This version of TurboLaw contains the following changes:

• Prevents possible document corruption if you click on a document at exactly the right time before it is done filling out
• Prevents accidental canceling of the update installation once it has begun (which can leave TurboLaw in an unusable state, since it is half-updated)
• Tabs in Case Interview Wizards now appear as bold when the tab is active, to help distinguish which tab is active.

In addition, this version includes support for our newest area of law, Corporate Filings. If you have our Massachusetts General Practitioner’s Suite, you will need to install the update for this version before you can use this new area of law. (If you have any other TurboLaw package, then this does not apply to you.)

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This area of law includes 46 new documents for both for-profit and non-profit Massachusetts corporations.

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In particular, the new features are:

• When using the Stopwatch window, there is now a drop-down box so you can select the client you are recording time for. (When you click Stop and Save, the selected client will carry over to the Enter Time window as well.)
• New Report: we’ve added a new report to the Reports window, called “All Bills.” This report (as its name suggests) shows you all bills, both paid and unpaid.
• The list of reports is now sorted alphabetically by name.
• The Account History window will now remember if you maximized it previously, and open that way again in the future.
• The Enter Time and Enter Expense windows can now be opened independently from the Home screen or from the left-hand nav bar. (Previously, once these windows were opened, you would have to close the window before you could do anything else with the program; now you can open other windows and switch back and forth as desired.)
• If you have time or expense entries which have no category (perhaps because you deleted that category), these items will now appear in lists as “Uncategorized” instead of the more generic labels of “Time” or “Work.”

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1. TurboLaw Time and Billing 1.23 Released
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For those who handle Probate cases in Massachusetts, rest assured that TurboLaw is ready to handle these new changes. Shortly before the new rules and laws come into effect (currently expected to be around the end of March, 2012), we will release another update to TurboLaw.

In the meantime, please enjoy this new version of TurboLaw, and have a happy New Year!

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This new version of TurboLaw is like our early Christmas gift to you – and it’s a doozy. Here’s a list of the biggest and most noticeable changes in this version:

• Case Searching: no more scrolling through long lists of cases – now you can search for your cases quickly and easily!
• Folder Support in the Saved Documents window: save your documents in sub-folders you’ve created, or even just browse through all your case files easily, right from within TurboLaw.
• Choose Existing Parties: never enter the same party twice!
• Choose Existing Attorneys: never enter the same opposing counsel twice!
• Improved navigation: tabs are all the rage these days, and TurboLaw has finally made the switch – no more getting lost with “windows within windows.”
• Easier help: fast access via the “Help” menu to our life-saving remote support tools

And if that’s not enough for you, we’ve also totally redesigned the way you enter and edit cases (the Case Interview Wizards), with more improvements than you can shake a stick at:

• Resize or maximize the case wizards
• Visually consistent look and feel
• Incremental save, so you never lose an entire case’s worth of work in the event of a computer crash or power outage
• Enter parties the same way across different types of cases
• Easier date entry
• Enter addresses the same way across different types of cases
• Easily enter foreign (non-US) addresses
• Indicate that a party is “pro-se” with just a click
• Better custom case folder management
• Improved tips and help

We’ve worked long and hard to make this version of TurboLaw a reality, and we’re very happy to finally bring it to you. We hope you enjoy it, and we thank you for being a TurboLaw customer! Happy Holidays!

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First though, a little bit of history: when talking about 32-bit and 64-bit, we’re referring to the maximum size of a number that the CPU can hold at once. Think of it as being like the spaces you sometimes see on forms or credit card offers, where there are a fixed number of spaces for you to enter the letters of your name or address.

With a 32-bit CPU, there are only 32 spaces, and with the 64-bit CPU, there are (naturally) 64 spaces. Since every “spot” in your computer’s memory is numbered (computer people will say it’s “addressed”), the CPU can only handle as much memory as the biggest number it can fit into its limited number of spaces.

For 32-bit CPUs, that equals 4 GB of RAM (or 4 billion “bits” of memory). Up until just a few years ago, having this much memory in your computer was extraordinarily rare – something that only super computers or big servers had. Today, however, it’s likely your smartphone has more than that much memory in it.

For 64-bit CPUs on the other hand, that equals 16 exabytes – that’s 16 quintillion “bits” of memory!

OK – so we know that computers with 64-bit CPUs can use (or “address”) more memory, and that’s why 64-bit operating systems (e.g., Windows 7 64-bit) that can take advantage of that extra memory are the way to go. So where does that leave us when it comes to the ordinary programs we use every day – should they all be 32-bit or 64-bit? Or does it even matter?

Well, consider that 32-bit computers and software have been around for a very long time (in computer terms) – since at least 1995 for most people. (Remember Windows 95? That was the first 32-bit version of Windows most people used.) Also consider that forcing people to switch every single program they use to a corresponding 64-bit version just isn’t going to happen. (Nevermind that for many programs, there isn’t even a 64-bit version available at all!)

So all 64-bit computers can also run 32-bit programs just fine – they have to, or else no one would bother using them, despite the advantages. After all, nobody wants to have to buy all new programs and start over from scratch. However, 32-bit programs on 64-bit computers can’t use more than 4 GB of RAM at once – but that’s OK, because they’ve never been able to use more than that much RAM to begin with, so nothing gained, but nothing lost, either.

So, you can use a 64-bit version of Windows on your 64-bit computer and have more than 4 GB of RAM, and although no one 32-bit program is going to use it all at once, this does mean you can run several programs all at once, and never have to worry about running out of memory.

This is where we come back to our original question – do you need (or have) to use the 64-bit versions of your favorite programs?

The answer, as you could probably guess by now, is NO.

The only reason you would use a 64-bit version of a program is if that program needed to use an absurdly large amount of memory – and there are very few situations in normal home or office use where you would encounter a situation like that.

Typically, the types of situations that would absolutely require a 64-bit version of a program (and the larger amount of memory they can use) are things such as:

• Huge, complex image files in Photoshop might possibly require more than 4 GB of memory
• Very large video editing or rendering projects
• Complex spreadsheets with millions of rows/cells
• Very large database programs

Furthermore, if you already have a 64-bit computer, chances are most of the programs you’re using right now are mostly still 32-bit – for example, the web browser you are using to read this article is almost certainly a 32-bit program. And even for those programs which do come in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions (e.g., Microsoft Office 2010, or Adobe Photoshop), the 32-bit edition is almost always the default.

But what’s the harm in using the 64-bit version, you might ask? After all, bigger is better, right?

Well, actually in this case, that’s not entirely true. Due to handling very different sizes of information, 32-bit and 64-bit programs can’t really “talk” to one another very well, and so if you’re using a program that talks to other programs, or uses “plugins” or “add-ins” (and you’d be surprised how many programs you use on a daily basis are like this), you must make sure that your program and the other programs it needs to talk to, as well as any plugins or add-ins are all the same “bitness” (that is, all either 32-bit or 64-bit).

So, in most cases it is actually better to stick with 32-bit programs, simply because there’s no actual advantage to the 64-bit version (except for some very rare cases), and most other programs are also 32-bit, and you don’t want to “break” the ability of your program to talk to other programs or use plugins and add-ins.

I hope this has helped shed some light on a somewhat confusing and often misunderstood topic. So now, if you ever have the choice between a 32-bit and 64-bit program, you’ll be in a better position to decide for yourself which one you really need.

CPU photo by Lemsipmatt. RAM photo by ReillyButler.

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To the right is the old TurboLaw icon, which has been used for TurboLaw Document Software since its original release, all the way back in 2002.

This icon was designed by our in-house art staff, and reflects the style of icons back at the time.

When TurboLaw Version 3 is released later this month, you’ll be able to say goodbye to the old icon, as with the update comes the new icon, seen on the left.

If you have TurboLaw on your computer, when the update is released later this month, you’ll see this new icon replace the old one on your computer.

This new version of TurboLaw is, without a doubt, the biggest and most significant change we’ve made since the program was first launched all those years ago. Although the icon is just a small part of the whole, we really did want this new version to be something special for all of you who use TurboLaw, so we left no stone unturned in making the program as wonderful and polished as we possibly could.

We’re sure you’ll love it!

Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook and Twitter – TurboLaw 3 is coming very soon!

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Unfortunately, the way most people try to do this is to lower their screen’s resolution. Sure, this makes things on the screen effectively bigger, but it also makes your available screen space much smaller – that is, you have less space on the screen for things like windows and web pages and email.

In recent years, the resolution of computer screens and monitors has gone up by leaps and bounds – but the size of text and other items has stayed proportionally the same size. Whereas in the old days you had resolutions of 800×600 or 1024×768, these days if you have a new computer with a high resolution monitor, you might be looking at a screen resolution of 1280×1024, or 1440×900, or even 1920×1080!

Fortunately, Windows has a (woefully underused) option to make text and other items on the screen proportionally bigger without forcing you to run at a screen resolution that was outdated even back in 1999. This feature is known as “high DPI” or “DPI scaling,” and it has been available in Windows for quite a long time – but surprisingly few people know about it.

This feature is incredibly useful if you want to make your screen a little bit easier to read, without having to make your screen resolution tiny. And best of all, it’s really simple and easy to change.

How To Do It

Below are instructions on how to change the DPI settings in both Windows 7 and Windows XP – just click on the appropriate tab below to see instructions for your version of Windows. (If you use Windows Vista, just follow the instructions for Windows 7, as the steps are very similar.)

• Windows 7
• Windows XP

To change the DPI settings on Windows 7, first right-click your desktop and choose Screen resolution.

You’ll see a screen like the one shown below.

(Click to see full size)

Next, click on Make text and other items larger or smaller. You’ll see a screen like the one shown below.

(Click to see full size)

On this screen you can choose to make text and other items larger – just choose the appropriate option. In the example shown above, you could choose Medium – 125%. Once you’ve done this, click Apply. (You may have to log out and log back in to Windows for the changes to take effect.)

As an example, here’s a normal Windows desktop, using the default 100% DPI settings (click the images below to see a bigger picture):

A Windows 7 desktop at normal (100%) DPI settings (click to see full size)

And here’s the exact same desktop, at exactly the same resolution and size, with the higher DPI settings applied:

A Windows 7 desktop at medium (125%) DPI settings (click to see full size)

As you can see, with the higher DPI settings, the text, buttons, Start Menu, icons, and other elements are proportionally larger – but the actual screen space hasn’t gone down.

To change the DPI settings in Windows XP, first right-click your desktop and choose Properties.

Once the Display Properties window appears, click on the Settings tab. You’ll see a screen like the one shown below.

(Click to see full size)

Click on the Advanced button in the lower-right, and you’ll see a screen like the one shown below.

(Click to see full size)

The drop-down box labeled DPI setting allows you to choose a larger DPI setting. In the example shown above, you could choose Large size (120 DPI). Once you have done this, click OK and then OK again – you will probably have to restart your computer before the settings will take effect.

As an example, here’s a normal Windows desktop, using the default 100% DPI settings (click the images below to see a bigger picture):

A Windows XP desktop at normal (96) DPI settings (click to see full size)

And here’s the exact same desktop, at exactly the same resolution and size, with the higher DPI settings applied:

A Windows XP desktop with medium (120) DPI settings (click to see full size)

Conclusion

The DPI settings in Windows are often overlooked, which is a shame because they were tailor designed for making computer screens easier to read. We hope that by telling you about these options and showing you how to use them, we’ve made your computer a little bit easier on the eyes. (Ha, ha.)

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Watch the video below to learn more!

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2. TurboLaw 3 Sneak Peek – Searching Cases
3. TurboLaw 3 Sneak Peek – New Navigation

Watch the video below to see more!

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