ACT! 2007:
Basic
Frequently asked questions and instructor notes
All our courses assume that each student has a personal computer to use during the class. Our hands-on approach to learning requires they do. This topic gives information on how to set up the classroom to teach this course. It includes minimum requirements for the students’ personal computers, setup information for the first time you teach the class, and setup information for each time that you teach after the first time you set up the classroom.
Student computer requirements
Each student’s personal computer should have:
· A keyboard and a mouse
· A Pentium III 550 MHz (or higher) processor
· At least 512 MB RAM
· At least 2GB of hard disk space
· A CD-ROM drive for installation
· An XGA monitor (with 1,024×768 minimum resolution support)
· A printer driver
· Internet access, if you want to complete the activities in the units on e‑mail and Internet integration, and if you want to download the student data files from www.courseilt.com/instructor_tools.html.
First-time setup instructions
The first time you teach this course, you will need to perform the following steps to set up each student computer.
1 Install Microsoft Windows XP Professional on an NTFS partition according to the software manufacturer’s instructions. If the student computers have Internet access and are protected by a hardware or software firewall, install the latest critical updates and service packs from www.windowsupdate.com. (You can also use Windows 2000 Professional, although the screen shots in this course were taken using Windows XP, so students’ screens might look somewhat different.)
2 Adjust the computer’s display properties as follows:
a Right-click the desktop and choose Properties to open the Display Properties dialog box.
b On the Themes tab, verify that the Theme is set to Windows XP.
c On the Appearance tab, verify that under Windows and buttons, Windows XP style is selected.
d On the Settings tab, change the Screen resolution setting to 1,024×768 pixels and the Color quality setting to High (24 bit or higher).
e Click OK. If you are prompted to accept the new settings, click OK and click Yes. Then, if necessary, close the Display Properties dialog box.
3 Adjust the computer’s Internet settings as follows:
a On the Start menu, right-click the Internet Explorer icon and choose Internet Properties to open the Internet Properties dialog box.
b On the Connections tab, click Setup to start the Internet Connection wizard.
c Click Cancel. A message box will appear.
d Check the Do not show the Internet Connection wizard in the future box and click Yes.
e Re-open the Internet Properties dialog box.
f On the General tab, click Use Blank, click Apply, and click OK.
4 Start Windows Explorer.
a Choose Tools, Folder Options, and then activate the View tab.
b Under Advanced settings, select Show hidden files and folders.
c Verify that Hide extensions for known file types is checked.
d Click OK and then close Windows Explorer.
5 Install Microsoft Office 2000, 2002, or 2003 according to software manufacturer’s instructions. The instructions for Microsoft Office 2003 are as follows (these steps might vary for Microsoft Office 2000 or 2002):
a When prompted for the CD key, enter the 25-character code included with your software.
b Select the Custom Install option and click Next.
c Clear all the check boxes except Word, Excel, and Outlook.
d Check Choose advanced customization of applications and click Next.
e Next to Microsoft Office Excel, click the drop-down arrow and select Run all from My Computer.
f Next to Microsoft Office Word, click the drop-down arrow and select Run all from My Computer.
g Next to Office Shared Features, click the drop-down arrow and choose Run all from My Computer.
h Click Next. Click Install to start the installation.
i When the installation has finished successfully, click Finish.
6 Start Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 as follows (these steps might vary for Microsoft Office Outlook 2000 or 2002):
a Click Start and choose All Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.
b When asked, set up an e-mail account for each student. They do not need to be working addresses, but an account must be configured to use the Outlook activities properly.
c Activate Outlook by using the Activation Wizard.
d Deselect the option to use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages. (You can also clear this option on the Mail Format tab of the Options dialog box.)
e Disable automatic sending of messages. To do so, select Tools, Options. On the Mail Setup tab, clear Send immediately when connected.
f Choose File, Exit to close Microsoft Outlook.
7 Install ACT! by Sage 2007 Premium according to the software manufacturer’s instructions. Perform a complete installation and accept all defaults. You might need to install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or Windows Installer 3.1, but that will automatically be done as part of the ACT! installation process.
8 Start ACT! by Sage 2007 Premium as follows:
a Click Start and choose All Programs, ACT! Premium, ACT! Premium.
b If an ACT! dialog box
appears, enabling you to check for updates, click Yes if you’re connected to
the Internet and want to check for updates. Otherwise, click No. [This course was developed and tested using
ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups 2007 (EX Edition), version 9.0.0.]
c If the ACT! Getting Started Wizard appears, click Cancel to close it.
d If you can’t or don’t activate each student copy of ACT! after installation, you can have the students click Continue Trial every time they start the program. ACT! can be used for 30 days without activation.
9 In ACT! by Sage 2007 Premium, log in to the ACT9Demo database as follows:
a Click Open Database, select ACT9Demo and click Open to log in to the ACT9Demo database.
b If the Login to ACT9Demo dialog box appears, check Remember password (leave the password text box empty) and click OK.
c If an ACT! dialog box appears, informing you that you’re logging on to a database that currently contains no serial numbers with an active serial number, click OK.
d If asked to update the database, click Yes.
10 In ACT! by Sage 2007 Premium, clear the alarms set in the ACT9Demo database as follows:
a After you’ve opened the ACT9Demo database, the Alarms dialog box appears. This might take a moment.
b In the Alarms dialog box, click Select All to select all of the alarms.
c Click Clear Alarm to clear the alarms and close the dialog box.
Note: There might not be any alarms set in demo 9.
11 Configure the ACT! word processor settings as follows:
a Choose Tools, Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box.
b Activate the Communication tab.
c From the Word processor list, select Microsoft Word 2000, 2002 (XP), or 2003 as your default word processor.
d Click Apply.
12 Configure ACT! to work with Outlook e-mail.
a In the Preferences dialog box, activate the E-mail tab.
b Click the E-mail System Setup button to start the E-mail Setup Wizard. Click Next.
c Verify that Set up e-mail is selected and check Microsoft Outlook. Click Next.
d Select Use the Outlook e-mail program. Click OK to close the Address Book message. Click Next, and then click Finish.
e Click OK to apply your changes and close the Preferences dialog box.
13 Choose File, Exit to close ACT! by Sage 2007 Premium.
14 If necessary, install a printer driver. If a printer is connected to the computer during the installation of Windows XP, there will be a driver installed for that printer. If not, you should install a standard PostScript printer driver, such as the HP LaserJet 5.
15 Download the student data files for the course. You can download the data directly to student machines, to a central location on your own network, or to a disk.
a Connect to www.courseilt.com/instructor_tools.html.
b Click the link for ACT! to display a page of course listings, and then click the link for ACT! 2007: Basic.
c Click the link for downloading the student data files, and follow the instructions that appear on your screen.
Setup instructions for every class
Every time you teach this course, you will need to perform the following steps to set up each student computer.
1 Uninstall ACT! by Sage 2007 Premium. This is necessary to create a fresh installation of the ACT9Demo database used in class.
2 Delete the C:\Program Files\ACT\Act for Windows folder and all of its contents.
3 Delete the C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\ACT\ACT for Windows 9 folder and all of its contents. (USER is the name of the currently logged-in user. You will not see an actual folder named USER.)
4 Delete the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\ACT folder and all of its contents.
5 Delete the \My Documents\ACT\Act for Windows 9 folder and all of its contents. (You will do this in the My Documents folder for the currently logged-in user.)
6 Reinstall ACT! by Sage 2007 Premium. (See the instructions in steps 7 through 13 in the preceding section.)
7 Delete the contents of the Student Data folder, if necessary. (If this is the first time you are teaching the course, create a folder named Student Data at the root of the hard drive.)
8 Copy the data files to the Student Data folder. (See the download instructions in the preceding section.)
Topic B: Frequently asked questions
There are no frequently asked questions for this course at this time.
Topic C: Course notes
There are no notes for this course at this time.
Topic D: Additional information
There is no additional information for this course at this time.