SOFTEKNEWS
Simple and Easy
How to open .msg files on Mac
Jan 10th
This week-end I was asked by a friend to “make” her Mac see the emails saved from Outlook, Windows based PC. For .pst based files it would have been a fairly easy job because there is the application called Little Machines. But this was not the file format in this case because the emails weren’t imported properly so I had to find something that could open .msg type file formats on the Mac and keep the attachments aswell.
This was not such an easy job and that is why I’m putting this little, but useful, application up here with some screen shots and on how to use it. The application is called MailReader and right now is a beta, meaning it has limited functionality but useful non the less. What you can do with it? You can open the .msg files and the attachments you have in it, you can Print it or you can Save it in two different file formats .rtf and .eml (Outlook Express).
Compatibility is for Leopard and Snow Leopard (tested by me on both systems), not compatible with Microsoft but as it’s written on the application site, it is not necessary. Bellow you can see More >
How to escape from Blue Screen on your PC
Jan 5th
Have you ever received a Blue Screen on your PC? Sometimes it appears while you do something on your computer, other times when you shut down or open it. It is annoying because once you detect such problem, it is like it never goes away. The common causes for the Blue Screen are the hardware components of your PC or the way they work with your operating system. Once you receive a Blue Screen, a folder named MiniDump is created in c:/windows. Here is how to check what caused for the Blue Screen to appear.
You have to download Windows Debugger which will open the file inside the Minidump folder. With Windows Debugger you can see (in the bottom of the file) what is the cause for the Blue Screen to appear. Common causes: Card Reader, Drivers, etc. How to eliminate the problem? Disable the Card Reader or update drivers.
Not all Blue Screen issues can be solved like this, it can also be a serious hardware issue and in this case you might need to contact the service.
Open License
Jan 4th
You can open an Open License contact no matter if you are a small, medium or large organization. The contract is for a period of two years, first order must be for at list 5 licenses. The payment is upfront, but do not worry because you will get the licenses at a much lower price plus discount. You can open multiple OLP contacts in the same time, but the level of discount will be different.
Note: You can only open an OLP contact if you already have licensed your PCs with OEM or FPP operating systems. That is because the licenses you will get are upgrade licenses.
You can open the contract with any Microsoft Authorized reseller. After completing the steps in opening the contract, you will get a confirmation letter in your e-mail, from Microsoft.
Note: You can get the confirmation letter either electronically or in paper form.
The confirmation letter will contain the Authorization Number – number of the contract – and with this number you will be able to order more licenses and administrate them online. Beginning with December 6th there will be available the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) which is an online tool that makes it More >
How to change the look of your Dock
Dec 28th
For this simple task we like to use a free application called Leoparddocks ( http://www.leoparddocks.com/index.php ) because it is very easy to use, and have a lot of cool docks to choose from. The process is simple, you download and install the application, once it’s installed you can choose from the hundreds of docks available on the site to download. When you have a few docks you would like to try out just open the application and the Choose Folder option should be selected where you have the Browse button, select the folder with the dock you would like to use and then just hit Change my Dock!
You also have the option to go back to your original Dock if you don’t like the new look.
How DLNA works on a Bravia
Dec 26th
DLNA is the acronym for digital living network alliance, and a lot of new products have this feature. For more information about what products have it you can visit www.dlna.org. What DLNA is doing, is streaming your pictures, music and videos across a home network. We all have multiple gadgets in our home and what DLNA does is to connect them all in a home network with less cable. So if you have a TV, a PS3, PC, Home Theatre system, mobile phone all these things can be connected with DLNA. Obligatory, the formats that DLNA has to support are : MP3, JPEG, MPEG2, MPEG4 AAC LC, AVC/H.264. It is also good to know that the wireless connection is not supporting N, only A/B/G. In this short tutorial I will try to present the ways you can connect different gadgets to your Bravia (EU models, V5500, W5500, WE5,E5500,Z5500).
First of all you will need a router, wired or wireless, because these Bravia models don’t have modems. You will have to connect your router to the TV, and the connection point is going to be at the back of the device. Now push the HOME button on your remote control and More >
How to create a rington for iPhone with iTunes
Dec 5th
You choose the song that you would like to use as a rington and right click on it, then choose “Create AAC version”
After iTunes finishes converting the file, you will have it next to the original. Now right click on the AAC version you just created and choose “Get Info” (if your not usre what version you choose, you can check in the summary). From the Get Info window go to “Options” , here you will see “Start Time” and “Stop Time”, set these to your liking but remember that the iPhone can only use 40 second ringtones. After you set the start time and the stop time just click oke.
What you need to do now is to click again on the AAC version where you just set the start time and the stop time of your ring tone and create an AAC version of this one aswell. You will see that this file will have the playing time you set previously.
After this, take the 30second version of the song and copy it to your desktop by simply drag and drop. From the desktop right clik on it and choose Get Info. The extension of the song is .m4a. Just More >
New iPhone Game
Dec 3rd
It seams that PlayMesh has moved iFarm to the iPhone as well, but I must say, they didn’t do it in a very graceful way. iFarm is the game that everybody loves to play on Facebook, including me, but the Free version on the iPhone is just a cheap copy so far. Why? Because it’s very slow, the music is boring and again, very very slow to react on the finger. The iPhone is capable of much more and it was proven by app developers so this is disappointing from PlayMesh.The only good thing is that it has a free version, of course there is paid version as well, and you can play online with it, all peachy but the point of the matter is, it doesn’t worth the money as long as you can play on Facebook for free. But that’s just my opinion.
I hope they will make it better, but I’m not willing to pay, just to see if the paid version actually reacts to the touch.
New Microsoft Trials
Dec 1st
In the past two months, Microsoft has released a number of three new products Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010.
We will start with Windows 7 Enterprise which is available for download only to Microsoft Partners, MSDN and TechNet Plus Subscribers and companies with Volume License/Software Assurance contracts. If you qualify, get it here. Windows 7 Enterprise is a 90 days trial version which cannot be converted to a full version, you will have to uninstall it after that time period.
Guidelines on usage: * Protect your PC and data. Be sure to back up your data and please don’t test Windows 7 on your primary home or business PC. * You have 10 days to activate the product. If not activated within 10 days, the system will shut down once every hour until activated. Unsure on how to activate? Visit our FAQ. * The 90-day Trial is the full working version of the Windows 7 Enterprise, the version most of you will be working with in your corporate environment. It will not require a product key (it is embedded with the download). * The 90-day Trial will shut down once every hour when you have More >
General Licensing Information
Nov 19th
There are a lot of people who own a PC with genuine software but don’t know what that means or don’t care so much about it until they find out they lost the license or its use rights are not as flexible as they thought. There is another type of people who want to buy PCs with genuine software but they don’t know what is suitable for them or where to get it from. Let me explain you what is all this about.
There are three ways you can license your PC with Microsoft products: OEM, FPP/Retail and Volume license. Beside this three, there are the legalization solutions like WGA – Windows Genuine Advantage, GGK – Get Genuine Kit and GGWA – Get Genuine Windows Agreement , most of them available for Windows OS only. For details about each type you can find in the left side column. If you are wondering how to know what type of license you have and or how to check if it is genuine Check this!Where to buy genuine software? Get in touch with local resellers
