We recently downloaded the Beta Version of the New Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). Whilst it’s not the final version for release it gives us all a good idea of what to expect from the final release of the software. Here’s a our views on the program and a little bit about what’s new!
First Impressions (click image to enlarge)
Much more aesthetically pleasing than previous versions of the program. Rather than looking its usual dated and cluttered self, IE9 has taken a huge leap into the 21st century having previously drastically needing an injection of botox and a tummy tuck. This has lead to a cool, calm, simplistic finish which appears to be much more user friendly. The overall speed of the web browser also seems considerably improved.
Want to read the rest of this post? Head over to Brandstar.co.uk
With our recently finished poll (Windows 7 – Love or Hate) we wanted to get our readers views on the Windows 7. As you can see from the pie chart above (click to enlarge), 60% of our voters love windows 7, 8% hate it and 32% are yet to be swayed in either direction. Here at PCToolbox we’re a big fan of Windows 7 and are recommending it to all our clients. Whilst Vista was not a big hit with many users we believe that Microsoft have produced a class operating system in Windows 7 and have well and truly silenced the critics.
Our recently expired poll, Free or Subscription based Anti-Virus?, unsurprisingly resulted in subscription based anti-virus coming top.
However, we were worried to see that 41% of voters have either free anti-virus or no anti-virus whatsoever! Whilst free virus protection is better than none it doesn’t provide your computer with the full protection that it requires to run successfully and safely.
Here at PCToolbox we recommend AVG Internet security. Around June-July last year we ran an investigation, testing all the big name anti-virus protection programs against each other and concluded that in our opinion AVG Internet Security is by far the best. Click to read the summary – ‘Antivirus Comparison – The Final Ratings and Rankings‘.
Last month’s poll asked our readers…’Which TWO Microsoft Office Applications do you use the most?’ The diagram to the right (click to enlarge) shows how our readers voted. As you can see Microsoft Office Word, Excel and Outlook were the three applications to receive the most votes, which to us isn’t surprising as the applications are commonly used worldwide due to the overall quality, simplicity and flexibilty of the software.
PowerPoint and Publisher again are commonly used pieces of software but it is rare that the ‘typical’ home user requires them for their general computer usage. Whereas Access is a far more specialist application for those who need to create/manage a database system.
Office 2010 is set to be released in June (2010). Many companies are doing a deal whereby you purchase Office 2007 and can download 2010 for free when it comes out so have a look around on the internet for such deals! For example…Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student from Amazon (PC)
A couple of months ago we received our copy of Office 2010, so it must be about time we start blogging about it! Sparklines is a new Excel feature which we’ve been impressed with. Basically they’re miniature charts that fit into a single Excel cell to allow the user to view individual trends at a glance. A feature such as this is ideal when managing money, e.g. to assess how expenditure for different items has varied over a year.
Here’s how to create Sparklines:
Click on the ‘Insert’ tab and locate the ‘Sparklines’ box
Next you must select the type of Sparkline you wish to use by clicking on either Line, Column or Win/Loss
Finally in the ‘Create Sparklines Box’ you need to select your data range and location range
Picnik is a brilliant free online photo editing tool and ideal for all users (from novices to pros). The website has a wide variety of features which can help you make ‘average’ photos look ‘amazing’.
Free features include rotate, crop, flip, re-size, exposure options (including exposure, contrast, highlight, shadow and brightness adjustments), colour options (including saturation and temperature adjustments), sharpening options (including sharpness, radius and strength options) and red-eye adjustments for humans and animals. All you need to do is register with the site and then you’re ready to start editing!
If you want to use more features you can sign up to their premium package from just $2.08 (£1.30 at time of writing).
A feature explained…
Rotate
Select rotate from the features panel (click image to enlarge)
You can then press left or right to rotate the image anti-clockwise or clockwise respectively (click image to enlarge)
The image can also be angled by moving the ‘Straighten’ slider adjustment (click image to enlarge)
Finally, the image can be ‘flipped’ by clicking either of the two buttons to the right of ‘flip’ (click image to enlarge)
Windows Live Writer is a freedesktop application for publishing to blogs and will work with almost any blog provider in the world including Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, WordPress, TypePad and more!
It’s a very simple piece of software which enables you to link your blogs to one central point for posting, rather than logging on to each website.
Live Writer has a variety of different tools available for use…from hyperlink, to pictures (single photos/albums), tables, videos, tags and more! Some of which may not normally be available from your software.
Interested in the software? Well download it from the Windows Live Writer site
Our poll this month was ‘where do you access Facebook?’ Bosses pleased to see that most people are checking their facebook pages at home rather than at work with a staggering 47% just viewing it from home. Second up was people viewing their pages from both home and work. (Click on the image to enlarge)
21% of voters said they don’t check facebook at home or at work so I’m guessing they don’t have an account? If you don’t know what facebook is and would like to find out more check out our post on it from back in 2007…Facebook – What’s it all about?
We recently downloaded the Beta Version of the New Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). Whilst it’s not the final version for release it gives us all a good idea of what to expect from the final release of the software. Here’s a our views on the program and a little bit about what’s new!
A couple of months ago we received our copy of Office 2010, so it must be about time we start blogging about it! Sparklines is a new Excel feature which we’ve been impressed with. Basically they’re miniature charts that fit into a single Excel cell to allow the user to view individual trends at a glance. A feature such as this is ideal when managing money, e.g. to assess how expenditure for different items has varied over a year.
