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I am currently recommending the Foxit reader to all of my clients who do not have heavy PDF processing needs. The simple reason: Foxit Reader includes the Foxit PDF Printer as part of its install, and this is a perfectly capable PDF generator for anyone needing a basic PDF printer.

BCC yourself? (and have a rule move it to Sent if it’s from you.)

Thanks! I keep hearing that as an option, and plan to experiment with it, but it seems like it might not produce the clean “from / to” information you would want to make it easy to follow a thread. It seems like it should be possible (or at least, desirable) for one designated workstation to be in synch with what is on the server but also to control what is retained on it over time. The ideal thing would be for that workstation to delete mail from the server if it is deleted on the workstation (the way a POP client does) but also delete it automatically after a suitable time period (say, 30 days). That eliminates the problem of missing mail due to a “mailbox full” status without losing important old mail.

Thanks! I had some follow-up:

To run a database app on a server you really need the engine on the server…

Yes, that was the idea (the VPN would be to allow remote users to log-in to the server and run the app). Those in my current client base who have been doing this are using different approaches: Citrix w/desktop, Citrix with just published app, ThinStuff with both local and VPN users and now one using Server 2012 to give access to the app to Mac clients. When I discovered that the latter client had done this, I realized I had a potential solution to the OpLocks problem that I was beginning to see for other users running true fat clients on workstations with just the database files (it’s a native VFP database) on a newer servers. For the clients running the whole thing on the server with multiple users, it runs quite fast.

…but you can have (need) lots of cores. Printing is also no issue with this spec. Foundation also comes with 15 CALs so no additional licensing is required.

One client is running it under a six-core AMD Opteron with 4 gigs with Windows 2003+Citrix to support 6-8 users at a time, just as a reference.

Do the 15 CALS include access to a server desktop or would they cover only application publishing?

Printing is also no issue with this spec.

Any issues with users printing to a local printer? That would be important if a remote user was accessing it via a VPN.

RAID 1 disks, maybe SSD if you are feeling rich.

I thought about that, because the storage requirements are actually not large (relatively) with JPEGs driving the ultimate storage needs, so something in the 200-300 range would actually be way more than adequate. However, my understanding is that SSD drives tend to “wear out” over time. My thinking is that this could be both a recommended spec and the basis for a turnkey “appliance,” so would using an SSD be a possible issue in a server?

Finally, does Server 2012 include any kind of VPN capabilities, or would that require something separate?

Thanks again…

I’ve been using T’Bird for a very long now and while not an expert I could certainly be called a Power User. Have you tried adding after all of the copy rules as the very last action a Delete action? Be very careful to restrict this to the Sent folder.

I tried adding a “Copy Message to” (a subfolder of a folder called “Clients” that I created at the top level) and followed that (in the same rule) with a “Move Message to” the trash folder. I tried adding a “Delete” after the copy, but for some reason the copy gets marked as “Read” which is exactly the wrong behavior. Copy followed by move to trash leaves both the copy and the moved original as “unread,” which isn’t perfect but much better than missing an email from a client.

The alternative would be set all the rules to only be run manually. That would allow client mail to come in as new mail in the Inbox. Then, at the end of the day or first thing in the morning, you run all the rules on the Inbox and Sent folders to do your filing.

Thunderbird’s rule logic has a serious deficiency in that it ignores the order of the rules and does any marking action before it does any copying or moving (a warning appears if a rule is added below one of these commands). This means that you can’t tag an original (as “Filed”) after copying it to the client folder. tagging something as “Filed” would allow you to process a message multiple times (as each client’s rule fires) and then end with a final rule that deleted “Filed” messages. However, because it tags the message prior to copying, both are marked as “Filed” and that leaves you exposed to accidentally deleting all the messages in a client folder if you ever ran all the rules on it.

In the end, I’m going back to the simple “Move message to” the client’s folder. This works best for normal messaging. Since my original problem was that I wanted a way to track which clients received a general distribution email on which they were blind copied, it may be easier to set up a rule that moves messages sent to “Distribution” into a special folder. That way, I know exactly where those messages can be found and I can check the original list of BCCs to see who was on it.

Well, then, here are a few points to consider and gotchas to avoid:

1) Thunderbird’s rules default to the option of “Match all of the following” (conditions) so if you are trying to create a rule with more than one clause to include multiple people, be sure to select “Match any of the following” instead. If you don’t, you will get zero results.
2) The easiest way to build a client-based rule is to use “From, To, Cc, Bcc” contains and then use just the client’s email server as the text to match, if they have their own. If they are using common mail services like gmail, comcast, etc., you may have to build a long list of email names (using the “any of the following” option).
3) Thunderbird does not always seem to run its rules when you send message—not sure why. You may have to open the “Sent” folder and use Tools> Run filters on folder to file your outgoing mail.
4) Using “Copy” instead of “Move” as the action leaves an outgoing original in the “Sent” folder, which is a problem if you don’t then delete the original, since it will get copied over and over if you run the rule manually.
5) You can also do client and project-oriented management by prefixing the subject line with a short code surrounded by symbols: “[SMITHCO] This is some info about the Smith Project.” The original message and all replies that dupe the subject can then be filed with a rule looking for subjects containing the code (with the symbols, to make false positives harder). If you can get your clients or co-workers to include the code in their own outgoing messages, so much the better.

Hope that helps.

You can turn your whole house into a wireless hot spot: Just get Comcast with one of their new routers. Note: They may not tell you about your new status.

” if you delete the non-functioning printer before you try to re-install it, you won’t have multiple copy numbers.”

That is what is odd (and one reason I’m posting here): The original (non-numbered) printer won’t disappear from my printer selection list, even though it no longer appears under “Devices and Printers.” The other reason is that the printer works perfectly when any other PC on my network accesses it. But I have not contacted Brother directly, so I’ll try that.

Well, no luck. I tried to install the “LAN driver” and it failed with the message that no Ethernet controller was installed.

In looking around for the ISO file for Win 7, I found some references that there was something wrong with the one posted on the MS site. Does anyone know anything about this? I downloaded X17-24209.iso.

Hmmm…the Device Manager doesn’t report any brand at all for either “Ethernet Controller” or “Network Controller.” Since the website only shows the Intel driver for “LAN,” I think I’m going to just install it and hope for the best. There is also a “Toshiba Value-added Package” that seems to be a utility designed to handle updates to their devices, so I’ll probably add that next.

Fingers now crossed…

“Can you find the network driver for the laptop?”

Yes, that I’ve found. It was your reference to motherboard drivers that led me to being unsure of what else to grab. Although it has an AMD processor, the “chipset” category produces just the “Intel Chipset SW Installation Utility” and its description says it should be run before installing any other drivers. Not sure what to make of the apparent mismatch between AMD and Intel.

The site is at: http://support.toshiba.com/drivers
…with the model set to: Satellite L655D-S5050
…and the overall filter set to: Windows 7 (64bit) (near the bottom)

Thanks for any advice…

Thanks! I’ve found the list for this model on the Toshiba site. Is there a way for me to identify what items are “motherboard drivers?” It’s not obvious from the proprietary names in the list. The only thing listed under “Chipset” is “Intel Chipset SW Installation Utility” but the laptop has an AMD Athlon processor.

My hope is that once I get the thing connected to the ‘net, I can update the drivers from the system devices utility. According to the specs, this laptop has an AMD Radeon graphics card, but the Toshiba site only offers nVidia drivers, which makes me hesitant to download very much on my own. Thanks again…

The first thing I install after an anti-virus is always my favorite two-pane file manager, but I’m surprised that these aren’t mentioned at all.

Thanks! I should have also mentioned that they are running two virtualized servers, one for general use (including my own database application) and one for their accounting system. Not sure if that is relevant, but there it is, if it suggests anything else.

Also, the 1.5 gig remaining may sound small, but on the surface that is still relative to their data needs. So, did you write that as a general comment or because the specific needs of a server’s own management processes might require more headroom? In other words, could that concern be ruled out by simply checking their current patterns of space consumption (as a factor in the immediate problem)?

I’m trying to solve the same problem, but my list of .net installations keeps returning “application cannot be uninstalled” messages. Any ideas?

I’m curious: Why would there be a need for an “earlier version of .net”?