Migrate To Microsoft Office 365 For A Refreshing Experience

As compared to its previous Office suite, Office 365 showcases a completely new set of features and applications. Microsoft says that Office 365 will define the next generation of productivity. The cloud-based software platform consolidates Microsoft’s messaging, collaboration, and productivity software—without the issues associated with on-premises deployment. For those companies that decide to take the plunge, here are a few ways to prepare for Office 365.

The below mentioned practices should help you with a smoother migration to Microsoft Office 365. Get support from Microsoft Office help line if you have any further queries or doubts.

Clean House

Before you migrate to Office 365, first you need to clean up your digital house. To do that, you need to fix your Active Directory – run a health check and make sure that your AD objects are all in good shape. It is good to make lists of what content needs to be moved, and what needs to be ignored. Your migration will be much easier if you perform a better clean up. Less content to move equals less migration time. Moreover the chances for the occurrence of errors will also be less.

Learn About the Cloud

Some things just work differently in the cloud. Your users should understand how their daily activities will change as a result of moving to Office 365. Microsoft training videos and extensive training resources are available to help both users and administrators get up-to-speed quickly.

Listed here are few of the things that you should know about Office 365 before you get started:

All of your e-mail is stored in the cloud. You’d think this would be obvious, but people only see their Outlook client and don’t really think about it. This makes it easy to access it from anywhere, but changes the way you manage and access your services.

Recovering accidentally changed or deleted items is different than with an on-premises solution. Users can access the Recover Deleted Items feature in Outlook. Administrators have access to additional tools, but the default retention policy in Office 365 only keeps deleted items for 30 days.

The Small and Medium Business Office 365 plan (P1 for $6/mo) only offers community-based support. This can be an issue, especially for an SMB that requires assistance during a migration. I recommend everyone look at the Enterprise packages (starting with E1 for $8/mo) for the phone support, if nothing else.

Office 365 offers powerful new tools to customers. Functionality that previously required significant capital expenditures is now available at an operational expenditure. This means that you can buy what you need, when you need it and only as much as you need.

Microsoft Office help line is available to you in case you need any assistance while migrating to Office 365. While performing a migration may be a somewhat daunting task, it really is no more complex than an in-house periodic upgrade and it is the last one you’ll ever need to do.

Speed Up Your Vista Computer By Getting Rid Of Temporary Files

If you are a Windows Vista user, you already know that it falls short in speed when compared to the other versions of the Windows OS. Most people who have upgraded to Vista regret it, and Windows 8 seems to be their only way out, other than a downgrade of course. It’s not surprising how many people opt to go back to XP, considering the irritatingly slow performance of Vista. If you’re one of them and wish for assistance with the change in OS, you can contact Microsoft help line.

There are ways to urge the computer on if you find it slowing down, and some of them involve deleting the temporary files and cookies that invariably clog up the system. The temporary files are of the extension .tmp , and consume a lot of the storage on your PC, when allowed to accumulate. They’re also responsible for a lot of the errors that you encounter.

Most times, you can do without the temporary files, and they’re not even that hard to get rid of. A benefit of getting them out is that it frees up a lot of disk space, allowing Vista more room to run smoothly. Follow the instructions given below to delete the temporary files from your computer, or contact Microsoft help line for further assistance.

Instructions

• Go to the Start menu from the desktop screen on your computer. Go to the Search option and type in *.tmp; after this, hit the Enter button. You’ll find a list of all the temporary files that are on your system.
• Select all the listed results by hitting the key combination Ctrl + A. Alternately; you can select all the files on the list by pressing down the Shift key while clicking on the first and then the last entry.
• After the files have been selected for deletion, hit the Delete key to delete them. If you want them gone permanently, press the Shift key while hitting Delete. After this, go to the recycle bin to see if the file has been deleted permanently. If you see files there, select and delete them, or if you wish to clear the whole of the recycle bin in a single go, just hit the Empty Recycle Bin option, and then confirm by clicking OK.

Follow the simple tips given above to speed up your Windows Vista computer. For further assistance, contact Microsoft Support Center.

Fix Outlook Express Dbx 2GB Size Limit Problem

Like any email application, Microsoft Outlook Express too has separate folders to store emails. Outlook Express stores emails in special files with .dbx extension. Each of its folders has its own file with .dbx extension. For example, the Inbox folder has a corresponding Inbox.dbx file and so on.

The size of each of these .dbx files is restricted to a 2GB limit. However, this can create problems with Outlook Express sometimes. As people increasingly use emails these days to communicate and share files, it is easy to reach this 2GB limit fast. If you are sending photos, music, video, or program files, it will reach the limit faster.

Once the 2GB limit is reached, you might find it difficult to place any messages in the file. The worst thing is that you won’t be able to delete any emails from this folder to create more space. So what can be done to overcome this situation? There are two possible ways to resolve this issue.

• One method is to delete the corresponding .dbx file and create a new empty one. But upon doing this, you will lose all the messages stored in the file.
• The other option is to use the Outlook repair tool to repair the Outlook Express folder.
• Resolving Outlook Express 2GB size limit problem using the Outlook Repair Tool.

If you don’t have the Outlook Repair tool in your system, you can download it from the Microsoft website. Follow these Outlook Express Help guidelines to fix the issue.

• First, you need to extract messages from the Outlook Express folder to the Windows folder using the Repair tool for Outlook Express.
• After you have extracted all your messages, delete the Inbox.dbx file. Close Outlook Express and re-launch it. When you do this, a fresh Inbox.dbx file will be created that is empty. If you don’t know how to locate the Outlook Express .dbx files, here is how you can find it. Open Outlook Express and click on Tools. Further select Options and then click on Maintenance. Finally click on Storage Folder to locate the .dbx files. 
• In order to get your messages back into your Outlook Express folder, you need to import the messages from the Windows folder to the Outlook Express folder. To do that, simply drag and drop the messages to the Outlook Express folder. While doing this, take care not to drag all files at once as it can cause the 2GB size limit problem again. Instead, do it in parts. Select about half of the messages in the Windows folder and drag them to the Outlook Express folder. Now view these messages in Outlook Express and delete/move the unnecessary ones. Similarly, drag the remaining messages. 

If you need any further assistance, go through the Outlook Express Help menu and get more useful information.

How To Play Media Files On iPod Using Windows Media Player

Apple’s iPod has become an iconic device when it comes to playing digital media files. Apple has its own platform called iTunes for iPod users to download and listen to music. It is through the same platform that Apple’s other devices like iPhone and Mac get their media files. Apple’s iPod is configured to work directly with iTunes, making it easy for file transfer and sharing.
However, many PC users find the iTunes program not working well on their computers. Whereas in Microsoft Windows platform, it makes use of Windows Media Player to play digital media files. So is it possible to use Windows Media Player on your iPod? Definitely! Through the use of a plug-in, there is a way to configure Windows Media Player to work with your iPod and sync your music between the two devices. Follow these Windows tech support guidelines to integrate Windows Media Player with your iPod.

Instructions

• Get your iPod and connect it to the computer. Now open iTunes. Go to the left navigation pane in iTunes and select your iPod. Click on the Settings tab. By default, the checkbox for “Open iTunes when this iPod is connected” will be selected. You need to deselect that checkbox. Now select the checkbox for “Manually manage music”. Close the iTunes window and eject your iPod.
• Open Windows Media Player and double-click on the Rip tab. Click on Format from the drop-down menu and select MP3. You can now close Windows Media Player.
• Now you need to download the MGTEK dopisp plug-in. Save the file to a preferable location on your computer. Double-click on the downloaded file to install the plug-in onto your computer. 
• Re-launch Windows Media Player. Connect the iPod back to your computer. You should be able to see your iPod in the left navigation pane of Windows Media Player.
• Locate the Sync button on the top right of Windows Media Player and click on it. This will open a new window on the right. Click to select the files that you wish to play. You can drag and drop the audio files you wish to transfer to your iPod to the Sync List section underneath your iPod information. Click the Start Sync button to transfer the songs. 

See how easily you have managed to play the media files on your iPod using Windows Media Player. If you have any further doubts on this, contact the Windows tech support team for more assistance.

How To Troubleshoot Your Outlook Issues?

Sometimes, you may experience issues with the Microsoft Outlook application in your computer. These issues may occur when you open or close the application, view your emails, reply to them, or while downloading the attachments in the email. There can be multiple reasons that account for this cause.
You can check the under-mentioned reasons to troubleshoot the issues in Outlook before seeking assistance from Outlook help.

If Outlook Stops Responding For The First Time

• If it is the first time Outlook has stopped responding, open the Task Manager by pressing the Ctrl, Alt, Delete keys together.
• Now, click the Processes tab, look for the Outlook.exe process and select it, and hit the End Process button. Close the Task Manager window.
• Now, reboot your computer. When it has rebooted fully, open Outlook and check whether it is working or not.

Tampering by Third-party Applications

• Third party applications such as Antivirus software, firewall, add-in, plug-in, or toolbar cause hindrance to the Microsoft Outlook.
• Security programs like antivirus, anti-spyware or firewall are designed to protect your privacy and data from unauthorized interference that often comes via emails; they configure acrimonious security and privacy settings which sometimes prevent Outlook from sending or receiving emails properly.
• You can avoid these kinds of Microsoft Outlook problems by reconfiguring your security program to add Outlook and Outlook add-ins to the trusted zones. You can also contact the Outlook help to get assistance on disabling the third party applications.
• However, if Outlook still does not respond, the best option would be to uninstall the add-in and install another one after, as there are chances that the particular add-in software was not written properly by its publisher.

An Oversized PST File

• Microsoft Outlook is designed to archive emails or other items automatically, which helps to decrease the size of your mailbox and allows Microsoft Outlook to work properly.
• This is because Outlook can stop responding from holding too many large files, pending tasks like emails, and programs that run simultaneously with it. Hence, to avoid Microsoft Outlook from stop responding, let it finish its pending tasks.
• An over-sized PST file or large mailbox can cause Outlook to stop responding. To avoid this problem, archive your mailbox items regularly. Delete the unnecessary files or attachments that are of no use any longer.
• You can divide the oversized.pst file into multiple small .pst files. Similarly, regularly backing up your pst files to avoid losing data due to virus or other problems can also be a good solution.

Hence, you can check these steps to effectively troubleshoot the Microsoft Outlook issues in your system. However, if you are not certain about the problems in Outlook, the best option would be to contact Microsoft tech support.

Microsoft May Not Offer Full Version Of Windows 8 For Purchase

Being a very efficient operating system, Windows 7 is immensely popular all around the world. Currently there are many ways to fall in love with the Windows 7 operating system. You can purchase either a PC that has Windows 7 on board or purchase the upgrade disk that lets you migrate to Windows 7 from an older version of Windows. The provision of getting an OEM disk is also possible though it is mainly meant only for system builders and finally yet importantly, you are at the disposal of buying the full version of the operating system.

Buying with Windows 8

However, what is to make note is that the last option is the most expensive option out of the lot. It will set you back by around $199.99 for the full version of Windows 7 Home Premium. However, for the new baby, Windows 8, this option will not surface as Microsoft plans to offer the OEM and upgrade versions only. So users around the world will be wondering ‘how much to upgrade to Windows 8’, as the full version will not be available for purchase from Windows 8. MAC users will need to make use of the Windows 8 for system builder’s version in order to install Windows 8 on a MAC with the help of a Boot Camp.

The advantage of full versions

News is unclear on what the status of customers who want to install Windows 8 on PC’s which do not have earlier versions of Windows installed on their systems  and for customers who want to build a new PC. A few factors separate Windows 7 and OEM disks from full versions. A huge advantage of 90 days of support on the new versions and the added advantage of installing Windows on another system with the same disk is possible, though not at the same time. What this means is that you can install Windows on your system and when you buy another PC you can again install Windows when the use of the old PC is stopped. If you are using the same computer, only a reactivation is possible for the Windows 7 OEM edition.
With the help of the upgrade disk, users were able to perform a clean installation of Windows 7 on a system that had no prior operating system installed. However, it is not sure whether it will be valid with the Windows 8 upgrade disk that is scheduled to hit markets shortly and to everyone’s delight, the question of how much to upgrade to Windows 8 has been answered, as the upgrade disk will carry a $40 price tag.

How To Archive Files In Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook lets you organize your emails very conveniently by making use of the Archive feature. This feature will allow you to keep only the most relevant files, calendar, tasks and contacts in your folder.
You can do archiving of these file contents periodically or on specific dates and time. This will help you organize your Outlook data more conveniently and efficiently. Those who are looking to save some email storage space in their Outlook Inbox, go ahead and make use of the Archive feature on Outlook settings. Let us see how archiving is done in Microsoft Outlook 2007.
Instructions

• Launch Microsoft Outlook 2007 on your computer. Double click the desktop shortcut icon to launch the application. Alternatively, you can launch the program from the Start menu. Click on the Start button located at the bottom left corner of your computer screen. From the Start menu, select the option All Programs. From the All Programs submenu, select Microsoft Outlook.
• From the Outlook application menu, select the personal information folder that you want to archive. Search the navigation pane for the personal information folder. The personal information folder will have a plus sign as its extension. This folder is a collection of emails, tasks, contacts and calendar. Clicking the plus sign will get the folder to dropdown. 
• Select the File option and then the Archive option. This will make the archive dialogue box appear. From the dialogue box, select the Archive this folder and all subfolders option. Enter the date into the Archive items in the folder older than option dialogue box. Select a date to remove older emails from view.
• Launch the file explorer and browse through the computer files to locate a place to save this archived folder. Name the archive folder. Enter the name of the archive folder in the Archive file section. Try to name the files with something that reminds you about the file content. Hit the OK button.    
• Watch the archive process by observing the dialog box at the lower right-hand corner of your Outlook window. The dialogue box displays the current archive process status. Your system will now notify you about the completion with a message prompt.

The above-mentioned Outlook settings guidelines will help you set up archives in the Microsoft Outlook application. If you have any doubts or queries, contact the Microsoft Support Center and get more assistance.