Microsoft Action Pack - great way for small businesses to save money

I recently updated my subscription to Microsoft Action Pack and I thought now would be the perfect time to tell others a bit about it.

The quick story is - Microsoft will license you thousands of dollars of software for your company's internal use for a few hundred dollars a year.

The intial price to start is slightly higher than the subscription fee - when we signed up it was $350 US or $450 Canadian with an update fee of $300 a year.

What you get for your money is 10 licenses of Microsoft's latest OS - in the case Vista Professional. You also get 10 licenses of Microsoft Office. Beyond that you get access to almost every Microsoft application you can think of (excluding development tools).

Microsoft will also send you updates every month or two as new products become avaliable.

If you consider the cost of a single license of Vista Professional and a single copy of Office Professional 2007 you quickly realize this a great deal.

What's the catch? Well - technically you're supposed to renew your subscription every year or stop using the software. However we did let ours laps for about 12 months and everything continued to work correctly.

You also are NOT allowed to sell or distribute the software. Its for internal use only.

And you must sign up to be Microsoft Partner - however this is takes no more than 10 minutes.

We originally signed up to simply get Windows XP and Office, but quickly realized that having extra software like Microsoft's Small Business Server and the web development tools would also be very useful. And the SMB costs more than a single year of the Action Pack Subscription.

Take a look and take advantage if you're searching for a cost effective way to use Microsoft's software. You no longer have an excuse for using "borrowed" copies in your office or home office.

http://partner.microsoft.com/ or google "Microsoft Action Pack"

A Few More Favorite Applications

I wrote about my top 5 favorite applications for Windows Mobile developers earlier this month.

I've now added a list of my favorite free tools/apps on the right side of this blog.

The new additions include:
AVG: excellent free anti-virus. I would recommend upgrading to the paid version if you find it useful but the free version offers excellent and reliable basic protection.

Trillian: A great IM client that handles multiple accounts and most common IM protocols including MSN, AIM, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, etc. The Pro version doesn't offer much beyond the free version but I registered to support this excellent product.

CamStudio: An amazing open source screen capture utility.

NSIS: In my opinion, the best installer creatation tool. This tool trumps every paid installation creation tool I've ever used. Developed by the same team that created WinAMP. Its also open source.

Enjoy!

Scanning in Windows Vista

It really seems like nothing is quite as easy as it used to be with Windows XP.

Here's another quick tip for Windows Vista users trying to scan.


Previously, pressing the Scan button on your scanner was all it would take to prompt your system (and scanner) to scan an image and send it to your favorite image editing application.

Now (at least with HP scanners it seems), you need to initiate the scan from your computer and NOT the scanner. If your software doesn't have an option to start a scan, you'll want to use the Windows Photo Gallery.

Simply launch "Windows Photo Gallery" from your start menu, open the File menu and select "Import From Scanner or Camera".

From here you'll have the option to select your scanner and go through the usual and familar options.

Aren't things supposed to get easier with Vista? However I don't know if this is an issue with my HP scanner or Windows Vista.

The Elusive Mail applet in Vista 64

I just wanted to make a quick post for anyone else who has had a tough time trying to find the "Mail" Control Panel applet on Vista 64. (and I assume this will also apply to other 64 bit Microsoft OSs).

I was setting up access to an exchange server yesterday for Outlook 2007. As you may already know, this needs to be done while Outlook is fully closed and should be set up by using the Mail applet in the Control Panel.

On Vista 64 bit Edition, this icon is no longer present in the Control Panel. Because this applet is a 32 bit applet instead of 64 - it gets hidden away with other 32 applets.

To find the Mail item - you simply need to click on the icon labelled "View 32-bit Control Panel Items" in the Control Panel. If you don't see this entry, you'll need to change the view in the Control Panel to "Classic View". This can be done by clicking the appropriately named link in the top left of the Window.

How to surpress the constant prompts in Vista

If you're new to Vista and you're at least somewhat tech savvy, you're probably wondering why Vista asks you to confirm just about everything you're doing.

This is because of the new UAC - or User Account Control. Honestly for most people its probably a great idea, for myself, it simply provokes brief periods of rage.

Fortunately there's an easy fix.

Simply open the Control Panel, go to User Accounts, and click "Turn User Account Control on or off". You'll know if its on if Vista makes you confirm this action as well.


Thanks to LifeHacker.com for the info

http://lifehacker.com/software/vista/windows-vista-tip--disable-annoying-need-your-permission-to-continue-prompts-230866.php

A Quick Tip for sorting your e-mail in Outlook

I recently discovered (or thought to try) a simple technique to improve sorting e-mails in Outlook. I'm currently using Outlook 2007 but I'm sure this will work on older versions.

Typically, I would sort my e-mails by the sender. Ie, I create a rule that automatically moves all e-mails sent from joe@somecompany.com to my SomeCompany folder. And then I might have a second rule that moves all e-mails from jane@somecompany.com. Of course the problem with this is you can end up creating dozens of rules just for one company.

It finally occurred to me to try and sort by the company domain itself - "somecompany.com". As it turns out this is very easy. Create a new rule and click on the "Advanced Options" button. Now, the condition you want to check for is "with specific words in the senders address". Now simply add the domain name as a specific word, move onto the next step and sort as you wish.

I hope you find this tip useful.

Dell Vostro 1510 Review Part 1

The time has come for me to purchase a new laptop. My previous machine was a Dell Inspiron 6000 which served me very well over the past three years. I did some quick research and found it tough to get the specifications I wanted from a retail store (most notibly the high resolution screen) so I opted to order another laptop directly from Dell Canada.

Specifications of my New Dell Vistro 1510:
Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 at 2.1Ghz
3 Gigabytes of Ram (DDR2 at 667Mhz, 2 DIMMS)
160 Gig Harddrive
Integrated Graphics Accelrator X3100
15.4" WUXGA (1900x1200)

This machine is has been built for work as apposed to gaming and the specifications reflect that. I will be installing my complete suite of development tools onto this laptop and I'll write about those experiences in Part 2 of this review.

Build Quality / Exterior

This is the first laptop I've owned that has really wowed me out of the box. The laptop is very well built and the shiny black plastic shell is honestly quite impressive.

Periferals

The speakers are adiquate but by no means impressive. I am happy to report the the touch pad works very well, this was a sore spot on my old Dell Inspiron. And finally the screen, I was concerned this resolution would be problematic on a 15.4" screen but its simply stunning. The reflective coating does pick up more glare than standard screens but the clarity and vibrancy of the colors more than makes up for it.

Windows Vista

This machine shipped with Windows Vista Home Basic (32 bit) which it handles very well. It gets a Performance Rating of 3.3 but this is due to the graphics card. All other components scored a 4.9 or better.

Installed Software

I ordered my laptop with Office Basic 2007. An additional $150 to receive Word, Excel and Outlook seemed to be an excellent value.

I was also pleased to find Acrobat Readed 8.1 and Google Desktop pre-installed.

Part 2

I'll be putting the Vostro through its paces as a work and development computer over the next 2 weeks. Part two of this review will be up before the end of the month.