PCTips Box

Microsoft has made Origami Experience 2.0 available for download. A collection of programs designed to enhance the user experience of ultra-Mobile PCs, Origami Experience 2.0 is set up to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft’s latest Windows operating system. In the Redmond company’s vision, UMPCs upgraded to Windows Vista should also feature Origami Experience 2.0, as the project announced at the Consumer Electronics Show January 2008 was finalized. In fact, even as early as the start of May, the Origami team was hinting that the downloads of 2.0 were planned to go live with the final bits.

“The Origami Experience 2.0 is designed for Ultra-Mobile PCs that run Windows Vista. To run the Origami Experience 2.0, a UMPC with the following specifications is recommended: minimum 100 MB of available hard disk space; minimum 1 GB of system memory and touch panel display (required for Origami Picture Password),” revealed Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc.

A total of four applications have been packaged into Origami Experience 2.0. Users running Windows Vista Business; Enterprise; Home Premium; and Ultimate on UMPCs will be able to enjoy the added power, flexibility and functionality of Origami Experience 2.0: Origami Central, Origami Now, Origami Picture Password and Touch Settings. (more…)

Here is a pctipsbox for those of you who frequently schedule meetings using Outlook 2007. It is sometimes handy to have a hard copy of the names of attendees invited to a meeting, along with the name of the meeting organizer. Although it requires a few steps, you can print this information in Outlook 2007.

Your first step is to copy the names of attendees and the organizer:

1. Within Outlook, click the Calendar.

2. Open the appropriate meeting request.

3. On the Meeting tab, click Scheduling Assistant.

4. Select the names in the All Attendees list.

5. On the Format Text tab, click Copy.The names of the meeting organizer and attendees are copied. (more…)

Like busses you wait ages for a Windows Service Pack, then two come along at once. Hard on the heels of Vista SP1, which mostly went without a hitch, we can now look forward to XP Service Pack 3, the last for the operating system, which is now heading towards retirement, probably next year.

If you were around when MS unleashed SP2 you are forgiven for a brief shudder of trepidation, but I think this one should go quite smoothly. Unlike XP SP2, which re-wrote a lot of the operating system’s code, this one focuses on rolling up all previous security updates since the release of SP2, and a reported 1074 fixes and upgrades. Most of them are anonymous behind the scenes things that you’ll be happier not knowing about (because they are mostly deathly dull…), but there are a few interesting bits and bobs. (more…)

Microsoft is hard at work searching for ways to improve its Office System. This is why the company has introduced a quasi-independent effort dubbed Office Labs. Designed to be a sandbox set up to streamline the experimenting, building and testing of new ideas, Microsoft Office Labs will offer the first taste of new products and features while still in the most early stages of development, even as prototypes. An illustrative example in this regard is Search Commands for the Office 2007 System.

“Search Commands helps you find commands, options, wizards, and galleries in Microsoft Office 2007 Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Just type what you’re looking for in your own words and click the command you need. Search Commands also includes Guided Help, which acts as a tour guide for specific tasks,” reveals the product’s description. (more…)

It happens some time when you lost the password for a database microsoft access file.

As file is password protected so it will not open up without the correct password entered, in order to solve the problem you can simply use a free password revealing utility by nirsoft.net

It’s called Access PassView, the only limitation with this program is that it works for every password-protected mdb file that created with Microsoft Access 95/97/2000/XP. (more…)

Probably Windows 98 users remember that in the Start menu there was a possibility to see your recently open documents (as far as I remember, the list displayed the last 15 documents you opened). In Windows XP, this option is gone. Sometimes I found it useful, because I never remember the names I give to files, or the place I save them.

Windows XP has this information in memory, but it does not display it by default anymore. Here’s how to get access to the recent documents list:

1. Open Windows Explorer (if you don’t know how, use the shortcut keys combination “Window” + “E”)
2. Click on Local Disc (C:) (more…)

The end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 have been a veritable Service Pack fiesta for Microsoft in terms of the company’s flagship products. Both Windows and Office have got their fair share of updates, but the productivity suite of both the 2003 and 2007 versions has simply beaten the Windows client to the punch, so to speak. Microsoft made available both Office 2003 SP3 and Office 2007 SP1 ahead of Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. In fact, the third service pack for Office 2003 dropped as early as September 2007.

Microsoft’s perspective over Office 2003 SP3 is that the service pack represents merely a pit stop for Office users on the road to the Office 2007 System. At the same time, Office 2003 SP3 brought to the table enhancements around the board from security to performance and to increase compatibility with Windows Vista. (more…)

If you’re going on vacation, you’re probably looking forward to getting away from the phone. But e-mail is less intrusive, and many of us want to bring it with us.

That used to be a real chore. But accessing e-mail from anywhere has become easier over the years. Today, it’s not much more difficult than downloading it at the office.

The key is finding decent PC access to the Internet on the road. Most hotels offer such access. Even a dial-up account is OK for downloading e-mail. And with Wi-Fi hotspots all over urban areas, fast access is a snap.

Of course, you have to find a way to access your e-mail server. So let’s look at how that can be done. (more…)

In case of outlook 2007 when you configure your gmail account with automatic pop3 configuration the problem of auto filtering of your mails received is done by outlook.

But this auto filtering most of the times does not function correctly which results in non junk mails or clean mails are mark as junk and outlook moves them automatically to junk folder.

You can simply fix the wrong filtering as follows:

1. Open Microsoft Outlook 2007 (more…)

Ask not what Windows Vista and the Office 2007 System can do for you. Instead simply tell Microsoft how you will benefit from using the company’s flagship products. Straight from the get-go, the Redmond company joined Windows Vista and the Office 2007 System at the hip. The slogan Power Together was in fact designed to underline the intimate connection between the two products. Microsoft even applied a simple strategy to help consumers connect Vista with Office 2007. Back in November 2006, Vista and Office 2007 shipped together to business customers, as the two became simultaneously available to Software Assurance clinets via Volume Licensing. (more…)