Posted by Mitch on May 13, 2010 under SmartPhone Tips |
For users new to the Microsoft Kin 1 or Kin 2, it may be difficult to figure out how to send a text message to somebody. Here’s how.
1. From the Apps screen, open Messages.
2. Tap New.
3. Type the phone number or name of the contact.
4. Type the message. Tap Add to add a picture or video.
5. Hit Send when you’re ready to send the message.
Posted by Mitch on May 13, 2010 under SmartPhone Tips |
So that person isn’t your favorite anymore? Remove the contact from your Kin 1 or 2 favorites list with these steps.
1. Navigate to the Favorites Home screen.
2. Tap the screen with two fingers.
3. Tap the X on the contact you want to remove from favorites.
4. To save your changes, tap the screen with two fingers again.
Alternately you can remove a Favorite contact from their contact card and going to More > Unfavorite.
Posted by Mitch on May 13, 2010 under SmartPhone Tips |
You can rearrange the order of the applications on your Kin 1 or Kin 2 phone. Just use these steps.
1. From the Apps screen, tap the screen with two fingers.
2. Drag the app to the location desired.
3. Tap the screen with 2 fingers again to save.
Posted by Mitch on May 13, 2010 under SmartPhone Tips |
Updating your Loop Status on the Kin 1 and 2 will update your status on your chosen social network. Here’s how.
1. From the Loop, tap the status box.
2. Select the social network you wish to send the update to.
3. Tap Share to send it off.
Posted by Mitch on May 13, 2010 under SmartPhone Tips |
The secret to powering your Kin 1 or Kin 2 device on or off is pressing and holding down the Power button for a couple of seconds. Many users try to tap the Power button to turn it off, but this will only put the device in screen lock mode.
Posted by Donny D. on Apr 27, 2010 under Windows 7 Tips, Windows Tips |
Windows 7 has some great new features, like docking, and maximizing vertically without maximizing horizontally. Most of these functions have a keyboard shortcut as well.
- Windows Key + Left Arrow: Dock Left
- Windows Key + Right Arrow: Dock Right
- Windows Key + Up Arrow: Maximize
- Windows Key + Down Arrow: Minimize
- Windows Key + Shift + Up Arrow: Maximize vertical size (not horizontal)
- Windows Key + Shift + Left Arrow: Move window to left monitor (dual screen only)
- Windows Key + Shift + Right Arrow: Move window to right monitor (dual screen only)
- Windows Key + Space Bar: Show any gadgets or icons currently on your desktop
- Windows Key + T: Switch focus to the taskbar. Use left/right arrow keys to scroll through open applications, press Enter to select the application you want to bring up.
- Windows Key + Home: All of your windows except your current active window will minimize to the task bar, hit again to bring them all back.
Posted by Mitch on Dec 21, 2009 under Software Tips |
Today I tried to launch a Microsoft LiveMeeting session from a link provided to me via email. When I clicked the link or copied and pasted the link into Internet Explorer, I received the following error message:
Error loading C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\LiveMeeting Shared\RtcRouter.dll
The specified module could not be found

Luckily I found a patch that fixes this issue. Just click this link and then click Accept Terms and Install Client. Then run the file. You’ll have to exit out of Microsoft Outlook prior to running it. Once it’s completed, LiveMeeting should work just fine.
Posted by Mitch on Oct 23, 2009 under Windows Tips |
Today I was trying to map a network drive on my computer. I right-clicked the folder and selected Map Network Drive. After selecting the drive letter I wanted, I clicked OK and got the following error message.
The mapped network drive could not be created because the following error has occurred:
Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again.

Clicking OK yielded another error.
The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password. To connect using a different user name and password, first disconnect any existing mappings to this network share.
Hmm. I didn’t think I had any mapped drives. I checked My Computer. Nope, no mapped drives there. I then went to Start > Run and typed net use. I had a mapping showing there, but it wasn’t assigned a drive letter. I had to delete the resource using the command net use /delete \\servername\foldername
I tried to map the drive, and it worked! Amazing how you still need DOS to figure things out easily sometimes.
See Also: Windows: The Network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password
Posted by Mitch on Oct 16, 2009 under Office Tips |
15 minutes is too early for Outlook 2010 to remind me that I have a meeting at 9:00am. Let me have 10 more minutes of peace! You can change the default amount of time that it will alert you to an appointment.
1. Click the Office button in the upper-left corner.
2. Select Options.
3. Click Calendar.
4. Change the Default reminders to 10 minutes, 5 minutes, or whatever.

Posted by Mitch on Oct 07, 2009 under Office Tips |
The Clipboard in Office 2010 doesn’t come on automatically like it does in other versions of Office. You can turn it off or on with these steps:
1. In Excel, Word or Powerpoint, Click Home.
2. Click the arrow next to Clipboard. This will enable or disable the Office Clipboard.

If you’re in Outlook, this can be done from the Message tab when you are composing a new message.
Posted by Mitch on Oct 06, 2009 under Office Tips |
I use Excel a lot. Every time I launch it, it wants to display the Office Clipboard toolbar in the side panel. It’s annoying! Luckily I found out how to prevent it from appearing.
1. Hold down the Windows Key and press R, or click Start > Run.
2. Type regedit and click OK.
3. Navigate to the following:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- Software
- Microsoft
- Office
- 11.0
- Common
- General
4. Right click General and select New > DWORD Value.
5. Give it a name of AcbControl and press Enter.
6. Double-click AcbControl and click Edit.
7. Give it a value of 1 and click OK.
Now the Office clipboard should no longer make an appearance.
See also: Office 2000 Instructions
Posted by Mitch on Oct 03, 2009 under Hardware Tips |
If your Zune HD screen doesn’t rotate any longer, you may have to reset the Accelerometer.
1. Place the Zune HD on a flat surface.
2. From the Home screen select Settings.
3. Select About.
4. Select Reset Accelerometer.
5. Press OK.
6. The Accelerometer will be reset. Select OK to finish the process.
See Also: When you move or rotate your Zune HD player, it does not respond
Posted by Mitch on Sep 27, 2009 under Hardware Tips |
To connect to certain routers, you may need to know the MAC Address of your Zune HD. Locate it with these steps:
1. Select Settings.
2. Select Wireless.
3. Select Information.
The MAC Address will then be displayed on the screen.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 24, 2009 under Hardware Tips |
Add a song to your Quickplay list on the Zune HD media player.
1. Tap and hold an album, video, or the genre.
2. A menu will appear where you can select Add to Quickplay.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 23, 2009 under Hardware Tips |
If your Zune HD has become frozen or is not responding, you may need to reset it. Just press and hold the On/Off button for about 10 seconds and the device should restart.
If you still have problems or experience regular issues with the device, you may want to think about restoring your Zune HD.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 23, 2009 under Hardware Tips |
Some Zune HD users might be perplexed with how to turn off the Zune HD. Simply pressing the Power button alone doesn’t do it. You actually have to press and hold the Power button for about 2 to 3 seconds to power it off.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 07, 2009 under Office Tips |
In Outlook 2010, you can easily export your email, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks or other data. This comes in handy when you would like to backup your data or move your data to another computer.
1. Click the Office button in the upper-left corner.
2. Click Saving.
3. Click Export.
4. Click Export on the right side.

5. Select Export to a file and click Next.

6. Select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.

7. Choose what you would like to backup. Calendar, all Personal Folders, Inbox, etc. Click Next when ready.

8. Provide a location and filename to backup to. Click Finish.

You may want to store this file safely on a backup drive, flash drive or network drive. That way if something happens to your hard drive, there isn’t a single point of failure.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 02, 2009 under Office Tips |
By default, Word 2010 automatically saves copies of your work in case something happens while you are working. You can enable or disable this feature with the following steps:
1. In Word, click the Office button in the upper-left corner.
2. Click Options on the left side.
3. Click the Save button on the left side.
4. Check/Uncheck the Save AutoRecover information every box or make changes to the information as needed.

Posted by Mitch on Sep 02, 2009 under Office Tips |
Enable AutoArchive in Outlook 2010 to reduce the size of your mailbox data. All items will be moved to a single data file.
1. Click the Office button in the upper-left corner.
2. Click Options on the left side.
3. Click Advanced.
4. In the AutoArchive section, click AutoArchive Settings…
5. Check the box next to Run AutoArchive every, and make changes to the rest of the data as needed.

Posted by Mitch on Aug 30, 2009 under Office Tips |
I do not like the Outlook Today page. When I start Outlook 2010 up, I just want to get to looking at my email. You can set Outlook to open to your Inbox or any other folder instead.
1. Click the Office button in the upper-left corner.
2. Click Options on the left side.
3. Click Advanced.
4. In the Outlook start and exit area is an option to Start Outlook in this folder. Click Browse…
5. You can then choose to start from Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, etc.
