Microsoft

AVIMark Print Error “This command is not available”

One of our new clients is an animal hospital and they use a clinical software application called AVIMark.  They were unhappy with their MSP for a variety of reasons and decided to ask us to look into several of their lingering ‘unsolved’ printing issues.

Couple of their computers either cannot print labels or print the wrong sized labels.  Those were quickly resolved by our senior technician.  But one computer just wouldn’t print Word documents and PDFs directly from AVIMark, their veterinary software.  After over an hour with two AVIMark technical support agents remote logged in and inspect their computer, the recommendation was to uninstalled and reinstalled Microsoft Office.

That’s kind of odd because Microsoft Office functions correctly when invoked directly.  So uninstalling and reinstalling Microsoft will just get us back to the same place.  I spent some time on the internet and found a proposed solution from IT-Simplified, LLC which described a similar problem when AVIMark gets an error code 5 when trying to print.

The solution is to turn off Microsoft Word’s start up options show it would not display the splash screen.  I suspect AVIMark did not update and  include the correct switch setting in its command on later version of Microsoft Office.

To get AVIMark to print.

  1. Start Microsoft Word directly;
  2. Either create a new document or open an existing one (either way will work);
  3. Click File
  4. Click Options
  5. Near the bottom, you should see “Start up options”
    1. uncheck all 3 options.
  6. Click OK
  7. Click “X” on upper right corner to exit Microsoft Word; and
  8. Reboot the computer.

AVIMark will now print.

Computer Worm Log Entry# 4 – WannaCry

Worm #4:  The message “Oops, your important files are encrypted.” or “Hello, dear friend! All you files have been ENCRYPTED.” displays on your screen and a ransom is demanded.

Visiting Geeks: These are classified as ransomware. Some computers at the City of Atlanta, Baltimore’s 911 system and Boeing were all attacked recently with a crypto-virus derived from a vulnerability uncovered by the NSA.  This type of malware is classified as a WORM.  Once a computer is infected, this WORM will seek out other computers on the same local network and try to infect them as well.  Phishing is the typical way of gaining entry.  Data is encrypted and cannot be recovered unless ransom is paid. To protect your computer, be vigilant on incoming emails, apply latest Microsoft security updates as well as having a real-time anti-virus protection, plus a off-site/cloud backup for your data.

Computer Scam Log Entry #1

We receive customer inquiries almost on a daily basis whether an encounter is a scam, virus or what not. I’m going to keep a simple log entry whenever our customers or friends call in.

Scam #1: A voice mail claiming that your Microsoft License expired. Call a toll free number right away to avoid loss of data.

Visiting Geeks: Microsoft does not call. Your computer’s Microsoft operating systems license has been activated by the computer manufacturer at the factory.  In theory, it should never ‘expired’.  However, license of a new Microsoft operating system improperly installed due to hardware/software error will expire after a period of time and the computer will display a warning message.  Still, not Microsoft calling you.