Pin Your Most Frequently Used Office Documents for Quick Access

When you open documents inside any of the Microsoft Office programs (like Word, Excel, PowerPoint), links to all these recently accessed files are added to the File menu.
It’s like a FIFO (first-in, first-out) queue - as you access new files, the older links get pushed down and eventually disappear as more documents get added to the list.
Now say you have an Excel Timesheet or a Word Status Report or some other document that you work on regularly.
Rather than hunting for such frequently used files on the computer, you can just pin them up permanently to the Recent Documents list and access the documents very quickly.
To pin documents, just click the grey pin icon next to the document. The color of the pin will change to green indicating that the document will always stay in your Recent Documents list until you un-pin it. The trick work only with Microsoft Office 2007.

Microsoft Insists XP Dead Date Firm Despite Ballmer.

Microsoft says Windows XP sales will end June 30 despite comments by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Microsoft says it's listening, but petition author Galen Gruman says Microsoft counts a Windows Vista sale even with an option to downgrade to Windows XP. Galen's petition has more than 170,000 names asking Microsoft to save Windows XP.
Despite CEO Steve Ballmer's comments, Microsoft has no plans to continue selling Windows XP after June 30, the company said. It added, "Our plan for Windows XP availability is unchanged. We're confident that's the right thing to do based on the feedback we've heard from our customers and partners."
Ballmer started a wave of speculation at a press conference in Belgium when he suggested that the June 30 deadline could be changed. "If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter, but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments," he said, according to Reuters.

The Dates are Right:

A spokesperson from Microsoft's public-relations firm, Waggoner Edstrom, told PC World that the company's research had led it to conclude that "the dates are right." Microsoft believes "we've made the right accommodations for customers in certain segments who may need more time to transition to Windows Vista," she said. "But as Steve noted, we maintain a constant stance of listening to our customers and our partners. That's what is guiding our plan, and will continue to guide us going forward."
More than 170,000 people have signed an online petition spearheaded by InfoWorld magazine to "Save XP." The petition calls for Microsoft to keep XP around "indefinitely. Not just for another six months or a year but indefinitely." And enterprise adoption of Windows Vista has so far been tepid.
"Ballmer's cryptic comments suggest that although they say they listen to customers, they're hard of hearing," said Galen Gruman, the InfoWorld editor who launched the petition, in an e-mail. "On one hand, Ballmer's comments acknowledge a demand for XP beyond June 30, but then he indicated that demand is trivial. I believe he's wrong."

Google and Salesforce Join to Fight Microsoft

Google and Salesforce.com, two of Microsoft’s most conspicuous rivals, are expanding a 10 month old collaboration in an effort to accelerate their sales of customer management and office software to businesses.
On Monday, the two companies will announce that they have integrated Salesforce’s customer relationship management software and Google’s suite of office productivity applications, which includes e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets programs, into a single software package.
Like most of the software the two companies create, the package will not require a download or installation, it will be online on the web.
The offering will compete with Microsoft’s customer relationship management software, which is integrated with the its Office suite. The alliance could help Google, whose productivity programs are used largely by individuals, where it is seeking to challenge Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar Office franchise.
Already customers of Google’s and Salesforce’s programs can use them side by side. But Dave Girouard, Google’s vice president and general manager, said the integrated offering would bring users new functions.
For example, users would able to keep track of e-mail sent to a customer right on that customer’s sales record, and a group of people collaborating on a sales account would be able to communicate by instant message with one another, he said.
“In the history of hosted software to date, applications could be like islands,” Mr. Girouard said. “They don’t really work together seamlessly. This is a first of its kind.”
Microsoft, which dominates the productivity software market but is a smaller player in customer relationship management software, or C.R.M., brushed aside concerns about competition from the Google-Salesforce alliance.
“Salesforce has belatedly recognized that it is important to link C.R.M. apps to productivity tools,” said Brad Wilson, general manager for Microsoft’s C.R.M. unit. “It has been core to our product since we launched five years ago. It validates our strategy.”
Google and Salesforce, two of the most important proponents of the idea of delivering software as a service over the Web, have grown increasingly close over the last several months. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so that makes Google my best friend,” said Marc Benioff, chief executive of Salesforce.com.
When Google introduced its package of productivity applications in February 2007, Salesforce was one of the few large companies committed to using the software. In June, the two companies began integrating Google’s AdWords advertising technology into Salesforce, and in November, Salesforce joined OpenSocial, an alliance of companies then led by Google that was establishing standards for creating applications for social networks.
Salesforce for Google Apps, as the integrated product is called, will be available to Salesforce customers at no additional cost starting Monday

Yahoo-Microsoft Battle Bolsters Google

Microsoft Corp.'s attempt to take over Yahoo Inc. has become so tortured it may help Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc. grow stronger, undermining Microsoft's main reason for pursing the deal in the first place.

"We find this to be a very advantageous situation for Google," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Derek Brown said Thursday. "The longer this gets dragged out, the better for Google."

Yahoo signaled it is bracing for a protracted battle late Wednesday when an announcement and a media leak provided a glimpse at its labyrinthine search for alternatives to Microsoft's bid of more than $40 billion.

The options included an experimental advertising alliance with Google that could lead to a broader partnership and, according to published reports, a combination with the online operations of Time Warner Inc.'s AOL. Google also owns a 5 percent stake in AOL.

As part of the AOL deal, Time Warner would get a roughly 20 percent stake in the merged entity in return for a substantial sum of cash that would help Yahoo buy back some of its stock at a price well above Microsoft's offer, which was initially valued at $31 per share.

"This is the first time that we have seen real feasible alternatives that could derail the Microsoft deal," said analyst Jeffrey Lindsay of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Other analysts doubt Yahoo will succeed in thwarting Microsoft but believe it could force the world's largest software maker to raise its offer as high as $35 per share, or about $50 billion.

But Microsoft made that threat before the details about Yahoo's alternatives with Google and AOL emerged.

Although Microsoft has plenty of money to up the ante on its own, the Redmond, Wash.-based company may draw upon another deep pocket - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Under this reported scenario, News Corp. would contribute the Internet's top social network, MySpace.com, and some cash in a Yahoo takeover. The proposed deal would put three of the Web's most popular sites - Yahoo, MySpace and Microsoft's MSN - under the same umbrella.

In another ironic twist, Google could benefit if Microsoft and News Corp. buy Yahoo because it already has a long-term contract to show ads on MySpace.

Microsoft, Time Warner and News Corp. all declined to comment Thursday. A Yahoo representative didn't respond to inquiries about the AOL deal. Google and Yahoo announced their advertising test Wednesday.

Yahoo directors are expected to meet Friday to discuss the company's options.

Investors seemed to welcome the latest developments. Yahoo shares rose 82 cents to $28.59 while Microsoft shares gained 22 cents to close at $29.11. The stocks of Google and Time Warner also moved up, while News Corp.'s Class A shares dipped 5 cents to $18.89.

The reported negotiations to bring together some of the world's largest Web sites underscores the Internet's maturation as a business sector. As consumers spend more time online, the smart money is following them - and now there's a mad scramble to latch on to the prime properties in this promised land of future profit.

"The most likely outcome here is that a few players will become more and more dominant on the Internet," said James Owers, a Georgia State University professor specializing in media and corporate finance.

The stakes are so high that News Corp. and AOL might decide to join forces if their latest negotiations with Microsoft and Yahoo don't pan out, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet wrote in a Thursday note to investors.

Google has emerged as the Internet's most profitable company so far, primarily by showing relevant text-based ad links alongside the billions of search results that it churns out each month.

Propelled by its success in search, Google built up a vast computer network that hosts a wide range of free services - many of which threaten to make Microsoft's software less vital to consumers and businesses.

Microsoft believes Yahoo's franchise will give it more weapons to retaliate against Google and reverse the losses that have plagued its online division.

But it's looking less likely that Microsoft will be able to realize its goal of completing the Yahoo deal by the end of this year.

If Yahoo continues to resist, Microsoft probably will have to take its bid directly to shareholders - an acrimonious process that is typically settled at the target company's annual meeting. Yahoo doesn't have to hold its annual meeting until July 12.

And a deal done that late in the year isn't likely to emerge from antitrust regulators' purview until 2009, according to experts.

Yahoo may be able to rally support from its shareholders by pointing to the possibility of a long-term partnership with Google, which some analysts believe could boost Yahoo's cash flow by 25 percent to 35 percent.

Google, too, could make more money from the alliance. But Lindsay doubts that's the search leader's main incentive for the tests.

"Anything that Google can do to keep Yahoo from going to Microsoft is good for Google," Lindsay said.

If Yahoo turned over all its search-driven advertising to Google, it would face intense regulatory scrutiny that would be difficult to overcome, analysts predicted. Google controls 59 percent of the U.S. search market followed by Yahoo at 22 percent and Microsoft at 10 percent, according to comScore Media Metrix.

For now, Yahoo is allowing Google to show advertising links alongside no more than 3 percent of its U.S. search results and only for two weeks.

Microsoft already has signaled that it will strenuously object to antitrust regulators if Google sells search ads for Yahoo on a full-time basis. But a regulatory review might hurt Microsoft more than Google, Lindsay said, because it could mean waiting even longer to own Yahoo.

If Microsoft is able to pull off the Yahoo takeover, melding the two organizations will be difficult, especially if the deal is hostile or includes a third party like News Corp.

"The more complicated a deal gets, the more difficult it becomes to satisfy all parties," Brown said. "And the more complicated the (post-deal) integration gets, the more it favors Google

Switch to Windows' basic search tool in XP

Learn how to switch from the Windows XP Search Companion to the basic search tool.
As you probably know, the Windows XP Search Companion provides users with a lot of bells and whistles designed to make searching for files on hard drives much easier. But sometimes all of these extra features just get in the way.
If you're longing for Windows 2000's basic search tool, it doesn't have to be in vain. The basic search tool is still available in Windows XP, and you can activate it with a quick registry edit. Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before making any changes.

1. Open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState.
3. Go to Edit New String Value.
4. Name the new value Use Search Asst.
5. Double-click the new value, type no in the Value Data text box, and click OK.
6. Close the Registry Editor, and restart the system.To switch back to the Search Companion, just go back to the Registry Editor, and change the Value Data to yes.

Create a drive menu for My Computer

Set My Computer to work like a menu for easier access to the drives you need.
By default, the My Computer item on the Start menu is configured to work like a standard folder window. If you need to access a specific drive, select My Computer from the Start menu, wait a moment for the window to appear, and then double-click the icon for the drive you need to access.
When you're in a hurry, this two-step procedure can be time-consuming and frustrating—especially if My Computer contains a large number of drive icons. However, Windows XP makes it easy for you to configure My Computer so it works like a menu, with each drive listed as a menu item.

Here's how.
1. click the Start button, and select Properties.
2. Click Customize, which is adjacent to the Start Menu radio button, and select Advanced.
3. Scroll through the Start Menu Items list box until you see My Computer.
4. Select Display As A Menu, and click OK twice.Now, when you select My Computer from the Start menu, you'll see a menu of individual drives. To access the contents of that drive, just select the drive letter from the menu.