This has been a crazy week of server maintenance, PC crashes (buy Macs people, please) and client technical support problems. I spent a huge amount of time already this week logging in to various remote systems to fix a handful of disasters and problems. And none of it would have been possible without VNC.

VNC, or Virtual Network Computing, is a method of accessing a remote system. It’s basically a simple way to do desktop sharing. I use it to help troubleshoot client problems by logging directly onto their computer, taking control of that machine’s keyboard and mouse and walking through the problem live with my client. It’s an invaluable tool that every freelancer needs to become intimately familiar with.

This whole setup is very easy to install. I use RealVNC on each client machine and then, since I’m a Mac user, I connect to them using a program called Chicken of the VNC. Chicken of the VNC also has one of the best application icons of all time, as you can see on the right.

Anyway, if you have clients and find yourself in need to some hand holding with them you should definitely look into using VNC.

After a recent OS X update (I can’t remember which one it was exactly, sorry) I would get a prompt like the one below telling me that the SuperDrive 2.1 Update could not find any “updatable” devices. This one was driving me nuts each time I booted up my Macbook.

The solution was simple and obvious in hindsight. To make this message go away enter your “System Preferences” and head to your “Accounts” window. There is a tab there called “Login Items” that will have a list of all of the applications that run immediately when your Mac boots up.

On that list will be an item called “SuperDrive Update 2.1.” Click on it and then hit the small minus button under the list of items. Do not hide the application. You want to disable it completely so hit the minus button instead of checking the “Hide” box.

Follow those steps and the next time you start up your Mac the SuperDrive box won’t be the first thing you’re greeted with.

I have a handful of posts on this site about tech support problems I’ve solved for clients. I write these posts because I usually have a hard time finding the solutions to the problems online and hope that maybe it’ll be easier for the next person who has trouble to find help. These posts are actually some of the most popular on the site and they receive a lot of visitors coming from search engines.

What’s that got to do with being a Web Developer?

It’s important to remember that just because you know how to build web sites does not mean you can or should fix any of your client’s computer problems. I promise you that the second you fix one of their problems with a printer, an email client or whatever they’ll be on you every time something goes wrong in their office. That’s fine if you’re charging them through some kind of service contract but never do this kind of work for free.

People who work for free get taken advantage of.

There’s definitely an urge to fix small problems for free or to go that extra step above and beyond what you originally agreed to with a client. I understand that and I’ve certainly done the same before but I know through experience that once you take on the two-headed role of Web Designer and Go-To Tech Support Guy your life will become miserable.

The only support requests you should ever handle are ones that are directly related to any of the programming or design work you’ve done for the client under your original contract. Extra support requests come at a huge price concerning your time. This is why I recommend against providing hosting solutions for clients as well.

I get this question all the time from Windows people: How can I make a PDF?

There are dozens of tiny shareware programs that you can buy that will handle building PDFs for you. If you’re looking for a cheaper and simpler way then check out CutePDF Writer. This program is freeware and isn’t very difficult to install but it does require a PS2PDF converter (a link to one is included on the CutePDF site).

Once you have CutePDF installed you’ll notice a new printer has been added to your system. Now when you want to convert a document into a PDF you simple “print” it through that new CutePDF printer. You’ll be prompted to save the new PDF file somewhere and CutePDF Writer does the rest.

I had a problem with Peachtree today and after some head scratching I managed to come up with the solution so I thought I’d make a post about it. The error occurs when you try to open up one of your existing companies. A dialog box appears that says “This is not a valid Peachtree company.”

Nearly everything I read said it was a problem with the attributes on the folder containing the company files. I spent too much time following that advice and it ended up being a deadend. The real solution was a corrupt (or in my case, missing) file called VERSION.TXT in the company directory. I simply took the VERSION.TXT file found in the directory for the sample company that comes pre-installed with Peachtree, copied it into the directory for the company that wouldn’t open and everything was good to go.

This problem happened on a copy of Peachtree Complete Accounting 2007 but I’d bet it will solve the same problem on any version of the software.