The UsefulTechnology Blog

I took the Microsoft MPG Challenge at work today. The basic idea was to learn how to drive a car more fuel efficiently and see how much of an improvement I could make to my MPG (miles per gallon) score. On my first drive around the residential mile-long course in a tinny little Seat car I managed just 24 MPG. After the instructor told me when to accelerate, change gear, and brake I managed 35 MPG, a 46% improvement! Not bad for simply accelerating more gently, allowing the car to decelerate more steadily, jumping from 3rd to 5th gear, and paying more attention to the road conditions ahead.

I had impressed myself, if not the driving instructor, so decided to put the theory to the test on my homeward commute in my Skoda Octavia around the M25. My car’s an automatic so some of the gear-changing theory was redundant. I also drive much of my commute on motorways so dropping to a lower constant speed was pretty much all I could think of changing.

Dicing with death amidst the lorries on the inside lane I activated cruise control at around 60mph, switched off non-essential comforts like air conditioning and sat nav, and put my feet up for the long crawl home. I even emptied my pipe before setting off (to reduce weight) and tuned the wireless to BBC Radio 3 for that authentic octogenarian driving experience. I was strict too. At one point I could have sworn I was lapped by a convoy of knackered army vehicles on their ways to the scrap yard.

Here, after much fevered calculation, are the results:

MY NORMAL AFTERNOON COMMUTE
57 miles @ 60mph average speed at 43.6MPG taking 57 minutes
This consumes 1.307 gallons (5.943 litres) of diesel at a cost of £5.88 (@98.9p per litre)

MY FUEL-EFFICIENT COMMUTE
57 miles @ 48mph average speed at 56.6MPG taking 71 minutes
This consumes 1.007 gallons (4.578 litres) of diesel at a cost of £4.53 (@98.9p per litre)

Quite a difference. So, here’s the good bit:

• In one trip I’ve saved 1.365 litres of diesel worth £1.35, reducing my CO2 output by 3.7kg
• Over the course of a year (based on 135 return trips) I could save £364.50 and reduce my carbon footprint by 999kg, just under 1 tonne
• This would save me having to plant an acre of trees to help clear my eco-conscience

But, here’s the bad bit:

• Each journey now lasts 14 minutes longer, that’s a 25% increase
• Over the course of a year (based on 135 return trips) this would mean I spend 63 more hours commuting, that’s an additional 2 days and 15 hours
• I would almost certainly be crushed to death within weeks by a weaving foreign lorry sideswiping me out of its blind spot, or suffer a massive cardiac arrest brought on by my blood pressure rising with every vehicle that passes me by

Due to a quirk of fate my home and workplace are in very different locations meaning I already spend more than 10.5 days of my life commuting to and from work in my car each year. The thought of passing even more time behind the wheel has very little appeal. Looking at it another way, if someone offered me £364.50 right now to go and sit in my car for the next 63 hours I’d tell them where to stick their gearstick.

So, with regret, much as one tonne of CO2 sounds like a worthy reduction to aim for, I can’t see me adjusting my driving habits any time soon. Life’s just too hectic and, selfishly, I value my time more highly than my exhaust fumes.

Thanks, Microsoft, for the lesson today. You reminded me how to anticipate road conditions ahead and to think about the environmental impact of my driving. But my busy job doesn’t afford me the luxury of driving so slowly and I value time with my family more highly than time inside my car. It’s so true what they say; it’s not easy being green.

If you’ve installed an add-in to Outlook 2007 that you now suspect to be causing Outlook to misbehave, you can disable it quite simply using the Trust Center. However, if you’re also using Windows Vista, or some another OS, you may encounter a curious error message telling you “The connected state of Office Add-Ins registered in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE cannot be changed.”

Thankfully the workaround is simple. To disable your bogus add-in you must start Outlook with administrator privileges:

Windows 7
CTRL+SHIFT click on the Outlook icon on your taskbar to instantly launch the program with administrator privileges. Or create a new instance of the Outlook program icon on your desktop, then right click on it and select Properties. Under the compatibility tab set the Privilege Level to ‘Run this program as an administrator’. Once Outlook opens in administrator mode, disable the add-in in the Trust Center.

Windows Vista
Right click on the Outlook shortcut and choose “Run as administrator”. Once you’ve disabled the add-in, restart Outlook to run it under the standard user credentials once again.

Windows XP/2000
Log off your user account and log back in to the computer as an administrator. After disabling the dodgy add-in, logon once again with your normal user account.

What a curiously attractive bunch you are. Get your twitter mosaic here.

Drat! I have to compère (that’s French for ‘make a fool of oneself’) an event at work on Friday so it’s time to dust off the lame jokes collection. The brief is, well, loose to say the least, but I think I’ll be in charge of introducing each presenter, making semi-coherent connections between topics, and generally keeping the audience awake.

The best advice I ever got on public speaking was to be sure to stop speaking before the audience stops listening. Wise words that I’ll be employing throughout the day. Got any good jokes? Living with a five year old has taken its toll on my sense of humour, leaving me chortling in response to weak gags like: ‘Why do dogs wags their tails? Because no-one will do it for them’. Or, ‘Doctor, doctor, I feel like a spoon. Sit there and don’t stir.’ So, if you have any smart suggestions let me know. You can comment on this blog or tweet in my direction at @allisterf.

A top tip from My Digital Life just saved my bacon. If you run add-ins in Outlook, Word, or Excel that you are unable to disable in Tools > Trust Center with this cryptic error message:

“The Connected State of Office Add-Ins Registered in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Cannot Be Changed”

then you simply need to restart the application in Administrator privileges. Not sure how? See My Digital Life for the full resolution.

I’ve toyed with Twitter in the past but I never really got into it. There just weren’t enough people that I knew on there, and I didn’t much fancy hanging out with some of the Tweeting pioneers. But things are different now. There are just so many people using Twitter that it’s nearly impossible to ignore. And the applications that now exist make Tweeting an absolute delight.

You can find me at www.twitter.com/allisterf. If you fancy staying in touch, why not sign up for Twitter yourself? Or, if you don’t fancy that but use RSS, you can follow my Tweets at http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/19333222.rss.

I’m using Twhirl as my desktop Twitter client (a superb little app) and the delightful PocketTwit on my shiny new HTC Touch HD Windows  Mobile phone. Give them a try!

Yes, it’s back, for a third consecutive year! The ElfYourself web site, now a mainstay of the December festivities, makes a spectacular viral return, with the enhanced option to create up to five elves and choose from four different dances.

Great fun and proof positive that a strong viral marketing idea can stand the test of time. Last year the site received a record 193million visits in just six weeks making it the most widespread viral the world has ever seen. This year’s traffic looks pretty good too:

Go on, Elf Yourself! You know you want to!

Completely random post:

Fans of bubble wrap now have 365 reasons to look forward to next year. The immensely desirable Bubble Calendar is a handmade poster sized calendar with a finger sized bubble to burst every day!

A truly novel way to count down the days until 2010; popping bubbles certainly beats chalking on the wall each day.

If you occasionally need to change settings on devices connected to your network like your modem router or other computers, you’ll know it’s difficult to remember their IP addresses. One way is to write all the IP addresses down on a chart and pin it above your desk. Another, slightly higher tech way, is to edit your Host file. Done correctly you’ll then be able to access your router configuration page by typing something like ‘router’ into the address line of your browser instead of having to remember a long IP address like 192.168.2.1. Here’s how:

1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > then right-click on Notepad and select Run as administrator.
2. Now open the Hosts file located in the folder c:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/. If you cannot se the Hosts file, simply type the word Hosts into the File Name box.
3. Notepad will open the Hosts file which will look something like this:
   
   # Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
   #
   # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
   #
   # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
   # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
   # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
   # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
   # space.
   #
   # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
   # lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
   #
   # For example:
   #
   #      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
   #       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

   127.0.0.1       localhost
   ::1             localhost
   

4. Now, at the bottom of the code, add the IP addresses of every device on your network followed by a space then the shortened name you’d like to enter into your browser address bar to locate the device. For example, if your router is at IP address 192.168.2.1 and your laptop uses 192.168.2.12 you might add the following lines to the bottom of your hosts file:
   
   192.168.2.1 router
   192.168.2.12 laptop
5. Now close Notepad, open the internet browser of your choice, and try typing router or laptop (or whatever keywords you chose) into the address bar. Neat eh?
6. Remove the chart pinned above your desk and replace with something more calming.

Got Windows Live Messenger? Want a new display picture? Try this, it’s free: www.minimise-me.com.

Hot off the press this month, two new must have add-ons for Outlook:

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta (with added ooomph!)
With Microsoft Office Outlook Connector, you can use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to access and manage your Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail or Microsoft Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages, contacts and calendars for free! [GET IT HERE]

Outlook 2007/2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup (updated version)
The Personal Folders Backup download creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals, in Outlook 2002 and later versions, making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up. [GET IT HERE]
For instructions on how to use the .PST backup tool see this page

Microsoft Word 2007 can report a wealth of information in the status bar that adorns the bottom of the screen. To change what you have on display simply right click on the status bar and you’ll see this:

Just switch settings on and off until your status bar reports only the information you care about.

Sorry for the woeful lack of posts recently. Life has been busy on all fronts. However I was reminded this evening of the importance of maintaining one’s blog by an old friend in France who called me wondering what had become of me. So, for all my fans around the world, yes both of you, I am happy to confirm that all is well at Useful Technology Towers. More updates to follow when I figure out why Windows Live Writer has stopped working on my laptop.

And now, that same entry in French, thanks to www.worldlingo.com, the free* translation service included in the 2007 Microsoft Office system:

Désolé pour le manque affligeant de poteaux récemment. La vie a été occupée sur tous les avants. Cependant j'ai été rappelé ce soir d'importance de maintenir le blog à un par un vieil ami en France qui m'a appelé se demandant ce qui était advenu de moi. Ainsi, pour tous mes ventilateurs autour du monde, oui tous les deux toi, je suis heureux de confirmer que tout va bien aux tours utiles de technologie. Plus de mises à jour à suivre quand je figure dehors pourquoi l'auteur de phase de Windows a arrêté travailler à mon ordinateur portable.

* You know, I could have paid $92 to have that paragraph professionally translated but it’s much more entertaining in franglais.

• If you have chosen to synchronise RSS feeds between Internet Explorer and Outlook, turn this off:
  • In Outlook, choose Options from the Tools menu
  • Click on the Others tab, then Advanced Options
  • Clear the tick against 'Sync RSS Feeds to the Common Feed List' then click OK twice
• You may have a massive Personal Storage File (.pst) so consider creating a new one to reduce the amount of data held in memory when using Outlook:
  • Find out if your .pst is big by right-clicking on your .pst root folder (the topmost folder(s) in your Outlook folder list) then choose Properties, then click the Folder Size button.
  • If your folder is bigger than, say, 500,000KB, consider starting a new one or splitting its contents over two or more .pst files.
  • To create a new .pst file in Outlook, click File > New > Outlook Date File.
  • Once created, simply drag 'n' drop items from one .pst folder to another.
  • And, always remember to backup your .pst files to an external storage location like an external hard drive or USB memory stick!

It's a good idea to get into the habit of creating a new .pst every once in a while. How frequently depends on how much email you send and receive. I typically start a new .pst file annually, but may move to a six monthly regime to help keep my .pst file sizes down. I also delete all rules and recreate my folder structure from scratch each year as this encourages me to spring clean and unsubscribe from distribution lists that no longer interest me. Maybe a bit of spring cleaning is exactly what your Outlook world needs?!

Ever seen one of these messages?

If your computer reports that a data file did not close properly the last time you used Outlook the chances are you may have interrupted the normal shut down routine of your outlook.exe process. This could have happened for a multitude of reasons: maybe your laptop battery ran flat, or you had to force your PC to shut down in a hurry. But most likely, you simply closed Outlook then shut down your PC normally without giving Outlook enough time to finish its business.

It takes several seconds for the outlook.exe process to finish when you exit from Outlook. If you quickly also tell your PC to shut down, the outlook.exe process may be only partially closed when your PC switches off. The result: that nagging warning the next time you start Outlook.

Here's how to avoid this problem: Never close Outlook. Just leave it running. And when you next shutdown your computer Windows will carefully close down Outlook properly in the background before shutting itself down. If you must shut down Outlook, be sure to check that the outlook.exe process is no longer running in the Task Manager (SHIFT+CTRL+Escape, then Processes tab) before shutting down your PC.

So, for a pain free Outlook life, just ignore everything you ever learned about shutting down applications before shutting down your PC. Leave Outlook running, and leave the operating system to do the work for you. And, I promise, you'll never see that nagging message again.

You're not going to believe this. After mentioning BigPockets.co.uk's clever 'Bag O' Crap' promotion several times on - this - blog, I decided to enter my own video. And it only went and won the top prize of £200! Fancy that!

My son, the real star of the video and undoubtedly the only reason my video scooped the prize, has decided to invest his share of the winnings in Premium Bonds in the distant hope that he might win some more money! He has much to learn about smart investment strategies... I've decided to invest my share in a new barbecue so I can spend the summer months mastering the fine art of turning good food black.

As the old slogan says 'You've got to be in it to win it," so next time you see an interesting competition have a go. Who knows, you might even win.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. But there is such a thing as a free search and an Indiana Jones whip thrown in for good measure!

If you take Windows Live Search for a 'spin', you could win one of over 1,000 prizes including a private screening of the movie for you and 50 friends, and a VIP holiday in New Mexico to visit the film location. Not bad for just trying a different search engine for a change!

Play here: http://try.indysearch.co.uk/

Just released: 7 funny little viral videos for Windows Live Search. If you've not yet tried Live Search, take it for a spin and decide for yourself if it's better than your current search engine.

If you're still not sure, why not put a metasearch engine to the test to instantly compare the results of different search engines? www.dogpile.co.uk does a nice job of comparing the top results from up to 6 different search engines to help you decide which is best.

Live Search is growing on me; over the last year it has definitely improved, and seems to give the most relevant results much of the time. The best feature, by far, is the Image Search with its infinite scroll (just keep scrolling down, none of that silly clicking through to the next page) and spookily accurate refinement options (narrow your search down to just show faces, certain colours, or sizes). The scratchpad, once mastered, is mega-useful too.

Mini-tip: One thing I tend to change on my search engine options is to increase the number of results that are returned per page. This saves having to keep refreshing to a new page so often. By default most search engines return 10 results. To increase it (to 50 in my case) click the Options link on the search home page and remember to save your preferences.