Sorcerer Software Users Newsletter Issue 0311 Welcome to our monthly newsletter, covering the latest updates, tips and user questions about our software programs. If you have an issue or question you would like to see addressed in a future newsletter, either by me or by your fellow users, please email me and I'll include it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 30, 2003 CONTENTS: 1. The Abacus 2. Envelope Printer 4. Download movies to your computer...? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Abacus http://www.TheAbacus.biz Here's a question that comes up at least a couple of times a month: "I am a long time Abacus user and just bought a new computer. I had a technician set up my new computer with all my programs, but we couldn't figure out how to transfer Abacus to the new computer and make it work. How do I do this? And do I have to buy Abacus all over again?" First, once you buy Abacus you don't have to buy it again. You can use the version you currently have forever without having to buy it again, even if you move it to another computer. (If you want to upgrade to another or newer version of Abacus, or use Abacus on a second computer, that's a different story. But we'll cover that another day.) The simplest and cleanest way to move Abacus to your new computer is to just follow these 4 simple steps: 1. Download the Abacus installation file from our web site to your new computer. If you are using the Word add-in version, the file you want to download is at: http://www.theabacus.biz/downld.htm If you are using Abacus SE (the standalone version of Abacus), the download site is: http://www.theabacus.biz/downld40.htm 2. Install the Abacus files on your new computer using the Abacus installation file that you downloaded in step 1. When you double click on the installation file, it will try to install the program and then tell you if it was successful or not. 3. Start Abacus and enter your unlock code just as you did when you originally bought Abacus. 4. Delete Abacus from your old computer. You will find an Abacus UnInstall program in the Abacus folder. But what if you don't have your unlock code? What if you deleted it, or it disappeared along with your old computer? No problem. If you will email us with your name (or email address you used when you bought Abacus), along with the year in which you bought it, we'll look up your unlock code and email it to you. The current version 3.0 Abacus build is 030723. If you have an earlier build of version 3.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the Word "add-in" version. To get your Abacus version and build number, start Abacus and click on the copyright message at the bottom of the main screen. The current Abacus SE build is 030914. If you have an earlier build of Abacus SE/4.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the freestanding version. To get your build number, start Abacus and click on "Help- >About". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Envelope Printer http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/envelope.htm I frequently get emails from current users who are confused about the proper way to go about upgrading. This has resulted in some users buying the program all over again and paying full price. This is not necessary and can be avoided by following a few simple steps. First, you need to know what version of the program you have. To do so, start the program and click on "Help->About" and a new screen will appear with the version and build numbers. Our current version is 7.0, and I suspect that almost all current users have version 6.0, 6.1, or 7.0. If you have a version earlier than 7.0 (even as early as 1.0), upgrade is available if you wish it, and you can buy it for only $10. Which raises another point. If you have an earlier version and are happy with it, why upgrade? Or if you want to see what the new version looks like and just try it out, download it and run it along with your current version (keeping them in separate folders) so that you can see what new features it has. Next, if you wish to upgrade you need to go to our web site at: http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/envelope.htm On this web page you can download the latest version of the program. In addition, if you scroll down the page to the section that says "Current Envelope Printer Users:", you can read about the 2 ways to pay for the upgrade. You can either mail us a check for $10, or you can use the online PayPal payment system (which I highly recommend) by clicking on the image that says "PayPal Payment". Using this latter method will take you to our site at PayPal where you can pay your $10 to PayPal who will then forward payment and your instructions to us. Finally, after payment is made we will email to you your new unlock code and instructions so that you can complete the upgrade process. And that's it! The current Envelope Printer build is 031026 of version 7.0. If you have an earlier build or version, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Download movies to your computer...? I'm venturing into an area here where I claim no expertise. My plan is to report to you on this and hope that some of you have experience in this area. Then you can respond to me so that I can in turn report to everyone in next month's newsletter. With that said, the subject at hand is "Downloading movies". Currently you can, of course, go to a movie theater, rent a movie on tape or DVD, or watch a movie on a TV channel. But with the expansion of broadband internet connections, some people are downloading movies onto their computer and watching them at a later time -- either on their computer or via their computer on their TV. I know this is not revolutionary to some of you, and I assume some of you already do this (and you are the ones I'm hoping to hear from). We're not talking about illegally downloading or exchanging flicks a la Napster, like has been done with MP3 music files. I'm talking about using a legitimate service, such as CinemaNow, one that I have been looking at. The concept is pretty straightforward, and very similar to the Apple iTunes service that I wrote about last month: For a fee, you download the movie to your computer, and then using Windows Media Player (or a similar movie playing program, such as QuickTime) view the movie on your computer. But here are the problems, as I see them: 1. It takes forever to download a movie, which can run in excess of 500 MB in size; 2. Your download could be interrupted -- and you would then have to start all over again; 3. Once downloaded, the movie could become corrupted, deleted, or for some other reason rendered unplayable; 4. After watching the movie once, does it become unplayable? 5. Why not just zip on down to your local video store and rent the movie for a few bucks, and skip all this aggravation? Or, if you know even less about this that I do and you want to learn more, check out CinemaNow's web site and you'll get an idea what it's like. No, I'm not endorsing it or recommending you use their service. But I found it to be a good example of what I'm talking about: http://www.cinemanow.com Other movie viewing or downloading sites that I have looked at include MovieFlix at: http://www.movieflix.com and iFilm at: http://www.ifilm.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all, folks. Look for our next newsletter in about 4 weeks... -- Bill bill@sorcerersoftware.com Sorcerer Software http://www.sorcerersoftware.com To read all the old newsletters, go to: http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/archives.htm To be removed from our mailing list, send me an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.