Tag Archives: MYOB

MYOB Premier is slow over a network

Computer Aid Posted on by

Now this was difficult to solve.

Customers’ accountant had upgraded to MYOB Premier, so that it should run over the network, and be accessed by 2 or 3 different PCs (Although it was still going to be used mainly from just 1 PC).

I get called a few weeks later, and get asked to look into the “server” because MYOB is running slow, and sometimes just wouldn’t even open the database file.

Apparently, the accountant had said she had setup MYOB Premier in many different environments, and she had never encountered any speed problems… in hindsight, I shouldn’t have trusted this nugget of useless information.

Since the server was just a windows XP home PC (but a reasonably quick Acer 3.2Ghz P4 system), I ended up doing a lot of stuffing around creating a “proper” server, only to find that the new environment had created other difficult issues (see my previous post on using linux as a file and print server).

In the end, I found a few things that resulted in a solution:

  • When MYOB starts, I changed the default protocol from NetBeui to TCP/IP (some say NetBeui is faster, but at that stage, I was willing to try anything).
  • Both the server and the main MYOB PC had Gigabit network cards, but the router ran at 100Mbit… I installed an Asus Gigabit switch between the server and the wired PC, so they would run at full Gigabit speeds.

After that, MYOB seemed to run “reasonably”, and with none of the original problems.

After some further research, I found that MYOB (probably because its not efficient at working over a network) can shuffle huge amounts of data across the network… so running Gigabit would have helped a lot.

I suspect that the amount of data transferred might be related to the size of the company database… and in this case, the company file was reasonably large (about 30 Mb).

A difficult problem to solve, and for the first time: a customer that wasn’t happy about the “size” of my invoice… But that’s another story.

myob v17 and vista mail mapi problem

Computer Aid Posted on by

An accountant had just upgraded a customers PC (vista) from myob v16 to v17

So windows mail suddenly stops sending myob invoices (myob has a “send to” -> email option)… it gives a vague mapi error (something about mapi32.dll)

It seems to be a common problem (and might also apply to XP).

Some people suggest a solution is to install Mozilla Thunderbird as an alternative email client (to fix this problem).

I install thunderbird, and myob can send emails again.

A few weeks later, the same customer gets upgraded to myob “v17.5”

And now thunderbird and windows mail won’t work.

The accountant tries to re-install Thunderbird, but doesn’t get very far, as the reinstallation has problems.

I’m passing by, so I stop and take a quick look.

I try uninstalling thunderbird (no problem)

I restart, and then run the thunderbird setup… it completes, but complains about not being able to overwrite mapiproxy.dll

I try the quick way out: rename mapiproxy.dll to something like mapiproxy.lld

I reinstall thunderbird, and this time it doesn’t complain.

I try sending from myob, and its working. Awesome!

I then start thunderbird, to show the customer the send mail folder (with the mail I just sent)… but its not there!

It turns out it got sent by vistas windows mail (it had become the default email client at some point).

I make thunderbird the default email, then send another invoice.

This time it is sent via thunderbird.

But it is strange that windoze mail has started working again.

After doing some research, it turns out that myob might be using extended mapi (and thunderbird and vista mail use simple mapi)… so it looks like many potential problems in the future.

I don’t understand MYOB (and the strict registration procedures)

Computer Aid Posted on by

Having used MYOB for over 2 years, I find that its one of the few applications I deal with, that I struggle to understand (on a few levels).

I started off buying MYOB Business Basics. I’m a small business, and I got it for a good price, and some of the cheaper/free alternatives seemed very difficult to use.

I found the MYOB user interface could be better.

For some reason, it reminds me of windows for workgroups 3.11 (the predecessor to windows 95).

It just feels like an antiquated user interface.

But I don’t mind, I’ve used WFW in the past, so its not a showstopper… It just take a while to get my mind around things.

Of course, part of the problem is that I don’t have any accounting training, so I get by as best as I can.

After about 18 months, I decide to expand by taking on a contractor (or two).

By this stage, I’ve handed MYOB over to my lovely wife, Mandy.

She takes a look around, and decides that the best way to handle contractors (from an accounting point of view), is to get a more advanced package.

We download a few trials. In one case, we convert the MYOBBB data file to a MYOB Accounting V16 data file.

We eventually decide that MYOB Accounting V16 is best, as we already understand how to use it (so to speak).

Now this is where it gets confusing. We go and buy MYOBAV16 from officeworks, convert the data file over, go to register our company file, and we are told something like: “sorry you cannot register the file”).

After that follows many calls to MYOB, where we get all sorts of confusing statements like:

  • You should have “upgraded” MYOBBB
  • it will cost you $XX to upgrade your company file.
  • We’ll give you the code for the initial registration of the company file, but you will need to apply to have it upgraded to MYOBAV16.
  • its registered now, so you won’t have any future problems.

Mandy is worried that in 3 months time, it will ask for company validation, and we won’t be able to validate it (despite assurances that it will).

Sure enough, after 3 months we cannot validate the company file… the 1 month “free” support from MYOB is well and truly over… so it becomes even more difficult to get help.

With a lot of persistence, we eventually find a friendly support person, who explains that if we de-register the new MYOBAV16 serial, and request that the original MYOBBB serial number gets transferred over to the new package, then we can validate the company.

But the whole process is made more complicated by the fact that we also had some “test” companies.

It all got sorted in the end, but I’m left confused by all this validation and registration stuff.

Other posts at http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/635506.html seem a lot more critical of the software and the company.

Personally, I’ll seriously look at changing (if there is much choice in the marketplace)… if/when I decide to “upgrade”.