Microsoft Products

Deciding between a PC and a Mac?

We often get asked the question, especially lately with the i-Phone and i-Pad hype, about what is better to purchase, a Mac or a PC.

Here is an interesting website from Microsoft that goes over just that question.

Please leave your feed back and comments below.

Deciding between a PC and a Mac?

Inserting Columns in Word 2007

It is not often that we post about detailed Office Tips, but there is a few that we find indespensible in our day to day usage of Office 2007.

One of those tips and tricks is how to work with columns. Formating and usage of columns, gives your document that professional look, and maximizes space on the page.  It is particularly useful if you’re creating a newsletter or similarly formatted document.

To insert column in your Word document, follow these steps:

1. Position your cursor where you would like to insert the columns

5. Word will automatically insert the columns in your document.

Additionally, you may decide that you’d like to make one column shorter than the other. This can be done easily by inserting a column break.

To insert a column break, follow these steps:

1. Position your cursor where you would like to insert the column break

5. Any text typed will begin in the next column. If there is already text following the cursor, it will be moved to the next column

You may not want the entire page to contain columns. In that case, you can simply insert a continuous break in your document. You can insert one before and one after the section that contains columns. This can add a dramatic effect to your document.

To insert a continuous break, follow these steps:

1. Position your cursor where you would like to insert the first break

5. You can apply separate page setup formatting to different sections as you desire.

How to Backup your files on Windows 7

We all know that we should backup our files, yet we are all human, and thus human nature tends to be lazy at times.

This video, shows you how to get your Windows 7 machine backing up on a regular schedule. It is also a very, very and I repeat a very good idea to perform a simple test restore of some of your data on a regular basis. This will ensure that your backups are working as you expect them to.

Now when something goes wrong, such as deleting a file, or a lightning strike destroying your hard rive, theft etc.. you can then perform a restore on your new equipment, or at the very least when you contact one of our technicians, and we ask you. “Mr. Smith do you have a recent backup of your files we can restore for you?” The answer will be, “Why Yes, Yes I Do!”

Take advantage of the Taskbar features in Windows 7

Original Author: Greg Shultz (TechRepublic)

As you may remember, back in the Windows 3.x days, Microsoft gave the operating system the ability to run multiple programs at the same time, which was a revolutionary change. Unfortunately, taking advantage of the new capability was rather difficult because the operating system didn’t provide us with a good method for keeping track of, or switching between, all the running programs.

Fortunately, in Windows 7, Microsoft has provided us with several very cool, very graphical methods for switching between open windows or tasks. Of course, Windows Flip 3D, which uses visual depth to give you a very interesting way of switching, immediately comes to mind when speaking of new task-switching features. However, the tried-and-true taskbar has received many new and improved features in Windows 7 that not only enhance task switching but add a host of other features designed to improve the overall usability of the operating system.

However, it is all too easy to simply focus on the basic aspects of the taskbar and overlook all the other neat features. Therefore, in this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll take a closer look at the taskbar in Windows 7. As I do, I’ll describe each feature in detail and show you how to take advantage of each of them.

Thumbnails and more of course, the most prominent graphical feature of the taskbar is the Live Thumbnails feature. You just hover your mouse pointer over any button on the Taskbar and you’ll see a thumbnail of that window’s contents. And because the thumbnails are live, they can actually show active operations, such as the progress of a file transfer operation, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

The Live Taskbar Thumbnails feature shows you live thumbnail images of running applications.
Of course, the Live Thumbnails feature first appeared in Vista, but Windows 7’s taskbar builds on that foundation and provides many additional features. For starters, even though the thumbnails make it easy to identify the contents of the task, sometimes they just aren’t large enough, so Microsoft added a new feature called Aero Peek. You just hover your mouse pointer over any thumbnail and you’ll see the full window on the desktop, as shown in Figure B.

Figure B

Hover your mouse pointer over a taskbar button to see a thumbnail and then hover your mouse pointer over a thumbnail to see the full window.
If that’s not the window you want, just move your mouse pointer away from the thumbnail and the window disappears instantly. If that’s the window you want, just click the thumbnail and the window stays put.

There are several other taskbar enhancements in Windows 7 like larger thumbnail icons, a glass frame that includes a title bar, and the ability to show individual thumbnails for multiple instances of an application. For example, if you have three tabs open in Internet Explorer, instead of a stacked icon showing only the active tab, you’ll see icons for each tab, as shown in Figure C, and you can easily switch directly to the tab that you want.

Figure C

Windows 7’s taskbar shows thumbnails for each instance of an application.
On certain applications, like Windows Media Player, you’ll even find a feature called Thumbnail Toolbars that provide application-specific controls. For example, from the Windows Media Player Thumbnail Toolbar, shown in Figure D, you can pause/play a selected song as well as switch to the next or previous song.

Figure D

Certain types of applications will display Thumbnail Toolbars, which allow you to control the application from the thumbnail.
Button feedbackButtons on the taskbar can now provide all sorts of feedback. For example, taskbar buttons can now show the progress of an operation, such as the animated green bar that shows the progress of a file transfer, as shown in Figure E. This can come in handy when you are working on one task but want to keep an eye on the progress of another task working in the background.

Figure E

Taskbar buttons can show the progress of an operation.
Buttons can also indicate the presence of a confirmation or warning dialog box. For example, the button shown in Figure F, turned red to indicate that the file copy operation was stopped by a duplicate filename and a Copy File dialog box was prompting for a decision (Copy and Replace, Don’t Copy, or Copy, but keep both files). Again, this type of notification can come in handy if you are working on another task in the foreground.

Figure F

This button turned red to indicate that the file copy operation was stopped by a duplicate filename.
In addition to providing notification, the Windows 7 taskbar also provides a feature called Color Hot-track. While this feature has no real significant benefits other than providing an aesthetic distraction, it is really neat. When you move your mouse pointer over a button on the taskbar for a running program, you’ll notice that a light source tracks your pointer and the color of the light is based on the icon itself. For example, the light for the Windows Media Player button is orange, as shown in Figure D above.