Download details: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats

I had a client today that had some problems opening some document files that were emailed to her. Turns out that they were written in either Office 2007 or 2010 which has a new document format called XML that is used. Office 2003 does not natively have the ability to open, view or edit these files but thankfully Microsoft has given anyone in the predicament a way to update their version of Office 2003 to be capable of accessing files in saved in this format.

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New Virus killing wireless

by Scott Wiltshire

There is something new out this week that kills off the wireless on a laptop.

It can come out in one or two ways. First way is your wireless will not see any networks at all.

Second way is the wireless will see the network but cannot either connect or connects and drops the connection every few minutes or so.

The only way I can found to get rid of this is to delete the hidden temp in the users hidden local settings folder, and also delete the temp in the windows folder.

Make sure you have an updated MalwareBytes and the latest download of combofix.

Boot in to safe mode and run both programs, reboot and see if it works.

If your using a 3^rd part app to control your wireless say like dells wireless utility you may have to uninstall and reinstall it.

I believe the virus corrupts the Windows Zero wireless config panel upon start up, after removing it and a reboot the config should sort itself out.

It does the same with the 3^rd parties but in their case they are normally broken until reinstalled.

Also make sure you go in to internet options and connection settings and make sure you click detect settings automatically, as the virus will set a fake proxy.

This is a nasty little virus, and the bad thing about it is it will go through network, I had a system with it on this weekend at my house and it spread through my network hitting my laptop and my wife’s.

Hope this will help you out on the road.

Barnes & Noble opens 'PubIt!' self-publishing portal, details compensation model

So you want to be a published author and Barnes & Noble wants to bring you into their fold. Launching soon, Barnes & Noble’s PubIt! self-publishing portal will soon be available. As you'd heard before, this platform is essentially designed to give independent writers a venue for hawking their masterpieces, with PubIt! converting files to ePUB for use on a wide range of e-readers (read: not only the Nook).

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Configuring Devices in Windows 7

Here is a video link and links to other support information provided by Microsoft about many Windows 7 topics. This video describes installation and configuring devices in Windows 7. Topics that are discussed include:

Updating, disabling, and uninstalling drivers

Signed drivers

Configuring driver settings

Conflicts between drivers

Resolving problem device drivers

Configuring Devices in Windows 7

Is ePub Format the Default Standard now for eBooks?

With the new update for the Pages App that now allows you to save your documents in ePub format which Apple uses for iBooks. It is also the native format for Stanza (which is the Open eBook standard from the International Digital Publishing Forum http://www.idpf.org). ePub is supported in Stanza Desktop, iPhone, iPod Touch, Adobe Digital Editions and some Sony Readers.

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Intuit and Morphie have introduced a product for accepting payments using your iPhone

For those of you that are working the event tent themes you have probably been looking for more ways to be able to collect funds from potential customers. If you are like me, I hardly ever carry cash, I have embraced plastic money. More and more of us are getting into that position and if you are a retailer then you need to be more concerned about losing a sale because you don’t have a way of processing a credit card transaction.

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Windows XP Understanding Downgrade Rights

The availability of Windows 7 presents a great opportunity for you to consult with your customers and grow your business. With higher levels of reliability, security, performance, administration, and support offered by Windows 7, you can make a strong business case for the Windows 7 operating system.

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Don’t be afraid to make adjustments to Microsoft Office

One of the things that I am constantly doing is making adjustments to my computer to make work better and have available all of the application tools that I use day in, day out. This involves loading the right software on a system that I am going to use as well as adjusting that software when necessary to the way I need to use it.

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Channel 9 – A Community for developers and users

With so much video available from so many sources how do you choose what you are going to watch? I know it’s hard but I keep up with most the content that interests me by using iTunes to collect the Podcasts or going directly to the content provider’s site to access the information. Microsoft has created several “communities” that contain information about products, how to use them and discussions of projects and events surrounding the software giant. Channel 9 is one of those communities. One way of keeping up with new content coming from this site is to subscribe to its RSS feed. If you are new to RSS and the ability to have site postings sent to you automatically then you are in for a real treat.

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Blogging Pitfalls: How to Not Abandon Your Blog | BloggingPro

If you are thinking of starting a blog or are currently working with one, this article points to some really good insights that are important to keep in mind. Be sure you keep up with so that it shows some activity. Otherwise people will think that it is abandoned. Then you will lose followers and eventually you’ll probably lose interest. Take a few minutes and peruse this great article.

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How to Stay Connected

I talked a little bit about how I pick the devices that I use, in this post I want to talk about the what I am using to accomplish this. First, let’s go down the list of devices that I use both for the office and my own entertainment. At the office I have an i7 Workstation with dual 19 inch monitors in the traditional square or 4:3 format. At home my primary system is again an i7 but I am using a 32 inch TV/Monitor as my secondary monitor and a 22 inch widescreen for my primary screen. I also have three mobile devices, an 10.1 inch Acer NetBook, an iPhone 3gs, and my newest acquisition an Apple iPad.

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How To Build an Awesome $500 Windows Home Server - Tested

It was a little convoluted path on how I got to this great technology website that has a wealth of information on it about, well, Technology. They have great How-To Videos and blog posts describing how to make technology items to add to your life, software that makes your products work better or smarter and general information about which is the best products to buy to meet the price/performance ratio best choice.

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10 QuickBooks issues and how to resolve them | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com

This is a good article that shows 10 common QuickBooks problems and methods to fix them. Just wanted to document where to find this for future reference.

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How To - Word 2010 Inserting Screen Clippings

In a continuation of some of the attributes of Windows 7’s utility Snipping Tool which gives you the ability to grab portions of your screen and save them as images and/or store them into your clipboard to be pasted in a document of your choice. In Word 2010 you now have this same capability of inserting a window or a portion of the screen as a function from within the Word application off of the Insert Ribbon.

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Hard Drive Recovery is hit and miss at best

Here is an interview from Tekzilla that will give you a quick overview of drive recovery methods and what to do to try to attempt data recovery. Very interesting interview with Scott Moulton from Tekzilla’s - Which Hard Drives Fail The Least? Sleek Cell Phone Booster, Hard Drive Recovery Tools, Adobe Reader Alternatives, Space Pictures! – Tekzilla Episode.

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Windows + Key Keyboard Commands

I have always been a big proponent of keyboard shortcuts going all the way back to my Windows 3.1 days…. I love moving around quickly and getting things done whether I am in an application or just bouncing around the operating system. Here are a list of short-cut keys that may make your life easier when using Windows 7 and your keyboard.

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Office 2010 RTM became available on Friday

The Released to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Office 2010 is available to MSDN participants as of this past Friday. I have installed on my primary home system and so far I have a big smile. Take a look at this article to see my preliminary findings and what you need to do to prep your machine for installation.

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Initial Impressions of Office 2010

I am starting a list of the the things I love and hate about the new release Office that is coming out and even though I know that I am working with Beta version, most of the product seems to be working fine with just a few quirks I have to live with. There are some integration issues with some of the products I for use daily basis, but I believe that these will be worked out very quickly once the final release arrives.

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Can’t Send Mail and you are using Comcast?

Users all over the country are finding out daily that suddenly, for no apparent reason at all, they are unable to send mail if they want people to reply to their business or personal e-mail addressed other than one that is @comcast.net. This is because Comcast is blocking port 25 , which is your default port for sending email through your mail software.

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Office 2010 provides better protection from email attachments

I constantly get email attachments of all sorts of Office documents and one of the worries I have is acquiring malware from embedded code in document that is sent to me. Office 2010 incorporates a multi-stage or multi-level approach to protect your system from this kind of attack.

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