Merle Haggard may not have been thinking of computers when he sang this song, but it certainly applies to Office 2007 and Vista.
I had to write a quick note expressing my exasperation as I hunt through menus, "ribbons", and dialog boxes looking for functions and features that have been roughly in the same spot since 1995.
I hate to beat a dead horse, but "Wow!"
I purchased Windows Vista Ultimate (OEM version) and Microsoft Office 2007 in January. Yesterday, I finally installed them both on my HP computer I bought in December for the purpose of eventually installing Vista and the new Office. The installation was the easiest of any Windows I have ever installed and only took about thirty-five minutes, but the first boot took around 12 minutes. I backed up my data and used the Vista disk to format and install the new Windows.
This weekend on our show, we were accused of joining the "band wagon" of Microsoft bashers. Long time listeners of our show and visitors to our web site know the real story…just try to find a Linux or Mac tip on our site. They will be coming eventually, but up until now we have been solid Microsoft computer guys.
Use this tool to completely remove McAffee Security 2005, 2006, or 2007.
Here is another McAfee Uninstaller that you can try from Tucows.
I demonstrated today's tip in Microsoft Word, but it also works in all the Microsoft Office programs (Excel, Access, Publisher, Outlook, etc), WordPerfect, OpenOffice and others.
The tip is simple in its performance and gargantuan in its function. Format Painter copies formatting from one location and applies it to another. In the video example below, I formatted one line of text to have a particular look and it took 31 clicks of the mouse. Using Format Painter, I copied the look of that text to some plain text in just three steps. This technique comes in handy when formatting longer documents, spreadsheets, newsletters, etc and can save you a boat-load of time. Here's how to do it:
That's it!
Tip Within a Tip:
If you DOUBLE-CLICK the Format Painter button, you can apply the formatting changes to different parts of your document over and over until you unclick the Format Painter button.
By now it is no secret that I have a unique super power. I can see the future of technology. Too many cell phone radio waves to my brain have caused me to have premonitions about the future of technology.
Two days ago, I was carried away in vision and I saw the future of Microsoft.
Microsoft knows they shot themselves in the foot with Vista. They knew before it was released that they would have to create a demand for it since it was replacing a superior product.
Now even the government is looking into getting away from Microsoft products. Linux seems to be the most popular option. This is where the prediction comes in.
Is it me, or is Microsoft pummeling the TV, Radio, and of course the online advertising arenas? Almost anywhere I look, Windows Vista ads poke me in the eyes. Could it be because of the nearly 150+ customer visits I have made since Vista came out, only two of them were using Vista? Could it be because users are perfectly content with Windows XP and don't see (rightly) the need to upgrade to Vista? Could it be that the once bullet proof Microsoft name has tarnished with this release and the web has changed the rules about desktop computing? Could it be because Microsoft's sales figures are sorely lacking compared to the release of XP and 98? Could it be that so many business and government entities have 'outlawed' Vista in their space? Could it be the incompatible software and hardware numbers that are racking up?
I write often about backup because I'm passionate about the topic. Too often, I see customers who have never backed up there important data and recovering it is either impossible or financially unfeasible.
I visited a young mother today with a laptop that was afflicted with a virus that destroyed all her data. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to recover the data. She could probably send the hard drive into a service like DriveSavers , but the cost would be in the thousands. She elected to just have the drive reformatted and said she would start over when I bring the computer back.
Yahoo announced today that they will be removing all size limits to email storage on free Yahoo email accounts. The service will begin rolling out unlimited storage in May. Yahoo is also debating a lift on storage limits for Fliker.com photo sharing accounts.
Yahoo hopes that lifting the storage limits will lead lock customers in for good.
Even if Google does match the offer, the real loser in this battle is Microsoft and Windows. If you can access your email, calendar, documents, and photos from any computer anywhere no matter what operating system you are using, Microsoft will have a difficult time finding a market for future versions of Windows.
Google filters viruses sent or received through Gmail by using a heavy handed approach to filtering. Rather than scanning each email for viruses, they simply prevent people from sending or receiving files with .exe extensions, even if they are in a zipped folder.
Getting around this is very simple, but you must let the recipient know what's going on.
Anytime you want to send a .zip file rename the extension. I like to just take the "p" off of the end. For example, I will name the file – file.zi. In the body of the message I tell the recipient to add the "p" back on before trying to open the file.
One of the disadvantages to digital photography (if you can call it that) is that you don't get prints as often. Photos tend to sit on disk or on your computer's hard drive and never get shared. The photo album is sadly becoming extinct.
If you would like to start printing out some of those digital photos, here are some pointers.
Install Picasa:
We talk about it a lot, but not often enough. Picasa will make selecting, organizing and printing your digital photos easy. In fact, there is little or no need for any other software for most people.