Monday, December 30, 2013

Microsoft Getting Ready To Release Outlook 2013 For Windows Tablets

If you are the owner of a Surface tablet or a tablet with Windows RT operating system, you would have been anticipating the release of an email client from Microsoft for these programs. However, your long wait is over. Microsoft has decided to release Outlook 2013 for its surface tablets and Windows RT OS. Tami Reller, who is Microsoft’s CMO and CFO for Windows section, announced this glad news. He was speaking at Computex. All the new Surface RT tablets and tablets that run on Windows RT will now feature Outlook 2013.
When you talk about Microsoft Outlook, the program was an instant hit soon after its release. The program has numerous features and updates that made it one of the best email client programs in the world. We could buy this email client for desktop and laptop computers. However, Microsoft did not include this program in its Surface RT tablets or other Windows based tablets.
In a blog post, Microsoft’s Chris Schneider says, “We’re always listening to our customers and one piece of feedback was that people want the power of Outlook on all their Windows PCs and tablets.” He added, “In fact, a Morgan Stanley research study found that 61 percent of people shopping for tablets consider Microsoft Office to be the single most important software feature.” 
In another announcement, the company made it clear that it also plans to make the email client program part of its Smartphones and PCs. The latest version of Outlook is rich in features. Most of its users have given positive reviews about Microsoft Outlook. The new version is more user-friendly and convenient to use. For example, if you wish to view the calendar events in the program, you need not switch the tabs and in turn can make use of the ‘peeks’ feature in the programs.
The new announcement comes weeks after Microsoft’s decision to give away free keyboard on the purchase of all Windows RT Surface tablets. With new offers in line, the company expects more users to choose Windows RT based tablets over its competitors. Microsoft’s Surface tablets face tough competition from Apple’s iPad and other Android based tablets.
Microsoft Surface tablets and Windows RT based tablets have not been able to pose a big threat to its competitors and lags behind in sales. However, with Microsoft offering one of its favorite programs of all time with the tablets free of cost, we might see a small change in the existing sales scenario.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Microsoft BSOD Patch Crashes Many Systems

Microsoft issued a statement urging users of the Windows 7 OS to uninstall the patch that had been shipped a week back, which caused a lot of problems to users. Many were victims of a system crash while others were stuck in endless reboots that crippled their work. The patch was issued on Tuesday but reports of problems were reported almost in an hour. Microsoft has promptly removed the update from the Windows Store to prevent further damage to other customers. In addition, the company urged those who are currently not experiencing any issues to remove the update for good.

The update was notorious for generating the Blue Screen of Death error message, which is probably why Microsoft was quick at yanking the update from the Windows Store. Repeated boots will render the system completely useless and Microsoft has been strongly encouraging any user who installed it to remove it as soon as possible.

Jim Bulger of Virtual Administration, an IT support vendor in the Washington D.C. area, posted on the Patchmanagement.org mailing list saying, "The problems we have experienced were on machines with Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows." Kaspersky also tied the CHKDSK issue for Windows Vista or Windows 7 PCs as well as Windows Serer 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 users.

Microsoft failed to say something concrete about the cause of the issue or any measures to fix it. They could only comment emphatically, "We've determined that the update, when paired with certain third-party software, can cause system errors." As there is no solution for these Microsoft problems, many users are in a dilemma about the next course of action.

In Brazil, this issue only cropped up on PCs with the G-Buster plugin. It is one of the widely used browser security programs, which are often used in Brazilian banks. The security update MS13-036 issued to address four different vulnerabilities in Windows kernel mode driver carried the patch that crippled many systems. It was part of Microsoft’s nine-bulletin Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft already has issued instructions to remove the patch to get rid of the Microsoft problems. If any users have received the MS13-036 update, they should avoid rebooting the PC before uninstalling it. This is the not the first case of a Microsoft update crippling PCs. In 2008, a similar patch issued as a Windows Vista Service Pack 1 was responsible for many system crashes and other issues that bogged down hundreds of PCs. Two years later, another such update crashed Windows XP machines.


Microsoft should better come up with a quick solution to avoid facing the wrath of customers and probably release updates that never cause such issues in the first place.

Why Vista Is Overrated

The New York Times recently published an article stating all the Windows Vista problems. Excerpts from the article say, "The main problem with Vista, Microsoft said, was that given the delays, uncertainty and significant changes in the software, the rest of the industry was not ready when Vista finally arrived."
This is in a manner self-serving, as no organization likes to point out its own flaws. Blaming it on the “rest of industry” is a good escape route for Microsoft.
The truth is that Microsoft released Windows Vista a bit too early. Surely, there must have been high pressure on the company to release the OS. However, in fact a small percentage of the loyal Microsoft base actually cared about the delay. If the Vista was an exceptional OS not many would have cared about when it got released as long as it had high performance, loads of tools and features, fewer or no issues and ease of use.
In the quote above, Microsoft was referring to the lack of hardware drivers. However the entire blame cannot be shifted to the hardware manufacturers. Had Microsoft chosen to collaborate with hardware manufacturers or refrained from releasing the OS, knowing in advance that hardware compatibility would likely create an issue, Vista would have been a successful venture for Microsoft. Even legendary software giant Apple had released the Apple Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 prematurely. In retrospect, Linux still has higher hope. Programmers at Linux did not have pressure from the sales department or marketing department to release the OS. As there is no Linux headquarters itself, the OS would come out exactly when the programmers were thorough, and had created a sustainable, efficient operating system.
The article in New York Times even stated, "By now, Microsoft insists that most of the frustrating technical problems with Vista...have been resolved--and many industry executives and analysts agree." Techies can blabber for hours at end about the pros and cons of the OS, but for the average worker the only things that matter are the tools, applications, and above all that speed and efficiency with which they can get things done.
While large organizations rely heavily on the business suite application of Microsoft, a stable and high performance operating system would definitely boost the sales. From the average Joe to large business organizations, Vista did not offer anything that they hadn’t already gotten from Windows XP. A resurgent interest in Macs may see Linux and Apple as the top guns of the software industry. It is up to Microsoft to remove all Vista problems and offer something much more substantialto the public.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Lenovo To Re-launch Start Menu In Windows 8 OS

The biggest complaint on the latest Windows 8 operating system is the missing Start button. Many Windows 8 users have complained about the missing Start button in the Windows support forums and these complaints have caused a big headache to the Windows engineering team. Microsoft’s introduction of the Windows 8 operating system without the Start menu was hard for a number of users to digest. Many of the users who have done the Windows 8 transfer were very disappointed by the missing Start button.

It is heard that Lenovo is not going to wait for the release of Windows 8.1 to get the Start button back. They have partnered with a startup to restore the much-missed Start menu. The Windows 8.1 was to be released from Microsoft on October 17, 2013. This has apparently started rolling out to the manufacturers. With this update, the users will be able to see the return of the Start button, even though the full cascading menu will be absent. Possibly, in the light of this compromise, Lenovo has teamed up with the software company SweetLabs to pre-install its Pokki software on the computers. According to a press release by SweetLabs, Pokki will place a small acorn button where the Start button used to be.

Pokki is also a platform to distribute apps like Pinterest, Sound Cloud, Angry Birds, Twitter, Spotify and hundreds of other apps. This announcement also brings up improved app store and app recommendation platform, that will support additional app types which include traditional Windows apps such as Dropbox, Skype and Evernote as well as the Pokki version of social apps and web apps like Gmail and Facebook.

Meanwhile, the personal computer market is in the biggest decline of history, with the Windows 8 transfer proving to be highly troublesome among the users. The Pokki package has an app store from the Windows store, a modern Start menu and a gaming arcade. As per Bloomberg, Pokki has been downloaded into more than three million Windows 8 computers, with the average consumer opening the Pokki software more than ten times a day.

As per Lenovo, the Pokki software will arrive on some IdeaPad, IdeaCentre and ThinkPad models, though they did not specify on which models. This will be rolled out in the coming weeks. Bloomberg says that Pokki will eventually come pre-installed on all the models of Lenovo PCs. Lenovo also said that the devices would be available in multiple areas globally.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Setting Up Microsoft Outlook To Receive Comcast Email

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most widely used email applications, which boasts of many advanced features. It is also known as a personal information manager that enables the users to store their personal information as well as keep a track of their important days and events. The features such as calendar, journals, task manager etc help the users to schedule and organize their important days, events and tasks. This information is stored in files known as personal information tables or .PST files.

As mentioned earlier, Microsoft Outlook is one of the widely used email applications and sometimes, a user face issues while receiving emails from a specific email address. It has been observed that the Comcast email subscribers usually have one or more email addresses to go with an Internet account. Hence, if you are a Comcast subscriber, and would like to access these email accounts using an email client, such as Microsoft Outlook, you must configure the software first. According to the Microsoft tech support, you can easily configure the Outlook email setup in Outlook 2010. The Microsoft Outlook can easily detect the server settings, such as the outgoing and incoming mail servers that the users would be familiar with.

You can try the following instructions to set up Microsoft Outlook to receive the Comcast email before contacting the technical support.

  • In the first step, open the Microsoft Outlook 2010 application in your system. Once it is opened, you need to click the File tab near the top of the main window. Now, select the Add Account button above Account Settings.
  • In the next step, you need to check the information that appears on the Auto Account Setup page. Here you may notice that Outlook email setup would attempt to fill in your name and email address.
  • Hence, make sure, if Outlook is able to detect your name and Comcast email address. If you find the wrong details are displayed, select the radio button for Manually Configure Server Settings or Additional Server Types Email Account and type the correct name and address. However, if Outlook does not fill in the information, you need to enter it correctly.
  • Now, click Next. You would be asked for your Comcast user name and password, and once your email account is verified, Outlook will confirm it to set up your account. Once it is set up, click Finish.

Therefore, these steps would help you to set up Outlook email for your Comcast account. For more information, contact our feel tech support.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Resetting The Administrator Account Password In Windows XP

The Administrator account enjoys a significant role in the working of a Windows XP computer. Only a user in command of the administrator account can access a variety of tasks and functions. Due to the importance of the administrator account, a password is required to gain access and take control of the account. However, the administrator account cannot be used if the user has forgotten the password. However, by the means of the password reset disk, a user can reset the administrator password. By following the below provided Microsoft support page guidelines, you can easily reset the password.

Instructions
  • First, you require restarting your system.
  • When the Windows XP logon screen is visible, you need to select the Administrator account.
  • You need to choose the option Use Your Password Reset Disk. When the password reset window appears, you have to choose the Next option.
  • Into the optical disk drive, you have to insert the password reset disk. If you do not have a password reset disk with you, you can know about how to create a password reset disk by visiting the official support page of Microsoft.
  • In the Type a new password field, you have to enter your new password. In the Password Confirmation box, you will have to enter the new password again.
  • In the Type a new password hint field, you need to enter a password hint so that you can recall the password later if required. Now select the Next button.
  • To complete the process, you have to select the Finish option. 
  • Now you can log in to the administrative account with the new administrative password and take complete control over the operating system.
Make sure that you make a note of the password and keep it in a safe place. If you keep the password in an unsecure location, anybody can get access to it and gain access to the administrator account. By following the above provided Microsoft support page guidelines, you can easily reset the administrator password with the help of the password reset disk. If you have any doubts regarding any of the steps, you can visit the Microsoft help and support page to clear your queries.