Why Windows 8 Is Superior To Windows 7?

With the Windows 7 Mainstream support winding down, many users are looking for quality third party tech support services online. Once the Extended OS support period kicks in, Microsoft will start charging the Windows 7 users for some of the tech support services they used to get for free during the Mainstream support period. Subscribing to a third party support service might be a much cheaper option.

However, when it comes to third party services, you have to worry about fake online services and scam sites. Reportedly, some users were not able to distinguish between the fake OmniTech Support ripoff websites and the real ones and fell prey to such scams.

Consider upgrading to Windows 8 OS

Another option is to upgrade to Windows 8 OS before the Windows 7 Mainstream support expires. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have few more years of Mainstream support left. Also, Windows 8 is a much superior operating system than Windows 7.

However, most Windows 7 users do not see Windows 8 as a viable upgrade option. The radical changes Microsoft introduced in Windows 8 is the main reason for this. The desktop users will have to learn to use a completely new OS UI as well as a new OS structure. By removing the Start Menu, Task Bar and many other features of the UI, Microsoft has made so many changes to the OS structure that the users will find it difficult to locate many OS features and settings.

However, Windows 8 comes with many more features and options that make it the most powerful operating system available in the market. The security features in the OS have undergone a major boost. Windows OS now comes with its own in-built antivirus application. But, the users can still opt out of this antivirus application and use any third party substitutes.

Many tech experts have already rated Windows 8 as the most secure operating system available in the market. On top of the security features, Windows 8 also comes loaded with many cloud-based features and options. The OS is now much better integrated with Microsoft’s cloud service, OneDrive.

Also, the boot up and shutdown times in the OS have been significantly reduced in the new OS. Plus, there is 3D printer support, if you are planning to buy and connect a 3D printer to your Windows system.

Contact us, if you need any help with making the upgrade to Windows 8. In the meantime, steer clear of any OmniTech Support ripoff websites you come across online.

Steps To Recall A Sent Message In Outlook

Majority of you might be using Microsoft Outlook to send and receive emails. This email program has numerous features that help you to manage your email accounts in a much better way. With these features, it helps you to enhance the efficiency of your business communication.

If you send and receive lot of emails each day, then it is important that you be more careful while working with the email program. For instance, sometimes, you might send a message to a wrong person than to the one you intended. However, if you are using Microsoft Outlook, the program enables you to recall such messages. In this post, we will find out the steps involved in this process.

Steps Involved

• Open the Start menu and click the option All Programs.
• Place the mouse over Microsoft Office and click the option Microsoft Outlook to run the program.
• Once Outlook comes up, choose the folder Sent Items. This folder is present in the left pane of the Outlook window.
• Locate the message that you wish to recall.
• Double click the message and open it. Choose the button Message found at the menu bar of the program.
• Under the section move, select the option called Actions.
• Choose the option Recall this message.
• You have two options to choose. One is the Delete an unread copy of this message and the other is the Delete unread copies and replace with a new message. If you wish to send a new message in place of the old one, choose the second option.
• Mark the option for Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient. The advantage of choosing this option is that you will be able to find out if the recall attempt was a success. 
• Select the button OK.

With the above steps, you can recall a message sent from the Outlook program. If you have any doubts regarding the steps mentioned above, you may contact Omni Tech Support.

The Difficult Job Of Finding Quality Tech Support Service Online

Microsoft’s decision to end the tech support services they have been providing to XP users all these years has brought the spotlight on third party tech support service providers. It has been reported that at least a few of these tech support websites are actually scam sites masquerading as support services. Often, these scam artists imitate reputed tech service providers online and copy the look and feel of their websites with a similar sounding domain or company name.

Many such Omni Tech Support scam websites are there online and you are advised to check the authenticity of the websites before you sign up for any support service package.

Signing up for Omni Tech Support service

Officially, there is only one Omni Tech Support website online. There is also an affiliated website called Customer Focus Services. You will receive quality tech support service by signing up with any of these websites. They have hundreds of certified and experienced tech support professionals in employment and they will help you with all types of tech problems.

Any other affiliated websites you see online are more likely to be one of the Omni Tech Support scam websites mentioned above. Some users are not able to make this distinction and realise their mistake only later. Search engines like Google are regularly weeding out such scam websites from their search results. But, a few of them manage to stay on the list as a relevant search result for a brief period before they are finally detected. In the meantime, many users will fall for such tech support scams.

Third party tech support services like Omni Tech Support are lifesavers to many users, especially to those who are still using unsupported operating systems like Windows XP. Without subscribing to any such support service, the users would have to figure out how to fix the problems on their own, which is not going to be easy.

If you contact a tech support personnel for this, he will resolve the problem in the shortest time possible. He will provide you the troubleshooting steps to fix the problem yourself or send you the download link to a software fix that will take care of the issue. In some cases, it might be necessary to grant Remote Access of your system to this tech support personnel so that he can perform the complicated troubleshooting procedure himself without bothering you with the details.

Transferring Your Address Book From Lotus Notes To MS Outlook

Lotus Notes is a very popular software application used in offices around the globe for email communication, sharing documents, contacts and calendar management and essentially as a server-client application. And, in these aspects, this application is very similar to MS Outlook. So, it makes sense when some users want to transfer some of their files from Lotus Notes to MS Outlook.

However, there is no need for testing OmniTech Support help line for this purpose. You can use the Import and Export options in these two applications for transferring the files without any external help.

Migrating your Lotus Notes address book to Outlook

File transferring options are available in both these email and contact management applications. You just have to make sure that you are creating the transfer file in the correct format, one that is supported by both applications. You can use the Export options in Lotus Notes to create an export file in the Outlook-supported format and save it in a particular folder in the system.

Then, you can use the Import and Export wizard in Outlook to import this file to Outlook. This would normally work. However, many users testing OmniTech Support have reported that some of the data fields in each contact so transferred gets disorganised when migrated from one application to the other like this. This does not mean that such contacts become inaccessible or illegible. You just need to open them and organise the data fields in the data format that you are following in Outlook.

But, this would indeed be a cumbersome task if you are transferring all your contacts this way. Reorganising them in the proper data format would take up too much of your time. The best solution here is to use a software application designed for transferring such data from Lotus Notes to MS Outlook. There are plenty of such third party applications available online. As you transfer your files from one application to the other using such an application, the software will convert the data format correctly making sure that there are no errors in the transferred files like the ones mentioned above.

Lotus Notes stores its data in the NSF format (with .nsf extension), while Outlook stores them in the PST format. You need to use a data transfer or conversion tool that essentially converts NSF files to PST. If you run into any problems while using such a program, just contact our tech support personnel for assistance.

Stay Away From Fake Omni Tech Support Websites

By now, you must be aware of the fact Internet has its fair share of fake and scam websites. Many of them take the name of a successful website and try to pass themselves off as the genuine service provider to the gullible first time visitors. In fact, you might find a few such Omni Tech Support fraud websites, which have nothing to do with the original Omni Tech Support company.

Get tech support service from reliable sources

Many hackers see tech support scam as the easiest way to steal user information. This is because the Remote Access option is one of the commonly used methods employed by many tech support service providers including Omni Tech Support. Once they gain access to your system, they can install a malware program in your system, which designed to steal data. And that’s where things go creepy.

You have to avoid such Omni Tech Support fraud websites, which may pop up during your online search for a tech support service. Instead, get tech support service from reliable service providers like the genuine Omni Tech Support team. They have been in the business for more than a decade now and enjoy a good reputation for their services.

Located in Los Angeles, they also have an affiliated support service website called Customer Focus Services. As long as you are subscribing to any one of their packages, you can indeed be sure about the quality of the service you are receiving. Still, you might have concerns about the Remote Access mode of tech support as mentioned earlier. But that’s not an issue here.

Omni Tech Support has received excellent reports and ratings from Better Business Bureau, and have maintained good ratings since 2006. This is always an indication that they are indeed good at providing reliable tech support service and you can trust them with remote access to your systems. Their tech team consists of certified professionals, who can fix the problem in a few minutes time.

Most of us use Microsoft operating systems and MS Office suite of applications in our offices and in order to provide tech support for these, Omni Tech Support employs Certified Systems Engineers in their team. They can help you with tech problems regarding MS Outlook, Word, Windows OS or any other Microsoft software you might be using in your office.

So, call Omni Tech Support today and sign up for their beneficial service packages that suits your needs.

Professional Tech Support Service To The Rescue

If you are running a business operation, then you might have already had a few tech problems and issues with your IT systems. This experience would have made it clear to you the importance of hiring professional tech support firms like Omni Tech Support on an annual or half-yearly basis. Your IT employees have many limitations. To begin with, there will most certainly be a few areas or software products, about which their expertise will be somewhat limited.

Contacting professional tech support firms for assistance

If the tech problem happens to fall into this category, then your IT employees might not be able to help you in resolving them. You would have to call in professional tech support firms to deal with the task. Many such firms are there in the market and reputed ones like Omni Tech Support have build up quite a good reputation in a short period of time by providing quality service to the customers.

They have a certified team of tech support professionals providing round-the-clock services to their paid customers. But, if you want to see how good they are before you hire them, then you can make use of the free chat line service, which will last for about 15 minutes. This short duration might be enough to take care of many of the minor tech problems.

Ad hoc support can also be obtained by paying a small fee. But, getting their round-the-clock professional service on an annual or half-yearly basis might be even cheaper if you are running a business organisation that provides online services to your customers.

One of the main benefits is of course the service you get from certified professionals. In a tech support firm, there will be hundreds of such certified professionals, who would have expertise in different software fields and programs. This way, any issues that might pop up in your IT system will be covered.

They have Certified Systems Engineers in their employment who can take care of tech problems regarding any of the Microsoft software products you are using in your office. This includes all the Windows OS versions and MS Office Suite programs like Word, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, etc.

They also have an affiliated website called Customer Focus Services, who can also help you with any tech problems. So, sign up for their tech support package today itself to make sure that your firm would no longer be affected by any tech problems.

How To Forward Replies To A Different Email With Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is one of the email clients that people have been using for many years. The only reason that many of them use Outlook is due to the diverse functionalities available in the email client. They not only help in managing emails but also help in managing other personal information like calendars, notes and many more. There are different features available in Outlook to manage sending and receiving of emails.

One of the most important features is the Out-Of-Office reply, which is imperative while working in a corporate ecosystem. It is important to intimate people about your absence when they look for help. You can include the duration when you would not be available and you can include the person to contact for help.

If you have been wondering how to have the replies for your emails, reach another email address that is configured on Outlook. Outlook has few to work on the Reply to field in the emails, after you make changes with one of the settings in Outlook. Here are the steps to do the same taken from one of the support guides in the Omni tech support page.

Instructions

In case the email from which you send emails is different from the email address to which you expect to receive emails, follow these simple instructions.

• Launch Microsoft Outlook 2010, either from the Start menu or from the Shortcut on the desktop. 
• Click on the File menu to the top of the Outlook window. 
• Go to the option Info Category. 
• Select the Account Settings option. 
• Now Highlight the Email tab. 
• You have to choose the Email Account from the list of email accounts. 
• Now click on the Change option. 
• Click on More Settings to make further changes. 
• You have a space wherein you need to enter the Email Address to which you wish to receive replies. This is under the Other User Information For Reply E-Mail option. 
• Now click on Ok. 
• Followed by Next, Finish and then Close. 

Now at the end of these steps, try sending a test email to yourself and then reply to the same email. The email that you replied should end up in the email address where you wish to receive the replies. In case this does not work, try doing it one more time with the support guides provided to solve the issue. Even then, if you face issues, seek help from our Omni Tech support desk.

Paragon HFS Plus For Windows 8/8.1

If you have installed Windows 8 making use of Boot Camp on a Mac computer, or you plug in an external drive that has been set up on Mac, chances are that you only have limited access to any drive or partition that has been formatted in the HFS+ format that is used by Apple Mac computers. This is because Apple only provides read-only drivers to access Mac formatted drives on Boot Camp Windows installs on Macs, while Windows itself comes without any support. Free read-only utilities exist, but if you wish to get full access to a HFS+ drive, you will have to pay for it.

Paragon HFS+ for Windows 8 or 8.1 Free Edition is one of those applications that does what it says on the package. After installing, your Windows 8.1 or 8 powered computer, or Mac running Windows 8 or 8.1 through Boot Camp, will be able to freely access any HFS or HFS+ formatted hard drive just like it was FAT, NTFS, or exFAT. This means full read and write access. You will have to register the program with Paragon free of cost during the setup process to get a product key and serial number. Paragon also strongly recommends the users to disable the Fast Start up option in Windows 8 OS. This can be done through the Power Options in Control Panel of all the Windows 8 versions.

This should be done before installing the driver to prevent possible corruption to the file system, even though some of the users have installed it with the Fast Startup feature enabled without facing any issues. This simply works out of the box too. Some of the previously inaccessible drives showed up like any other and the user will now be able to easily transfer the data to and from a Mac computer using an external HFS+ formatted drive as intermediary. A paid version is also available that supports all the Windows 8 versions and other versions of Windows like XP and above. This allows commercial usage and also extends support to the newer HFSX format if it is needed.

If you would like to know more on Paragon HFS+ for Windows 8 or 8.1, you can contact the Windows tech support team. They will be able to tell you more on this and the latest features of the program.

Fixing Freezing Problems Exhibited By Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is an email manager program that many around the world use for managing their emails. One of the things about Outlook is that it is not just an email manager program, it is a complete personal manager program with a calendar, contacts manager and notes taking feature. One of the main issues that the Outlook program exhibits is freezing issues. If your Outlook program has such issues, Outlook problems and help forums advises that you check what the main reason for the occurrence of the error is. One of the main reasons for the occurrence of the error is adding an add-in program with the email manager.

If this is the issue, then you might need to remove the add-in last added to the program for fixing the issues with the email client. Follow the simple instructions given below for removing the add-in from the program.

• Open the Outlook email client by double clicking on its shortcut icon found in the desktop and then click on the Tools menu found at the top of the application window. 
• From the drop down menu that appears on the screen, click on the option labeled as Trust Center and then click on the Go button after highlighting the Add-ins tab. 
• Now the system will show you all the add-in programs installed with the Outlook email manager program. Look for the Add-in that caused the trouble by scrolling down through the list and highlight it when found by clicking on it. 
• Now look for the Remove button in the window and click on it for removing the add-in from the Outlook email manager program. 
• Now close the program and restart it, you will be surprised to find that the freezing issue that the program used to exhibit is now nowhere to be found.

One of the other ways for fixing the issues is to remove and disable RSS feeds. Sometimes the RSS feeds in the program will lead to filling the memory and this might lead to freezing of the Outlook program. Outlook problems and help website states that if you disable some of the unwanted feeds, then the issues with the program could be fixed easily.

Since the issue can also be caused due to corruption of the program, it is advised that you do keep an antivirus program in your system for protecting your system from virus and malware attacks.

Get Your Windows Startup Process Optimized

Speed is one of the major factors that we wish our computers to have. This is quite natural, as no one has the patience to simply gaze at this electronic device waiting for it to start up. To avoid such frustrating moments, you could get your Windows Startup optimized. The process is not a complicated one. A few easy steps will help you to accomplish this task and further, you could enjoy a system running on its top speed.

Let us check the instructions that you need to follow to reduce the boot time of Windows.

• You need to turn on the computer and navigate to the BIOS screen. To enter into BIOS, you need to select F2 key or DEL key. The same will be mentioned on your user manual. 
• After entering the BIOS screen, get to the BIOS setup. 
• You will find a BOOT menu. Since mouse will not work on BIOS, you need to use Arrow keys, Tab and Enter key for selecting. 
• When you find the option for Quick Boot, get it Enabled. 
• Below Boot Device Priority, you need to alter the first boot device and select Exit and Save Changes. This will restart your computer.

In order to enhance your system speed on boot up, it is essential to get rid of unwanted startup programs. For that, you need to click Start button, select Run, and type msconfig. This will show the list of programs that start during startup. On the left hand side of msconfig screen, you will find boxes, which you need to uncheck. Select Apply and then OK. In order to implement the changes made, you need to restart your computer.

Other than performing the above steps, you need to clean your Windows registry on a regular basis to avoid registry errors. A majority of problems faced by Windows platforms are the result of registry errors. When you install different programs on your system, installation might succeed or fail. Anyway, the corrupt files will remain on your hard drive and damage your registry. You could definitely contact our Windows support team to fix any Windows related issues. However, you need to realize the fact that if you give adequate care by removing unwanted items from your Windows platform, it will never turn sluggish.

Anyway, following the above steps will help you to optimize your Windows startup process. Any doubts regarding the above steps can be clarified by contacting our Windows support team.

Creating A Distribution List In Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is the most popular email manager program in the world and once you setup email in Outlook, you may need to configure more options like creating distributions lists and so on. Here we discuss simple instructions for creating a distribution list in Outlook.

Instructions 

• Open the Outlook email manager program by double clicking on its icon in the desktop and then click on the Tools tab found in the application window.
• When the drop down menu appears on the screen, click on the Address Book tab. If you do have many divisions in the address book, select the option labeled as Contacts.
• For creating a new mailing list with the Outlook email manager program, click on the File menu and then on the New Contact Group option. Name the contacts group in a manner that enables you to easily find it.
• Make sure that you have saved the newly created list to your contacts. Once you have setup email in Outlook with a new distribution list, you can easily add contacts to the list.
• Now open the distribution list that you have created and then click on Select Members for choosing the contacts and addresses to be added to the distribution list.
• Search for the person by typing in the first name of the contact and click on the Member icon found at the bottom of the window for adding new contacts to the distribution list.
• Repeat the process for all people and contacts that you wish to add to the distribution list and then click on the OK button when done.
• If you are adding a new email address to your address book, copy the entry to the distribution list after you have saved the original file.
• Select the option labeled as Save and Close for saving the list and closing it. Now open the newly created distribution list and check whether all the contacts you have added are present in it or not. If not, follow the steps given above to add any omitted contact.
• You can see the contacts in the list by clicking on the + sign found to the left side of the distribution list. 

If you follow the simple instructions given above, you will be able to create distribution lists with Microsoft Outlook email client in a jiffy. 

Networking With Windows 7

If you are required use networking options on a regular basis, Windows 7 is a competent operating system in that regard. It has a set of powerful P2P networking features integrated. These features in Windows 7 help you to share files, folders, or other resources, and diagnose and resolve issues in a network easily. Following are a few of the features.

Why Windows 7

There is a built-in file and printer sharing option in Windows 7, which facilitates sharing of files and printers on your system with users on a P2P network. When you set up a network, the Network Setup Wizard sets the most common configuration settings by default. This precludes the need of working with individual settings and arranging them each time.

There is an Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature in Windows 7 that helps in sharing the internet connection to others over a network. This comes with Firewall options to keep your network safe from unauthorized access through the internet connection. There is a separate integrated Firewall to protect your computer from being accessed over the network, when connected to the internet as well.

User account management is simple enough to let you easily create new accounts and assign passwords to these. There is added compatibility for wireless networking in Windows 7, so that you can connect to available wireless networks in the area easily. Apart from that, there are sophisticated tools for network diagnostics and troubleshooting, so that you will be able to diagnose and troubleshoot many common networking problems.

VPN Reconnect provision

If you are a roaming user, it is good to add VPNs (virtual private networks), which allow a secure connection between your computer and the network. If you are somewhere other than you usually are, say a hotel room or at a customer site, this will make sure that the connection you establish remains intact, barring other network problems.

If you use wireless broadband however, a VPN connection could be the cause for connection dropping frequently, and every time you reconnect to a VPN you will need to establish authentication yet again. This is where VPN Reconnect comes in to play. It promptly resets the internet connection when dropped, and resets VPN connection as well. This makes sure that you retain access of network resources as much of the time as possible. Using this feature, even streaming videos can be resumed after a connection reset, even if it changed your IP address.

For more information on networking with Windows 7, check out our other posts, and for Windows 7 help, troubleshooting and related assistance, call out support hotline.

Setting Up The Outlook 2013 Program

You may be using the Microsoft Outlook program to handle your email messages. Outlook is a very good email client program that is very much user friendly and offers a number of features. This guide provides the step-by-step instructions to setup email in Outlook 2013 program for Windows operating system. These steps can be used for other versions of the Outlook program also, but some of the steps may vary slightly.

Steps To Add A New Account

• Turn on your computer, open the Outlook program, choose the File menu, and then select Info. 
• Click on the Add Account button. 
• Select Manual setup or additional server types. 
• Click on the Next button. 
• Select IMAP or POP. 
• Click on the Next button. 

Account Settings

• Type in your Name as you wish it to appear in the email messages that you send. 
• Type in your email address. 
• Type mail.example.com as the Incoming Mail Server. 
• The Outgoing Mail Server is same as the Incoming Mail Server. 
• For the User Name field, type in your email address. 
• Type in your email password. 

More Settings

• Select the More Settings button. 
• Click on the Outgoing Server tab and then select My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication checkbox. 
• Ensure that it is using the same settings as the incoming mail server. 
• Select the Advanced tab. 
• If you are using POP3 with SSL, type in 995 for the port. Otherwise, you may leave the port at 110. 
• If you are making use of POP3, you can choose when the messages are removed from the server. 
• If you are making use of IMAP with SSL, type in 993 for the port. Otherwise, you may leave the port at 143. 
• If you are making use of SMTP with SSL, type in 465 for the port. Otherwise, change the port to 26. 
• After doing the above steps, click on the OK button. 

Finishing The Setup

• In the Email Accounts window, click on the Next button. 
• Select the Finish button. 

These are the steps to setup email in Outlook 2013 program. If you have any doubts or confusions in any of the steps that are discussed above, you can contact the Outlook help and support team for further assistance on finishing the steps.

Microsoft Plans To Buy Out Apple Users

Microsoft is now taking a page out of the playbook by offering the users of Apple’s MacBook Air an in-store credit of up to 650 dollars when they trade in for a Surface Pro 3 tablet. This promotional program is running through the network of Microsoft retail stores in Canada and US through July 31. The offer that is found on the Microsoft support site and official website says that the credit is available for the users of selected MacBook Air products and credits up to 650 dollars. This implies that some trade-ins may not get the full value or may be rejected.

The Surface Pro 3 tablet is the latest in the homegrown Windows based tablet series and became generally available in June 20. So far, Microsoft has positioned the Surface Pro 3 and the typepad cover of the device as a replacement for notebook, specifically going after the lightweight laptop from Apple. During the unveiling ceremony that was held on May 20, Microsoft demonstrated how the Surface Pro tablet is lighter than the iPad Air and MacBook Air combined. Microsoft is clearly trying to take away some of the market dominance of Apple, believing that it can replace two screens of most of the iPad and Mac users into a single consolidated device, the Surface Pro 3.

Firstly, this promotional offer is common with channel conflicts. This program is only valid for the retail stores of Microsoft. In attracting the customers to the corporate owned outlets, Microsoft is cutting out its retail partners like Staples and Best Buy, as well as their authorized device resellers- the select direct market resellers like En Pointe and CDW.

Second, as Channelnomics noted, market share of Apple is not so great that taking appreciable share will help them establish Surface Pro 3 as a market contender. To do this, Microsoft will have to eat away the market share of their longtime computer vendor partners like Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Lenovo, Dell and so on.

Third, Microsoft is not expanding the Surface tablet availability to their channel partners. Microsoft has said repeatedly that they are not ready to support the broader reseller community beyond a handful of the volume based direct market resellers. In offering promotions that apply only to their direct retail outlets, Microsoft shows their will to acquire market share.

More details on this news are posted in the Microsoft support site. You can visit the page to know more on the news.

How To Get Rid Of The Babylon Toolbar From Google Chrome Browser

With so many malware toolbars and applications infecting the browsers, many antivirus companies are now providing specifically designed utilities for toolbars and add-on removal. Many such free antivirus applications are available online. However, you can also get rid of most of the annoying toolbars manually without installing any external tool for the purpose.

About Babylon toolbar removal

Babylon translation application is one annoying browser toolbar, which installs automatically on the system with a file or software download. This toolbar can be used for translating text from a foreign language online. But, as it changes the customized browser settings secretly and directs every search query to Babylon search engine, it annoys users a lot, and they want to get rid of this application as soon as spotted.

Removing Babylon toolbar not just involves uninstalling the application from web browsers, but also deleting all the links associated with Babylon site from the browser’s home page and search engine settings. Otherwise, the browser will redirect you to the Babylon website, and the add-on will be downloaded and installed on the browser all over again.

If you are using Google Chrome, go to the Tools menu in the browser and click on the option Extensions to launch the add-on manager utility. There, you will find the Babylon search or translator toolbar. Just remove all add-ons or extensions you see there with the name Babylon on it.

Now, change the home page and search engine settings of your browser. The default search engine for your browser will be set as Babylon search. Go to the Settings menu in your browser, click on the Manage Search Engines option, and change your default browser search engine to any of the popular search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo.

Similarly, change the homepage setting from Babylon search to any of the websites that you commonly use. Restart the browser and check whether the annoying toolbar is still there on your browser menu.

In some cases, you will find Babylon toolbar clinging to your browser menu. This means that some files of the malware application are still there in your system. In such an event, you can use a Babylon toolbar removal tool or a malware detection application to get rid of these files. You can easily find such a freeware tool online.

Xbox Live- The Online Gaming Platform For Passionate Gamers

There is a big difference between playing a computer game against the microprocessors of the gaming console or the computer and against any of your friends. You would love the game when you play it with your friends. But, you can’t expect your friends to play with you every time. They may be located somewhere else. But still, it is possible to play with them. There are multiple online gaming platforms that allow you to play computer games with your friends online.

Microsoft introduced Xbox Live, an online gaming platform to its Xbox gaming systems in 2002. When Xbox 360 was released, an advanced version of the Xbox system, a compatible version of Xbox Live too was rolled out. This repeated with Xbox One in 2013. Over the years, Xbox Live has turned out to be a lively platform for Xbox fans. It has even emerged as a perfect competitor to Sony’s PlayStation Network.

Extension of Xbox Live services

According to Windows Live chat support, Xbox Live services are no more the pride of Xbox systems alone. These services are available now on Windows platform. So, in order to play a game online via Xbox Live, you don’t have to own an Xbox system. Instead, you can play the game on your Windows computers.

Microsoft launches Xbox Live Anywhere project
The Redmond based giant is working out different plans to popularize Xbox Live. Recently, it launched a project titled Xbox Live Anywhere. The purpose of this project is to make the availability of Xbox Live everywhere and make it affordable to all types of people. The project highlights the importance of making Xbox Live available on mobile phones. As of now, Xbox Live is integrated into Microsoft’s own mobile operating system Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1. Discussions are on to launch Xbox Live on third party platforms.

Free and Paid Xbox Live services

Microsoft offers free as well as paid Xbox Live services to the users. The free service is called Xbox Live Free while the paid one is called Xbox Live Gold. According to Windows Live chat support, the purpose of giving out some Xbox Live services free is to make it available for everyone. Certainly, the free Xbox Live service will let you access only a limited number of games and services. However, it is worth the same and is the best for beginners.

Microsoft has plans to introduce more games and services to Xbox Live. Hopefully, the tech giant will roll them out soon.

Some Useful Tips For Developing Windows 8.1 Apps

Windows Store has to go a long way to compete with Google Play. While Android’s Google Play has thousands of useful apps, Windows Store lacks them. Fortunately, Microsoft has simplified the requirements for the development of Windows 8.1 apps. It seems that anyone with basic knowledge of programming and app development can write Windows 8.1 apps and get them approved from Microsoft to release them in Windows Store. So, in short time, we can expect many Windows 8.1 apps getting released in Windows Store.

Easiest way to write apps for Windows Store

According to the Microsoft support page, if a new Windows 8.1 app needs to be released in Windows Store, it should maintain the criteria laid down by Microsoft. Microsoft promotes apps that take up web content or display them. So, if you have any idea about writing apps and releasing them in Windows Store, make sure that they are designed to display web content. The recently released Microsoft Top Solution is an app you could take up for referencing as to know how an ideal app for Windows Store should be like.

Microsoft Top Solutions

Microsoft Top Solutions keeps all the criteria for an ideal Windows 8.1 app. It consumes web content and displays them. It is more or less like a directory of support solution blog sites of Microsoft’s popular services. Below are some of the features of Microsoft Top Solutions.

Features

When you launch the application, the home screen will be displayed. From the home screen, you can have instant access to all the services that the app provides like the support solution blog site of Microsoft Azure, Exchange, System Centre, SQL Server, Windows Server and the likes. In order to open any of these services, simply tap on the desired button. It will directly take you to the support solution blog site of the associated program. You will then need to choose the appropriate topic of your concern. When you click on the link of the support solution blog site, the website will be opened in Internet Explorer 11 by default.

The support solution blog sites will contain KB articles, TechNet, hotfix articles and links to Microsoft forum. Choose the appropriate option to proceed.

I hope you got some idea about writing apps for Windows Store and the features of the recently released Windows 8.1 app Microsoft Top Solutions. For more technical information regarding Windows 8.1 Apps or Windows Store, visit the Microsoft Support Page.

Making Use Of Office Diagnostics To Recover From An Outlook Crash

The Outlook program is in use by a plethora of computer users. The Outlook program can crash due to a number issues related to the program and the computer. In most of the cases, the user will not be able to find out the exact cause of the Outlook crash. In order to repair Outlook and to find out the underlying cause of the issue, Microsoft has provided an inbuilt Office diagnostics tool. This tool scans the program and gives a detailed report on the Outlook problems. After giving the report, the tool then goes to repair the issue in the best possible way. 

This diagnostic tool is designed to provide the reasons for the crash and the possible solutions to the problem. After the Office Diagnostic tool completes the report, it prompts the user to share the report with Microsoft and then redirect to a webpage that will give a detailed method on the steps to fix the problem that has made the program to crash. Microsoft has assured that the diagnostics report provided by the users is perfectly anonymous and cannot be traced back to them. Most of the users refrain from sending the error reports and other reports to Microsoft, due to privacy reasons. The users are under the impression that the process is long and tedious, but this is not true.

The information that the user sends to Microsoft will not only accurately define the problem, it will also help the user to repair the Outlook program. The Office Diagnostics tool from Microsoft offers a wide range of diagnostics tests that help the user to find out the problem with the Outlook program. One such test is the Setup Diagnostic test that will scan all the installation files and registry keys of Outlook to find out the issue. The process might take about 15 minutes to finish. You will have to remain patient until the test finishes successfully. The function named Disk Diagnostic scans the computer’s hard disk for any faults in the file system. 

Make sure that no other program is running, before starting the disk diagnostic test. Next comes the Memory Diagnostic test. This test scans the Random Access Memory of the computer for any errors or faults. The user can also perform Update Diagnostic and Compatibility Diagnostic tests that scan for available updates for the program. If you wish to know more on the Outlook problems, you can contact our tech support team.

New Update For Box App In Windows 8.1 And Windows Phone 8

Recently, there was an announcement made by Microsoft regarding the availability of Box cloud storage facility update for Windows and 8.1 users. The latest update of the app promises to offer several interesting options to the Windows 8 and 8.1 users, as far as the cloud storage services are concerned.

Box is a renowned name in the field of cloud storage services, and the company has been introducing several updates to users frequently. The latest one for Windows 8 and 8.1 OS includes a whole bunch of enhancements and improved features, for both the operating systems. According to the technicians available at the Windows support number, Box cloud storage app is installed on over a million Windows-based devices, and users have been pretty satisfied with the available storage options. In a way, these features are only helping in increasing the sales of the Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems.

Upon hearing news of the latest update, many Windows 8 users started dialing the Windows support number to know about the new features they would be getting. As per sources, the latest update of the Box cloud storage service is said to improve the overall performance of the app on both these platforms. The advanced options include improved navigation experience, as well as improvements related to core elements of the apps. These are mainly related to the transfer manager, menus and much more options available in this cloud storage app. There is also an additional support for Polish and Turkish, which bring the total number of languages supported by this app to nineteen. The update mainly focuses on making the user experience more comfortable yet advanced on both Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.

As stated by the company in a blog post, the latest release i.e. v2.0 includes faster and more reliable options as compared to the previous version. This is because they have rebuilt both the apps and improved the consistency and usability of many features in it, such as the transfer manager options, menus, breadcrumbs, and other related navigation experiences for the user. In short, the user would no longer need to worry about the storage of the information at all.

The Box app for both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems is available at the Windows Store. To know more about downloading this app and other features in it, feel free to contact our Windows tech support team.

The Latest Update For Xbox One Released

Microsoft has been offering monthly updates for its latest Xbox One gaming console ever since it was launched in November last year. Following the same course, the tech giant recently rolled out a new update for Xbox One, which interestingly, rather than incorporating any new features in the console, will mainly focus on addressing most of the persistent issues in the device.

Microsoft chat support team said that this new update for Xbox One was earlier released in its beta testing program as a pack of patches that included fixes for issues like gameplay recording and multiplayer voice chat. After analyzing the upgrades for almost a week, Microsoft launched the final update for Xbox One in the last week of May.

The major segments that this newly launched system update will deal with include the issues in recording a video, and problems in the Party Chat feature. The update will offer a fix for Game DVR to assure that no more issues arise while recording a gameplay video. Microsoft chat support team also highlights that the System Update button in the gaming console will stay grayed if there is no important update available for the device. Microsoft tech support team has also revealed that Xbox One will now support external storage, and allow expanding the available memory with up to two USB 3.0 hard drives.

The latest update offers attractive deals for Gold members, and allows accessing an array of free Xbox One’s Games with Gold subscription. In addition to that, apps such as Netflix and Hulu Plus will not be concealed under the Gold membership barricade anymore. The update will also allow users to set up an account in Xbox One and sign in automatically when the device in turned on.

It is noted that though Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 were launched in the same time frame, Sony released the first update for its gaming device by the end of April. The update for PS4 mainly included features to improve the video and screenshot sharing functions, as well as redefine the built-in video-streaming features.

On the other hand, Microsoft releases monthly updates for its Xbox One gaming device, focused on incorporating new features as well as addressing persisting issues in the console, and is supposed to carry on with the trend for an unknown projected period. Let us wait and see how this strategy helps Microsoft’s Xbox gaming device outshine other competitors.

End Of Support For Windows XP Could Make Your ATM Transactions Insecure

Your visit to an ATM might soon become a security risk if your bank does not act fast. The different banks across the world just have less than a month to upgrade their Automatic Teller Machines, commonly referred to as ATM machines with software programs that currently operate on Windows XP operating system. Microsoft had ended the tech support for the Windows XP operating system on 8th April 2014. This means that Microsoft will not be providing any security updates to fix patches in computers that make it vulnerable to cyber attacks. This was confirmed after contacting the Windows support number.

Microsoft says that since they have announced in September 2007 that support for the Windows XP operating system would end, it has been working hard to make the users informed about the end of support and to help them in migrating to a modern operating system that is supported by them.

One of the Microsoft spokespersons said in an email message, “After April 8, 2014, Windows XP users will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted options or online technical content updates from Microsoft.” “Enterprise customers, who have not completed their migration by April 8, 2014, can avail of Custom Support. Custom Support is not designed to extend the life of Windows XP. It should be considered a last resort to help bridge the gap during a migration process to a modern OS,” he added.

Microsoft is not willing to confirm how many banks have updated their ATMs and they have pointed directly to the financial institutions to understand what their plans were regarding the expiration of the program. JP Morgan Chase has confirmed to FOXBusiness that they have purchased a custom technology that supports agreement from Microsoft Corporation. Jim Grimmer, who is the Head of North American ATMs, TD Bank, said in one of his email statements, “In anticipation of tech support for Windows XP expiring, we began working with our service provider, Diebold, to upgrade the core software of our 1,900 US ATMs to Windows 7 in February 2014.”

If an ATM does not upgrade their security software, the biggest danger to the users is the holes in security that can be used by hackers to get the personal data of the users. If you wish to know more on this news, you can contact the Windows support team. They will be able to provide you more information on this.

Playing Blu-Ray Discs And DVDs In Windows 8

Windows 8 is the latest operating system released by tech giant Microsoft. In fact, Windows 8 was released by Microsoft after incorporating many features that make it into one of the most versatile of OS that Microsoft have ever produced. After downloading Windows 8 OS, you need to install it for access to the numerous features it contains.

Some of these features are clear upgrades to those in older versions of the OS, while some of them are only side grades. The latter is the case with the DVD playback. There was an in-built DVD player in the earlier versions of Windows OS whereas in the latest OS by Microsoft i.e. in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, do not feature this and need to choose some other techniques. Now, let’s look on the different options available to play DVDs and blu-ray discs in Windows 8.

Give it a try anyway

Before going for any steps, you first need to make sure that your system will not be able to play DVDs. The manufacturer would have preloaded with DVD playback software, when you buy a laptop or a computer loaded with Windows 8 operating system. Put the DVD in your drive and make sure that it is not working.

Download a player like VLC

If you have a PC that has been made from scratch or if you are upgrading to Windows 8 from any other OS, then it is necessary to download a player like VLC to play DVD files. VLC is a powerful media player released by VideoLAN, and is absolutely free. This is a player that is capable of playing files that the Windows media player cannot play. Moreover, there is also a codec pack available to play the Blu-ray files.

Installing the Windows Media Center Pack

The tech giant has not included the option to play DVDs entirely, and in fact, they have included it with a Windows Media Center pack, which costs around $10. Only users of Windows 8 Pro version can download this and if you have a basic version of Windows, then you will not be able to upgrade even if you pay an upgrade fee of $100. If you do not want any other Windows 8 pro features, but only just DVD playback, then it is best to choose VLC player.

The above-mentioned points will help you to play DVDs and Blu-rays discs in the new Windows 8 operating system. For more on downloading Windows 8, contact Windows 8 support number.

Outlook.Com Now Supports IMAP-Based Email Accounts

Outlook.com is a free web-based email service from Microsoft, which offers numerous simple and effective tools for email management. Users import all the data in other email accounts to Outlook.com using the inbuilt wizard offered by the email service, and manage all the emails collectively. Microsoft earlier restricted the service to only POP3 email account users, but has recently revived the policy to include IMAP email services as well.

Announcing the move in last month’s blog post, Principal Group Program Manager for Outlook.com, Mike Schackwitz said, “After receiving a great response from the customers who imported their email from Gmail to Outlook.com, we’re excited to announce that, as of today, you can use Outlook.com to import and manage your email from Yahoo Mail and many other IMAP-enabled email providers.”

This means that now, IMAP-enabled Yahoo Mail users would also be allowed to setup email in Outlook website, and import their emails and manage them with Microsoft’s email service. Following are the instructions to import the emails from Yahoo email account to Outlook.com.

Steps to follow

• Access your Outlook.com account and click on the Options button. 
• Select Import email accounts from the resulting menu, and click on the option specified for Yahoo. 
• Enter your Yahoo email address and password in the required boxes, and click on the Import button. 

When you are done with the above steps, a send from option for your Yahoo email address will be added to your Outlook.com account as well. This will allow you to send emails from your Yahoo Mail account via Outlook.com. You can also configure your Yahoo email account with Outlook.com and import the contacts to the database easily.

The above steps can be followed for importing data from other IMAP-based email services as well. However, be specific to choose the Other email provider option in the Import email accounts page to configure your email account in Outlook.com. Microsoft has not made it clear which of the IMAP-based email providers are supported by Outlook.com though, and has only said that most popular email services will be supported.

Microsoft further highlights that after you setup email in Outlook website, all the importing of data takes place in the background, and thus, you are allowed to continue using the service or even sign out during the process. An email will be sent to your inbox to notify you when the synchronizing is complete.

Outlook.com now supports two of the most widely used email services, and allows users to manage their data collectively. Nevertheless, Microsoft will have to wait and watch if this move works out for its email service and helps it to gain more users.

“Windows Azure” Now Becomes “Microsoft Azure”

Microsoft has recently announced public statements renaming its Cloud operating system “Windows Azure” to “Microsoft Azure”. The announcement was held on March 25, and the changes have been effective since April 3, 2014, which coincides with the second day of Microsoft's Build conference in San Francisco. Unnamed tipsters were the first to reveal this development, long before Microsoft officially announced the plan.

The rebranding of the cloud operating system seems like a strategy to distract customers from its rivals. The Marketing team wants to move away from the old Windows Branding and focus on making Microsoft a “Devices and Services” company. Facing stiff competition from other cloud service providers like Amazon and Google, these new strategies seem to be the need of the hour.

This rebranding makes sense because, unlike Windows products, Azure users can run on Oracle databases and middleware. Azure customers can even use non-Windows-specific development tools like Python, PHP, Oracle, Ruby and Java without any issues. Since the share of Microsoft products in the market has reduced, the company has also started to focus on running multiple-platforms.

Steve Martin, General Manager of Microsoft Azure, issued a statement on the occasion, promising its customers a platform which can support their needs, whatever they may be. The move seems appropriate since people are shifting their focus on to Cloud Services sooner than most Tech-Moguls had predicted.

The announcement of this news was followed by a huge traffic to the Microsoft Support Services team from users who wished to know if there would be any disruption of services. No changes to the services were brought about and the entire renaming process was just a marketing ploy.

In 2008, before Azure was officially released, the product was still known by the code name “Red dog”. It was even rumored to be a cloud version of Windows Server. Even though it only happened in late 2009, the merging of Server and Cloud teams worked well for providing seamless private/public/hybrid cloud messaging.

As on date, even when Windows is still crucial to Microsoft, the company continues to emphasize it is not “Windows-only”. Microsoft's Office on iPad Suite is another example of the shift in corporate positioning to fit the new image. The move is part of a broader shift under the new CEO Satya Nadella, tying other Microsoft products away from its Operating System, Microsoft Windows.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the same, feel free to contact the Microsoft Support Services team.

Fixing Outlook Issues

Although Microsoft Outlook appears to be an advanced email application for the users, sometimes it may cause issues. According to the Outlook tech support center, several users contact them complaining about the various Outlook problems they encounter while using the application. One of the most common problems cited by the users is when they are not able to access the email program.

In such cases, you can use the following instructions provided by the Outlook tech support team to troubleshoot and fix the issue.

Issues related to browser

• If such Outlook problems arise due to browser related issues, you need to first refresh the site. For this, press CTRL + F5 keys at the same time on your browser i.e. Firefox, Explorer, Chrome etc. 
• You can also try using alternative urls such as m.outook.com to open the Microsoft Outlook application. 
• You can also try deleting the temporary cache and cookies on your browser. This is advised in order to make sure that you are using the most recent version of the web page. At any point of time, you can also contact the Outlook tech support team to get more information on clearing the cache files. 

DNS problems

• DNS or a Domain Name System enables the identification of a site IP address (192.168.x.x) with words (*.com) so that it can be remembered easily by the users. The DNS services are usually provided by the Internet Service Providers.
• So, if the issue in Outlook is related to Outlook, you can first clear your local DNS cache and enable the most recent cache that your ISP has. If you are using Windows OS, you can click on Start, Command Prompt and then type "ipconfig /flushdns". Now, press Enter.
• Sometimes, you may be able to access a specific website at office or from a 3G network, but it may not work on your computer. In such cases, it is always recommended to use an alternative DNS service different from that provided by your ISPs. You can consider using OpenDNS or Google Public DNS as both these are excellent and free public DNS services.
• But before changing the DNS, make sure the Outlook issue is caused due to it.

These steps can help in troubleshooting and fixing the Outlook issues, where you cannot access the application. To get more information on the Outlook features, feel free to dial our 24/7 technical support number.

Why You Should Upgrade To Windows 7?

Since Microsoft has ended the support for Windows XP, it is better to upgrade to the more advanced versions of the OS i.e. Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. But if you find the Windows 8 and 8.1 features to be complicated, switching over to Windows 7 is the only viable option. This is because Windows 7 ranks among the simpler yet advanced versions of the OS along with Windows XP.

If you are using SolidWorks to design products, using Windows 7 can be a great option. SolidWorks is a 3D computer aided design program, which enables users to easily transform new ideas into great products. This advanced design program is compatible to run on a Microsoft Windows platform, and used by many engineers and designers around the world. Now, the latest update of the program is ready to get launched and the users who run Windows 7 in their systems will find it much easier to operate. According to Windows 7 help, it is recommended to upgrade the computer hardware to 64 bit technology and use the Windows 7 64-bit OS to enjoy a convenient computing experience. Thus, upgrading from XP and Vista to Windows 7 will definitely help the designers in their work.

As stated by the Windows 7 help, some of the benefits of using Windows 7 computers with the latest update of SolidWorks include:

• The first and foremost thing you will experience is an increase in the performance of your computer as compared to the earlier cases when Vista and XP used to run in your system.
• You will also be able to notice improved stability of your system with higher memory limits and minimal storage issues.
• The functionality of the computer would have been increased to suit the 64-bit environment.
• The best aspect is that now you will be able to customize your computer more easily. This includes arranging programs and files at a mouse click with revised task bars, jump lists, file previews, and even setting up alert notifications.
• As mentioned earlier, Microsoft Windows 7 is much simpler to use and more responsive when compared to the earlier versions such as XP and Vista.

So, instead of still relying on Vista or XP operating system in your computer, upgrade your computer to Windows 7. This way, you will be able to enjoy a more sophisticated experience with complete cyber security protection from Microsoft.

Making A Call Using Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger is an application released by Microsoft, which helps the users to be in touch with friends and relatives no matter in which part of the world they live. It is easy to make calls using this Windows Live messenger application. Well, given below are some easy instructions given by the Windows online support team to make a call using the program.

Instructions

• Start the process by opening the Windows Live Messenger application in your system by accessing the Start menu.
• Then, you need to click the button named Menu from the Windows Live Messenger window. 
• Then, click the option called Actions followed by selecting Call.
• If you need to make a call to a person who is in the contact list of your computer, then click the option called Call a Computer. Now a dialog box named Select a Contact will open in your desktop screen. Select the name of the contact that you want to call followed by clicking the button called OK. Now, you will be sending an invitation to the contact you have dialed and his computer will start ringing. This step is to call a person who is there in the contact list of your computer.
• However, if you need to call any person who is in the contact list of your phone, you need to click the option named Call a Contact’s Phone. Next step is choosing the contact that you need to make a call. This is done by selecting the name of the contact that you want to call from the dialog box named Select a Contact. Now, the phone of the person whom you have dialed will start ringing. This step is to call a person who is in the contact list of your mobile phone.
• There is an option to make calls to all people who are not in your contact list including both computer and phone. For this purpose, you need to click the option called Call a Phone.
• Now a Windows Live Dialer will be seen on your screen. Now, just enter the phone number that you want to call followed by clicking the option called Call. This step will help you to make a call to a contact that is not in your contact list.

The above said instructions will help you to make a call using the Windows Live Messenger. To know more about, contact the Windows online support center.

How To Configure Outlook To Use SkyDrive For Attachments

When it comes to sending files and attachments through email messages, users have quite a few options at their disposal. Most of the email service providers limit the maximum size of the attachment per email message. Usually this is in the 20MB size range but in some cases, it may rarely go above 30 MB or more. The users always have the option to send multiple email messages if they need to transfer files larger than this size to the recipients, but they can also use much more comfortable options.

When it comes to the Outlook.com service from Microsoft, users have two options at their disposal for sending file and email attachments. The Files to be sent can be attached directly to the email message or can be uploaded to the file hosting service SkyDrive of Microsoft. It is always better to use SkyDrive as it enables the user to bypass the attachment size per email message. The users can upload the files that they wish to share with the recipients to SkyDrive, outlook.com adds a link in the email message, and the recipient can click on this link to download the file that is uploaded in SkyDrive.

Outlook.com is set to decide whether to make use of SkyDrive to host the attachments or not. It usually does this for Office documents and attachments that are large. The user will be able to change that behavior so that SkyDrive can be used every time the user is sending attachments. The Outlook setting steps to be done to make Outlook use SkyDrive for sending attachments are explained below.

Instructions

• Turn on your PC, navigate to Outlook.com and sign into your Outlook account. 
• At the top right corner, you will be able to see the Settings button. Click on it and then select More Mail Settings from the context menu. 
• Find out Writing email and then click on the attachments there. 

To configure attachments, follow the below discussed steps.

• Always send the files using SkyDrive. 
• Send the files as attachments only. 
• Allow the Outlook program to make the selection. 

These are the Outlook setting steps to make the Outlook program use SkyDrive for sending attachments. If you have any doubts in any of the steps, you may contact our tech support team. They will help you to finish the steps successfully.

New Bug Exploit For Windows XP

Windows XP’s ndproxy.sys driver is in deep trouble as a new zero-day exploit that has been causing issues for the driver was reported by Microsoft. The Telephony API from Microsoft, whose operation involves the driver, is what Sophos, a security vendor says.

What Sophos' Paul Ducklin Says?
In a blog post, Sophos' Paul Ducklin commented, "Even though EoP (Elevation of Privilege) holes aren't directly exploitable by remote attackers, cybercriminals can combine an EoP with a conventional exploit, such as a drive-by malware attack against your browser or other content-rendering software".

No patch release

Currently there has been no patch release for the counteraction against the bug exploit. Windows 2003 and Windows XP are the main two versions of the Windows operating system that have succumbed to the bug exploits.

Tweaking the registry

For availing protection against the bug, Ducklin says that a "simple registry tweak" is all that is enough. Ducklin also says that the bug exploit that is used to full effect by the hacker could "run arbitrary code in kernel mode." He also says, "An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full administrative rights,”. He also mentioned that the kernel mode "is like being an administrator's administrator".

Upgrade from Windows XP

Therefore, to get away from all problems that a user may encounter, the best option Ducklin suggests is to use Windows versions that have had recent releases like Windows 7. With support for Windows XP already over, Microsoft urges its Windows XP customers to move forward to their latest operating systems. Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 have all been released post the arrival of Windows XP and the Windows 7 has turned out to be a runaway success with most number of users around the world.

'Interim workaround' from Microsoft

Microsoft has currently come up with an 'interim workaround' so that the problematic NDPROXY.SYS driver does not load and instead, loading of an empty driver file takes place. He also says, ”Simply deleting the file won't do, as the Windows driver cache will helpfully restore it for you. (Anyway, deleting the file is permanent and thus a hassle to reverse if it doesn't work out)".

Bug exploits can be a huge concern for customers and for them to get assurance regarding the working of their OS from Microsoft, they may contact the Windows tech support center. Windows tech support center is the premier tech support service providing Windows customers with the best solutions and assistance.

How To Setup Secure Email In Outlook

If you are an Outlook email client user, you may have to set up secure email messages in the Outlook program. If you do not know the steps to setup email in Outlook, you need not worry. This article discusses in detail the steps to setup email in Outlook program. You can follow the steps discussed below in this article to complete the setup easily and efficiently.

Instructions

• Turn on your PC and wait until it boots completely. After the computer has loaded completely, open the Microsoft Outlook program. This can be done by double clicking on the Outlook icon or selecting Outlook from the All Programs list. 
• In the Outlook window, select Tools and then go to Email Accounts. 
• You may then select the Add new email account radio button. 
• Click on the Next button. 
• As the next step, select POP3 radio button and then click on the Next button. 
• Type in the following account information, 

Your Name: your name as you need it to appear in the From field of the email messages that you send.

Email Address: youraddress@stanford.edu

Account Type: POP3

Incoming mail server: null

Outgoing mail server: smtp-secure.stanford.edu

User Name: your SUNet ID

Password: leave this field blank

Uncheck Require Secure Password Authentication (SPA)

• Click on More Settings. Doing this will open the Internet E-mail Settings window. 
• In the General tab, type in a Mail Account name that you will be able to identify easily, like Stanford Secure Email. 
• In the Outgoing Server tab, type in the following account information, 

Select the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication checkbox.

Select the Log on radio button.

User Name: your SUNet ID

Password: leave this field blank

Uncheck the Remember password box.

Uncheck Require Secure Password Authentication (SPA) checkbox.
In the Advanced tab,

Set the Outgoing server (SMTP) to 465

Set the Use the following type of encrypted connection to SSL

• Click on the OK button. Doing this will close the Internet E-mail Settings window.
• You may now click on the Next button.
• Click on the Finish button. Your new account will be created.
• The Outlook program will automatically check all the accounts for new email messages at specific intervals. You can set the Outlook program to exclude your secure email account. In the Outlook window, select Tools> Send/Receive> Send/Receive Settings> Define Send/Receive Groups. 
• Click on the Edit button and choose your secure account.
• Uncheck the Include the selected account in this group checkbox and press the OK button. Click on the Close button.

These are the steps to setup secure email messages in the Outlook program. For further help, contact our tech support desk.

Adding Restart To The Start Screen

To restart Windows 8 in the regular fashion, one has to pull out Charms. You then choose Power settings and then select Restart. Would the whole thing not be easier if there was a shortcut to restart Windows 8? Matter of fact there is; use the following instructions and you can add restart to the Start screen or your desktop.

How to add a Restart option in Windows 8

•  In the Start screen that opens first when you switch on the system, select the Desktop tile to go to the Desktop. Right click at some vacant spot on the desktop to pop out a context menu.
• In this menu choose the New option and select Shortcut in the subsequent sub-menu that will appear from New.
• A new window will appear that asks you to enter a location.
• In the field that appears type shutdown /r /t 0, followed by Next.
• Enter a name for the shortcut in the next screen, and then click the Finish button.
• Change the shortcut’s icon and right click on the shortcut to bring out the menu. In this menu select the Properties option.
• Click on Change icon in the Properties window.
• If a warning appears select the OK button, and you will notice a new window open up filled with icons that you can set for this shortcut.
• There are many icons available in this window and whichever you chose is according to personal taste. Just make sure that the icon is comprehendible for other users as well. Select the icon that you want to use and click on OK to close the window. Look for Run option again in the Properties window.
• In the drop down menu net to Run click on the Minimized option.
• Once this is done, you can click on Apply followed by OK.
• You could also have the restart shortcut on the bottom taskbar instead of the desktop.
• Make sure to select the option to pin to taskbar from the menu.
• A copy of the restart shortcut will appear on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
• Now you have a Restart shortcut right in your deskto
• Right click on the shortcut that appears and click Pin to Start in the menu. This will pin this shortcut to the Start screen.
• You can either continue keeping the desktop shortcut or remove it.
• Return to the Start screen by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard. The restart shortcut will appear as a tile in the Start screen.

If you face any trouble with your Windows 8 OS contact our Windows support team for help. They’ll guide you through the troubleshooting.

The Benefits Of Using A Toolbar Removal Application

Anyone who’s had to install and use a browser application would have come across a toolbar or two in their time. Some of these things are very useful. You would be able to get many functions done using such toolbars from your browser. Others are merely malware applications, meant to take you to a particular promotional site or even worse, an infected one.

Obviously, such toolbars would be designed in such a way as to make the un-installation process difficult. As always, these malware applications once installed in your system would require the use of a malware removal tool to get rid of them. Indeed, there are many toolbar remover applications available for this purpose.

About using the toolbar removal application

Even without the toolbar remover application it is possible for you to get rid many of these malware toolbars. However, you need to be somewhat tech-savvy to be able to perform some of the complicated steps involved. The normal un-installation we do for other applications would not work here.

For example, after you have installed the application from the Control Panel or from the browser itself, you might still get the application back on the same browser menu. This is because you did not manage to completely get rid of it from your system. For that, you’d have to delete all its remaining files and even registry entries.

As I said, you have to be a little tech-savvy to be able to do things like this, especially the part with changing the registry entries. The system registry data is very important for the smooth functioning of the system. Any error in the system registry would therefore result in a system malfunction.

In other words, it would be much easier to just use a toolbar removal application and let it make all the changes in the system for getting rid of the annoying toolbar. There are many effective toolbar removal applications available for free. Some of these are ad-supported.

A good such toolbar removal application is Toolbar Cleaner. This is free but ad-supported. When you install it, it would add the MyStart website home page to your browser, and install an anti-phishing tool to your system. But, you are given the option to prevent the installation these two in the installation wizard.

So, if you are bothered by some unnecessary toolbar in your system, get rid of it using a free toolbar removal application.

Tips For Sending A Resume Using Outlook Express

Resumes can be sent by availing the services of the Microsoft Outlook Express. Essential details are contained in resumes and these resumes should be produced before interviewers or while applying for jobs. To send resumes in the Outlook Express, the facility of adding attachments should be used. If you have a speedy internet connection and the size of the attachment is quite small, quite quickly the delivery of the resume will take place. To know the speed of your internet connection, contact your internet service provider.

To effectively make use of the service of the Outlook Express to send a resume, the below mentioned Outlook Express help guidelines have to be followed.

Steps to follow

• The resume should be placed in the computers desktop. Wherever the location of the resume is, it should be moved to the desktop. To have the resume available on the desktop from the location where the resume is present, make use of the mouse and drag the file to the desktop.
• Access the Microsoft Outlook Express that is present on your system. To do so, access the Start menu by clicking the Start button and choose Outlook Express from the menu.
• When the window of the Outlook Express appears, from the upper left side, choose the button by the name Create Mail. An Attach button is available and you have to choose it. On screen, a new window will be present. Choose the resume that is available on the desktop and select the button by the name Attach. To the mail, the resume gets attached.
• The necessary details have to be entered in the mail and to the desired recipient, the email has to be sent. To do so, the To field available has to be used for entering the email address of the recipient and in the field of Subject, enter the required subject and in the space for entering the message, enter the message. In order to send the mail, choose the button by the name Send.

By following the above mentioned Outlook Express help guidelines, the resume can be sent without any difficulty. If you have any trouble understanding the guidelines or require professional help, our customer support center may be contacted. The most essential help tips and services can be acquired by making use of our customer support center.

Mozilla Launches Firefox Aurora 26 For Windows 8

Microsoft developed Windows 8 platform with a refreshing tile-based Metro style user interface. This innovative approach, however, was criticized for being confusing on traditional desktop computers. The absence of the legendary Start button in the Windows 8 platform further aggravated the decline of its sales. Yet with the release of Windows 8.1 update, which brings back the Start button, and provides an option to roll back to the traditional mode, users are readily migrating to the new platform.

Windows 8.1 offers support for a wide range of applications in the modern operating system, which was earlier tagged as low on apps support, and prominent app developers are on the run producing alluring programs for the platform. In the growing trend, Mozilla Corporation recently released a new touch-friendly version of Firefox web browser, Aurora 26, which is duly optimized for Windows 8. Mozilla Firefox help center has stated that the latest browser offers numerous extraordinary features intended to benefit users on the tiled interface.

“It has a tile-based Firefox Start experience and supports Firefox Sync, Windows 8 touch and swipe gestures, Snapped and Fill views, and Windows Share integration all delivered with a streamlined, modern, and beautiful interface,” Mozilla representatives said in a blog post. It is noted that the new Firefox Aurora 26 browser also comes with a shortcut tile that Windows 8 users can pin to the Start screen. Apart from that, advanced hardware accelerated video, superior 3D graphics with WebGL interface, and the innovative Asm.js technology designed to boost the speed of JavaScript programs, are some of the other striking features of the new web browser.

Mozilla Firefox help center also asserts that Firefox Aurora 26 supports running of video files encoded with H.264 codec, which they restricted until now. It is assumed that the move to support H.264 codec format in Aurora is due to its inclusion in the operating system. Speaking to the media on the release of Aurora 26, Mozilla delegates said, “Over the coming weeks, we will be almost exclusively focused on improving performance and responsiveness. This is still a preview and while most of the features are very nearly complete, we know there are bugs.”

Though Microsoft earlier stated that it would limit the features of third party web browsers on Windows 8, continuous pleads by the developers and growing user demands made the tech giant restructure its plans. Let us hope that the decision to allow third party web browsers in the modern platform helps Windows 8 gain some good revenue.

Steps To Turn On Windows Internet Security Settings

It is always essential to have internet security installed in your system. The program not only helps in securing your computer from malware attacks, it also works as an anti-theft solution. You can reset the Internet Security settings on your Windows computer operating systems to ensure efficient protection. This’ll identify and block threatening web content and also allow options to block suspicious content. According to the Windows online support, accessing and activating the security settings in Windows XP computers is an easy task.

You can try the following instructions to turn on internet security settings in your XP computer.

• In the first step, you need to click Start, Control Panel and then double-click on the Security Center icon.
• Now, check the security essentials features and turn on the red Off status. Now, you need to click on the Firewall, or Automatic Updates icon. A dialog box would open wherein you need to click the On selection.
• Next, you need to launch the anti-virus program in your computer to activate or update virus protection. Now, click on the Internet Options icon, and change the security settings.
• You need to click on the Security tab on the Internet properties box, followed by the Internet option from the security zones field. You would see a box with vertical slide bar.
• Here, you would see security settings for default levels set at medium, medium-high or high. You need to click on the Default level button and then drag the vertical slide to the security level setting you want to set. You can activate the settings for all individual security features.
• Now, you need to click on the OK button. This would turn on the preselected Internet security settings. At any point of time. You can also seek assistance from Windows online support.
• To set up each security feature individually, you need to click on the Custom Level button. A box would get opened that would have a scrolled list of internet applications wherein you would have options to enable, disable, or reveal a prompt for each.
• For each individual application, click in the circles next to the desired options followed by the OK button.
• Now, click on the Apply button by checking at the bottom of the Internet properties box. Now, click on the OK button.

These steps would help you to successfully turn on Windows internet security settings in your XP computer. For more information, please contact our technical support team.

Windows 8 Consumers Outnumber Mac Users

According to StatCounter, the Windows 8 operating system by Microsoft has now outnumbered Apple’s OS X in total market share. The numbers for September show 7.46 percent market share for Windows 8 OS, which is an increase of 0.44 percent over the old month. This was more than enough to surpass the market share of Mac, which dropped by 0.2 percent to reach 6.98 percent.

Meanwhile, the old versions of Windows are somewhat steady. Windows 7 had a 0.03 drop to reach 51.98 percent, Windows XP gained by 0.01 points to reach 20.59 percent and Vista gained 0.09 points to reach 5.3 percent market share. If this news sounds similar, it is because last month, the rival measurement firm NetMarketShare found that the Windows 8 market share had cruised past OS X in the month of August. This trend continued in the month of September, with Windows 8 rising to 8.02 percent when compared to 7.54 percent for the Mac OS X.

NetMarketShare and StatCounter use different methodologies but both of the firms get their data by measuring the traffic on sampling of large websites. Both these place the Windows 8 usage ahead of all the versions of OS X combined.

Upgrade Blues

Nearly half of the Mac users have the latest version of the Mac OS called as Mountain Lion, according to the firm NetMarketShare. This means that the strategy of Apple to charge only 20 dollars for operating system upgrade is paying off. The large majority of the PC users are still using older versions of Windows. Microsoft had originally charged 49 dollars for the Windows 8 Pro upgrades before increasing the price to $120 for Windows 8 and $200 for the Windows 8 Pro. Lower Windows 8 versions will be charged less when compared to Windows 8 Pro.

The rising share of the Windows 8 OS is encouraging for Microsoft, but the greater health of computer industry is in jeopardy. The PC sales across the world are dropping and back-to-school sales in US dropped by 2.4 percent according to The NPD Group. This is because many of the users have turned to tablets instead of the $500 basic laptop PCs. The way for the PC makers may not be in the raw market share, but it lays in the high end Windows computers that are priced over 700 dollars.

The back-to-school sales of these computers rose by 24 percent this year. If you wish to know more on the sales of different Windows 8 versions, you can visit the official Microsoft website.

Windows 8.1 Enterprise Version To Benefit Financial Firms

Of late, Microsoft has been projecting Windows 8.1, the latest version of the operating system as the most beneficial thing for the financial firms. The software firm stresses on the idea as to how the latest technology in Windows 8.1 can help the business firms to grow through mobile innovations for employees as well as the customers. According to Erwin Vesser, general manager of Windows commercial, "Discussing how our technology can help financial institutions grow their businesses through mobile innovations for employees and customers."

Windows 8.1 was developed by Microsoft to fix issues faced by customers with its predecessor i.e. Windows 8. Microsoft thus, brought back many features such as the Start button in Windows 8.1. The previous version that could be used on a variety of devices such as smart phones, tablets and desktop PCs, comprises of a tiled Metro interface, which enables users to access to touch-optimized apps. It also includes a traditional Windows desktop that allows users to tap into a vast business software library, which can be termed as an asset for the corporate IT management systems. Thus, according to sources, the way these two features have been incorporated into Windows 8.1, would definitely prove to be beneficial for the financial firms.

According to Erwin Vesser, "Working with financial institutions to help them embrace mobility to take advantage of the new business opportunities it offers is uniquely positioned to help companies utilize mobile technologies, so that they can do business in new ways, while also meeting the stringent IT standards for security, manageability and support that financial institutions require for their sensitive data." Microsoft is now planning to launch the Windows 8.1 Enterprise version in a bid to deliver the most enterprise-ready version of Windows till date after the Windows 8 debacle. Some of the advanced and novel features in this version include a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and remote workers that help in the promotion of simplified connectivity beyond the corporate firewall. The advantage is that the requirement of a virtual private network (VPN) is not necessary to provide secure access to corporate applications for services such as Direct Access. Other features include OpenMDM support, Windows Defender malware protection, and locked-down Start screen layouts, which make Windows 8.1 an essential operating system for the enterprises.

Hence, it is quite clear that with the launch of Windows 8.1 enterprise version, Microsoft is surely set to revamp the whole computing experience for the business professionals.

Configure Outlook Email Client In Windows XP Computer

Outlook is one of the trusted email programs from Microsoft, which allows users to download and view emails from the internet servers to their personal computers. Outlook comes as one of the programs in Microsoft’s Office Suite application. You may configure email programs from different service providers in the program, with different inboxes. The program works fine on all Windows operating systems like Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 etc. In this post, we will find out how to configure the Outlook setting in your Windows XP computer.

Steps Involved

• Select the Start button present in the Windows XP desktop.
• Once the Start button comes up, select the option All Programs and then go to Microsoft Office.
• From the list of Office programs, click Microsoft Outlook to launch the program.
• Once the Outlook program opens, choose Tools from the menu bar and click Email Accounts.
• Select the option Add a new email account and then choose Next.
• Before you start to configure the program, it is important to find out various settings for your email program. Most of the email services support POP3 service and a few others support IMAP. You need to find out which service is preferred by your email. For this, you may go to the official website of your email client. Keep in mind that you need to make a note of other server settings like incoming mail server, outgoing mail server etc.
• Once you choose the service, select the option Next.
• Enter various details like your name, email address, password and server details in the respective fields.
• After completing the Outlook setting in the main tab, select the option More Settings and then select Outgoing Server. Mark the option next to My Outgoing Server (SMTP) requires authentication and select the option OK.
• Click the option Test Account Settings and this will send a test mail, which you will receive in the account just configured. If there are any errors in the settings, you will receive error pop ups that state the cause for the error.
• Fix these errors in the Email Account’s properties window and choose the Test Account button.

We hope that the above mentioned steps have helped you in configuring your Outlook program in Windows XP. For additional assistance on Outlook configuration, you may contact Microsoft chat support or our technical support team.

Removing The Emails In Outlook Outbox

One of the major issues associated with the Outlook email client is the presence of enumerable emails in the Outbox folder that you were not able to send from the email client. Below we discuss how a user can remove the messages in the Outbox folder with ease.

Instructions
Open the Outlook program by double clicking on its desktop shortcut icon. When the Outlook application window appears in the screen, look for the Outbox folder in the left side of the application window and then click on it for opening the folder.
Now look for the button named Send/receive that is usually found at the top of your Outlook program, click on the button when found. When you click on the button, the Outlook program will automatically send all the unsent emails present in the Outbox folder and will receive all the emails that are on the way. Outlook tech support lists this as the most easiest and simplest way for freeing your Outlook Outbox folder

Sometimes you may see that even though you have clicked on the button, messages in the Outbox folders are not being sent. This issue is mainly found when you access the internet from your laptop computer on which you have configured the Outlook program from a different connection than which you have created or configured the Outlook program. In such cases, there is a chance for the occurrence of the communication glitch between the application and the internet router.

The only way to fix this issue is to use the connection that you have used to configure the account or to use a connection that is compatible with the Outlook program you are using. After connecting to a compatible connection, click on the Send/Receive button for getting rid of the emails in the outbox.

If everything fails, you can always clear your Outbox folder of email messages by deleting all the messages found in it. However, if you would like to keep a copy of the original messages, copy all the messages in the Outbox folder to a different folder and then save the emails. After saving the emails, Outlook tech support advises that you clean the Outbox. For cleaning emails from the Outbox folder, click on all emails that you would like to delete and then right click on them to select the Delete option found in the drop down menu. If the program asks you for confirmation, confirm it by clicking on the Yes button.

If you follow the simple instructions given above, you will be able to easily get rid of the emails present in the Outbox folder of the Outlook program.