Chris Pirillo » office

Microsoft Office 2010 Comparison Screencast

Chris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:34:03 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 Comparison Screencast is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I recently asked all of you to submit your screencasts to me for review. The best of the best will be chosen to be featured here, in my various channels and outlets. This provides content of a different perspective for our community, and gives you new exposure for your work! Jack has submitted another excellent screencast, this time showing us a nice comparison between different versions of Microsoft Office.

Jack wanted to show us some of the differences between Office 2007 and Office 2010. One of the biggest changes is that Office 2010 now fully supports 64-bit operating systems. Also, Web Applications (allowing you to co-author documents across the web in real-time) have finally been implemented in the newest release, as well. Office 2010 also includes a redesigned Office button, as well as a nice backstage experience.

Differences in Word include the search function. In Office 2010, it shows up in a navigation pane, instead of a small window. Also in Office 2010, you have a paste preview, letting you see what you’re going to paste BEFORE you actually paste it. There are also enhanced picture editing tools. There are new options for working with text, including changing plain text into Word Art, or using shapes and styles.

The differences in Excel include graphs in single cells, instead of only within sheets like in Office 2007. Formatting tools have also been ehanced and upgraded.

There are also many interesting and excellent differences found within Outlook, Publisher and other Office applications. Thanks, Jack, for this sneak peak at what we can expect when we grab Office 2010 for ourselves!

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Microsoft Office 2010 Screencast

Chris — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:43:54 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 Screencast is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Recently I threw down the gauntlet, asking all of you to submit your best screencasts. I plan to highlight the best of the best here in my channel, and help promote yours. Jack has sent a few in to us now, and they’re fantastic. This one gives you a quick (but excellent!) overview of Microsoft Office 2010.

Jack started off by letting us know that Office 2010 is only available at this time for developers and technical reviewers. Included features include support for 64-bit, enhanced Office button that leads to a back room of sorts, and web applications for Word and Excel.

The enhanced UI includes a minimizer to give you more work space. This hides the toolbar until you click the button again. The new Office button leads you to a backstage experience where you can edit, save, print or share your documents.

New features in Word 2010 include an improved search function. It opens in a new pane that won’t cover up your document. Other new features include a paste preview, which is very nice. Others include improved picture editing capabilities and more text effects.

Some things new in Publisher 2010 now have pages show up in the side window pane, instead of at the bottom. Powerpoint features include new animations and a video editing capability. Excel doesn’t have too many new features, but it does have a few nice improvements.

Outlook 2010 has a new conversation view, that allows you to group conversations, and even clean them up… allowing you to focus on the most important feature.

Jack did a great job with his screencast. Don’t worry if yours wasn’t chosen to be featured today, though. We’ve received a lot of excellent submissions. We’re still going through them all, and plan to upload one per day (when videos are normally uploaded).

Remember, you need to upload your screencast video to Geeks, and then send me an email with a link to your video, a short description, and of course – tell me where we can find you on YouTube (or wherever you want to be found online).

Keep those submissions coming!

Writing Guidelines for Screencasts

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What Does Your Computer Desk Look Like?

Chris — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:27:25 +0000

What Does Your Computer Desk Look Like? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Apparently, my desk makes a lot of people envious. I’m not sure why, unless you factor in all the gizmos and gadgets that I have in here. I’ve uploaded pictures of my desk before, as well as videos of my home office. Ricardo told me about a website where you can talk about your desk!

On Deskography, you can upload a photo of your desk and home office setup, to share it with others. The idea is to be able to invite people from around the world to see where you work. See where people you admire spend their days and nights. Thinking about redoing your office? Browse photos of desks that people in your industry have uploaded.

If you want to brag about your desk, why not upload a picture of your own? I know some of you have sent pictures of your setup to me, and I think it’s great. It would be more exciting to share it with the entire community, right?

I love what I’ve done with my office, but that doesn’t mean you’d be happy with it yourself. Why not check out Deskography and see what else you can find? You may just find the desk of your dreams!

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How Do You Put Together Your Home Office?

Chris — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:50:09 +0000

How Do You Put Together Your Home Office? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I can’t respond to every email I get, but I do try to answer what I can. A community member wrote in, asking for a tour of my office. He also is interested in buying the same desk that I have, and was wondering how he should go about putting it together, and setting everything up. This will now be the third person that I know of who has gotten the same setup that I have. It’s kinda cool, you know? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! He has some specific questions about my configuration, so let’s get to it!

First, he wanted to know how I power the Tix clocks on top of my hutch. Quite simple, really – there’s a power strip mounted to the back of the hutch where the clocks plug in to. If you plug them all in to the same surge protector, you can always hit the switch and reset them all at the same time if you ever need to.
Next, he wondered where all my speakers are, were the cables long enough to connect them to the sub woofer, and etc. I have one of them on the corner of the desk, near the bamboo tree. I have the cable for it running along the edge of the desk, and strung through a hole that was drilled into the desk already. The second speaker is behind the iMac. The third one is behind the left monitor. The center speaker is up top on the hutch, and the last speaker is behind me. The sub woofer is over in the corner, near a bookshelf. I keep them hidden, because I don’t need to see them. I just need to hear them.
Your UPS and connections – where is everything plugged in, and how do you not overload? I do have a couple of UPS’, and they’re behind the hutch. There’s about a foot distance between the back of the hutch and the wall. I have the two UPS’, a couple of power strips, and the like in order to keep everything plugged in and not suck up too much energy.
Your printer/chumby/phone – where are all of these things plugged into? There’s a reason this particular room is my office – it is on its own power circuit in the house. The laser printer itself uses a lot of juice when it’s going, not to mention everything else I have running. The Chumby, my phone, the sub woofer, and the amp are all behind me, and they’re plugged into a regular old power strip. Never plug a laser printer into a UPS, it’s a horrible idea.

That’s it, pretty much. I have my office set up the way that is comfortable and accessible for me. You need to create your own space. It’s really cool and fun that you want to do what I’ve done, but please keep in mind that you need to “own” your own setup. It has to work for you, or there’s no point in all the work you put into it!

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Mac Office 2008 Alternatives

Chris — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:27:14 +0000

Mac Office 2008 Alternatives is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Tonight’s first phone call had me bobbing my head to my ring tone. The caller says they are thinking of switching to Mac as their primary machine. They are familiar with Open Office, and have heard the Microsoft Office for the Mac… and that it’s not very good. He wonders if there is a good, solid application for word processing for the Mac. He’s in luck. One of our live community members took Open Office, and created NeoOffice. NeoOffice is a full-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.

Released as free, open source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), NeoOffice is fully functional and stable enough for everyday use. The software is actively developed, so improvements and small updates are made available on a regular basis.

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Buying a Desk

Chris — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 23:55:43 +0000

Buying a Desk is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I am looking into possibly buying myself a new desk soon. These tips sent in by community member Serores will definitely come in handy for me. I hope they will for you, as well.

Size: If you’re only going to be using a laptop and maybe some books and papers, you dont have to waste your money on a huge desk. This way, you can save a lot of money and buy other things to enjoy in your home office. On the other hand, if you have a huge monster computer like the one Chris gave to Kat, you may want a bigger desk. This also depends on the kind of monitor you’re using, and if you want your computer tower on or under your desk.
Shape: Chances are, if you’ve had your house for awhile you already have a pretty cluttered office. So, here comes the question of where will you put your desk? If you want it in the corner, get a triangular one. If you want it just on the flat wall get a square one. If you want it on the ceiling, you’re looking at spending a lot of money on duct-tape… so I dont recommend that.
Compartments: If you’re the kind of person with a lot of knicknacks, papers, books, and other miscellaneous items, you may want to look into a desk with a lot of compartments. The compartments should be various sizes to fit everything you need. This is where, if you want to get fancy, you can bring a list of things you’ll have on your desk shopping with you, to remind you of what you have. This way, you can look at a desk and picture how everything would go on it.
Quality: Simple, if you have a lot of heavy stuff… you dont want your desk to fall over. Also, a good sturdy desk is best when you have kids or pets that are always jumping off the walls. Another exaple of quality is wood smoothness. If you’re an artist like me, you know what it’s like to draw on a table with gaps between the boards when you have no tablet.
Look: I know for me this would be the last thing I look at. However, for some this may be of high importantance. Pick something that matches your style and color scheme (if you have one). Also, stay away from annoying bright crazy colors that won’t let you focus on a book or the screen, because you are distracted by your desk.

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My Home Office

Chris — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:25:27 +0000

My Home Office is a post from Chris Pirillo

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People ask me over and over for a tour of my home office. Today, I decided to grant that request. So get comfy, and here we go!

You’re all familiar with my desk, my 30″ Dell monitors, my chair and my Tix clocks. That is the view you see every day as I stream. If we look behind my desk, you’ll notice that there is about a foot of space between the desk and the wall. That is because my actual computer tower is on the floor behind the desk, along with all the cords and connections. I hate looking at cords, and I hate messes. Thus, I put them all behind the desk so I can’t see them.

Next to the desk is a clost that Ponzi feels is way too organized. I dunno why she would think that!! I have some storage shelves and cubes that hold various things, such as software, CDs, manuals, tools and even hardware. Above that on the shelf is my PSP and the games for it. And just to prove what an addict I am, I’ll pop out the game currently IN my PSP, to show you that it is Tetris.

Now over here to the right of my normal setup you see is the Mac Mini that runs the live stream. There is no monitor for it, I run it off of a television. Below that on the shelves of the little entertainment stand, you can see the Xbox and games, along with some DVDs I love, including Christmas ones.

Ahhh, the door to the office. Across the hall is our bedroom, and we are not going on a tour of it today. Next to the door is a little table, and a bench that opens but doesn’t really have anything in it. Then, there’s the other desk that I haven’t even decided what use it should have as of yet. In that corner, you can see a large bookshelf. I love this bookshelf. On it are all my little toys, gizmos and gadgets. We all know what a gadget freak I am!

Lastly, you can see the printer/scanner/fax machine, and the little stand with the phone on it. Then… we’re back where we started. I need to fill my office up some more. The closets and shelves need more in and on them. The other desk is empty. I need THINGS, people! If you have ideas, send them to me! You can leave me a follow up comment to this video, or send an email with your ideas to me at chris@pirillo.com.

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Office Compatibility

Chris — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:46:47 +0000

Office Compatibility is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – A YouTube regular is having problems with Microsoft Office. He has a new laptop running Vista, and Office 07. Documents he saves on his home laptop will not open on his college computer, because the college runs an older version of Office.

The number one thing I can recommend is to download the free Office Compatibility Pack. A compatibility pack is available to make sure that you can open and save Office Open XML Formats in earlier versions of Microsoft Office.

Another option available to you is to save your files differently. If you’re just doing Word documents, be sure to save them as RTF (or Rich Text Format) files. This allows a wider variety of compatibility, and will let you open your documents in older versions of Word. Of course, this won’t save special formatting and things. It will save your font, bolding, etc.

Have you thought of using something like Open Office or Google Docs? Both are free programs, and very easy to use. You’ll have a lot more flexibility on opening, saving and editing your documents and presentations from anywhere, using any computer.

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Microsoft Office Windows Installer Problem

Chris — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:31:00 +0000

Microsoft Office Windows Installer Problem is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Poor Big John Midland. Every time he launches a Microsoft Office application the Windows Installer box comes up. Uninstalling and re-installing hasn’t helped the issue. Luckily, I have a very good idea what the problem is.

Most likely, a third party extension is causing this trouble. I asked John what version of Winows and Office he runs. He’s using Vista and Office 07. Both are still relatively new programs, and still have some bugs in them. He doesn’t recall installing anything new that would hook into Office. But that is probably the trouble here. I advised John to go through Microsoft Word and Outlook both to check active addins. Disable them one by one, and see if any of them fixes the problem. If not, then he needs to go through his programs, and uninstall or disable (one at a time again) any programs… such as Adobe Acrobat Professional… which tie into Office. I’d bet the farm that he will track down the problem through this method of madness.

John is a regular chatter on our >http://live.pirillo.com/ channel. If you’ve had this problem, and have suggestions for him, come by and talk with him!

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Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 Thoughts

Chris — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:22:27 +0000

Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 Thoughts is a post from Chris Pirillo

Oh, there’s more content coming down the pike – Jake’s still busy encoding interviews he did at CES a few weeks ago. Until then, I’m pushing my own personal envelope and inviting you along on a ride across town. Since I spend a fair amount of time in my own car, traveling to get a fine cup of Peet’s Coffee every day (if I can escape the hell of my home office), I thought I’d bring the recorder along with me today – if only to share my thoughts on Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 – two products I’m now using on a daily basis. If this one-way carversation works, then I’ll be thrilled witless.

How Not to Put Together a Home Office

Chris — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:14:06 +0000

How Not to Put Together a Home Office is a post from Chris Pirillo

My home office is still coming together… at a snail’s pace. Peter Cirigliano’s advice could’ve come a bit sooner for me:

Chris – About 8 or 9 months ago, I was looking to improve my home office. I was getting a new computer that had dual monitors and the slap-it-together-yourself hutch that I had would not accommodate that and provide desk space. I started looking at the mass merchandising places such as Staples, Office Depot, or Office Max and was disappointed with their offerings. In addition to the crappy fiberboard kits, they had modular systems that could be bought piece-wise and assembled, but the people selling them split their time selling paper clips, ballpoint pens, and other stuff – so no real competency was found. Moreover, the prices were fairly high when you finally cobbled something together and you had to cart and/or assemble yourself.
Instead, I found a local business that catered mostly to small and medium-sized businesses. The place operated out of what looked like a garage-like roll-up in an industrial part of town. However, office furniture was all they did and they knew their business and their product. They made useful suggestions and things for me to consider. In addition, they brought everything over, charged nothing extra for delivery (if order was over $500), assembled everything on-site drilling cable access holes where I needed them, placing pencils draws and keyboard slide precisely where I wanted them, and removed my old hutch to the garage. In the final analysis, they were cheaper than what I would have paid for– even more so when you consider the value-added service and the higher quality material that comprised the furniture. (Since they sell to businesses and offices, their furniture is more durable.)
While this place is too far from your residence, you may have similar types of businesses in your local area. Their “showroom” is abysmally dreary– mostly piles of assembled and unassembled furniture and chairs in a garage setting– but you probably don’t want to pay for the slick store layout of the mass-merchandising outlets, anyway. Better to use that lower overhead and put it into better quality and individual service. I suggest, if you are still in the market, that you seek out one of these places instead.

No, I’m still licking my open office (not to be confused with OpenOffice) wounds. I’ve got another email into Office Depot corporate, as they recently responded to my earlier request with two wholly incorrect order numbers. Unimpressive.

I’m Using Microsoft Outlook 2007

Chris — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:15:30 +0000

I’m Using Microsoft Outlook 2007 is a post from Chris Pirillo

Stop the presses – I’ve finally moved from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2007! Granted, I didn’t have much choice in the matter. The decision was reached after I tried using Outlook 2000 on Windows Vista – and that experience was painful, at best. Then again, my Windows Vista experience has been nothing short of “so-so” to this point (far too many ghosts in the machine).

I’m still getting used to Outlook’s haphazard UI, but at least most of the speed issues with it have disappeared. Search is only as good as the last time the index was updated, however – which is frustrating if a message has just arrived and I can’t find it again by keyword. I’ll miss Net Folders, too.

Despite leaping to the new version, my outlook on Outlook remains the same; Microsoft needs to overhaul their PIM. And don’t even get me going on the mess that’s Windows Mail – as opposed to the slightly-more usable Windows Live Mail Desktop. Thunderbird kicks their respective digital asses (though none of ‘em are true personal information managers).

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

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Chris Pirillo » office

Microsoft Office 2010 Comparison Screencast

Microsoft Office 2010 Screencast

What Does Your Computer Desk Look Like?

How Do You Put Together Your Home Office?

Mac Office 2008 Alternatives

Buying a Desk

My Home Office

Office Compatibility

Microsoft Office Windows Installer Problem

More Outlook HTML Email Problems

Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 Thoughts

How Not to Put Together a Home Office

I’m Using Microsoft Outlook 2007

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

Network Tools for Windows

Get Your Own Web Site

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

Coupons for Online Shopping