This week I’d like to help put right Office compatibility issues. With there being so many versions of Microsoft Office still in use, and new versions on the way, it’s not uncommon for users to have different versions of Office on their PCs. Older versions of Office can have problems opening documents created in later versions leading to frustration for users.

This is where the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack comes in extremely useful. Developed by Microsoft to fix this problem, it’s totally free and can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. It’s a small program that installs in seconds and allows you to open files created using newer versions of Office. If you are already using the latest version of Office (2007), there is no need to install this.

If you have a topic or problem that you’d like me to blog about let me know by dropping me an email.

Until next time…

James Brown

Service pack 2, which will affect the Office 2007 suite and 2007 Office Server products is due out today, 28th April 2009.

The main update is the ability to save in the Open Document Format.  SP2 will also add support for upcoming operating systems including Windows 7.

Full detail of the service pack can be found on the Microsoft Technet site.

JamesCash.co.uk will deploy the update to clients as part of our IT security support patch management service when it is made available via Microsoft Update.

Peer group members learn to manage change, build relationships and help customers succeed in challenging economic times

JamesCash.co.uk recently played an active role throughout the first annual Heartland Tech Group (HTG) Summit in Dallas, Texas. HTG attracts industry thought leaders, experts and peers from across the globe. HTG members recently converged to participate and share knowledge, build on proven best practices and leverage the talents of all members. Built on its mandate of execution and accountability, HTG provides positive interaction throughout the entire technology industry by holding each other accountable to all members’ commitments.

JamesCash.co.uk participates in HTG11, the first group outside of North America, alongside other group members who serve as a peer board of directors. Individual peer groups drill down and focus on overall effectiveness across operations, marketing, sales, finances and overall health of each member. By focusing on industry standards including business planning, process development, financial benchmarking and education, HTG members strive to maintain a competitive advantage over those other service firms that do not participate in peer activities.

“Participation in the HTG Summit benefits our company and our clients by exposing us to leading ideas, technologies and industry peers,“ said James Cash, Managing Director of JamesCash.co.uk Ltd. “We bring back proven ideas we can use immediately and a longer-term plan for greater success in the future. Plus, our peers hold us accountable for achieving our goals.”

Focused on only the best small and midsize technology firms, HTG spans the entire technology ecosystem. By leveraging leading technology manufacturers and vendors who provide sponsorship and interaction with HTG members, members are now equipped with the tools and knowledge to provide an increased level of service in their communities. HTG members are better prepared and understand the importance of positive interaction across all levels of the industry. This includes how disruptive and breakthrough IT solutions will influence their clients with laser-focused training from their peers and leading industry experts.

“HTG member companies benefit from having JamesCash.co.uk join us at our event and participate in our peer groups,” said Scott Scrogin, President of HTG. “Our members have a passionate commitment to change and improve their businesses and their lives. Great technology matters, but we know that relationships and execution matter more.”

One of the more common issues I have been dealing with recently has been clients calling me regarding the size of their mailbox. It’s not unusual to be receiving upwards of one hundred emails a day, some with attachments, so it’s not very long before people exceed their default allocated space and are asked to do something about it, the most obvious being to delete some email.

But not all emails take up the same amount of space; emails with attachments such as a video, pictures or Word documents take up a lot more space than normal text only emails. In Outlook, to find out what is taking up all your allocated space, you can organise your emails in size order by clicking view, arrange by, and then size. Any emails showing as “enormous” or “huge” will probably have large attachments in them. You can save any attachments needed to your My Documents folder then delete the email.

Another thing you can do to reduce mailbox size is to use the built in archive functionality in Outlook. This takes all emails older than a given date, removes them from your mailbox and saves them to a PST file on your computer, to free up space. If you have a very large mailbox, this can dramatically increase the speed of Outlook and the emails can still be called upon later if needed.

To archive, open Outlook, then click file, and then select archive in the drop down list. Select “Mailbox – *Your Name*” from the list of folders. Enter a date in the “Archive items older than” option (We normally recommend around 6 months or older), and set the location of the archive folder to somewhere easily accessible, like your My Documents folder, by clicking browse and navigating to your My Documents. After clicking ok the archive will begin, taking anywhere up to an hour to complete. You can still use your machine in the meantime. Once the process is complete you should see the “Archive Folders” in your Outlook folder list.

Clients of our IT support services that need help with the above can contact me, James Brown, on 01384 880660 or by emailing support@jamescash.co.uk

Until next time…

James Brown

Microsoft is set to release eight security patches, of which five are rated as critical and fix vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to execute remote code on unprotect computers. These updates will be released as part of the monthly “Patch Tuesday” release cycle.

Our IT support clients will have these updates taken care of automatically as part of our IT security support service.  Non-clients should ensure they run Windows Update on all computers.