Blog
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Realistic Expectations
I recently told a friend what my fitness goals were, what I wanted to achieve with all the time and energy I’ve been putting into this project of mine. Their reply really struck me, they said I should “remember to accept realistic expectations of what [I am] capable of”. Maybe it wasn’t meant to, but that sounded to me like “you bit off more than you can chew” or “you should just accept that where you are now is as good as you can be and be proud of it.” I don’t think he meant it to be discouraging, and…
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Pictures from 2012 Global Summit
Hi all, my first submit summit was an absolute blast. I’ve never been treated more like royalty or had the privilege of conversing directly with so many esteemed members of the community and Microsoft leadership. I am truly in awe of the entire experience. Assorted MVP Summit images are posted in a public album on my Facebook page. If you switch to my videos there’s a few short clips as well. Enjoy!
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Reminder to update drivers in Windows 8
I just finished installing Windows 8 natively using a VHD, as discussed in my previous post, and while exploring I noticed some fonts were not quite as crisp as I would like. Others may not notice this subtle nuance, but it is likely that in aggregate you’ll be affected by stretched images, poor font and color quality, and even poor performance without proper hardware accelerated graphics. Let this post serve as a reminder to update your drivers and check your resolution so that you can experience Windows 8 the way it is meant to be: fast, fluid, and beautiful. The typical first place to check…
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Dual boot Windows 8 without partitioning
In this post, I’ll discuss why you should avoid using virtual machines for evaluating the new Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and how you can test drive this new OS the way it (and you) deserve, by fully booting into it. Some readers may be aware that Windows added support for lossless hard disk partitioning beginning with Windows Vista. This means you could pool your drive’s free space and split it off to create a new drive letter without additional software such as the once-popular Partition Magic. This was perfect for adding dual-boot without time-consuming disk formatting. Windows 7 added another capability…
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MVP Summit Schedule Sync without Outlook
Hey fellow MVPs, I’m sure most of you have downloaded your itinerary from the schedule builder and probably added the events to Outlook. For those of you that either don’t have Exchange Active Sync capabilities or wish to keep these events off their Outlook Calendar, you can still sync your schedule with your smart phone using subscriptions in the cloud (such as Hotmail or Google Calendars). Unlike importing the downloaded .ics file, the method below will allow your phone to receive continuous updates if an event is modified. Rather than downloading the .ics Calendar file from the schedule builder, simply…
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Mr. Consistent
Have you ever ventured onto Wikipedia to lookup one encyclopedia entry, and end up reading a dozen others as you navigate among (un)related links? Sometimes it’s satisfying to quench idle curiosity by thumbing through interesting topics. The discoverability and broweability of inline links greatly appeals to me, of which you can see evidence in my various posts. One such blog I frequent as part of my information diet, Lifehacker, uses such a writing style. And today as I hyperlinked my way through How Seinfeld’s Productivity Secret Fixed My Procrastination Problem and a separate related post explaining the method, I was enticed by the ‘don’t break…
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Why I hate Walmart: Abridged Version
It’s dirty. From the moment you enter the parking lot full of oil spills and garbage, to the floors and shelves, everything is sticky, grimy, and gross. Everything is broken. The place looks like it’s being run by 8-year-old McGuiver wanna-be’s. Everything is tapped up, tied up, wrapped up, and bandaged together. Both ad-hoc signs and even actual product displays. At the checkouts (if you can find one that is open) the credit card readers are usually busted (not an IT issue, I mean physically broken/cracked/hanging with wires exposed). Unprofessional. While we’re on the subject of dirty taped-up signage, can…
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Create personalized bookmarks in SharePoint
You might already be familiar with the filter bar, the gray headers at the top of most SharePoint lists. This interactive header allows you to sort and filter your view to drill down to the information you’re seeking. Sure, you could set your filter every time you visit the page, but that’s tedius if you need the same information each day. Here’s the ninja way: First, visit the list once and set your filters as you normally do one last time. As you set your filters, you might notice that the address of the webpage changes: Above: When setting the…
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Sprint users, enable Google Voice services!
Do you have Sprint service? If so, I would encourage you to take advantage of Google Voice services. Some might fear the ever-growing tech giant for permeating ever-increasing corners of our lives, but I for one welcome our all-knowing computing overlords at Google. Seriously though, have you heard of Google Voice? The service was previously known as Grand Central and was purchased by Google back in 2007. They’ve been making steady improvements, the latest of which is seamless integration for Sprint users. Google Voice allows you to link all your phone numbers — cell, office, and home, for example — under the…
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Speed up your computer with eye candy?
Has your computer ever re-drawn the screen slowly? Or has a lagging program ever turned black or duplicated itself like this as you try to drag it around? You can alleviate these slow-downs and even prevent GDI driver-mode related crashes by using Windows Aero, available in Windows Home Premium and higher editions. You can tell if Aero is on by looking at the top of almost any window. If the window controls (known as caption buttons) are touching the edge, you’re using Aero. It’s a subtle indicator, but it’s there: The Aero design also has translucent effects, like real glass…