Tips and tricks for using Schedule Star to your best advantage.
*** Have you made a backup today? ***
In this issue...
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IMPORTANT: SERVER UPGRADE
GUARDING AGAINST POWER FAILURES/SURGES
SEMESTER UPDATE REMINDER
COMMENTS? SUGGESTIONS? E-MAIL US
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IMPORTANT: SERVER UPGRADE
ATTENTION ALL HIGHSCHOOLSPORTS.NET USERS: Our HighSchoolSports.Net server will be taken off-line for upgrades from approximately 9 P.M. Saturday, January 6 until 9 A.M. Sunday, January 7. During this time, you will be unable to upload your schedules, and your existing schedules will not be available for viewing.
This weekend will see a significant hardware upgrade to our server, including larger, faster hard drives, a much faster processor, and a substantial memory increase.
For you, this means faster turnaround on uploaded schedule changes.
For your community, the result will be faster response and download times when browsing the schedules on HighSchoolSports.Net.
It's faster, better and more reliable for everyone. Like the annoying road signs "the inconvenience is temporary, the improvement is permanent".
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GUARDING AGAINST POWER FAILURES/SURGES
Whenever you have Schedule Star running, the program keeps several database files open to give you near-instant access to your information, events, contracts and other critical data. This permits you to view, edit, and delete files "on-the-fly" without waiting for files to load.
Like most database software, Schedule Star can be easily damaged by a power surge or a brownout because it keeps so many files open while it's running. When a power failure occurs and your machine shuts down with Schedule Star running, you may experience some database corruption or, in a worst-case scenario, data loss since the files were still open.
The same situation can occur if you are running Schedule Star from a network. Losing network connectivity is effectively the same as hitting the power button on your computer with Windows and Schedule Star still open.
The best protection against this kind of database corruption is KEEPING A CURRENT BACKUP at all times. Follow the procedures outlined in our Backup Guide...
http://www.schedulestar.com/pdf.htm/bkpguide.pdf
Additionally, we recommend you ALWAYS quit out of Schedule Star when you are away from your computer. Leaving Schedule Star open while you go to lunch exposes your databases to any kind of surges, brownouts, or computer lock-ups that can occur while you're away.
Quitting out of Schedule Star when you're not using it is especially important if you copy is networked. Your computer may be set to "time out," automatically disconnecting you from the network after a period of inactivity, regardless of whether or not Schedule Star is running.
If your computer locks up or crashes frequently because of faulty drivers, operating system problems, or ailing hardware, it is imperative that you contact your system administrator immediately. Every time your computer locks up with Schedule Star open, your data is put at risk. Against, this is no different from losing power on a frequent basis.
On a final note, if you contact our tech support team with an issue or error message, please be sure to mention any recent power surges, power failures, or other computer problems when you call. Most Schedule Star errors resulting from these problems are fairly easy to correct with the assistance of our tech support team. Mentioning surges and brownouts will help us troubleshoot and correct your problem quickly, saving you and us time.
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SEMESTER UPDATE REMINDER
A reminder to all everyone using the semester attendance boxes in the Student Directory: It's almost Semester Update time.
If your semester attendance figures are correct for all of your students, you do not have to manually increment them up by one. Let the Semester Update utility do it for you.
MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE PROCEEDING as a safeguard.
From the main calendar screen, click UTILITIES, then SEMESTER UPDATES. Make sure the current school year is correct. Click SEMESTER, then click UPDATE.
Open the Student Directory and double-check the semester attendance counts. They should appear as follows:
Freshmen - 2-0-0-0
Sophomore - 2-2-0-0
Junior - 2-2-2-0
Senior - 2-2-2-2
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COMMENTS? SUGGESTIONS? E-MAIL US
The most important source of input regarding changes and improvements to Schedule Star is you, the user. We estimate about 90% of the improvements made to Schedule Star for Version 4.1 arose from user feedback.
We want to hear your comments, suggestions, criticisms, and advice so we can incorporate the features YOU want into Schedule Star. Tell us how you are using Schedule Star. Tell us what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd like to see added. We keep a running "Wish List" of every idea. Even if we can't make a change right away, it's something we can possibly
incorporate into a future version.
Drop an email in our "Suggestion Box" at ideas@schedulestar.com .
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