We recommend the following minimum system requirements for all of our software products.

• Computer with Intel Pentium III or compatible processor. Pentium 4 or faster processor recommended.
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000 operating system is preferred. Windows 98SE will also work.
• 256 meg of RAM, 512 or higher is best.
• 250 meg of available hard disk space. 500 megabytes is recommended on the C: drive and Server Drive (if applicable). More required for large shows.
• Laser or ink jet printer
• Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

I'm buying a new computer system. What do you recommend.
Its very difficult to make system recommendations without knowing what else you are planning to do with the computer system. Since computer specifications change very rapidly, we use the following rule of thumb: don't buy the cheapest system on the market. Plan to spend around $1000 - $1300 for a computer with a 17 inch monitor. We recommend that you stick with name brands (Compaq, Dell, Gateway, IBM, Hewlett Packard) as these companies offer reliable products and good customer service. You may also want to consider purchasing from a local vendor that can give you on site service and support for your equipment.

Networking
Our systems support Windows 2000 Server, NT server, and Novell Netware 4.x or 5.x. Please note that the Microsoft Windows 95/98 peer to peer networking was never designed to intensive data base applications. Microsoft Windows XP Home is not also not recommended for networking. If you plan on using a Windows peer network, please contact us for detailed networking information.

Uniterruptible Power Supplies
We highly recommend that you place an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) on all of your computers running our software products. More than a power strip, a UPS provides standby battery power in the event of a black out or brown out. Power events are the largest source of data loss on personal computers. Power protection is inexpensive, an $80.00 UPS can save you countless hours of frustration and data entry.

Printers
Next to your computer, the printer will be one of the most used devices with our software products. Our products will support just about any printer that has a Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT printer driver. We recommend that you invest in a quality printer that will deliver years of trouble free service. Some things to look for in a printer are capacity, duty cycle, and cost of supplies. If you are purchasing an ink jet printer, get one that will print at least 8 pages a minute in black and white. If you are planning on using our entry tag stock, make sure that the printer has the ability to print on at least 90lb paper. Most ink jet printers in the $300-$500 range will satisfy this. For laser printers, get one that has can also print at least 8 pages a minute, has a paper bypass option, and can feed 90lb stock. Those printers start at about $800. During the fair you will be printing thousands of pages of reports in a very short time so you will want a printer that can meet the demand.