Everyday Nerd » Live

Windows Live Movie Maker

Nerd — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:22:40 +0000

Windows XP’s Movie Maker, was not included in Windows Vista / Windows 7, and left recent Windows customers without any type of free movie making software – until now.

Windows Live Movie Maker is installed via the Windows Live Installer program (I don’t like this – wish I could just install it single programs at a time…) so if you don’t want the rest of the programs, uncheck them:

Once installed, Movie Maker is a rather simple video editor, allowing the user to add text, music and simple effects to the video, and even supports HD video! Once editing is complete, Movie Maker has the ability to upload to YouTube. Want to upload to another service? Go here for a list of other plugins that allow upload to other popular video sharing websites (even Facebook!)

[More info and Download from the Windows Live Movie Maker website]

Setup Gmail to Send & Receive your Live/Hotmail Account

Nerd — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Having POP3 access to Live Mail is great (or any mail account really!) if you have a Google mail account (or Google Apps). Follow the steps below, and you can send and receive mail from Live/Hotmail, or any POP3 mail enabled account!

In Gmail, go to Settings, and click the Accounts page. Select the link to Add a mail account you own.

Enter the email address associated with the POP3 account.

Use the following settings for the connection settings

POP Server: pop3.live.com
Port: 995
Check Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail

Optionally, you can also apply a label to all messages, so to help organizing your messages.

Next, you can setup the ability to send mail as your pop3 account (instead of the from Gmail account)

Enter the name you want to show as “From”

Verify that you own the account you are sending as.

Check your POP3 account, enter the verification code, and you’re done!

One other thing that I do, is set my “Reply” address to same address that the message was sent to.

That’s it folks! Remember, this isn’t just for Live or Hotmail – you can use this to check up to 5 external POP3 accounts. Happy emailing!

Free POP3 access comes to Hotmail/Live – Finally!!!

Nerd — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:20:13 +0000

It’s been a long time coming – Microsoft’s Live Mail (Hotmail) has finally allowed POP3 access! This opens up many possible ways (read devices) to access your mail!

From mobile device, browser, and desktop client, you can now get your Live/Hotmail from wherever YOU want! Live is good!

Microsoft updates Hotmail/Live mail

Nerd — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:10:01 +0000

If you logged into your Live / Hotmail account, you will notice that Microsoft updated it’s mail system:

You spoke, Hotmail listened

Over the past year, many of you told us that you wanted a cleaner, faster Hotmail. We released the new Hotmail to meet those needs, and now we’re adding more improvements based on your feedback.
In this version, we’ve changed the way that scrolling works for users who have the reading pane turned off. It’ll look more like Classic Hotmail if your reading pane is off.
Even more improvements are coming soon—we’ll be moving the advertisement from the top of page to the side, adding more themes, increasing the number of messages on each page, and adding the ability to send instant messages from your inbox.
We appreciate all your feedback and want to thank you for using Windows Live Hotmail.

Well…. Thanks Microsoft!

Website of the Week: FolderShare (Sync files the easy way)

Nerd — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:34:25 +0000

Do you work on more that one computer? Do you transfer files between the two often? Wish there was an easy way for your files to be on both computers? Guess what? FolderShare is the answer!

Windows Live! FolderShare (beta) provides either a one-way or two-way automatic file synchronization between 2 or more computers. With desktop clients for PC and Mac (Sorry no Linux), syncing files is as simple as “Set it and forget it.”

One GREAT feature of FolderShare, is the ability to access your files remotely, even if you didn’t set them up for synchronization. You securely browse your remote hard drive(s) and access any file on you remote computer.

In addition, you can create Shared Libraries, and automatically share files with anyone you wish, while keeping your Personal libraries completely secure.

Although FolderShare boasts the Live! name, it is not integrated with Passport, or Live sign-on. FolderShare used to be it’s own company, but was purchased by Microsoft about two years ago. Since then Microsoft has made some enhancements, as well as making the product available for free! I’m certain that the same technology that is used for FolderShare is also being incorporated into Windows Live! Mesh service. I have used Mesh, and must say, I like FolderShare better – mostly because of the ability to browse my remote hard drive.

Anyway, if you are a multi-computer user, this is a great product for you.

>> FolderShare

Skydrive is Live, and 5GB Large

Nerd — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:41:38 +0000

Live’s online storage service Sky Drive is now Live, and out of Beta – and best of all, Microsoft has increased it’s storage capacity to 5GB! Gotta love that!

Calendar Sync for Hotmail/Live Calendar – Now Free!

Nerd — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:37:06 +0000

Ok, so you’re not a big Google Calendar user. You are 100% Microsoft junkie, and have been using Hotmail since it was created. Good for you.

I like by Live Mail account, but am not going to pay for premium features, like syncing my Outlook Calendar for a price. Well, that will soon be a free service! LiveSide is reporting that a new version of Outlook Connector is in the works, and it allows one to sync their Outlook Calendar with Live / Hotmail Calendar for Free!

Stay tuned, I’ll post when it is available…

Get Windows Live OneCare for Free from Amazon

Nerd — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:01:55 +0000

Amazon has OneCare for just $28.99, which means that the rebate check of $30 will actually net you a $1.01 profit!

Make sure you order OneCare through Amazon, and not one of its third-party retailers. To make sure, on the right side, above the “Add to Shopping Cart” button, it will say “In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com”.

For more info on OneCare, go here: Microsoft Live OneCare

Microsoft Office Live Workspace: Review

Nerd — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:00:42 +0000

I received my invite from Microsoft for Office Live last week, and have been very happy with the service so far!

It is extremely easy upload and open documents, and is even easier with the supplied plug-ins available for Office 2003 / 2007 – allowing open and save right from office to your Live Workspace.

Collaboration is a breeze. Share documents with ease, and even host a Webex / Live Meeting clone right from the web page. Full functionality conferencing tools are included, such as screen sharing, handouts etc.

Being as this product is still in beta, it does have some bugs, but I’m very happy with it as is, and am sure that come release time, I’ll be even happier!

Microsoft Office Live Workspace

Office Live Workspaces

Nerd — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:35:00 +0000

Source: [InsideMicrosoft]

Microsoft has sent out invites to the first people who requested access to Office Live Workspaces, including myself, and initial impressions are good. Workspaces presents a place you can upload Microsoft Office documents (specifically Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents, plus calendars, task and todo lists), share them with others or your other computers, track versions and changes, leave notes, read documents on computers that don’t have Office, and create new projects.

The gist is you need Office 2007 to make this work, and for the best experience, install the Office Live add-in. Then, whenever you write a document, you can click the Office button and save it to Live Workspaces. Anytime you want, you can read the document online or download it from another computer to continue working on it there. You can share the document with others, and they can save it back to the Workspace, letting you track versions. If they don’t have Office installed, they can still read the document online and write notes in the margins.

You can create new workspaces, which can come pre-populated with useful documents. For example, the Class workspace has room for writing your notes in class (which you write directly in the browser, using a fairly nice text editor), create or add to the syllabus, get a starting essay outline, populate a pre-created class contact list, and add dates to a class calendar. The School Workspace has an Excel sheet for tracking your GPA, notetaking, a task list for graduation requirements plus a standard todo list, a calendar for your class schedule, plus a school sports calendar, and a contact list.

There’s also screen sharing, document collaboration, support for older Office files and the new Office Open XML files, 500 megabytes of free online storage, support for PDF documents, support for Office XP/2003/2007 and Outlook 2003/2007, virus protection, and it even works on a Mac (Firefox only). Now, if they only supported OneNote for the note-taking app, I’d be in heaven, but my first impressions say they did a great job putting this together.

Windows Live Folders Update

Nerd — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:18:00 +0000

Windows ~~Live Folders~~ SkyDrive has received some updates!

[Source: LiveSide Blog]

New Look

Previously Accessed Folders

Thumbnail images

Drag and drop your files

Embed your stuff anywhere

Looks pretty slick huh? A bit disappointing that the storage is only 500MB, and am looking forward to other improvements (like client software, or drive mapping to the services etc…)