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Microsoft

Deep Cleaning Temporary Files in Windows XP

Temporary files are used by our computers to provide behind the scenes speed and function. When we use any program from Solitaire to programming a database, our computers are performing hundreds or thousands of duties behind the scenes…creating, modifying, and sometimes deleting files.

The files left behind are known as temporary files. Temporary files are just that; temporary and expendable. Thousands of them can stack up over time taking up valuable space and slowing your computer.

Since Windows 98, Microsoft has provided us a great little tool called Disk Cleanup. Disk Cleanup can delete Temporary Internet Files, Temporary Windows files and more all in one easy to use utility. Disk Cleanup can be found by:

1. Click Start
2. Click Programs (All Programs)

Google phone in the works

No one is really sure yet, what it all means, but Google announced today that it has joined forces with dozens of other companies to work on a new smartphone platform called Android (gPhone would sound stupid and cutesy).

Android is not technically a phone, it is a mobile linux platform for which phones and software can be developed.

No phones have been announced.
Expect the first phones out by the middle of next year, if Google can do what Microsoft and Apple can’t and actually release a product on time.

After scanning the web for details on the android, this is probably the best article we came across to make sense of it all.

Print Envelopes with One Click – Video Tip

Using Microsoft Word and a little customizing of the Word toolbar, this tip will get you printing envelopes easily.

If you write business letters with the recipient’s address in the body of the message, Word will pick up the address and insert it into your envelope when you use the envelope tool. Click on the Tools menu and then Envelopes and Labels. From there, you can print your envelope and set your default return address. Experiment with your printer a little to get the direction and feed of the envelope correct to make your printing easier.

Now to get the button on your toolbar for one-click access, follow these steps for Microsoft Word versions 2003 and prior (the video shows the methodology for Word 2007 and OpenOffice Writer as well):

1. Click on Tools from the menus
2. Click on Customize
3. Click on the Commands tab
4. Click on Tools in the Categories column
5. Scroll and find the Envelopes and Labels button in the Commands column
6. Click on it and drag it out to your toolbar…you can place it anywhere you want (I put mine next to the printer button)
7. Click on close

Now anytime you need to print an envelope your button is within reach.

The short video tutorial demonstrates these steps for you in pre-Word 2007 steps, Word 2007, and OpenOffice Writer.

Tip within a tip: Use these same steps to add any button you want to the toolbar.

Track multiple time zones in Vista – Video Tip

Windows Vista has few redeeming qualities, in my humble opinion. Some users, however, may have the need to track multiple time zones for work or personal use. I use this tip to track the time in Arizona where my brother lives. Because they don’t follow daylight savings time, I am forever confused about what time it is for him when I call.

Watch the short video below to learn how to quickly track up to three time zones if you are a Windows Vista user.

3 Reasons NOT to use Registry Cleaners

I know that downloading can be fun and pop-ups can be enticing. But when it comes to most system utilities (programs supposedly designed to help your computer), just say “NO!” One of the worst add-on utilities you can get is the so-called “registry cleaner”. First, let me try to define the registry. Starting with Windows 95 and all versions of Windows since then, Microsoft has employed a large and complex database that tracks all hardware, software, user settings, drivers, and more for our computer. This “database” of information controls everything we do with our computers from the installation of software, customization of the desktop and more importantly how all the programs we use interact with each other and with Windows.

Demand compensation from Microsoft

If I was independently wealthy, I would give discounts to customers with Windows Vista. Alas, I am not independently wealthy and my business supports my family, so I charge for time I spend in a client’s office or home. One customer , today, could have saved 30-40% off their bill had they bought one of the few remaining laptops with Windows XP.

Another sony proprietary technology bites the dust

For every Apple device that becomes a standard there is a Sony technology that becomes obsolete. Apple and Sony both got off to a great start in the early 80s. Apple introduced the Mac and Sony gave us the Walkman.

From that point on, Apple has had only a handful of market failures and Sony has had nothing but. Sony announced their latest casualty this week by discontinuing their proprietary ATRAC audio compression file format.

While the rest of the world committed to MP3 and WMA or Apple’s music format for iTunes, Sony made up their own format only supported by their devices. Sony saw Apple succeeding with their own format and device and figured they could do the same.

Make Microsoft Office 2007 Play Nice – Video Tip

The release of Microsoft Office 2007 introduced us to an entire new interface and file format (thanks Microsoft). If you upgraded to Office 2007, you are creating documents in Microsoft’s new XML formats. Word documents now have the .docx extension, Excel documents have a .xlsx extension, PowerPoint has the .pptx extension…well, you get the picture. This is all fine and dandy if everyone you know also use the 2007 version of Office, but unfortunately that is not the case. If you want to email documents back and forth, you need to save those documents in the more compatible formats.

Today’s video tip shows you how to do that.

If you are an Office 2003 version or earlier, you will need to download this massive 28 megabyte “Compatibility Pack” from Microsoft in order to be able to read documents created in 2007. Better yet, send this tip to those folks so they can make things easier on themselves and everyone else.

Ubuntu – Day 7

Today marks the one week mark that I quit using my Windows Vista machine and started using Ubuntu exclusively. I pledged to use Ubuntu only for two straight weeks to really put the operating system through the paces of daily use. After a rough start with email and fighting spam, I am almost in a groove of using this free and robust operating system. I think that Microsoft has the work cut out for themselves over the next few years to maintain their huge share of the operating system pie.