Peewitsol

Email follow-on to Speed moving in Outlook April 26, 2005

Creating tasks from emails
Now that you’ve mastered SHIFT-CTRL-V, dear reader, let’s step up a gear. You can also create perfectly formatted tasks from an email by using this shortcut. Whenever you get an email that requires some action on your part and you don’t have time to do it right now just hit SHIFT-CTRL-V and select the Tasks folder. Outlook will create a new task for you which contains a copy of the original email. Now you can select a due date and priority for the task and enter any additional information that may be useful.
This technique really comes into its own when you receive a cluster of emails all to do with the same task. Just highlight all the relevant emails by selecting them while holding down the CTRL key, then use your trusty friend SHIFT-CTRL-V. Outlook will create one task containing all the selected emails with information you need. This is a great way to group together related emails and remove clutter from your Inbox.
Of course, SHIFT-CTRL-V also works for moving emails into calendar appointments, tasks into notes, notes into emails, calendar appointments into tasks, and so on. Just think of a permutation and give it a try. Without doubt I use this shortcut more often each day than any other.
(As before, you can also try SHIFT-CTRL-Y to make a copy of emails into your new task. But, once again, use this with care to avoid creating unnecessary duplicates. This can be handy though in certain situations like leaving an appointment in your calendar and creating a new task containing the meeting details to remind you to prepare for the meeting.)

Back-Up Address Book & Favourites April 26, 2005

I’m often asked how do you SAVE your address book ?

Backup Address Book

Right click on Desktop & make a “New” folder & name it “Address Book”
Start Address Book, Click File / Export / Other Address BookThen select Text File (Comma separated values) and click Export. Click the Browse button to select where you want to save the output file to, and it’s name, ( recommend to Desktop “New Folder” that is made).
Then click Ok and then NEXT On this page, tick the fields you want to export, ( I suggest all fields ) then click FINISH.

Burn the “.CSV file & Folder” to a Cd or floppy disk & keep it in a safe place ( preferably away from your computer) .

To Import the file into your new Address Book ( download the Folder from Cd/floppy onto your Desktop )
Start Address Book, Click File / Import / Other Address Book.
Then select Text File (Comma separated values) and click ImportBrowse to find the *.CSV file ( within the Address Folder ) you created earlier and follow the on screen prompts.

Backup Favourites

This is a relatively simple operation and invaluable if anything goes wrong. To back up your favourites using Internet Explorer, go to File > Import and Export.
The Import/Export wizard will open and all you need to do is follow the instructions and Export a back up of your favourites to another location on your hard drive or even better, to a second hard drive.
The exported folder can also be saved to disk.
You can import your favourites into Internet Explorer in the same way.

Technical Support Reference for Microsoft in UK April 26, 2005

Thought I had better add these links

Microsoft Technical Support Reference

Microsoft provides a variety of self-help support options. Most of these are free and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Use this as a reference tool to help find the self-help support option you need.

Technical Support resources

Microsoft’s Customer Technical Support Site
Our Customer Technical Support Site provides you with full details of the technical support options available to you.

Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/support

Microsoft Technical Database (Knowledge Base)
This in-depth database allows you to search for technical answers on all Microsoft products. It contains information on known problems and bugs.

Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/support/kbinfo

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Our Product Support Centre has answers to common technical support questions, plus downloads, related sites, instructions and information on new Microsoft products. The FAQ are listed by product so you can easily find help for your specific problem.

Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/support/faqs

TechNet online

TechNet is the principal UK technical support network for Microsoft products and solutions. It includes information to help you evaluate, plan, deploy and support your Microsoft products. It will also keep you up to date on events.

Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/technet/

MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) online

MSDN provides developers with extensive self-help support resources for developing and troubleshooting applications. There’s an MSDN Library Online; an MSDN Code Centre; an MSDN Bug Centre and MSDN ‘How To’ Resources.

Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/

Microsoft Public Community Newsgroups

Collaborate with others who use our products, including Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). Search within any Microsoft newsgroup by author or subject. If you’re interested in a particular subject you can subscribe to it and get email updates.

Visit http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups

Microsoft Download Centre (US)

Use the Microsoft Download Centre to find downloadable technical files for all Microsoft products. The downloads include device drivers, service packs, patches and full products.

Visit www.microsoft.com/downloads

Software provided with your PC

Was your Microsoft product preinstalled, distributed with their computer, or obtained as an upgrade directly from their computer manufacturer?

If the answer is yes, it’s likely that you have an ‘OEM’ (Original Equipment Manufacturer) product. Visit our OEM area to find out if you do have an OEM product and what your support options may be.

Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/support/oem

No-Charge Microsoft Support Incidents
You may already be entitled to free Microsoft support incidents at no charge in certain situations:

· If you are a paid subscriber to MSDN.
Visit http://www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/support/assisted_support.asp

· Microsoft no-charge support applies to many full packaged products purchased in retail stores. Microsoft provides two no-charge incidents on consumer products, desktop applications, desktop operating systems and developer products only.
Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/support/assisted

· Some licensing programs may include support incidents on some products, for example Multi-Year Open and Open Subscription Licensing.
Visit www.microsoft.com/uk/licensing

If your have support entitlement, there are two options for using your assisted support. You can telephone Microsoft on 0870 60 10 100 or submit incidents online at the UK support site. If they want Windows XP support, you can even use Chat from your Help and Support menu.

These support offerings let you access Microsoft Support Professionals who can help resolve their issues, 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays).
Visit http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;EN-GB;incidentsubmit

The information in this blog is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
This blog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of Peewitsol.
It is solely my opinion and a Tool to link to Microsoft support pages.
All Links are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Group Policy upon Computer Start-Up April 25, 2005

Create a Group Policy for your logon banner or a registry hack.

Here’s the reg hack I’ve used.

This will work with Windows 2000 Professional & XP.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]”LegalNoticeCaption”=” !!!WARNING!!! !!!Warning!!! !!!WARNING!!!””LegalNoticeText”=”This is a Company X computer system, which may be accessed and used only for official Company X business by authorized personnel. Unauthorized access or use of this computer system may subject violators to criminal, civil, and or administrative action under British & EU Law. Use of this system constitutes consent to monitoring, retrieval, and disclosure by authorized personnel. USERS HAVE NO REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY IN THE USE OF THIS SYSTEM.””Welcome”=”:WARNING! Company X System!”

cut n paste the above into a text file and then save as a dot reg file – .reg.

Realplayer April 22, 2005

RealNetworks has released a security patch aimed at plugging a flaw in its multimedia software that could allow hackers to run their own code on people’s computers.

The flaw, rated a “highly critical” risk by security company Secunia, affects most recent consumer versions of the RealPlayer media player software, for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Also at risk are some, but not the most recent, versions of the software for Linux. The flaw exists in some RealOne Player versions too, RealNetworks said.

The company released the patch for the flaw on Tuesday.

“RealNetworks has received no reports of machines compromised as a result of the now-remedied vulnerabilities,” the company said on its Web site. “RealNetworks takes all security vulnerabilities very seriously.”

So-called buffer overflow faults, which can be exploited by a hacker to swamp a program with unexpected information and use the resulting data spillover to run malicious code, have become a common discovery in many of the most popular software programs.

The Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox Web browser, Apple Computer’s iSync program and numerous kinds of Microsoft software have all been found to carry similar risks and have been patched over time.

Gone Phishing April 21, 2005

My thanks again to Steve Lamb for this article about phishing Scams.

I think it’s a good reminder to be on your guard at all times.

http://blogs.technet.com/steve_lamb/archive/2005/04/21/404031.aspx

XP Performance tip April 20, 2005

Performance Tip: Eye Candy Causes Speed Decay

The standard Windows XP look has colors and animation galore.With a less-gaudy look, you can squeeze more performance out ofyour PC.
To change the look, right-click the My Computer icon and select Properties.
Then click the Advanced tab.
Under Performance, click the Settings button.
On the Visual Effects tab, click the”Adjust for best performance” option.
Or, click Custom and check just the features you want to keep.
On LCD displays, the “Smooth edges of screen fonts” option improves clarity but may also cause a large performance loss depending on your video board

Timewaster April 20, 2005

TimeWaster of the Week: Dialect TestYou are how you speak. So maybe if you are unaware of your annoying habit of calling a carbonated beverage “pop,” and it is holding back your career, you should take the test here

Infosec April 20, 2005

I’m definitely going to this.

The event is free if you register before 22nd April, otherwise it’s £20.

Office Updates for April April 20, 2005

Best practice check Office for Updates
http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/200504_office.mspx