Inferior Poet

I think that there have been issues with Hotmail and MSN account being accessed in Microsoft Entourage. Here’s what I have found out. Entourage version 10 is already outdated and is no longer a supported product. This is why you are experiencing the problem. To continue sending or receiving messages using your Hotmail or MSN account, you may do any of the following:

1. Install Entourage 2004, which is part of Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac users. If you are using Mac OS 9, you may need to upgrade your operating system to Mac OS X to be able to use Entourage 2004.
2. Send and receive messages directly through the Hotmail site at http://www.hotmail.com. It is recommended that Macintosh users migrate to more recent Web browsing technologies such as Apple’s Safari, which is supported if you have Mac OS X. If your Mac OS version is 9.0, support team recommends that you upgrade your operating system to Mac OS X.

To learn more about Safari, visit the following Apple Web site:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/safari/

I am really not in the mood to work today. So I have been looking ways to escape my task for today (as if I could). I was hoping from one pc station to another and decided to chat with our SME (Subject Matter Expert). In the middle of our conversation, I was given the opportunity to evade work. I was asked if I want to attend training for Windows Vista. Now, I am typing this draft using Windows Mail. Well, this is my observation with this product.

The interface is look sleek and has modern design of desktop. They say that there is nothing much difference with Windows XP but some user interface. I have notice that the Start button is replaced by the Start Pearl. The Task Bar changes form color grey to almost black, which I prefer. The Windows Explorer 7 has fewer buttons but more drop-down menus that seemed to be confusing at first if you are user of Internet Explorer 6. I have also noticed that you could view the volume level by just pointing the cursor at the speaker icon at the notification area (left part of the Task Bar).

Windows Vista has tow category. Home and business category.

Home Edition:

• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium

Business Edition:

• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows Vista Enterprise

We are now using the Windows Vista Ultimate which has a very high system requirement. Video card is important for Windows Vista because it gets memory from the video card for the Aero Glass Graphics or interface. Another good feature of Windows Vista is the Search Bar at the Start menu. It works as the “RUN” and search engine, and it searches including the tags but not file within the system. Searching starts even without pressing the Enter key. It filters the words or letters that the user types. You could also save your searches as it has “Save Search” button. Pressing the Window key + “e” could launch the search function.

I think the best thing to this new product is that you could manually create a system restore point even if your computer is not about to crash. You could restore or reinstate the best state of your computer if it crashes in the future. I think they call this feature as System Protection.

To create a System Restore point manually:

1. Open System and Maintenance in Control Panel.
2. Click on System.
3. In the left pane, click System Protection. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
4. Click the System Protection tab on System Properties, and then click Create.
5. In the System Protection dialog box, select the disk you want protected, and then click Create.
6. Type a name for the creation point and click Create.

Windows Vista’s e-mail client is Windows Mail. This e-mail program replaces the Outlook Express. However, this has limitation. It only support e-mail account that uses SMTP and POP3 server, meaning, MSN Hotmail accounts could not be configure to this e-mail client (except to those old MSN IA accounts) because MSN Hotmail accounts could only be access using HTTP server. But there is a workaround for this, accounts that support HTTP could use Windows Live Mail Desktop.

I tried accessing my POP3 account in Windows Mail and I think its filter is striker than Outlook Express. Three of my messages were tagged as junk. I have noted that the e-mail were group e-mail. My Hotmail account accepts group e-mail in my Inbox granting that the sender was tagged as unknown. I tried sending e-mail with photo attachment and I intentionally did not embed the picture in the message content. I have noticed that you could view the photo attachment without opening or downloading the file since the photo is automatically displayed at the end of the message. Additionally, you could save attachments without opening the file. Clicking the Attachment icon gives the option to save the file. If you decided to, a window will open and you will see the option to save or cancel. The path where you want to save the file is also in the same window.

There are still more features that I found quite impressive. I guess I have to cut this shot and save the others to the next entry.