Category: Microsoft

NEVER buy digital licenses from Microsoft

Customer Service / Microsoft / Technology

I’ve just spent three days talking to Microsoft “Technical Support”… often called “HELPLESS desk,” trying to activate Windows 10 Pro. Why? Because late last year, we upgraded from Windows 10 Home by using the “Microsoft Store” application in Windows. HUGE mistake! Why? Because when you pay for licenses through the Microsoft Store, they apply the digital license to your Microsoft account – but you do NOT get an actual product key… which means, if you have any problem, you have to spend HOURS on the phone with helpless …

When podcasts go mainstream

Automotive / Business / Microsoft / Software / Technology

If you have a car, you have a radio. If you have a radio, you probably listen to music, talk radio, news and/or sports. By the mid-1960s, radios were standard equipment in new cars. Today, it’s almost standard to have a USB or other MP3 player connection – or at least a auxiliary input jack to plug other devices into your car’s sound system. What’s missing though is the digital end-to-end solution that terrestrial radio provides. By that I mean that you turn on your car radio and …

Microsoft Stores – Have some stock!

Business / Customer Service / Distribution / Hardware / Marketing / Microsoft / Websites

If you’re Home Depot or Best Buy, I can understand running out of stock on items. It happens. Businesses can only carry so much debt when ordering products from suppliers. It’s understandable that Best Buy might only have 50 iPad 2’s in stock at a given store. Home Depot could run out of 3/4 in. HD Maple Plywood, as they only order it once every 6 months and don’t sell much of it. Let’s look at the Apple Store. Sure, Apple only makes and sells about 50 products, …

Mobile phone apps and security

Business / Distribution / Email / Microsoft / Phones / Software / Technology

People love their smartphones these days… and with good reason. They can be amazing tools for business and fun distractions from the mundane parts of life – like standing in line at the post office or waiting to be picked up from the airport. There’s a problem though. Those fun and handy apps can be setting you up for embarrassment, failure or good ol’ fashioned identity theft. If you saw the movie “Live Free or Die Hard”, you’ll recall the premise that one bad guy who sold software …

System Restore – use it.

Microsoft / Software / Technology

When "System Restore" was added to Windows XP, it changed the life of a lot of computer geeks – and their clients. The ability to ‘roll-back’ a computer to a point in time prior to a virus/malware or just a bad install of a piece of software made for a MUCH easier and quicker solution than reformatting a hard drive. System Restore works 98% of the time. The other 2% is left to those really nasty viruses that have figured out how to corrupt or remove the restore …

Goodbye Internet Explorer

Business / Microsoft / Software / Technology / Websites

My first job at Microsoft was working on Internet Explorer 4. Prior to that I had done technical support at Spry for their "Internet In A Box" product (before CompuServe bought them). Back then I used a flavor of the Mosaic browser (as did most everyone) and was pretty happy. IE4 was a dramatic change – and I say that as someone who was an expert at the time. It was faster, had more features and was an amazing piece of software. Since 1996 I have tried all …

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