Microsoft Office

From Joanna L. Krotz, the founder of Muse2Muse Productions:

Brand your online store. The first step, of course, is to choose your online brand—that is, the domain name of your store. You want a brand and URL that will immediately and accurately communicate your wares and image. For instance, a luxury linens shop won’t get far with a domain name of Cheapsheets.com. Craft a name that telegraphs the soul of your mission and products. Also, consider what will emotionally appeal to the customers you target.

For help in registering your domain name, check out the Microsoft Office Live Small Business offerings, which include a domain name for your business Web site. The timing for this decision assumes you’ve already put together a business plan to map your company’s progress. Template tools can help you get started quickly.

Choose a quality e-commerce platform. It’s likely to be your fastest and most cost-effective option to purchase an e-commerce package of site-building templates and services. Spend time researching competitor sites to see what’s available. Compare how vendors handle information about returns, shipping, and privacy, and what specific services they offer.

Select payment options. You will need to set up merchant accounts and credit card processing systems for online transactions. At a minimum, you will want to offer a choice of at least three major credit card options, and perhaps a PayPal account.

“Understand all of your online processing fees,” adds Henry Helgeson, chief executive officer of Merchant Warehouse, a Boston-based company that specializes in setting up merchant accounts. Those fees include “interchange fees,” or the amount charged by bankcard networks to use their debit or credit cards.

Strive for clarity in design and navigation. The more efficiently you can deliver what customers seek, the better off you (and they) will be. For instance, don’t force visitors to return to your home page as they move through your site.

Collect visitor information, but do it carefully. “If you collect contact information and stay in touch, you’ll extract more value from your visitors than if you depend on the 1 percent to 2 percent who are ready to buy right now and ignore the rest,” says Howie Jacobson, author of “AdWords for Dummies.”

However, if you force customers to register too much personal information before they check out, you’ll lose the sale—either because it takes too much time or because the customer is annoyed by your information demands.

First, state your privacy policy clearly on your site, including on the registration pages, so that customers understand that their information will be protected. Next, give customers an incentive to share information. For instance, offer a discount coupon or free shipping in exchange for registration.

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From Louis Broome: Microsoft Office has awesome powers. It’s jam packed with a gazillion ways to help you be more productive. Fact is, Office is so insanely rich that no one taps its full potential. All Office customers — from those confronting enterprise-wide, business-critical issues to the newbie just getting started — can learn to get more out of the Office applications they use.

Our new video series, “Office Intervention,” connects the people who make Office to the people who use it, i.e., you, so we can help you become super brilliant at whatever it is you do. The more you get done at work, the less you work you take home. The more time you have at home, the closer we come to world peace. (Actually, I skipped a few steps there. I don’t have it all worked out yet but when I do I’ll share out my deck.)

You might know “Office Intervention’s” host, Tina Wood, from her trail blazing Web show, G4TV, or in her current role as host of Microsoft’s Channel 10. In the pilot episode, “Office Intervention: I Need a Job,” Office Content Publishing’s very own Office expert Ron Owens shows former actress Alycia Delmore how Office Online and Monster.com can help her land a job.

And that’s just the beginning. “I Need a Job” is surrounded by scads of related stuff like Four steps to your next job, an article that includes more videos - How to get your resume noticed and Story time = 1 or 1,000 resumes - a link to our resume template collection, and links to articles on career advice and changing careers. You can even start searching for a job.

Keep an eye peeled for more episodes of “Office Intervention” because like I said, it’s good to be brilliant.

older workers should embrace their maturity and start selling their experience for what it is: an advantage.

If you’re an older worker who is looking for a job where people will have faith and trust in your wisdom, here are five jobs where your experience and expertise are an advantage:

1. Health care professional
Why age is an advantage: Though young people in the medical field are more than capable of providing exceptional medical care, some people simply don’t feel comfortable having someone their daughter’s age in charge of their life. Older health-care professionals exude good judgment and breadth of experience; people believe you are less likely to be wrong or make a mistake.
Annual average salary*: Salary will vary depending on your position in the industry.

2. Financial adviser
Why age is an advantage: Older workers hold a lot of credibility with stakeholders, Walker says. There’s a natural assumption that someone older knows what he is talking about, which is important when talking about finances. People will believe they can trust your opinion because they come from having been “been there, done that.”
Annual average salary: $66,242

3. Career counselor
Why age is an advantage: It’s doubtful a college graduate is going to feel comfortable getting career advice from someone who graduated the year before her. People want career advice from people who actually have depth in the work force. Older workers have a great work ethic, as most of them came into the market when they remained at one company until earning a gold watch. That type of commitment will be useful when others need help landing a career.
Annual average salary: $47,074

4. Brand manager
Why age is an advantage: Older workers usually have a clear commitment to company goals, which means they believe in what the company is selling. “Their knowledge and experience in the global marketplace creates a frame of reference to understand ‘why’ and to recognize the place of the company within that marketplace,” Walker says.
Annual average salary: $60,706

5. Consultant
Why age is an advantage: The good thing about being a consultant is that you can consult for almost anything. As someone older, you probably have more than one area of expertise; consult for them all! Your knowledge will make clients believe you will commit fewer errors, identify the best opportunities and find the clearest path to results, Walker says.
Annual average salary: $152,423; salaries will vary.

You can save time by configuring your computer to automatically open a specific Microsoft Office program whenever Microsoft Windows starts by doing one of the following:

Windows Vista
Click the Start button , click All Programs, and then click Microsoft Office.
In the list of available Office programs, right-click the icon of the program or programs you want to start automatically, and then click Copy on the shortcut menu.
In the All Programs list, right-click the Startup folder, and then click Explore on the shortcut menu.
In the window that opens, click Organize, and then click Paste.
Keyboard shortcut To paste your selection into the Startup folder more quickly, press CTRL+V.
The next time you start your computer, Windows automatically runs the program or programs that you have copied to the Startup folder.

Microsoft Windows XP
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office.
In the list of available Office programs, right-click the icon of the program or programs you want to start automatically, and then click Copy on the shortcut menu.
In the All Programs list, right-click the Startup folder, and then click Explore on the shortcut menu.
On the Edit menu, click Paste.
Keyboard shortcut To paste your selection into the Startup folder more quickly, press CTRL+V.
The next time you start your computer, Windows automatically runs the program or programs that you have copied to the Startup folder.

Use this to quickly start whatever Microsoft Office Program you use, automatically. By using this shortcut, you will save time on your work .

This is something I’ve always wondered.

From MIcrosoft Security Tips Blog: Having to approve each timem ti install “Active X” controls does get time consuming and irritating.

What are ActiveX controls?

ActiveX controls are small programs, sometimes also called “add-ons,” used on the Internet. They can make browsing more enjoyable by allowing animation or they can help with tasks such as installing security updates at Windows Update.

Some Web sites require you to install ActiveX controls in order to see the site or perform certain tasks on it. The Web site that provides the ActiveX control should tell you what the control is for and provide any details you need to know before you install it.

What are the risks?

Unfortunately, ActiveX controls are like any other software program — they can be misused. They can stop your computer from functioning correctly, collect your browsing habits and personal information without your knowledge, or can give you content, like pop-up ads, that you don’t want. Also, “good” ActiveX controls might contain flaws that allow “bad” Web sites to use them for malicious purposes.

Given these risks, you should only install ActiveX controls if you have information about the Web site that offers the control and the publisher that created the control. With this information you should then decide if are willing to trust your personal information to the Web site and to the publisher. For more information on how to determine if you trust a Web site, see How to recognize spoofed Web sites.

Here’s a good rule to follow: If an ActiveX control is not essential to your computer activity, avoid installing it.

What do I do if I don’t want to install an ActiveX Control?

When you install an ActiveX control, Internet Explorer displays a dialog box that identifies the publisher, and asks if you want to run the file. Click Don’t run if you do not trust the Web site and publisher.

The Information Bar and the Add-on Manager also allow you to turn off ActiveX controls once you’ve enabled them. You can also delete them.

From Microsoft Inside Office Online: Theyhave created a new Office Online Career Center and partnered with Monster.com to make the entire job hunting process - from planning your strategy to polishing your resume and submitting it for a position - as painless as possible.

Check out the video, where they walk Seattle’s Alycia Delmore through the process and help her get ready for her next job. Download a resume template and update your own. Look for a job in your area, and post your resume. They’ve even linked to career advice from Monster’s career experts. It’s all there on the page, and broken down in even greater detail in this article.

They didn’t forget those employers who might have openings, because as difficult as it is to find the right job, they know it’s also challenging to find the right candidate for an open position.

Finally, they know their resume templates are among the most popular templates on our site. Our hope is that this new Career Center helps you do more and we wish you luck in your search for a job.

Here’s Microsoft’s Office Online Career Center:

Four Steps to Online Job Search:

1. Start with a strategy
You can avoid anxiety about your job search by starting with a strategy — and we can put you on the fast track with a strategy that’s ready for you now. Monster.com and Office Online are teaming up to make the whole job search process faster and easier.

2. Search for available jobs
What are you looking for?

On Monster.com, you can find information on what employers are looking for in your field, such as finance career tips or information for technology jobs. Go to the Advice home page, scroll down to the View Information by Category section, and click the industry you want to know more about.

If you need to brush up on some of your Office skills, you can find free, self-paced training courses on Office Online.

3. Write your resume
Now that you’ve found a job you want to apply for — or you’ve learned more about the industry where you want to work — it’s time to dust off and brush up your resume.

You want your resume to look professional and to stand out. And you want it to be returned in Search results — right in front of anyone looking for the perfect candidate (that’s you).

Submit!
You’re ready to start your search officially.

If you created your resume using a Word 2007, template, take a moment to save a copy of your resume in .doc format. That’s the copy that you’ll submit to Monster.

Click the Submit button to submit your resume to Monster.com. You can submit it specifically to that job you saw earlier, and you can submit it generally for employers to find in their searches.

Follow up
You can use the Job search log template or the Interview/Resume Follow-Up Log template on Office Online to keep track of where you’ve sent resumes and follow-up letters, and where you’ve interviewed, as well as tracking the thank you letters you send after those interviews.

For more details, click the blue link above to access Microsoft’s Career Planning site.

To mark St Patrick’s Day, Faith Central has compiled 10 celebratory tidbits, some myth, some fact, on the Patron Saint of the Irish.

1. The potato crop was traditionally planted in Ireland after March 17

2. Blue not green is the color originally associated with St Patrick. “St Patrick’s Blue” is used on Ireland’s Presidential Standard or flag, while the Irish Guards sport a plume of St Patrick’s blue in their bearskins. The emphasis on green is thought to be linked to “wearing the Green”, a symbol from the 18th century on, of sympathy with Irish independence.

3. St Patrick is patron of fishermen in the Loire, where a legend associates him with a blackthorn bush. The saint is said to have slept beneath it, and when he awoke the next day, Christmas, the bush flowered, and was said to have continued to do so every Christmas until its destruction during the First World War.

4. A regiment of the Mexican army in the 1846 -8 War between Mexico and America was named after St Patrick. Members of the Batellón de San Patricio included Afro-Americans freshly liberated from the slave plantations of the South, and the soldiers were granted Mexican citizenship afterwards.

5. The first St Patrick’s Day parade took place in 1737 in Boston, followed in 1762 by New York. George Washington allowed his soldiers a holiday on March 17, 1780 as “an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence.”

6. Until the 1970’s, all pubs were shut in Ireland on St Patrick’s Day, and the sole venue selling drink the annual dog show. Lenten fasting – and the obligation to abstain from meat – were lifted on the day, which most families would begin with Mass.

7. St Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in Ireland and also in Monserrat “the Emerald Isle of the Carribean,” so called because it was settled in 1633 by Irish migrants from St Kitts.

8. According to legend, on the day of Judgement, while Christ judges all other nations, St Patrick will be the judge of the Irish.

9. Since 1962, tons of green dye are tipped on St Patrick’s Day into the Chicago river, although the quantity has reduced, for environmental reasons, from 100 to 40.

10. Should you wish to carry on celebrating St Patrick after March 17, in the United States, you might visit the four Shamrocks in the USA including Mount Gay-Shamrock, W.Va or the nine cities named Dublin, including Dublin, Ohio (the largest Dublin in the U.S.) and Dublin, Georgia.

From the Microsoft Office Labs Blog: Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop unveiled Microsoft’s vision for how we re-imagine productivity in our daily lives. In his speech you’ll see Stephen communicate the latest ideas and technical aspirations from across the company. It’s an exciting day as we go public with this vision and we hope you will take a moment to watch the speech:

Over the last year we’ve worked closely with partners, customers and R&D groups across Microsoft. So what will you see? You’ll see technology becoming more invisible, but working harder for you in both your work and personal life. Imagine a future where creating a document with a colleague will be as easy as having a conversation. Making connections with people and your content will be secure and seamless. Relevant insight and information will be delivered proactively and in context to the task at hand.

Mobile devices will be more powerful than desktop computers of today. Technology will connect you with the information you need, when and where you need it, whether it be your local coffee shop, an airport, or a roof top in Hong Kong. Software will be there to make getting things done as efficiently as possible in new ways that are more natural.

We are already exploring many of these concepts… check out our envisioning and concept test experiments that begin to explore how we are working to make this future a reality.

Great ideas coming out of Microsoft these days. Hopefully some of these innovativations will make it down to the masses in affordable options.

How to Donate Your Old PC

As more companies, organizations, and individuals find reasons to upgrade their computer equipment, the problem of disposing of old equipment grows.

There are three reasons why finding the appropriate way to discard old computer equipment is important:

• According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in the next five years. In 2001, only 11 percent of personal computers retired in the U.S. were recycled.

• Each computer dumped in a landfill is a missed opportunity to provide Information Age tools to people across the digital divide.

• Out-of-date computer systems can be more of a burden than a blessing to schools and nonprofits, as it can cost them up to $400 to bring a pre-Pentium computer up to today’s standards. Donate computers to a recycler or refurbisher, rather than directly to these other groups.

Today, CompuMentor, a provider of technology assistance to other nonprofits and the home of TechSoup, is working with Microsoft Corporation to help consumers properly donate or recycle computer equipment to benefit both society and the environment.

CompuMentor’s Ten Tips for Donating A Computer
1. Determine if your old computer can be reused.
2. Recycle old and broken PC equipment.
3. Contact the refurbisher or recycler before donating.
4. Remember the accessories.
5. If possible, keep the operating system intact.
6. Provide the original media and documentation.
7. If you clean your computer of personal information yourself, it’s best to use some disk cleaning software.
8. Follow PC delivery instructions.
9. Keep a list of what you donated for your records.
10. Plan for future donations.

For more detailed information, click the blue link above.

These solutions deal specifically with Windows XP, but overall you’ll find these tips work for all versions of Windows starting with Windows 95 to Windows XP. Windows Vista handles most of these problems automatically.

Perhaps you’re more than familiar with this scenario: You’re working on your PC and notice performance getting gradually slower and slower. Programs become harder to open and close. You wait forever for Web pages to be displayed. And then, you get some serious-sounding “virtual memory is too low” message, like the one in the following graphic.

Don’t worry: This message isn’t as scary as it sounds.

Viewing a virtual memory low message

Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it’s short of RAM (Random Access Memory), which is the memory used when running programs like Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office PowerPoint.

So what can you do to correct this problem and prevent this message from coming up in the future? The following are some solutions to keep your computer from displaying the “virtual memory minimum is too low” message.

Solution #1: Bump up the virtual memory size on your computer

The first solution is to increase your computer’s virtual memory settings. To do so, you first need to determine how much RAM you currently have.

Find the amount of RAM on your Windows Vista computer

On the Start menu, click Computer. Click System Properties (located at the top of the Computer window) to see the amount of RAM. Windows Vista automatically optimizes virtual memory. Learn more about Windows Vista memory management. display:none

Find the amount of RAM on your Windows XP computer

1. On the Start menu, click My Computer, and then on the left side of the My Computer window, click View system information. display:none

2. Click the General tab. You can find the RAM your computer currently has. display:block

Finding the RAM on your computer

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To increase the virtual memory on your Windows XP computer:

1.
On the Start menu, click My Computer, and then on the left side of the My Computer window, click View system information.

2.
Click the Advanced tab, and then in the Performance area, click Settings.

3.
Click the Advanced tab, and then in the Virtual memory area, click Change.

4.
Change the Initial Size (MB) and Maximum size (MB) text boxes to 1.5 times the RAM you have (in MB). For example, if you had 768 MB of RAM, you would enter 1152 MB RAM in both the Initial Size (MB) and Maximum Size (MB) text boxes.
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