Updated: Office 2003/XP Add-in: Remove Hidden Data (July 13)
With this add-in you can permanently remove hidden and collaboration data, such as change tracking and comments, from Word 2003/XP, Excel 2003/XP, and PowerPoint 2003/XP files.
When you distribute an Office document electronically, the document might contain information that you do not want to share publicly, such as information you’ve designated as “hidden” or information that allows you to collaborate on writing and editing the document with others.
The Remove Hidden Data add-in is a tool that you can use to remove personal or hidden data that might not be immediately apparent when you view the document in your Microsoft Office application.
Download: Office 2003/XP Add-in: Remove Hidden Data
Microsoft Desktop Initiative To Push Windows XP, Office 2003 Deployments (July 13)
As it faces a more serious threat from Linux on the desktop, Microsoft will invest $50 million during its next fiscal year to accelerate more corporate deployment of Windows XP and Office 2003.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant will announce at its Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto a revamped “Desktop Deployment Initiative” that provides partners with more business investment funds, resources and personnel to help get customers upgraded to Microsoft’s latest fleet of desktop software.
Most significantly, the fund will pay for 57 new hires worldwide who will be deployed as desktop specialists in the field. In the United States, Microsoft will deploy 24 desktop experts who will be empowered to help partners and customers realize a return on investment (ROI) on software many have licensed as part of their Microsoft upgrade contracts but have not yet installed.
Microsoft estimates that only 30 percent of its installed base currently runs the three-year-old Windows XP, while a much smaller percentage has installed Office 2003. And only a third of the total Office installed base today runs Microsoft’s Office XP.
View full article: Microsoft Desktop Initiative To Push Windows XP, Office 2003 Deployments
MapPoint and Streets & Trips Construction Update (July 13)
Download the construction update to keep your maps current.
Save the file in the Data folder, located where you installed the program files for MapPoint or Streets & Trips. For example C:\Program Files\Microsoft MapPoint\Data\.
Download: MapPoint 2001 and Streets and Trips 2001 Construction Update
Download: MapPoint 2002 and Streets and Trips 2002 Construction Update
Download: MapPoint 2003 and Streets and Trips 2003 Construction Update
Download: MapPoint 2004 and Streets and Trips 2004 Construction Update
Microsoft Live Meeting gets BT boost (July 13)
The software giant has hooked up with Britain’s biggest telco to offer improved Web conferencing
Microsoft is set to announce a deal on Monday with British communications giant BT Group to boost the software giant’s Live Meeting Web conferencing service.
BT will resell Live Meeting subscriptions integrated with the company’s own conference calling services, according to a statement from the companies. BT also has signed on to use Live Meeting internally for its 150,000 Internet-connected employees.
View full article: Microsoft Live Meeting gets BT boost
“Microsoft, your potential out passion” (July 13)
View: Flash presentation
Is offline defragmentation considered regular Exchange maintenance? (July 13)
Every so often people ask us – “How often do you recommend we run the offline defrag?” Meaning – how often do we run it to have the server run OK?
The short answer would be – we do NOT recommend this to be run as any type of “regular” maintenance at all.
Looking at this closer – what really happens when you do an offline defrag?
View: Is offline defragmentation considered regular Exchange maintenance?
Poll: What version of Outlook are you using? (July 8)
Have you always been curious how many people still use Outlook 97 or how fast people are adopting Outlook 2003? Now you’ll know 
Cast your vote today!
Added Add-Ins links: 4Team (July 8)
4Team Corporation is a software production company working in Software Industry since 1999.
Their primary objective is to provide their customers with affordable workgroup management solutions. Their software products are developed to improve the productivity and efficiency of a workgroup that uses Microsoft Office programs as its software basis.
One of their most popular add-ins;
Share Outlook: Sharing any Microsoft Outlook Personal folders without a server.
See all of their products in the Add-Ins section.
Flirting’s Moved Online! New Research From MSN Reveals Millions Swap IM Addresses With Potential Dates (July 8)
Flirting used to be something that happened primarily at bars, parties or the local Starbucks, but a new survey from MSN found that instant messaging (IM) is the choice of today’s Romeos, both in the United States and worldwide. More than 35 percent of Americans who responded to the survey say they’ve used Web-based services such as MSN® Messenger to set up romantic dates, with 50 percent saying they have used it to get to know a potential partner early in a relationship. Worldwide, the numbers are even larger, with over 40 percent of respondents saying they have used IM to set up dates and nearly 58 percent saying they have used it to find out more about people they might like to date.
View full article: Flirting’s Moved Online! New Research From MSN Reveals Millions Swap IM Addresses With Potential Dates
Microsoft to ‘educate’ users on software upgrades (July 8)
Microsoft wants customers yet to upgrade to its latest software versions to ‘understand’ why they need to do so, and plans to dispel the perception that older versions of its software are ‘good enough’.
In a wide-ranging ‘state of the nation’ email sent to Microsoft employees, chief executive Steve Ballmer said: “So many customers have yet to deploy our most recent advances, so we must not only help them understand why to deploy, but demonstrate the benefits of deploying before we reach the Longhorn generation.”
He said the company needed to change customers’ perceptions, including the view that “older versions of Office and Windows are good enough and that Microsoft is not sufficiently focused on security”.
This, he said, would be achieved by emphasising “key positive perceptions of the strong manageability, and developer and information worker preference, for our platform”.
Ballmer said customers were still feeling pain over security issues, but added that products were now being built “in a way that significantly reduces vulnerabilities and customers’ exposure to attack”.
View full article: Microsoft to ‘educate’ users on software upgrades
Old-school worm loves Windows applications (July 8)
The latest variant of the Lovgate worm scans PCs for executable files and then renames them, a tactic used by viruses from a much older generation, according to antivirus companies.
The Lovgate worm first appeared in February 2003 and has since mutated many times. The most recent versions of the worm–Lovgate.AE and Lovgate.AH–were discovered on Sunday. They spread by e-mailing themselves to addresses found on an infected machine and then open a “back door” to give control of the infected system to an attacker. Finally, the worms scan for vulnerable PCs connected to the infected system’s local network–using the same Windows vulnerability exploited by the MSBlast worm almost a year ago.
The most important difference is the worm’s destructive nature. Although the latest Lovgate worm does not delete any user data–such as documents or spreadsheets–it replaces executable files (with the .exe extension) on the local hard drive with further copies of itself. This process can leave an infected computer effectively useless because it is unable to run any applications.
View full article: Old-school worm loves Windows applications
Firms want safer version of Office (July 5)
Microsoft should release a 64-bit version of Office at the same time as its 64-bit version of XP – due by the end of the year – if it wants to attract more corporates to its Software Assurance licensing scheme, according to Rob Enderle of analyst firm Enderle Group.
Enderle said such a move could encourage more firms to sign up to Software Assurance now that Microsoft has discontinued its Upgrade Advantage licensing programme.
“It would make sense to have a 64-bit version of Office to release alongside [64-bit XP],” he added.
And moving Office to a 64-bit environment would allow Microsoft to eliminate security holes in the 32-bit versions. “Security has become the IT manager’s biggest nightmare,” commented Enderle.
View full article: Firms want safer version of Office
Amount of Spam Still Skyrocketing (July 5)
The number of unique new unsolicited e-mail messages has risen 42 percent from 350,000 per day at the end of 2003 to 500,000 a day by the end of June, according to antispam vendor Commtouch Software.
And while 49 countries have been identified as hosting Web sites referenced in spam e-mails, China is still the host for 73.5 percent of such sites, Commtouch says in a statement. Spammers include those site links to provide more information regarding their products, or to allow users to buy the products online.
View full article: Amount of Spam Still Skyrocketing
Massachusetts files suit under Can-Spam (July 5)
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office has filed suit against a Florida man suspected of sending spam e-mail to thousands of consumers, in what’s considered to be the first claim brought by a state under the federal Can-Spam Act.
On Thursday, the state’s attorney general, Thomas Reilly, filed a complaint against a business known as DC Enterprises, and its reported proprietor, William T. Carson, for allegedly distributing bulk e-mail that advertised inexpensive mortgage rates. In addition to alleging that the company violated numerous conditions of Can-Spam, the federal government’s freshly minted answer to the spam epidemic, Reilly is pursuing charges against the defendant for breaching several Massachusetts laws that deal with mortgage brokering.
View full article: Massachusetts files suit under Can-Spam
US, UK and Australia sign anti-spam act (July 5)
The UK, US and Australia are combining forces to combat spam. They have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote joint enforcement and investigation of spammers across the three countries.
Stephen Timms, the UK communications minister, today called on other countries to join the trio in their anti-spam crusade. He said the MoU is “not going to solve spam overnight but it is going to help. It reinforces our determination to tackle spam with a combination of government and industry initiatives, technical solutions, and user awareness.
Timothy Muris, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said: “Illegal spam does not respect national boundaries. This agreement is an important next step to help law enforcers on three continents leverage resources to combat illegal spam.”
View full article: US, UK and Australia sign anti-spam act
