Twentieth Anniversary Coming!
No, our twentieth anniversary isn't officially until May 12th, but as we said last time, we're pre-announcing our annual Appreciation Special since so many of you have complained that you seem to miss out. This means you have no excuse now!

For you newbies, what we do every year on our anniversary is offer a 'Thank You!' coupon to users for your continued support. The coupon can be used for pretty much any custom service we offer (except support fees.) The longer you've been with us, the more you save! So, as per usual, throughout the month of May, each customer will be eligible for a credit against custom reporting and programming services equal to $100 for each year you have been using Simple Accounting products (up to a maximum of $500)

But that's the usual offer. This year,  EVERYONE regardless of length of service can take an extra ten percent Program Discount on the purchase of any complete program we offer, including: SAFE, ThinSAFE, Ollie or WebSAFE! If you're a new customer or adding a new branch office, this is pure gold, baby! (Sorry: new purchases only, does not apply to upgrade fees from prior versions of these programs.)

OK, Here's The Fine Print.
1. The Coupon is good on the purchase of one item, either a standard product, or a formally quoted custom programming job.

2. Which means that there's no 'leftovers'. If you want to get something that is less than your coupon value for free, Free, FREE!, that's great; just don't call up later asking what to do with the 'rest' of your coupon.

3. You may combine the Coupon with the Program Discount for one mega-discount on SAFE, ThinSAFE, Ollie or WebSAFE.

4. You may use either the Coupon or the Program Discount towards any SAFExtension. (If you use the Program Discount you can then still use the Coupon for other things of course.)

5. Whether you are using the Coupon or taking the Program Discount, all items with special pricing must be paid in full by May 31, 2005. You can pre-pay if you like for specific work to be scheduled but you can't just send in a check to be used 'on account'.

6. The Coupon may not be used on any invoices billed prior to May 2005.

7. Don't even think about calling on June 1st to ask for an extension. You will be greeted with a very teary 'no'.

8. *Farm Machinery may be amortized at a rate equal to 7.3% of the total at risk investment on schedule 2215 where a prior loss was declared within the past three years by multiplying the greater of line 71 on Form #465 or line 23 on Form #1634 where a dependent was specified as having lived with you as part of an ongoing religious enterprise for more than six months of the past calendar year.
*Editor's Note: Check the date of this issue. You had to expect at least some complexity to this offer, right?

There, that's not too complicated is it?

We're Just A Bunch Of Softies!
Now many of you write us saying how much you appreciate this gesture. We absolutely love getting sentimental comments like, 'this is the only issue I ever bother to read.' Makes us feel warm and fuzzy all over. So you know it would just kill us if you missed out in sharing our joy at turning twenty. If you have any questions about this offer, please do not hesitate to call or write. Seriously, the offers are there to be used and we want to make every effort to help everyone who has an interest get their just desserts.

Til Next Time!

Reminder: SAFE 5.1 To Be Retired
Just a reminder that SAFE 5 is to be officially retired on our anniversary (May 12, 2005). There will be no further official support for SAFE 5.1 and no free upgrades---even for RSS customers. So for those few who are still dragging their feet, this is a fairly urgent reminder to not get left behind.

Til Next Time!
 

Ciaran's Corner: Beware Of Automatic Windows Patching!
This Tuesday was Microsoft's 'Patch Tuesday'. Now you may not have noticed before, but the 2nd Tuesday of every month is generally the day that Microsoft 'pushes' it's updates to us Windows users. The difference this month is that Microsoft has changed it's update policy in a couple of key ways of which you should be aware.

Some patches are now being applied whether you like it or not.
This has started with Windows 2003 (Server) but we expect that it will soon be rolled out to all versions. We understand that Microsoft has good intentions; they are constantly getting blamed for attacks on their systems for which patches have long been available. In that regard, Microsoft is simply making sure that everyone 'takes their medicine'. The thing to watch out for, though is that these patches sometimes change the behaviour of Windows in subtle ways. For example, the latest patch to Windows 2003 can, in rare cases, cause some hiccoughs to SQL Server.

Patches to Windows XP are now checking that you have a properly registered and legal version of Windows on your system.
Even if all your machines are legally licenced, you may still have machines which were originally installed from one Windows XP disc (to save time), rather than the official procedure. Microsoft has not done so yet but I can easily see them at some point refusing to update one's system if that is the case. Worse still, I can easily see the updater shutting down Windows and preventing it from running if it detects an invalid version. And yes, they are completely within their legal rights to do so. (So are we by the way. Remember: you licence software, you don't own it. If a vendor finds out that you have an unlicenced version of their program running, they do have the right to shut it off. After all, you give them/us permission to do this discovery by allowing us the privilege of providing you with updates!) But is this ethical? The jury is still out. All I can say with 100% certainty is that you should protect yourself by checking each PC in your organization to make certain it is properly licenced. Do it soon.

Coda: Patching Microsoft Office!!!
Often overlooked in all the bashing of Windows security is that Microsoft Office (and specifically Word) is responsible for just as many, if not more security problems than either Windows or Internet Explorer. Yet, how many companies properly patch Windows but neglect to patch Office. Folly! Some of the nastiest viruses out there are transmitted through innocent looking Word e-mail attachments. There are currently several Critical Updates to Microsoft Office that block very popular (or is it unpopular) viruses. Go get 'em! Now! And then make a note in your calendar to check at least monthly for fresh updates! Do it even if you have Automatic Updates set on your desktop.

Til Next Time!

Ciarān Marron
Technical Support Manager
cm@suntowersystems.com

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End of E-News From The Suntower, Volume VII #8