CUS Notes December 2013
Happy Holidays!
Wishing you a Healthy, Happy and Safe Holiday Season
With Peace in the New Year
Thank you for your continued support for 30 years!
Your friends at CUS
Brian, Ellen, Steve, Sharon and Howard
CUS Emergency Contact Information – Please Read!
Good news! You won’t have to remember two different phone numbers to reach CUS anymore. We have a new phone system that will easily forward after-hours emergency calls to our support staff. Just call our main phone number 954.680.6545 at any time, day or night. If we’re closed, you’ll have the option to be forwarded immediately to our emergency support or to leave a voicemail message if it isn’t an emergency. The old emergency cell number (954.483.6778) will be discontinued, so please remove that from your contact list.
CUS Version 10.0 Highlights
Final testing is underway for our 2014 release, CUS Version 10.0. There are important new features for the desktop and online systems. Here are a few highlights:
Desktop
- Credit memo feature – Preserves copy of voided invoice and generates offsetting credit memo document, both viewable and printable
- Ability to send invoices to two email addresses
- Expanded Query and Browse features
- Quickly pay a seller directly from Seller File Maintenance
- Group affiliations in Mail – Identify people or businesses affiliated with each other
- Dormant Mail records – Hide records as Dormant instead of deleting from Mail
Online
- Buy It Now – List a lot with a Buy It Now price available until bidding opens or until a reserve price is met.
- Automatic browser screen refreshing in the online catalogue and lot detail pages.
- Display your online catalogue without lot numbers if you haven’t assigned them yet.
- Execute bids as sales for a range of lots instead of all lots at once.
- New live administrative monitor to view bid activity on server without retrieving bids so desktop activity isn’t disrupted.
Watch for the next CUS Notes issue which will have release dates and scheduling information. CUS Maintenance and Rental clients receive program upgrades included with their plans. Others should contact Ellen at 954.680.6545 or sales@cus.com for details specific to their licenses.
Recent CUS Client Workshops
We held CUS group client workshops recently in Atlanta and Denver. Thank you to Marcus Barela and his friendly staff at FR8 Auctions in Atlanta for providing their facility to our group in late October. Our November workshop in Denver was equally successful with a great turnout. Each group got a sneak preview of CUS Version 10.0 too!
We’ll resume the client workshop schedule after the first of the year, with group classes in the Northwest and Midwest. Contact Ellen at 954.680.6545 or sales@cus.com for more information about the workshops.
Try the CUS Online Auction or Catalogue
You can see a sample of the CUS Online Auction here:
http://cus3.cusauctions.com/?auction=sample12&toa=splash&splashpage=splash3.htm
It’s your own privately branded auction blending in with the rest of your company’s image, using your color scheme and logo. You select the layout of the opening “Welcome” page with pictures of featured lots. There’s a photo slideshow display, a “Watch this lot” feature and bidding from the individual lot page or the catalogue screen. We’ve added Buy It Now features too!
The CUS Online Auction is a seamless extension of your regular CUS Auction System, with one-click uploads and photo size management built right in. There’s no need to import or export data because it’s all in one system. Add a new lot or a few pictures at any time, adjust your opening bid amounts, or change the closing date. See who is looking at your auction at any time and watch your bids as they happen. After closing, instantly execute all of the high bids as sales; there’s no data entry needed! Email the invoices to your bidders and display post-auction sales results in an instant. Everything is in CUS and it’s all under your control.
It’s easy to publish a catalogue with pictures too, allowing pre-registration and absentee bidding if you like. Don’t send your visitors somewhere else to see YOUR catalogue. The clutter and advertising take attention away from your important event, and you know how easily visitors can get lost or distracted. Contact Ellen at 954.680.6545 or sales@cus.com for more information and a private demo of the CUS Online Auction.
From the Technical Support Team
WIN2PDF for Windows 8 Operating Systems
A few clients have had conflicts between Windows 8 computers and WIN2PDF, the PDF printer driver that is used to email buyer invoices automatically from CUS. We have a newer release of WIN2PDF that has resolved the problem in most cases so far. Contact Steve at techsupport@cus.com for advice.
Using CUS on Windows 7 or 8 Operating Systems
While we’re satisfied that current CUS versions are compatible with Windows 7 and 8 operating systems, there have been some reports of slower network response time. Some IP network configuration changes may be necessary to improve performance. A Windows 7 or 8 network must use classic Workgroup networking for CUS instead of Homegroup. This requires Windows 7 Home Premium or higher for any computer on a network. In Windows 8, this may require Windows 8 Professional. For any CUS network containing Windows 7 or 8 stations, please contact Steve at techsupport@cus.com or 954.680.6545 for guidance.
If you are replacing computers in the near future, we recommend you try to get Windows 7 while you still can, especially for staffers who aren’t comfortable with new computer environments. Windows 7 systems are still available online but may not be easy to find in your local retail store. We continue to test Windows 8 with the current CUS Version 9.0 release and have not seen any other issues yet. The user interface in Windows 8 is very different from Windows 7 or XP. It will require some patience to get used to it. Be prepared for the possibility that some of your older devices (printers, scanners etc.) may not be compatible at all. To run CUS on Windows 7 or 8 computers, there are also some necessary Windows Registry changes. We install a utility file to handle this for you.
In general, Windows 7 is compatible with CUS Versions 8.0 and higher, but not older CUS versions. As we described above, Windows 8 seems satisfactory thus far, but we are only testing it on CUS Versions 9.0 and higher. Contact us at 954.680.6545 or techsupport@cus.com for further information before buying any new computers, especially if you aren’t licensed for CUS Version 8.0 or higher.
Note: DOS versions of CUS are NOT compatible with any Windows 7, Windows 8 or Vista computers at all. If you are still licensed for an older DOS-only CUS version, you have to stay with Windows XP until you update to CUS for Windows.
Advantage Database Server for CUS
Many of our larger network installations use the more robust “client/server” edition of CUS that has the Advantage Database Server engine as its foundation. This enables networked CUS applications to run more securely in wireless or remote access environments. If you have a large network with a Windows Server or are planning to expand, you may be a candidate for the CUS ADS Server edition. It’s very important to contact CUS before upgrading any server or installing a new one, to be sure CUS can support that server operating system. If you have an older ADS Server release version, you may need an ADS update before installing a newer Windows Server.
Contacting Technical and Web Support
Please send emails to techsupport@cus.com instead of an individual email address. Other CUS consultants will see the question and be able to help you if the person you tried to reach is not available. If you don’t get an answer to your emailed question in a day or two, follow up by calling to our office at 954.680.6545. Your email might have been trapped by a spam or junk filter and blocked. Of course, if you have an emergency, don’t rely on email at all. Call us right away at 954.680.6545 (all hours).
Technical Support via Remote Access
If you need technical support but aren’t comfortable on a computer, we can help. We’ll get the job done using an internet connection to let us log in remotely. You control when we can get in and when to disconnect from us. We can troubleshoot most network issues, install CUS on your computer or do program updates from older CUS versions.
There’s a link to our live remote support from the CUS Version 8 and 9 Support Centers at www.cus.com. Version 8 or 9 CUS programs also have direct links to the Support Center from the Help Menu. For older CUS versions, contact Steve to help you connect to CUS remote support. This is live real-time support, so you must make arrangements with us before connecting so we have a consultant available for you.
Contacting CUS
sales@cus.com for price quotes or other sales related questions
techsupport@cus.com for any support or training questions
websupport@cus.com for website content or maintenance
Phone: 954.680.6545 (all hours) Fax: 954.680.6018
Note our new mailing address:
CUS Business Systems 5722 S. Flamingo Rd. PMB #3130 Cooper City FL 33330
Ellen Weintraub
Sales Manager