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!

Tip #1: Install Windows 7 on a Netbook without optical media

If you want to install Windows 7 on a Netbook that comes without a CD/DVD-drive Microsoft has provided a neat little tool called the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool. What this tool does is to take an ISO image and easily transfer it to a USB-memory key. You can then boot from it and install Windows 7 to your netbook. I also use it to install Windows 7 on other computers with optical drives, as I find that it speeds up the already fast process. So how do you go about using this tool? Read on;

Step 1: Download the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool and install it on your system

Step 2: Click the Start button, and click Windows 7 USB DVD Download tool in the All programs menu

Step 3: Browse to and select your ISO file and then click Next.

Step 4: Choose the media on which you want to install (mount) the image – in this case your USB device

Step 5: Select your USB device and click on Begin copying

Step 6: Once that process is done, make sure the computer on which you want to install has the boot from USB device option selected in the BIOS, reboot and the installation process should begin.

If you have more questions regarding this device the Microsoft Store has more information here.

Tip #2: See all Control Panel tasks in a categorized list – aka God Mode

This tip is making its rounds around the internet at the time of writing. In some places described as the God Mode, which actually is not the case. This tip in no way will give you access to hidden and unknown tweaks, but it will provide you with easy access to all the different task that you can perform from the different menus and submenus in the Control Panel.

Right click on your desktop and create a new folder. Rename it to: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} (You can actually call it anything you want instead of GodMode. Just make sure that everything after the word Mode is exactly as stated above – including the dot)

Your new folders icon will automatically change into a control panel icon;

When you click on this icon an Explorer window will open with the mentioned tasks listed like this screenshot shows;

Ed Bott has more on this feature over on his blog.

Tip #3: Use Autoruns to manage startup applications and services.

There are many programs out there that gives you the ability to manage your startup applications. Included in Windows 7 you will of course find the Microsoft Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe), but Microsofts Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswells Autoruns program (part of their Sysinternals suite of useful applications) is head and shoulder above the competition. Go to the TechNet Sysinternals site and download Autoruns, then extract it to a location on your hard drive. In that folder right click the autoruns icon and run it as an Administrator and you should see the following application;

First select the Logon tab, then go into the Options dialog and select Hide Microsoft and Windows Entries, then hit F5 to refresh the view. You will probably be surprised by the amount of applications that automatically runs with Windows. Deselect any that you do not want to run automatically. I also recommend visiting the Internet Explorer tab as well as the Scheduled Tasks tab to deselect any entries you do not want in those locations. Once you are finished, all you have to do is to close the Autoruns application – no need to save anything. The next time you start your PC your new settings are applied.

Tip #4: Create your own Windows 7 themes

Windows 7 are more customizable than previous versions of Windows. One notable change is the ease with which you can create your and apply your own themes to the OS. How easy you ask. As easy as 1-2-3. Just follow my lead;

Step 1: Right click on your desktop and select Personalize;

Step 2: In this view lets start by selecting the background pictures we want as part of our theme. Select Desktop Background.

Step 3: Browse to the location of your pictures and select the ones you want there.

Step 4: Choose the position of your pictures as well as how often they should change and click on Save changes.

Step 5: When you are back in the Perzonalisation view, select Windows Color and choose your… windows color ;-D

Step 6: Once back in the Personalization view again, the next option is to select Sounds. There you can select from a number of sound schemes as well as make some new ones of your own (more work!). For this theme I chose the Landscape scheme.

Step 7: The next option is to set your Screen Saver. Here I chose the Bubbles screensaver. Make your selection and click OK.

Step 8: Now it is time to save your theme. In the main Personalization view scroll down until you see the Save Theme option and select it. Give your theme a name – mine is called Christmas 09 – and you are done!

Tip #5: Use SkyDrive Explorer to access your SkyDrive folders

If you are using Windows Live services you are hopefully aware of the fact that you have 25 GB of online storage for free courtesy of Microsoft through their SkyDrive service.

If you haven’t done so already, I suggest that you head over to home.live.com and sign up for an account straight away.

Until recently, one of the problems with SkyDrive was that you had to go the webpage and use the interface there for adding and removing files as well as other file-related tasks. This could be tedious and was obviously not the most user-friendly way to do things. SkyDrive Explorer to the rescue. SkyDrive Explorer is a free extension to Windows Explorer that allows you to add and remove folders and files to SkyDrive from your Windows Explorer interface. According to SkyDrive Explorer the latest version of their software can;

• View the structure and contents of folders in SkyDrive™;
• View files information (type, size, creation date in GMT format);
• Create new root folders and subfolders;
• Copy files into the storage;
• Delete files and folders;
• Copy files from the storage to the computer;
• Copy folders and subfolders from the storage to the computer keeping their structure;
• Use Drag & Drop for files operations;
• Rename files and folders;
• Create links to SkyDrive™ folders on your computer;
• Copy URL of the selected object(s) to the Clipboard;
• Automatic check for the latest version;
• Bidirectional languages support;
• Selection of your preferred interface language

Head over to SkyDrive Explorers site to download and install it. Once you have done that your SkyDrive Explorer will pop up in your Explorer window as a station. You will have to sign in with your Windows Live ID in order to access your SkyDrive through this interface;

Once you have done that your SkyDrive Explorer extension gives you access to your SkyDrive folders and files directly in your Explorer window;

Tip #6: Optimize your AMD system for games with AMD Fusion Utility for Desktop

This tip is for those of you that are using PCs powered by AMD and are playing PC games (a dying breed according to Paul Thurrott :-D). AMD has released an application that shuts down unnecessary processes and application depending on what activity you are about to embark on, in order for you to use whatever PC juice you have got for that particular task and that task only. This application is called AMD Fusion Utility for Desktop, and is currently in beta. I haven’t actually done any benchmarks to see whether this works, but my impression after playing Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2 both with this application and without it, is that it actually works. There seems to be less lagging and visual artifacts, and the game seems to be running smoother.

Head over to this AMD site and download AMD Fusion Utility for Desktop. As the site states you will probably get better results if you also install the AMD Overdrive and the latest Catalyst Control Center. Once you have installed the application, run it and you will be greeted with this button on your desktop;

By clicking the button it automatically shuts down all running applications and processes that it deems unnecessary for you to run your games. Clicking the button again restarts everything that was shut down previously. If you want to streamline your applications and processes to other tasks as well, click on the Advanced Mode button and the application changes into this interface;

In this interface you select the Profile you want and then click on Run Profile in order to activate it. When finished with your activity just click on Stop Activity to set your system back to its previous state. Check it out for yourselves and have fun. A word of caution though; this application tampers with some security settings so pay attention to the warnings you are getting and try to understand them before accepting them.

Tip #7: Access additional options in the right-click menus

By hitting Shift and right clicking on a folder, file or icon you get additional options in your right-click menu. Underneath you find three examples of normal and extended right-click menus

 

 

 

The screenshots above shows the extended right-click menu for folders.

 

 

The screenshots above shows the extended right-click menu for the Send to option.

And these screenshots show the added Open command window here option when you hit Shift and right-click on your desktop.

 

That’s it for this time. I hope you will find all or some of these tips useful. If you have a tip – hint – or software recommendation you want to share feel free to send me an email or add it to the comments section underneath this post.

Until next time…

I have started a series of articles here on my blog titled the 7 Windows 7 tips for week WW-YY… which (obviously) is a weekly installment. If anyone of you out there have any tips or tricks you want to see here, feel free to contact me through the comments section of this post..

In this second installment I have the following 7 Windows 7 tips;

Tip #1: Customize Your Windows Log-on Screen

Ever wanted to customize your Windows Welcome screen? There are many posts floating around the web describing the process of how to do this. Rafael Rivera explains it in this post, but the most elegant way of doing it is via the Windows 7 Logon Background Changer made by Julien Manici. After downloading and extracting the tool, you run it and are greeted with this interface;

You then change your background log-on wallpaper by selecting from the theme backgrounds depicted on top, or by navigating your preferred picture somewhere on your computer. After selecting your picture – hit Apply and you are done!

This tool has been made in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and is a gorgeous example of what can be made utilizing WPF. Highly recommended.

Tip #2: Make a System Image Backup

After having installed Windows 7 plus your applications and settings it is time to make a system image. With an image like this you can easily go back to the state your system was in at the time of the backup without doing all the hard work once more.

Hit the Start orb and type backup. Backup and Restore should be the first choice. Click and you will be greeted by this menu;

In the left pane click on Create a system image.

Then select your backup media – on a hard disk or on a network location is recommended.

You then select the drives you want to include in the backup before hitting next.

The last step is to confirm your setting before clicking on Start backup.¨

You can stop the process whenever you want (but why..?). After a while (depending on the size of your backup) you will be greeted with this;

At the end of the process you will be given the opportunity to create a system repair disc which you can use to boot the system in order to restore your computer from a system image. I recommend that you do this…

That’s it. You have now got a back-up of your system image and a repair disc – all set for the day when your system wont work any longer.

Tip #3: Encrypt your removable USB disk with Bitlocker To Go

One of the really nice features of Windows 7 Professional Enterprise or Ultimate is the Bitlocker encryption feature, and more particularly the Bitlocker To Go utility which allows you to encrypt your removable USB media for enhanced security.

After having inserted your removable USB disk, right click it in Explorer, and select Turn on Bitlocker

After the initial preparation of the media your are presented with these choices;

You then have to decide on how to save your recovery key;

Your drive is soon ready to be encrypted; hit Start Encrypting and the process starts.

There is of course a process indicator;

When the process is finished you will get this one;

In Windows Explorer the removable disk will have the Bitlocker icon added to it and it will look something like this;

Tip #4: Quickly Open The First 10 Applications On Your Taskbar

By hitting + any number between 1 and 0 you will open the application that occupies that position on your taskbar. 0 in this instance is actually 10.

On my taskbar holding down and hitting 8 will open Windows Live Writer.

Tip #5: Stream Your Media To A Remotely Connected Computer

Windows 7 and Windows Media Player 12 allows you to stream your media on one computer to any other Windows 7 computer as long as you are integrated with an online ID provider like Windows Live ID. The procedure for configuring Remote Media Streaming is the same on both the remote and local computer. The first thing you have to do is to start Windows Media Player. Then you click Stream and Allow Internet Access to home media.

Now you will need to link an online ID to your Windows account. Click on Link an online ID

As long as you have already set up an online ID like Windows Live ID you will be presented with this screen. Click on Link online ID (written in blue).

You are then provided with this Sign in to Windows Live ID screen;

Back in the previous screen you now hit OK.

After that is done you are once again back in this screen, and it is now time to choose Allow Internet access to home media.

You will get a UAC-prompt, select Yes and you will be rewarded with this dialog;

You are now finished with configuring Remote Media Streaming on one computer, repeat the above process on the other computer(s). Restart Windows Media Player on them all and you will see the shared media under Other libraries

Tip #6: Pin Your Favorite Folders To The Windows Explorer Jump List

Do you have particular folder that you access all the time? For easy access you can pin those folder to the Windows Explorer Jump List. Open Explorer and navigate your way to the folder you want to pin. Right click and hold and then drag it down to the taskbar;

The next time you right-click the Explorer icon in the taskbar you will find your folder at the top of the Jump list;

Tip #7: Do You Have Unanswered Questions Regarding Windows 7?

Ed Bott has written a great article on his Microsoft Report Blog at ZDNet with the answers to the questions he is getting most frequently. A great resource that can be found here.

That rounds up the second installment of my 7 Windows 7 Tips. Got any comments, suggestions or advice? Feel free to post them in the comments section of this post.