Verier Insights

Project Lifecycle

2008-05-30T18:29:1501:00:00

Source: One requirement - so many prespectives

Quick Administrator Command Prompt on Vista

2008-01-25T10:07:4300:00:00

For those people who leave the User Account Control (UAC) turned on in Vista, getting a command prompt which can actually do something useful (i.e. run as Administrator) requires selecting the item in the Start menu, right-clicking "Run as Administrator" then accepting the UAC prompt.

However a much easier method to get to the Administrator Command Prompt without using the mouse is by simply pressing the Start Key, type cmd, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter you will then get the usual UAC prompt. To accept the UAC press Alt+C. No mouse needed.

Sky+ for single LNB Households

2008-01-09T01:01:5400:00:00

For the past few years I've lived in properties with only 1 Satellite signal into the property, making Sky+ functionality limited to one channel at a time - and not allowing you to schedule recordings without making sure you're on the right channel.

Unfortunately and what many people realise is that a satellite feed is actually a two way signal unlike a normal TV Aerial you can't just split it easily - if you did only certain channels would work together at the same time.

There are 4 possible settings for the signal, so channels are grouped into 4 groups. As long as you're watching something in the same group, both feeds work simultaneously. If not, you simply get the usual "No satellite feed" message. You can find a list of channel groupings HERE to know which channels are compatible with each other, but this list is out-of-date and some entries appear wrong.

Here's what I bought for under £10

2 Way Satellite / NTL / TV / BB Splitter SKY + F Plugs

Together with a couple of F Connector Satellite Cables I plugged the whole setup in, and it worked as described - it's not perfect but it's a lot better than no signal at all and all for less than a tenner!

Solution to Reason 442: Failed to Enable Virtual Adapter with Cisco VPN Client on Vista x86

2008-01-09T00:37:1400:00:00

UPDATED July 2008 : Please see below for updated solution to this problem

Again and again I see people complain about this error message (e.g. CISCO VPN Client Software on Windows Vista)

This is actually a quite easy (but annoying) thing to fix. Here's the 100% reliable method I use to fix this.

In Network Connections, right-click your Cisco Systems VPN Adapter which should be disabled and enable it
Right-click your Cisco Systems VPN Adapter again, this time selecting "Diagnose", and you should get the following prompt (your adapter may be numbered different from Local Area Connection 3)
Select "Reset the network adapter ........ ", this will take a while (around 60 seconds on my laptop)
Windows will again prompt you saying the IP configuration is still invalid, ignore this and just press Cancel.
Go back to the Network Connections, right-click your VPN Virtual Adapter and Disable.
Now open Cisco VPN, and you should be able to connect without any issues.

The problem will reoccur every time the connection is not cleanly closed - i.e. suspend / hibernate / loss of signal. However all you need to do is follow the above steps and it'll reset itself.

Update: This problem has been fixed in Cisco VPN Client 5.0.03.0530. Please speak to your Cisco supplier to obtain this new version. When disconnecting from a VPN connection it appears the new client performs these actions for you automatically (it takes around 60 - 90 seconds now to disconnect from the VPN session). I am unable to redistribute the client from this site - please speak to your Cisco supplier / IT Team.

Using UK English Dictionary in Windows Live Mail Desktop

2007-06-16T22:26:4801:00:00

Steve Clayton blogged about how to get a UK English dictionary working for Windows Live Writer, however this trick doesn't work for Windows Live Mail Desktop. If you have Microsoft Office though, you can get the UK English, and any other installed dictionaries working.

Copy all the files from

%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\microsoft shared\Proof

to

%ProgramFiles%\Windows Live\Mail\Proof\prf0009\2
Edit the file %ProgramFiles%\Windows Live\Mail\Proof\prf0009\spell.ini. Change

Lang=1033

to

Lang=2057
Restart Windows Live Mail and your dictionary should now be in English (UK). You can also switch to any other dictionaries installed with Office in Tools / Options / Dictionaries.

Relevant upsells work

2007-06-16T21:56:1701:00:00

I recently moved house, and of course I had to go around ringing my utility providers updating my address. What makes this more interesting, is the building is a new build and therefore a new postcode.

Some providers obviously update their postcode software regularly, and therefore had no problem finding me. The majority though clearly don't update their systems regularly. While this means in the most part a simple manual address entry, one provider couldn't update an address manually, telling me instead to call back in a few months!

However on ringing my bank Lloyds TSB, they not only found my address instantly, they also offered to re-quote me for my home insurance on the same call. Now, you may think this isn't rocket science, but none of my other providers asked me, even though several of them also offer insurance.

In the end, the insurance quote was 50% cheaper than my current insurer, and they obviously gained the business. I would be very interested to know the conversions on that simple up sell question. Particularly as it was a bank, and I'm sure they're one of the first people on every one's list to call.

Is your database secure?

2007-06-16T21:55:5701:00:00

A recent High Court action over Cable & Wireless' former ISP, Bulldog, has highlighted the need to ensure your database is secure.

It's somewhat suprising to hear how an entire copy of the database was available on one person's laptop. I don't understand why someone would require a report of every customer and their bank details. When designing reports it's important to consider data theft, and only make available the information actually required by the user.

Make sure you're open!

2007-06-16T21:55:4101:00:00

It was interesting to see yesterday on TV and advert for Network 3 which is advertising their latest £15 promotion. Calls to action for the advert included their website, stores and their telesales team. However if you were to ring their call centre, you'd have been told they were closed.

What's more interesting, is they were closed all day Sunday, so why advertise on a Sunday? If you can't stop your media agency running the ads on a Sunday, at least put a voicemail service on for the customer to leave a number, or even refer the customer to a website. Needless to say, 3 didn't have either option.

Recruitment Ads

2007-06-16T21:55:2201:00:00

I always find it interesting to see how call centres run their recruitment ads. From the big blue chips running full half-page adverts to the small line ads from seemingly small call centres. Here's some things I've learnt

I don't believe in spending the extra money on full-colour adverts. I think a spot-colour magenta or yellow background to an advert is far more effective and cheaper.
Running more than one advert with different copy in the same edition doesn't provide double the response. I've seen many try it and end up with the same people ringing both adverts even if the copy is significantly different.
Don't advertise on a Friday - people are more interested in the weekend.
People replying to ads on a Monday have had the highest no-show rate.
People replying on a Thursday have a lot of other offers to look at - make sure this day more than ever you answer the phone quickly.
Do not send your recruitment line to a voicemail line - you're a call centre! They'll just move on to the next ad.
Don't spend a fortune on a memorable number - they have the paper.
Don't spend a penny on radio - I've never to this day see anyone make a return on it.
Build a pattern to your adverts - people don't often "suddenly" decide to look for a job. People recognise those employers who regularly advertise and those that don't.
Change your copy regularly - see point 9 - people read the job section even when they're not looking for a job.
Filter on your calls not your copy - outbound telesales? Why not try "Telesales" then on the phone call tell them it's Outbound after they've got a feel for you. Same with location - don't put "Smallville" on the advert. Let them find out about how great the job is, let them want it. When they find out it's a bit further out of town than they wanted they may consider it when they wouldn't have if they saw it on the advert.
Don't mention age - it's illegal under the Age Discrimination Laws. "Young, energetic" is dangerous.

Adress Verification Service (AVS)

2007-06-16T21:54:5901:00:00

Many of you will now know that a lot of companies that accept credit cards require you to use your billing address as the delivery address. But how do they know that?

It's called the Address Verificaiton Service (AVS). AVS is an indiciator flag, and the bank will often approve a transaction even if the address does not match and leave the decision of whether to accept the card to the merchant themselves.

The AVS flag is split into two values - the address and the postcode. There are traditionally 3 possible outcomes to each check, although certain Merchant providers may have more:

Matched
Not Matched
Not Supported

Some banks will provide AVS responses even when the card declines. Only certain merchant providers will pass this information on though. Barclays Merchant Services for example do, while HSBC ePayments doesn't.

AVS was designed to run from PDQ (Pretty Damn Quick) machines - i.e. terminals rather than from a computer, and therefore it's designed just to check the NUMBERS of an address, not the whole address. This is a very important concept to understand for both customers trying to get a successful AVS and merchants deciding on fraud risk.

For example an address of

1 John Street
Manchester
M1 1AA

Would pass an AVS check if the billing address was

1 Mary Street
Glasgow
G1 1BB

As the Address numbers are "1" for both and the postcode numbers are "11" for both. This is clearly not the correct address though. Never rely on the AVS check as a full-proof anti-fraud measure.

To a customer, particularly Scottish customers, it's also helpful to know that the order of the numbers is also important. You see this when dealing with buildings with flats.

1/1 50 George Street
Glasgow
G1 1AA

Depending on the postcode lookup software being used this may have come out on the form as

50 George Street
Flat 1/1
Glasgow
G1 1AA

Simply swapping lines 1 and 2 would result in a successful match. Also important is when you have a building name. I have seen numerous examples where Postcode software inserts house numbers where they're never used. For example, your bank statement might be:

101 Manchester Towers
Manchester Road
Manchester
M1 1AA

But when you look up your postcode on a website it may come up

101 Manchester Towers
50 Manchester Road
Manchester
M1 1AA

Notice the 50. Simply remove this and you will receive a successful AVS.

Footnote
American Express is as usual different and has some more sophisticated checks as well as AVS.