Quickbooks and Internet Explorer 7

Quickbooks and Internet Explorer: From the Quickbooks Advisor

We expect that Microsoft will begin distributing Internet Explorer 7 in the next month or two, [Amy's Note: In the next day or two] and you need to be aware of how this could affect clients working in various versions of QuickBooks financial software.

QuickBooks 2007 and QuickBooks 2006 (Release 8 or higher) will both work with Internet Explorer 7. QuickBooks uses this Web browser for some functions, including aspects of Help, Payroll, and some of the cached or navigator pages.

QuickBooks 2005 to Be Updated. We also expect to be providing an updated release to QuickBooks 2005 by end of year that will provide support for Internet Explorer 7.

Meanwhile, users (you or your clients) running QuickBooks 2006 versions prior to Release 8, or QuickBooks 2005 or prior, must stay on Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) for an uninterrupted experience.

If you or clients are running QuickBooks 2005 or earlier, Intuit recommends you upgrade to the latest edition of the QuickBooks software. However, we know as a practical matter that some ProAdvisors are supporting multiple clients in multiple versions of QuickBooks, and it may be impractical to have all clients upgrade. At a minimum you should make sure all programs are updated to their latest release. (See the list of Product Updates at the newly designed QuickBooks support Web site.)

In these scenarios, we recommend that you and your clients decline the Microsoft update for Internet Explorer 7. Because the new browser will be sent out as a Windows upgrade, you will need to alert clients on what steps to take.

Multiple Versions of QuickBooks: One Version of Internet Explorer. If you are running multiple versions of QuickBooks, please note that it is not possible to keep IE6 on your system to run with earlier versions of the QuickBooks software and also install IE7 to run with QuickBooks 2007.

Released: Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7 has been released and will begin to be downloaded to your computers on November 1. The first computer to receive this update will be the one we call the Canary. Usually this is the computer belonging to our main contact in your office. The Canary always receives updates first so we can see how the update effects your network before it is deployed on all of the computers.

You will notice an message in your system tray that says updates are ready for your computer. Please click to install updates as they become available.

For more information on Internet Explorer 7 take the tour here. Please don't download Internet Explorer 7 from this website. The one available here is not the finished version. We'll deploy that directly to your computer in November.

Virus Alert: Walmart

There's a new email scam floating around. It pretends to be from Walmart and claims to be a receipt for your recent purchase of a Sony laptop. It's actually a phishing attack attempting to get you to open the attachment and infect your computer. If you get this email, delete it. Do not open the attachment. If you have already opened the attactment please let us know. It means we've got house cleaning to do. Keep an eye out for copy cat emails as well. Although this one just hit today, I'm already hearing rumors of a Dell based email.

Here is what the attachment will do if you open it.

Backdoor-BAC!55436 is a trojan that is delivered via a spammed fake email from Walmart. It opens a backdoor port on the compromised computer which allows a remote attacker unauthorized access and also post logged keystrokes and stolen passwords back to the attacker.

Here's the email to watch out for.

Dear Customer,

Thank you for ordering from our internet shop. If you paid with a credit card, the charge on your statement will be from name of our shop.

This email is to confirm the receipt of your order. Please do not reply as this email was sent from our automated confirmation system.

Date : 08 Oct 2006 - 12:40
Order ID : 37679041

Payment by Credit card

Product : Quantity : Price
WJM-PSP - Sony VAIO SZ370 C2D T7200 : 1 : 2,449.99

Subtotal : 2,449.99
Shipping : 32.88
TOTAL : 2,482.87

Your Order Summary located in the attachment file ( self-extracting archive with "37679041.pdf" file ).

PDF (Portable Document Format) files are created by Adobe Acrobat software and can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you do not already have this viewer configured on a local drive, you
may download it for free from Adobe's Web site.

We will ship your order from the warehouse nearest to you that has your items in stock (NY, TN, UT & CA). We strive to ship all orders the same day, but please allow 24hrs for processing.

You will receive another email with tracking information soon.

We hope you enjoy your order! Thank you for shopping with us!

CPA's Exempt from Privacy Disclosure - Is this a good thing?

According to this information from the AICPA, CPA's are no longer subject to the privacy disclosure provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Obviously they have an effective lobby in Washington! Is this change a good thing? I'll let you decide but from an IT person in the field perspective I've found that CPA's are often less tech savvy and security savvy than most other business owners. (My clients excepted, of course.) :)


*IT E-Alert: Congress Passes CPA Exemption from Privacy Disclosure
Provisions*

Over the weekend, Congress passed an exemption for CPAs from the privacy disclosure provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), apparently recognizing that our Code of Professional Conduct already protected the confidentiality of client information. We expect the President's signature shortly.

As a result of this exemption, you will no longer have to send out annual privacy disclosure statements to each of your individual clients, detailing the financial information you retain and what disclosures of that information you may make. These disclosure statements were expensive, time consuming, and often confusing to clients.

Please note that the new legislation does not exempt CPAs from the "safeguards" provisions of GLB, which require you to (1) secure client information; and (2) have written procedures to protect client financial information. However CPAs typically have more than adequate security measures and documentation to meet these requirements.

For further information, please see the AICPA's press release here .