Virtual PC and Virtual Server

The following article describes the differences between Virtual PC & Virtual Server:- http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/techinfo/vsvsvpc.mspx

In summary…

1. Virtual PC is a virtual machine software for running on desktop operating system whereas Virtual Server is a virtual machine software for running on server operating system.

2. Virtual PC is NOT free, but Virtual Server is free.

3. For Virtual PC, both the host operating system (the one on which you install Virtual PC) and the guest operating systems (the ones running inside virtual machines) must be desktop operating systems. For Virtual Server, supported host and guest operating systems are all server operating systems, except for Windows XP Professional, which is supported as a host operating system.

How can your use Virtual PC/Virtual Server?
There are a number of other ways you might want to use Virtual PC. For example, you may use Virtual PC at home so that your family can use it to surf the Internet. This can then eliminate worries about applications or files your family might download—those downloaded materials will not affect the host operating system. If the virtual machine becomes corrupted or infected with a virus, you can simply delete the virtual machine and start it over.

Save file into PDF format

Someone asked me how to convert a Microsoft Project file into a PDF file within the MS Project application (Actually the source file can be in the format of WORD, EXECL or POWERPOINT).

Here is the answer:-
- Download the CutePDF Writer (freeware) from http://www.cutepdf.com and install it onto the PC required.
- Open the Project file and click File > Print. In the printer name, select CutePDF writer, the system will then prompt you to save the file into a PDF format.

EXCEL file can’t be open

上海外滩钟楼 >

I had encountered a problem with a user’s pc where the EXCEL file can’t be open when double-click on the .xls file itself. The system promoted the messages of “Windows cannot find "filename". Make sure you typed the name correctly and then try again”.

However, the file can be open if I first launch the Excel program and then go to File menu to open the .xls file. The problem can’t be resolved even reinstalling the MS Office.

After much research, I finally got a solution for it from the Internet.

These are the steps for the resolution: -

1. In Microsoft Office Excel 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Excel Options.

2. Click Advanced, and then click to clear the Ignore other applications check box in the General area.

3. Click OK.

For the earlier version of Excel (Microsoft Office 2003 or below):-

1. Go to the Tools menu of Excel, click Options.

2. Click the General tab.

3. Click to clear the Ignore other applications check box, and then click OK.



See also my article-- Cannot open attachment in Lotus Notes:- http://sc-network.blogspot.com/2008/08/cannot-open-attachment-in-lotus-notes.html

Lotus Domino 8

I just attended the Lotus Collaboration Summit for the launching of Lotus Domino 8 yesterday.

It is very great that IBM has now come out such a cool & new user interface.

There are 2 features which I would like to highlight here.

First, the “Mail recall”, it allows the retrieval of messages sent in error or to the wrong person.

Next, with the “Conversation mode”, it can gather and review e-mail threads easily—it is a very good feature especially for those users who receive a lot of mails.

To what I know, there are a lot of positive responses for this version 8.

For example, Infoworld reported that “Notes 8 has a clean new look, logical menus, and customizable layouts; for me, this design makes the client easier to use compared to Microsoft Outlook. Still, current Notes users should feel comfortable with the mail client, since it works much as before”.

Lotus Domino 8, well done!

Viewing Blackberry’s attachment

Recently, I happen to find a software called BeamView which can be used by blackberry device to view attachment very nicely… and it is still free of charge.

It is a product developed by Beamberry Solutions.

How Beamberry works? When you open an email document attachment via BeamView on your BlackBerry a request is sent to the BlackBerry server to forward the corresponding e-mail with an attachment to their BeamBerry server. After receiving the e-mail with the requested attachment it is processed in a fashion that depends on the document format, converted to a series of images, compressed and streamed to the BlackBerry device for viewing. The whole process takes mere seconds.

The formats which are supported by BeamView are PDF, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, RTF & ZIP archive.

It can be downloaded from http://beamberry.com/download.

See also my article-- RepliGo - Viewing Blackberry’s attachment:-
http://sc-network.blogspot.com/2008/05/repligo-viewing-blackberrys-attachment.html

Domino Web Access (DWA) performance tip

1. There is a way to speed up the DWA performance by turning the "Reuse child windows". To do it, just go to the Preferences -> Other after logging into DWA.

With this setting turned on, the DWA caches and reuses parts of mail and calendar forms that don't change. The performance time can then be improved for the most frequently used actions.

2. If you are running R6.x Domino server to host DWA, there is a global setting can be added to the server's Notes.ini (as below). In other words, you don't need to set individually for users.

inotes_WA_ReuseChildWindows=1

Shares Trading

Just get to know that there is a popular blog on shares trading for Singapore Stock Market:-

http://www.growmoney.blogspot.com/

Maybe can learn something from there.