Law Office Technology

Reinstalling Windows

I was reinstalling windows on a brand new Dell Workstation this weekend.  I put the Windows CD in the machine and hit f12 to boot from the CD.  The installer went through all the motions  and then warned me that it could not find a hard drive.  After much hair pulling, I finally figured it out.  With SATA drives, you need to go into BIOS and then to SATA Operations.  Change it to Combination.  Then, Windows will see the Hard drive when doing the reinstall.

PCLaw Accounting

I have created a white paper about accounting and PCLaw.  View it here: Lawot Whitepapers.

5 Things I Like About PCLaw 8.0

1.  I love the new look.  It's more modern.

2.  It still has the same layout, so it's not like you have to learn a new version like other software sometimes does.

3.  "Videos & Resources" is now a standard button feature.  This is very useful for troubleshooting.

4.  More Icons are available for the tools I use in PCLaw, so what I need is only a click away, and I don't have to scroll down a list to get what I need.

5.  PCLaw 8.0 is much more user friendly I think than its previous versions, and still as useful and time saving.

Meagan Roussel if the office administator at Law Office Technology and uses PCLaw daily.

Delete all Contacts, To Do, and Events in a Treo

I recently had a problem with my Treo 650 where all my To Do's, Contacts, and Calender events were duplicated multiple times.  I changed my Hotsync settings, so the desktop would overwrite the palm, but the duplicates still stayed.  I found this program called FileZ which will allow you to go into the palm and delete all these items without doing a hard reset.  Instructions can be found at this blog.

Locking your PDA

I have a lot of confidential client information on my Treo 650.  Password, IP Addresses, etc.  I have noticed that some of my clients have started to input sensitive information into their PDA's as well.  This could be a huge problem if you were ever to lose the device.  I found the security on the Treo 650 to be lacking, specifically, I did not want to type in a password every time I wanted to use my phone.  I recently discovered this program called mSafe  (16.99).  If I lose my treo 650, I can send a text message to it which will either wipe it or lock it.  If the wireless mode of my treo is shut down, the phone will automatically lock as will it if my sim card is removed.  This program will even lock my SD card.  I think this is a must have for anyone with a PDA phone.  I know there are equivalents for the Blackberry as well.

Two new applications I started using.

1. Alarm Clock Pro:  When I travel or at home, I am usually woken up by the alarm clock, which I hate.  Since I always have my Laptop in the room I am sleeping in, I began looking for a software alarm program.  Alarm Clock Pro now wakes me up to the Grateful Dead's Touch of Grey, which starts my day out on a brighter note.   This  program will link directly into  Itunes and any particular  play list.  Another advantage is the digital timer that comes with the program.  I have set the timer to one hour and thirty minutes.  Once that time is up, I take a fifteen minute break and then start the timer all over again.  This has helped me regiment my workday.  I have really just scratched the service of what this program can do.

2. Foxit Reader:    I have the full version of Adobe Acrobat on my desktop and it takes forever to load.  When I say forever, I mean about 9 seconds.  (I used my digital timer)  Foxit opens in about 1 second.  It is just as easy to use as Adobe.  I will have test out their counter part to Adobe Professional.

My Favorite Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

SHIFT: Press and hold down the SHIFT key while you insert a CD-ROM to bypass the automatic-run feature.

Windows Logo+C:         Opens Control Panel

Windows Logo+L:         Log off Windows

Windows Logo+E:         Windows Explorer

Windows Logo+R:         Run dialog box

For at list all windows shortcuts CLICK HERE

A program is trying to access your outook.

Express Click Yes is a program that will get rid of the annoying outlook message that tells your a program is trying to access your data in outlook.  This is very good for Amicus, TimeMatters and PCLaw users who have links with outlook.

The Camera-Less Treo 650 Exists!!!

I have clients in several courthouses, and I always get busted trying to sneak in my Treo 650, because it has a camera on it.  I try to explain to the deputies that I am not even going to the courtrooms, but they don't care.  Actually, quite a few have yelled at me.  I then have to run back to my car, stash my phone, and race back, very sweaty and very late to my appointment.  I always ask the employees at Cingular Stores if a Camera-less Treo 650 exists.  The usual reply was no, why would you want a phone without a camera on it anyway.  My response that I had a bad "Paris Hilton like experience" elicits few laughs.  Well, I did my research and found a list of carriers that have a camera-less Treo 650.  I don't know if they have camera-less 700's yet. To review  what  providers have camera-less phones, go here:  http://kb.palm.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,kb=PalmSupportKB,CASE=obj(35038),ts=Palm_External2001
To order one for Cingular, you need to call their business services at 888-444-4410.

Writing off balances in PCLaw

A client asked, "When writing off a balance, is there anyway to just tell the program to write off the balance and subtract it from whatever account it initially was charged to? Example: The balance left is $12.27.  A portion of that was $2.39 billed in January for postage, $4.39 billed in July, and the remainder in August.  The program wants you to figure out what the portions of the bill were for, and then apply them to whatever account they were initially charged to.  I would just like to tell the program to write off whatever this balance is, and sort out the accounting as it was originally applied."

You will have to have created a final bill so you have no unbilled fees or disbursements.  Then go to billing and go to Write Off Bill.

Check: Write off all Outstanding Invoices for this Matter.