Downloads to Consider and some Outlook Web Access Tricks

It's not often that I recommend downloading things to your computer. For the most part they just end up causing trouble. However, I've recently come across several that you might want to consider.

MSN Search ToolBar and LookOut - An amazing search tool. Microsoft liked it so well, they bought the company. It searches instantly and I mean instantly. As you are typing in your search terms, it displays results. The results are categorized by location and be on your computer or on the web. Find it here: Toolbar

Clear Type Tuner Power Toy - Power Toys are little programs that the developers of a product use to make their life easier. These never become an official part of the operating system because it is deemed that not enough people need them to make the testing worthwhile. How wrong they were about this one. ClearType is an optional method for displaying fonts on your LCD monitors. This tool allows you to tune the look of the font to match the display properties of your monitor and your eyes. It's made a big difference for my 19" Dell LCD. Before you use this tool though, you must first have the resolution of your monitor set at it's optimum. On my monitor the optimum was found by pressing the button on the front of the screen that displays the menu. At the bottom of the menu is listed the optimum resolution. Next open Control panel and change the display setting to match. WARNING: This optimum resolution might be smaller than you are used to. But I've found that the clarity makes it worthwhile. After that's done run the ClearType PowerToy. Download it here: PowerToy

Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP - If you are a person who is really picky about having your monitor colors exactly as your printer prints them and you want more control, then this control panel add-in is for you.

The Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet adds a new 'Color' item to the Windows control panel, providing a single place to view and edit color management settings in Windows XP. Using it, you can install and uninstall color profiles, change color profile associations for displays, printers and scanners, view detailed properties for color profiles (including a 3D rendering of the color space gamut), and rename color profiles, keeping the filenames and "internal" names consistent.

Get it here: Color Control

Outlook Web Access Tricks

ctrl-n -Open “Compose New Mail” form
ctrl-k -Resolve name typed in recipient well
alt-s -Send mail
escape -Close window
ctrl-r -Reply to a message
ctrl-R -Reply-all to a message
ctrl-shift-f -Forward a message

Drag n’ drop works between the folder tree view and the message list view in your mailbox. Drag a message from your inbox to the folder where you want to put it just like you would in Outlook. Note: Drag n’ drop doesn’t work between public folders and private mailboxes While you are at it, take a look at the cool right-click context menu’s put in folder view and the folder tree.

We don’t have a five day view like Outlook, but don’t let that stop you from looking at multiple days in the calendar. See multiple days at the same time in the calendar view by holding down the control key and clicking down on multiple days with your mouse in the month-view date picker.

Spell check every mail before you send it automatically! This option is available from the Options menu in OWA. Select “Spell check mail before sending” and never send a typo again!

Double click on any hour marker or yellow calendar open space to create a meeting starting at that time.

Technogy Makes Life Better

This weekend I visited the home of an 84 year old deaf woman named Bertha. She's been deaf all of her life and all of her friends are deaf. Deaf people of all ages are into technology; they've been using fax machines and TTY (text) phones for years and younger folks are heavy into text messaging on cell phone and computer. Of course, the older ones are mostly cautious and only adopt new technology when forced to or when the benefit is so clear that they can't possibly live without it. Well, such a technological advance has just taken place and even old set in their ways seniors are flocking to it. They've found a new technology that whose benefit is to obvious that they've just got to have it. It's the Video Phone.

Video phone technology is really neat. There's an IP phone with a built-in camera that connects to your television. The IP address is associated with your phone number, so your friends can call you up using your regular phone number. The most difficult part for the seniors using these phones is navigating through the menus using the remote control. For younger people this probably isn't an issue. It's the prevalence of high speed Internet that made this happen. Now that everyone has access to DSL and Cable Internet, the video is clear as crystal and there's no lag. On a 36" television, it's like you're sitting in the same room with the person you're talking to.

For the deaf this technology is wondrous. Conversations flow so much easier when you can see the person talking, using American Sign Language. No more typing. No more faxing. Well, almost no faxing. Bertha's daughter is a good friend of mine and she's a gadget freak that works in IT for a local non-profit. She's set up her mom with troubleshooting faxes. If Bertha makes a call and the person on the other end is having some difficulty figuring out what buttons to push on the remote, or if her family didn't configure the phone properly, Bertha faxes them the appropriate troubleshooting sheet which contains step-by-step directions and they're conversing on the video phone in a matter of minutes. Bertha's not only become a lover of this new technology, she's also now the default troubleshooter in her senior group!

I love seeing the appropriate use of technology making someone's life better.