News - FWM Software

The Lien Writer™ Newsletter
Thursday, November 1st, 2018

USING LIEN WRITER® ON NETWORK SYSTEMS – IMPORTANT INFORMATION, DO NOT NEGLECT TO READ THIS ARTICLE!

Folks, many of you have chosen to setup your Lien Writer® systems on network drives so the information database is accessible to multiple users. We encourage this choice as networked users usually have their database automatically backed up by their server system, hence protecting their data against loss- you will never know how important your Lien Writer® data is until you have lost it!

While Lien Writer® does have a manual backup system available (see under File / Backup Data Files and File / Restore Data Files under the File Main Menu option) having the database on a server location just insures the database is automatically saved no matter what the users are doing.

But, some users have reported problems with their Lien Writer® database being backed up due to their network setup, something we at FWM Software cannot control. This article is about getting your tech folks to get the server where the Lien Writer® database resides setup correctly. If nothing more, please send this newsletter to your tech guys and ask them to address the issue. Mention to them also the new 10.1.1.0 version has added features to protect your data (see below), so make sure you keep updated.

Many backup systems for servers- to another server, tape system, drive, whatever- are setup for network drives and regularly maintained by the tech staff. Once setup, the backup is done automatically with the tech staff just adding or removing the backup device as needed. Alas, the tech staff does not always check to make sure all the files on the drives were indeed backed up. Many backup systems, incorrectly setup, do not even advise the techs of files that were not backed up unless they look at the program log. That is the first thing I would recommend your tech folks check out, especially if the following problems occur.

Lien Writer® is very easy to use, one of our big selling points being if you can type you can use Lien Writer®. But, as a database the program does make several assumptions of user behavior including, as with many accounting systems, that the users log out of the system when they leave at the end of the day. Lien Writer® has many protections of your data to prevent damage occurring to the data and, as it tracks the users in the system, you can even clear users out of our program if they have failed to logout at the end of the day, but we cannot tell if your network knows if they have logged out. This becomes a problem when you find that you cannot log into the system when it declares you have too many users in the system, and the program will not let you clear the license table even thorough you have had everyone else log out of the system. This often necessitates a call to our office for assistance, and we often tell the callers they are going to have to reboot their server, then log back in and then clear the license table.

But, that is dangerous in this scenario is that the database may not have been backed up in some time. We had one large user of the program, with 20 licenses, but never more than 15 users in the system, and with one errant user showing logged onto the database via their server system. They never caught it in the year and a half the program was running, and when the server crashed they found that the database which not been backed up for that year and a half was gone. All that data, gone. And we could do nothing to restore it as the hard drive was the component that failed.

A year and a half of data, gone. Think about that.

So, while we can catch this problem when we find that the program will not clear the User table, we cannot catch it if we don’t know the program is not being backed up. But, there is a set of solutions that your tech guys can do to make sure everything in your servers is being backed up:

1) First, if they have not been getting a report from the backup system on the files backed up, have them setup the backup system to start reporting to them every time a backup is done. You get a list of the backed up files, and you know you are good;
2) When and if you find that files have been skipped in a backup, have them find out why the files were not backed up, particularly if the files are in the Lien Writer® database;
3) If they have not been backed up, make sure they are backed up by the next check of the server. Often this is as simple as rebooting the server to reset access;
4) Once they have reset the server, next find out why the files were not being backed up. Usually this is because the server believes the files are still being accessed. If the backup system, before the backup is done, can override the user access on the system, have the backup program set that way. If the backup system program cannot do this, there are other ways to setup servers to log all users out at a certain time every day before the backup program runs. Since there are hundreds of different server systems out there we cannot recommend a particular way to do this for everyone. Your tech guys should know or be able to find out a way to do this.

Protecting your data is vital for all programs on your servers. Actively protect them.

A NEW VERSION OF LIEN WRITER® ON OUR WEBSITE
After some two years of quiet on the Mechanic’s Lien front, some 14 states have made some changes to their laws, two major changes. The new 10.1.1.0 version of the program updates:

1) All Required State Updates
2) The following States have major changes. Please read about the updates in the Lien Writer® Help File – GA, ID, IA, KS, KY, LA, MS, NJ, ND, TX, UT and WY.
3) New Rhode Island Preliminary Notice – There is now a required preliminary notice for all Rhode Island jobs. When you do a job in Rhode Island, always send the Notice of Possible Mechanic’s Lien within ten (10) days of starting the job, both public and private works;
4) Nevada Notice of Intent – It’s back! Nevada now again requires a Notice of Intent to Lien or Bond Claim (under Lien Warning Notices) 15 days prior to filing a lien on residential projects. Sending this notice on commercial projects is still optional, but recommended.

As always, it is just as simple. Download and upgrade your program (see below).

Keeping Up To Date With Lien Writer®
The current version on the street is our 10.1.1.0 version.

It is easy to update Lien Writer®:

1) If you are using a Lien Writer® version 9.3.2.7 or before, first run Lien Writer®, then go to Help / About Lien Writer and write down your version number and expiration date for verification;
2) Open your Internet or Google Explorer;
3) Go to our website at http://www.fwmsoftware.com/fwm-software-downloads/;
4) Click on Lien_Program_Installer v10.1.1.0;
5) The site will ask where you want the program to download. Put it in a directory location you want, or just download to the Desktop. Normally, it should take less than 5 minutes;
6) Once the program is downloaded, go to the directory site, or the Desktop, and double click on the Lien_Program_Installer v10.1.1.0. The program will begin installing and updating your data files;
7) If the former program was of the 10.x.x.x series, it will simply update. If your version is of the 9.3.2.7 series or less, it will install but you will need to get a update code. Call (530) 622-1344, or write us at techsupp@fwmsoftware.com to receive your new code;
8) A WARNING ON USING LIEN WRITER® VERSIONS PRIOR TO 10.x.x.x. THESE PROGRAMS ARE OUTMODED AND IN SOME CASES HAVE ILLEGAL AND OUTDATED FORMS. PLEASE UPDATE IMMEDIATELY;
9) Once you update, just use the program as you have always used it

The Lien Writer™ Newsletter
Monday, October 22nd, 2018

Today’s Subject
A NEW VERSION OF LIEN WRITER® ON OUR WEBSITE

The latest version of Lien Writer® is now our website (10.1.0.0, See below). This includes all the latest State upgrades

1) All Required State Updates
2) Bond Claim Letter – A few clients have reported a problem when printing via Canon printers with this form dropping a left hand character when printing this document. We have adjusted the margin on this document and corrected the problem. It does not occur with the vast majority of printers;
3) Federal Preliminary Notice – Again, this document is not required for Federal Jobs, but many of our users like to use it to notify customers. We have revised the form slightly for better printing.

Keeping Up To Date With Lien Writer®
The current version on the street is our 10.1.0.0 version.

It is easy to update Lien Writer®:

1) If you are using a Lien Writer® version 9.3.2.7 or before, first run Lien Writer®, then go to Help / About Lien Writer and write down your version number and expiration date for verification;
2) Open your Internet or Google Explorer;
3) Go to our website at http://www.fwmsoftware.com/fwm-software-downloads/;
4) Click on Lien_Program_Installer v10.1.0.0;
5) The site will ask where you want the program to download. Put it in a directory location you want, or just download to the Desktop. Normally, it should take less than 5 minutes;
6) Once the program is downloaded, go to the directory site, or the Desktop, and double click on the Lien_Program_Installer v10.1.0.0. The program will begin installing and updating your data files;
7) If the former program was of the 10.x.x.x series, it will simply update. If your version is of the 9.3.2.7 series or less, it will install but you will need to get a update code. Call (530) 622-1344, or write us at techsupp@fwmsoftware.com to receive your new code;
8) A WARNING ON USING LIEN WRITER® VERSIONS PRIOR TO 10.x.x.x. THESE PROGRAMS ARE OUTMODED AND IN SOME CASES HAVE ILLEGAL AND OUTDATED FORMS. PLEASE UPDATE IMMEDIATELY;
9) Once you update, just use the program as you have always used it

The Lien Writer™ Newsletter
Tuesday, September 25th, 2018

Timeout Using Lien Writer™ – Setting Up Properly
In our last newsletter article on Clearing the License Table we mentioned setting up the Timeout feature in Lien Writer™ to force an automatic logoff of the program when you have left your program in operation at the end of your workday. We received so many calls on this feature we decided to expand on it a bit.

Many of our customers are using their programs within a networked environment, i.e. a computer network setup whereas a number of users on separate computers are sharing a common database on a single office computer, usually a remote server. This offers a number of advantages to companies using Lien Writer™ as any single user can see and work on data entered on their compatriot’s stations from the common database.

While this multi-user system works very, very well there are risks to your network when a Lien Writer™ user fails to log off from his copy of Lien Writer™ on a daily basis, especially when the remote network administrator (your Tech Guys) have setup backup procedures for the remote server. Logically, everyone should log out of their Lien Writer™ on at least a nightly basis, before the remote server is “backed up” (that is, a copy of the server data is back up on DVD’s, Tape Backup, etc.). In fact, this should be done with any computer program you are running. If one of the users has not logged out of their copy of Lien Writer™, the daily backup of the database may fail, and may not come to the attention of the administrator. We have had network admins who have reported missed backups as long as a year in the making. That means our clients using our software lost a year’s worth of data when a network server finally failed and no backup had ever been made of their Lien Writer™ data!

While this danger exists for all programs where one fails to log off at the end of the day before the backups are started, Lien Writer™ does have a simple solution to prevent its data from not being backed up by using our Timeout function. And it is easy to setup.
1) Boot up Lien Writer™;
2) Go to the Main Menu, Setup – Defaults for Lien Writer. This will open the Setup Defaults screen;

3) Click on to Page 9. In the center column move to mid-age and the Timeout in – Minutes field;

4) In this field you can set a time for your Lien Writer™ program to close down without intervention from you, such as when you leave the program running and do not return to your computer again for the day, when the network admin has scheduled a backup. The default “0” setting means the Lien Writer™ program will not shut down without the user terminating the program the normal way. Entering here any time in minutes from 1 to 9999 (165.65 hours) schedules an automatic shutdown when the computer has had no entry in the Lien Writer™ within the specified time limit. The time limit resets to the beginning every time you do an action in Lien Writer™- press a key, move the mouse, etc;
5) The Timeout limit you set merely closes the program and shuts down the databases cleanly. When you reboot the program again it will restart with the last record you were working on, losing nothing;
6) Based on former survey of our clients using the Timeout feature, most users tend to prefer a setting of some 180 minutes (3 hours), but again this is of your choosing between 1 and 9999 minutes.
7) Using this feature absolutely prevents data damage to the remote server. Consider setting it up today.

Keeping Up To Date With Lien Writer™
The current version on the street is our 10.0.3.1 version. The new 10.1.0.0 version is to be released next week.

It is easy to update Lien Writer™:
1) If you are using a Lien Writer™ version 9.3.2.7 or before, first run Lien Writer™, then go to Help / About Lien Writer and write down your version number and expiration date for verification;
2) Open your Internet or Google Explorer;
3) Go to our website at http://www.fwmsoftware.com/fwm-software-downloads/;
4) Click on Lien_Program_Installer10.0.3.1;
5) The site will ask where you want the program to download. Put it in a directory location you want, or just download to the Desktop. Normally, it should take less than 5 minutes;
6) Once the program is downloaded, go to the directory site, or the Desktop, and double click on the Lien_Program_Installer10.0.3.1. The program will begin installing and updating your data files;
7) If the former program was of the 10.0.x.x series, it will simply update. If your version is of the 9.3.2.7 series or less, it will install but you will need to get a update code. Call (530) 622-1344, or write us at techsupp@fwmsoftware.com to receive your new code;
8) A WARNING ON USING LIEN WRITER™ VERSIONS PRIOR TO 10.0.3.1. THESE PROGRAMS ARE OUTMODED AND IN SOME CASES HAVE ILLEGAL AND OUTDATED FORMS. PLEASE UPDATE IMMEDIATELY;
9) Once you update, just use the program as you have always used it

The Lien Writer™ Newsletter
Thursday, September 20th, 2018

Clearing the Lien Writer™ License Table

With Lien Writer™ you can setup more than one user license for the program and each user can use the program independently of the other users. You do this by setting up the program users on stations connected to a server, where the commonly used database is located. But, we occasionally have users call up and tell us something like “we have three licenses but only two of us can get in to the program. What gives?” What gives is often how you logged out of Lien Writer™ and if your server knows all parties are logged out.

Like most software, Lien Writer™ is designed, via your License Code, to allow a set number of paid users into the program, starting with one and, in the current version, up to 99,999 users, simply by the setup of the License Code. However, Lien Writer™ requires users to enter into the program by its execution on your desktop icon or from you Start Menu, and to log off of Lien Writer™ by pressing the “Exit” icon in the extreme upper right hand corner of the program screen or by pressing the “F11” key while in the program, or by selecting “File” from the Main Menu, then selection the option “Exit Lien Writer”. All three of these options safely log one out of the program,

But, there are many other ways a program can exit incorrectly. When one of the aforementioned methods to exit are not used, the program can retain a listing of these users in its access table, show them still logged in to the program. Common ways for this to happen are when a user is bumped out of the software by a computer glitch (computer locks up), or they fail to log off at night and the office backup system kicks them out of the computer before the nightly backup is done, etc. Whatever the reason for the failure to log out, if you do not correctly log off the computer Lien Writer™ can be closed with users still showing as being logged in.

So, you think, why is that a big deal? It is because Lien Writer™, when booted on its next session of use, may note these parties as still logged in, and limits the number of users who can log onto the program, resulting the following notice as users attempt to log on to the program. This can happen with only one user:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Frank Moore – FWM Software
Phone: 530-622-1344
Email: fmoore@fwmsoftware.com

TEXAS NOTICES VIA LIEN WRITER™
Special Notice on Using Lien Writer™ for Texas Mechanics Lien Claims

[SACRAMENTO, CA, September 6, 2018] FWM Software, the creators of Lien Writer™, which allows users to do notices, releases and liens in all 50 states, 11 Canadian Provinces and all US Territories. The service also includes technical and customer support, changes in law updates and software improvement updates.

We have had some questions on the Texas Preliminary Notices that we felt should be addressed, especially for folks out of the State of Texas:

Unlike in all other USA States and Canadian Provinces, you send a Texas preliminary notice after the complete month you have done the work within, and for all billing notices within that month. For residential jobs you send this notice the following month (i.e., June job, July notice) and for a commercial job you send the notice two months after the job month (i.e., June job, August notice). All notices must be sent by the 15th of the month. You are supposed to send a 1st Notice to Contractor followed by a 2nd Notice to Owner or Contractor, followed in the 3d month with a Notice of Intent to File a Lien a Bond Claim (Lien Warning Notice), and then file your Mechanic’s Lien. Mind you, for each month on the job you send a new notice for every month you do work on this basis (i.e., July notice, follow with an August or September 1st notice and then a 2nd notice in September or October, etc.). You could have several original notices going out on a single job.

Now, I am aware that your customers sometimes have a job done for them and then plan to pay their prime contractor almost immediately, sometime before you have even had a chance to send a bill, so it seems that, for Texas, these time limits are excessive. Well, if this situation comes up, immediately make demand on your customer, the prime contractor and the owner, then file your Mechanic’s Lien and tie up the closing of the project. If this matter goes to court the court will support you. The plan of the Texas notice law was for long term jobs, but situations change, and you have a right to protect yourself.

This is why the Texas notice (the sole notice in the USA) has a balance due statement instead of a estimated amount statement. You know what is due you for the noticed month when you send your notice.

Confusing? This is why you use Lien Writer™. Send the notices out and you are protected.

Read the section on Texas law in the Lien Writer® Help file. Also, put your Texas jobs in the computer as they come up (yes, I am aware it could be a waste of our time if your customer does pay you), but do not send the notices until the appropriate month for the notice comes up and always send the notice before the 15th of the month. When the 15th of any month is coming up (and you can mail between the 1st and 15th, but most folks due it on or just before the 15th), use the Lien Writer™ option in Notices and Mail, then Mark Texas Preliminary Notices to Print each for month and it will update the notices for mailing. After the three months are up and you have not been paid, always follow with a Mechanic’s Lien. Failure to send your notice can negate your right to make claim against the Owner and the General Contractor.

Your first duty on any job you do is to get paid.

###

If you would like more information about this topic, please call Mark McGee at 530-622-1344, or email mark@fwmsoftware.com.

THE LIENWRITER™ NEWSLETTER
July 5, 2018

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Updates:
The latest Lien Writer™ 10.0.3.1 release has just issued out to the public. This version is the latest for compliance with all laws in all 50 States, 11 Canadian Provinces, All USA Territories, the USA Federal Government and The Canadian Government. Among the listed changes is an important one for the deletion of History Records:

Fix for Clearance of History Record Files: We found a error when clearing History files that prevents the proper deletion of History records. The former programs, when set to mass delete older History file records, were deleting all History records, not just a select few. This can be corrected by selecting the Mass Undelete History Records, but that still left the old records active. The program has now been modified to delete only the records specified for deletion.

It is easy to update Lien Writer™:

1) If you are using a Lien Writer™ version 9.3.2.7 or before, first run Lien Writer™, then go to Help / About Lien Writer and write down your version number and expiration date for verification;
2) Go to www.fwmsoftware.com/downloads;
3) Click on Lien_Program_Installer10.0.3.1;
4) The site will ask where you want the program to download. Put it in a directory location you want, or just download to the Desktop. Normally, it should take less than 5 minutes;
5) Once the program is downloaded, go to the directory site, or the Desktop, and double click on the Lien_Program_Installer10.0.3.1. The program will begin installing and updating your data files;
6) If the former program was of the 10.0.x.x series, it will simply update. If your version is of the 9.3.2.7 series or less, it will install but you will need to get a update code. Call (530) 622-1344, or write us at techsupp@fwmsoftware.com to receive your new code;
7) A WARNING ON USING LIEN WRITER™ VERSIONS PRIOR TO 10.0.3.1. THESE PROGRAMS ARE OUTMODED AND IN SOME CASES HAVE ILLEGAL AND OUTDATED FORMS. PLEASE UPDATE IMMEDIATELY;
8) Once you update, just use the program as you have always used it

New optional versions of Lien Writer™:
Many of you have been waiting for this version, and it is now available.

Lien Writer™ Online is our new version that allows you to setup your Lien Writer™ program up on the Internet for data entry and lookup by both your employees and your customers. If you wish to convert your PC based Lien Writer™ to the Internet version, please call us at (530) 622-1344, or write us at techsupp@fwmsoftware.com. There is an annual fee to use this service and a service fee to upload your data to the Internet version.