Outlook 2007 Follow Up Folder by Jeff Krause

Lots of little things annoy me in Office 2007 but one thing I really missed from Outlook 2003 was the ability to flag messages and have them appear in a folder in my Mailbox. Outlook 2007 has a To Do Bar that you can open with the View Menu, but I liked the old For Follow Up folder in Outlook 2003.

Well, I just stumbled upon the solution a few minutes ago. Within the Mailbox is a folder called Search Folders. Right clicking on Search Folders allows me to create a new one and one of the search criteria that can be selected is “Mail flagged for follow up” I also thought he colored flags had disappeared from Outlook. It turns out they have been replaced with colored categories that the user can actually name. That’s the little square that appears before the flag.

I have decided I do not hate Outlook 2007 quite as much as I did this morning.

Time Matters Boot Camp - Coming to a City Near You! by Jeff Krause

It has been awhile since I have posted on all of the Time Matters Boot Camps Neil Johnson and I are doing. Many people are asking when we will be in this city or that city. Here are the confirmed dates through the end of the year.

St. Louis - September 11
New York - September 17 and 18
Chicago - September 20
Boston - October 3 and 4
Atlanta - October 16 and 17
Dallas - November 27
Boca Raton - December 11

Additionally, we are working to fit in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Orlando/Tampa and possibly Jacksonville before the end of the year.

I hope to see you there. For more information or to register visit the IP Associates website.

Network Generalists vs. Legal Tech Specialists by Jeff Krause

Recently, I read through an interesting discussion on the Wisconsin State Bar Practice 411 listserv. Our 411 listserv is in the fortunate position of having three bloggers as subscribers, Ross Kodner, Nerino Petro and myself. It leads to some interesting threads. Unfortunately, I was too busy during a recent thread to comment at the time. The thread dealt with law office technology, computer consultants and, the part that interested me, generalist technology consultants versus legal technology specific consultants. That part of the thread was prompted by the comment by one reader that they would not let anyone but a lawyer touch their technology. Ross responded that there were plenty of good generalists out there and the national trend is to have generalists do the general work and specialists do the legal technology specific work.

I agree with Ross on this and had a few additional comments.

For me, the key thing to take from Ross’s comment is that you need to hire the right person for the job. Knowing a lot about networks does not make someone a Time Matters expert and vice versa. I cannot tell you how many times I visit a prospective client with a Time Matters or Billing Matters mess. How did it get that way? The response is all too often, “Our network guys know a lot about computers and we thought they could figure Time Matters out.” I am not trying to be dismissive of generalists - only hiring a generalist to perform work that a specialist should do. Similarly, I highly recommend that you don’t hire me to install and train you on a CAD system. The fact that I know a lot about Time Matters does not make a bit of difference when it comes to another application that I do not know anything about. Hiring the right person for the job will almost always save you money compared to doing it yourself or hiring the wrong person.

On the same listserv where readers are debating whether to hire a legal technology specialist, I very often see posts from attorneys asking for recommendations of other attorneys who specialize in certain areas of practice. That alone should convince those same attorneys of the value of a legal technology specialist.

An additional point I would like to make on this topic is that it makes a lot of sense to work with consultants who actually USE the product or technology in question. Nothing familiarizes someone with technology the way everyday use does. To illustrate this point, I received a piece of mail the other day from a consulting company that provides technology services to law firms. The envelope had both the main address and the return address written by hand. At the risk of sounding like a techno-snob, is that the most efficient and professional way to create an envelope? This company installs Time Matters and other office technology for law firms and they claim that they will boost a firm’s efficiency and productivity through document automation. Yet, they create an envelope by hand rather than use the technology they recommend to others? Hmmm.

Also, and maybe this is just me, but when you ask a specialist about “their” product, they should be able to answer 9 out of 10 questions immediately - whether the answer is good or bad for the sale they are trying to make. A specialist who says that they “need to get back to you” on half the quesions you ask is probably not very familiar with “their” product.

Sorry, I did not intend for this post to become a rant. Bottom line, use the right person for the job whether the job requires a generalist or a specialist. For specialists, make sure they are very familiar with the technology they are recommending for you. Ideally, the should be so convinced of its benefit that they use it too.

No “Clean” Install of Vista Upgrades? by Jeff Krause

Here is a situation that I had not read about until it happened to me last night at (of course) 1:00 a.m., or should I say, this morning at 1:00 a.m. Microsoft has changed the way upgrade versions of its Vista operating system install compared to previous operating systems.

In the past, even where you installed an upgrade version, you could do a “clean” install of the new operating system. In other words, you could reformat the hard drive and install the new system without any of the legacy junk that you are upgrading from to get in the way. Any consultant worth the money would tell you this was the way to go. During the install process you were simply prompted to insert the CD from your previous system. Granted, this system could be abused as there was the potential to share CDs and have multiple upgrade from the same CD. While possible, this was always a violation of the license agreement.

Vista works differently, which I found out the hard way when my system stopped working. Vista upgrades REQUIRE an in place upgrade. This means that you cannot purchase a Vista upgrade CD, reformat your drive and start fresh with the upgrade, regardless of valid, registered ownership of a previous version eligible for upgrade. If you try to install the upgrade with a clean install, you get a somewhat vague message warning you of this but can then proceed. It is only 30 days later, when your “trial” period expires, that you are told you cannot do a “clean” install. At that point, you have two options. First, you can reformat your drive, install an upgradable operating system, upgrade, and reinstall everything that you have spent 30 days installing. Second, you can purchase a new Vista product key. Guess which one I did at - much later than 1:00 a.m.

After my system started working again, I did a little research. There is apparently a way to do a clean upgrade that may or may be a violation of the license agreement. As I don’t know for sure, I won’t elaborate here.

Did I miss the memo on this one? Interestingly, I was never given an option to purchase a full version of Vista rather than an upgrade version. I subscribe to the Microsoft Action Pack, a bundle of not for distribution Microsoft products that actually allows me ten Vista installs. The Action Pack was, and still is a great value but the latest one includes only the upgrade version of Vista Business. Unfortunately, I had to pay for a Vista license that nearly equaled the entire cost of the Action Pack. Thanks Microsoft.

Time Matters 8 Service Release 2A Now Available by Jeff Krause

Time Matters has just released Service Release 2A for version 8 to the public. The service release is available for download from Time Matters website. Login to the Service Center to download it or go to Help, Program Updates, Check for Updates.

I highly recommend this update to all Time Matters 8 users. This release addresses Time Matters stability with regard to hyperthreading and dual core processors. These issues have been causing a lot of problems with Time Matters 8 on newer machines.

Need help installing? Let me know.

Dual Monitors - How Did I Ever Live Without Them? by Jeff Krause

During my recent business transition, I was able to make a few technology upgrades that I had been contemplating for some time. One thing that several people had told me was worthwhile was a dual monitor setup. When I ordered my new Dell Optiplex I made sure it came with a dual monitor video card then I picked up two 20 inch Widescreen Acer monitors at Walmart for about $200 each. After using this setup for about two months, I cannot imagine ever going back to a single monitor at my main workstation.

It would be hard to measure the actual productivity boost that dual monitors provides. Some studies indicate a boost of 20-30%. I can tell you that it saves a great deal of minimizing and moving around of windows. I have found it to be invaluable when drafting documents, working on my website, blog posts, or replying to email - any task where I need to refer back to one screen while working on another.

While many people had mentioned such a setup to me, I want to thank one person in particular for convincing me to do this. Jim Filacetti, a client and friend from KJ Tax and Accounting in Waterford, Wisconsin, setup every workstation in his office with dual monitors two years ago. Seeing the benefit at his office convinced me to setup dual monitors on my next system. Jim has become so successful at making people see the benefits of such a setup that he has started a second business to help other small businesses implement productivity enhancements like multiple monitors, scanning and remote access. Jim’s new venture is Advanced Office Solutions, LLC and I wish him all the best.

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Outlook 2007 Follow Up Folder by Jeff Krause

Time Matters Boot Camp - Coming to a City Near You! by Jeff Krause

Network Generalists vs. Legal Tech Specialists by Jeff Krause

No “Clean” Install of Vista Upgrades? by Jeff Krause

Time Matters 8 Service Release 2A Now Available by Jeff Krause

Dual Monitors - How Did I Ever Live Without Them? by Jeff Krause

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