordPress on 1&1 hosting without making this change, some functions (mainly the automatic update processes) will not complete successfully.

The key is to edit the .htaccess file in the WordPress installation directory:

• FTP to your WordPress installation directory
• Download the .htaccess file
• Edit the file, adding the following line:
• AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
• Upload the file to the server, overwriting the old .htaccess file

WordPress updates should now complete without error.

You may also want to have a look at this post which deals with an error message after a failed update.

Before you start!
I’d always recommend taking a backup of the company files before making any changes to Sage program or data files – just in case! The Sage file database system is a little antiquated and can be temperamental.

The fix itself is simple:

• Browse to the Sage company file directory on your computer (this will vary, although if you check the COMPANY file in your install directory, it will be listed)
• Open the ACCDATA directory
• Delete the queue.dta file

You should now be able to login.

If like us, you still encounter Office 2000 out in the field, you may find it needs updating from time to time. Sadly, the necessary updates are not all available from Microsoft.

You can download these updates here:
Office 2000 SR-1 administrator updates (O2KSR1aDL.exe)
Office 2000 Update: Service Pack 2 – SP2 (sp2upd.exe)
Office 2000 Update: Service Pack 3 – SP3 (O2kSp3.exe)

Hope this helps all of you out there still using/supporting Office 2000.

The fix is extremely simple:

• FTP to your WordPress installation directory
• Delete the .maintenance file at the root wordpress folder (where wp-config.php lives)
• Login and retry the plugin operation

The issue should be resolved.

Although there are a number of tools available online, none quite fit our needs. As a result, we’ve quickly written a simple MySQL backup tool in PHP.

Features

• Tested compatible with PHP version 5.2.14 and MySQL 5.0
• Allows for SQL and ZIP export of a single MySQL database
• Lists previous backups made

This is version 0.1a – it is no doubt buggy. We would appreciate any feedback if you do decide to use the tool.

The application is fairly self explanatory in its usage.

Installation

• Extract the Zip file
• Copy the contents to a directory on your server
• Browse to the directory you saved the files to with your browser

Features to be added in v0.2a (Release date 4th February 2011)

• Improved documentation
• Backup multiple databases
• Additional security (password for created ZIP files, and password for the utility)

You can download v0.1a here:
PHP_Online_Backup_v0.1a

Warning! The utility lists previous backups and there is no password feature as yet. Please ensure that you either remove the tool after use as the backed up databases are available for any user to download.

After upgrading your desktop or laptop to Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx you may experience the following symptoms:

• Reduction in audio quality (jittery calls)
• Crashing after receiving an Instant Message
• Crashing when trying to send an Instant Message
• Slow program functionality

All of the above issues can be resolved by removing Skype and ensuring that the newest version is installed (2.1.0.81 at time of writing)

Skype can be downloaded here.

We use Thunderbird exclusively within our organisation for email, and with the Lightning add-on, for task and calendar management.

Recently, we have come across an issue with Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) whereby the New Event and New Task buttons were greyed out or disabled – making adding calendar entries impossible.

This was fixed by uninstalling the add-on, closing Thunderbird and running the following command in a terminal session:

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

Reinstalling the add-on after libstdc++5 was installed fixed the issue – the calendar portion worked as it should. It appears that this prerequisite was not installed on the machine we were using.

In any case, Mozilla Thunderbird and Lightning represent (in our opinion!) the killer email and calenar application for Ubuntu.

You can download Thunderbird here, and Lightning here.

Thanks to this blog for the pointer!

From the article:

Open source applications and online services have been generating a lot of buzz over the past few years. Many of the open source alternatives are formidable contenders to the major liscensed software programs and services out on the market. Depending on the nature and circumstances of your business, bringing in open source apps may be a cheaper and more practical option to shelling out hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars in liscensing fees for the commercial versions.

The list is reproduced here:

Accounting Software

TurboCASH. – A powerful fully-featured, multi-user accounting system.
GnuCash. – A personal and small business accounting software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Office Suite/Word Processing

Open Office. – Full-featured office suite, compatible with all other major office suites including MS Office

The Fifth Element.- Full-featured office suite, compatible with all other major office suites including MS Office

Email

Graphics

Point of Sale Software

NolaPro POS. – A Web-based accounting, inventory, POS, and business management suite.

Business Tools/Apps

A mixed bag of Windows and Linux software there. We at Jaytag heavily reccomend Ubuntu Linux for desktop computers and servers, as a fully featured office can be set up with no licensing costs whatsoever.

FastUpFront.com often has useful information for small businesses on how they can save money or improve existing IT processes. There is a full list of their technology articles here.

But – we at Jaytag are of the strong opinion that it is a good idea to wait for Microsoft to iron out the slew of bugs and problems that inevitably go along with a new operating system. We aren’t the only one’s either – Computerworld have an article discussing why you should wait before upgrading.

Our top three reasons:

The reboot bug. Some users have reported that following an upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7, their computers go into a loop of starting up, then immediately rebooting. There is currently no solution from Microsoft for this issue.

The cost. To purchase Windows 7, you are looking at at least £90. Although this isn’t a lot, you may find it hard to justify in this economic climate – especially if your PC is working fine with Windows XP or Vista.

The hardware requirements. Windows 7 requires:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Compare these to Windows XP (home edition):

• Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
• At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM (128 MB is recommended)
• At least 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

A significantly lower requirement. A huge saving on hard drive space is the key if you keep Windows XP. Overall, this means your 2-3 year old PC with Windows XP will be more than adequate (scratch that, a 2-3 year old PC will easily meet and exceed these specifications – you’ll be flying with a 1.6GHz or better processor with 1Gb of RAM)

With Windows Vista (home premium) the requirements are a little higher:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
  • WDDM Driver
  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
  • 32 bits per pixel
• DVD-ROM drive

But still easily achieveable with a 2-3 year old PC. We’ve noted Vista only really works well on machines with more than 2Gb of RAM, and a new dual-core processor.

Our strong recommendation (unless you are planning on buying a new PC or laptop with Windows 7 preinstalled) is to wait until the first service pack is released. Normally, Microsoft releases SP1 of a new OS between nine months and a year after the system first ships.

Of course, Windows 7 offers some great new features – we just don’t think its worth the leap just yet for most users.

If you just can’t wait – or want to find out more, check out the Official Windows 7 page from Microsoft.