Category: Microsoft

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Download – 10 Free eBooks

eBook - The Windows 7 Power Users GuideTitle: The Windows 7 Power Users Guide
Author: Mike Halsey
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2009 Mike Halsey 
Pages: 174
File size: PDF 23.3 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF

Description:
The Windows 7 Power Users Guide, by Microsoft MVP Mike Halsey, shows you to how to get the very best out of Windows 7. It’s suitable for users of every ability, from complete novices to tech pros, and includes step-by-step guides, illustrations and diagrams on every page and quick tips throughout.

eBook - Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, AnytimeTitle: Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime
Authors: Katherine Murray
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2011 Katherine Murray 
ISBN: 978-0-7356-56949 
Pages: 337
File size: PDF 21.0 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF

Description:
This book shows you how you can use cloud computing—and ­specifically, ­Office 365—to get more done, collaborate more easily, and work more ­flexibly than you ever have before. From the necessary how-tos about ­creating and administering your Office 365 account and working with the various Office 365 programs to sharing files with your team, creating a team site, using Office Web Apps, and holding online meetings, you’ll discover how easy it is to work online and off, accessing and sharing your files whenever you need to.

.EPUB and .MOBI ebooksEight More eBooks on Microsoft Office 2010

eBook Titles:

  • Best Practices for Outlook 2010
  • Creating Everyday Documents That Stand Out From The Crowd
  • Basic Tasks in Word 2010
  • Basic Tasks in Excel 2010
  • Basic Tasks in Outlook 2010
  • Basic Tasks in OneNote 2010
  • Basic Tasks in Visio 2010

These Office 2010 eBooks are available in both .EPUB (Nook, Sony Reader, etc.) and .MOBI (Kindle) formats.

Download URL: Click here for .EPUB or .MOBI

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Top Keywords from the TechEd 2011 Keynote

If you’ve heard as many Microsoft keynotes as I have, sometimes they start to run together and it’s easy to focus on soundbites while missing the overall feel. So there’s a ‘fun’ little game I like to play sometimes to take the overall temperature of a presentation or keynote. That game involves using public transcripts of keynotes and running them through Microsoft Office 2010 to look at word counts.

If you ever wondered where I came up with most of the words for
“SMB Buzzword Bingo”, it was by scrubbing keynotes.
(Yes, Lee, I have too much time on my hands.)

Below is an excerpt of what I gleaned from the transcript of the May 16, 2011 TechEd NA keynote. You can look at the 18,895 word transcript here: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/wahbe/05-16-11TechEd.mspx

Note: Because this is my game, I play by my rules, meaning that I delete words I find boring like “of, the, yes, etc.” or any other word that I’m not wanting to track. In other words, if you run a word count on the transcript yourself, you may find words I didn’t track, like “MSDN” (2 times) or “Tech•Ed” (8 times). My choices below are specific words I’m interested in seeing if they were mentioned at all, and if so, how many times.

Top Keywords from teh TechEd 2011Keynote

Observation: I wasn’t surprised by “Cloud” (103), but “Partner” (1) did catch me off guard a bit.

Some other notables (some are a subset of the hits above):

  • Visual Studio (38)
  • System Center (20)
  • Windows Phone / Windows Phone 7 (15)
  • Office 365 (12)
  • SQL (4)
  • Windows 7 (3)
  • TechNet (0)
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Tips for eating well

The recommendations in the Australian dietary guidelines and Australian guide to healthy eating help us choose foods for good health and to reduce our risk of chronic health problems. Try out ikaria lean belly juice.

If we are carrying extra weight, the Australian dietary guidelines can also help us lose weight. They steer us towards foods that are high in nutrients but lower in kilojoules. These choices are nutrient dense but less energy dense and helpful for both achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. This is how
prodentim works.

People wanting to lose weight will also find this information useful for planning meals and snacks. Following the recommended number of serves from the five food groups and avoiding the discretionary foods will result in a gradual but healthy weight loss for most people. However, some people, particularly younger men and people who are taller than average or more active, may need additional serves of the five food groups. Try out the best alpine ice hack.

You can also check by taking the ‘Are you eating for health?’ quiz in the Dietary guidelines summary booklet.

Eating regularly

It’s essential for weight control and especially weight loss, to recognise and act on the feedback your body gives you about when and how much you need to eat. However it’s also important to aim for a regular eating pattern of meals, or meals and mid meals.

A planned pattern of eating is more likely to include the recommended number of serves from the five food groups. A spontaneous, unstructured eating pattern is more likely to include too many discretionary foods which means too much saturated fat, added sugars, added salt and kilojoules at the expense of fibre and important nutrients. Take a look to these alpilean reviews.

Don’t skip breakfast?

Breakfast skippers are more likely to be tempted by unplanned discretionary choices during the morning and large serves at the next meal or snack. Just think of how yummy those large baked muffins look at morning tea if you’ve missed breakfast!

People who regularly eat a breakfast based on wholegrain cereal or bread, low fat milk or yogurt and maybe some fruit or vegetables are much more likely to be eating well and lose weight than those who skip breakfast. Learn more about metaboost connection.

Eat with other people not TV

We also know that people who eat with others and eat at the dining table, are more likely to eat regularly and eat well than those who eat alone or in front of the TV. Meals with others tend to include more foods from the five food groups. For example, people often report that they can’t be bothered cooking vegetables just for themselves.

Television watching is associated with eating more discretionary choices like take-away or convenience foods and fewer foods from the five foods. It also makes it much more difficult to recognise and respond to our body’s signals about hunger and satiety.

Good meal planning and making healthy choices can sometimes be tricky but a few useful tips can make it easier.

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Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death

Red Ring of Death (RRoD)A little over a year ago, my beloved little Xbox 360 Elite decided to take a dirt nap. No more Netflix, no more games, no more MP3 / AVI / DVD-MS / Media Center on my big TV. Just three flashing lights, taunting my soul. If this happens to you and now you want to try new games that can be easy accessed from your computer, when planning to buy one, you might want to check this new post on Gaming marketplace scams.

It was the fabled ‘Red Ring of Death’.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put my Xbox back in the media lineup again.  My most favorite digital possession had taken it’s last breath.

I knew it was out of warranty so I got out my screwdriver to peek inside and see what the deal was. No joy. Afterwards I heard that you can pay for an ‘out of warranty’ repair. My Xbox was over 1 year old and I had definitely voided the warranty when I opened it. So I tried to pay for an out of warranty repair though the official channels, but that didn’t work out.

Long story short, I want the world to know a few key things about getting the Xbox 360 repaired if it dies on you. Things I didn’t know back then. Things that Microsoft, in my opinion, is still not making clear on their website or on their phone support.

Note: This is not intended to be a rant, and I’m not trying to get Microsoft to change their policy on anything. I care about you, dear reader, and about the fine folks who work at Microsoft. And because I care, I’m trying to get the Xbox repair facts out there. Facts that may not be readily (or even remotely) clear or available on their website. If you will like to try new games on your Microsoft PC, try the next link to play firework frenzy slot game.

First – If your precious goes blinky-blinky, there is a handy troubleshooter to determine what the flashing lights mean.

Second – Stay AWAY from all of the eBay, Youtube, and mom & pop ‘Xbox repair’ offers.

Third – If your Xbox 360 has 3 flashing lights (probably an E74 error), here’s what you need to know:

Fourth – And MOST IMPORTANT – NEVER open your Xbox 360. Microsoft will never repair it (any any price) if the case has been opened. Even if you request to pay for an ‘out of warranty’ repair (listed above) if the case has been opened, they will return it to you and refuse to repair it.

That point is pretty much the crux of this blog post. The web pages for Request a repair, Warranty FAQ and Repair FAQ pages do not make this point clear.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking, “Oh well, it’s out of warranty. I’m a smart computer guy/gal and I always wondered what these look like inside. I’ll open it up, see if something’s loose, and if I can’t figure it out I’ll just pay for them to fix it. After all, $99.99 is still cheaper than a new Xbox”.

I thought that, and I was dead wrong. I’m now the proud owner of a $399 Xbox 360 Elite paperweight, which is not as cool as it sounds.

Logically, if you own a car that’s out of warranty and needs repairs (even if you broke it yourself trying to repair it or crashed it into a wall) you can always take it to the car dealer and pay to have it fixed. It’s gonna cost you some cash, but you’ll drive away with a lighter wallet and you’ll have a functioning car.

However, where Microsoft is concerned, an “out of warranty” Xbox repair is only possible on a pristine Xbox that has never been opened or modified. Period. I hate to beat this dead horse, but if you open it, you might as well have just crushed it with a steamroller. It’s a dumb policy, but it is what it is.

If it’s too late and you already did open your Xbox, your only recourse is to surf eBay / YouTube / local Xbox-fixer-guy and have them take a crack at it. I guess it can’t hurt at this point.

I can vouch for multiple ‘easy fixes’ that didn’t work for me:

None of them worked for more than a few minutes to a few hours. You’re probably just better off saving the time and frustration and just buy a new Xbox. Unless you have a lot of time to kill. Personally, staring at this paperweight is bugging me, and on the next rainy day I’m probably going to try the heat gun trick. Winking smile

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The World’s Fastest Small Business Server

One sunny day while mowing the yard with the old John Deere I thought, “How cool would it be if I could mount a Small Business Server on this lawn tractor?”

The answer (as you already know) is “not very cool”. Nobody wants to see a lawn mower running Exchange and SharePoint.

Obviously, I need to drink more fluids when mowing the yard in the hot sun, but that’s neither here nor there. The proverbial wheels were turning, and I started brainstorming for something much faster and infinitely cooler than a green and yellow tractor…

Matthew SnoddyEnter Matthew Snoddy – Microsoft Small Business Specialist, Texas LLC formation consultant and owner of Network Therapists in Lexington, Kentucky.

a.k.a. “The Stig” (nobody knows for sure)

Not only is Matthew a fantastic network engineer and wheelman, he’s got some beautiful muscle cars,
like the supercharged 2008 SRT8 Dodge Challenger. If you are more of a family guy car,  you can try to investigate this site to find some offers.

Matthew Snoddy–2008 SRT8 Dodge Challenger on the dyno

A Challenger is much cooler than a John Deere, but it gets even better!

Recently, Matthew expanded his stable with the addition of a rare (one of only 20 ever made) 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR convertible. A street-legal race car.

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Microsoft is Coming to Louisville 11/18/2010

Matt Hester - MicrosoftMicrosoft TechNet Event
Primary Target Audience: IT Generalist / Implementer / Manager
Start: Thu 11/18/2010 8:30 AM Eastern
End: Thu 11/18/2010 12:30 PM Eastern

Presenter: Matt Hester (Microsoft TechNet)
Venue: Kentucky Intl. Convention Center
Address: 2210 Fourth Street, Louisville, KY 40202
Registration: Free

Agenda:
Session 1 – Can We Bust This Myth? "It’s impossible to upgrade a Windows XP computer to Windows 7"
Session 2 – Free Quick and Dirty Deployment Tools
Session 3 – Automate your Windows 7 deployment using the MDT 2010

Registration URL: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032461965&Culture=en-US

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Videos – Aurora and SBS v7

Unless you’ve been living in a cave this week, you probably heard that at Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 Microsoft announced previews of two new products in the SBS family code named “Aurora” and SBS “7”.

If you didn’t make it to WPC, check out both videos from Microsoft Senior Program Manager Lead, Becky Ochs:

Windows Server Code Name “Aurora”

  • Built on Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Supports up to 25 users
  • Remote Web Access
  • Server and Client backup
Aurora video – featuring Becky Ochs

 

Windows Small Business Server “7”

  • Built on Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Supports up to 75 users
  • Remote Web Access
  • Exchange Server 2010 SP1
  • SharePoint 2010 Foundation
  • Windows Software Update Services 3.0
  • SQL Server 2008 R2 (Premium)
SBS 7 video – featuring Becky Ochs

 

You can find out more about the preview products here:
http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/beta.aspx

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Support for Win 2000 / XP SP2 Expired July 13, 2010

Buh-bye, Windows 2000Ding dong, the witch is dead…

Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 ended on July 13, 2010. Customers need to be on at least Service Pack 3 now.
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31

Likewise, Extended Support for Windows 2000 Professional is also over.
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean35

If you need more guidance on support scenarios regarding these operating systems, check Eric Ligman’s blog post from June 16, 2010 here.

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Mailbag – Installing Office 2010 On Multiple PCs

From the mailbag:

We have several new computers and need to put Office 2010 on them. I read that I can install Office 2010 on multiple computers, is that true?

ANSWER

This question comes up *a lot* and the answer is, “It depends”. First, some background information about the availability of the software.

Office 2010 comes two different versions…

  • 32-bit Office 2010
  • 64-bit Office 2010

…and it comes in various editions (or suites)…

…which are available through different channels…

  • OEM
  • Retail
  • Volume Licensing
  • Academic

…and it comes in three license designations…

  • Packaged product
  • Downloaded software
  • Preloaded PC

That’s a lot of different ways to get Office 2010. So let’s focus on the three main ones consumers will pick up in retail locations:

  • Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 (FPP / Retail)
    Pro – You can install this edition on up to 3 home computers
    Con – Non permitted for commercial, non-profit or revenue-generating
  • Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 (FPP / Retail)
    Pro – You can install this edition on up to 2 computers
    Con – You have to be the user of both PCs
  • Microsoft Office Professional 2010 (FPP / Retail)
    Pro – You can install this edition on up to 2 computers
    Con – You have to be the user of both PCs

IMPORTANT – Don’t confuse the Full Packaged Product (FPP = boxes) with the Product Key Card (PKC = cardboard tag) versions. Both types of products are available in retail stores. Even though PKC is less expensive than boxed products, the PKC only lets you install on one PC. See the pictures below for the physical packaging difference.

 

Full Packaged Product (FPP) Product Key Card (PKC)
Microsoft Office 2010 Retail Packages (FPP) Microsoft Office 2010 Product Key Card (PKC)
Can install on up to 2 or 3 PCs (depending on edition and users). Can only install on one PC.

 

If you’re in a business and are purchasing Office 2010 through Volume Licensing (minimum purchase of 5 copies) you can get ‘Home Use Rights’ if you buy Software Assurance along with your purchase.

For more Office 2010 details, check out:

Props:

Thanks to Lee Johnson of Sentry Computer Systems for his assistance finding the Microsoft info.

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