Table of Contents

(click on any article title to move directly to that article)

A Letter to Our Readers

Special Announcement – – Nexus XP Released

Employee Spotlight -- Mike Barcroft: From Preaching to Programming

Fall 2001 Calendar of Events -- Industry and MBS Events for this quarter.

Did you know? -- MBS has an online support option on their web site.

Hints and Tips - Helpful Suggestions and other items of interest

TechFAQs -- Change the Text in a thematically shaded map in IMAP

Sites Unseen – Interesting web sites related to the events of Sept. 11

MBS’ Recommended Hardware List

For Article Suggestions, Copies or Requests, please email Tom Balducci at tbalducci@mbs-intl.com.

For Site Corrections or Suggestions, please email jmcquiston@mbs-intl.com.

Thank you.

A Letter To Our Readers

Dear Readers,

It is with great pain and discussion that we at MBS completed this issue of our MBS Quarterly. The question to any business right now is when can we begin again to talk about our products or our services. When is it not crass or wrong to do so? We have all felt pain and terror from the events of September 11th. When can we begin again?

Even at our offices here in Tennessee, September 11th was spent in the aftermath of a tragedy calling family and finding out who was where. Were our loved ones safe? Calls found a nephew who works a block from the World Trade Center had unknowingly said a final good bye to friends heading for breakfast that morning. Moments later he saw a plane crash madly into the building where his friends had just gone. He though was safe. We also learned that a brother who frequently works in the Pentagon and lives only 10 miles away was gratefully in Philadelphia that day. Our own staff members were in California and South Carolina, seemingly trapped away from their families by the airline shutdowns and the events of the day. Within our small office, the list goes on. The pain is great.

As we’ve asked, when do we as people and a company go on? As people, we struggle with those answers everyday, but we endeavor to continue forward. It is what we must do to survive in today’s world. As a company though, when is it proper to those we serve that we move onward. Through this all, we have continued to receive contact from our clients and serve their needs through support and software. We’ve released a new update and increased our web presence and moved forward with our programming. When though is it no longer wrong to contact our clients? When is it appropriate to go on with the rest of our business?

At MBS we were and are scarred, frightened, numbed and angered by these events, but we need to go on with our business. We offer a set of products and services to our clients. Our newsletter lets our clients, friends and vendors know about our systems and suggestions for using them and for bettering their own services. We see our newsletter is a service to our readers and ourselves. It is our chance to share the knowledge and offerings we feel are beneficial to our readers. We ask ourselves now, is it the right time to send our newsletter out? When is it no longer wrong?

To this end, we write to you, our readers, so that we might apologize to those of you who may see this newsletter and this contact as too soon. We mean our best to you and intend no offense through our newsletter or our actions. We intend it with the greatest of respect to you and others. With our remembrance, we attempt to express our honor to the victims and heroes of the disaster that was September 11 and the strength and resilience that has grown from that. We reach out to you today in our sorrow at the losses our nation and the world suffer today and throughout history. We also reach out to you today to attempt to continue onward in our lives and our business.

Thank you and warmest regards,

The Editors of the MBS Quarterly

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Nexus XP Released

Despite it all, it’s been a busy season at MBS. In fact, it’s been an exceptionally busy year, proceeded by another busy year in 2000. What have we been working on? MBS has been getting ready for the next release of Nexus—Nexus XP.

After more than two full years of software research, development and testing, MBS is very pleased to announce the release of Nexus XP. As many of you know, Nexus XP is the latest version of MBS’s flagship software Nexus. It’s version 3.00 to be specific.

As Fred Miller puts it, "Nexus XP is definitely a breakthrough application." What makes Nexus XP such a breakthrough? For starters there is the look and feel of the product. Nexus XP has been redesigned from the top down. Included in this new design are all new more attractive screens, enhanced system editability and better report previews.

Another major step is the introduction of the Centralized Task Center. This element is a totally new enhancement to the system. With the Task Center, users are able to navigate through their data in a single screen. With this you can navigate by name, service, property or contract. Users can also access tasks suited to the category they are working in, right from the task center. For example, navigating by contract? Just a few of the tasks to access here are edit contract, commission adjustment, trust fund adjustment, enter payment and reverse payment.

That happens though if you want to completely change tasks in the middle of a project? With the new multi-tasking abilities of Nexus-XP users are able to pause one part of a project, get information from elsewhere in the project and then return to the same place in the original project.

Once you’ve got your data in Nexus XP, viewing and reporting on it is also a breeze due to the more than 150 standard reports built into Nexus. Including the tax and trusting laws of all 41 states that MBS serves, custom report generation is a thing of the past.

Rounding out the system is the stability offered by Nexus XP. As part of the development plan, Nexus XP has completed aggressive client beta testing and evaluation. Through a multi-week external, client based testing program, proceeded by a multi-month internal testing program, Nexus XP has proven it’s stability and diversity time and time again.

For more product information, demonstrations and client testimonials, be sure to visit our Nexus XP pages at www.mbs-intl.com/NexusXP.htm.

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If you were looking for a nicer guy, you’d be hard pressed to find one. Mike Barcroft, one of our programmers, is just a good guy. He’s also a pretty diverse guy. For example, not only can he program a computer or perform a massive data conversion, but given the opportunity, he can lead a church song group and a congregation. But who is counting?

Since moving to Nashville from Illinois 17 years ago, Mike has earned a degree in Computer Science from David Lipscomb University and also earned a degree from the Nashville School of Preaching and Bible Study.

In those 17 years he’s simultaneously pursued both directions. While professionally focused on software and computers, Mike specializes spiritually in his church. He even tries to combine both sets of skills when he does things like create a church directory in Access.

Here at MBS, Mike is a member of our product development team.   Mike joined the MBS team approximately two years ago with a strong background in FoxPro and Microsoft Access.   Since then Mike has worked in a variety of capacities including being responsible for a large number of data conversions and a variety of custom and standard programming projects. 

When he’s not at MBS, Mike enjoys spending a great deal of his time as the Youth Minister at the River Road Church of Christ in Nashville. When he can, he also enjoys some preaching as part of this work.   

Outside of the two main callings of his life, Mike also enjoys playing tennis and as he points out, is always looking for the time and extra person to enjoy the game with.

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October

• Oct. 7-9 Texas Cemeteries Association Annual Convention and International Exposition
• Oct. 7-10 NFDA, Annual Convention and International Exposition
• Oct. 24-28 ICFA Fall Management Conference

November

• Nov. 9-13 The Professional Lawn Care Association of America 22nd Annual Green Industry Conference and Expo.
• Nov. 16-17 2001: A Maintenance Odyssey--Matthews' Annual Maintenance Seminar
• Nov. 22-23 Thanksgiving, MBS Closed

December-January

• Dec. 25 Christmas Day, MBS Closed
• Jan. 1 New Years Day, MBS Closed

For more industry event listings, visit MBS’s web site at www.mbs-intl.com.

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In an attempt to better serve our customers, we have added a new support subscribers section. This password protected area is open to any client currently enrolled in extended support from MBS. On this portion of the site we have complete software documentation, frequently asked questions and various support options. If you are on extended support, please call today for your password and visit MBS at www.mbs-intl.com.

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Quickly Change Font Sizes in MS Office

To quickly change the font size in any Microsoft Office application (Word, Front Page, Publisher or PowerPoint):

1. Highlight the text you want to change

2. Press these buttons on your keyboard...

CTRL+SHIFT+> - To Increase the size
CTRL+SHIFT+< - To Decrease the size

Need to get a screen shot but you don’t have a screen capture program?

Try this:

1. Hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard.

2. Start up a graphics editor (such as Microsoft Paint, which should come with Windows)

3. Select Edit>Paste on the top menu

4. Save the file.

Alternatively, clicking the buttons Alt + Print Screen will capture only the active window for pasting.

If you only need this image in a Word document, simply move into Word and select Edit>Paste from your top menu bar without saving it in the graphics editor.

Best Way to Uninstall Programs?

What is the correct way to uninstall a program? By using Windows’ Add/Remove Programs utility in Control Panel, or by using the uninstall program that came with the application itself? It really doesn’t make any difference because Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs applet simply launches the uninstall routine that came with the program. Do be sure to use one of these two options though. Simply deleting the folder often doesn’t get all of the files in other folders that are associated with the program.

Be Warned When You Accidentally Press Caps Lock or Num Lock

To hear a warning tone every time you hit Caps Lock or Num Lock:

1. Select the Start menu

2. Select Settings, then Control Panel.

3. Choose the Accessibility Options Icon

4. Put a check mark in Use Toggle Keys box.

5. Click OK.

Change the colors and fonts of your computer desktop

1. Select Start, then Settings, then Control Panel from your desktop.

2. In Control Panel, click Display and make your choices.

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TechFAQs

Q: In IMAP, how do I change the words in the my shaded map’s legend?

A: Once a map has been shaded thematically, the words in its legend can be modified easily. To do so:

• Start with a thematic map open (for instance a shaded MapView).
• Select Map>Shade Options from the top menu bar.
• In the Shading Options window, click the <Customize Legend> button.
• In the Modify Thematic Map window, click the <Legend> button in the Customize panel.
• In the Customize Legend window, change the text or fonts of each entry.

Tip: To hide the listing for a particular entry, highlight that entry in the Range Labels panel of the Customize Legend window and Uncheck Show this Range.

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Sites Unseen

This issue of Sites Unseen is dedicated to the victims and heroes of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. The web sites listed are those of organizations memorializing and assisting those involved with the events of that day.

http://www.redcross.org/: The American Red Cross

http://www.iaff.org/:  International Association of Fire Fighters

This list is in no way all inclusive. MBS suggests verifying all web sites and organizations before making any donation

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In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, I have learned a great deal about my country. If I had doubts about America before, and I did, I don't now. We will always remember the horrific sights of the AA flight 11 zeroing in on the World Trade Center and the hazy vision of the seven-story skeleton of that grand structure.

But I prefer to think about the good things that came out of it for you and me and America.

First of all we got a new brand of hero. No longer sports stars that break the law again and again, and no longer movie celebrities who put themselves above the people and the system that made them rich. Now we realize who the heroes really are, just real people caring about real people. Firemen, policemen, and thousands of volunteers risking their lives to help. Real people that simply went to work that morning.

I wonder how many Americans have never learned the pledge to the flag, the National Anthem, America the Beautiful or God Bless America. Those used to be taught in school with the 3-Rs. But the focus now is on enhancing a kid's self-esteem. If he thinks that 2+2=3, that's okay; he simply has a different point of view. It is no different from CNN deciding to call the people that killed 6,000 people "alleged hijackers" instead of Terrorists. It is just a different point of view.

But Americans aren't buying it. The tremendous renewal of patriotism with flags waving and patriotic songs filling airways and sports stadiums have been heartwarming to say the least. We have again become one nation under God.

Protecting the safety and freedom of the people of the United States is the primary function of our Federal Government. As Edmund Burke said, "There is no safety for honest men, except by believing all possible evil of evil men." This lesson has been brought home and if, as so many times in the past, we have ignored the maintenance of our Armed Forces and the need for diligence by our FBI and CIA, then the wake up call from hell has changed it.

I pray that Americans realize that we are not negotiating a labor contract, in which each side gives a little until we get things worked out. That was Neville Chamberlain's way of approaching evil. It didn't work then, nor will it now. Evil is a cancer. This one is ripe for removal.

Before September 11, minutiae was everything - in our daily lives, our political existence, the whole lot. How it all disappeared in two hours. But we know it will be back, because that freedom to pursue our minutiae is what America is all about. And now we've been reminded of what it is that we cherish and who the real heroes are…everyday Americans.

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Ports

Pentium III

256 MB RAM

10 Gigabytes

1.44 MB

3Com 100 Base TX

700 Watt Smart UPS

VGA adapter

32 Speed

15" Color

2 Serial, 1 Parallel

Pentium II or III

64 MB RAM

6 Gigabyte

1.44 MB

3Com 100 Base TX

450 Watt UPS

SVGA w/4 MB RAM

32 speed

17" SVGA Color

2 Serial, 1 Parallel