Burak Uysaler

Code download available at: UtilityOnlineMarch092009_03.exe (10,209 KB)

Whether you are having problems yourself getting something to work correctly on your computer and are working with tech support, or you’re trying to solve such problems for your customers, friends, or your Mom, you have probably spent hours describing or explaining events over and over again in an effort to deal with the lack of clarity that exists when one party can’t see what is going on. Now there’s a solution. Screenrecorder is a very easy-to-use screen-to-video capture program, developed on top of Windows Media Encoder, that lets you easily capture what is going on to a small video file, which you can then send via e-mail to the appropriate person. That person can then watch the video just as if he is sitting next to you and you are showing him what’s is happening on the screen.

Figure 1 You can choose to capture either the full screen or a particular window

Using Screenrecorder is very easy. When you first run the program, you will see a window like the one in Figure 1. You simply select either Full Screen or any program window from the drop down list, check the audio box if you want to record audio as well, and then click OK.

Next you’ll see the screen shown in Figure 2. Just supply a filename for the video and then hit START to begin the capture. Screenrecorder starts to capture screen movements to the video file you specified. You can pause capturing at any time. When you click STOP, a PLAY button will be displayed at the bottom right. Just click and your captured video will be played by your default video player for .wmv files. That’s about all there is to it!

Figure 2 After you specify a filename, press the Start button

So what is Screenrecorder good for? Just about any onscreen situation where visualization would help. You can record step-by step instructions to create training videos. You can capture problems as they happen to send to tech support. Instead of telling Grandma where she will find the photos on her machine, you can show her. Or she can show you what is happening if she gets an error when trying to run a particular program. With Screenrecorder, you don’t need to read any help file—the program lets you know what to do from the beginning to your final video. Moreover, the tool is optimized for the best resolution and smallest-size video, so you never have to worry about any settings. There are no complex menus to wade through or to try to figure out what they’re for. And Screenrecorder produces a .wmv file so it can be played on any Windows computer without the need for an audio/video decoder.

Screenrecorder simplifies screen capture for everyone. PLEASE NOTE: For 32 bit Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, if you get the error “Screenrecorder has stopped working”, then apply fix in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929182 by right clicking and selecting “Run as administrator”.

Burak Uysaler began as a Support Engineer for Microsoft Hotline, and joined Microsoft in 2002 to provide support for Premier Customers. He has written several public articles, and developed tools and programs to be used by Microsoft customers and employees. Currently Burak works as a Technology Specialist for the sales department.

Above article taken from : Technet Magazine

You receive a “Compile error in hidden module”

error message when you start Word or Excel

Solution:

Have a look for automatically loaded documents.
(inside the Office-Folder it’s .\Startup for Word and .\XlStart for Excel)

Check out, what it is, correct it or just remove the file.

Answer:  I played around with it some more and the solution is: 1) Exit out of Excel/VBA editor  2) search for  PDFMaker.xla on your local drive including subfolders, AND before you “start” the search indicate that you want to also search hidden files (in XP notably).  The files are hidden.  3)  In my case there were 4 copies of pdfmaker.xla strewn about the place and I deleted them all and Excel works fine

To remove these files yourself this, follow these steps.

1. Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.

2. In the Search for file or folders named box, type pdfmaker.dot pdfmaker.xla.

3. In the Look In box, click the disk drive where Windows is installed, such as C:, and then click Search Now.

   The Pdfmaker.dot file is located in one of the following folders:

   • C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Startup (Word 2000)

   • C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Startup (Word 2002)

   • C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\Startup

The Pdfmaker.xla file in located in one of the following folders:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Xlstart (Excel 2000)

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Xlstart (Excel 2002)

• C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\Xlstart

1. In the Search Results window, right-click the file for each file that is found, and then click Cut.

2. On your desktop, right-click the My Documents folder, and then click Paste.

Follow these steps to view and remove these unnecessary device drivers:

     1. Press Windows + Break to bring up the System Properties dialog box.
     2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.
     3. Click the New button below the System Variables panel.
     4. In the New System Variable dialog box, type  devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices in the Variable Name
        text box and 1 in the Variable Value text box.
     5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box and then click OK again.
     6. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
     7. In Device Manager, go to View | Show Hidden Devices.
     8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, which indicate unused
        device drivers.
     9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall.

If changing the settings doesn’t fix the problem, go to the program manufacturer’s website to see if there is an update for the program.

If you cannot install a program, insert the installation disc for the program and, using the troubleshooter, browse to the program’s setup file, usually called Setup.exe, Install.exe, or something similar. The troubleshooter is not designed to work on programs that have an .msi file name extension.

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If you know where to look, you can find a variety of useful applications – free from Microsoft. Greg Shultz introduces a few of his favorites.

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard someone say, “For all the money I’ve spent on Microsoft products, they should be giving me free software by now,” I’d be rich! Well, unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. But Microsoft does have a lot of Windows software that is free for the taking. We’re all familiar with the free Windows Live offerings, but that’s not all there is. Microsoft has a lot of free software just waiting for you to find it. You just have to know where to look. Here are 10 free programs to get you started.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Paint.NET

Paint.NET started as a computer science project at Washington State University. But it was such a good image and photo editing product (as well as an exceptional example of the .NET Framework technology in action), Microsoft hired the two developers, Rick Brewster and Tom Jackson, and has allowed them to continue improving the application and offering it as a free download. Paint.NET has a great user interface (Figure A) and it’s easy to use. It provides all the essential image editing features you need, plus layers, special effects, and support for a wide range of image formats. Paint.NET also has quite a following on the Internet, and you can find lots of help, tutorials, and plugins — and it supports Windows 7!

Figure A

Paint.NET has all the image and photo editing features you’re likely to need for most tasks.

2: Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition

If you’re Web site developer at any level, you need to investigate Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition. This easy-to-learn, easy-to-use development environment makes it a snap for anyone to create Web sites or small applications. Mainly aimed at the amateur or intermediate-level developers, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition provides professional-level features that will allow you to create a wide variety of Web sites, from the most basic HTML to more advanced ASP.NET pages or SQL Server databases. You can get started by viewing an introductory video that covers the main features of this package and walks you through some of the most common tasks.

3: XML Notepad 2007

If you need a basic, yet powerful XML editor, you’ll want to investigate XML Notepad 2007. The user interface features a tree view pane on the left that provides a color-coded view of classes, tags, and values. On the right, the main text editor pane shows all text, which is synchronized and color matched to its associated identifier on the left. You can even customize the colors and choose fonts to your liking. Other features include drag and drop, find and replace, incremental search, instant XML schema validation, a built-in XML Diff tool, and much more. You can learn more about the XML Notepad 2007 Design on MSDN.

4: Virtual PC 2007

Windows 7 supports Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode. However, if you are running Windows Vista or Windows XP, you can still download and use the free Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 package, which will allow you to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Virtual PC 2007 is easy to install and easy to use.

While you can install your own copies of Windows in Virtual PC 2007, at the time of this writing, Microsoft has several preconfigured VHDs (virtual hard drives) containing sample copies of Windows XP and Windows Vista that you can download and install in Virtual PC 2007 for testing purposes. You can find another Vista evaluation here.

5: WorldWide Telescope

The WorldWide Telescope from Microsoft Research offers a rich visualization environment that essentially provides you with a virtual telescope. This package brings together amazing imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope and approximately 10 earthbound telescopes. The images are stitched together seamlessly, allowing you to pan around outer space and zoom as far into any one area as the data will allow. The user interface (Figure B) makes galactic exploration easy, right from your computer.

Figure B

The WorldWide Telescope allows you scan the through outer space and focus in on heavenly bodies that interest you.

6: Windows SteadyState

If you support shared-access computers in a public venue, such as classroom/lab, a library, or an Internet cafe, you’re definitely a prime candidate for Windows SteadyState. With this package, you can configure and lock down a Windows system to be just the way you want for your public setup. Users can do whatever they need to do, change whatever they want, or even inadvertently crash the system with malware while they’re using it. When they are done, you can reset the entire system to be exactly the way that it was the first day you configured it. just as if no one had used it. You can find several demos as well as an FAQ that will help you quickly determine if Windows SteadyState is the tool for your environment.

At the time of this writing, Windows SteadyState supports Windows XP and Windows Vista. Once Windows 7 is out the door, Microsoft should be adding it to the list of supported operating systems.

7: SyncToy 2.0

As its name implies, SyncToy is a synchronization tool designed to assist you in maintaining duplicate copies of files you might keep on a laptop and a desktop or a desktop and a network drive. With the widespread availability of inexpensive external hard disks, SyncToy is also a great backup tool. SyncToy is intuitive and it sports a straightforward user interface. In fact, the first time you use it, the opening screen prompts you to select a pair of folders you want to use and then for simplicity, the folders are designated as the Left Folder and the Right Folder. There are five synchronization methods to choose from, but since there is no built-in scheduling capability, you must perform the operation manually. Even so, SyncToy 2.0 is extremely quick and efficient and is a great tool.

8: Office Accounting Express 2009

Office Accounting Express is an easy-to-use accounting package that has the familiar Microsoft Office interface and is designed to integrate seamlessly with other Office applications. Providing most accounting features a small business might need, such as managing credit cards, bank accounts, payroll, vendors,  invoices, quotes, cash sales, and even built-in PayPal functionality, Office Accounting Express is a great piece of software for business managers.

9: SQL Server Express 2008

SQL Server Express 2008 is a slimmed down version of SQL Server, yet it retains all the powerful SQL database features you need for building Web sites and apps. In fact, there are three versions: Express, Express with Tools, and Express with Advanced Services. It’s easy to learn, easy to use, and provides the same advanced database engine as the full fledged editions of SQL Server.

10: ServerQuest II game

Okay, for the last of these Microsoft freebies, let take a look at something technologically entertaining. Do you remember playing the vintage computers games King’s Quest or Leisure Suit Larry? If so, you should enjoy Microsoft TechNet’s ServerQuest II game. It emulates the same sort of pixilated graphics (Figure C) and cheesy humor as those classics, but it’s aimed at IT professionals and computer specialists.

Figure C

ServerQuest II re-creates the cheesiness of vintage games like King’s Quest.

In the game, which is created with Silverlight and runs in your browser, you play an IT pro (either Matt or Alicia) whose objective is to keep the network running smoothly while encountering a host of technical problems that are presented as games and puzzles, ranging from the absurd to things you might encounter in the real life of an IT pro. As you work through the tasks, you’ll learn about and use Microsoft technologies to solve problems, encounter hidden Easter Eggs, earn geek points, and get to post your high scores for others to compete against. The game is really very humorous — and you might even learn some interesting troubleshooting techniques as you play.

Article Taken : techrepublic.com

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Windows 7 may be set for an October 22 consumer release, but Microsoft is starting to push businesses towards the idea of deploying the operating system now, since they already have access to it. In a post titled “No need to wait—begin your Windows 7 deployment now!” on the Windows for your Business blog, Microsoft lays out its rationale. 

“Deployments are happening right now and your company can begin deployment as well! Several of our early adopters are already having great success with Windows 7… We are happy to see so much excitement from early Windows 7 adopters, showing the real value Windows 7 provides enterprises… Now is the time to begin testing and deploying Windows 7 with MDOP and Windows Server 2008 R2!”

While that was the main message Redmond wants IT to hear, it also had an announcement to make. A 2009 R2 version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), a set of desktop management tools that is designed to make it easier for IT managers and system administrators to manage and maintain large PC environments, is slated for release in late October 2009. In the new version, server and management components will support Windows Server 2008 R2 while Windows 7 support will be available for all components except for Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V). MED-V 1.0 will support Windows 7 via SP1, slated for the first quarter of 2010.

In addition, Microsoft also took the time in the blog post to outline key Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) findings from studies of three enterprise customer deployments: 2,200 users at Baker Tilly (Professional Services – UK), 2,235 users for the City of Miami (Local Government – US), and 14,300 users at Getronics (IT Services – Netherlands). If your setup is similar to any of these, Microsoft wants you to check out the studies to see the savings you can be making by moving to Windows 7.

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