Month: May 2008

The new Microsoft Office ribbons are an interesting feature, yet they take up additionalscreen real estate. A small,yet nifty trick will allow you to hide the ribbons and un-hidethem when needed: Simply double click the label of a ribbon. Once you do so, the document you are working on receives the additional screen real estateand the ribbon can be brought back into view by clicking the label of the ribbon you need. Once the option that you want to use has been clicked and you return to your document theribbon disappears. To bring the ribbon back simply double click the … Continue reading Playing with Office ribbons

  The “Works with” tool is a time and cost-saving resource for developers and IT Pros to determine application readiness on Windows Server 2008. Within two to four hours the tool compares an application with Microsoft’s application compatibility criteria and provides a detailed summary. The “Works with” tool can be applied to both commercial and custom in-house developed applications and helps provide IT Professionals increased confidence to deploy applications on Windows Server 2008. Download

Sysinternals was a company (that got bought by Microsoft) that has created a hugenumber of troubleshooting applications for Windows. It is very likely that if you have everbeen engaged in troubleshooting a Windows system you have used one of their tools tofind the problem affecting the system. The major issue I had with these tools that you actually needed to have them around with youwhen you needed them – which in time of need you never had. Now, Microsoft and Sysinternalshave made these tools available to be started from the Internet (no more file hunting) at: http://live.sysinternals.com The first file … Continue reading Sysinternals tools Live!

The rumor of Windows 7 making an appearance at D6 has actually tuned intoreality. The major discovery, except the slightly enlarged taskbar that we are notallowed to talk about, is that multi-touch features will be natively built into the OS. Multi-Touch in Windows 7 Considering this and keeping in mind that iPhone and Surface already use this technologyI think that we might actually be looking at a small revolution in the field of interaction withcomputers. Touch screens have been around for quite a while, yet with multi-touch (after having thepleasure to experience the Surface for the first time this week) … Continue reading Windows 7 multi-touch

Rumors,rumors,rumors…One one hand they are a bad thing since they arenot based on accurate foundations, on the other hand you can’t afford to disregardaltogether as you might miss something important. A rumor is floating around that Windows 7 will make some sort of appearance at the“D Conference” to be held on the 27th of May. The rumor doesn’t say what type ofappearance but it will be worthwhile to check: http://allthingsd.com/d/

I never cease to be amazed by the shear amount of keyboard shortcuts that areavailable for use in most applications. Most of us are accustomed to using themouse,yet from time to time I find myself picking up the habit of using a shortcutthat dramatically improves my productivity- the only problem is discovering theseshortcuts. So,just for the fun of it, take a look at the available keyboard combinationsfor Outlook 2007 (hopefully you will pick up a few tricks): http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP012303961033.aspx