Holly's computer was showing signs of croaking so we ordered a new computer and she went to work on making a fresh backup of all her data. The new computer arrived this week and she started on setting it up.  The new one is finally fully functional after almost 3 whole days of work on her part and a few hours of my time too.

I had considered getting one of those programs that is supposed to move everything for you but the reviews on all of them were very mixed. Some people said the software worked perfectly and some said they had to reinstall Windows because the software screwed up everything.  We decided to reinstall all programs manually. Three days later and everything seems to be working finally.

We use an Outlook Exchange Server so email can be transported from computer to computer without losing anything. The fun part is setting up Outlook to work with a remote server. That took about two hours to get working. Yeow. What a nightmare.

It would be nice if someone could make a program that would move your data files AND your programs AND the registry entries that make the programs work. This program is supposed to do all this ( http://www.laplink.com/pcmover ) but the feedback around the web said don't believe it.  Maybe next time one of us has to move into a new computer there'll be a program like this we can trust!  Meanwhile, if you have to buy a new computer - plan on spending a couple days setting it up.

"Off-Topic" But I Think You'll Like This One! We use "OT" in the forums to indicate posts not related to embroidery. This one isn't (at least not today) but I know there'll be lots of readers that will LOVE this info. I just found a website that gives away software you would normally have to buy. Every day they give away one program. It's not a "trial version" or a bootleg copy -- it's the real thing. The only catch is that you must download it and register it the same day it's being given away. You can't go back and get yesterday's software. That was yesterday! So what are they giving away? Today it's a program called "Audio CD Burner". Yesterday it was "AVS Audio Recorder" and the day before was "FlashSpring Pro" and the day before that was "ConceptDraw MINDMAP 4". I already have the pro version of Mindmap-4 and it cost about $300 so this is not cheap software they give away. So where is this site? http://www.giveawayoftheday.com and why do they do this? http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/about Now let's just hope they want to giveaway Artista-5 tomorrow! -- Larry
From Our Forums Every time I read our forums I'm amazed at the variety of posts about embroidery AND about "OT" too. Here's a post from the last couple days... Embird 2004? "I have the Embird 2004 version on my desk computer. I really like that version. I don't want to up date to the 2006 version. I just got a new laptop computer that I would like to put embird on. I went to the embird website to try to download the embird 2004 to my laptop but it is not available anymore. Does any one know how I can get my 2004 version on to my laptop? ... and the responses including this one... "The old versions are still available for download at http://www.embird.com/sw/embird/oldfiles.htm You might want to save the install files on a CD or someplace on your hard drive for future installs in case the old versions are no longer available." Thanks to Tifany for the question and everyone with answers. When people ask me questions I can't answer I always tell them... "I don't know but if you'll post that question in our discussion forum, you'll get the right answer and it's usually within a few minutes too."
New Designs Released This Week At ArtisticThreadWorks... Horse-Redwork Picnic-Ants-II Easter-Sunrise 4x4 & 5x7 PLUS: The Wednesday Sampler Set PLUS+PLUS: This months Member Bonus Set... Peekers of the Month Here's a picture of ONE of this weeks new sets... See ALL the new sets here!
Weekly Prize Drawing Winner We are doing a weekly drawing for readers of Bobbin-Buzz. The prize is a 3 month membership to ArtisticThreaWorks. That's something anyone on our list can use! To be in the prize drawings - just be on our Bobbin-Buzz mailing list. If you're not on the list yet, you can sign up here! This week's winner drawn at random is... flugie23@netzero.com The winner has 5 days to contact me via email and claim the prize. Send the email to Webmaster@ArtisticThreadWorks.com. Congratulations and good luck to everyone else in next weeks drawing!
Menu Changes at ArtisticThreadWorks I made some updates on the left-side menu here this week. If you look at the TOP LEFT SIDE you'll see the "MEMBERSHIP" menu has been moved all the way up so it's easier to find. I've also added several links to the menu. Hopefully it's now easier to find some of the tools that we get so many phone calls and emails asking for help with. On the menu now are these items... All these do-it-yourself tools have been here since the beginning, BUT you had to click on "My Account" to get to them. That was kind of cryptic so I made a separate link to each of them that's easy to find from the main menu. Now it's pretty easy to see where to go when you want to change your credit card or update your email address. If you need help you can still contact Robin for assistance by emailing her at webmaster@artisticthreadworks.com for anything but I'm trying to make it easier for everyone to make changes on their own account when needed.
Bobbin-Buzz Designs Help yourself to this weeks free design set "Redwork Horses". These are for everyone that is subscriber to Bobbin-Buzz, our free weekly newsletter! Download Redwork Horses Here! Have fun!