Although the weather has been quite nice lately, today it is raining outside. Which of course makes me miss Lebanon and the Middle East even more. To alleviate my pain(or aggregate – depends on how you see it) , I put together a theme pack with a few of my Lebanon pictures. Some from Beirut, more from Ebel es Saqi and Blate in the south. Take a look, grab it if you want, and feedback is welcome in the comments underneath.

Microsoft has released a beta version of a new tool called Microsoft Fix it Center. This tool provides one single point you can go to in order to run several different troubleshooters to solve the different issues you are having with your computer. Although currently in beta it already provides a multitude of automatic troubleshooters to you. If you are having problems not addressed by the tool, you can report your issue through the tools online center and hopefully Microsoft will follow up on it. The tool looks promising, especially for those of us that falls into the category of being the family and friends it-guy! Just make sure you have this installed on their machines – and you can easily guide them through its use.

Installing Microsoft Fix it Center

Head over to Microsoft Fix it Center Online’s website and download the software.

When running the installer you will be greeted with this window;

After the installation finishes you will be asked to set it up and personalize it for your computer

Based on your hardware and software it will suggest additional troubleshooters it can download

In my case it found the two you see suggested in this screenshot

You are then requested to create and account at Microsoft Fix it Center Online

You can use your Windows Live ID for this

Microsoft then asks for your permission to share some information about your system with the online service

After having completed that step you have finished installing Microsoft Fix it Center on your computer

Using the Fix it Center

When running the program for the first time you are greeted by the following pop-up

Running the troubleshooters is easy. You just pick the one that most resembles your problem and click on the Run button

In this screenshot I have run the Performance troubleshooter and are asked whether I want the tool to apply fixes automatically or just present them for me so that I can select which ones to apply.

After diagnosing the machine you are then presented with the result of the diagnosis (I chose to select which fixes to apply in this instance)

After I ran the System Configuration tool I was then asked whether this fixed my problem or not.

After I submitted my response I was then taken to the Microsoft Fix it Center Online service where I could see a summary of the problems and fixes for my machine.

Conclusion?

It is really too early to tell how useful this will be. It definitely looks promising and especially easy for the average user to utilize. I will be using it going forward, as well as install on it all the machines I might be asked to support (ie all of my immediate family). When I will be asked to fix a problem this tool will be my first stop in the troubleshooting and fixing process. Hopefully it will deliver on its promise and make my day easier.

For now: I recommend you try it out. Having real world experience in using it? Let me know in the comments section underneath.

Today I found a brilliant tool for learning the new ribbon interface by sheer chance. I was visiting the official Office site and noticed an ad for a social game that would help you master the ribbon; Ribbon Hero.

What is it?

In Microsoft Office Labs own words;

Ribbon Hero is a game for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel 2007 and 2010, designed to help you boost your Office skills and knowledge. Play games (aka “challenges”), score points, and compete with your friends while improving your productivity with Office.  As a concept test, this add-in is not supported, but is an opportunity for you to try out an idea we are working on and let us know what you think.  For additional challenges and the opportunity to earn more points, download Office 2010 Beta.

Microsoft Office Labs have made some videos on the product that can be found on their product page. I recommend giving them a look. (Tried to embed one of them here – no success…)

How does it work?

I downloaded the game, which is an add-in (COM) for Word, PowerPoint and Excel (2007 and 2010) and installed it. Using it adds some time to opening each application but not too much. After installing it there is an added button in the top right corner of the Home tab in the Ribbon of all three applications.

The Word Ribbon Hero button

The Excel Ribbon Hero button

The PowerPoint Ribbon Hero button

You can connect the game with Facebook and thus compete with your friends and co-workers that also have installed the game.

In use you will see that as you utilize different ribbon tools in your writing and editing your points in the Ribbon Hero button accumulate. You will get more points for more difficult tasks than you would for lets say changing selected text into bold. All fine and dandy, but the tool really gets interesting when you click on the Ribbon Hero button and enter the so-called challenge mode. In Word you are greeted by this screen;

Here you can see your Word achievements, and where you have gotten them, as well as play new challenges in order to get more points. This part of the game is also the most interesting to me as it is here that you can actually learn new things. So lets go ahead and play the challenge shown in the screenshot above;

The task at hand is written in bold red letters, and there is a before and after screenshot underneath showing what it is you should try to achieve. In case you have no clue how to do this you can hit the Hint! button in the right pane and be presented with the solution – if you do this you will of course get fewer points than you would have if you achieved it all on your own. The faster you do things also gains you more points. To me – the whole points thing is not that interesting – what I like is the way I am led through a process where I can learn something new on how Word, Excel and PowerPoint works.

In the task above I selected all the text and hit the Clear formatting button on the Home tab which gave me the following feedback;

By connecting Ribbon Hero with Facebook through Facebook Connect I am able to publish my results on my Facebook page as well as challenge friends that also use this add-in.

Although it has only been available for a couple of months, and are still in the development face, I have no problem in recommending Ribbon Hero for everyone using either Office 2007 or Office 2010. Go grab your copy here. And to you guys at Office Labs; I want this for my Outlook 2010 as well!