The UsefulTechnology Blog: Windows Live

Get minimised

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:47:23 GMT

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

Indiana Whips Up A Searching Frenzy

Tue, 20 May 2008 15:37:46 GMT

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/

Videos: Windows Live Search

Fri, 09 May 2008 13:57:25 GMT

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.

Fabulous FolderShare

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:51:24 GMT

It would appear that rumours of FolderShare's death were grossly exaggerated. Au contraire, FolderShare is alive and well, and looking better than ever with:

a new extra-confusing name 'Windows Live FolderShare Beta'
a new web site that makes file management easier
speedier setup
faster performance in Windows Vista
and a sparkling new logo

Some of the functionality of Windows Live FolderShare Beta has long since been incorporated into the Sharing Folder feature of Windows Live Messenger, and that's a great place to start if you rarely share files between computers and people. And, of course, Windows Live SkyDrive offers a really simple way to store up to 5GB of your files in the cloud. But for raw simplicity, FolderShare is hard to beat.

What's FolderShare?

FolderShare is a free application that allows you to keep files in sync across computers (maybe between a desktop PC and a laptop), share folders on your computer(s) with friends, and access files on your computer(s) from any other Internet-connected computer. The application is currently in Beta mode, which means it's still in development and not quite perfect, but it's been around for several years and the core features are extremely stable. All you have to remember is that both computers must be on and connected to the Internet at the same time for files to be synchronised, i.e. FolderShare doesn't store a copy of your files anywhere, it simply synchronises them between your computers.

Here's the official description of what it can do:

How do I get started?

Install FolderShare from www.foldershare.com. Once installed, create your account by registering your email address and choosing a secure and sufficiently complex password. Now follow the simple on-screen instructions to create a folder that you will synchronise with another computer. I usually start with a folder on my desktop; this makes it easy for me to drag and drop files that I may need to access on another computer. Then repeat the process on your second computer and set your new personal library to synchronise automatically with a newly created folder on the desktop of your second computer. You'll quickly see how easy it is to synchronise data if you drag a few files into one of your synchronised FolderShare folders. Within moments the same files should appear on the other computer.

Now have a go at creating a shared library so an invited friend can access files on your computer.

But best of all is Remote Access which makes it mega-simple to access all the important files on each of your computers at the click of a mouse.

Stop emailing stuff to yourself! Give FolderShare a spin. You can also read the new FolderShare blog here.

Windows Live SkyDrive - now even better

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:42:04 GMT

I've blogged before about SkyDrive, but this week it got even better. Users now get a full 5GB of free storage in the cloud. And because the service is now out of beta you should feel extra confident that this is very secure place to store the stuff you need. All you need to get started is to log in with your Windows Live ID. Take a test drive here: http://skydrive.live.com.

Once you've signed in you'll see three locations for safely storing your files within the Internet cloud. These are:

Personal Folders: password protected (by your Windows Live ID) files that only you can see and access
Shared Folders: any number of individual folders, each containing as many files as you like, that can only be seen and accessed by people with a Windows Live ID that you invite
Public Folders: any number of folders that anyone online can see (use with care!)

Uploaded and managing files is easy, and with SSL file transfer encryption you can be confident that your data are safe. SkyDrive is proving a very neat way to store files that you need to access from other computers or share with friends. Enjoy!

Traffic Count in Windows Live Spaces: try StatCounter

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:21:51 GMT

Following on from yesterday's very popular invitation to get a complimentary Xobni account (thanks to everyone who emailed me, and well done Mike and Blake!), another area where analytical data can be very helpful is in tracking traffic to your website or blog.

My old mucker Mark Deakin recently pointed me in the direction of StatCounter, a free invisible web tracker that provides real time web stats. Of course, there are lots of free web counters around, but I really like the powerful data provided by StatCounter. Not only can I now see up to the minute graphs of traffic to my Windows Live Spaces page, I can also monitor repeat visitor numbers, visitor location, most read posts and a host of other ~~useless~~ useful information.

To add StatCounter to your Windows Live Space, first register your account at www.StatCounter.com, create a 'project' for your blog, then grab the HTML code for your home page counter by clicking the little spanner icon next to your project. Now click on 'Install Code' and choose a counter style that you like. Hit Next, choose MSN Spaces, then Next again. Now highlight and copy (CTRL+C) the HTML code that's been generated for you.

Now, here's the less well understood part. Go to Windows Live Gallery and install the HTML Sandbox gadget for Windows Live Spaces. Once this gadget is installed on your Spaces homepage, paste in the HTML code that you copied from StatCounter, then remember to save your changes. You can move the HTML Sandbox gadget to wherever you like; I placed mine right at the bottom of the right hand navigation panel so it's tucked nicely out of the way.

Now head back to StatCounter and wait for your visitor stats to start appearing.

It's also worth adding a 'blocking cookie' to all the computers that you use to view your Windows Live Spaces pages otherwise your visitor stats will be skewed every time you post to your Space. You can get the blocking cookie from the Installation and Configuration page at StatCounter (click the little spanner icon again).

Windows Live SkyDrive

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:56:20 GMT

At the risk of sounding like a propaganda machine for Windows Live, I have to say: Windows Live SkyDrive really is very useful!

I've used SkyDrive to send files to friends, store a few of my important files "in the cloud", and today to help a colleague upload some big files to me securely. And now that everyone with a Windows Live ID has 1GB of free storage there's lots of space to play with.

Sure, there are lots of other neat file transfer tools and online backup services. Many of them are also free. But what I like about SkyDrive is its perfect integration with my Windows Live contacts, my Spaces blog, my Hotmail, my everything-Windows-Live. It's sweet being able to just tick boxes instead of re-entering contact information. I can even subcribe to an RSS feed so I'm instantly notified when a new file lands in one of my SkyDrive folders.

Yes, SkyDrive is worth every penny of its free price tag, and more!

Windows Live SkyDrive is born

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:31:09 GMT

Today we announced a handy new service: Windows Live SkyDrive. Check it out for yourself here.

In short, Windows Live SkyDrive gives everyone with a Windows Live ID 500MB of free webspace for storing and sharing files. You can decide how you wish to use the 500MB and who else should be able to access the content there. You can keep some files private so only you can access them, make others available to people with whom you wish to share them, and make other files accessible to everyone. Using Windows Live SkyDrive is a piece of cake. It looks a bit like this:

Still confused? Check out the video below when all should become clear:

Video: Demo: Windows Live SkyDrive

Photosynth Space Shuttle-style

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:10:33 GMT

Those crazy guys in the Microsoft Live Labs have done it again. This time it's the most amazing look ever at space shuttle Endeavour on the launch pad. I particularly like this view which shows the braking system for the astronauts' emergency escape system. It shows seven baskets, each of which can hold up to 3 people, that slide a whopping 1200 feet on wires safely away from the fixed service structure in an emergency. Now, if only I could have one of those in my office...