Replace Your Windows XP Computers With Windows 8 And Avail 100 Dollars Off

As there is no more support for Windows XP PCs from Microsoft, it is advised that all Windows XP users upgrade their computers with any of the newer operating systems to make their computers more secure.

Now, as Windows 8 is the latest operating system from Microsoft, it is best to do a Windows 8 transfer. With this, you no longer have to worry about updates and patches, as this operating systems end of support date is January 10, 2023. In a move to increase the sales of PCs with Windows 8 operating systems preinstalled in them, Microsoft has decided to offer 100 dollars rebate on some of the select models.

In order to avail the new offer, you should purchase the PC from any of the Microsoft Stores and should present the store associate with your Windows XP device. This offer comes with certain conditions. The first and major criterion is that the offer is limited to the purchase of certain set of models. The price of the models should not be less than 599 dollars. Even though it is said that you could avail this offer from Microsoft Store online, there is not much evidence to this. Therefore, choosing the local store would be ideal to avail this offer.

It is not yet clear how beneficial the new deal would be, since it is restricted to the customers of North America. This is because Windows XP has more number of customers in the emerging markets. Most of the business houses in these markets make use of Windows XP and therefore, it would have been a great idea if these offers targeted this section. The customers who avail the above offers will receive three months of free support and free data transfer. However, these offers are not new since you already have three months of free support when you make purchases from Microsoft Store. The data transfer has been made available with the partnership of Laplink.

Microsoft had already ended the Mainstream support of Windows XP on April 14, 2009. Now, after four years, on April 8, 2014, the company stopped all forms of support for the operating system. With this, the users will receive no more security updates for the operating system, which could be very dangerous for the smooth functioning of your computer. Therefore, if you are still running the old operating system, it is advised that you carry out a Windows 8 transfer so that your computer remains more secure. 

Backing Up Your Address Book In Outlook

With the relative unwieldiness of Microsoft’s Outlook email client getting harder to ignore, many erstwhile users are jumping to alternatives that are more maneuverable. For instance, Outlook stores all contacts in an address book, and people commonly discover too late that an application crash can leave their Outlook address book blank.

One of the major concerns for users is the security of their contact information, because loss of this would render his or her email communication ineffective to some degree. Thus, the need for backing up the address book becomes all the more important. Here are a few tips to help you out in the matter.

If it’s a POP3 or IMAP account

If all the information you have is in the namesake folder, all you will need is a backup of the existing PST file. This file is the primary record that Outlook keeps for all information that you choose to store locally in the computer, such as your emails, calendar items, tasks, notes journal items, etc.

When it’s an Exchange account

In this case, the contacts are not stored locally inside the PST file, but on the Exchange server online. Therefore, you will have to count on your email administrator to back these up for you. They may be already doing this periodically, but you can always get in touch with them to be sure.

For a Hotmail Connector account

Your contact information on Hotmail servers is backed up periodically, but if you do not trust Microsoft with this, it is better to make your own backups occasionally. You will have to create your own Backup Contacts PST file for this. The steps listed below will show you how

Instructions

• Navigate to the Outlook Data File. To get there in the 2007 version, open File, and then click on New. In the 2010 version, click on the Home button, followed by New Items, and More Items options.
• Go to Contacts Navigation, or if you are using version 2002 or older, just choose your Contacts folder. Right click on this, assuming it is what you want backed up, and click on Copy Folder option on the context menu.
• You will get a popup menu here, choose the Backup Contacts folder set, and then confirm the choice. Repeat the last two steps for every folder you want to back up.
• When done, exit the program and find the newly made PST file on the default system location.

These are three different ways to backup and secure your Outlook address book. If you hit a bump on any of them, call us and we will walk you through it.

Procedure To Configure Outlook 2007 With Yahoo Webmail

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most heavily used software in business environments. If you are able to utilize its true power then you can make many things more convenient in your office. There are many inbuilt as well as add-on features available in Outlook, to enhance the overall emailing experience.

One of the best features of Outlook is its amazing ability to allow users to access and manage emails from various email accounts. This is a useful feature because it precludes the inconvenience of logging on to various email accounts every time for accessing emails. Microsoft Outlook saves some of the valuable time by gathering all your emails in once place. You can organize emails from various accounts and access them from Outlook. If you are a Yahoo account user, you can configure Outlook 2007 with Yahoo Webmail and start sending and receiving Yahoo mails in Microsoft Outlook 2007.

You need to do follow some Outlook setting instructions so as to configure Outlook 2007 with Yahoo Mail. Here are the Outlook Setting instructions:

• First, you need to launch Microsoft Outlook 2007 and the select Tools from the top bar. After that, you need to click on Account Settings from the list.
• Then, click on the Email tab. After that, choose the email account. Then click on the Repair button. After that you need to check the box labeled Manually configure server settings or additional server types, and then click Next
• Verify your information and see whether you have entered all the information correctly. In your POP3 account type you need to enter the incoming and outgoing server information as pop.att.yahoo.com and smtp.att.yahoo.com respectively (without the quotes). Enter your full email address in Username.
• Upon clicking More Settings, select the Outgoing Server tab. Then you need to check the box beside My server (SMTP) requires authorization. Then click on the radio button named Use the same settings as my incoming mail server.
• Thereafter, you need to click on the Advanced tab. Then, you need to check the incoming server box labeled This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL). Then, enter the number 995. Thereafter, click on the outgoing server drop-down box and modify the value to SSL, and type 465 and click on the OK button.
• The Test Settings button will help you check for error. When you click on it, if you do not find errors then you have entered everything correctly, otherwise some corrections may be required.

This way you can configure Yahoo Mail in Microsoft Outlook. If there are problems with performing this procedure, then call our tech support and get some assistance.

Removing The Google Browser Toolbar From Your System

It is a common practice these days to use add-ons or toolbars in web browsers for easy access to different websites and services. But, what many users do not know is that using such toolbars and add-ons can actually slow down the browser. Therefore, if you feel that your browser is not working as smoothly as it did before, then it is time to get rid of some of the add-ons and toolbars you have installed in your browser.

How to remove Google toolbar from your browser

One of the commonly used browser toolbars today is that offered by Google. It facilitates access to Google search engine, Gmail, Google Drive, and other services. However, as already mentioned, this might slow down your browser. So, if you really do not use it that much, then it is best to uninstall it from the browser.

You may wonder how to remove Google toolbar from your web browsers. This depends on the toolbar version and the browser application you are using. In some cases, Google toolbar will just be an add-on that you can uninstall from within the browser itself. For example, if you are using Mozilla Firefox, just go to the Tools menu on the browser and click on Extensions.

This will open the add-ons manager tab in the browser, where you can see the Google add-on in the list of installed extensions. Select it and click on the Uninstall button. This will remove the Google toolbar from the browser immediately. Just restart the browser and let these changes take effect.

But if the toolbar was installed as a standalone application in the system, then you will have to remove it from the Control Panel. The toolbar application can be located in the Add or Remove Programs utility in your system.

You will see the Google toolbar application among the list of programs and applications installed in your system. Select it and click on the Remove button. This will remove the Google toolbar application from your computer. You might have to restart the system to let these changes take effect.

Similarly, you can get rid of all the other toolbars and add-ons in your browser and improve its functioning. Yet if the above steps do not work out, you can try out a genuine software remover to carry on with the task.

Microsoft Support To The Rescue!

Around the world, Microsoft has catered to the multiple needs of the masses with their wide range of products and services. It is one of the leading software companies who not only pioneered the software industry but also made numerous products ranging from simple computing machines to cool gaming consoles. Frankly, there is nothing Microsoft has not ventured into! The best advantage of using Microsoft products as compared to other companies such as Apple, is that one gets to experience the latest technological advancements with greater ease in utilization, and extremely affordable prices. Though Microsoft strives to make top-notch products, these are susceptible to malfunction, just as with every electronic equipments and machines.

However, Microsoft offers one of the best support services in the world with experienced and certified experts that can help you get rid of your troubles. These professionals have great insight into how their machines work and offer simple and systematic advices that help you resolve your problems faster and more effectively. Microsoft extends their support to all their products, which is a long list altogether if you think about it. Whether for computers, computers peripherals, software products, web browsers, or gaming consoles, Microsoft help and support teams of certified professionals deliver custom-made solutions that tackle the problem at its core and thus eliminate it. In addition, the portfolio of the software giant is still growing with their latest acquisitions of communication pioneers Skype, and mobile phone legend Nokia. Now with a vast number of products in their kitty, Microsoft can extend their superior services across a variety of platforms.

Microsoft’s products are popular largely because of their insistence on top-notch quality, with priority of continuous functionality and low maintenance. Microsoft help and support team are known for their customer friendly approach to handling problems experienced by users. Their tech support is well known for their quick action and delivery of best support. Moreover, they rely on multiple channels to keep up communications with their user base.

You can contact their support team by phone, email, live chat or onsite support. If you got a problem then Microsoft support team is there for you. One of their best mechanisms for delivering support is remote support, where users can provide access to their systems remotely and get to see firsthand how these professionals handle the issues. It also serves as a good learning experience because one can deal with similar problems later on without relying to professionals.

Microsoft To Update Xbox One Controller

With the release of the much-awaited game Titanfall, Microsoft had updated the controller of their gaming console Xbox on last March. From the latest news from sources in Microsoft help forum, the company is planning to release yet another update for the controller of the Xbox One gaming console, the update can be expected to release in the market any time soon. The said update patch, which is under testing phase now is said to bring about a new controller firmware.

We came to know about the update through our sources in Microsoft, who refused to say whether the update is mandatory of optional. However, he did make it clear that the current update will not relieve you from the issues found in the controller due to the disconnecting of controller and audio quality issue with the adapter headset. So there is no need to get all excited on the update as you it will not be addressing the major issues in the gaming console. Microsoft posted about the major features and fixes that come with the patch in their Microsoft help forum.

According to the details found in the help forums, the patch will help in fixing issues with the audio crackling sound users hear when they enable Dolby Digital. The company also makes it clear that they have the fix for the onset of errors 0×21, and 0x87de07d1, occurring due to the issue with rendering Blu-ray discs. The patch is also expected to eliminate the seeking sounds you get while playing a Blu-ray disc. Some of the other fixes that comes with the patch are, support for stereo output while using LiveTV audio output that earlier supported only surround sound, fix to remove the screen freezing issue found in the display when trying to fast forward or rewind a video playing from an external source.

The company also stated that users would no longer have any video stuttering issues while playing in the background if they installed the patch on the controller. With this update in place, gamers would be able to install updates on the controller manually. Other added features are support for playing Blu-ray content recorded at 50Hz, increase in the quality of game play video, ability to redeem license codes from console messages automatically and notifications letting you know about online friends.

In short, you could say that the new update that Microsoft plans to release for Xbox One will fix almost all the issues found in the gaming console, so make it a point to install it soon.

Microsoft Releases Touch Office For Android Before Windows 8

The latest news from the Redmond based software giant Microsoft suggests that the company is all set to release the touch version of the productivity suite Office for Android in the coming weeks, even before releasing it for their own Windows 8 operating system. The touch based Office suite for android is all set to release with the introduction of the Modern styled Windows Store apps, which is expected to release anytime soon. According to our sources, users of Microsoft’s own Windows Phone 8 will be the last ones to get the touch-based Office productivity suite.

The company has already released the productivity suite for devices that run on iOS, like iPads even before releasing it for their own operating system. Former CEO Steve Ballmer had kept the already developed productivity suite at bay in an effort to release it after releasing the productivity suite for Windows. However, the new CEO of Satya Nadella could not find any logic in keeping an already developed suite from the market, and so initiated the release of Office touch version for iPads.

Although earlier our sources from Microsoft had suggested that the Windows 8 version of the new Office suite would be released later this year, we now hear that this won’t be happening any time soon. According to latest news from the software giant, the Office touch version for Windows Phone devices would be releasing only in Spring of 2015, maybe along with the release of the new Operating system, Windows 9. We were not able to procure the reason for the shifting of the release date, but sources said that updated Office for desktop is also set to release in early Spring.

The release of Office for Android device can be seen as the first step Microsoft takes in becoming a cross-platform service provider. The idea was hatched in the head of the new CEO of the company, who has a vision to change the company from a mere software provider to a cross platform service provider. Nadella commented on the release of Office for Android as follows, “The intent here is to make sure our services are available on all devices. There are going to be Windows devices and there are going to be other devices and we have to make sure our services run on all of them.”

He also added, "We are definitely going to have touch-first Office on Windows, and it is coming. But I didn’t want us to hold back.”