Office Productivity - News and Articles

Microsoft Vista

April 1, 2007 from CAmagazine – "If you’ve heard anything at all about Microsoft Windows Vista, you are probably wondering whether it’s worth upgrading to the new operating system. The short answer is a qualified yes. It offers a lot of advantages in security, connectivity, collaboration and ease of use. However, because of those new features, you might find your existing PC or laptop does not have sufficient memory (RAM) or processing power (CPU) to run it…"

Tricks of the Trade (A few ideas to improve productivity)

February 2007 from 180 Systems – Many people spend the majority of their time with a few programs that they know well enough to get the job done. They realize they could find a more efficient way to get the job done, but the effort involved seems to outweigh the benefit. So they’re stuck in a rut. This article will give you a few ideas to crawl out.

One big waster of time is searching for information. Let’s assume that it’s on your computer somewhere and you keep everything important. The 1st trick does not involve recent technology, just common sense. Organize your documents and email in folders or directories. However even if you’re diligent in filing things away, you could be looking for something that spans directories, email and different document types. There are solutions that are easy and inexpensive that will automate the search process. All you need to do is type the keyword and you can instantly see a subset of files or emails that contain the keyword. And the keyword does not need to be a tag that you manually apply. It’s just text somewhere in the document or email. There are solutions like X1, Google desktop, ISYS that can help. And Microsoft Vista (The new Windows system) now includes search right out of the box.

Meetings are also right up there as big wasters of time. Once again, you can use common sense to reduce the wasted time by making sure everyone gets to the meeting on time, establishing a tight agenda, issuing documents in advance…. But technology can help too especially if the participants are not in the same office. Try one of the web conferencing tools such as WebEx or GoToMeeting.

You can also waste time flipping back and forth between documents. Windows does let you split the screen and synchronize or de-synchronize scrolling, but you don’t see as much as you would like. The solution is relatively inexpensive by using a dual monitor or using one of your old clunkers to view a document while you do the heavy lifting on your new PC.

When creating presentations or writing documentation, you will want to copy something that appears on your computer screen. There has always been the PrintScreen function that can give you the whole screen or just the current window by also using the ALT key when you press the PrintScreen function key. But if you can’t do it because there are restrictions on the document you are reviewing, or you want to be more picky, there is help using a program such as SnagIT. (I know I don’t need to remind you to give credit to other people’s work and make sure that you are not violating copyright)

There are also many time savers in the programs we use everyday. The best way to leverage these tricks of the trade is to provide training. Why not have a series of lunch and learn sessions? Get your best technical person to show time savers in MS Word or Excel. For example, teach the group how to do multiple selects from a list using the CTRL or ALT key or to automatically populate a series of days, months, years… Take a look at Office Watch for instruction on how to use AutoFill

We are sure there are many other ways to be more efficient, and would welcome any of your suggestions. Please update the blog with your suggestions. Thanks

180 View – We wrote it so you already know our view.

Vista

January 29, 2006 from Canadian Business magazine – “It's been five long years since Microsoft booted up a new operating system and three since updating its popular suite of productivity software. So gird yourself for the sales pitch you're bound to hear in the coming weeks for the company's new Windows Vista OS and Office 2007 packages--both launched for businesses Nov. 30 and consumers Jan. 30--because it might sound a bit excessive for what, in the end, is just software. Microsoft has not reinvented the PC; it has merely made it easier to use.

"A lot of it is eye candy," says Naumi Haque, a research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group, based in London, Ont. "For the majority of users, what they have is already fulfilling their needs, so there's no immediate drive to upgrade to these products." And, Haque says, it's no different for corporations. A majority of Info-Tech's clients say Windows XP is exceeding their requirements--and, in some cases, even older versions of Windows suffice. The same goes for Office.

But if you're a Microsoft fan, you can't help but like the amount of work that has gone into Vista. For example, Vista automatically indexes everything on the hard drive and lets users quickly search for files and applications. A resizable preview panel reveals a thumbnail image of a file, and let's you scroll through its entirety before opening it. Also impressive is Vista's use of metadata tags, which are descriptive information about a file, such as the author and subject matter. The tags allow users to slice and dice search results in a variety of ways and customize how they sort categories of similar files. For example, growing digital music and photo collections can be organized on-the-fly by date, a star-rating system or personal tagging terms.

Much of Microsoft's focus on Vista for consumers has centred on solving digital-content overload and making the PC more fun to use. And, of course, there are updated 3-D glossy and translucent graphics. For business customers, Vista has tried to make IT departments happy with a more secure OS that's easier to back up and lock down. Vista also simplifies how corporate users adjust settings for presentations and find networks.

Similarly, developers of the Office 2007 suite of applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.) have directed their efforts toward some of the peripheral programs, such as SharePoint, to improve collaboration, workflow and document management for governance purposes.

But the big change everyone will notice in Office 2007 is what Microsoft calls the "ribbon," which replaces the familiar drop-down menus and floating palettes. The ribbon presents all the functions in buttons along the top of the screen, organized in contextual tabs such as Table and Review. It will take some getting used to, but it's supposed to put everything in plain sight and standardize the functions across all programs. The idea is that everyone, not just the experts, get more out of the applications.

And you might. But there is no killer feature that makes Office 2007 an essential purchase. "The decision to buy new hardware is going to be more important for the consumer than the actual decision to upgrade to Office 2007," says Haque. When it does come time to get a new computer, you won't miss the old Windows or Office--but you won't have that choice anyway.”

180 View –There has been so much in the press about Vista that is was difficult to figure out which article to quote. We have just completed our own review of the system, which will be published in CAmagazine in the near future. We recommend Vista if you have enough horsepower to run it, and your existing programs and devices will work. Microsoft does provide a free downloadable program called Upgrade Advisor which will tell you which of the various versions of Windows Vista is most appropriate and also whether you have any devices or software that may be incompatible.

Vista Reviews from PC Magazine and PC World

We have attached excerpts from 2 of the better articles available about Microsoft’s new operating system.

PC Magazine

November 30, 2006 - “The first things you notice about Windows Vista are the glitzy bells and whistles, but these aren't the essentials that will woo businesses. Organizations, especially large ones, have always been Microsoft's most important customers, and Vista is full of offerings aimed at them…

What's certain about working with Vista is that it's very different from previous versions of Windows; it has perhaps the biggest interface changes since Windows 95. It will require significant retraining of users and of IT personnel.

Yes, you can build a secure network and secure desktops with Windows XP if you work at it and administer it properly. But with Vista, making your systems more secure is a lot easier, even as you run into new issues in the process…

The most interesting new tool in Vista is Windows Meeting Space, which seems at first glance like a version of Groove, the virtual office program Microsoft bought when it hired its author, Ray Ozzie. WMS is a pale shadow of Groove and will pose no market threat to it (Groove 2007 is currently in beta). Still, WMS will be worth evaluating for many organizations…

With WMS, you can set up a meeting and invite others (up to ten participants) either through e-mail, by sharing an invitation file, or by browsing and joining meetings on the local network. We found setup very easy. In a meeting, you can chat, share documents, and share desktop applications. Indeed, application sharing is the only apparent advantage WMS has over an instant messaging program. Vista Home Basic users cannot start a new meeting…

Vista also comes with an integrated desktop search feature. There were questions raised several times during Vista's development about what level of system search the operating system should provide, and it does provide less than what was originally planned. Nevertheless, desktop search is implemented well…

Vista will likely save your butt one day with its Previous Versions feature, borrowed from Windows Server 2003. Vista automatically creates "shadow copies" of file changes, reserving (by default) 15 percent of disk space for this purpose. If you mess up a file and need access to an earlier version, you can right-click on the file or folder and select Restore Previous Versions…

We agree with what seems to be the consensus among observers: Vista has many compelling advantages over previous versions of Windows, especially in the area of security. Security has been a focus for Microsoft over the last several years, as well one of the most headline-grabbing of all computing problems, and the new features in this area may cause many businesses to upgrade just to get them.

Windows Vista is a better business operating system, all things considered. For many organizations, this release will prove to have been worth the long wait. But businesses need to evaluate thoroughly, plan rigorously, and move carefully as they transition from older versions to Vista. In many cases, this isn't going to happen overnight, and, as always, up-front planning will make a very big difference. Expect a long adoption cycle, especially since much business software will take some time to work properly in Vista. But businesses should welcome this new OS and never look back.

PC World

November 22, 2006 – “Windows Vista is a clear winner. It's beautiful, sports much-improved security, offers superb networking capabilities...and maybe most of all, it's just plain fun to use. That's not to say it's perfect--far from it. Some may view the new interface as little more than fluff or be turned off by the intrusive User Account Control feature….

The Look
The moment Windows Vista starts, some of its biggest changes are in plain view: It is distinctive and eye-catching. Colors are subtler and the overall look less cartoonish than Windows XP's.

Dare I say it's Mac-like? In fact, it is. Microsoft has always stolen from the best. Key to a lot of what's new in Vista is the much-anticipated Aero interface--but to use it, you'll need adequate hardware and one of the pricier versions of the OS.
Within Aero, screen windows maximize and minimize with a kind of visual "swoosh." The - command for switching between open windows now invokes Windows Flip, which displays thumbnails of open windows. Flip 3D (-) ups the ante, stacking windows so that you can flip through them like playing cards.

Some may say this is mere eye candy that won't affect your real productivity. Maybe so. But it makes life at the keyboard fun again. And for my money, that's right up there with productivity.
Two other notable new interface elements are the Sidebar and Live Thumbnails. Hover your mouse over a minimized window on the taskbar, and a thumbnail pops up with its contents, plus the program and document name or Web site.

I'm particularly fond of the Sidebar gadgets, interactive applets that display information--RSS feeds, stock tickers, clocks, weather, and so on. Vista ships with about a dozen of them; there are more online. While similar to Google Desktop Gadgets or Yahoo Widgets, they're actually more like the Mac's Gadgets in that they're built directly into the operating system and so may use its underlying architecture. For example, one gadget displays RSS news feeds you've subscribed to using Internet Explorer 7's RSS Reader…

New, Annoying Virtual Nanny
User Account Control (UAC) has riled more Windows Vista testers than all other features combined. UAC prompts you to type in a password or click OK before taking certain actions--for example, turning the Windows Firewall on or off, adding or removing user accounts, or even running some applications. You sometimes get a warning: A small shield appears next to links or options that will summon the UAC prompt if clicked.

What's the point of this annoying virtual nanny? First, it protects against malware running unchecked. If your PC gets infected and the malware attempts to perform a dangerous action such as turning off your antivirus program or the firewall, UAC will stop it cold. Second, UAC can protect you against yourself, keeping you from making changes that could harm your computer.

That's all well and good, but Microsoft has gone overboard with this protection. Why should you get a UAC prompt when you try to change Windows' font size, or your PC's name? Because of UAC, using Vista can at times become a herky-jerky kind of experience, with so many annoying pop-ups coming at you that you want to scream "Stop!"

In fact, you can stop the prompts by turning off UAC entirely. Go to Control Panel, User Accounts and Family Safety, User Accounts, click the Turn User Account Control on or off link, and you'll send that nanny into the virtual ether.

Of course, if you do turn off UAC, then you have no one but yourself to blame if a piece of malware does get in and take over your system.

Networking
Up to now, Microsoft had never done a stellar job of integrating networking capabilities into Windows. Just try synchronizing Offline Folders in Windows XP, for example--I dare you.

Windows Vista, however, presents your network as a natural extension of your PC. The OS helps you configure a network, share files, manage multiple networks, and more--all with a minimum of fuss. Vista supports all the usual network technologies, including ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

The new Network and Sharing Center puts network tools and information right at hand. Click View Full Map, for example, and you'll see a diagram showing all PCs and devices on your network, including printers, switches, and gateways. Click or hover over a device icon to get more details, such as IP and MAC addresses.

Vista handles wireless network connections deftly: Simply click the network icon in the system tray, click Connect or disconnect, and you'll see a list of nearby wireless networks. Hover your cursor over any one to see details such as Wi-Fi type (802.11b or g, say) and security protocol, if any.

Vista saves settings for networks you use frequently so you can automatically connect to them when you're in range. You can even specify which take precedence if more than one is available.

Not all networking features are hunky-dory. Windows Meeting Space is supposed to let you hold virtual meetings over an ad-hoc network--but has a well-nigh worthless chat module, no voice capabilities, and no whiteboard tools. Doesn't sound like any virtual meeting I want to attend.

The Sync Center, designed to help you sync files and folders between networked PCs and devices, is a bit of a mess as well. If you want to do anything other than perform basic syncs, you may throw up your hands and walk away.

180 View – We have read that the research group Gartner claims some 58 percent of new PC shipments in 2007 will include Windows Vista, and also estimate that Vista will be running on less than 10 percent of PCs in the installed base by the end of 2007. That figure is expected to rise to 29 percent in 2008, 50 percent in 2009 and 67 percent by the end of 2010. The reason for the delayed acceptance is mostly because of the hardware requirements. Check out http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx to see the hardware requirements and to see an analysis of the differences between the 4 Vista editions (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate).

Just Say Yes to Internet Explorer 7

October 19, 2006 from ComputerWorld – “It's been a long time coming, but Internet Explorer 7 is here at last. If you're dying to get your hands on the new browser, you can download it right now. But otherwise, there's really no need -- IE7 will soon come knocking on your door.

In November, Microsoft plans to make IE7 an Automatic Update to Windows XP. That means that if you have Automatic Updates configured to install automatically, or to download automatically and then notify you about the download, the new browser will download behind the scenes and then ask for your permission to be installed. If you have Automatic Updates configured to notify you but not download automatically, you'll see an Automatic Updates screen offering to download and install IE7. And if you have Automatic Updates turned off, you'll get no notification at all.

When the new browser comes knocking, should you let it in? Oh, yes. IE7 is a considerable improvement over IE6, and with new features such as tabbed browsing, RSS support, improved security and an integrated search box, it's well worth the upgrade...”

Google Docs and Spreadsheets are here

October 11, 2006 from Office Watch – “Google has bundled their acquisition of Writely and their own Google Spreadsheets into a single package known as Google Docs and Spreadsheets…

With this service you can create documents or worksheets online and save them either in a private storage space on Google’s servers or on your own computer. You get the basic formatting options like bulleted lists, fonts plus sorting by columns and Excel compatible formulas. The really big deal is that several people can work on the same document or worksheet at the same time – with edits showing up in real time. You can also permit people ‘read only’ access so they can see a document or worksheet online but not change it.

The document formats supported are the current MS Office formats (.doc .xls etc) and also the OpenDoc formats (.odt .ods etc). Interestingly you can also save in PDF format as well as HTML web pages. The HTML option means you can create web pages via Google Docs to be viewed as standard web pages. Blogs are also supported with special features to let you write a blog then post it to your site..."

Inside Microsoft Windows Vista Release Candidate

September 2, 2006 from PC Magazine - "It's been a long time coming, but Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 is finally here. As Microsoft starts to collect feedback from a broad spectrum of users in one of its largest test programs ever, the company will soon be in a position to decide whether the product is solid enough to meet announced ship dates of November for enterprise customers and January 2007 for consumers.

Earlier this week, I started using Vista build 5568, a version that Microsoft says should be virtually indistinguishable from the actual RC1 code. Since recent Vista revisions have been focusing on improving performance, compatibility, and stability rather than adding features, there's not a lot to highlight that's truly new. Instead, I've compiled a walkthrough of 100 screen shots recapping what Vista looks like from top to bottom.

The most pressing question for RC1 is whether it shows that Vista is good enough to ship. In my experience so far, it's getting a lot closer, but it's not quite there yet. Microsoft representatives acknowledge that the term "Release Candidate" might be slightly confusing, as it implies a non-zero probability that the code might be what actually goes into production-which clearly isn't the case for RC1.

With build 5568, I've encountered recurring problems when resuming from sleep, anomalous network behavior, and some performance issues. That said, for the most part, the experience is remarkably good-enough so that I'm thinking I may finally be able to start using Vista as a production platform. Most of the flaws I've encountered are minor nuisances rather than showstoppers.

Some of the improvements RC1 offers over beta 2 are substantial. Installation proceeds much more quickly-about 30 minutes on a newly-formatted partition, versus an hour or so in the past. My hardware devices have all been recognized during or immediately after the installation process. (Microsoft claims to have dramatically improved hardware support lately, particularly for wireless devices, printers, Serial ATA controls, and Media Center tuners.)

The UAC (User Account Control) security feature has been tuned to be far less intrusive-it can no longer steal focus from an active application, for example-and there's an easy way to turn it off if you find it unbearable. RC1 also lets non-administrator users install ActiveX controls approved by corporate IT.

Bundled applications like Windows Media Player 11 that were flaky in earlier builds have so far proved solid. Of a few dozen third-party software packages, only a couple have shown overt compatibility issues.

Vista now exhibits a level of interface polish and consistency that wasn't present in earlier versions. In some cases, it seems like minor features whose capabilities weren't quite solidified have simply been removed.

On the whole, I've found performance and stability in the builds leading to RC1 to be tolerable-and dramatically better than beta 2-but not yet what I'd expect from a release-quality product. Resuming a machine from sleep is especially slow, and I sometimes encounter cases where the Windows shell lags.

Although Vista doesn't explicitly include a lot of the core features that Microsoft initially touted, from the WinFS file system to the NGSCB (Next Generation Secure Computing Base) security infrastructure, it nevertheless incorporates a substantial portion of their capabilities and is clearly a step beyond Windows XP in many ways. But whether it's really ready to ship in the next couple of months will depend on what the larger ecosystem of PC software and hardware developers, system OEMs, enterprise customers, and consumers has to say about its experiences with RC1."

180 View - Vista is less about changing the user interface and functionality and more about improving compatibility, stability, and performance. I have not heard any stats on whether Microsoft has achieved its goals.

Windows Boots on a Mac

April 12, 2006 from InfoWorld - "On April 4, a date chosen because April Fools' Day fell on a Saturday, Apple released a freely downloadable beta utility called Boot Camp. Boot Camp has one astonishing, if not bizarre, purpose: To give Intel-based Macs the capability of booting and running Windows XP. It doesn’t surprise me that Windows runs on Macs; that was inevitable, and when Boot Camp was released open sourcers were within two or three device drivers of achieving that goal without Apple’s help. Indeed, the stouthearted crew at onmac.net set up a cash kitty to reward those who solved the problem of Macs’ inability to boot Windows.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference 2005, where the Intel transition was announced, the official company line regarding Windows on the Mac was trotted out: Apple “did nothing specifically to prevent running Windows, but Apple will not support running Windows on Mac systems.”

Apple still won’t claim to support Windows on a Mac, hanging the beta tag and setting a self-destruct timer on the Boot Camp software.

However, Boot Camp will be integrated into Leopard, the next major release of OS X, and interestingly, Boot Camp’s time bomb is set to go off in fall of 2007. Come next fall, either that time limit will be extended or Leopard’s release will make such an extension unnecessary. In any case, Windows on the Mac will likely be supported the way Microsoft supports Linux on Virtual Server: It starts out being something users do at their risk, but when the vendor realizes Linux on Windows, or Windows on Macs, is moving sales, grudging support is phased in.

During a briefing, Boot Camp’s program manager told me that Boot Camp was created to address two groups of prospective Mac buyers: those who had one Windows application they absolutely couldn’t live without, and those who had trepidation about making a buying decision that precluded running Windows. That latter issue is the “I have one desk, I’ll have one PC” objection that’s dogged Apple from the start -- and to which Apple has always responded, “The Mac runs Office.” To be able to say, “The Mac runs Windows,” is a better convincer, and cheaper, too, for those who already own Office for Windows.

There are two other groups whose needs are addressed by Boot Camp. Group Three comprises gamers, developers, and enthusiast/power users who realize that Macs are the best-designed systems on the market but who, on principle or by necessity, won’t buy anything that won’t run the OS of their choice. And then there’s Group Four: Mac users who have talked Windows users into making the switch but can’t follow through on their promise to keep all of their converts’ data intact. Meet the poster boy for Group Four. I’ve been sitting on the iMac I have set aside for my wife, who is a lifelong Windows user, since I received it. Boot Camp gets me off the hook." For the article, click here.

CPR For Your Computer's Hard Drive

January 22, 2006 from CBS News - "It started out like any other day. Sit down at the desk, fire up the computer, and get down to -- huh? "DISK READ ERROR. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del." Something was seriously wrong with the computer, CBS Sunday Morning contributor David Pogue recounts.

Now, I'm not the first person on Earth to experience a total hard drive meltdown. It happens to thousands of people, every day. It happened to the computer manager for the Minnesota Twins, John Avenson. "It started squealing like a pig. Unfortunately, once you hear that clicking noise, it's pretty much done for," Avenson says.

It happened to a writer for "The Simpsons," Bill Oakley. "I couldn't begin to remember what was on there, I just knew everything was on there," Oakley recalls. And it happened to Gene Rupp, a consultant who designs industrial equipment on his computer at home. "It said, 'Hard drive not found' and then I started listening to my computer and it's like, I hear a little noise, it's not like a transmission going out on a tractor or something," Rupp says.

Of course, I'm not some amateur. I'm a professional technology journalist. I have experience. I have tools. I have -- exactly the same problem. I was desperate. And when you're desperate, there is a last resort for people who absolutely, positively have to get their computer files back. It's called a data-recovery company. It's a service as specialized and high-tech as a hospital and almost as expensive. But they boast a 90 percent success rate in recovering files from dead drives." For the rest of the article, click here.

180 View - What's your excuse for not backing up?

10+ things you should know about troubleshooting a slow PC

September 28, 2005 from TechRepublic - "User complaints are minimal when new PCs are rolled out. They start up quick, and programs seem to open in a snap. But over time, users begin to notice that their system is slow or that it hangs up often. While the possibilities for system slowdown are endless, I have identified 10 common troubleshooting areas you should examine first before you suggest to management that it's time for an upgrade." For the article, click here.

Vista (successor to Windows XP)

July 18, 2005 from MicrosoftWatch - "For the past several years, Microsoft has been promising that Longhorn (now called Vista) would deliver some substantial security, reliability and performance improvements. But until the worldwide partner conference in Minneapolis in mid-July, company officials had not quantified the benefits that Longhorn — the version of the Windows client operating system, due in 2006 — would deliver...Stephan told conference attendees that Longhorn will:

• launch applications 15 percent faster than Windows XP does
• boot PCs 50 percent faster than they boot currently and will allow PCs to resume from standby in two seconds
• allow users to patch systems with 50 percent fewer reboots required. For the article, click here.

July 22, 2005 from ZDNet News - "Longhorn's new name: Windows Vista". For the article, click here.

July 27, 2005 from PC Magazine - For a review of the Beta release of Vista, click here.

Podcasting

July 14, 2005 from PROFITguide - "If you haven't already heard about podcasting, or even if you have, get ready to hear a lot more in coming weeks and months. It's white-hot, and is poised to become the next great business tool.

An amalgam of "iPod" and "broadcasting," podcasting allows anyone to create their own "radio show" by posting MP3 audio files to the Net. Listeners who subscribe to your show, usually for free, receive new episodes as soon as they're released. These are loaded onto mobile devices such as an iPod, another MP3 player or even a cellphone so subscribers can listen whenever and wherever they'd like...

Podcasting emerged from the world of blogging, and while it's still largely the domain of geeks and early adopters, the buzz is spreading exponentially. Googling "podcast"—a word that didn't even exist a year ago—now generates more than 7.3 million results. Research firm Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research forecasts that 12.3 million U.S. households (with more than 30 million people) will use an MP3 player to listen to podcasts by the end of the decade. And Plano, Tex.-based The Diffusion Group, a research consultancy on "the connected consumer," is even more bullish, predicting a U.S. audience of 57 million people by 2010. What's more, Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently announced that impending versions of iPod devices and iTunes music software will build in the ability for users to search for, subscribe to and download podcasts. Click here for the article.

July 28, 2005 from New York Times -"EVER since Steven P. Jobs returned to Apple Computer in 1997 after a 12-year absence, his company has thrived by executing the same essential formula over and over: Find an exciting new technology whose complexity and cost keep it out of the average person's life. Streamline it, mainstream it, strip away the geeky options. Take the credit.

So far, Apple has worked this kind of magic on digital video editing, wireless networking, online music selling, R.S.S. feeds (a kind of Web site subscription) and other technologies. Its latest attempt, however, will be music to an awful lot of ears. With its release of the free iTunes 4.9 software for Mac and Windows, Apple has just mainstreamed podcasting.

A podcast, as anyone under 25 can tell you, is an audio recording posted online, much like a short radio show. ("Podcasting" is a pun on "broadcasting," implying, of course, that you listen to it on your iPod or another music player.) The beauty of a podcast is that it's free and you listen to it whenever you like. And there are more than 7,000 podcasts "on the air" right now, on every conceivable topic. Their quantity and variety already dwarf what you can find on regular radio...

Overnight, iTunes 4.9 has already become the most popular podcast-management software on earth; Apple says that within 48 hours of its release, Pod people had subscribed to more than a million podcasts. Pockets of the populace may not enjoy the transformation of podcasting into a commercial, pop-culture phenomenon, but it's too late now. The people have spoken - or, rather, listened." For the article, click here.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by its readers. The site is a Wiki, meaning that anyone, including you, can edit almost any article. Wikipedia contains a huge amount of information on all sorts of subjects ranging from politics, science, history, music, religion, pop culture, and sports to everything and anything in between. Check it out by by clicking here.

Web site search

July 1, 2005 from InformationWeek - "You've got a Web site and you want to let visitors search its contents, just like they can when they visit the big-deal corporate sites. But you don't have a big-deal corporate budget. Not to worry. Does free work for you? You can add a third-party search engine to your site for a total cost of zero. The visitors who use it will see some ads, but all you have to do is add some HTML code to your site, and wait for the search provider to spider your site. I've used three search engines for my Web site that have proven their worth, Atomz.com, PicoSearch, and FreeFind. I'd like to choose a clear winner. But the contenders are so close in capabilities that I can't." Click here for the article.

How Speech Recognition Works—And Doesn't Work

June 10, 2005 from ExtremeTech - "Speech recognition has been built into Microsoft Office since the XP version, offering the ability to talk to your computer and see the words transcribed directly into documents. Dedicated products such as IBM ViaVoice and Dragon NaturallySpeaking have been around for years, allowing full spoken control of your machine. So given these alternatives, why do so many of us stick with our keyboards?

Some people don't use speech recognition because they work in a quiet, shared office, but many more of us avoid it simply because we don't think that it works well enough. The irony is that computers often fail to understand spoken words for many of the same reasons that humans do. Imagine sitting inside a noisy office next to a coworker slurping coffee, who may be from another region, and may have a cold.

There's probably way more than you want to know about speech recognition in this article, but just in case, click here to get it and click here to learn how to activate Windows XP Speech.

Google from space

June 29, 2005 from Computer Business Review - "Users are presented with a view of the Earth, and given the ability to zoom in to pretty much any location on the planet, with the closest zoom sufficient to make out individual cars or boats, but not individual people." Click here for the article. Click here for Google Earth.

Microsoft set to open office via XML formats

June 3, 2005 from Computer Business Review - "Microsoft has confirmed that it will move to XML-based file formats as the default option for its most popular Office applications in the next release of the Office suite, and that it has no intention of adopting the OpenDocument format recently adopted as a standard by Oasis.

The company will begin using Microsoft Office Open XML Formats for its Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications, with the codename Office 12, which is due for release in the second half of 2006. Microsoft will announce more details of the formats, which are expected to be published under a royalty-free license shortly before Office 12, over the next 12 months, beginning with its TechEd 2005 conference in Orlando, Florida next week.

"They want much better data integration capabilities," said Mike Pryke-Smith, Microsoft Office marketing manager. "A good example of that is the relationship with SAP," he added, citing Microsoft's recent joint development agreement with the enterprise software giant to provide a direct and transparent link between SAP processes and Microsoft's Office applications via a product known as Mendocino." Click here for the article.

What eBay Could Learn From Craigslist

June 5, 2005 from New York Times - "These days, triple-digit annual growth rates are rare among major Web sites. Meet that rarity: Craigslist. Exceptional, too, is the ability to draw 10 million unique visitors each month without ever relying on venture capital and equity markets. Or the ability to attain fourth place among general-interest portals without ever spending a penny on marketing.

Signal accomplishments, to be sure, fit for boasting in an annual report. But Craigslist is a privately held company that has no such reports, and no burning interest in the competitive fray. It does far more shrugging than boasting. Its management regards profits, which it has earned consistently since 1999, as merely the means to remain in control of its own destiny. Free of debt, it can do as it wishes to maximize what it calls its service mission without having to maximize profits. This is good news for its customers - that is, community members - and bad news for competitors whose shareholders are unlikely to regard community service as their own companies' raison d'être.

Until recently, Craigslist was the overlooked underachiever from that fertile class of 1995 start-ups. Like eBay, it began as a free community service that year, a little experiment in applying technology to community-building, not profit-seeking. Craigslist initially provided online listings of local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, the kind that could be found in an alternative newspaper. Visitors were encouraged to contribute, and they added the online equivalent of the mainstream newspaper's classified section. Software handled e-mail forwarding.

Unlike eBay, which is dedicated to removing geographic obstacles to trading and defines "community" along national boundaries, Craigslist thinks and acts locally, organizing listings city by city for merchandise, jobs, real estate, personals, events, volunteer opportunities and discussion forums. It has moved at its own idiosyncratic pace, waiting five years after its start to add a second city, Boston. Today, it has sites for 120 cities in 25 countries and serves up 2.4 billion pages a month." Click here for the article and here for Craigslist Toronto.

Google unveils satellite map feature

April 5, 2005 from CNN.com - "Online search engine leader Google Inc. has unveiled a new feature that will enable its users to zoom in on homes and businesses using satellite images, an advance that may raise privacy concerns." Click here for Google Maps.

Thanks to Mark Canes, President of Blue Link for telling me about this.

Ever wonder what all of those mysteriously-named Windows "processes" are doing?

April 4, 2005 from SearchEngineWatch - "Control-ALT-Delete used to perform a very simple, but (sadly) vital function: rebooting your Windows computer. In recent versions of Windows, pressing Control-ALT-Delete now brings up the Windows Task Manager, which offers alternatives to handling misbehaving software without the brute force approach of a hard reboot.

The Task Manager has four views: Applications, Processes, Performance and Networking. The Applications view shows you currently running programs. Use the "End Task" button on this view to kill a program that isn't working as expected—or to get rid of a "mousetrapped" browser that's repeatedly displaying an offensive web site. The Performance and Networking views offer interesting statistics, but aren't really useful unless you're a serious Windows geek.

It's the Processes view that offers the most insight into what's going on with your computer. Unfortunately, it also displays information in maddeningly cryptic fashion, showing "Image Name," "User Name," "CPU" and "Usage" details. Two of these offer the most meaningful information: Image Name is the name of a process that's currently running in memory, and CPU shows you how much capacity of your computer's central processing unit is being consumed by the process. If your computer is sluggish, the processes view will tell you which process is hogging your system resources. Use the "End Process" button to kill it. Be careful, though—killing some processes could lock up your computer and potentially result in loss of data.

Problem is, it's almost impossible to determine what most processes are from their image names. I'm convinced that the people who write Windows processes are highly trained in the art of obfuscation. Some of the more common processes include lsass.exe, alg.exe, svchost.exe, csrss.exe and smss.exe. And there's no "properties" information to tell you anything about what these things are doing or how they got started in the first place.

Enter ProcessLibrary.com. This searchable database makes it easy to find information about even the most obscure process running on your computer... Other sources for this type of information include Sysinfo.org's Startup Applications List and Task List Programs from Answers That Work. Google's specialized Microsoft search is also another great resource for finding information about startup processes, from these sites and many others. Click here for the article.

Thanks to Mark Canes, President of Blue Link for telling me about this.

Microsoft in the groove

March 10, 2005 from eWeek - "Microsoft Corp. Thursday announced it will acquire collaboration software firm Groove Networks Inc. Groove, which makes P2P (peer-to-peer) software that allows geographically dispersed workers to collaborate over the Internet, was founded by Ray Ozzie, creator of Lotus Notes. Ozzie will join Microsoft as a chief technology officer and report to Bill Gates, Microsoft's founder and chief software architect." For the article, click here.

January 4, 2005 from InfoWorld - "InfoWorld Selects Groove Virtual Office As Team Collaboration "Technology of the Year" For Second Consecutive Year...Thousands of companies, public sector organizations and small businesses use Groove Virtual Office to allow virtual teams to work together over a network as if they were in the same physical location. As an integrated suite, Groove Virtual Office lets teams contextually share files, manage projects and coordinate business processes within secure, virtual workspaces synchronized across all team members' PCs. The software's unique decentralized architecture enables teams to work online, offline and across firewalls -- in real-time and independently -- while freeing IT departments from costly server and network infrastructure requirements."

"With SharePoint, our (Microsoft) server-based products, you can collaborate across corporate boundaries, but it does require some administration and setup that is a little more than we would like," Steven Sinofsky, a senior vice president of Microsoft's Office team, told eWEEK.com. "Groove allows us to offer an ad hoc, peer-to-peer workspace within our offerings, without setting up additional infrastructure." For the article, click here.

So - If you can't beat them, buy them.

The search for search supremacy

March 22, 2005 from Forbes - "This week's $1.8 billion acquisition of Ask Jeeves by InterActiveCorp (IAC) confirms what has been obvious for a few years: The search business is where it's at. The vastness of the Internet makes powerful search engines necessary; without them, how would we ever find anything? Google, one of the pioneers of the concept of paid search, where advertisers pay to place their links on particular results pages. Microsoft, having slept through yet another Internet evolution, has now jumped into the search business with both feet.

According to data from Nielsen/NetRatings, Google accounted for 47.1% of total searches in January, giving it the No. 1 spot. The next most popular search, Yahoo!, has less than half that share, at 21.2%, followed by MSN with 12.8%, Time Warner's AOL with 4.7% and Netscape with 1.8%. Ask Jeeves is tied with Netscape with a 1.8% share of total searches. Despite its small market share, analysts are generally in agreement that IAC will benefit from Ask Jeeves by promoting its many e-commerce businesses on main search pages and results pages. However, to be truly successful, IAC will need to drive search revenue from outside sources. Click here for the article although there's not much else more to it.

Skype CEO takes on telcos

March 9 , 2005 from eWeek - "Niklas Zennström, CEO and co-founder of Skype Technologies SA, stopped cold the chatter at CeBIT's Technology Industry Summit by announcing that the company that provides free phone calls over the Internet now has 29 million users and is currently signing up new users at the rate of 155,000 per day.

"Free is good. Free service is very, very good. We think you cannot charge for phone calls," Zennström said. He might have been wearing pinstripes and a button-down shirt, but he claimed that the current and future strategy of Skype will knock the financial legs off of any company that still thinks it can make money by charging for phone calls. That list, of course, includes just about every major telecom company in the world." Click here for the article.

You There, at the Computer: Pay Attention

February 10, 2005 from The New York Times - "First, a confession. Since starting to write this article two hours ago, I have left my chair only once. But I have not been entirely present, either. Each time I have encountered a thorny sentence construction or a tough transition, I have heard the siren call of distraction. Shouldn't I fiddle with my Netflix queue, perhaps, or click on the weekend weather forecast? And there must be a friend having a birthday who would love to receive an e-card right now. I have checked two e-mail accounts at least a dozen times each, and read eight messages. Only two were relevant to my task, but I responded right away to all of them. My sole act of self-discipline: both instant messaging accounts are turned off. For now. This sorry litany is made only slightly less depressing when I remind myself that I have plenty of company."

Including me. The article discusses how email could be prioritized and that we would be alerted only if an important message arrived. I doubt that will be enough. Maybe the promise of so much better productivity has not happened because of all the distractions one click away. Click here for the article which requires free registration.

The Nitty-Gritty of Going Paperless

From Accounting Today - "The savings of going paperless are tempting, but make no mistake: Going paperless is a huge undertaking. "It's one of the most involved IT projects that any firm will ever take on," says Jim Bourke, partner with the Red Bank, N.J., firm WithumSmith+Brown. "To go 'paperless' involves complete buy-in from the firm management team. If you don't get complete partner buy-in, the project will be very difficult, if not impossible!"

The devil is in the details of going paperless. "Nothing ruins a good scanner faster than a staple running over the scanning glass!" says Maga.

"Not only do you need to set policies to stop the use of staples and paper clips for documents to be scanned, but you need to have a file-scan-preparation process, whereby a clerical person reviews paper documents prior to scanning for these items, and identifies other potential problems, such as odd-sized documents, tape, sticky notes, and the like that could slow the scanning process."

"Scanning can become a choke point," Wiley warns, "and don't rely on advertised Page per Minute scan speeds. Test these in realistic scenarios to identify real life sustained scan rates. Allow for mandatory peak periods."

Click here for the article.

Google: How Much Is Too Much?

November 5, 2004 from Business Week - "Back in August, as Google raced toward its initial public offering, many would-be investors felt its executives were a bit too cocksure. After the search-engine giant first predicted it would fetch between $108 and $135 per share, Wall Street dismissed the offering as far too expensive, forcing Google (GOOG ) to drop its asking price to $85. Today investors who passed on the stock at $85, or even $135, are no doubt kicking themselves. Less than three months after its IPO, Google's stock has rocketed to $187 per share -- 120% above its asking price and 52% above the midpoint of its first, seemingly inane prediction..." Click here for the article.

Google Desktop Search Launched

October 14, 2004 from SearchEngineWatch - "Google has released a new Google Desktop Search tool today that allows people to scan their computers for information in the same way they use Google to search the web. In particular, the tool indexes the full text of: Email within Outlook or Outlook Express (notes, contacts, journal and to do list items are not included, nor are emails in the Deleted Items folder) Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint files AOL Instant Messenger chats Web pages viewed online in Internet Explorer or any HTML file saved to your computer Plain text files..." Click here for the article

October 14, 2004 from O'Reilly Network - "The Google Desktop is your own private little Google server. It sits in the background, slogging through your files and folders, indexing your incoming and outgoing email messages, listening in on your instant messenger chats, and browsing the Web right along with you. Just about anything you see and summarily forget, the Google Desktop sees and memorizes for you. And it operates in real time. Beyond the initial sweep, that is. When you first install Google Desktop, it makes use of any idle time to meander your filesystem, email application, instant messages, and browser cache. Imbued with a sense of politeness, the indexer shouldn't interfere at all with your use of your computer; it only springs into action when you step away, take a phonecall, or dose off for 30 seconds or more. Pick up the mouse or touch the keyboard, and the Google Desktop scuttles off into the corner, waiting patiently for its next opportunity to look around." Click here for the article

Click here to download Google Desktop. But caution is advised - Google Desktop is a Beta release, which means that you could encounter problems. If you could really use this product now, try it. If not, we suggest you wait for a while.

New Google Search Tool Poses Security Risk

October 19, 2004 from Information Week - "If you're the computer's only user, the software is helpful "as a photographic memory of everything you've seen on the computer," said Marissa Mayer, director of consumer Web products at Google Inc. The giant index remains on the computer and isn't shared with Google. The company can't access it remotely even if it gets a subpoena ordering it to do so, Mayer said. Where the privacy and security concerns arise is when the computer is shared. Type in "hotmail.com" and you'll get copies, or stored caches, of messages that previous users have seen. Enter an e-mail address and you can read all the messages sent to and from that address. Type "password" and get password reminders that were sent back via e-mail..." Click here for the article.

Google Toolbar Features

Google Toolbar has been available for a couple of years, and keeps getting better. You may not realize that there are many useful features available in Google's free toolbar including.

• Search site: for those sites that don't already provide a way to search their site for a keyword
• PageRank: PageRank is the importance Google assigns to a web page. Microsoft has a 10 out of 10. ACCPAC has a 6 out of 10. It helps to have higher ranked sites linked back to your site
• Backward Links: enables you to see which pages link to the current page
• Pop-up Blocker: Prevents most pop-up ads from being displayed by your browser
• AutoFill: Eliminates the need to type your personal information into web forms

Click here for more about Google Toolbar features and here to download Google Toolbar.

Microsoft starts its run at Google

November 10, 2004 from Information Week - "Microsoft will push its homegrown search software into beta tests Thursday, its first real move against Google, sources reported early Wednesday. At the moment, Microsoft's MSN Web portal uses Yahoo's search engine. Microsoft has promised that its search engine would have internally developed algorithms and an index built by its own spiders and that it would be live this year. Twice this year it has shown working versions on its Sandbox site, where visitors can test new technologies. Microsoft will be entering a field packed with extraordinary competition. "Microsoft's biggest challenge is gaining mind share," said Gary Price with SearchEngineWatch.com. "Google is so damn good at building and keeping mind share that Microsoft's technology could be wonderful and it'll still have a challenge getting people to look at it..." Click here for the article.

Windows vs Linux

September 2, 2003 from eWeek - "On the heels of several Microsoft-sponsored studies evaluating the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Windows vs. Linux, The Yankee Group has performed its own independent research on the same topic. And the findings are somewhat similar: Linux provides smaller companies with customized vertical applications or who have no legacy networks with better TCO than Windows. But for the vast majority of customers — and especially those that are already Windows shops — Windows still offers better TCO value, according to the Yankee/Sunbelt Software study". For the article, click here.

The Windows Patch - What You Need to Know

Feb 11, 2004 from PC Magazine, "On Tuesday February 10th, Microsoft released three new security updates to patch new vulnerabilities, one of which is catching a lot of attention. Security Update MS04-007 is rated as critical because it has the potential to leave a user of Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003 Server open to an attack that could result in remote code execution. The vulnerability has no workarounds, and is being very strongly recommended by Microsoft and security organizations." If you're like me, you don't have a lot of time to spend on upgrading software and you worry that the change will slow your machine down to a crawl. But this time, I guess you better do it. Click here for the article.

A Review of Microsoft Office 2003 published in the January-February edition of CAmagazine

A few months ago Microsoft launched the Microsoft Office System, which includes Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003, PowerPoint 2003, Access 2003 and Publisher 2003. Some people don’t use all the features in their existing Office suite. So how can Microsoft compel you to upgrade when you already have more features than you can handle? For the article, click here.

Webinars

January 2004, Accounting Technology - The article describes the rapid popularity of webinars, and identifies their benefits and some of the leading products. One of the products is from Microsoft that purchased Placeware in 2003 and repackaged it as Live Meeting. "Live Meeting allows customers to attend a meeting on the Internet, and actively participate. A big draw is the application-sharing feature, which allows customers to share their Windows-based applications with other people in the meeting. There is no need to install servers in order to share content and applications."... "Also popular is the San Jose, Calif.-based WebEx Communications, which holds nearly 64 percent of the market share in online meetings and Web conferencing services. WebEx offers a suite of online meetings, including the WebEx Meeting". For the article, click here.

Videoconferencing: Look Again

December 9, 2003, PC Magazine- "Using the Internet for videoconferencing isn't a new concept; companies have tried for years to market such applications. But videoconferencing applications from five years ago proved too difficult to set up for mainstream use, and they tended to work badly. These programs were simply more trouble than they were worth. Meanwhile, high-end enterprise solutions began to appear from companies like Polycom, delivering high quality for larger conferencing needs but requiring very expensive specialized hardware and sophisticated setups. Since then, software has improved; systems are more powerful, and broadband connections are more prevalent. And now videoconferencing software deserves a second look from the people who dismissed it early on." For this article, click here.

Microsoft Office 2003 launch

October 21, 2003, E-Business News - On October 21 - "Citing more than 400 million global users, Gates called Office the greatest productivity tool on the planet. The next frontier, he said, will be driven by collaboration, enabled through XML and Web services...New Office applications include OneNote, which allows writing and drawing to tablet PCs and multimedia content assembly, and InfoPath, Microsoft's forms-centric application that allows users to author, brand and manage forms and also model and create workflows." For this article, click here.

For a more detailed article from PC World - "Microsoft's new release boasts a brighter Outlook, potent workgroup tools, and a few surprises..." For this article, click here.

Microsoft launches voice command

October 29, 2003, PC World - This software lets you control your PDAs and cell phones just by talking. If you are guilty of using your PDA while driving, you need this or the equivalent. For the article, click here.

The Urban WiFi Crash of 2004

October 21, 2003, Aberdeen Group - "Aberdeen predicts a massive wireless traffic jam in urban and suburban areas by 2004...In an urban environment, the confluence of dense living (e.g., apartment houses) and the ubiquity of WiFi LAN technology have reached saturation in some places, and this condition will spread as more home WLANs are built. When multiple access points are competing for your laptop’s attention, the radio interference causes the laptop to drop its Internet connection and ask you, the humble user, to reconnect. When this happens every few seconds — a scenario we are experiencing now with brand-name equipment — the end of the WiFi world as we know it is imminent." For the article, click here.

Unwire Your Home

October 2003 from PC Magazine - "Fifty-six percent of PC Magazine readers have a home network, with an average of 3.3 computers per household, according to a recent survey of 13,000 subscribers. Of those home networks, 48 percent are wireless."  If you have the time to install a wireless network at home yourself, this article should help. For more, click here.

Best Practices in Expense Management Automation

January 30, 2003 — Aberdeen Group, has released a new research report, Best Practices in Expense Management Automation (EMA), documenting the latest findings in its continued research of total cost management technologies. The report contains expense management market information and analysis of the business challenges, tips for implementation success, and lessons learned from deployments. "Aberdeen research has shown that automating the reimbursement of T&E expenditures — e.g., airfare, hotel accommodations, car rentals, meals, and incidentals — can produce considerable quantifiable savings in both time and process costs. For example, companies using EMA solutions to address T&E expense reimbursement have shortened reimbursement cycles, reduced administrative costs, and enhanced responsiveness to employees." For a link to the article, click here.

Don't want companies that you visit on the web to monitor your on-line activity?

Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware components and lets you remove them safely. Ad-aware won the best freeware software of the year in 2002 from PC World. For a link to the PC World article, click here.

Losing your memory?

PC World suggests a few free memory-enhancement alternatives in their January 2003 edition. The article also contains tips for improving hard drives, CD-R and CD-RW options, monitors, network connections... For a link to this PC World article, click here.

You use Outlook and haven't archived or deleted your messages for a long time

Outlook stores all of its data in a file called outlook.pst. When this file gets very large (2 gigabytes), it can become unstable or unusable. Click here for an irreverent article on the topic from Woody's watch, here for Microsoft's help and here for some advice from PC Magazine.

A free and very fast image viewer and editor that supports all major graphic formats

IrfanView is a fast, simple image viewer and editor that supports all major graphic formats, including BMP, DIB, JPEG, GIF, animated GIF, PNG, PCX, multipage TIFF, TGA, and more. Click here to access ZDNet Downloads for IrfanView.

Wordperfect gets new life from Dell and Hewlett Packard

According to the New York times, "Just as WordPerfect, the once-popular word processing software, was at risk of slipping from the computer world's consciousness, it is set to appear on millions of new screens." Click here for this article.

Paste into Microsoft Word without changing the text format

If you're like me, you're frequently copying and pasting into Microsoft Word. Does the text you copy and paste retain the format from the source document? Click here for a tip from PC Magazine.

Would you like a better calculator for your computer with a tape for review and correction?

TapeCalc 2 is a practical desktop calculator with a "smart" tape that records your calculations and lets you correct any errors. Its built-in unit-conversion feature provides automatic conversion between dozens of different units of measurement. Click here for a TapeCalc 2 - free from PC Magazine.

Need to make room in your warehouse, storage area or home? Want to avoid costly storage, trucking and landfill dumping costs? Want to donate your old stuff and get a tax receipt from Stuff Canada?

Stuff Canada (Supporting Today’s Underprivileged For the Future) will put your old shoes, clothes, computers, office furniture, toiletries, appliances... in the hands of charities who need them. You make a difference and you could get a tax receipt. Click here for the web site of Stuff Canada.

Don’t want to use your old PC as a boat anchor?

There are alternatives. PC Magazine just released this article that will give you some ideas. Click here for more.

No idea how to stop certain programs from loading automatically?

There are utilities that will identify which programs are being loaded automatically and will allow you to easily disable these programs. StartUp Manager is one tool that can be found on a web site that contains “Downright Useful Downloads”.  Click here for this web site.

Just want to print a few business cards? 

There are inexpensive programs that make it easy to print a few business cards at a time. It’s unlikely that the home grown cards will be as good as you would get from your printer, but you may find that it’s all you need. RKS Software has developed a program called Visual Business Cards. Click here for a link to RKS Software.

Where has all the disk space gone?  (Long time passing…)

It would be useful if Windows explorer would show where all the space has gone. There are utilities that will show you graphically which directories and what files are the space hogs. One utility can be found by clicking here.

Purchasing a new computer with Windows XP? Beware of new PC's or laptops loaded with Windows XP Home Edition - they may not connect to your network  Click here for more.

Have you ever had a problem loading Windows because of a missing or damaged file? Some computer manufacturers sell you Windows but don’t give you the tools to repair the damaged file without starting all over again. Click here for more.