Archive for microsoft
Sync Outlook and Google Contacts
Posted by: | CommentsThere is the handy Google calendar sync download that will do a 1 or 2-way calendar sync, but it doesn’t handle syncing contacts. I thought Google or Microsoft would address this limitation, but I’ve found that WebGear has stepped in to offer the free GO Contact Sync that does the job very nicely with many options from which to choose.
This open source program is hosted at Sourceforge, a reliable source for innovative and free software. GO Contact Sync supports categories, so if you have set up groups of categories, it will find and keep them categorized. If you use contact photos, it will sync those too. However, if you have different photos for the same contact, it will not do a sync.
The best thing are the number of sync options available.
Sync options from the website…
- Merge Prompt: This will ask you which contact to overwrite if both have been updated.
- Merge Outlook Wins: If both contacts have been updated, the Google contact will be overwritten.
- Merge Google Wins: If both contacts have been updated, the Outlook contact will be overwritten.
- Outlook To Google Only: Only updates Google contacts based on Outlook contacts.
- Google To Outlook Only: Only updates Outlook contacts based on Google contacts.
Once the program is installed, you’ll have an icon in the system tray. Here you can click to sync your contacts on the fly. However, you can choose during the setup process how often to sync, or to sync upon startup.
I just found this program and haven’t decided if I’ll use it yet since I have different sets of contacts in my Outlook and Google contacts and I’m not sure if I want to merge them or not. The program is in beta, so they do say to use at your own risk! It’s always good to do a backup before trying something new.
Microsoft Ribbon Hero – Practical and Fun Hands- On Training
Posted by: | CommentsHave you been using Office 2007, or the new Office 2010 Beta (which you can download and use for free until late this year)? Perhaps you’ve
found the ribbon interface to be confusing and have been frustrated (as I’ve been), trying to figure out formerly simple formatting commands. Microsoft provides tips and training for getting up to speed with the ribbon, but Microsoft Labs has recently come out with something new – Ribbon Hero.
Ribbon Hero works with Excel, PowerPoint and Word 2007 and 2010 only. During the install process, you may be prompted to download and install Microsoft VSTO, so for most of us, there will be two downloads. After the install, pull up one of the office programs and you’ll notice a ribbon hero button over to the right on your ribbon. Simply click to open and get started. After you’ve achieved some points, you’ll be asked if you want to connect with Facebook in a friendly competition with other RH users. There’s also a Facebook fan page if you’d like to join. It was nice to see that Ribbon Hero scores will be shared with your friends only if they are Ribbon Hero players as well.
Ribbon Hero is an interactive game where points can be achieved by simply doing your usual work, or you can ‘take the challenge’ and choose from a wide variety of tasks to perform. Below you’ll see the interface for working in Excel. There are three ‘Challenge’ categories and then specific challenges/tasks to accomplish within these categories. Simply click on one of the challenge tasks, complete it and you’ll hear a congratulatory tone, a couple balloons will rise and you’ll be awarded points.
If you choose a task that you’re not familiar with, there are hints and articles right there to refer to. I did the conditional formatting challenge – something I’d never heard of – and learned something new.
Most people will learn faster and retain longer using this hand-on, practical interface. The examples are down-to-earth and the student can easily apply these examples to real-world work and accomplish tasks faster.
I’m using RH on two computers – one with the beta Office 2010 and one with Office 2007. I wondered if the software would be smart enough to know I was using it on two computers and combine my score. When I did the Facebook connect, I was pleasantly surprised that it did recognize that and it asked if it would be OK to combine the two scores – very nice.
I know Ribbon Hero’s only been out a couple of weeks at this writing, (2-5-10), but here are a couple questions:
1. I’m wondering if they will develop the game for other Office apps.
2. Will the ‘challenge tasks’, be changed and refreshed? Right now, I’m seeing about 8 or so tasks to complete under each category. Realistically, that won’t take too long for someone to complete and then what? I’ll ask these questions on the Facebook page and see what I get.
Interactive training with immediate feedback and having the social aspects (with Facebook), is very progressive for Microsoft. I haven’t seen anything as innovative as this with Google, Open Office or Zimbra. If you or your company is thinking about upgrading to Office 2007, take advantage of this free and innovative training.
Do A Clean Install With Windows 7 Student Version
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I’d been looking into getting a student version of Windows 7 for my daughter’s computer to upgrade her from Vista. I purchased one this week and the options during the purchase were to download a file, or I could order a DVD for an additional $13 and wait a couple of weeks for it. I know the steps to burn a DVD from an ISO, so I went for the download from Digital River.
To my surprise, the download wasn’t an ISO, it was an .exe format (DLMWin7HP32US.exe). After downloading, there was an extraction process for the purpose of doing an in-place upgrade. An in place upgrade doesn’t wipe the hard drive – it just installs over what is there. Some people may like this, but I wanted to take this opportunity to wipe the hard drive as it’s been used for more than two years with no reformat. In order to do a clean install, I needed to boot from a DVD.
So I did some searches on how people had accomplished this. One site I found was called Windows 7 Forums. There I found a huge message board and instructions on how to create a bootable DVD. I read through that – it seemed too complicated! I then noticed there were over 60 pages of comments from folks. Lots of people had lots of problems following the instructions and having success. I skipped to the last page of comments and found the solution!
Gizmodo came through again. They published a short article with links to an ISO and instructions on how to burn a DVD from the ISO. They said that Microsoft recognized that people were having problems with Digital River and the whole process and had provided an ISO. I did some searches and couldn’t find anything on Microsoft’s site about this (does anybody else find searching Microsoft difficult?)
I was a bit uneasy downloading from the Gizmodo link, but everything turned out great. Below is a graphic of the icon and type and size of the file. The download took a little over an hour and then I had my ISO file. Then I burned my file to a DVD and booted from the DVD (to boot from a CD/DVD, do a restart and hit F12 as it boots up to change the boot sequence to your CD/DVD drive). The install went perfectly and quickly. We waited to activate until the install is completed per Paul Thurrott’s instructions on his blog site. I’ve done it three times with three different types of Windows 7 installs and it’s worked perfectly each time.
Backing Up and Restoring Data & Applications
Before doing the install, we used Windows Easy Transfer to back up all her data to an external hard drive. This was the second time I’ve used Easy Transfer and it’s worked great both times. It keeps all your settings, favorites, email preferences – even her previous desktop wallpaper came back. I highly recommend it. If you are currently using Vista, you have Windows Easy Transfer – not so for XP users.
Easy Transfer backs up everything BUT applications – for reinstalling applications, I found the How-To-Geek had the answer – Ninite! Ninite is a site that lists dozens of the more common web apps that many of us use, as well as even iTunes. Choose the apps that need to be reinstalled on your computer by clicking the check box and Ninite downloads an installer and quietly installs the programs in the background. Some examples of what’s available: Audacity, Firefox, Evernote, Picasa. They had nearly all the apps needed. We chose about three at a time to download and install with no errors. Then because we’d used Windows Easy Transfer, all the settings and preferences were loaded when the applications were started. It was wonderful!
I’ve got one more computer to upgrade and then our household will be all moved over to Windows 7. If anyone has other resources to share or would like to relate their experience on an upgrade, please leave a comment!
Windows 7 Tips, Hacks & News
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from Release Party in NYC (pic from Paul Thurrott's site)
Today was the Windows 7 release date – a date anticipated eagerly by some. Microsoft is hoping to erase the bad memories of Vista from consumers’ minds. I think they’ve hit a homerun with Windows 7. I’ve been using it on two computers since the RC (release candidate), came out earlier this year and won’t go back to either XP or Vista. I found Windows 7 very easy to adapt to. Even my husband caught on to navigating his way easily through the upgrade from XP to 7.
For this week’s article, I’ve decided to assemble a list of tips and special offers I’ve gathered from some of my favorite sites and put them all together to make it easy to browse around and decide what you might want to try to personalize your Windows 7 machine.
The How-To Geek has compiled a list of 175 Windows 7 Tips, Tweaks & Geeky things. They are divided into these categories:
- Windows 7
- Disabling Features and Annoyances
- Networking and Sharing
- Privacy and Security
- Shortcuts and HotKeys
- Tips
One I took advantage of right away was a little tweak to find and install regional themes from Canada, the United Kingdon, Australia and South Africa into my theme gallery. These are already on your hard drive, but not installed. It took just five minutes to get and install them.
Microsoft has 7 Days of Windows 7 special offers – it started on launch day, Thursday, October 21st, so hurry.
Lifehacker assembled it’s ultimate guide to Windows 7. They’ve included screenshots and videos to help you along.
Paul Thurrott of the Windows Supersite and author of recently released Windows 7 Secrets, blogs about the addition of Netflix and Internet TV access through the new Win 7 Media Center.
The world’s first Microsoft retail store opened today in Scottsdale, AZ. Word was there was a crowd of hundreds, some who waited over 12 hours for the store’s opening and to receive goody bags, some containing Ashley Tisdale concert tickets in them.
A couple of months ago, Microsoft was looking for people to host house parties for the Windows 7 launches. If you were one of the ‘chosen’, I understand Microsoft provided party favors and for the host, a copy of Windows 7! Anyone out there a host?
Enjoy!
Microsoft Security Essentials & Bitlocker Tip
Posted by: | CommentsThere’s a new anti-virus/anti-spyware product on the market. This one’s from
Microsoft and it’s free to anyone with a licensed copy of Windows. It’s called Microsoft Security Essentials. It replaced Microsoft’s fee-based One-Care software and was released September 29, 2009.
Information and download of Microsoft Security Essentials
Why is this free, we all ask? Some think Microsoft is trying to make amends for its spotty history of delivering operating systems that continually need patching and updating. We’re all familiar now with ‘patch Tuesday’ – the second Tuesday of every month when there’s usually patches to be pushed out to users.
Some feel that since Microsoft developed the OS, they should take responsibility for providing the tools to keep us safe. The software seems to be working great on my system. It’s lean and fast. It installed in minutes, updated itself and did an initial scan of my computer.
I really like that it’s not bloated like Symantec & Norton. I refuse to run either of these on my systems. I have used both the free AVG and the fee-based Nod-32 by Eset. Both have worked well for me, but I decided to switch over to this product because to me it makes sense to have a security suite by the same people who made my OS.
Here’s a screen shot of a protected computer – green is good!
There are tabs to check out for fine-tuning your system. The settings tab has many options on it for configuring when, where and how to handle whatever the scan might find.
There aren’t a whole lot of reviews out yet, but here’s one by Computerworld that will give you a more technical, in-depth assessment of the software.
Use Bitlocker on a USB Drive
Bitlocker is a premium feature found only on Windows 7 Ultimate & Premium (it’s on higher-priced Vista systems too). It’s an easy-to-use encryption tool to encrypt your entire drive, an external drive or usb thumb drive.
For those of us who’ve downloaded Windows 7 for the free test drive, we all received the Ultimate version of Windows 7, which has Bitlocker installed on it.
For those of us who will be ‘downgrading’ to Home Premium, we should be able to put Bitlocker on any thumb or external drives now and it should continue to work. I haven’t been able to test this yet, but I have encrypted a thumb drive.
To encrypt a removable drive, insert it into your usb drive and then go to the Start button and type in Bitlocker, then manage bitlocker encryption. It takes several minutes to encrypt the drive, especially if it’s large. You will be prompted to enter and verify a password. It’s very important to save it to a file on your computer or print it out. When finished, then move files, folders, etc. over to the drive.
Now, you’ll want to verify that your data is encrypted. Take it to a different computer and try to access the thumb drive. You should get a notice that a password is needed.
I tried this with my encrypted drive on my daughter’s computer, running Vista (without Bitlocker), and I was able to enter in my password and view the files on it. Microsoft says that you can take the drive to a computer without Bitlocker, running either Vista or Windows 7 and enter your password and view your files. I haven’t tried it on an XP machine. I’ve read reviews of folks using the Beta Win 7 and this feature didn’t work, but it’s working with the RC version of Windows 7.
Bitlocker can be turned off if you decide not to use this feature later on. If you routinely carry thumb drives around with your or customer data, why not take advantage of this free feature. If the drive is lost or left somewhere, at least it won’t be accessible to prying eyes.
HomeGroup Feature in Windows 7
Posted by: | CommentsWindows 7 has a new feature called HomeGroup, which is really another word for home network. Windows 7 has really made it easy to connect to other computers in the same household that are also running Windows 7.
To get started, go to the start>control panel and then click on the Network and Internet section, finally select HomeGroup.
Here’s where you choose what you want to share with other computers on your network.
As you can see from the graphic below, Win 7 makes it easy to share a variety of documents, media and even printers.
Windows assigns your network password to you. It’s viewable by anyone in your network simply by going to the Network And Sharing Center and clicking on ‘show password’. You can keep the one given to you or change it. Write it down or print it out and take it to the next computer on the network and follow the instructions below…
If more users, libraries or printers are added to the network later, follow the instructions below to add them into your HomeGroup.
After you’ve set up sharing on the computers in your network, you’ll want to access them to play music or view documents. Simply go to Windows Explorer and click on the HomeGroup icon and it will expand to show you what is available. Click and enjoy.
I’ve been using HomeGroup just a couple of days now. It seems to be working well. By that, I mean I can click on my Win 7 folder icon and see that my HomeGroup is still in my network. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the new sharing feature in iTunes, but it’s not worked very reliably for our network, so I’m glad we can share our music the Microsoft way.
Installing Windows 7 & My Review
Posted by: | CommentsThe Windows 7 install process seems to be easier than other Microsoft OS. I’ve installed it twice now on a Dell Desktop formerly running XP and my Toshiba laptop. Others have detailed the steps and even provided screenshots to hold your hand through the process. Here are some recommended resources: 
From Windows 7 News & Tips – screenshots to refer to while installing windows 7.
Videos to help you with your Windows 7 install.
Windows7Update.com is offering a free 379-page downloadable e-book for anyone signing up for their newsletter. I downloaded it and have looked through a portion of it. Great step-by-step instructions from installing the OS to explaining how to encrypt your data using both Bit Locker & True Crypt and much more. You will have to give up your email address and verify it to get the link to the download. Well worth it.
My installs went well, I ran Microsoft’s advisor beforehand on our family Dell. It said everything was just great for the upgrade. The program lied – my sound drivers were not ready for Windows 7 and I ended up buying a new soundcard so we could have sound. In my research trying to find a new driver, I found out that Dell is probably the worst vendor out there for updating their drivers. I was very surprised to read that in several forums. The Dell site just said to keep checking back. Since our Dell is 4-5 years old and ran XP, I’m not too surprised about the driver issue – and I should have checked the Dell site instead of believing the Microsoft software!
My next install was on my Toshiba laptop. I did visit Toshiba’s site and was pleased to see they had updated drivers for Windows 7. I was running 32-bit Vista Home Premium and wanted to do a clean install. If you have Vista, you have the option to do what’s called an in-place upgrade. This preserves your files and settings so it doesn’t take as long. However, it doesn’t completely wipe the drive and give you a fresh start. I wanted to have the new machine experience and clear things out. It’s nice not having all the Toshiba ad-ware on my computer. It’s running faster and I’m enjoying the many new features of Windows 7.
Features I Like
- Of course, it’s just pretty with the aero glass-like design and there are lots of great themes to download and try out. Get into the settings and decide how often you want the scene on your theme to change.
- It runs faster than Vista – much snappier and lighter weight.
- The task bar has bigger icons and when you right-click a task bar icon, it shows you information about recent places you’ve been with a particular program.
- When the mouse hovers over an icon in the task bar, any open windows associated with that program pop up to show you what you’ve been working on. Then slide your mouse over to the document/email/webpage you wish to get back to.
- Home Group & Libraries—networking is easier with the HomeGroup feature. To take advantage of it, you will need at least two computers in your home with Windows 7. Libraries—I’m not an expert on this, but from what I’ve read at the Windows 7 Blog, it’s a way to share folders across your HomeGroup. For now, I’m just enjoying accessing my documents from either the Library, or my Personal Folders.
My conclusion is that Microsoft got it right with Windows 7 and I think it’ll be widely adopted and used.
Windows Live Movie Maker vs. Picasa
Posted by: | CommentsSo what’s Windows Live Movie Maker all about and why should I use it? Back in June, I reviewed Picasa’s Movie Maker and compared it to Windows Movie Maker (older version), and Picasa was the easy winner.
I knew Microsoft was working on a new movie maker product to be optimized for use with the soon-to-be-released Windows 7. WLMM was released in August, 2009 and now I’ve had a chance to try it out and compare it to Picasa. It’s not shipped with Vista or Windows 7, it’s part of the Windows Live Essentials that you can download for free.
This product was designed for the masses – so if you’re looking for upgrades, more features and editing tools, this isn’t the product for you. If you are an XP user, you can still use or download Movie Maker 2.1
I liked the interface and new look of WLMM. I found it very easy to get started with instructions to click in the timeline area and gather all the pictures and videos needed for the movie. Yes, you can put videos in WLMM as well as pictures – nice.
WLMM also supports Quicktime and MPEG4 formats, so iPhone users can import and upload their pictures to WLMM – if they can bear to give up their iMovie software! It’s nice to have that feature.
If you’re new to movie making, this is the product for you. They’ve made it extremely easy to get something published in quick order with the auto-movie feature. Bring your pictures in, drag and drop them in the order you want and click the ‘auto-movie’ button. The program will add an opening and closing slide and simple transition effects for you. A newbie could potentially publish a movie in under 5″. It’s been found that most people want to create a movie quickly in order to share it – perhaps with a family member, or quick work project. We’re too busy to have to learn a program.
If you’re now accustomed to using Office 2007 products, you’ll feel right at home with WLMM. It seemed very easy to navigate through the ribbon interface and easily apply effects, captions (yes, you can put captions anywhere on your slide and edit your font, font size and colors). With a click, add a soundtrack and have movie maker fit your movie to the soundtrack.
If you need help, there’s lots of it – and easier to follow than Picasa’s more text-based help. Microsoft has provided videos to step you through whatever you’re trying to accomplish. Check out this page for instructional videos.
Publish/Share your Movie
So you’ve created your masterpiece and now you want to share it. Microsoft really surprised me by having a publish to YouTube button. Other very useful options are
- save in a DVD format – or burn a DVD (using Windows DVD Project maker)
- as mentioned – 1-click to publish to your YouTube account
- save in a format for a smart phone
- save in various HD formats
- optimize for sending via email
- add a plug-in option – click the drop down and you’ll see additional items. If you click on the plug-in, it’ll take you to this site where you can install plug-ins to put your movie on everything from Facebook to Picasa!
- Now there is support for additional file formats – including QuickTime formats, AVCHD and .MPEG4. Rejoice iPhone users!
Delving deeper into editing features, you have the ability to change visual effects (there are 20, I believe). Choose sepia, cartoon and others. There are over 60 transition effects from which to choose. You can choose how long to show each photo and painstakingly apply effects to each photo.
There’s a lot to like here and the HD is a nice feature that Picasa doesn’t have. Picasa also doesn’t have all the transition and effects Microsoft offers. With Picasa, I could apply only one transition for an entire movie – Microsoft doesn’t limit you there.
So download and try it out. If you don’t have much time, this is the program for you.
