Do you find yourself sat in front of your computer all day, barely moving apart from lifting your hands for the phone, drinking, eating? (We don't move from our desks for lunch, which in itself can be unhygienic but I'll give you all the disgusting facts at a later date).

You feel absolutely shattered at the end and when you finally make it home through the traffic, again sat on your proverbial backside in your car…..you get home, bung some rubbish in the microwave oven …..you veg in front of the TV, and that's where you stay until you muster enough energy to climb off the sofa and into bed?!

The average office jobs are 40 hours a week, we get lazy, even to the point that we start email colleagues that are sat opposite us. No matter how positive you feel, all the good intentions of actually getting home and doing some decent exercise just goes out of the window.

I also read tips like:

• Squeezing your buttocks together six times
• Rotate your ankles and wrists six times Sit there fidgeting. (Which if you ask me would just annoy everyone)
• Then there's an idea of sitting on an exercise ball instead of the normal office chair, good for posture. Very good for toning and losing weight - apparently!

And if you get everyone in the office to get one….well who knows, your imagination is your limit! After some serious searching on the net I found a website that may help (and hopefully not make you look like your too crazy?!) Back Health Excercises

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If you are involved, or at all interested, in computing then no doubt you have heard of Windows Vista. Microsoft’s latest Operating System has received nothing but criticism since its retail release back in January 2007. Users of Vista seem to constantly be complaining about slow performance, system crashes and most of all, incompatibility issues with various hardware and software. 

Huge companies such as Dell seem to be leaning more towards Windows XP still, as not so long back they decided to scrap the idea of selling their machines with Vista only and giving customers the optional choice to have Windows XP installed. Even with the cut off date for retail and OEM versions of Windows XP approaching fast (30th June 2008), Dell are still supplying XP with their machines in the form of a ‘Downgrade’ CD which will enable users to install XP past Microsoft’s sell by date. With reports of Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) causing more problems than it resolved the future of Vista seems very bleak indeed!

So with all this in mind, is it time for you to bite the bullet and upgrade to Vista? If you’d have asked me this question a few weeks back I’d have just laughed in your face (and maybe slapped you with a wet fish). That was until I actually had time to play around with it fully and dig up a few articles on how to properly configure Vista so you receive a smooth, problem free experience. One article I found particularly interesting was this posted on ZDNet written by Ed Bott

Ok so you still need a good enough spec machine to run Vista. But if you have a ‘Vista Compatible’ machine (and if you’re unsure of this then you can download this from Microsoft’s Website. The Vista Upgrade Advisor) and you have Vista correctly configured as described in the provided article, then your Vista experience should be a good one.

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Some applications depend on running Firebird to load their databases (.fdb extension). This can cause problems if there are other applications also running Firebird.

I was migrating an application called Volume Version 2, which uses Firebird version 2, to a new server. However the database failed to load on the new server. It transpired that there was a conflict with Firebird version 1.5.3 which is used and is part of F-Secure's Policy Manager Web Reporting module. This module is optional and provides pre-defined graphical reports to identify and manage anti-virus security issues. It is an option that is usually selected by default during the installation of F-Secure Policy Manager. The module can be uninstalled by re-running the installation of Policy Manager and de-selecting the Web Reporting option. Alternatively you can try disabling the F-Secure Policy Manager Web Reporting service. Uninstallation of the module enabled the Volume database to load as expected.

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I can not wait to start testing the new Office communications server 2007 (OCS 2007), taking advantage of the new features that are included in new server release. Including web conferecing and audio & video capabilities for both local and remote users.

I deployed Live communication server 2005 over a year ago and I was amazed with what these technologies are capable of in providing businesses who require to stay in touch with thier brach offices, their employees, and clients. However, the project came to a hault when I started deploying the server for remote access and I started to lose some of these important features, such as audio and video communications.

The new OCS 2007 offers a solution to all these limitaitons. New Server roles are added to depoyment including, Edge server, Audio/Video Server and many more. Also one of the important features that OCS 2007 offers is an advanced VoIP technology which can be intergrated with exiting telephone system that a company uses.

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Thanks to the girls from Magnus http://www.magnusuk.com/ and Nelly from Gettings Hogben for taking Claire and myself on a magical mystery tour and around Bollington to see the bluebells, across a raging river but the best of all to the Indian at the end of our evening tour.

Magnus provides the complete range of commercial property service across Greater Manchester. Axon-IT supports Magnus and a number of their properties’ offering telephone, remote and on-site outsourced IT for the end users.

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Some people still think that antivirus is an optional extra when setting up a computer system.  

There are a number of ways a virus can spread and cause problems, and if the infected system is used for business, it can cause nightmares like loss of data, corrupt files or the embarrassment of infected or even spoofed emails to your business contacts.

A standard Computer Virus is a small piece of software that opens in other programs. For example, attached to a MS Word file, when the document opens, the virus runs too and it can spread to other programs or cause problems with your computer.

An E-mail viruses travels as an attachment to e-mail messages, and can spread by mailing itself to contacts in your e-mail address book.

A Trojan horse is a computer program that claims to be something it's not. For example - a 'game' that wipes your hard drive when you run the program.

A worm is software that uses computer networks and weaknesses in security to spread. A copy of the worm scans the network for another computer that has a specific security flaw and copies itself to the new computer.

We generally use  F-Secure Anti Virus, but there are a number of good products on the market.  The main thing to remember is to keep it up-to-date because new viruses are being developed all the time.

For further information about how you can protect yourself against computer viruses, check the hints and tips page. 

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When you're having problems with your computer's sound, it can be hard to figure out what's causing it.

There are a couple of sites that we've found that have some useful information that could help:

• Sound On Sound - This site is dedicated to music
• Microsoft -They offer some troubleshooting steps for XP
• Geek.com - Find out how to tune up your computer sound system, removing humming, etc

If you've found any useful tips, or have had problems yourself, please add your comments.

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Axon have a vacency for an Experienced Computer Engineer

www.axon-it.com

• Experience of Microsoft Products
• Ideally Possess Microsoft Certification
• Excellent Communicator
• Performance Driven & Team Player
• Desgin, Implementation & Support Skills
• 2nd & 3rd Line Skills and Knowledge

Email CV's to cv@axon-it.com

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Have you ever tried to open a distribution list in Outlook with mail delivery set to an Exchange 2003 mailbox and find that it will not open?  Instead you receive the following error message, “Can't open this item. Out of memory or system resources. Close some windows or programs and try again." This can be frustrating when you have that important circular to send out by the end of the day.

There is a limit to how many contacts you can create in a distribution list stored in Microsoft Exchange Server mail box store. There is no definite limit to the number of contacts as the exact limit is based on the total file size of the contacts.  A typical number of contacts that you should add to a distribution list is between 50 contacts and 70 contacts. However, if the contacts contain lots of information, the distribution list limit should be as small as 25 contacts.

So how can you open the distribution list that has become too big without having to recreate it?

You need to make it smaller. Simply export the distribution list to a .pst file and make another copy. Delete the second half of contacts, rename the distribution list and import it back into the Exchange mailbox or public folder. Then using the second copy of the .pst file delete the first half of the list, rename and import the distribution list. You will now have two smaller distribution lists that you can now open.

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We found this interesting 'how-to' video on YouTube which shows you how to make and Aquarium PC using top spec components.

I don't think it's suitable for real fish though!

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