TipTalk: from Microsoft At Home & At Work : Random Bits

Use Live Search Maps: A better way to get to A to B

ahawblog — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:04:00 GMT

The improvements to Microsoft Live Search Maps over the past year really make it worth checking out. I showed some of the aerial imagery in Live Search Maps to friends and family this week and everyone was impressed by what it could do. And I’m not the only one. PC World tested a bunch of mapping tools and awarded its highest rating to Live Search Maps. (Google came in fourth, with MapQuest right behind it.)

One of the most amazing things about Live Search Maps is being about to get 3D views of maps and cities. You can rotate around buildings and landscapes.

The images below show some of the capabilities of Live Search Maps. Click the images to get a larger view.

Find driving directions and save directions you need regularly to the scratch pad.

Identify nearby stores, supermarkets and other businesses.

Use the Aerial option to see a bird's eye view of the area you want to see.

The Live Search Maps site describes some of the other things you can in Live Search Maps, including:

Getting ratings and reviews of businesses
Creating collections of locations that you can share with friends and family
Finding traffic updates

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

--Jason Kozleski

Download the new version of Windows Defender

ahawblog — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:27:00 GMT

We’ve gotten a lot of comments about the confusing "Windows Defender has expired" message. Even my dad—who has been in the computer industry for 30 years—got confused by it. The Security Tips & Talk blog has the information you need about downloading the latest version of Windows Defender, where to find support, and what to do if you’re still having problems with it. Visit their Download the new version of Windows Defender post.

--Jason Kozleski

Listening to audio books on a portable media player

ahawblog — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:46:00 GMT

We received a lot of responses to the Picking a portable media player article. It's great to know how popular these devices have become. One thing we didn't cover in the article—and we got a lot of comments on—was what to consider when buying a portable media player to listen to audio books. A search on MP3 audio books shows just how many books are available in this format.

For buying a device, the same considerations we discussed in the article generally apply, but there are some other features to consider. If you want to listen to a 20-hour novel, you're probably more apt to choose a bigger device with more memory or features. Having a smaller device that wraps around your arm while you're exercising probably won't fill your needs. Some additional factors to consider include:

1. Pause functionality: You're going to want to pause the audio book at some point. Make sure your player includes this feature. Otherwise, you may miss something or search for where you left off when you get interrupted. And if it does allow you to pause, check for how long. You'll want it to pause indefinitely.

2. Continuation after interruption: It's important for audio books that players keep to the same point in the book (or at least to the same file chapter), in case of intentional or unintentional interruption, for example when you switch the player off and on or have to replace the batteries. In those instances, you don't want to have to return to the beginning of the book. It is tolerable that you have to re-listen from the beginning of the current file, provided that the file isn't too long. However, if the player "forgets" the current file and after interruption points to the first file, it's probably going to cause you some irritation and is not suitable for audio books.

Before you buy the player, here are some things to check in the store:

What happens if you switch the player off and on? Is it going to the same file or to the beginning of the first file?
What happens if you change the batteries? Is it going to the same file, or to the beginning of the first file?

3. Memory: Get as much memory as you can. Players with 10 gigabytes (GB) of memory or more are very well suited for long audio books. A lot of players these days have large amounts of storage, so finding a player that meets this requirement shouldn't be difficult.

4. Batteries: Choose a player that has a longest battery life possible. It's best not to run out while you're in the middle of an audio book and traveling.

5. Earphones: Sound quality on an audio book may not be as good as you get with music. Players might sound good if you're in a quiet location, but you might have problems if you're in a noisy commuter train or office. In those cases, some higher-quality, over-the-ears headphones are good idea.

—Jason Kozleski

Customize your Start menu

ahawblog — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:08:00 GMT

The Start menu is the doorway to most of the programs on your computer. Taking some time to customize it to match your needs can be a good investment. Me? I was getting tired of searching through the list of programs on the Start menu. It always seemed to take too long to find the one I wanted. So, I figured out a way to alphabetize the programs in the list. In addition to saving me time, I no longer dread having to look through a long list. Anyway, I did a little research, and came up with these tips to customize your Start menu—including how to alphabetize the list of programs.

Keep your favorite programs near the top of the Start menu

Do you have a favorite program that you frequently use? Elevate its priority on the Start menu by putting it at the top of the list. This ensures that the program will remain on the Start menu and cannot be bumped by other programs, even if you use the others more frequently.

Right-click the link to your favorite program on the Start menu and click Pin to Start Menu. Your program will be moved permanently to the top part of the list, just below your browser and e-mail programs.

Alphabetize programs in your Start menu

If you're like me, you'd like all the programs in the Start menu alphabetized. Also, you may have found that opening the All Programs menu as a folder and rearranging the icons changes nothing on the menu.

To arrange programs by name

Click Start, click All Programs, and then right-click on any folder or icon.
Click Sort by Name.

That's it. Works like magic. Enjoy your refreshingly organized Start menu.

Speed up Menu Display

Click Start, click Control Panel, and click System.
Click the Advanced tab, and under Performance, click the Settings button.
Clear the Fade or slide menus into view check box, and then click OK.

Now when you bring up a collapsed menu, it will expand without delay.

Change the Start menu style

Does the Windows XP Start menu take up too much space on your desktop? You can easily change the look back to the Windows Classic Start menu by following these steps:

Right–click the Start button, and then click Properties.
Click Classic Start menu.
Click the Customize button to select items to display on the Start menu.

By default, selecting the Classic Start menu also adds the My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer icons to your desktop.

—Jason Kozleski

What is Virtual Memory?

ahawblog — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 01:23:00 GMT

Over the holiday break I was reading through reader feedback and found a great question: What is "Virtual Memory?" I know there's a great joke in that question somewhere but I can’t remember what it is...

Anyway, when you're talking about your computer, virtual memory refers to a technique the operating system uses to help it work with your applications and files. The Microsoft Computer Dictionary definition is: "Memory that appears to an application to be larger and more uniform than it is. Virtual memory can be partially simulated by secondary storage such as a hard disk."

OK, so what does that mean? To understand virtual memory, you first need to understand the hardware your computer uses to store information.

First, there's the hard drive, where your software and data files are stored permanently. Your hard drive looks a bit like this:

Hard drive

Second, there are memory chips, which are used to temporarily store the software and information (such as documents and pictures) your computer is actively working with. Memory chips look like this:

Memory chip

You also store information on removable media, such as CDs and USB drives, but this discussion is confined to the storage that stays in your computer.

You'll often hear the memory chips in your computer referred to as RAM, which is short for Random Access Memory (which means pretty much just that, memory that's used in a random, rather than sequential, manner). The more RAM your computer has, the more software and files it can juggle at the same time without having to read or write stuff onto or off of your hard drive. This is why computers with more RAM tend to run faster than those with less.

Regardless of how many RAM chips you've got in your computer, virtual memory helps increase your computer's performance by using hard drive space as a way to extend the storage area available to RAM. Also called disk memory, this process uses something called a page file to move information in and out of the RAM chips on your computer.

Virtual memory uses page files to move information between your hard drive and RAM

Generally, you shouldn't run into trouble with the virtual memory functionality on your computer. If you get an error message referring to virtual memory, you can search for potential causes on http://support.microsoft.com, or contact your technical support resource.

I'll close with a trivia note: In researching this topic, I saw virtual memory referred to as one of the under-acknowledged computing breakthroughs of the 20th century. It was first used in mainframe computers in the 1960s.

—Robbin Young

3 favorite tips for Favorites

ahawblog — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:08:00 GMT

Do you take advantage of the Favorites menu in Internet Explorer to save links to the Web sites you want to find again? Also known as "bookmarks," your favorite links can be really handy, as long as you don't end up with a list that's as messy as mine tends to be. So, since it was past time for me to clean up my Favorites, I thought it'd be a great chance to share some of my favorite Favorites tips.

If you've not used Favorites before, How to Use Favorites to Get Around the Web is a great place to start learning about them. And this set of Internet Explorer How-to Articles includes a ton of great information that can help make your browsing easier.

Tip 1: Alphabetize your list
Scanning through your list of favorites may be easier if they're sorted in alphabetical order. Here’s how:

Right-click anywhere on the Favorites menu.
On the menu that opens, click Sort by Name. See step 2 in the image below. Internet Explorer lists folders first (if you have them), and then individual Web pages in the main list.

Tip 2: Organize your favorites using Windows Explorer
One handy thing to know about Favorites is that they are actually little files that are stored in a folder (called "Favorites") just like other files are stored on your computer. This means that you can work with them like you do with other files. The trick is finding where the folder is stored, as it's not under My Documents. (Windows keeps the folder containing your favorites with your other User Profile information.) You can quickly open your Favorites folder using Windows Explorer by doing the following:

On the Internet Explorer toolbar, Click Favorites.
Hold down the SHIFT key, and then click Organize Favorites.

After you right-click Organize Favorites, your Favorites folder will open in Windows Explorer. This makes it easy for you to move links between the different file folders, delete them, and rename them.

If working with files this way is new to you, see Super simple sorting: Organize your files for a quick overview of how to sort files.

Tip 3: Use the Links feature for fast access
I have a few Web sites that I go to nearly every day. I've found the fastest way to get to them is by adding them to the Links folder in the Favorites menu. Anything in the Links folder will be available in the Links toolbar, which you have the option of showing at the top of your browser Window, as I've done in the following image. Note that I use one or two character names for the links so I can fit lots of them onto the toolbar. You can change the name of any of your favorites by right-clicking it from the Favorites menu, and then clicking Rename.

There are many more ways you can make Internet Explorer work the way you want it to. Stay tuned for future tips, including suggestions on how to backup your favorites and how to copy them to another computer.

—Robbin Young

Neck or shoulder pain? Try these 10 healthy computing tips

ahawblog — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:20:00 GMT

If working on the computer is becoming a pain in the neck, it might be time to rearrange your work area and change some of your computer habits. Start the new year off right by following these simple suggestions for healthy computing.

Take a 3-minute break every 30 minutes.
During your break, breathe deeply from your abdomen. Relax your arms in your lap, and then stand up and stretch your neck and shoulders. You can set a recurring reminder in your e-mail or scheduling program to help you remember to take a break. Try these workstation stretches recommended by the National Institute of Health.
Customize your chair.
First, adjust your chair height so your feet are firmly supported by the floor (or a foot rest) and your thighs are parallel to the ground. Next, adjust the backrest so that it supports your lower back. The backrest (not your arms) should support your torso weight.
Rearrange your workspace.
Set your work surface to elbow height. A desk that's too high can give you shoulder fatigue. If you use a fixed-height work surface, try installing a keyboard and mouse tray that you can adjust.

Place any devices you use frequently, such as your mouse and keyboard, within easy reach.
Reposition your monitor.
Place your monitor at arm's length and make sure the top of your screen is eye level when sitting up straight. (Bifocal users might need a lower monitor.) Center your monitor and keyboard in front of you so you don't twist your neck while typing. If you refer to documents while typing, consider using a document stand to position documents near eye level.
Alternate your hands.
Throughout the day, try moving the mouse to alternate sides of the keyboard. Switching hands will help balance the load between your arms. This can be particularly helpful if your shoulder or neck hurts on one side only. You can use a symmetrical mouse to make left-and right-hand pointing more comfortable. Check out the ergonomic symmetrical mouse devices designed by Microsoft.
Get a headset for your phone.
Never hold the phone between your head and shoulder. If you use the phone frequently, use a headset to reduce the strain on your neck.
Use a forearm rest.
A forearm rest can reduce the load on your shoulders by supporting your forearms (not your wrists or elbows) when using the computer. Several ergonomic forearm rest styles are available online. Choose one that doesn't lock you into a single posture. If you're using the arm rests on your chair arm but are experiencing discomfort, try removing the arm rests. They can sometimes place your arms in an awkward position or put pressure on the nerves in your elbows. Make sure to support only your arm weight on the forearm rest, and not your full upper body weight.
Dock your notebook.
When using a notebook computer over long periods of time, attach it to a docking station and use an external keyboard and mouse. If you don't have a docking station, you can raise the height of your notebook screen to eye level and then plug in a USB keyboard and mouse. When you're away from your desk, consider using a notebook mouse instead of the mouse built into your notebook. Check out the wired and wireless notebook mouse devices designed by Microsoft.
Use a sit/stand workstation.
Try using an adjustable sit/stand desk that supports neutral postures. It lets you adjust the height of your work station to accommodate both sitting and standing positions.
Seek medical attention for recurring discomfort or pain.
These tips aren't intended to replace medical treatment. If you have consistent neck or shoulder pain, consult a healthcare provider.

For more tips about healthy computing and workstation ergonomics, see the Microsoft Healthy Computing Guide.