Simplifying Technology

Summer Recess

2008-03-07T05:00:00Z

The Simplifying Technology blog is taking summer vacation a little early this year, but don't fear, it will return better than ever September 8, 2008. Have a great summer and feel free to send suggestions for topics to cover in the fall.

On-Line Storage

2008-03-06T05:00:00Z

On-line storage offerings are becoming increasingly more prevalent. These solutions allow users to save files to an on-line service instead of (or in addition to) their local computer and are starting to make more sense because more people have high speed internet connections. If you have high speed internet, here are some reasons you may (or may not) want to start storing files on-line.

Pros
- Easy accessibility – If the file is stored on-line, in theory you can access it from any computer. On public computers there may be access restrictions or out of date software that prevents access, but in most cases, this is a useful feature.
- Ability to Share – Most services offer an easy way to share the files with other users. This may become preferred over e-mail attachments in time, but right now not too many people are using these services. Also since, in most cases, you both need to be members this could lead to a lot of on-line storage accounts.
- Back-up – For the most part, these services automatically back-up your data. This alone may be enough reason to use the service if you are not currently backing up data.
Cons
- Hard to Use – This problem should resolve itself in time, but, as of right now, integration with Windows Explorer and applications is not great. Most services require downloading the file, working on it and uploading the file again when done. This is not worth the work for most people. (Office Live and on-line applications such as Buzzword do not have this problem.)
- Security – Anytime your data is available on-line there is a risk, although in most cases small, of the data being stolen. If this is a concern you could encrypt your data, but this adds an extra step.
- Service Outages – Most services are available the vast majority of the time, but even great services are not available 100% of the time. Most people need files available when they want to work on them. This could be a major concern.

What do you think? Are you going to start using on-line storage? Are you already using on-line storage? Which provider do you like best? I look forward to your comments.

Opening Office 2007 Files

2008-03-05T05:00:00Z

Have you ever received a file from someone in the new .docx or .xlsx that you were unable to open? This is because Microsoft changed the file format in the 2007 version of Office. The new format offers smaller file size, increased security and the capacity for more features among other improvements. Unfortunately, without a patch, it is not compatible with older versions of Office.

If you are like a lot of people who still using Office 2003, you can go to Microsoft’s website and download the Office Compatibility Pack which allows you to convert the newer files into the older formats. If you do not have Office installed at all, you can also download free viewers from Microsoft. Just search for Excel viewer, Word viewer, etc.

New Offering: Office 2007 Support

2008-03-04T05:00:00Z

I take providing high quality phone support seriously. Part of that commitment to quality is the ability to support new software applications. I have been working with the new Office system for over a year and am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I will be fully supporting the new 2007 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook as well as Windows Vista.

Simplicity Force is proud to be able to provide full support for these applications. You will notice changes to my listings reflecting this change over the next few days. Thank you in advance for your continued business.

Clearing Your Inbox

2008-02-12T05:00:00Z

With the amount of business and personal correspondences taking place every day over e-mail, the volume of messages can become overwhelming. Fortunately, Outlook, and some other e-mail clients, provides tools to help automatically organize e-mail messages.

These tools allow you to have much greater control over your e-mail. For example, you could create a folder for each of your important business accounts, then filter messages so e-mail from these people are automatically moved to their own folder. Likewise, you could set another rule to move messages from an e-mail list you don’t need to read immediately to their own folder as well. Now you have less in your inbox and, without reading a single message, you know you have an important business message.

What is Outlook?

2008-02-11T05:00:00Z

For the next few weeks, I am going to look in depth at some programs included in the Microsoft Office. I am going to start this week with Outlook. Outlook is, in my opinion, the program that truly distinguishes Microsoft Office from other similar offerings. It is the program to help organize your life. It offers a great e-mail client, calendar software, address book and to-do list all in one. No other software comes close to offering such a complete organization solution.

The first thing most people think about when they hear Outlook is e-mail. It is a great e-mail program that works with any POP3 or IMAP account (almost all accounts not based on the web) as well as Windows Live Mail. In addition to just checking e-mail, Outlook allows users to create rather complex rules to have Outlook perform certain actions when a certain type of message is received. (more on this in my next entry)

The contact list makes sense to include in an e-mail program since a lot of communication today takes place over e-mail. In addition to providing great sorting and filtering features, Outlook’s biggest feature in contact management is the ability to import and export. This means the files should be useful even if you decide to stop using Outlook.

The final component of Outlook is its Calendar and Tasks features. These also fit well with the e-mail program. Outlook easily handles almost any type of recurring appointment so it doesn’t need to be entered multiple times. It even allows you to send e-mail requests to others to confirm if a meeting time works.

Overall, Outlook is a program many home users would do well to explore. Over the next few posts, I am going to examine these features in more detail. Check back often.

What do think? Have you ever used Outlook? Why or why not? Is Outlook the best organization client available? Do you have other recommendations? I look forward to your comments.

Free Advice Fridays

2008-02-08T05:00:00Z

Friday is the day I have set aside to answer your questions free of charge. If you have a technology related question you would like answered, post it as a comment. I will try to answer as many questions as possible on next week’s Free Advice Friday.

For an immediate, reasonably priced response, contact me directly. If I am not available for live, immediate advice, send an e-mail and I promise a response within 24 hours Monday through Friday.

A High Tech Way to Beat Winter Blues

2008-02-07T05:00:00Z

Are you looking for something new and different to do for fun as the winter drags on? My suggestion is Live Search Club.

Live Search provides a number of fun word games including Flexicon, a crossword game; Seek-A-Doo, a word search game; and C-Link, a phrase matching game. The quality of the games is great and they work in almost any web browser, although they are a little slow to load on older machines.

The best part, however, is that you are rewarded with free prizes just for playing. Prizes range from a free song download to frequent flyer miles to an Xbox 360 Pro! The time it takes to win a prize varies from just a few games for a song to months of play for an Xbox. Enjoy!

DVDs: To Buy or not to Buy

2008-02-06T05:00:00Z

For years, we have been able to enjoy movies at local theaters. More recently, we have been able to watch movies in the comfort of our own homes either on television, through a video or on a DVD. Thanks to services such as Netflix, we can even have the DVD delivered directly to our homes. Now, companies such as Netflix, Microsoft, Apple and various cable companies are delivering movies to customers immediately over their own network or the internet.

What does this mean for the future of video? Media has always had a problem of becoming obsolete rather quickly. Even standard video tapes are quickly becoming a thing of the past as digital formats such as DVDs quickly replace the analog tapes. Does this mean that everyone should upgrade their collection to DVD or even better yet Blu-ray? As with all technology, it is very easy to spend a lot of money on something that will soon be obsolete.

My prediction for the future is a pay for use system similar to the existing on-demand programming offered by most cable companies. For most uses this makes sense. Looking at the current price of a movie, it just doesn’t make sense to buy a movie (and the equipment to play it) that you are only going to watch one or two times. Instead, pay a few bucks to start watching it when you want and stop when you want. It will be important however, that the system is setup so that everyone gets to watch the content the way they want to watch it. This means allowing someone to watch a movie in half hour segments over the course of a week if that is what they want. Portability will also become a larger issue, but as was demonstrated with music and the iPod, this isn’t likely to remain an issue long.

In the end, it boils down to personal preference. It is still important to consider, however, how long in the future your current preference will be available. It is also helpful to think about the future when deciding how much of an investment should be made in any one technology.

What do you think? Are DVDs and Blu-rays worth buying? Are people interested in actually owning the movie or would they be happy with just having the right to view it once? I look forward to your comments.

Who Needs Access?

2008-02-05T05:00:00Z

Yesterday, I stated that most home users would have no need for Microsoft Access and should save the cost of the upgrade. Today, I will explain a little more about Access which, I hope, will make clear why most users don’t need this software.

Access is a relatively easy to use database creation program. It allows you to store information about pretty much anything and relate, or link, that information to other information you have stored. This feature is the main advantage over Excel. Excel can easy store lists of information, but linking one list to another is not really feasible. For example, let’s say you had a phone directory and one of the fields was the person’s spouse. In Access, you could click on the spouse’s name and quickly open their record.

The other main advantage of Access is the ability to create forms and reports. While this is possible in Excel, there is a far greatly ability to customize, and therefore get exactly what you want in Access.

The main disadvantage in Access is that a certain degree of programming ability is required to create a good database. It is true that you could create an entire database using forms and reports through the provided wizards, but most people would find this very frustrating since simple changes could easily require the user to enter the programming interface. For this reason, I recommend using Excel for lists and collections of data. While it may not be the best tool, it is much easier for most people to understand and provides the same data manipulation tools.

For existing users, it is also important to note that the file format has completely changed for Access 2007 making it impossible to open Access 2007 databases in older versions of the program. Access 2007 is however able to open older files.

What do you think? Are there compelling reasons for the average user to buy Access? Are you currently using Access? What do you think of the program? I look forward to your comments.

Choosing an Office Bundle

2008-02-04T05:00:00Z

This week, I will be focusing on the overall Office 2007 system. Today, I will start by examining the differences between the Office bundles offered by Microsoft.

The core of the Office system is Word, Excel and PowerPoint. All Office bundles include these essential components, so if this is all you want, go with the cheapest available bundle. For most users, this would be Home and Student which has the added feature of allowing installation on three devices. Some additional features included with more expensive bundles are as follows:

Office Standard adds Outlook, a feature rich e-mail, calendar, contact and task program. Unfortunately, the program does not work with most free e-mail services not offered by Microsoft, but if your e-mail account allows you to use this program, I recommend this bundle.
Office Small Business also includes Accounting Express and Publisher. It also includes additional components for Outlook. If you are able to use the accounting software, this upgrade may be worthwhile, but I would definitely try the software first.
Office Professional adds Access to the Small Business bundle. If you have a specific use for Access, you will need to purchase at least this version, but otherwise there is no need to upgrade from Small Business or Standard.

There are additional bundles, but these are not targeted at home users so I will not review them here. Sixty day trial versions are available for all of these products. If you are considering an upgrade and your computer can handle the increased demands, why not try it out today.

What do you think? What Office bundle would you recommend? Have you upgraded yet? Why or why not? I look forward to your comments.

Free Advice Fridays

2008-01-11T05:00:00Z

For an immediate, reasonably priced response, contact me directly. If I am not available for live, immediate advice, send an e-mail and I promise a response within 24 hours Monday through Friday.

The New Look in Office 2007

2008-01-10T05:00:00Z

On Tuesday, I talked about changes to the Windows operating system. Closely linked to Windows is another Microsoft product, Office. Unlike Vista, the 2007 version of Office does include significant changes to the user interface. These changes will affect almost all users, but, after a while, users will be able to quickly complete most tasks.

The main difference is the new ribbon. The ribbon is basically a collection of toolbars grouped by task that, along with the quick access bar, replace both the file menu and button bars in Office XP. Microsoft claims their research found this to make Office easier to use. Many users, however, disagree. Most of this is probably reluctance to change as the new ribbon does make commands more accessible. As an aid, the old keyboard shortcuts from Office XP work, but you must know the complete sequence in order to use it.

The other main interface difference in Office 2007 is a live preview of some formatting changes. This can be useful, but I would argue not a reason to upgrade. It is of course faster than selecting and undoing if it doesn’t look right, but not all style changes provide a live preview so it seems to still be a work in progress.

Check back next week for a more in-depth look at the Office 2007 system. Until then, if you want to a look at Office 2007 for yourself, download the free trial from the Microsoft website.

What do you think? Is the Office 2007 interface a radical change from XP? Are you holding off on upgrading because of the interface? Are there any changes you would not have made? I look forward to your comments.

Digital Television Conversion Update

2008-01-09T05:00:00Z

On July 24 of last year, I reported that starting at midnight on February 17, 2009 over the air television broadcasts would be converted to a digital signal. In this posting, I mentioned that coupons would be available from the government to offset the cost of purchasing a conversion unit. It is now possible to register for one of these coupons.

To sign up for a coupon, (you may request up to two) visit https://www.dtv2009.gov/ and follow the instructions. The coupons are expected to begin shipping in the end of February, but a limited supply is available so the sooner you order the better.

What do you think? Do you still watch television over the air or does everyone subscribe to cable? If you do use an antenna are you planning on purchasing a converter box or just buying a new television? I look forward to your comments.

The Look of Vista

2008-01-08T05:00:00Z

Often people do not upgrade to a new version of software because it would be inconvenient to learn a new, updated interface. This is not the case with Windows Vista. The Vista interface is only slightly different in appearance from Windows XP so most users will have little problem adjusting. Today I will examine some of the changes users will notice.

First, the start button is now a windows logo. I personally think it looks nicer and anyone who has been using XP will immediately recognize it as the start button. Otherwise, the only difference that is immediately noticeable is the sidebar. This allows of a number of small to run directly on the desktop. Initially a clock and photo slideshow are displayed. While this is new, it does not change the operation of Windows so shouldn’t be a problem for new users. I personally find it very nice and much better than the similar dashboard available to Mac users.

The start menu is organized differently than it was in Windows XP with the most noticeable being that it is now necessary to scroll through the programs if there are more than can be displayed at once. It also puts programs first and folder second which is the opposite of XP. Since most programs install in a folder, this may be a little confusing at first, but most users should be able to quickly figure out the differences.

The area most users will find frustrating, if they use it, is the control panel. This is reorganized and a number of additional options are available from Windows XP. There is a classic view which helps to an extent, but, because of the additional options it may be difficult to find the appropriate selection.

The other main interface change is the infamous dialogue box asking the user if he or she wants to continue before allowing specific events. In my experience, this has not been a major issue. End users who are basically running software that is already installed may never even encounter such a dialogue. The majority of criticism probably stems of computer workers who are constantly installing software and reconfiguring machines since this is when these dialogues are likely to occur.

Overall, if your reason for not ordering Vista on a new machine was that the interface would be unfamiliar and you wouldn’t be able to get work done, there is no need to fear. If you are currently using Windows XP, you will feel very comfortable using Windows Vista.

What do you think? Is the Vista interface a radical change from XP? Are you holding off on upgrading because of the interface? Are there any changes you would not have made? I look forward to your comments.