Microsoft Recalls Surface AC Adapters

surfaceMicrosoft has initiated a voluntary recall for AC power cords (the cord that plugs into an electrical outlet) sold with the Microsoft Surface Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro 2, and with any Microsoft Surface Pro 3 purchased prior to March 15, 2015 (“pre-March 15, 2015 Surface Pro 3”). This is being done in cooperation with various government regulatory agencies.

If these AC cords are sharply and repeatedly bent or wrapped tightly over an extended period of time, they may become damaged. Damaged AC power cords can overheat, posing a potential fire or shock hazard.

Action Required:

  • Stop using your AC power cord if you have a Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2, or a pre-March 15, 2015, Surface Pro 3. Replacement AC power cords will be provided at no cost through the program website.
  • Please go to the Microsoft website at www.surface.com/powercord to obtain your free replacement AC power cord. You should dispose or recycle your replaced AC cord in accordance with local requirements.
  • Review the cord care instructions on the Surface support page at Power Cord Care.

How to turn on “Automatic Replies (Out of Office)” or the “Out of Office Assistant”

For Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010

  1. Click the File tab, and then click the Info tab in the menu.

    Outlook File Menu Snapshot

  2. Click Automatic Replies (Out of Office).

    Outlook 2013 Out Of Office feature Snapshot

    Note If you do not see this option, you are not using an Exchange account. Please go to this section: How to enable Automatic Replies in non-exchange account.

  3. In the Automatic Replies dialog box, select the Send Automatic Replies check box.
  4. If you want to specify a set time and date range, select the Only send during this time range check box. Then set theStart time, and then set the End time.
  5. In the Inside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send within your organization, and in theOutside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send outside your organization.
  6. Click OK.
  7. If you selected the “Only send during this time range” option in step 4, the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) feature will continue to run until the date and time set for the End Time in step 5 is reached.
    Otherwise, the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) will continue to run until you repeat step 1 and select the “Do not send automatic replies” option.

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What is Office 365? How is it different from Microsoft Office?

Microsoft-Office-365“Office 365” refers to subscription plans that include access to Office applications plus other productivity services that are enabled over the Internet (cloud services), such as Lync web conferencing and Exchange Online hosted email for business, and additional online storage with OneDrive and Skype world minutes for home.
Many Office 365 plans also include the desktop version of the latest Office applications, which users can install across multiple computers and devices. The Office 365 plans that are online-only are a great choice for certain business needs, and they are compatible with desktop versions of the latest version of Office, Office 2010, Office 2007 (with slightly limited functionality), Office 2011 for Mac, and Office 2008 for Mac.

All Office 365 plans are paid for on a subscription basis, monthly or annually.  “Microsoft Office” is the name we still use for our familiar productivity software. Office suites have traditionally included applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. All the new Office suites (for example, Office Standard 2013) include the latest versions of these applications. These suites can be installed on only one PC and do not come with any cloud-based services included in Office 365.

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Microsoft Announces the Return of the Start Menu in a Future Windows 8.1 Update

microsoft-windows-8-logoBig news was announced by Microsoft’s executive vice president of the Operating Systems group last week.

He announced and demonstrated a new Windows start menu, which behaves similarly to the Windows start menu that millions of desktop users are used to and enjoy. Myerson also said that the new start menu would be available as a (presumably free) update for all Windows 8.1 users, but won’t likely be part of the just-announced Windows 8.1 Update.

I’ve received dozens of emails from people since Windows 8 rolled out about what they don’t like about it and why they don’t want to deploy it for their users and by far the largest complaint was the lack of a traditional Windows start button and start menu.
I personally am excited by this news and hope this may be the push we all need to begin adapting the new 8.1 Operating System on desktop computers.  I’d love to hear what you think, email with your thoughts, or contact me on Twitter or Facebook.