Act executives' email in customer support

[Hines Pointer]

Has anyone used the executives' email address on their website to ask questions.  I've sent a few emails recently, explaining problems, but my emails seem to go into the ether.  No responses.  Has anyone gotten an actual response from a real Act executive?  Are they actually helpful or just...

[Hines Pointer · Accepted solution]

Roy:

Your two suggestions really did the trick.  Expanding my laptop's Virtual Memory from 1524 - 3048 to 4092 - 4092 helped some. Excluding Act from AVG's autoscan seems to have helped a great deal.  I did this by going to AVG's resident shield and listing two files as exceptions: my documents/Act and application data/Act.  Both files were under the documents and settings folder tree.

Many thanks.

[MMcFadden]

Curiosity, why would you send executives email explaining problems rather than contacting technical support, or posting to this board?

I am sure you will get response in a much more timely fashion either from Sage Support personnel or from community contributors.

thanks

[GLComputing]

Many of the executives have replied to posts in this forum, right from it's creation.

Unless it's a personal or general buisiness issue, this is porbably the best place

[Hines Pointer]

I did post to this forum yesterday, presenting my problem with Act crashing and asking for help (see separate post).  Thinking my problem might be systemic, as the only recent change to my PC had been XP updates, I also sent an email to the executives' email address listed on customer support.  No reply.

Being an Act 2008 user, about six weeks ago I emailed the executives' email asking if Act 2009 had shifted off using SQL Server 2005 as it's database.  I had been told by an Act customer service representative six months earlier that the company was working on shifting Act to a more efficient database since other customers -- like me -- experienced very slow Act s/w launch and database querry responses.  He said the sluggishness was due to SQL Server.  I thought using the email address for my product question was appropriate.  I didn't receive a reply with an answer to my question.

These experiences prompted this post to the forum asking if the executives' email address listed in customer support is operational.

[dlunceford]

The goal of the leadership email address is to share your experiences (good or bad) with the software, services, or company.  All support questions should be directed to ACT! support, ACC, or the Community.  I will forward this post to the appopriate people

To answer your question, I have not heard of ACT! switching to a different database structure.  Atleast not in the near future.  ACT! 2009 and ACT! 2010 will contuniue to use SQL Server 2005 and with an upgrade option for ACT! 2010 users to use SQL Server 2008.

[Hines Pointer]

Re my email to the leadership email address, I was reporting a product problem (the sluggishness of SQL server) and asking if -- according to an Act service rep's comment to me-- Act would move off of using SQL server.  I think that's an appropriate product comment and question.  That I didn't receive a response was a concern.

Re SQL server and future versions of Act, thank you for answering the question I asked your leadership. I must admit your answer concerns me.  It makes me think I shouldn't upgrade for awhile, and perhaps should investigate other PC-based CRM software.  In my other post -- Act 2008 crashing -- I've asked if there are hard db size/contact number limits I exceeded with Act's SQL server database or restrictions regarding other applications that can be open concurrently with Act.  Perhaps you can take a shot at answering these questions.

[Roy_Laudenslager]

The only limitation on the database size is 4 Gig if you are using MSSQL Express. I don't have the problems you are referring to and I typically have 8 to 10 applications open at the same time. I don't recall seeing a listing of your system specification, RAM, hard drive speed in RPM and swap file settings and I suspect that you problems may lie there.

[Hines Pointer]

When I first purchased Act many years ago I remember it was s/w in a box where I simply had to insure my PC met its listed minimum system requirements.  Like Office, Quicken, etc...

As I upgraded to newer versions of Act I checked each time to make sure my PC's capabilities exceeded Act's stated system requirements.  I noticed, however, I think with Act 2008 that the s/w became slow to launch and very sluggish when I queried my database.  I remember calling Act customer service to ask why I was experiencing these problems and, as I recall, I was told that Act had shifted to SQL server as the database application.  I think this meant that, when I launched Act, it then launched SQL Server, which it used for database management and queries.

You're suggesting that my system specifications and settings are probably the problem.  I know my PC's capabilities exceeded Act's stated system requirements when I purchased Act 2008.  Maybe a take-away from this is that Act is no longer an out-of-the-box CRM application for single users like me.  Perhaps it now requires certified consultants to fine tune.  If true, it's OK.  But if this is the case, I'm way over my head as a single user and way past my wallet.  Perhaps some of the Act professionals on the forum might chime in on this.   

I still think, however, that my database, which has grown substantially over the years, might have something to do with my current problem.  I'm trimming back notes and histories and culling out old, now unnecessary contacts.  Hopefully this will help, and I should probably be doing this regularly anyway.

[Roy_Laudenslager]

The first point, the switch to the MSSQL based database was with ACT! 2005, version 7. In fact, the version of MSSQL used with ACT! 2008 was a later version than the one used with ACT! 2005. Finally, the MSSQL server is loaded and the database opened when you start the computer, not when you open the ACT! program.

Second, why won't you list your system specifications, RAM, hard drive speed in RPM, swap file settings? If you want a useful answer to your problem, that's where we have to start.

Finally, there is typically a difference for most software between minimum system requirements and recommended system requirements. 

[Hines Pointer · Accepted solution]

Roy:

Your two suggestions really did the trick.  Expanding my laptop's Virtual Memory from 1524 - 3048 to 4092 - 4092 helped some. Excluding Act from AVG's autoscan seems to have helped a great deal.  I did this by going to AVG's resident shield and listing two files as exceptions: my documents/Act and application data/Act.  Both files were under the documents and settings folder tree.

Many thanks.