Charles Kelsoe's weblog

Microsoft’s Insurance Industry Web Site

Charles — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:06:17 +0000

You can get Microsoft’s take on the insurance industry at their financial services industry web site. The link is Microsoft Insurance Site.

ESET (NOD32) unveils online scanner

Charles — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:57:20 +0000

Powered by award-winning ESET NOD32 Antivirus software, ESET Online Scanner is a free Web-based service that enables computer users to perform a comprehensive system scan to check for and clean viruses, spyware, and other malware—without uninstalling their existing antivirus solution. With Online Scanner, non-ESET users can get a “second opinion” on the health status of their computers and determine if their existing malware solution is really performing up to snuff.

See the following Business Wire press release for more details.

Telnet in Vista

Charles — Sun, 20 May 2007 22:56:40 +0000

Follow either one of the steps below to enable Telnet in Vista:

First Method

1. Click to open the command prompt.
2. At the command prompt, type start /w pkgmgr /iu:”TelnetClient” and press ENTER.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Allow.

3. When the installation is complete, type exit, and then press ENTER.

Second Method

1. Open Control Panel
2. Select Programs
3. Select Turn Windows features on or off
4. Check telnet client

Microsoft Sharedview

Charles — Sat, 12 May 2007 23:35:37 +0000

Microsoft SharedView is a fast and easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups of friends or coworkers; anytime, anywhere. Use SharedView to put your heads together and collaborate.

Keep office virus-free

Charles — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:04:57 +0000

Most business people communicate through e-mail these days, making their computers extremely valuable tools. However, one false click can render a computer useless (until you run a virus scan).
Continue reading “Keep office virus-free”

Source: Keep office virus-free
Originally published on Thu, 10 May 2007 16:01:32 GMT by stjohn@nod32usa.com (StJohn (singin) Murray)

Exploring keyboard shortcuts in Windows Vista

Charles — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:41:25 +0000

Here is a list of some of the Vista shortcut keys.

If you’re like me, you like to use the keyboard for most, if not all, of your OS navigation tasks. It’s merely a personal preference, but I’d much rather use a keystroke sequence than have to remove a hand from the keyboard (I use my right hand for mousing), move the mouse, and return it. It just seems faster to me — and maybe it allows me to rely less on hand-eye coordination, which, admittedly, is less sharp now that I have much less time to spend gaming

Here are just a couple keyboard shortcuts that I’ve learned of from colleagues or come across on my own:

Ctrl+Esc
Opens the Start menu

Windows Logo
Opens the Start menu

Ctrl+Alt+Delete
Then – Displays the Windows Security window

Now – Displays LogOn screen including Lock Computer, Switch User, LogOff, Change a Password and Task Manager

Print Screen
Copies the full screen image to the Windows Clipboard

Alt+Print Screen
Copies the selected window’s image to the Windows Clipboard

Alt+Double-Click
Displays property sheet for the selected item

Alt+Enter
Displays property sheet for the selected object

Shift
Hold when loading disk to prevent AutoPlay application

Shift+F10
Same as right-click

Shift+Right-Click
Shows alternative commands for the selected object

I now find myself using many of these more and more often, especially given my inclination toward using the keyboard instead of the mouse whenever possible.

One of the great things about Windows Vista is the context-sensitivity applied to many actions. For example, think of how the Slide Show command appears in a window’s toolbar when viewing a window containing photos; or, how right-clicking a photo displays rotation options in the resulting menu. In the case of the shortcuts above, notice that when you Shift+Right-Click an .XLSX spreadsheet or .DOCX document, the Open as Read-Only option appears, which is not the case when doing the same to a .PPTX slide deck. And for all of these file types, the Copy as Path option is displayed upon Shift+Right-Click, which can be very handy if you’re looking for the fully-qualified path to the document — say, in the case of creating a hyperlink to it.

There are surely more shortcuts that I’ve yet to discover. What are some of the keyboard or other shortcuts you rely on regularly in Windows Vista? Share your tips in the Comments section and give us a chance to learn from one another!

Source: Exploring keyboard shortcuts in Windows Vista
Originally published on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:58:00 GMT by Nick White

Powerpoint Backgrounds

Charles — Mon, 07 May 2007 20:22:51 +0000

I use TechSmith’s SnagIt screen capture utility for all of my screen captures. Today, I went to their site to see if there was an update and found that they have a nice collection of PowerPoint backgrounds (scroll to near the bottom of the page).

Virtual CD / DVD Emulators

Charles — Sat, 05 May 2007 22:02:48 +0000

I use Daemon Tools, a virtual CD / DVD emulator. This utility allows me to open a file image of a CD or DVD without having to burn the image to a CD or DVD first. I have been relatively happy with this tool. I am using Vista X64 with no issues. The biggest downside to Daemon Tools is that they include yet another toolbar (WhenU) that is installed (you can optionally select not to install it) when you install Daemon Tools. I can appreciate their desire to recover some revenue for a free tool, however, I would personally prefer to pay a nominal fee and not have adware installed on my system.

DAEMON Tools supports the following image files:

cue/bin
iso
ccd (CloneCD)
bwt (Blindwrite)
mds (Media Descriptor File)
cdi (Discjuggler)
nrg (Nero)
pdi (Instant CD/DVD)
b5t (BlindWrite 5)
isz (Compressed ISO images)

SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive is another vender that offers a free virtual CD / DVD emulator. I have not personally used this product as they do not have a version for 64 bit systems. However, it does get good reviews without the plauge of adware that comes with Daemon Tools. It also supports most of the common image files.

Link to SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive

Link to Daemon Tools

My Blog

Charles — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 03:31:35 +0000

Welcome to my blog! I want to share bits and pieces of information that interest me – and might interest you. In addition, there will be educational post, opinions, and other random thoughts.

What Not To Say in a Presentation

Charles — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:50:54 +0000

It takes practice to be a good public speaker.

Here is a few good tips for public speakers:

What Not To Say in a Presentation - Craig Childs- LifeHack.org
5 phrases you never want to hear in a presentation – InstigatorBlog