Microsoft Office

Game Giveaway of the Dayoffers games on Saturdays and Sundays. Today’s game is a fun little point and click format, “Ghost in the Sheets”.

Welcome to the afterlife! It’s nothing like you’ve expected. Ghost in the Sheet is a comedy adventure game of supernatural proportions. Become a ghost and master your new paranormal skill set to unravel the secrets of your life-after-death adventure! Mystery, intrigue, comedy and adventure await; aren’t you just dying to play?

Features
High-resolution graphics with detailed animations to immerse players
A RPG-like skill learning system: as players progress through the game, they learn new paranormal skills that are vital for future adventures
Skills range from the conventional paranormal Telekinesis to obscure skills like Scary Sound
Nonlinear gameplay that allows players to freely roam the factor while solving a variety of puzzles in any order
Music and sound design are seamlessly integrated into the game
Humorous and entertaining minigames integrated into the gameplay
No dying, mazes, slider puzzles, or timed sequences that can needlessly frustrate
NPCs who reveal hints and provide intriguing back-story
Comic style cutscenes to supplement the plot.

Unzip the package you’ve downloaded, and carefully read the instructions which you can find in the readme.txt file. This readme.txt file is included with all our downloads. Follow the instructions carefully to install and activate the software.

To get the game, click the blue link above to go to Game Giveaway Of the Day, then click their download link. It’s fairly large, at 211 mb, but the graphics are said to be great.

Slow down, freeze, crash, and security threats are over. Advanced SystemCare Free is a comprehensive PC care utility that takes a one-click approach to help protect, repair, and optimize your computer. It provides an all-in-one and super convenient solution for PC maintenance and protection. All work will be done with 1 click and 1 minute. Compared with its nearest competitor, Advanced SystemCare Free provides the more essential and practical formula for Windows: Removing Spyware and Adware, Preventing Security Threats, Privacy Protection, Fixing Registry Errors, Temporary Files Cleanup, Startup Cleanup, Repairing Windows, Speeding up System and 1-click Mechanism.

Version 3.1.2 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

This utility offers a one-stop-shop for cleaning and maintaining your computer for better overall system performance. The interface is very simple, featuring only a few buttons, which makes it easy to get down to cleaning immediately (in fact, it automatically runs on start-up) and doesn’t confuse you with multiple steps.

The Maintain Windows section focuses on four areas of maintenance: spyware removal, Registry cleaning, a privacy sweep, and deletion of junk files. The Diagnose System button provides system optimization tools, detects spyware, defragments your disk, and scans for hijacked Windows settings. In our tests the scan and clean for each of these areas took less than 10 minutes to complete. In many of these scans, it is difficult to tell what exactly is being accomplished by some of the tools, but we were able to test against other trusted apps, which confirmed Advanced SystemCare’s efficacy in those areas.

Under the utilities section you are given several tools, which are similar to plug-ins, for other areas of optimization and diagnostic tests. Overall, Advanced SystemCare Free is a good way to maintain your system’s speed and clear out junk files, but you’ll need to remember to run it regularly because scheduling of scans is only available in the paid Pro version.

From The Live Writer Blog: We’re excited to share that Windows Live Writer 2009 is now officially available for download with Windows Live Essentials!

This is the same version of Writer as the release candidate from last month. If you’ve already installed the release candidate you do not need to upgrade at this time.

Windows Live Writer 2009
Version 14.0.8050.1202

Release Highlights (jump to full feature list)

Sharing photos and video
Here are some of the ways that Writer makes sharing photos and video on your blog even easier than before:

Crop, tilt and new photo treatments
Starting with the basics, Writer now has native editing features for photos - like crop and tilt - in addition to improved border treatments. The alignment commands in the toolbar now work with images so it’s easy to select multiple photos and, for example, center-align them.

To the right is an example of photo that is titled, right-aligned, and uses the “Instant photo” border (HINT: click the photo to see what happens).

Photo albums
It’s also much easier to insert multiple photos at once as either individual thumbnails or a Windows Live photo album.

Download HERE.

Full Feature List
In addition to the highlights of this release, here’s the list of all the major new features added since Windows Live Writer 2008:

New border treatments (including Instant Photo)
Crop and tilt photos
Insert multiple photos
Toolbar alignment commands enabled for images
Insert and upload Windows Live photo albums
Insert and publish video to YouTube
Additional spell checking languages: Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, English (Australia), Estonian, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, and Ukrainian
Server-side tagging (for supported blogs)
Type-down filtering in the Open dialog
Twitter, Digg and Flickr Plug-ins
Improved blog account setup
Lightbox and Windows Live Spaces inline preview support
Improved category control: adding categories, type-down filtering
Tabbed view switching
AutoLink glossary
Smart quotes/typographic characters
Word count
Support for bidirectional languages (like Hebrew and Arabic)
Tabs for view switching
Updated look and feel

Microsoft has plenty of free Budget templets for Excel to help you manage your money.

Now there’s no excuse not to manage your money. Keep track of family, household, shopping, gifts, business, accounts receivable, accounts payable, etc., right from your home or office computer.

Templets available for download include 2009-2010 Finance Calendar, Event Budget, Family Monthly Bills Budget, Family monthly budget planner, Lawn and Garden budget, Wedding budget planner and many more.

With so many options available, there’s no excuse not to keep track of your expenses, especially in today’s economy, when we all have to start watching our budgets and pinching our pennies.

What budget templetes to you use? If you don’t, which of the budget templetes on the Microsoft Excel budget templete page interests you? And why?

Create your own Mini-Me Smiley

Microsoft is offering a free program to make create a smiley in your own image!

The program is easy to understand, install and use. You choose from an array of options, from head, eyes, mouth, color for skin, eyes, hair, glasses, hats; most any combination you could ever want. I was looking for a quill and ink, being a writer, but can’t have everything, I guess.

The finished product can be loaded onto your Live Messenger program (add me bricko at lioneservices dot com), spaces, facebook or other social network site. The finished smiley is pretty good, with all the options they have to offer.

Create your own Mini-Me then add your friends to show off your handiwork.

Recycle, reduce and reuse are the hallmarks of the “Green Living” lifestyle and ecoists.

There are many useful and easy to embrace ideas in going “Green”. Such as recycling paper, metals, plastics from your life instead of throwing away to a landfill. Many cities (Seattle included) institute recycling programs for cardboard, some plastics, cans and bottles (but not, ironically, Green Bottles). Once the myriad rules and regulations are understood, it’s quite easy to recycle.

Reduce has become a buzzword these days, as in ‘reduce your carbon footprint’. Many people are forgoing their automobiles for cycling, walking and bussing, which is great news for the Puget Sound region. Fewer cars equal less emmissions (which also means less taxes and revenue for the city).

Reuse has garnered many new accolytes, as the recession grows deeper. Have clothing resown, cleaned and reworn, use newspaper for stuffing winter items, luggage and for drying shoes and boots in winter and rain. Reusing plastic grocery bags for shopping or trash bags is popular, as well as buying and using shopping bags (have three myself from a few fairs last summer–and awaiting to receive some that I ordered from my Freebies For Us blog).

Now, the Inside Office Online blog has showcased a developer, Ecofont, that has engineered a ‘Green Font’. This is a font that “By cleverly removing some of the spaces in the letters, the designers have reduced the amount of ink necessary for readable printing.” Very clever, as they admit. It will be interesting to see how fast this font catches on in the business world.

Office Podcasts: A podcast directory with podcasts about everything from Office products to office politics.

From Inside Office Online Blog: I like to think of the new Office Podcasts as a cross between The Office (read: Steve Carell) and my office … or, maybe your office.

When I need a break, I can hang with the humor crowd and subscribe to David Salaguinto’s Office OFFline podcast or listen to a great customer interview with Steven Thomas and Cancer Lifeline.

If work prevails (how often does THAT happen!), I can find presentation tips at Ric Bretschneider’s Presentations Roundtable, or a demo with a face (thanks, Bob). And, if I’m having a day, which never happens, I might check out Melanie Jordan’s tips for creating my own job.

Check it out! Listen to or watch a podcast right now, or download podcasts to your mobile device. Subscribe to a podcast feed, and don’t forget to give us your feedback.

We’ll update Office Podcasts regularly as new episodes and new podcast series are available. And, if you have a podcast you’d like to see on Office Podcasts, leave them a link. You might just find your podcast featured on Office Podcasts!

Happy podcasting!

What do I need to play Office podcasts?

All of the podcasts offered here on Office Online are free. You can download them directly to your computer with your Web browser, or subscribe to any podcast series by adding its feed to your RSS reader. For more information about RSS feeds and readers, see RSS feeds and Office podcasts.

To download any Office podcast that interests you, simply click any of the corresponding icons in your Web browser:

The icon denotes an audio-only podcast that you can listen to in your favorite media player on your computer or on a portable device.

The icon denotes a video podcast that you can watch in your favorite media player on your computer or on a portable device.

The icon denotes a podcast that is available from the Zune Marketplace. Connect your Zune device to your computer and sign in to Zune Marketplace to be taken to an even larger catalog of available podcasts. For more information, visit the Zune home page.

The icon denotes a podcast that is available from the iTunes directory. Connect your iTunes-compatible mobile device to your computer and sign in to iTunes to be taken to an even larger catalog of available podcasts. For more information, visit the iTunes home page.

The icon denotes an available RSS subscription for a particular podcast (or podcast series).

Microsoft works collaboratively with educators across Higher Education and K-12 to provide software plus services aimed at enhancing the learning environment and streamlining the operations of institutions.

This site is your resource for webcasts, podcasts, and other valuable information to gain insights into how Microsoft and Microsoft Partner solutions can help enable learning in the 21st century.

What’s coming up:

Are you up to date on US Education Market Trends and Microsofts EDU Priorities and Vision?

Live Oct 3 10:00AM-11:00AM Pacific Time

Education is the foundation for success and the link between employability and economic output. Public education is under much pressure for change in order to deliver a 21st Century Workforce able to flourish in the global economy. These trends are driving Microsofts education focus and business opportunities in key areas. This webcast launches our Partner Webinar Series and sets the stage for all future webcasts. In this session, we will scratch the surface on trends Microsoft is seeing and that research groups (e.g., Center for Digital Education) have confirmed. These trends represent the drivers behind substantial business opportunities we see for Microsoft-based solutions and they have played a role in the development of Microsofts education marketing campaigns that will help support the business.

Speakers:
Mary Cullinane—Director, Innovation and Business Development
Anthony Salcito—General Manager

Live@edu Overview
Live Oct 6 9:00AM-10:00AM Pacific Time
Looking for innovative solutions for keeping your students and alumni connected? Learn about Live@edu, Microsoft’s newest platform for delivering student and alumni email, communication and collaboration services. Join us for this one hour presentation on Microsoft’s Live @ EDU offering that offers:

The Apps students want

A co-branded email inbox students can use as their primary account, with additional services like Office Live Workspace, Windows Live SkyDrive, and more of things that encourage collaboration.

Integration with what you have in place

Live@edu works with the devices your students already use, and integrates with the infrastructure you already have.

Reliable Infrastructure

Outsource the time and cost of spam-filtering, server uptime and ongoing maintenance to Microsofts enterprise-class infrastructure.

Safety and Privacy

Keep your students data private and help keep them safer online. All for free to your institution!

Speakers:
Jonny Chambers—Senior Solution Specialist - Live@Edu

From Microsoft Outlook Team Blog: You’ve seen several posts on the Outlook Team Blog focused on ways to help you more effectively manage your incoming e-mails and appointments in Outlook. Office Labs has also been exploring some innovative methods to help people manage the vast amounts of information they receive on a daily basis.

To help alleviate this information overload, Microsoft Office Labs released Email Prioritizer last week on www.officelabs.com. The prototype – inspired by Microsoft Research’s “Priorities” project – is an add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 that was built by the Office Labs development team here in Redmond. Email Prioritizer provides a “do not disturb” button that temporarily pauses new email arrival from ten minutes up to four hours. Email Prioritizer will also assign priority ratings of 0 to 3 stars to incoming mail to help users focus their attention on the most important email messages.

While we encourage you to test out our prototypes, they are unsupported concepts with no plans for inclusion in any products. Please direct any feedback you have on Email Prioritizer to Office Labs at emailpfb@microsoft.com.

Thanks!

* Email Prioritizer is a plug-in for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 (running on Exchange Server) that helps you manage email overload. This concept test provides a “do not disturb” button that temporarily pauses new email arrival, and prioritizes email with a 0-3 star rating system. We hope this prototype helps you focus on the emails that are most important to you.

Open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in the file formats new to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007.

Overview
Users of the Microsoft Office XP and 2003 programs Word, Excel, or PowerPoint—please install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack.

By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074.

Note: If you use Microsoft Word 2000 or Microsoft Word 2002 to read or write documents containing complex scripts, please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925451 for information to enable Word 2007 documents to be displayed correctly in your version of Word.

Administrators: The administrative template for the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint converters contained within the Compatibility Pack is available for download.

System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2
Recommended Microsoft Office programs:

Microsoft Word 2000 with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Excel 2000 with Service Pack 3, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 with Service Pack 3

Microsoft Word 2002 with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Excel 2002 with Service Pack 3, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 with Service Pack 3

Microsoft Office Word 2003 with at least Service Pack 1, Microsoft Office Excel 2003 with at least Service Pack 1, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 with at least Service Pack 1

Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003

Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003

Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2003

Instructions
To install this download:

Ensure your system is up to date by installing all High-Priority/Required updates on Microsoft Update (required for Microsoft Office XP and 2003 users).

After installing all High-Priority/Required updates with Microsoft Update, download the Compatibility Pack by clicking the Download button above and saving the file to your hard disk.

Double-click the FileFormatConverters.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.

Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

To remove this download:

On the Windows Start menu, click Control Panel.

Select Add/Remove Programs.

In the list of currently installed programs, select Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system and then click Remove or Add/Remove. If a dialog box appears, follow the instructions to remove the program.

Click Yes or OK to confirm that you want to remove the program.