Spy Journal 3.0 Filtering the web for you

Windows Phone Website – if you use a windows mobile then there are plenty of resources here. If you don’t you probably should!

Insert the date and time in your OneNote notes. Shortcuts are:

• To insert the current date and time, press ALT+SHIFT+F.
• To insert only the date, press ALT+SHIFT+D.
• To insert only the time, press ALT+SHIFT+T.

Explanation of trusted documents feature in Office 2010

Outlook 2010 has some cool calendar features

Windows Media Centre Hints and tips from Missing remote

Back to work and back to an inbox full of things to do. I have spent a massive amount of time this last week working – the sailing holiday is now a dim and distant memory!

First some riding news. I got my bike back with the rear shock rebuilt (under warranty) and took it for a test ride with the MTB ride group yesterday. It held up just fine and the ride was an epic one - if a little long for my liking. The Saturday MTB group is back – meeting at the Wolves Bike Den every Saturday at midday for an epic ride like this. All ages and experiences welcome.

Map and terrain detail on bikely of the Ewen Maddock Dam Ride Click the pictures for more detail.

A great newsletter article from Microsoft.

We all know the routine. You’re churning through e-mails or browsing your favorite tech blog and you see that new app that is going to solve that pressing issue or promises to bring world peace to your desktop. You click the link, download the bits, and 15 minutes later you’re stumbling through the interface working out if it is really going to do everything the blurb said it would. It’s normally about this time that something else pops up, so you close the app and go and deal with another distraction.
This routine is then repeated over the next couple of months and you start to notice that your machine is not quite as responsive as it used to be. A quick glance at Add or Remove Programs and you’re scratching your head working out where all those apps came from. The process then starts of looking at each app and working out which ones to cull and which ones to keep. Fast forward a couple of hours and, various reboots later, your machine is starting to behave like its lithe old self again. The downside though is that you have just burned through a few hours and all you have to show for it is that your machine is back to where it was a few months back.
So what’s the answer? Well, like most things in life, there are a couple of solutions. The first one is to swear off trying new apps, leave your machine in its pristine state, and never install another application again. That one not working for you? How about Windows 7 with Windows Virtual PC then?
This is the combination I love. I can install an application into a virtual machine (VM). Its shortcuts are then presented in the Start menu of the host machine. When I launch the application, it appears as if it is running on the host OS, but in reality it is safely tucked away inside the sandbox of the VM. Why do I love this? Well, once I’m done testing the app, I use the undo disk feature in Windows Virtual PC to roll the VM back to its original state and it’s like it was never there. How long does it take? Minutes. So now, instead of burning hours rebuilding or repairing my machine, I have more time to search for that world peace for the desktop application.
And here’s a tip if you want to quickly build a Windows 7 VM. Head over to http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/wim2vhd and grab the handy Windows Image to Virtual Hard Disk (WIM2VHD) Converter. It will take your Windows 7 Install.wim file and convert it to a VHD in less than 10 minutes. You can then use that VHD in a new virtual machine and it will boot straight into the Windows setup process saving you even more time!

- Gordon Ryan is technologist, consultant, trainer, and Springboard Series Technical Expert Panel (STEP) member. When not traveling, he can be found living in Sydney with his 13-year-old cattle dog. When traveling, he can be found looking for quality libations.

Microsoft

From LiveSide - New version of Outlook Live for Windows Mobile available – for some. As part of the upcoming release of Exchange Server 2010, a new version of Outlook Live for Windows Mobile became available today.  This new Outlook Live, formerly Exchange Labs and code named Skyline (not the Outlook Live that preceded Outlook Connector), is an installable client for any Windows Mobile 6.1 phone that uses Exchange Server 2010.

Two new Windows Live services coming soon: Documents and Devices

It seems like Windows Live Wave 4 is well underway, and the consolidation of Office Live and Live Mesh with Windows Live could only make it better.

Something I have had to do a lot of lately is install printers in home networks with 32bit and 64 bit machines running mixtures of Windows 7, Vista and XP. This article from Digital Inspiration succinctly explains how to get this to work. Share a Network Printer between x86 and x64 Windows Machines.

Outlook 2010 is going to be able to sync to the cloud and mobile devices so you can take it where ever you go. Thanks to Sarah for the tip.