In March 2010 Microsoft will release a Windows update including a browser choice screen that asks you to select your preferred web browser. (Microsoft does so to comply with the settlement with the EU in autumn 2009.) When that Windows update is run on your computer this is what you will see. (Click to enlarge.)

Screen 1	Screen 2

PC-Topp.NET is designed exclusively for Internet Explorer (version 7 or higher) and is not supported under any other browser.

Selecting a standard browser other than Internet Explorer will start PC-Topp.NET in an unsupported browser. This will lead to serious malfunction of PC-Topp.NET!

Therefore we strongly recommend not to select a browser in the browser choice screen but to inform your system administrator!

It might even be advisable for him to disable the browser choice screen altogether.

How to Block the Browser Choice Screen (Microsoft Education Partner Network)

The PC-Topp.NET backup functionality now better ensures that in case of data loss there is a current backup available.

• If a backup has failed a warning message is displayed throughout the system.
• The system checks for the last successful backup and, if necessary, prompts the user to run backup more often.

PC-Topp has been equipped with the ability to trigger all kinds of actions relating to providing production information and dealing with production incidents, from interfacing with external information devices to forced machine stops.

For example, PC-Topp now supports external display devices for production information like large scale display panels for permanently up-to-date production data as well as warning lights (e.g. for downtime alerts on the shop floor). This opens a wide range of potentially interesting uses.

When running an automatic backup PC-Topp now creates a backup of the last existing archive folder.

The new Statistics Terminal is much like the Planning Terminal but doesn't allow planning. It targets technical personnel charged with system maintenance tasks like parameter changes or correction of the statistics who need access to most functions but are not supposed to have access to planning.

The PC-Topp.NET menu bar now offers drop-down sub-menus for all menu items that allow faster navigation to all major functionalities.

There is a new red alert box in the My PC-Topp section of the main menu page. It warns you if there is something badly wrong with the system itself, or certain planning situations have occurred that require your attention.

Of course, that notification is only visible on the PC-Topp start page, and so you don't miss an alert while working on a different page, we have added a Red Alert icon on all other pages (top right, near the Print Preview icon). It flashes for 15 seconds after a problem was first found, and then remains on screen, but less prominently, until the problem condition is resolved. A click on the icon takes you to the home page where the problem can be seen in detail.

The system alerts you to difficulties of the following kind:

• An order has arrived in the order data transfer that can't be produced in time.
• The production statistics need to be archived because they contain records that are older than 6 months (6 months are the default setting and can be changed to a different value.)
• Some station is blocking backup.
• The Program Memory has to be cleared up because someone forgot to delete the produced programs promptly.
• A problem occurred during the transfer of Paper Stock data:
  • The host system has sent a paper code that is unknown to PC-Topp.
  • The stock for a particular paper and roll size appears more than once in the file.
  • The stock date is either incorrect, in the future, or too far in the past.
  • Incorrect numeric values appeared for roll size or stock.

(The number of problems reported like this will grow in the future.)

Clicking on the customer name, a machine code or any of the other links in an order takes you to a page showing orders e.g. by customer or by machine. However, it used to be hard to find the order you clicked on on that page - it could be hidden from view, or it could be necessary to page forward or backward to get it on the screen at all.

PC-Topp.NET now offers new functionality to make navigating between different order views much easier: When you click on a link in an order, the page that appears will always show the order you clicked on, usually near the top of the page, and the order will be marked by a small black arrow on the left so you can spot it as soon as the page opens.

Not only does this new feature make your work with PC-Topp.NET more comfortable but it also lets you navigate back and forth from one order view to the next and back again rapidly and with ease. No more loss of orientation while browsing the different order views, no more tedious searching for the original order in a new context.

This works in any page, whether it shows a list of orders or just the summary of one order.

But where are the drawings?

In more and more plants, drawings are available for the article, the print specification or the forme, and a click on, for example, the Stereo Number brought up that drawing. Now, that same link takes you to a page showing all orders using that stereo.

The drawing is now accessed by clicking the little icon to the left of that link, usually a tiny PDF icon. If a drawing is available, then the icon is active (=red) and clicking on it will bring up the desired drawing. When it is inactive (greyed out), then no drawing is available.

In the classical PC-Topp screens, it is very easy to locate an order with the Find Order function which can be accessed at any time by pressing the question mark key.

This function is now available in many PC-Topp.NET pages, and it works even better than before.

"Find Order" on the PC-Topp.NET Order Pages

There is a new box in the PC-Topp.NET toolbox called "Order Number" where you can input an order number and then press "Enter". PC-Topp.NET will mark the desired order with a small black arrow, provided it is in the batch of orders currently displayed on the page.

If the order is not on the current page (i.e. the machine or the customer etc. that is on the screen), then PC-Topp will display the Order Summary to let you know where to find the order. From there, you can easily display the current order in the context of orders by article number, board grade, stereo, forme, or conversion machine by clicking the respective links in the Order Summary.

When you start entering an order number in the Find Order box you will notice a handy help feature: PC-Topp displays the orders matching the entry in real time, so you can very quickly select the right order.

Moreover, pressing "?" like in the classical programs now works in PC-Topp.NET, too. Doing so makes the last used order number appear in the Order Number box, so that this order can be accessed by just pressing "Enter". If you start typing instead, the old number is erased and a new search begins.

"Find Order" on the PC-Topp.NET Menu Pages

On the PC-Topp.NET start page and all menu pages in general the link "Find Orders" in the Order System box opens the Find Order tool in a small independent box. Enter an order number or pick one from the pop-up order selection and the Order Summary for this order appears. Here, too, you can also call up Find Order by pressing "?".

The Find Order box floats freely on the page and you can move it around by Drag&Drop. If you want Find Order to be permanently in view click the little arrow symbol in the top right corner to make it dock to the "My PC-Topp" section. (Of course you can make it undock again with another click on the arrow.) In case you want the feature to get out of sight again after using it leave it floating freely on the page.

How to Make Best Use of "Find Order"

The new feature helps you deal with some frequent tasks fast and hassle free, e.g.

• inding all parts of an order
  If an order has several parts (same order number, different part number), the list of matching orders that appears when you enter an order number in the Find Order box will show you that the order has multiple parts, and let you select.
• Finding parts of orders that have been split
  If an order has been split, PC-Topp likewise shows all parts of that order, making you aware that there are several runs of it, and forcing you to choose.
• Moving an order to a specific machine
  If you want to reschedule a specific order you don't have to make the detour over Access by Order Number any more to locate it. Just let Find Order spot it for you, press Enter in the order summary, then change the machine routing.
• Quickly displaying an order at any machine, customer etc.
  The links in the Order Summary have been modified to take you straight to the selected order in any PC-Topp.NET order screen. In combination with Find Order this allows you to directly spot an order at any machine, article no. etc. and rapidly navigate between them.

Microsoft has today ended its support for the Windows NT operating system.

We must also announce that PC-Topp.NET is not supported any more under Windows NT. That is so because many of Microsoft's system components that PC-Topp needs to function don't work under that legacy operating system. PC-Topp.NET clients are supported exclusively under Windows XP Professional and under Windows 2000. Support under future versions of Windows will be announced as soon as any adaptations that may be required have been implemented.

If your system still runs under Windows NT, then you should strongly consider upgrading to new hardware and an up-to-date operating system. New hardware will most likely be necessary as it is likely that your PC is many years old, and cannot show the complex PC-Topp.NET web pages with adequate speed.