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Medlin Software, Dennis

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  1. Pick any reasonable online company to get something in place ASAP., Then, if you wish, take some time to find something else, engage, then cancel the "temp" policy. Having a gap is likely costly compared to "changing".
  2. Maybe think like a one baker bakery (like I used to be for three years). When the mixer broke, the call to the repair shop was made while we were on the way to Tahoe or to the beach. It was amazing how fast we could hit the road, even if it was for 24 hours. I swear, it always broke on its own, and we were never pre packed up!
  3. Ugh. I know many devs use revision numbers, and I used to as well (as it is easy to auto increment in the dev tool being used) but I went back to the revision DATE, as it is plain language anyone can understand. Devs need to accept users are no longer computer experts and to not get things such as major, minor, revision, and build numbers. For me, it is much clearer, and less likely to raise a support issue, showing a message saying something like "your revision is 97 days old", rather than "your revision is 2.23.45 builds old".
  4. I suspect ATX is more complicated, but the process is likely similar. For me: There is an online file which contains the information which tells the latest revision. The software reads the file and compares it to the EXE data, and if not current, handles the out of date issue as needed. When I make a change, I first upload the new software, then update the data file. But, on occasion, I might miss something, or upload something incorrectly (as binary instead of ascii, or the reverse, proving yet again I am human). As soon as I am done, I test the new revision indicator and download myself. I usually catch errors before anyone else downloads, but not always. There is also an issue with caching, as the user computer could not be reading the actual current revision info, as their browser or connection is reading a cached copy of the file. This is a REAL issue, and is one of the reasons I allow manual download, and have s system in place to try to keep the download from ever being cached. I also usually leave the prior revision on my site, but not directly accessible, in case there is some need to install the prior revision (I can send a link). Has not been needed in years, but I still allow for human error. OTOH, over the years, I have had to get stricter and stricter, and do have "stops" in place for cases where the user is not keeping current. Just a thing one must do not that computers and software are treated like appliances, and are expected to do all for the user, and insulate the user from any responsibility. When I started, 90% of my programming time was for the software functions/improvements. Now, 90% of my programming time is trying to prevent user errors.
  5. I have to paper file my personal return as the personal provider I use does not have the PTET form I need. No big deal. But, I think I remember here that there are pro preparer software which try to have all forms, and that the standard ATX (IIRC) sometimes does not have every possible form.
  6. Not a user of ATX, but I have simlar warnings in my own software. If you can manually install, try that (the check for update process may not have been updated fully). It could be a case of the process having the "update needed" flag set somewhere (likely online) and the new software not yet being automatically (or however they do it) installing. I might power cycle my computer and try again, in case there is some sort of cache which needs clearing.
  7. Just so I am not depreciated before another 20 or so years.
  8. I wish more would be done early to encourage use of both hands - which typing does. My first typing class was so foreign, to use my non dominant paw (other than for wrenching, which I did as soon as I could hole one). It is also a bit fun, as last week, we made our first Scholastic Book order for our grand (pre school). Something powerful about her picking her own books, and having them to touch.
  9. It is arguably called uncommon sense these days. Our toddler grand likes me to use air tools. She is good with hand, ear and face protection, so I let her help me. She compares it to photos of her uncle in his medical garb, she wears her car doctor getup. Different times, I learned to use the old long screwdriver as a stethoscope, and nor I have a mechanics stethoscope, and a borescope. We have 5 oil changes and safety checks coming up this weekend.
  10. I'd rather a school do nearly anything else. Art, music, drama, choir, ethics, more math (not the calculations, the "is that close" common sense stuff), etc. Or even training in trades, or just how to check air/oil levels (or battery charge). One which is missed is how to compare prices at the grocery (the look for the unit price, not the price per package). I learned that in grade school.
  11. As a programmer, I can tell you accurately and proven, when I used to try to recompile when some AV program was giving a false positive on my public software, changing something from upper to lower case, or moving one function in the order (so it would compile slightly different), would cause the AV program to consider the software safe. Even worse, depending on the compression level I select (in my setup program), some AV's would trigger. (They are often looking for a pattern, not actually opening the file and examining it, so compression, which most use, can easily fool/trigger AV.) That tells you how reliable the heuristic wild rear end guesses are, and how useless they are for the public to use. If I can cause the AV to safe my software by such simple means, a scammer pro can do so likely with automation. One can also ask an AV vendor to safe all of their software, by reputation, which is also alarming (if one wants to trust AV software). Now, I don't bother. I know there is no garbage in my files, so I do not give in. When a person says I have an issue, I refer to then to virus total, which proves a current AV shows no issues, or the issue is a random AV (and not the 50+ others virus total uses to compare). Inevitably, it is a case of heuristics, or lack of checking daily or AV updates. While I am fine with the opinion of many top experts, that modern AV is pointless with just modest safe hexing, I am good with using the AV from the OS maker (in case someone here uses my computer). The real issue these days is preventing access to restricted folders (like ransom issues) and watching your incoming/outgoing internet hits (firewall). The modern OS can help protect from ransom issues, if one enables it. For email, I let my provider wash the mail through whatever AV they use and I don't open attachments I did not ask for. For firewall, I use a really "cool" product, Firewalla. I am also of the experience and opinion one should, at all times, be ready to recover, prepared to find your computer/office missing or unavailable every single day.
  12. Besides the usual UI dumping scenarios, there seem to have been more than usual changes requiring a new FEIN (and thus, more than one W2 from the same "employer"). Also, with more and more ER's catching on the the rules for remote work, there are more issuing multiple W2 forms when an EE has more than one work location state (since the EE should, for many reasons, be setting up a new entity for each state, and in come cases, each work location). The TP should have handled this, but this is another questionnaire scenario for preparers, something like "Do the W2's you have show all wage income for the year - is there any chance you may have received more than one W2 for any job?"
  13. IRIS would be fine, anything really at this point (free). I suspect there is some lobbying somewhere to hold out as long as possible, as there is a good amount of $ being made filing for others at a cost, or charging in software per form. I look at a service every year, and it always seems to be to be about $5 per form at the customer level. I do not want to get into submitting for customers, since it tacks on responsibility for monitoring and relaying status, but IRIS worked well for my customers handling 1099 (and me too, I had one this year!).
  14. Starting with 1/1/24, the threshold triggering efile was reduced to an aggregate of 10 of the specified forms. With some of the rules requiring efile at 1 form, the only prudent advice at present is to efile W2 data. The IRS is said to be working on free 941 efile, which is the long missing piece for employers. Matching is one reason for the change in threshold. The client should be able to log in and at least see the total income the IRS has, maybe by comparing against their records, they can figure out what the difference applied to (if it was "real").
  15. "Turning off your anti-virus software is like walking outside naked....no one wants to do it and no one wants to see you do it." Somewhat. Turning off save and accurate AV is not wise for most. Not turning off the heuristic garbage foisted on unsuspecting users is worse than going outside nekkid. Heuristics are simply wild guesses as to what someone might create in the future. They are the cause of most false positives, and issues like Tom likely had. The ability to correct an issue by turning off something proves the something was worse than useless. How much time has Tom spent on this issue, caused by lousy AV? Worse yet, AV which does nothing all year is good, since most don't do stupid things, but AV which is often popping up "warnings" (usually false positives), just to get renewals, is robbery. I will say it forever, use the AV which is part of your OS provider's offerings, which is updated almost daily by the OS, and don't waste a cent on third party AV. OR, at least, update your third party AV daily, and hope they are not defrauding you (and everyone else too) with their false positives.
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