Replies

Thanks very much. I’ll check that out ASAP. Have a great day.

Jim

There is no switch in the shortcut as far as I can tell. It was part of an enterprise installation, if I have the terminology right. Thanks.

No doubt that is good advice. However, it didn’t have to go. I uninstalled all security software except MS Security Essentials, then rebooted in safe mode with networking, and downloaded the latest version of Hijack This. It found one – one – line in the registry that was out of whack. After it cleaned that up and I rebooted, all functionality returned. I was able to upload my tax return, do Windows Update successfully, and other routine tasks that have been anything but. I downloaded a fresh copy of Malwarebytes for occasional scans, mainly because I paid for it a few months ago, but it won’t be used in real time.

I’ve been working with computers for decades, but I never cease to be amazed by them. One line in the registry caused all the havoc, or so it seems. Thanks for the help!!

Thanks a lot. I’ll give it a try. But the tricks suggested by Mr. Russell in WS 236 didn’t take. So it may be headed to the Geek Squad. Thanks again.

Thanks very much. I’ll check it out.

Jim

As always, Hans, I am grateful for your suggestions. I’ll get to work on it. Have a great weekend.

Jim

Thanks for replying. The train from Migraine City just arrived and I have to go home. Good questions, thanks. We’re going from XP to XP, so the OS remains static (the VA hasn’t officially passed Vista for our use yet.) The reason for copying the desktop shortcuts is that, again, depending on the user, there are a lot of shortcuts to documents on the network that will stay in the same place. They don’t want to recreate 5-20 shortcuts, and I can’t blame them. See you tomorrow 8 am CST. Thanks!

Dang, you’re fast with the answers, thank you. I’m sorry about the graphic. I could not get a screen copy from my desktop – it just showed a blue field – and what I posted was straight from their web site. Just out of curiosity, is there anything comparable or better, since StatBar is a little on the elderly side now?

Leif, I’m sorry, I really did not address your question:

“My money would be on the Software forum being the most applicable – can you expand on your problem after I’ve moved the thread there?”

For several years I used Money, then switched to Quicken Deluxe in 2004. By 2006 I had become tired of (to me) the bloat of Quicken. So I have tried a couple of Excel add-ins as a replacement. They haven’t worked out, because they lack some of the nice features like auto-fill payee, category, and so on in Money and Quicken. I downloaded the trial version of MS Money Plus 2008 yesterday. It looked pretty good, bloated but manageable. I archived before I read the fine print. All my paychecks from 2005 are still in the register because they have links to my savings and 401(k) accounts. So I’ll have to bring those transactions back from the archive, or find another software solution.

I need two things in a financial program: (1) ability to import Quicken or Money format downloads from my credit union’s web site, (2) an interface that uses auto fill and links payees to categories automatically. The second part is more for my wife than me. She is retired now, and if I can find suitable software, I could turn some of the routine financial stuff over to her. Hope that helps. Thanks!

Leif and Steve, thanks for replying. I had read the second of those two articles, Steve. The first one I had not seen, and I think this is the problem:

“Splits containing transactions from unarchived accounts will remain in your registers, causing incorrect account balances.”

The transactions not being archived are paychecks that have deductions for my 401(k) and my savings accounts. So all my spending went to the archive file but the paychecks stayed. So, I guess I have to import those archive files back to make everything come out right. Fortunately, this is a trial version, because now I wonder whether it’s worth the $49.99 minus $20 rebate.

Joe, thanks for the suggestion. I have changed my settings and rules accordingly. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks again.

Jim

Thanks for the tip. My IT service and I figured a way to do it on our “mainframe” system by creating a database that uses lookups to other files to speed up data entry and ensure consistency. I thank you again for your time. So long for now.

You’re both right, I didn’t give you enough to work with. I’m sorry. I’m still trying to figure out what the supervisors really want this to do. I thought they wanted a running total for ALL the sites, which gives false totals if you try to use a Pivot Table. I agree that the whole thing would be better off in Access, and I’d just do a simple application. I have to sell that idea – it’s amazing how one little word (Access) can scare so many smart people at once!

What I have tried to do now with this workbook is offer two theories of the crime – er, job. One uses a Pivot Table, the other uses links from the individual sites’ worksheets. The numbers are made up, so just ignore the numbers not matching with the two different methods. Also, ignore the last sheet – that’s what I was originally sent. I’ll continue to work toward getting a clearer idea of what they want. Thanks.

The comp time formulas shouldn’t be quite so hard, since you don’t earn some every pay period. The carry over from the previous year will have to be done right. And, you’re right that reformatting the columns will be a job. I’ll check some of my add-ins to see if they’ve got a magic wand to wave.

Good to hear from you again, Hans. Thanks again.

I’m sorry I couldn’t be more specific. We’re trying very hard to safeguard private data that it takes a lot of time to mock up fake data. I couldn’t get the suggestion to work, probably because I couldn’t fully explain the problem. What I think I’ll do now is go back to the original file from the mainframe and cut it in two so I can find them into Excel sheets. I have some Excel tools that can get rid of the duplicate SSNs. Thanks for the help.