Quick Online Tips » Microsoft

Host Windows 7 Launch Party: Get Free Windows 7 Ultimate

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:52:36 +0000

If you decide to host a Windows 7 Launch party, you will get a free special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate and your very own Windows 7 Party Pack.

If you are selected, you will be assisted by House Party, the world’s leading party organizer to help you out. Pick a theme, then upload photos and videos, chat with other hosts, blog your experience, and download fun favours all from your personal House Party page.

First you need to choose your country and apply online to host a Launch Party. You can choose any day from October 22-29, 2009 and if you’re selected, you’ll get a free special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate and your very own Windows 7 Party Pack. Apply now.

Microsoft had earlier released free downloads of Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 RC for trial and testing purposes and I hope QOT readers got hold of the Windows 7 software. Now you can download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and scan your PC to see if it’s ready for Windows 7, and find any known compatibility issues.

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Original article: Host Windows 7 Launch Party: Get Free Windows 7 Ultimate
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13 Best Windows Mobile Apps

QuickOnlineTips — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:44:01 +0000

Guest post by Saijo George.
When we think of Windows Mobile apps or check the online reviews of the Best Pocket PC Application we usually come across the same old stuff like Google Maps, Skype, Facebook App, SkyFire, Opera etc. Dont get me wrong these apps are great but there are other hidden gems that are usually overlooked and today we take a look at a few of them in no particular order.

1) CleanRAM [in English] : This nifty little application releases valuable program memory that’s no longer being used without having to restart the device. There are 3 levels (Basic purge, Quality purge, Fundamental purge) to perform RAM cleanup.

2) S2U2 : is a simple lock/unlock application which has the iPhone style slide unlocking. It can be used as a screensaver while you don’t use your device. It will also shows your calender appointments, missed calls, unread SMS/email etc.

3) SmartLyrics : lets you manually search for the lyrics to any song, it can also automatically pull the lyrics for the song you play on windows mobile using Windows Mobile Media Player or in HTC AudioManager. Requires registration.

4) YoMoMedia RSS : If you read RSS on your device then this is a must have. This app comes in 2 parts – a web application and a Windows Mobile RSS Client. The best part about it is it syncs the feeds between these 2 apps.

5) w0lf’s Translator : uses the Google Translate engine to provide translations right on your mobile device. It also has Auto-detect feature to know the input language.

6) Microfi Nitrogen : is an opensource Windows Mobile app that allows you to play MP3/OGG/AAC/MP4/M4A/3GP/WAV/WMA songs stored on your Pocket PC device. It features a file browser, full skin support, smart shuffle and repeat modes, a 10-band equalizer with preset support (8 included presets), built-in sleep mode, a blank screen command to prevent energy waste while playing music and many more new features.

7) ShootMe : is an all-in-one app. There are other apps that simulate shotguns or light sabres or even boxing, but why have different apps for each one. ShootMe! has all of those funny apps gathered in one. The application has a Free and Paid version.

8) Flexilis : If security is a priority for you then Flexilis is the app for you. Along with the Anti-Virus and Firewall app, Flexilis also provides a module for backup, which will let you back up your contacts and photos. You can also transfer your data to a new phone with Flexilis. The Anti-Theft Module enables you to respond when your device is lost or stolen by locating your device, sounding an alarm, or deleting your personal information remotely from the web.

9) G-alarm : is one of my all time favorite applications. I love my sleep and wont easily wake up with the normal alarm on my phone. This ingenious application will ask you to complete a simple game / puzzle before you can snooze/switch off the alarm. Its definitely worth the asking price of €4.99.

10) Cinemo & Flix : Both these apps are for finding movie showtimes and information. Cinemo works in the US and Canada. While Flix works in UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

11) Shopping Cart : A simple and intuitive shopping list application for Windows Mobile users. Its a finger friendly application and new features are added frequently by the developer. Requires registration.

12) Samsung Caxixi : Is a versatile accelerometer enabled music application for Samsung Windows Mobile devices. It plays the sounds of a variety of instruments and the sounds are triggered by shaking the phone using a variety of gestures. You can have 5 different sounds mapped to different movements at any given time. See the Youtube Video for more info.

13) Scramble : is a Windows Mobile App for puzzle solvers. If you love a good puzzle then you will love this game. It offers different modes and difficulty and is quite finger friendly. It should work on all screen resolutions: VGA, WVGA, QVGA and WQVGA. Check the video to see the game in action. For $0.99 this app is a must for those boring train ride to work.

This guest post was written by Saijo George, who posts the latest Windows Mobile Apps and News at 1800PocketPC.com. Subscribe to their RSS feed for the latest Windows Mobile Apps. You can also write a guest article and share your favorite apps with our readers.

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Original article: 13 Best Windows Mobile Apps
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Microsoft Bing Jingle Contest Winner

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:50:50 +0000

So who won the Microsoft “Bing Jingle” Contest? The contest encouraged people to create funny jingles for Microsoft new search engine Bing and win a prize based on number of views and quality of ratings they get on their video submission.

So who won the $500 American Express gift cheque for the best Bing Jingle? The winner is “Bing Goes the Internet” by Jonathan Mann, who writes a song every day, makes a corresponding video and posts it to his YouTube channel and on his website Rockcookiebottom.

How do you like the new Bing Jingle? You can find more Bing Jingle videos on Bing Youtube Channel. Also check ou the Bing Photo Contest winner.

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Microsoft Yahoo! Join Hands to Fight Google

QuickOnlineTips — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:16:09 +0000

The battle of Internet Giants is back. As per a new deal, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.

Microsoft ’s new search engine Bing was already expanding and getting great reviews, while Yahoo! has an established presence in the online advertising space. Now Bing will expand even faster and get the scale it needs to compete with Google in the search engine space, while Yahoo will get the advertising business foothold it needed to compete with Google Adwords. Basically speaking, instead of buying each other out as before, now they have stopped competing in their common niche, and instead given way to each other where their strength lies.

Some key terms of the agreement are as follows:

The term of the agreement is 10 years

Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;

Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.

Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.

Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.

Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.

Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.

Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.

Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.

Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!’s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.

For more information here are the Techcrunch notes from this morning’s Yahoo-Microsoft conference call. Catch Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz explaining the agreement in this video.

Carol Bartz on our deal with Microsoft @ Yahoo! Video

In fact they set up a new site www.choicevalueinnovation.com to showcase the Microsoft Yahoo! deal.

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Original article: Microsoft Yahoo! Join Hands to Fight Google
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Top 20 Free Windows Mobile Applications

QuickOnlineTips — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:14:43 +0000

Guest post by Mayur
If you’re a Windows Mobile user and searching for some useful apps, then your search ends here. Below are the 20 FREE amazing applications for Windows Mobile and Pocket PC. These apps include various categories like: Internet browser, news readers, social networking, tweak tools, themes, games, music players, documents manager, and a lot more..

20 Free Applications for Windows Mobile

1. Facebook – Facebook has now become the most famous social network, connecting millions of people around the World. So, Microsoft has developed the official Facebook client for Windows Mobile. Now, keep updated with the latest news and posts with Facebook on your phone.

2. TwitToday – Twitter is one of the most popular micro blogging client. With TwitToday, you can control all your twitter activities and tweet from your windows mobile easily. Once installed, it adds a textbox to the Today screen of a Windows Mobile phone.

3. NET Compact Framework 3.5 – Most of the applications require .net framework to run. It’s an official pack which contains the common language runtime and class libraries built for the .NET Compact Framework.

4. Viigo – Viigo is a free, fast and easy to use RSS reader which provides the best way to read anything on your Blackberry and Windows Mobile. Viigo provides Instant access to favorite blogs, breaking news, entertainment, sports, finance, weather, flight schedules, restaurant reviews, games, local attractions, and much more.

5. Google Maps Mobile – Google Maps is a free app which lets you determine your current location with or without GPS using Maps. Just visit m.google.com/maps on your mobile.

6. TreeSize Mobile – TreeSize Mobile helps to easily locate the big files on your Smartphone when it runs out of disk space. The file system is represented in a tree view and it shows you the size of folders, including their subfolders.

7. CleanRAM – CleanRAM is an useful utility which can clean up the wasted RAM memory without having to restart the device. It offers various functionalities unlike other tools. There are 3 levels (Basic purge, Quality purge, Fundamental purge) to perform RAM cleanup.

You can choose custom processes to clean and schedule the clean up at a specific time. This is surely an amazing tool for Windows mobile users. Give it a try!

8. Pocket RAR – Pocket RAR is the WinRAR version for PocketPC, the popular and successful file compressor for windows. It allows you to compress and decompress any file using your PocketPC without the need of PC. It has a very intuitive interface.

9. iFonz 2 – iFonz is a perfect theme which provides a complete iphone interface to your windows mobile. It includes a lots of customization and a fully graphical design and animations for Windows Mobile 5/6 completely written in .NET.

10. Nitrogen 1.0 – Nitrogen is a powerful audio player to enjoy your music on your phone. It allows you to play MP3/OGG songs stored on your Pocket PC device. It features a file browser, full skin support, smart shuffle and repeat modes, a 10-band equalizer, built-in sleep mode.

11. DivX Mobile Player – DivX Mobile Player is the official DivX player for smartphones and any other Windows Mobile devices. It supports a wide range of formats, so you can play DivX videos with no problems. You can view the videos in full screen, forward or rewind, rotate the video, synchronize, etc.

12. S2P (Slide 2 Play) – S2P is a stylus-free MP3/WMA player application. It simply lets you browse your music files & play. It fully integrates with S2U2 & supports A2DP & AVRCP as well. It also features a very cool and intuitive interface.

13. Opera Mobile – Opera Mobile is the most popular browser to access Internet on smartphones. Though it’s not free like Opera Mini but its beta version is absolutely free to use. Its advanced features include: Opera Turbo, Widgets, tabbed browsing, Pan and zoom, Save pages and/or images, History and bookmarks and much more.. It truly delivers an ultimate web experience.

14. Skyfire – Skyfire is a free mobile web browser which runs on Windows Mobile (smartphones and PPC) and Nokia N and E Series (Symbian S60, 3rd Edition) phones. It provides a PC like browsing experience with speedy page loads, full video, images and audio. It supports video and audio streaming along with full Flash and Windows Media videos.

15. w0lf’s Translator – WOlf’s Translator uses the Google Translate engine to provide translations. It’s a small program to translate from/to many languages at any time. It has Auto-detect feature to know the input language. It requires .Net Compact Framework 3.5 has to be installed on the device.

16. EverNote – Evernote is an application and web service that lets you capture, store and synchronize all information on your PDA, PC and online. Now, you can Create text notes and quickly access and search them whenever you like. It allows you to send snapshots, capture web clippings, store voice notes, images and files. You’ll need to sign up for a free Evernote account to use it.

17. HD Tweak & Diamond Tweak – Diamond Tweak and HD Tweak have been specifically designed for HTC devices. This free programs lets you tweak, customize and optimize your windows mobile as you want. Read the installation and Use instructions before trying out this app. It also includes the AppToDate support.

18. Adobe Reader 7.0 – Adobe Acrobat Reader is the tiny version of Adobe reader specially designed for Pocket PC and Windows mobile. It allows viewing PDF files in high quality even on smaller screens, while preserving their rich content. You can easily share or submit your data forms over the Internet. PDF can be viewed in portrait or landscape mode on your handheld device.

19. Macromedia Flash Player 7 – Nowadays, most of the websites includes flash content which require a flash addon. Flash Player 7 is an official app from Adobe, which allows viewing Flash content embedded in web pages. Developers can also start developing and experiencing rich Flash content, enterprise applications and mobile services right from their Pocket PC.

20. Pocket Uno – Uno is one of the world’s most popular family card games to play on WM. Just play cards from your hand by matching color, number, or word. Try to rid yourself of cards before opponents do.

Check the game rules and instructions on their site. Have Fun!

Guest author Mayur Agarwal, writes on WebTrickz about Computers, Internet, Technology, tricks and gadgets. Follow him @mayurjango on twitter. You can also share your favorite tools by writing a guest article on QOT.

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Original article: Top 20 Free Windows Mobile Applications
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Buy Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade at 50% Discount

QuickOnlineTips — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:33:40 +0000

Want to buy Windows 7? Now you can preorder Microsoft Windows 7, and get discount of 50% off retail price. Windows 7, Microsoft’s latest operating system is coming on October 22, 2009 and till then you can grab this cheap deal from select retailers.

Though Windows7 has six editions, beginning today, you can order two editions, Home Premium and Professional, for 50% off or more. Remember this is a limited time offer till July 11, 2009 or till supplies last, whichever comes first.

If you pre-order now, you can buy Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 or a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99; which is about half off the estimated retail prices.

Testers can download Windows 7 Release candidate for free and get 1 year validity. You can also download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor – a free software that will� examine your computers processor, memory, storage, graphics capabilities to identify known compatibility issues and test with Windows 7 system requirements.

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Original article: Buy Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade at 50% Discount
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Download Internet Explorer 8 and Help Feeding America!

QuickOnlineTips — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:08:25 +0000

Here is another reason to download Internet Explorer 8 – it will help fight hunger in the United States this summer! Facing competition from Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari, Microsoft has tied up with this unique campaign to Feed America.

Here is the deal – For every Internet Explorer 8 download through the Browser for the Better website, they will donate the financial equivalent of 8 meals to Feeding America�s network of 206 local food banks. These food banks supply food to more than 25 million Americans each year!

The Browser for the Better website is hosting a few viral videos about F.O.M.S and S.H.Y.N.E.S.S to highlight features of Internet Explorer 8.

FOMS – Fear of Missing Something

SHYNESS – Sharing heavily yet not enough sharing still

Download Internet Explorer 8 from the Browser for the Better campaign, which ends Aug. 8, 2009. Browser companies use unique marketing ideas to get more browser downloads – remember Firefox donated free rice while attempting its record downloads and Opera CEO swam across the atlantic! Apple used the world’s fastest browser tactic, while Google chrome is getting social with design contests and Chrome short videos.

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Microsoft Morro: Free Anti-Virus Software Coming Soon

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:42:01 +0000

Strong news is coming in that Microsoft is ready to launch its free anti-virus software called Morro for personal computers. This is a huge competition in making for security software leaders like Symantec Norton Antivirus and McAfee Anitvirus software.

Reuters got a tip by a Microsoft guy about Microsoft Morro

A Microsoft spokesman said on Wednesday that the world’s biggest software maker is testing an early version of the product with its own employees. Microsoft would “soon” make a trial version, or product beta, available via its website, he added, but declined to provide a specific date.

If Microsoft starts bundling their antivirus software with Windows, much like Windows Defender, it would definitely hit sales of expensive security suites loaded with encryption, firewalls, password protection, parental controls and data backup. Since it will be well integrated, it will protect Windows better in conjunction with Windows Firewall and Defender, without slowing the computer.� Why pay when you can get it for free!

The Microsoft brand will also challenge popular free antivirus software available online like free AVG or Avast. Microsoft is lately getting all its cards right – Bing, Windows 7, Zune HD, Project Natal… maybe Morro is next.

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Microsoft Bing Overtakes Yahoo! Search

QuickOnlineTips — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:23:52 +0000

Statcounter says recently launched Microsoft’s Bing overtook Yahoo! Search as the number two search engine in the United States and worldwide on Thursday (4th June)!

StatCounter Global Stats is a free online service which tracks market share of search engines, browsers and operating systems. A StatCounter press release confirms the the event

StatCounter’s analysis for Thursday finds that in the US Bing leapfrogged Yahoo to take second place on 16.28%. Yahoo! has 10.22%. Google still commands the US search engine market with 71.47%. StatCounter data globally finds that Bing at 5.62% has taken a narrow lead over Yahoo! (5.13%). Google worldwide retains 87.62% of the market.

Here are the June 4 Global Stats and US Stats. The netizens have given a huge positive response to Microsoft’s new browser Bing, and it is to be seen if the euphoria will sustain.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Search Engine Market Share

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How to Change Bing Safe Search Preferences

QuickOnlineTips — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:37:38 +0000

Bing is Microsoft’s new search engine, but the strict filters may be blocking valid text content you need to surf. How can you change the Bing safe search preferences from Strict to Moderate in India and many other countries, or turn on Strict filters in countries where the safe filter is set to moderate.

To edit the safe search preferences, you need to look at the top right corner and click Extras > Preferences.

If you do not see a safe search preference option on that page, it means Strict Safe Search is enabled by default in your region. The Strict Filter will remove all sexually explicit text, images, and videos from your search results. Here is what typically will happen when you search for blocked terms

If you check the Google Safe search settings, they are set to Moderate Filtering by default, which means block explicit images only. But the Bing settings are set to Strict if the option is not available in your country. So your text results are also filtered.

Change Bing Safe Search Settings

To change the options, you can change the country. Click on the country in the top right corner and select “United States – English”, or you can directly select US as your country. Now you can again go to Extras > Preferences and you will have the moderate safe search option selected by default, which will filter explicit images and videos, but not text, from your search results.

On the other hand, if you are in the US or other countries where moderate filters are on, you can go to Extras > Preferences and change your filter to Strict, which will stop all types of offensive content in one go. This is a good idea if children are surfing the web and you do not wish to get surprised by offensive search results slipping through filters. Bing also lets you report websites with adult content, if they are entering your search results with the strict filter on.

Why Different Regional Safe Filters?

So why are different filters set for different countries? ContentSutra has an update from Microsoft Sources.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company analyzed local laws to determine which countries will have restricted search results. �We determined the list of countries for which sexually explicit results are restricted based on analysis of where such are restricted by local law, but we did not take these actions in response to specific government demands or regulations. Rather, the intent here was to offer customers a choice of experiencing a great search service with the kinds of features and search results set they are accustomed to locally.”

Microsoft has updated their blog on the safe search issues.

To start with, by default in Bing (and in Live Search before it), we do not return explicit adult content in video or image results. In web results, we also do not include any explicit images or video content by default. This is a bit more of a conservative approach than others in the industry. If you set SafeSearch to strict, you will not see any explicit text, image or video content. If you turn SafeSearch off � which requires you to change the setting and then click again to acknowledge that you are over 18, then explicit content may appear.

Update: Microsoft advises you can add �adlt=strict� to the end of a query and no matter what the settings are for that session, it will return results as if safe search was set to strict.

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