Phone Number for Microsoft Support

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Get Microsoft on PhoneAfter wasting about 45 minutes of my life searching for this information online (and enduring a myriad of issues), I found the actual information and I thought I’d share: (800) 642 7676.

Since the page location is apt to change and since I had to deal with 500 server errors and links for “Microsoft for Mac” that led to directions showing screen shots of ONLY Windows versions, I thought there might be others out there with the same frustrations.

This information is cut and pasted directly from the page I finally unearthed:

Talk with MicrosoftConnect directly with a support representative to solve your issue quickly.

+1 (800) 642 7676,
+1 (800) 892 5234 (TTY)
Monday – Friday
5 AM – 9 PM
Weekends
6 AM – 3 PM

 

But, don’t expect anything about this process to be “quick” — since I started writing this post after I’d been on hold for several minutes and I’m still listening to muzak.

Enjoy!

(Update: I’m still on the phone after 29 minutes… still listening to Muzak and STILL waiting for Microsoft’s speedy support to “resolve my issue quickly”) — wish me luck!

Merging Multiple iTunes Libraries Using a Mac

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Making a single itunes library from many a simple processDigitally, I have cleaned up my act with two GLARING exceptions: Multi-Media and Photos.

For years I’ve had multiple iTunes libraries, backed up from multiple machines on multiple external drives. Basically, it’s been such a mess that I quit using iTunes and all my media contained therein. I could never find what I wanted, but I found what I didn’t want multiplied with duplicate copies. Grrrrr…

I’ve used iTunes for many years, and let’s just admit that the first attempts at music management were less than perfect — especially from the data management side of things for power-users of multiple machines with varied OS systems. I’ve tried to consolidate in the past. The result has always been even more duplication and additional itunes folders. With that said, I’ll also have to admit that it’s dramatically improved since I first looked at iTunes with a critical eye. So, I decided to tackle one of my remaining behemoths… my iTunes media files, folders, podcasts, music, movies, TV series, audiobooks and whatnot.

It took a great deal of time, but I transferred all the iTunes libraries over to one external drive (with the exception of the library on the machine I was using to do the cleanup — which was my iMac). I had nearly three terabytes of iTunes stuff in duplicate, triplicate and so forth. Yep, you read that right… TERABYTES. I used a three terabyte drive with two terabytes of iTunes stuff on it and ignored (initially) nearly another terabyte on my iMac’s hard drive. Continue reading →

Why Have a Traditional ISP Service? :)

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Alternatives to cable Internet and DSLI’m going in partners on a physical, brick and mortar office space to work a few days a week. Shocking, isn’t it?

After all these years of striving to work from the farm and be a hermit, I’ve decided to give a “traditional” offsite office a try.

It’s a tiny little space, but we are going to try it and see how things go. I liked the idea of getting high speed Internet a few times a week for those tasks that could benefit from the extra “umph.” I plan to schedule my data intensive projects for those “in office” days.

We started setting up the office this week and although the “high speed” cable Internet isn’t quite ready yet, I used my Verizon Droid Bionic to access the same way I do on the farm in my office there. Continue reading →

Minimal Android Interface: Maximum Function

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Minimal Android Home PageI’ve been working on minimizing my digital life in the same way I’m minimizing my physical footprint. To that end, I’ve uninstalled a whole slew of apps on my android (I tend to be a collector when I’m not careful). Additionally, I wanted an organized, easy way to get what I like to use quickly — without all the visual clutter.

I’ve found a minimalist launcher to be the primary “clutter-buster” on my android device, but I also need quick access to more apps than this clean screen will allow. To that end, I found a notification tool that kicks serious green android butt. Continue reading →

3 Cool Email Tools: Google Labs

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Google Lab Treats Email Users Right!I love my Google Apps account. Granted, I fret over how much Google knows about me… but I’m beginning to accept that the concept of “privacy” as I knew it growing up no longer exists. With that disclaimer firmly in place at the beginning of this blog, I’ll skip merrily along and share three great finds for email over on Google Labs with you (and a few bonus ones for Google chat users!)

Get Labs Stuff For Yourself

To access Google Lab goodies for your own Google Apps Email account, simply sign into your email, click the “gear” icon in the upper right hand corner and select “settings.” When the settings page appears, go to the FARRRRRR right upper tab and select “Labs.”

Presto, you are there and now you can skip about too — enabling this and that and the other thing to your heart’s content. Personally, I think these are the best options at the moment:

Top Three Wicked Google Labs Picks for Email

Preview Pane – a toggle switch that lets you see the list of emails you have, or a preview pane (a la “outlookish” style).

RIght Side Chat – I burn up my Google chat, but that dancing up and down thing at the bottom of the left hand column makes me nuts. This moves the entire chat window over to the far right column so it’s dance-free. :) (Note: I also use “Pictures in Chat,” “SMS in Chat,” and “Green Robot” to improve my chat experience — the first shows a mugshot of me and my chat partner, the second one lets me send and receive SMS messages from my contacts (so I don’t have to get up from my computer to go find the phone when I need to send one) and the latter lets me know if the people I’m trying to reach are at their computer or on their android device. These aren’t actually “email” labs, but I still wanted to share them.) 

Unread Message Icon – a super simple, really useful add-on that places a number of unread messages on the favicon found on the tab containing my email browser window. At a glance I can tell if any new messages have arrived without all those nasty “pop-up” notification things that make me nuts and interrupt my train of thought.

Let me know if I’ve skipped one that YOU find invaluable! (Comments always make me happy!)