10 Office Tips You Might Have Missed

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Some of these are pretty common knowledge, some are not, but if you use Microsoft Office, you might find some tips in this article with a cool name from Seferm Post: Microsoft Office Top 10 Secret Ninja Moves.


Office is a treasure trove of hidden features that make everyday life easier. Although each version of Office has made improvements in helping users discover the available features, I find that some of my favorite features are still not well-known amongst friends and family. Here are my top 10 most useful secret ninja moves to increase your productivity and win friends and lovers.

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MS Lawyers Score Victory

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Score one for the Microsoft lawyers (do they ever lose?!) in a lawsuit against Uniloc for a product activation scheme built into Windows. At least they got an appeal. I’m sure they will make it out of this one successfully. Of course, I never did like the product activation in Windows. Too many hiccups and false denials and just a general pain in the butt.

The victory in the Uniloc case comes as Microsoft is awaiting the result of an appeal in another patent case in which the custom XML feature in recent versions of Word was found to infringe on patents held by Canada’s I4i. If it fails in its appeal bid, Microsoft faces damages of more than $200 million in that case as well as an injunction that would halt sales of word with the infringing feature.

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MS Security Essentials Is Released

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For those that didn’t know, Microsoft has released their new free security suite: Microsoft Security Essentials. Load it up and give it a try. Nothing to lose. I’m going to throw it on one of my machines and take it for a test spin and let you know how it goes.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It

Windows 7 Launch Parties

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Well, those of you that were selected for a Windows 7 launch party have been notified. If you weren’t selected, but have Windows 7, take the time to show a friend or relative how it is. I wasn’t selected, but will still be throwing a party of sorts. I’m having a few friends and family over to showcase Windows 7 and make believers out of them. Some of them are Vista bashers and I’ve been trying to convert them to a “modern” OS, and this is my chance! Of course, I’m the family “free tech support”, so I’m sure some are coming for that reason. But, it’s a good chance to show them Windows 7 and help them with their PC’s to make sure they can even run it. 🙂

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First Details Of Microsoft’s Secret Tablet

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Well, this is interesting. Microsoft has been working on a nice multitouch tablet… Booklet PC. This looks very nice, and I’ll definitely be sure to keep an eye on this in the coming months. Apple is supposedly building a similar tablet, as well. It’ll be nice to see what both camps eventually release. No word yet on pricing or availablilty dates, but I’ll be sure to get one as soon as possible and do an in-depth review!

Courier is a real device, and we’ve heard that it’s in the “late prototype” stage of development. It’s not a tablet, it’s a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They’re connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.

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Working With Windows 7 More Efficiently

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Laptop Logic checks out the features that helps make working with Windows 7 more effiecient. These are some great features that help you work faster, clean up clutter, and make for a more refined OS. Small read, you may have already known what they are, but it’s nice for those that have heard about Windows 7, but yet to see or play with it.

With the upcoming release of Windows 7, Microsoft has introduced and enhanced a slew of features that makes using Windows simpler and less time consuming. At the end of the day, as users all we want is an operating system that allows us to work efficiently and minimizes the number of problems that keep us from doing so.

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Windows 7 3D Advances

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Windows 7 is only one month away from widespread public release, and people are starting to get excited. TechARP takes a look at how Windows 7 improves on the graphics processor. They also take a quick look at how multi-GPU support is improved with Windows 7. I know a few of you readers are avid gamers, so this should be of interest to you. I am still spec’ing out a machine with 3 GPU’s, 2 in SLI and 1 for physics. Windows 7 should play nicely with that setup.

Beta testers have so far been very impressed with Windows 7. It’s fast and it’s stable. One of the reasons is the improved graphics capability in Windows 7. Microsoft seemed hesitant in utilizing the full capabilities of the graphics processor in Windows Vista, which was a real shame. Windows 7 changes all that, and that’s what we will be talking about today.

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Office Coming To The Web Next Week

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It’s been mentioned before, but Microsoft Office is coming to the web, as part of their Live offerings. This is extremely good news, as I could use this a lot. It is a direct competitor to Google Apps, which also offers some Office compatibility. Public testing starts later this week. I’ll definitely be giving this a lot of my time. Of course, I wonder how many features it does have. Can I still run VBA macros? Does it support full formatting options? How large of a spreadsheet can I have? Some things I’ll have to look in to.

Microsoft will offer browser-based Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in two ways. For consumers, they will be offered via Microsoft’s Office Live Web site, while businesses will be able to offer browser-based Office capabilities through Microsoft’s SharePoint Server product.

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Big Cat On Microsoft Campus

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Almost sounds like Apple is coming for Microsoft. But, this isn’t Snow Leopard. It’s a cougar. I bet there are a few Microsoft employees scared of the cat on the loose. Being from the Northwest, I’m no stranger to the big cats being around, but it is still pretty cool.

The sightings were enough to prompt Microsoft to send out a note on Friday letting its employees know what they should do if they encounter one of the cats, which are also known as mountain lions.

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Windows 7 Online Summit From MVP’s

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Doing a lot of work online, helping others and just chatting with others, I meet a lot of Microsoft MVP’s (been nominated myself quite a few times over the years, too!). Well, on October 7th, five MVP’s are holding an online summit to answer your questions and give you the lowdown on Windows 7. From an enthusiast point of view. Show up if you want to learn more, in plain english.

Is Windows 7 really that good? Did it become what Windows Vista was
supposed to be? Does it meet the expectations?

October 7, starting 1:00 PM (EDT), we give you the answers…

Meet the team that worked closely with the development team in Redmond,
built production systems, configured, deployed, hardened, debugged, tested,
crashed,modified and ran the new platform through all possible scenarios.

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