After installing Office 2010, naturally the first application that I tried would be Word 2010 (I use that a lot).

I am still playing around with it but one of the key features that I really like is Microsoft Word 2010 Web applications. What does it mean? It means that now Microsoft is offering what Google Docs is offering. (Finally, after so long)

Word 2010 Web application will be available to anyone with a free Windows Live account. I can store my office documents online in Windows Live Skydrive. It also allows me to create, edit, and share existing documents with others.

But don’t expect the exact same feature as the Desktop version of Word 2010, it will have basic feature for you to edit your documents.

Here’s is my Word Document on the cloud.

I had known that Microsoft Office 2010 was opened for public beta a couple of weeks back. But only until recently that I found some time to really try it out. I must say that its pretty stable and enjoyed using some of the new features.

Download the beta and try it out at Microsoft Office 2010 website. Its free and for folks who is already used to the new User Interface of Office 2007, it will be fairly easy.

In the beta, you will be able to try out the following applications for free:

• Word
• Access
• Powerpoint
• Publisher
• Outlook
• InfoPath
• Excel
• OneNote
• SharePoint Workspace
• Communicator

If you want to know more about what are the new features of Office 2010, you can also download the “First Look Office 2010” e-book for free.

Meanwhile, stay tune for my next few blog post where i will share my thoughts on the new Office 2010 beta.

YikeBike is a electronic bike that allows riders to ride on it in the city. It is environmentally friendly as it does not run on petrol and it is light enough for you to carry around.

It’s very light, less than 10kg and foldable for you to carry around. I think this is great innovation and personally will like to own one if its available in Malaysia.

But looking at the trends, Malaysia will be the last country they will launch it. Think IPhone and Kindle, we are the not on their initial launch list. How sad!

Source: YikeBike

So here are some Windows 7 shortcut keys that I always used. Hope its useful!!

Windows Logo Shortcut Key	Description
Windows logo key	Open or close the Start menu.
Windows logo key +D	Display the desktop.
Windows logo key +M	Minimize all windows.
Windows logo key +Shift+M	Restore minimized windows to the desktop.
Windows logo key +E	Open Computer.
Windows logo key +L	Lock your computer or switch users.
Windows logo key +R	Open the Run dialog box.
Windows logo key +T	Cycle through programs on the taskbar.
Windows logo key +number	Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.
Windows logo key +Tab	Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Windows logo key +Spacebar	Preview the desktop.
Windows logo key +Up Arrow	Maximize the window.
Windows logo key +Left Arrow	Maximize the window to the left side of the screen.
Windows logo key +Right Arrow	Maximize the window to the right side of the screen.
Windows logo key +Down Arrow	Minimize the window.
Windows logo key +Home	Minimize all but the active window.
Windows logo key +Shift+Left Arrow or Right Arrow	Move a window from one monitor to another.
Windows logo key +P	Choose a presentation display mode.
Windows logo key +X	Open Windows Mobility Center.

Source: The Official Windows 7 Shortcut Keys

Tip 1: Sneak Peek on your desktop

Win+Space: All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop. This can be handy when you want to quickly view the files in your desktop without leaving your active window.

Tip 2: Quickly Launching  Windows Mobility Center

Win+X: This will quickly launch the mobility center which will enable you to change your battery status, turn on Presentation Setting etc. (This is in Windows Vista but i always find this useful to share)

Tip 3: Quick way to launch application pinned on taskbar

Win+number: Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.

This will be a quick and easy way for you launch certain applications.

Tip 1: Easier way to display projection

Just use the short cut key Win Logo + P

Tip 2: Magnifying in Windows 7

In Windows 7 it is easier to magnified certain parts of your work in presentation. You can use this feature to zoom in our zoom out in certain parts of your presentation.

Just use Win Logo ++ (plus key)  to zoom or Win Logo + – (minus key) to zoom out.

If you want to do it manually (beats me why) you can always click on the options in the magnifying glass to zoom in and out.

Tip 3 – Short Cut Keys to Quickly move your active Window

In making presentations, sometimes you would want to quickly minimize or maximize your window without manually using your mouse. So here are some good shortcut keys that can help you achieve that quickly.

Win Logo + Up – Maximize current Window

Win Logo + Down – Minimize current Window

Win Logo + Left – Move Window to left hand side of the screen

Win Logo + Right – Move Window to right hand side of the screen

Tip 4-  Moving Windows to an Extended Monitor/Projector

This only works if you have a extended monitor or projector connected to your PC. To display a Window to your extended monitor or project, you typically need to drag a active Window to it. Now with a flick of a button you can do that easily. Here’s how

Win Logo + Shift + Left – Jump active Window to left monitor

Win Logo + Shift + Right – Jump active Window to right monitor

When copy and pasting something into a Microsoft Office Application such as Word or Outlook, it will sometimes screw up the current format that you are having. This is normally happens when you copy and paste from other sources.

What you could do to remove the formatting is – Select the text that you have just pasted and use the shortcut key “Ctrl + Space”

But there is a tip that you can use. Instead of using a thumb-drive, use a SD card. Most laptops now have a built in SD card slot, now you can permanently attach the SD card to your PC.

Do to that is very simple.

1. Stick your SD card to the laptop
2. Choose “Speed up my system” when the AutoPlay dialog box pops up.
3. Use the maximum spaces to boost up your speed.

Now you can easily boost your performance with Windows Readyboost to make your PC even faster.

Some info about Windows Readyboost

Windows ReadyBoost is a new concept in adding memory to a system. You can use non-volatile flash memory, such as that on a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, to improve performance without having to add additional memory "under the hood."

Windows ReadyBoost improves system memory and boosts performance.

The flash memory device serves as an additional memory cache—that is, memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive. Windows ReadyBoost relies on the intelligent memory management of Windows SuperFetch and can significantly improve system responsiveness.

It’s easy to use Windows ReadyBoost. When a removable memory device such as a USB flash drive or a secure digital (SD) memory card is first inserted into a port, Windows Vista checks to see if its performance is fast enough to work with Windows ReadyBoost. If so, you are asked if you want to use this device to speed up system performance. You can choose to allocate part of a USB drive’s memory to speed up performance and use the remainder to store files.

• Windows ReadyBoost FAQ
• ReadyBoost Benchmarks

What about performance? Rather than judging its performance without any quantifiable evidence, I got my friend to borrow me her netbook and try to install Windows 7 on it. To me, this is a good enough test. Most of us knows, the preferred OS (Operating System) on netbook is Windows XP.

The Netbook that I’m testing on

Toshiba NB200 with 1.66 GHz Mini Laptop

The steps to install Windows 7 on your netbook

1. Download the WinToFlash (to make your USB drive bootable )
2. Get installation file of Windows 7
3. Run WinToFlash and in the following dialog box point it to your Windows 7 setup files
4. After the setup files is done
5. Go to the bios of your netbook and make sure its booting from USB
6. Plug in your USB and your installation should fire when the netbook boots

Here’s how i got Windows 7 working on a netbook. According to my friend who is using it, performance is very good. No difference with Windows XP, but she loves all the aero effect and eye candy that comes with Windows 7.

You don’t even need to turn off all the eye candy to make it work on Netbook. Try it on your netbook!

#Updated – Clubhouse Tags

In Outlook 2007, Microsoft has removed the Internet Explorer based rendering engine and replacing it with Microsoft Word.

With that, Outlook 2007 has limited support for HTML and CSS to display HTML email messages. Unless your HTML emails are extremely simple, users of Outlook 2007 will have difficulty reading your message.

Here are some notable limitation:

• no support for background images (HTML or CSS)  
• no support for forms  
• no support for Flash, or other plug ins  
• no support for CSS floats  
• no support for replacing bullets with images in unordered lists  
• no support for CSS positioning  
• no support for animated GIF’s  

Normal Lenovo Page	Lenovo Page in Outlook

There is no immediate workaround or solution but to compose your HTML email around those limitation. For more information on Outlook’s rendering capabilities check out:

 
• Information compile by E-Dialog
• Word 2007 HTML and CSS Rendering Capabilities in Outlook 2007 by Microsoft
• Outlook HTML and CSS Validator – A tool develop by Microsoft to check your email compatibility

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