ACT! Tips & Tricks

Antivirus 2009, Antivirus 2008, Antivirus XP - Spyware & Malware

2009-01-19T22:06:00.001-06:00

Antivirus 2009, Antivirus 2008, Ultimate Antivirus 2008, Vista Antivirus 2008, XP Antivirus 2008 are malicious anti-spyware programs.

DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR BUY IT!

These fake programs use trojans, such as Zlob or Vundo, to spread. These trojans lurk in porn and other websites disguised as video codecs. When initiated, it overwhelms the the computer with popups and fake system notifications, supposedly to inform him of an infection. While the system may be infected, Antivirus 2009/2008/XP will inform the user of this regardless of whether it's true or not. The purpose of this software is to trick the user into thinkiing his computer is infected and needs an antispyware program to remove the threat. The user is prompted to remove the infections and is directed to a site to purchase Antivirus 2009/2008/XP removal software. Antivirus 2009/2008/XP is a scam and should be treated as such.

DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR BUY IT!

The one software that seems to do an effective job of removing these spyware programs is a free software called Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware at: http://www.malwarebytes.org/. After installing, be sure to update the software to the latest version and run a full system scan.

Good luck!

Finding Duplicates in your ACT! 2008 (v.10) Database

2008-11-06T22:44:00.006-06:00

Checking for ACT! 2008 (v.10) duplicates.

You can use ACT!’s duplicate scanning function to find duplicate records based on company, contact and phone. You can also check for duplicates based on other fields.

How...

(1) At the top of the ACT! screen, click on "Tools".

(2) Under "Tools", click on "Scan for Duplicates".

(3) When the pop up window appears, you can keep the default criteria and search on "Company", "Contact" and "Phone".

(4) If you want to seach by other fields, click on the down arrows on each field and choose your preferred fields.

(5) Click "OK" to start searching.

(6) Click "Yes" when the following window pops up: Duplicate Contacts have been found. Would you like to start combining them?

(7) When the "Copy/Move Contact Data" window appears, select the duplicates, as indicated and click "Next".

(8) On screen two, choose whether to copy contact 1 to contact 2 or copy contact 2 to contact 1 and click "Next".

(9) On screen three: To copy data from a source field to a target field, click the field, and then click "Copy". When finished, click "Next".

(10) On screen four, you have the option to move "Notes", "Histories" etc. After selecting, click "Next".

(11) On screen five, you have the option to keep or delete the source record. Make your selection and click "Next".

(12) On screen six, you can go back or click "Finish".

Swapping Field Content in ACT! 2008 (v.10) Database

2008-10-07T08:44:00.002-05:00

How can I move the data from one field in ACT! 2008 to another field?

ACT! 2008 makes this task quite easy.

(1) The first step is to create a "Look Up" of the records you wish to move the data.

(2) After you have selected a "Look Up", click on "Edit" at the top of the ACT! screen.

(3) Next, select "Swap Field".

(4) A "Swap Data" dialog box will appear. You will see two pull down selectors labeled "Swap contents of" - "With contents of".

(5) The "Swap contents of" field is the source field and the "With contents of" field is the destination. Click the field with the data you want to move and select which field to send the data.

(6) After clicking "OK", a "Replace/Swap/Copy" dialog box will appear with this text: "This operation modifies all records in the current look up. Are you sure you want to continue?" At this point, you better be sure you have the correct look up. Otherwise, you'll move data you didn't intend to move! If you are satisfied you have the correct look up, click "Yes".

(7) The data is now moved from one field to the other.

How to Schedule Recurring Activities in ACT! 2008 (v.10)

2008-09-07T08:20:00.001-05:00

Scheduling Recurring Activities in ACT! 2008 (v.10)

(1) At the top of the ACT! screen, click "Schedule". (or click an appropriate icon)

(2) Click "Call", "Meeting", "To-Do" or "Other"

(3) After the Schedule Activity dialog box opens, enter the activity details in the General tab of this dialog box.

(4) Click the "Details" tab to add a note.

(5) Click the "Recurrence" tab to enter how often this activity occurs.

(6) When finished, click "OK" and the activity will appear on your calendar.

Lookup ACT! Contacts Based On Scheduled Activities

2008-02-24T13:07:00.003-06:00

(1) Select Task List from the View Menu. Your Task List will appear.

(2) Now select Filter Task List from the View Menu.

(3) The Filter Activities dialog box will appear.

(4) Filter the activities you want to include. You can filter on date, type, priority and more.

(5) Right click on the Task List window and select Create Lookup. ACT! will create a lookup of all contacts with activities listed in the task list.

Clearing Old ACT! Activities

2008-02-24T12:49:00.005-06:00

Is it possible to clear multiple ACT! activities that have been created for different contacts?

Yes, it is. Using the Windows selecting tools (Shift Key & Ctrl Key), it is possible to clear multiple activities in one process.

(1) Choose the View menu, and click Task List.

(2) Select the first activity that you want to clear .

(3) If all the activities you want to clear are in the list in order, you can hold down the Shift key and select the last activity you want to clear. All the activities in between the two you selected will also be selected.

(4) If the activities you want to clear are randomly scattered throughout the list, hold down the Ctrl key and individually select each activity you want to clear.

(5) After you've selected the activities to be cleared, right-click one of the selected activities, and choose Clear Multiple Activities from the shortcut menu.

Add fields to the ACT! Layout

2008-02-21T09:53:00.000-06:00

A new field can be added in the ACT! layout as long as it has not been already added to the layout.

Before you add the field to the layout, you need to create a new field, if it doesn't already exist.

To add a new field.

(1) From Edit menu of Contact View, select Define Fields

(2) In the Define Fields dialog, click New Field button to add a new field.

(3) Enter the New Field name and field properties (type, length, etc.)

(4) After adding all the new fields, click OK

(5) ACT! will reindex the database with the new fields

(6) Now go to Design Layout screen to modify your layout with new fields.

(7) Click the Field tool in the tool palette

(8) Position the pointer where you want to insert the field, and drag to define the size of the field

(9) From the Fields dialog box, select the field you want to add

(10) Click Add

Categorize ACT! Contacts

2008-02-21T09:40:00.001-06:00

Improve productivity using ACT! by categorizing your contacts. When looking for a contact you will look in a smaller collection of records based on specific criteria. Contacts can be categorized based on your business needs (for example: personal/professional), type of business activity, and more.

You can do this in two ways

(1) Categorize contacts using ID/Status field. Add/Remove your own categories and use the ID/Status command in the Lookup Menu to find the contacts

(2) Create Groups of contacts based on common categories, as creation of groups will help you to keep track of notes, history and activities for the entire group.

Categorizing contacts will help you when it's time to do mail merges, too.

Finding Duplicates in your ACT! v.6.0 Database

2007-08-06T22:38:00.000-05:00

Checking for ACT! v.6.0 duplicates

You can use ACT!’s duplicate scanning function to find duplicate records based on company, contact and phone. You can also check for duplicates based on other fields.

How...

1. Choose Edit from the main menu bar.

2. From the drop down menu, choose Define Fields.

3. Advanced tab.

4. Choose intended criteria from respective drop down boxes.

5. OK.