Branding is not a Science is it.

Of course, sometimes we have tight deadlines that make it impossible to do all those steps. However, we can use other tools to get results to fulfill our needs. Google is a good example. It is the most popular search engine in the world used for millions of people every day. We can use the Google Image search to get some ideas of images related to a certain term. Besides that, why not check other designers work, see how they solve some problems and learn some different approaches.

Brand experience is what your customers remember about you. It is what leads to lasting impressions, preferences, and performance. This is what sets Landor’s work apart: customer experiences that are not mysterious, but real, tangible, measurable – unforgettable. – Landor.com

Logo design is much more than simply designs a logo. It is the tip of the iceberg in a corporation and the budget to advertisement is very important when deciding the logo strategy. For small business it’s important to create a logo that really relates to the product or philosophy of the company, while for big corporations the simplest the best, because of that we see most of the huge companies using just lettering or a piece of their past logos, such as Nike and Pepsi.

These companies understand that after a long period, people started to recognize the brand without reading the name, but having visual contact with shapes that were part of the logo. When a company reaches that level of brand awareness, redesigning gets much easier. However, a common mistake when designing a logo for a new company is making it without lettering, trying to get the Nike effect, when nobody knows where the new company stands in market.

Now, we would love to hear from you, what are the problems you find when designing logos? Are there any steps you usually take, or mistakes you know you cannot afford making? Tell us and share it with everyone.

Not just Colors

Studying the energies of the different Colors as a means for healing disease in body, mind, and spirit is very fascinating. Using Color to restore balance and harmony is an amazingly easy thing you can do for yourself. Unfortunately, most people are unaware of this simple and effective way of affecting their own healing or improving their business. & this very important information I read in book called Cashing in on the “Simple Magic” of Color so Read on to learn how you can begin enjoying the freedom found through a higher awareness of energy. Learn about the energy of each Color and how to use them in your life.

An important point to remember when using Color for healing is that complete healing comes about through an internal transformation . . . a changing of the energies inside one’s self. God, the Source of all healing, enables this to happen. It is for us to be mindful of the tool(s) God offers to help effect the healing. Color is an important tool that w e can use to complement healing. More than likely, your reading of this now indicates that using Color is an important element in your healing or in some other aspect of your life. Nothing happens “by chance.” Everything has meaning. You were led to read this for a reason. So read on and learn what is here for you.

Colors have been used to heal and protect mankind throughout the ages. White, for example, has been used in hospitals and churches for its purity and cleanliness. Black has been used for mourning our deceased. It has been known for thousands of years that Color plays a major role in setting up a particular mood or state of mind. Yet, only recently have design artists put into practice that which the ancients knew all along: Color does affect one’s feelings, moods, and emotions. Whereas, in the past, so many of our hospitals and schools were painted that “institutional green” These places of learning and healing are now painted in vibrant Colors which help stimulate the mind and the emotions to a condition of healing and well-being.

We all respond, in some way, to our Color environment. Most people know that bedrooms should not be painted in bright, flashy reds or yellows, because these Colors tend to stimulate the body and inhibit relaxation and sleep. By knowing how each color affects us, we can consciously use them to bless our lives. Otherwise, the Colors in our environment may be the wrong colors for what we need to stay in balance and May therefore are affecting us adversely.

For example, whenever you are selling anything, the secret is to appeal to the emotions of the person you are selling to. When they read your sales copy, they have to be reading words that stir up certain emotions which lead them to a position where they want your product more than anything else. An important part of the selling tactic, which, unfortunately, too many people pass up, is the Color scheme. Using Colors which symbolize what it is you are doing will make a huge difference. You will see an increase in performance of the best sales copy . . . if you have the right Colors behind it. The concept of Color can be approached from several disciplines: physiology, psychology, philosophy, spirituality and art. Colors can be used to alter our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual conditions. It is interesting to note that everyone has an opinion on Colors. Everyone has his or her favorites and is affected by Colors, often more than is realized. Colors are intimately tied into all aspects of our lives. It has even become a significant part of our language. We use Colors to describe our physical health, our emotions, attitudes, and even our spiritual experiences. No one is neutral when it comes to Colors. There are always Colors we like more than others, and some we just don’t like at all. Have you ever considered Color as having meaning in your dreams? You spend a good portion of your life sleeping. Just how vital is sleeping and how vital are your dreams? They are another form of subtle energy which aid us in not only healing, but in receiving direction in life. Researchers often study the effects of depriving a subject of sleep for a number of days. When humans are totally deprived of sleep for several days, they experience symptoms like irritability, blurred vision, slurred speech, memory lapses, and confusion.

In experiments in which rats were deprived of sleep for long periods of time, the animals eventually died. From these results scientists conclude that sleep does indeed serve a vital physiological function. Other researchers have discovered that it is the lack of dreaming which is most detrimental. If dreaming is so important to our well being, why don’t we pay more attention to our dreams and what they mean? Have you ever had a dream that you wished you had an interpretation for?

In 1988, UCLA professor, Dr. Valorie Hunt conducted a study on the human aura. Dr. Hunt found that the aura Colors could be measured in Hertz. (Hz = Hertz or cycles/second) The results of this research are as follows:

Blue 250-275 Hz, plus 1200 Hz

Green 250-475 Hz

Yellow 500-700 Hz

Orange 950-1050 Hz

Violet 1000-2000, plus 300-400 Hz; 600-800 Hz

White 1100-2000 Hz

Learning about this research, which proved that each Color had a frequency, was very exciting to me as an artist. Several years ago, I began to realize that each of my oil paintings had a unique energy. As I hung them in my home, I could feel the effect they had on me. It was then that I really began to understand the power of Color in my life.

Hopefully you are seeing the relationship between Color, frequency, your health, attitudes and behaviors. Color is a big part of our human energy field; your aura and chakras. Learning how to use the frequency of Colors consciously is powerful. Anything you can do to raise your vibrations or frequency will ultimately help you in healing or anything else you are trying to accomplish in life. In addition to using Color to effect healing and improve my life, I also use essential oils because of their ability to help my body maintain higher frequencies or energy. Essential oils have various grades, the more pure, the better the oil. I have found the pure oils sold by Young Living to be the best. Essential Oils were mankind’s first medicine. They are liquids that are distilled from plants (including plant parts such as seeds, bark, stems, leaves roots, flowers and fruit). They are the blood of the plants. Essential oils also have a measurable frequency. For example, Rose has the highest frequency of the oils at 320 MHz By using certain Essential Oils, I have been able to more easily maintain my energy level. I even add Essential Oils to my oil paint to enhance the energy of my paintings. You now know that Colors and Essential Oils have measurable frequencies. Did you know that the Human Body has a frequency of between 62-68 MHz? Not only that, each disease also has its own frequency such as cancer at 42 MHz and cold symptoms at 58 MHz Therefore, if your body vibrates at the frequency of 42 MHz for a period of time, rather than its usual 62 MHz, you will be living in the frequency of Cancer which could manifest in your physical body. Are you putting 2 and 2 together? Is it important to do things that keep your energies at a higher frequency? Remember Einstein and what he learned . . . everything is ENERGY and it cannot be destroyed, it can either stay the way it is or be changed/transformed, therefore . . .

Here the healing qualities of colored light come in. As already mentioned, each Color has a particular wavelength. By administering a certain Color you can strengthen the aura so it can repair itself and return its original ground-tone. The physical effect is healing of the body. On the next page you w ill find a chart showing where each Chakra is located in the body. It also shows the Color, Musical Notes, Glands and Essential Oils associated with each chakra.

Meanings of Individual Colors:

White

White is the Color of perfection; for it is all Colors, in perfect balance and harmony. It is the Color of the awakened Spirit; the light of perfection; the light of the Christ consciousness. White light is Divine Light. Many of us have heard of surrounding people with the “White Light of Healing and Protection.” Directing white into the aura helps stimulate the person’s own divine nature into healing the self. White represents a new beginning or awareness and a “virgin page on which the story has yet to be written.” White is unlimited potential, oneness, completion and truth. It is cleanliness, freshness, simplicity and virginity. White is the color present when we become universal and dwell “in that peace that passeth understanding.” It also represents nothingness, and in certain cultures white is the Color of death and mourning.

We cannot live constantly in the great white light for we would function on the fourth dimensional plane and pass out of sight; but we can be lifted up and lift ourselves and others up if even for one transcendent oment. White is the peace that Jesus knew . . . the Love that is the Love of Truth. White is the Love that is joy, bliss, happiness and the wisdom that is knowledge. In hot climates we find that white throws off the ray of light and is therefore cooling.

Yellow

Yellow is the color of the sun and therefore cheers and makes sunless places bright and healthy. It is a very active ray bringing with it the gold of the spirit and mind, gladness, youth, flexibility, wisdom, intuition on a high plane, understanding, spiritual perfection, flexibility, clarity, self esteem and curiosity.

Yellow helps awaken mental inspiration and stimulates higher mentality. It will help you think quicker. Good for clearing a foggy head, an excellent Color for the nerves or nerve-related conditions or ailments. Dark yellow soothes pains in the nerves (shooting pains). It may help heal the liver, intestines and pancreas. Yellow energizes the muscles and speeds up digestion, assimilation, and the stool. It activates and cheers up depressed and melancholic people. It gives lust for life. Like the Color of gold, yellow represents the highest of the physical Colors. Yellow balances adrenal glands and can heal diabetes. Yellow links with and stimulates the solar plexus, or psychic center. It can be used for psychic burnout or other psychic-related conditions or ailments. Yellow also helps the pores of the skin and aids scarred tissue in healing itself.

Yellow is destructive when it is used too intensively. Too constant a use of it is irritating because it is too stimulating for the nerves. In its highest vibration it is probably the most rapid oscillation on this planet. Solomon thought it the most necessary vibration or state of mind needed to have “wisdom and understanding.” The Yellow ray is only felt by one who has conquered self and is working in harmony and truth. “Personality traits include being good humored, optimistic, confident, practical, and intellectual.” The Solar Plexus Chakra is governed by the yellow energy.

Orange

Orange is the true Color of the sun. It has a gentle warming effect and is cheering when used lightly. Orange, like red, should not be used for too long. The overuse of orange produces great restlessness. Because orange is a blend of red and yellow, it combines physical energy with mental wisdom, inducing a transformation between lower physical reaction and higher mental response. Thus, it is often referred to as “The Wisdom Ray.”It is a universally distributed ray and is very active as show n by all orange or orange-red fruits and vegetables. It is the ray that the Yogis use to produce the plant from the seed without waiting for the so-called normal growth according to the seasons. O range is the regenerative ray in nature. It represents chemical affinity and cohesive power in the mineral world.

Wearing orange will assist you in your creative endeavors. Orange is also the color of celebration, happiness, confidence, resourcefulness, great abundance, insight, and motivation. Orange stimulates the lungs, the respiration and the digestion. It is used to assist in all digestive ailments and kidney diseases. It helps with the assimilation of new ideas, stimulating mental enlightenment. Orange has a freeing action upon the body and mind, relieving repressions and inhibitions thus helping you to be more independent. It broadens the mind and helps you cope with life and career. It can bring joy to your workday and strengthen your appetite for life. It is also helpful in dealing with excess sexual expression and is used to increase sexual potency. Orange also increases the activity of the thyroid and relieves muscle cramps and spasms. It can also increase the amount of mothers’ milk. “Personality Traits: Enthusiastic, happy, sociable, energetic, sporty, self-assured, and constructive. ” The Spleen Chakra is governed by the energy of orange.

Red

The color of red is associated with many things. It is the color of, self confidence, impulsiveness, action, assertiveness, courage, strength, danger, warning, revolt, excitement, happiness and passionate love. All shades of red, from the crimson of suffering, the animal red of physical passions, to the most exquisite pinks of personal love and devotion, which includes mother-love in its vibrations . . . red is warmth and includes all consciousness of love. Red links with and stimulates the root chakra, at the base of the spine, causing the adrenal glands to release adrenalin. This result is greater strength. Red causes hemoglobin to multiply, thus increasing energy and raising body temperature. It is excellent for anemia and blood-related conditions and circulation. Therefore, to help keep you warm in cold climates, wear something red.

Red heals the creative, reproductive systems. It energizes and gives confidence and courage. Red is called “The Great Energizer” and “The Father of Vitality.” Red is warm, vital, heating. It loosens, opens up clogs, releases stiffness and constrictions. Red is the Color of vitality and power. It is used for burning out cancer, drying up weeping sores or wounds. It will warm cold areas to reduce pain. It will help with depression. Red is not to be used on people with high blood pressure or anxiety. It will heighten low blood pressure, however. If you stay under the red ray too long or are exposed to red for a considerable time it will make you very agitated or even aggressive. It is associated with the male polarity. It also represents live-current.

Red energizes all organs and the senses; smell, taste, vision and touch. It increases sexual desire and activity and stimulates ovulation and menstruation. Never treat cancer with red, because this Color will stimulate cell growth. A red carpet or wall, in a place of business, will draw money. If you are a sales person, try wearing something red! Red is personal and physical. It is the slowest vibration and affects our emotions quicker than any other ray. The slower the vibration, the easier we respond to it. Red earth is the slowest vibration that we know. It provides the power from the earth and gives energy on all levels. It connects us to our physical body.

Destructive use of the red ray is where we are used by the vibration, as in fear, the brute-nature of unbridled passions and lust. Anger, intense red, is often too stimulating, whereas the more rapid vibration of pink is soothing and healing. Red is a good friend where the vitality is low. People who have the “blues” should use the Chinese reds when they feel like this. Red is most detrimental near the mentally unbalanced. “Personality Traits: Courageous, confident, humanistic, strong-willed, spontaneous, honest, and extroverted” The Root Chakra is governed by red.

Pink

Pink is regarded as a feminine Color. It has to do with, kindness, consideration, softness, sweetness, innocence, and tenderness. It connects us to our universal love. Pink heals grief and sadness. It restores youthfulness and brings you in contact with your feelings. Pink helps to remove all unwanted aggression and irritation. It can also protect and give peace of mind. Dislike of pink may indicate a lack of self love.” The Heart Chakra is governed by pink. Maroon this is the color for moving into one’s task.

Magenta

Magenta has to do with inner things such as sensitivity, the uterus and the womb. It is nourishing and delicate. It can help you achieve personal power and self-realization. Magenta also deals with looking inside yourself and finding who you really are. It’s about achieving the power that comes from self-realization and finding your purpose in life. Magenta stimulates adrenaline and heart activity. It also builds up the aura. ” Personality traits: Nonconformists, see life from a different perspective, liberal, creative, self-accepting, free spirits.

Violet

Violet brings spiritual peace. Violet is truly the Color of the divine Spirit. It works mostly on the levels of the Spirit. It provides nourishment to the cells in the upper brain. The Violet color also helps expand the horizons of our Divine understanding. Violet is the ether of space. In this ray is self-mastery and the kingly consciousness that belongs to this earth. Too much violet for a soul that has not attained a higher spiritual awareness may bring on the pretense and chicanery of imposition. Violet is of such a high vibration that it fades out of sight quicker than any other Color. It has the highest frequency of all the colors and is the frequency of beauty. Leonardo da Vinci proclaimed that you can increase the power of meditation tenfold by meditating under the gentle rays of Violet. Using the rays of the “Violet Flame,” as described earlier in this book, will not only be useful in meditation but will benefit you in many other ways as well. You will want to read about “The Violet Flame” if you haven’t already done so. The violet Color of transformation heals melancholy, hysteria, delusions and alcohol addiction. It helps purify our thoughts and feelings, increases spiritual insights and enhances artistic talent, ideals and creativity. Violet slows down an overactive heart, stimulates the spleen and white blood cells (immunity) and heals tumors of the brain. Violet brings sleep and soothes mental and emotional stress. It decreases sexual activity and sensitivity to pain. It is good for detoxification. It calms highly-strung, excitable people. “Personality Traits: Inspirational leaders, kind and just, humanitarian, self-scarifying, visionary, creative, and mentally strong. ” The Crown Chakra is governed by the violet energy.

Purple

Purple is a good Color for meditation and contemplation. It is connected with mysticism, spirituality, increase, perception, and consecration of the soul to the highest spiritual aspirations. It has the power of transmutation and helps one get in tune with their inner guidance. Purple is a color of authority, leadership, moving forward in truth and inner warmth. It also helps one feel content. It will help you see the celestial light in the midst of darkness through your inner vision. Purple is also beneficial as a gatherer of desirable energies to yourself.

Royalty wore the purple of the olden times. Purple is a Color that will connect you with your spiritual self. It is good for mental and nervous problems. It will assist very well with rheumatism and epilepsy. It helps with pain and is used in deep tissue work. I has also been known to help heal bones. Too much purple and you tend not to live in this world. There are many blessings and benefits connected with the Color purple. To claim them, simply say, I claim all the benefits and blessings in the Color purple.” You can do this with any Color.

Indigo

Qualities of Indigo include patience, feeling safe, emotional detachment and relaxation. It helps one travel into the self and is the gate to the astral world. It can also be hypnotic. The Indigo energy connects us to our unconscious self, and gives us the experience of being part of the whole universe. It strengthens intuition, imagination, psychic powers, and increases dream activity. Indigo is the decomposing ray seen over stagnant places and over swamps. It expresses the divine law of change and growth. In nature, (God at work), nothing is ever lost; it is transmuted into the good and beautiful.

Indigo represents a “p lace between” where all the Colors begin to intermingle and there is a new breaking into a higher consciousness. Only through the putting off of the old consciousness of limitation, disease and disorder, can we grow into the glorious light that we are. Out of the seeming “bad” the beauty and truth of life bursts forth. Indigo is a stepping stone. Indigo develops psychic perception and intuition. Indigo links with and stimulates the brow chakra (third eye) and controls the pineal gland. It governs both the physical and spiritual, thus, it can be of great assistance in dealing with ailments of the eyes, ears and also mental problems.

Indigo is a great purifier of the bloodstream and is a freeing and purifying agent. It combines the deep blue of devotion with a trace of stabilizing and objective red. Indigo is cool, electric, and astringent. It is also the color ray used by Spirit to help entrance a medium. Indigo is considered the ray of the Holy Spirit. Personality Traits: Intuitive, spiritual, fearless, practical, idealistic, wise, and a seeker of truth. The Brow Chakra is governed by indigo.

Blue

Blue links with and stimulates the throat chakra. The throat chakra is often referenced as the “power center” and “the greatest center in the body” because it is the primary center of expression and communication. Thus, the effect of blue upon this center is quite profound. It connects us to holistic thought, and gives us wisdom and clarity, enhancing communication and speech. Solarized blue water is an excellent tonic for laryngitis or inflammation of the larynx. The Blue Ray is one of the greatest antiseptics in the world.

Blue is cooling, calming, electric and astringent. It is very good for burns. It helps bleeding and decreases fevers. Blue relieves bursting headaches, calms strong emotions like anger, aggression or hysteria. Blue is good for combating itching, irritation (for instance redness of the skin) and stress. It also soothes suffering. It is a very positive color, indicating loyalty and reliability, as expressed in the sentiment of being “true blue.” Too much blue produces the “blues.” Have you ever heard of “blues” music? And yet the highest music and art are in the greens and the blues together. Many light blues are negative. Blue calms the passions that red stirs up. It is intellectual as well as inspirational. A blue like the sky protects one from the strong sun in the tropics. We see a great deal of that sky-blue used in the hot countries in clothes as well as on the outside and the inside of the house. Blue lowers the vitality. It breathes of heaven instead of earth.

Blue used in a north room will actually produce a cold, chilly feeling yellow or orange will produce the opposite effect. Blue is quieting to the violently insane or overwrought nerves, but too much blue has the reverse effect on healthy people and brings melancholia. Too much blue can also leave you cold, depressed and sorrowful.

Because Blue helps to soothe the mind, it is the color of truth, knowledge, decisiveness, serenity and harmony. Blue is good for calming, reconstructing and protecting. It has a pacifying effect on the nervous system and brings great relaxation, Ideal for sleep problems, and hyperactive children. “Personality Traits: Loyal, tactful, affectionate, inspiring, inventive, caring, and cautious.” The Throat Chakra is governed by the blue energy.

Green

Nature clothes herself in green for rest and peace on the mental plane as well as the physical. It is balance and harmony in essence and possesses a soothing influence upon both mind and body. It is neither relaxing nor astringent in its impact. Green links with and stimulates the heart chakra. Therefore, it is representative of Spiritual healing, because love is the motivating power behind all healing. Green is relaxing to the over tired. The X-ray vibrates green and has great curative power. Too much green however, often makes one lazy and inert.

Green is quieting when used around children that are teething and soothes pain after an operation. It satisfies the eye. The green that is green with sunlight flowing through it is the vibration of money current. A heavy, dull, yellow green is jealousy and an intense gray-green is envy. Heavy dark greens depress and oppress. The wearing of the green expresses freedom and good-cheer. Spring greens are joy and gladness to the world. Beautiful yellow-green is generosity and elimination. Green is the universal healing color. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese used green as the primary color of healing because green is midway in the color spectrum and contains both a physical nature and a spiritual nature, in equal balance and in equal harmony. Thus, green can be used for just about any condition in need of healing.

Green is antibiotic. It cleanses and disinfects. It balances and neutralizes. Green affects blood pressure and all conditions of the heart. It has both an energizing effect and a moderating or soothing effect. Green stimulates growth therefore it is good for helping heal broken bones and re growth of tissue of all kinds. Green brings psychological and emotional harmony and balance; therefore it is calming for the heart and healing for the kidneys. It also cures hormonal imbalances. Green stimulates growth hormone and rejuvenation. It cleans and purifies from germs, bacteria and rotting material. It harmonizes the digestion, stomach, liver and gall. Green also increases immunity, builds up muscles, bones and tissues. It stimulates inner peace and strengthens the nervous system. Green connects us to unconditional love and is used for balancing our whole being. Green helps overcome fear of giving and sharing and is also the color for traveling back in time. It also helps us have more self control.” Personality Traits: Understanding, self-controlled, adaptable, sympathetic, compassionate, generous, humble, nature loving, and romantic.” The Heart Chakra is governed by the green energy.

Turquoise

A color for non-triviality renewal, innovation, inventions, transformation, transmutation, evolution, change, cleansing, purifying, fluctuation & humanity. It connects us to our confidence. Turquoise helpsstrengthen concentration and control over speech, allowing more freedom in expression. Turquoise increases intuition and sensitivity. It is disinfecting and antiseptic and tones the general system. Turquoise builds the skin and relaxes any sensations of stress. It also helps build the immune system. “The Thymus Chakra is governed by turquoise.

Brown

An earthly Color for practical people with a preference for natural, tribal and primitive things, solidity & simplicity. Brown can be warm and cozy but depressing. Brown is a grounding and stabilizing.

Gray

Gray is very neutral and indifferent, non-expressive, lifeless, depressing and negativeness, but it can be deliberate. Gray is the union of the most rapid vibration with the slowest. The true gray is “like death.” It seems like the absence of life. As other Colors tint the gray, the negative is lifted up. Observe the difference between the blue-grays, the green-grays and the pink-grays. Gray in costume or interior decoration has its place and can be very useful. The continual use of the intense rays of light would be too stimulating. Therefore, just a bit of gray here and there acts as a balancer.

In the aura, gray is weakness, sickness, negativeness which should be lifted up at once. A gray soul is the lack of life, decidedly. On the soulplane, gray represents death.

Black

Black is, of course, the opposite of white and absorbs the light of all the Colors. It produces heaviness and takes away our cheerfulness. It is the color of seriousness, darkness, depression, death, mourning, occultism, mystery & secrecy. Black is the nothingness or void of all creation and at the same time, a vital part of all that is. Black is a Color for extremes, everything and nothing. It is the underground, underworld and things that are hidden. Black is an unhealthy vibration for it absorbs our vitality and warmth.

The vibration is so slow that it can take all of our energy and leaves us exhausted. Be cautious about how much you wear it. On the positive side of black, it gathers heat and light from the air. Black draws the solar energy. If you like to wear black, balance it with white or a high energy Color. Warmer shades of black are also helpful when you need to contain your energy within and be hidden from the world as a bear in hibernation. Black should not be worn in the tropics. Swathed in black the body cannot eliminate freely. In cold climates, use the warmer shades and tints.

Black Velvet

Black velvet is like black holes in space, doorways to other realities. If you have read the meaning of black, you may be surprised to see what black velvet means. Let me remind you that everything has two sides, the positive and the negative. Black velvet can bring one into a state of grace, silence and peace with God. It is good in restructuring bones that have crumbled from cancer or other trauma. This kind of black, like black velvet silk, is like the life potential held in the womb. It is the black mystery of the unknown feminine within all of us, which is connected with undifferentiated life. Sitting within the black velvet void is another way to be one with the creator, to be in silence and peace. It means completely being there, in fullness and without judgment. It means completely accepting everything that is in each moment.

Special thanks to Valerieann J. Skinner from Cashing in on the “Simple Magic” of Color

Online resource guide

The Internet offers a wealth of information for the digital photographer, from tips on taking better pictures to reviews of the latest equipment and photo software. For quick reference, here’s a summary of all the Web sites listed in this book, grouped by category.

Color management tools

www.colorvision.com

www.xrite.com

Equipment cases and protective gear

www.blackrapid.com

www.ggiinternational.com

www.jill-e.com

www.kata-bags.com

www.lowepro.com

www.made-products.com

www.pelican.com

www.tenba.com

Data storage products

www.creative.com

www.digitalfoci.com

www.westerndigital.com

Lighting products

www.clouddome.com

www.lastolite.com

www.lumiquest.com

Memory cards and card readers

www.lexar.com

www.sandisk.com

Miscellaneous accessories

www.hoodmanusa.com (camera LCD accessories)

www.lensbabies.com (SLR special-effects lenses)

www.smartparts.com (digital picture frames)

www.wacom.com (drawing tablets) WOW

Photo sharing and printing products

www.epson.com

www.hp.com

www.kodakgallery.com

www.lulu.com

www.phanfare.com

www.photobucket.com

www.photoshop.com (one of my favorite)

www.picaboo.com

www.shutterfly.com

www.snapfish.com

www.zoomalbum.net

Photo software

www.acdsystems.com (my whole family choice)

www.adobe.com (I am the biggest fan)

www.apple.com

www.arcsoft.com

www.broderbund.com

www.cerious.com

www.corel.com

www.extensis.com

www.hdrsoft.com

www.lc-tech.com

www.mediarecover.com

www.nikmultimedia.com

www.novadevelopment.com

www.ononesoftware.com

www.photodex.com

www.picasa.com (great free software loaded with great features)

Reviews, inspiration, tips, and techniques

www.canon.com

www.danburkholder.com

www.digimarc.com

www.dpreview.com

www.fujifilm.com

www.imaging-resource.com

www.kodak.com

www.megapixel.net

www.nikon.com

www.pcphotomag.com

www.photo.net

www.photographyreview.com

www.photojojo.com

www.photoworkshop.com

www.ppa.com

www.shutterbug.com

www.sony.com

www.takegreatpictures.com

Tripods and other stabilization products

www.alzodigital.com

www.joby.com

www.kaidan.com

www.manfrotto.com

www.thepod.ca

Special thanks to
Julie Adair King and Serge Timacheff.

Photoshop 3 not CS3!

When I was reading Mac World magazine (December 2008) I found the below picture & I love it a lot for its simplest & great designing idea, BUT I was shocked to know that the designer uses Adobe Photoshop 3.0 & I mean 3 not CS3 which released in 1995.

The illustration was for the New Yorker magazine by Bob Staake & he used Adobe Photoshop 3 as his primary tool, he said: I am anything but a technophobe; I rarely ever upgrade because I’m usually inundated with work & simply don’t have the time to learn new versions.

I am impressed, this man really drive me crazy, I see other illustrations he made & they look great, I was sad that I can’t upgrade to CS4 as my PC not that good & feel like I am forced to use CS3 but now I got another thing to worry about and I say wait CS4 at least for now.

Special thanks to www.macworld.com

Windows goodies

Microsoft is really not that bad as some may say, its huge company & do thing that actually touched us in many ways, & I found that Microsoft represent a lot of free programs for us to download as Microsoft has over 200 FREE programs for Windows XP, Windows Vista & Office available for download, finding them all is extremely difficult . . . until now, those programs have almost zero problems in the registry and all stuff like that which we do heat, you know that they build the operating system & the programs that run on it, isn’t that great, and I choose this article to be my first as I found it very good & the best thing about it that it’s absolutely free, & work on XP or Vista so have fun.

Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft

Special Thanks to

Lifehacker,

Del.icio.us for over 5,000 tags!

WINDOWS XP GOODIES

Agent components provide animated characters (Genie, Merlin, Peedy, Robby & “Custom”) to appear during specific help or instruction. (Support FAQ)

Alt-Tab Replacement in addition to the icon of the application window you are switching to, you see a preview of the page.

Calculator Plus also performs many types of conversions.

ConferenceXP enables you to see & hear others in a virtual collaborative space, called a venue. You collaborate on an electronic whiteboard or PowerPoint presentation, send messages and more.

Feeds Plus is an Internet Explorer 7 add-on for RSS  pop-up notifications.

FolderShare keeps important files at your fingertips – anywhere. All file changes are automatically synchronized between linked computers, so you always access the latest files.

GroupBar desktop tool offers enhanced window management capabilities in a taskbar-like setting. Through simple drag-and-drop operations on window tiles within the bar, users can create lightweight, transient grouping relationships that allow them to perform certain higher-level window layout functions on multiple windows at once.

Location Finder turns a regular WiFi enabled laptop, Tablet or PC into a location determining device without the addition of any separate hardware. Location Finder uses WiFi access points – or reverse IP lookup when WiFi is not available – to center and display the person’s location on the Windows Live Local.

MapCruncher converts existing maps into an online format that’s easy to use as Virtual Earth. PDF and raster maps can be converted just by clicking on corresponding landmarks on the user’s map. (Support: Website)

My Font Tool converts your handwriting into a TrueType font, making typed text appear written by hand.

Open Command Window Here adds an “Open Command Window Here” context menu option on file system folders, giving a quick way to open a command window.

Power Calculator graphed and evaluated functions as well as performs many conversions.

Scalable Fabric task management system a central focus area, defined by you, contains windows that behave in the traditional way. When you drag a window into the periphery, it becomes smaller and continues to get smaller the closer you get to the edge of the screen. This makes it possible to keep windows open all the time and change “minimize” to mean “return to the periphery”. (Support: Website)

Snip IT can email selected text within Internet Explorer.

Taskbar Magnifier magnifies part of the screen from the taskbar.

TIME ZONES: There are two programs that help deal with multiple Time Zones: Premium Time Zone requires genuine Windows XP, the Standard Time Zone program does not. (Support: Working with Time Zones)

Tweak UI gives access to system settings not exposed in the default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

USB Flash Drive Manager backup & restore files to/from a USB Flash Drive device.

Virtual Desktop Manager manages up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar

Virtual Machine is Microsoft’s Java Virtual Machine for Internet Explorer, allowing you to view java applets on Web pages.

Webcam Timershot takes and saves pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam.

Windows Live Writer blogging authoring tool

XML Notepad 2007 provides browsing and editing XML documents. (Support: Design Doc)

XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack enables you to view, generate and index XPS Documents.

ZoomIt is screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations that include application demonstrations.

EBOOKS READER

eBooks Reader offers digital versions of printed books using ClearType technology.

Optional Reference & Dictionaries

• Encarta Pocket Reference
  
• Foreign Language Translations
  English –> French
  French –> EnglishEnglish –> German
  German –> English

  English –> Italian
  Italian –> English

  English –> Spanish
  Spanish –> English

• Text-to-Speech Packages
  English
  French
  German
  

UTILITIES

ActiveSync synchronization of Outlook information, Office docs, pics, music, videos and applications from your desktop to Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs & Smartphone’s

Clear Cache Feature for Internet Explorer – automatically deletes all temporary Internet files, cookies, and history files. This was developed to programmatically clear these files when a corrupt entry caused errors with Internet Explorer.

ClearType Tuner fine tunes the ClearType technology via the Control Panel, making it easier to read text on your screen. A necessity for LCD screens (portables and flat screens) — Or try it On-Line. [Bonus = Consolas ClearType Font Pack]

Color Control Panel Applet adds a new “Color” item to the control panel, providing viewing and editing color management settings.

Desktop Language Settings changes language, keyboard, and regional settings for Windows, Internet Explorer, and Office.

Desktop Search 4 helps you to find, preview, and use your documents, e-mail, music, photos, and other items.

• Internet Explorer History Protocol Handler Add-in indexes the history of the web pages you have browsed using Internet Explorer. (Support KB918998)
  
• UNC/FAT Protocol Handler Add-in indexes your shared network directories and FAT drive(s) allowing you to easily find your specific content. (Support KB918996)
  

Font Properties Extension adds several new property tabs to the fonts dialog box. (Support: Website)

ISO Recorder Power Toy makes images of CDs & DVDs to create ISO images.

Keyboard Layout Creator creates & modifies keyboard layouts.

MSN Search Toolbar software and components

Mount ISO Files Virtually – this tool allows ISO image files to be mounted virtually as a CD/DVD device.

RoboCopy GUI – GUI for Command Line Utility ROBOCOPY

SequoiaView – Treemap visualization of hard drive’s contents (Utilityapproved by the PowerToys group)

SyncToy helps copy, move, and synchronize files with digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. (Support: How to  . . .)

System Configuration Utility (msconfig) has been updated with a Tools Tab. The System Configuration utility automates the routine troubleshooting steps used when diagnosing system configuration issues. (Support: How to MSCONFIG & How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting)

Terminals is a “tabbed” terminal services/remote desktop client used for controlling multiple connection simultaneously.

Transliteration Utility (TU) tool for transliterating one natural language script to another (like Serbian Latin to Serbian Cyrillic or Latin to Inuktitut). Plus, it can be used to create, edit, debug, and test natural language transliteration modules used to convert one script to another. (Support: How to . . .)

Tweakomatic utility that writes Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripts enabling you to retrieve and/or configure Windows and Internet Explorer settings locally or remotely

User State Migration Tool (USMT) migrates user files and settings during large deployments by capturing desktop, network and application settings as well as a user files, and then migrates them to a new Windows installation. (Support: Homepage)

Virtual PC is a powerful software virtualization solution that allows running multiple PC-based operating systems simultaneously on one workstation. (Support: Technical Overview)

VirtualWiFi abstracts a single WLAN card to appear as multiple virtual WLAN cards to the user. The user can then configure each virtual card to connect to a different wireless network. Therefore, VirtualWiFi allows a user to simultaneously connect his machine to multiple wireless networks using just one WLAN card.

Windows SteadyState is designed for schools, libraries, Internet Cafés, and other public locations.

Wntipcfg This GUI tool gives you information about your IP configuration.

SUPPORT & TROUBLESHOOTING

Bootvis – Microsoft states this tool is not available, but they still “support it“.  Bootvis “was” a performance tracing and visualization tool designed to help identify performance issues for boot/resume timing while developing new PC products or supporting software.

Change Analysis Diagnostic tracks Windows OS changes

COMDisable tool, views, disable or enable a list of available COM ports.

DebugView monitors kernel-mode and Win32 debug output on your local or networked TCP/IP computer.

Desktop Heap Monitor examines usage of a WIN32 subsystem that has an internal heap area known as “desktop heap”. When running large number of programs, “Out Of Memory” error messages appear when you attempt to start new programs or try to use programs that are already running, even though you still have plenty of physical and pagefile memory available. (Support: KB126952)

DiskMon logs and displays all hard disk activity.

DLL Online Help Database – helps identify DLL version conflicts.

Fiddler is an HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and “fiddle” with incoming or outgoing data. (Support: HTTP Debugging)

Guided Help (depending on the problem) can automatically guide you through various steps to perform some diagnostic tasks yourself. (Support: How to . . .)

Kernel Memory Space Analyzer helps expert debugging engineers analyze crash dump files.

MDAC Component Checker helps you determine installed version information and diagnose installation issues with the Microsoft Data Access Components (Support: MDAC Website)

Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors. (Support: Users Guide)

Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool (xpnetdiag) analyzes information about your network connectivity to help troubleshoot common connection problems. (Support: KB914440)

Portmon monitors and displays all serial and parallel port activity on a system. Advanced filtering and search capabilities make it a powerful tool for tracking down problems in system or application configurations.

PortQry Command Line Port Scanner is a command-line utility that troubleshoots TCP/IP connectivity issues by reporting the port status of TCP and UDP ports on a computer you choose. For details, see KB310099 and description. (Description of Microsoft Port Numbers & All Port Numbers)

Port Reporter logs TCP and UDP port activity on a local Windows system by running as a service logging which ports are used, which process is using the port, if the process is a service, which modules the process has loaded and which user account is running the process. (Description of Microsoft Port Numbers & All Port Numbers)

Port Reporter Parser Tool is a log parser for Port Reporter log files. Port Reporter Parser has many features that can help you analyze Port Reporter log files.

Process Explorer shows information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.

Process Monitor shows real-time file system, Registry and process/thread activity.

Product Support’s Reporting Tools and Premier Services Reporting Utility (Alliance version) facilitates the gathering of critical system and logging information used in troubleshooting support issues. There are 8 specialty versions, one for each of the following support scenario categories: Alliance, Directory Services (not for NT 4.0), Networking, Clustering, SQL, Software Update Services, MDAC and Base / Setup / Storage / Print / Performance. (Support: Blog Article & Overview)

Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities zipped into a single file containing the individual troubleshooting tools and help files.

User Mode Process Dumper (userdump) dumps any running Win32 processes memory image (including system processes such as csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, services.exe, etc) on the fly, without attaching a debugger, or terminating target processes. Generated dump file can be analyzed or debugged by using the standard debugging tools.

User Profile Deletion Utility (Delprof) deletes all data that is stored in a user profile including desktop settings, favorites, program-specific data that is contained in the Application Data folder, and the contents of the My Documents folder.

User Profile Hive Cleanup helps with slow log off and unreconciled profile problems ensuring that user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off when using Roaming Profiles or locked profiles as implemented through the Shared Computer Toolkit.

Video Decoder Checkup Utility helps determine if an MPEG-2 DVD video decoder is installed, and whether it’s compatible with Media Player 10 or Media Center Edition.

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility can remove a program’s configuration information if experiencing installation (Setup) problems.

Windows Support Tools are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems.

SECURITY, ANTI-SPYWARE & ANTI-VIRUS

Baseline Security Analyzer includes a graphical and command line interface that can perform local or remote scans of Windows systems. MBSA will scan for common security misconfigurations in the following products: Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, IIS 5.0 & 6.0, SQL Server 7.0 & 2000, MSIE 5.01 and later, and Office 2000, 2002 & 2003. MBSA also scans for missing security updates, update rollups and service packs published to Microsoft Update. (Support Tool: Visio Connector for MBSA 2.0, MBSA Homepage)

Malicious Software Removal Tool checks for infection by specific, prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps to remove the infection if it is found. (Updated on the second Tuesday of each month.)

Promqry and PromqryUI detects if a network sniffer that is running on a computer. If a system has network interfaces in promiscuous mode, it may indicate the presence of a network sniffer running on the system.

PromqryUI provides a Windows graphical interface that can be used to detect network interfaces that are running in promiscuous mode.

Promqry is a command line tool that can be used to detect network interfaces that are running in promiscuous mode.

Windows Defender protects against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

Windows Live Safety Center – Web service designed to ensure the health of your computer with free scanning tools helping get rid of unwanted software.

OFFICE APPLICATIONS

Office Accounting 2007

Word 5.5 for DOS ,Huh?

EXPRESS EDITIONS FOR DEVELOPERS

SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2005 with Advanced Services

Visual 2005 Web Developer

Visual
Basic, C#, C++, & J#

MULTIMEDIA

CD Slide Show Generator can view images burned to a CD as a slide show.

“Decades” Auto Playlist Pack include dozens new auto playlists to organize your music by decades—from the 1940s through the new millennium.

Device Manager Software Development Kit (SDK) works with devices that support the new Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).

Easy Camera Calibration Tool determines a camera’s internal parameters (focal length, aspect ratio, radial distortion, etc.). The technique only requires the camera to observe a planar pattern shown at a few (at least two) different orientations. Either the camera or the planar pattern can be freely moved. The motion need not be known. (Support: Website)

GroupShot creates a composite image from a series of photos. The photos must be of the same scene, taken from the same point of view within a short period of time. (Support: Help, Website & Channel 9 Video)

HTML Slide Show Wizard creates an HTML slide show of your digital pictures.

Image Resizer resizes one or many image files with a right-click. (Support: How to . . .)

JetStream Image Editor with cut and paste tool, based on sequential curve growing with interaction. (Support: Website)

Media Audio 9 Lossless to PCM Converter - command line tool converts files encoded using Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless back into the original PCM WAV format.

Media Bonus Pack: utilities, PowerToys, visualizations, skins, sound effects, and much more. (Net Install Version)

Media Capture capture uncompressed AVI video files with mono, stereo, 5.1, or 7.1 channels of audio, with up to 24 bit resolution and sampling rates up to 192KHz.

Media Encoder provides support for high-quality multichannel sound, high-definition video quality, new support for mixed-mode voice and music content, and more. (Support: Introduction to . . .)

Media Encoder Studio Edition for video professionals, focused on the creation of high-quality, offline encoded content.

Media Mono to Multichannel Wave Combiner 9 Series - command line tool will combine 2, 6 or 8 mono WAV files into an audio-only AVI file that can be used as a source with the Windows Media Encoder 9 Series.

Media Player Software Development Kit (SDK) introduces a range of new features and functionality for customizing the Player and Player Control.

Media Professional Exhibitor intended for playback at full-screen resolution at all times. All transport and playlist controls appear on a (required) second monitor allowing for a theatrical viewing experience.

Media Transfer Protocol Porting Kit introduces the new Media Transfer Protocol (MTP), which enables you to manage content on any portable device.

Movie Maker create, edit, and share home movies easily with drag-and-drops. [Fun Packs: Winter 2002 & 2003 - Creative Audio, Titles,  Custom Effects and Transitions] (Support: Blog Posting)

Photo Info allows photographers to add, change and delete common “metadata” properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer. (Support: FAQ)

Paint.Net originated as a Computer Science senior design project at Washington State University, and is still developed by the two alumni Rick Brewster and Tom Jackson who now work for Microsoft. Don’t forget the Free Paint.Net Plug-Ins!

Photo Story create slideshows using your digital photos. With a single click, you can touch-up, crop, or rotate pictures. Add stunning special effects, soundtracks, and your own voice narration to your photo stories.

Producer 2003 for users of PowerPoint 2002 & 2003, includes improved audio and video quality, better synchronization, and presentation-sharing tools.

RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for serious photographers. Organize and work with digital RAW files in Windows Explorer, providing thumbnails, previews, printing, and metadata display for RAW images. (Support: White Paper)

TweakMediaPlayer gives access to advanced settings for the library, CD burning, and full-screen mode. Adjust music queuing in the library, automatic volume leveling for burning audio CDs, full-screen animations, and much more.

Video Cube loads an AVI movie file as a volume, and play back the movie sampling space and time in different ways. It also provides a single cutting plane for interactively viewing single spacetime slices of the video. (Support: Video Cubisum)

GAMING

3 Degrees connects people into a small group, so you can do fun things together. Throw animations to each others’ desktops with winks. Listen together to a shared playlist created from music that you own with musicmix.

Carioca Rummy Card Game is a fun form of Contract Rummy popular in Argentina and Chile.

Game Voice Share Talk strategy to your teammates. Talk trash to your opponents. Game Voice brings the power of voice to games, whether you’re online, on a LAN, or offline. (Support: How to . . .)

Match-Up! Similar to the game “Concentration”, test your memory and matching skills while racing against the clock.

SafeDisc – When running a restricted user account with fast user switching under Windows XP, some games will not start correctly. The game requests that the original disk be placed in the drive, even if it is already present.

XBox 360 Controller & Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows XP & Windows Vista & Windows XP 64 & Windows Vista 64 (Support: Documentation)

All Microsoft Free Game Demos

HARDWARE

Fingerprint Reader – DigitalPersona Password Manager 2.0 (Support: How to . . .)

Keyboard – IntelliType 6.1 for Windows XP & Windows Vista and Windows XP 64 & Windows Vista 64

Mouse & Trackball – IntelliPoint 6.1 for Windows XP & Windows Vista, Windows XP 64 & Windows Vista 64 (Support: How to . . . ) — New
Habu Mice

Webcams – LifeCam 1.21 for Windows XP & Windows Vista

SCREENSAVERS & THEMES

4 the Dogs (Patas) – Four themes with “man’s best friend”

BlueScreen of Death Screen Saver (BSOD) Who say’s Microsoft doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Brazilian Beaches (Praias do Brasil) – Four of Brazil’s famous beaches: Florianopolis, Buzios, Jericoacoara e Fernando de Noronha.

Brazilian Carnival Three types of parties according to regions: Olinda, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.

Chinese New Year Theme Pack 2006

Christmas Theme

Creativity Fun Pack PowerToys automatically select images for your Desktop or Screen Saver.

Danish
Spring & Summer themes by photographers from the Nordic countries.

Desktop Wallpapers from Microsoft Employees: Michael Swanson & Mikhail Arkhipov’s 1920 x 1200 (16:10 aspect ratio “widescreen”) and 1600 x 1200 (4:3 aspect ratio “standard”), Peggi Goodwin’s Gorgeous Nature Images (various resolution) and three from the Exchange Server Team.

Dungeon Siege Screensaver from the magical Land of Ehb

Egypt Nile Theme

European Union Flags Screensaver

Final Fantasy XI Desktop Theme

Flight Simulator X Screensaver

Historical Monuments of Québec Theme

Holiday Snowflakes Screensaver

Ireland Desktop Theme by Fáilte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board

Italian Pasta Theme Pack.

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth Skin for Windows Media Player 10 The skin was created in partnership with Electronic Arts and designed by The Skins Factory.

MSN Screensaver personalize your screensaver with background photos, news and weather information from MSN or any RSS feeds from websites you choose.

Nunavut
(Canadian Arctic Region) – Desktop Theme

New Zealand Bliss A special Queen’s Birthday 2005 edition (Preview Samples)

Office Dinosaur Screensaver. Share the Microsoft Office Dino’s pain as he dances his way through one embarrassing technological difficulty after another.

Ontario Canada – Desktop Theme

Plus! Dancer LE enables you to experience the fun of entertaining dancers that groove to beats of the music that’s playing on your desktop.

• Cobey See Cobey get down to Hip Hop!
  
• Evan & Michele Spice up your desktop with the sexy Argentinean tango.
  
• Scooby-Doo See Scooby-Doo do the Scooby Shuffle!
  

Portuguese Discoveries Theme Pack produced in cooperation with Portugal’s National Library – Ministry of Culture.

Ree Ree Khao Sarn, the traditional Thai children’s game includes colorful wallpaper, icons and animated screensaver with sound, demonstrating children play.

Royale Noir: “Secret” internal Microsoft XP Theme.

San Fermín Desktop Theme is specifically designed for the Spanish speaking community.

Security Screensavers two screen savers remind us of basic security practices – Ten Immutable Laws of Security, & Ten Immutable Laws of Security Administration.

Thème Québec.

TimeDimension Screensaver futuristic “clock” by Brazilian designer Hans Donner

Valentine’s Day Screensaver celebrates (duh) Valentine’s Day.

Video Screensaver includes sample movie footage of countries all over the world.

Windows XP Screensaver

Windows Vista Theme for Windows XP

Winter Fun Pack 2004 for Windows XP Installer

Winter 2006 TechNet Scripting Games Screensaver.

World of Warcraft Skin for Media Player 10 Blizzard’s official World of Warcraft skin.

Xbox Screensavers, Desktops & Media Player skins.

Zune Desktop Theme

WINDOWS VISTA GOODIES

Experience Pack

• Equation Writer - handwritten mathematical equations convert into a typewritten image
  
• Media Transfer copy/stream media from a computer to a Tablet PC
  
• Ink Crossword solve 12 puzzles (& download more)
  
• Ink Flash Cards helps learning facts or study for an exam
  

Feeds Plus read RSS feeds in a combined view with notifications for new items. (Support: MSDN)

Ink Desktop a dry-erase board to jot down phone #, directions, or top daily prioritiesy

Origami Experience Pack for UMPCs

• Origami Experience: Access all media & favorite programs
  
• Touch Settings: Config touch screen
  
• Sudoku: Popular number game
  

StickySorter is for brainstorming, planning, and affinity diagramming

Virtual Earth 3D search, browse, & organize local information viewed in 3D

Windows Vista Ultimate Helpful Hints: Guide to mastering the Ultimate operating system

XML Notepad 2007 browse & edit XML documents. (Support: DOC)

XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack view, generate & index XPS Docs

UTILITIES

AccessChk provides what kind of accesses specific users or groups have to resources including files, directories, Registry keys, & Windows services

Active Directory Topology Diagrammer reads AD configurations using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and automatically generates a Visio diagram of your Active Directory and /or Exchange 200x Server topology

Administrative (Group Policy) Templates
(.admx) manages registry-based policy settings in the (gpedit.msc) user interface

AeroNotes is a full featured notepad alternative using the Aero Glass technology

Application Compatibility Toolkit contains tools & docs to evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues before deploying Windows Vista, Windows Update, or a new version of Internet Explorer in your environment.

AUReset tool contains scripts to fix most Automatic Updates & Windows Update problems.

AutoRuns shows what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows the order Windows processes them.

Baseline Security Analyzer graphical & command line interface performs local or remote scans for common security misconfigurations: missing security updates, update rollups & service packs published to Microsoft Update. (Support: MBSA Homepage & Visio Connector Tool for MBSA)

Battery Saver saves up to 70% of your battery by disabling some greedy features

BGInfo displays relevant information on the Desktop’s background: computer name, IP address, service pack version, etc.

BitLocker:

• Drive Preparation Tool configures drives to support BitLocker
  
• Recovery Password Viewer for Active Directory locate & recover encrypted passwords in ADDS.
  
• Repair Tool recovers data from a corrupt / damaged BitLocker drive
  

BITS Repair Tool for 32 bit & 64 bit, helps fix the corruption of Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) state files. (Support: KB940520)

Command Reference for automating command-line tasks by using batch files or scripting tool

Cayra mind mapping tool for flushing out design ideas (Support: MSDN)

Desktops organizes your applications on up to four virtual desktops.

Edison – energy monitoring application to actively control PC’s energy consumption.

FolderShare share files & access computer(s) remotely

Group Policy Log View utility exports Group Policy event data from the system & operational log into a text, HTML, or XML file

Hosts File Manager makes configuration changes to the HOSTS file (add, delete, & edit).

IE7Pro add-on for Internet Explorer includes tweaks to make it friendlier, more useful, secure & customizable. (Support: MSDN)

IE Proxy Manager (TrayIcon) is an easy to use proxy Manager for Internet Explorer and all depending applications.

IconEditor creates icons in multiple formats: 16×16 – 16 color, 48×48-24bit color, up to 128×128-32bit color, along with marking the transparent colors (XOR Mask & AND Mask). (Support: MSDN)

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool verify routers support new technologies.

ISO Recorder with DVD Support

IPsec Diagnostic Tool assists troubleshooting network related IPsec failures.

Keyboard Layout Creator create or modify keyboard layouts

Language Interface Packs for English versions

Network Monitor protocol analysis allows capturing, viewing & analyzing network (wired & WiFi) traffic. (Support: TechNet, Command Line Wizard)

OpenType Font File Properties Extension adds property tabs to the fonts dialog box (i.e. font name, origination, copyright, & extended character set code pages)

PrivBar toolbar shows current privilege level (Administrators, Power Users, Users, or Guests)

Process Explorer shows information in two sub-windows, about which handles & DLLs processes have opened or loaded. The top window shows currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, the information in the bottom window depends on the Process Explorer mode: in handle mode you’ll see the handles the process selected in the top window; in DLL mode you’ll see the DLLs & memory-mapped files the process has loaded.

Process Monitor shows real-time file system, Registry & process/thread activity. It combines the features of two legacy Sysinternals utilities, Filemon & Regmon, and adds an extensive list of enhancements including rich & non-destructive filtering, comprehensive event properties such session IDs & user names, reliable process information, full thread stacks with integrated symbol support for each operation, simultaneous logging to a file, & more. (Support: TechNet)

PsExec allows executing processes on other systems, complete with full interactivity for console applications, without having to manually install client software. PsExec’s most powerful uses include launching interactive command-prompts on remote systems & remote-enabling tools like IpConfig that otherwise do not have the ability to show information about remote systems.

PsService service viewer & controller displays the status, configuration, & dependencies of a service, and allows you to start, stop, pause, resume & restart them. PsService enables logging-on to a remote system using a different account, for cases when the account from which it doesn’t have required permissions on the remote system.

Release Notes information on deploying & using Vista, including known issues.

Remote Server Administration Tools
32bit & 64bit support remote management of computers running Windows Server 2008.

SearchMelt, is a Vista Search Folder changed to be generic & able to be shared.  “It’s like Search + XML + Sharing — it’s a whole bunch of melty goodness!”

SharedView Beta connects up to 15 people & get your point across by showing them your screen. (Support: FAQ)

ShellRunas for heavy Explorer users who launch programs under different accounts (similar to RunAs)

Snip IT emails selected text in Internet Explorer using your default email: Gmail, Hotmail & Outlook & Yahoo Mail.

SpeechSaver system tray utility to turn off Speed Recognition after a few minutes with no activity,

Speech Recognition Macros creates powerful macros triggered by voice command to interact with applications.

Speed Launch gives you lightning quick access to all the documents, files, & websites.

Start++ Windows XP Desktop Search allowed the creation of aliases between words or characters with commands & searches.  Example: set up the Desk bar so you could type “g Stuff” to search for the work “Stuff” on Google.  Start++ also launches programs, run scripts with parameters.

SteadyState helps manage shared computers in a school, Internet cafe, library, or at home. (Support: FAQ)

System Update Readiness Tool
x32 & x64 checks for inconsistencies in the Windows servicing store which may prevent the successful installation of future updates, service packs, & software.

TCPView shows detailed listings of all TCP & UDP endpoints, including the local & remote addresses and state of TCP connections. TCPView also reports the name of the process that owns the endpoint.

Terminals multi tab terminal services/remote desktop client. It uses Terminal Services ActiveX Client (mstscax.dll) allowing the control of multiple connection simultaneously.

TweakUAC quickly turns on & off (UAC) User Account Control (Support: MSDN)

User State Migration Tool migrates user files & settings during deployments of Windows XP & Vista. USMT captures files & settings from the source computer and then migrates them to a new Windows installation.

• Workstation Migration Assistant visual wrapper for the User State Migration Tool, designed to simplify the capture / restore process for your end-users. (Support: TechNet)
  

Virtual Desktop Manager provides a powerful virtual desktop manager with a full screen thumbnail based preview

Virtual PC 2007 create & run one or more virtual machines (different operating systems), on a single computer.

Vispa tweaking for privacy security & system performance (Support: Channel 10)

VistaTweaker has software, performance, usability & other tweaks to improve the overall experience. (Support: Channel 10)

Visual Round Trip Analyzer – Web page performance visualizer and analyzer tool

WinDirStat disk usage statistics viewer & cleanup tool. (Support: MSDN)

WinHlp32 Help program included in Windows XP. (Support: KB917607)

Windows Automated Installation Kit helps IT professionals customize & deploy Windows Vista. Perform unattended installations, capture Windows images with ImageX, & create Windows PE images.

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility removes a program’s Windows Installer configuration information when experiencing installation (Setup) problems (i.e. problems when adding / removing a program’s component.)

Windows Mobile Device Center enables data synchronization between Windows Mobile Devices & Windows Vista & Vista 64.

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment finds computers on a network, performs a detailed inventory, reports whether a computer(s) can run Windows Vista.

Windows Vista Ultimate Language Packs

• Chinese (PRC)
  
• Chinese (Hong Kong SAR)
  
• Danish
  
• Dutch
  
• English (US)
  
• Finnish
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Italian
  
• Japanese
  
• Korean
  
• Norwegian
  
• Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• Russian
  
• Spanish
  
• Swedish
  

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor identifies if a PC is ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista & which features will be able to run on their PCs

XdN Tweaker (Support: Channel 10)

ZoomIt screen zoom & annotation tool for technical presentations.

SEARCH & PREVIEW ADD-INS

Windows Search 4.0 for 32 bit & 64 bit updated search component. (Support: KB940157)

• 2007 Office System Converter: IFilter Pack installs the following formats: .docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .zip, .one, .vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, &  .vtx
  
• Internet Explorer History indexes the history of the web pages browsed using Internet Explorer. (Support KB918998)
  
• Lotus Notes indexes the content of Lotus Notes e-mail, contacts, calendar items, & journal items
  
• Network (UNC/FAT) Protocol Handler indexes shared network directories & FAT drive(s) to easily find specific content. (Support KB918996)
  
• Outlook Saved Mail indexes Outlook’s (.MSG) sent itens
  

Adobe Photoshop Preview Handler for Photoshop (PSD) files

Code Preview Handler for .cs, .vb, .sql, .js files – allows viewing of code files within Explorer & Outlook 2007 (Support: MS Blogger)

InkSeine search for files by circling a handwritten phrase within notes

SearchTogether Internet Explorer Search Collaboration Tool

MULTIMEDIA

Image Composite Editor stitches multiple source images into a seamless panorama

ImageResizer PowerToy right-click resizes one or many image files (Support: How to…)

Imagizer simple application to resize a batch of images.

HD View Utilities display & interaction with very large images. (Support: Website)

HD Photo Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop supports a wide range of pixel formats (high dynamic range, wide gamut formats) & numerous advanced HD Photo features. (Support: MSDN)

Paint.Net originated as a project at Washington State University, & still developed by Microsoft alumni.

Photo Info allows photographers to add, change & delete common “metadata” properties. (Support: FAQ)

Pro Photo Tools for editing metadata in photographs including latitude, longitude, & other location details.

RAW Codecs handles RAW image files with the same ease as JPEG or TIFF images.

• ArdFry (.DNG)
  
• Adobe DNG
  
• Canon (.CR2, .CRW & .TIF)
  
• Nikon (.NEF Nikon Electronic Format)
  
• Olympus (.ORF)
  
• Pentax (.ORF)
  
• Sony (.ARW .SR2 & SRF)
  

TweakMC – Tweak Media Center

trueSpace 3D authoring package for online shared spaces, & for Virtual Earth.

WebGuide provides remote access to your Media Center from any computer with a web browser, including a cell phone or mobile device.

WMV9 PowerToy configures advanced properties of the WMV9 encoder & decoder otherwise only accessible through registry settings

DESKTOP WALLPAPERS, SCREENSAVERS & DREAMSCENES

Chirpscreen interactive screensaver updates with content from social networks (i.e. Facebook, Flickr) – it floats the information across the screen, & allows clicking on the content taking you to the web page or social networking site. (Support: MSDN)

Dark Aurora (1500 × 1125) Wallpaper from Long Zheng

Digital Blasphemy’s Free 3D Wallpapers – “really-cool” 3rd party wallpapers (Support: MSDN)

Exchange Server Team’s 3 wallpapers with new logo

FlipClock Screensaver (Support: MSDN)

Flittrbook, a WPF screensaver mashup of 3 popular social networking sites: Flickr, Twitter, & Facebook. (Support: MSDN)

Halo 3 Wallpaper

How to Customize ScreenSavers via Registry.

Live Services & Mesh Desktop Wallpapers

New Zealand Bliss backgrounds & Wallpaper

(RED) Wallpapers raise awareness for people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Silverlight Team’s “Dusk” DreamScene – Standard & Widescreen

Silverlight Team’s Wallpaper – Dawn “Blue” & Dusk “Black” inspired widescreen & 4:3 desktop wallpapers

Virtual Earth Screensaver reads RSS feeds to show interesting Virtual Earth Birdseye & satellite images with users’ information

Vista Wallpapers by Hamad Darwish

Vista’s Winning Wallpapers from Microsoft Singapore

Wallpapers from Microsoft Employees: Michael Swanson & Mikhail Arkhipov’s 1920 x 1200 (16:10 ”widescreen”) & 1600 x 1200 (4:3 ”standard”), Peggi Goodwin’s Gorgeous Nature Images (various)

Wallpapers & Tool from MSN – 100’s of Free Wallpapers & Wallpaper Creation Tool

Xbox 360 “Jump in” Holiday Wallpaper – 800 x 600 & 1024 x 768

Yule Log Visualization for Windows Media Player

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 11 SKINS:

• Anemone Get Oceanographic!
  
• BlueGrid neat & organized
  
• Cerulean Android skin
  
• Circle Overlapping circular disks
  
• Claw Sink your claws into this
  
• Color Chooser Select different background colors to suit your mood
  
• Crystal Ball Look deeply into this crystal ball . . .
  
• Digital DJ Automatically builds skins based on different playlists
  
• Gadget Cool gadget-style
  
• Goo A splash of organic goo
  
• Modern Blue Soft swirls of blue
  
• MSN Keep up on entertainment news
  
• Ocean Soft Breeze
  
• Pharaoh Go back in time
  
• Polygon Fun Geometry
  
• RAD Techno
  
• Radio Old-fashioned radio
  
• Science Cool Chemistry
  
• Toothy Your ”friend” who stays until the party’s over
  
• Tube Frame featuring SRS WOW effects
  

GAMES

GAMES for Windows Vista from MSN’s Game Zone

Go
(traditional Chinese board game), Hua Rong Dao Game & Rubik’s Cube Game from Microsoft’s Xu Wang

Sudoku Game from Microsoft’s Carlos Aguilar Mares

Windows Pranks:

• April Fool’s Day Prank wait until the assigned time & runs one of two (or both!) effects:  Desktop Zoom In/Out & Desktop Rotate!
  
• Halloween Prank involving “dripping animated blood down a victim’s screen”
  

SECURITY, BACKUP & DATA TRANSFER

Easy Transfer automatically copies files, photos, music, email & settings to your Windows Vista based PC.

Malicious Software Removal Tool (32 & 64 bit) detects & removes infections by malware.

SyncToy helps copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders & computers.

Windows Live OneCare service has been upgraded to support Windows Vista.

Windows NT Backup – Restore Utility restores backups made on Windows XP, & Windows Server 2003.

HARDWARE

Fingerprint Reader – DigitalPersona Password Manager 2.0 (Support: How to . . .)

Habu Gaming Mice Drivers & Firmware

Keyboard IntelliType 6.3 for Vista & Vista 64

LifeChat Headset 1.3

Mouse & Trackball IntelliPoint 6.3 for Vista & Vista 64 (Support: How to. . .)

Webcams LifeCam 2.04

XBox 360 Controller & Wireless Gaming Receiver for Vista & Vista 64 (Support: DOC)

WINDOWS VISTA DEVELOPERS

DebugView monitor debug output on a local system, or any computer on the network via TCP/IP. It displays both kernel-mode & Win32 debug output, so you don’t need a debugger to catch the debug output your applications or device drivers generate, nor do you need to modify applications or drivers to use non-standard debug output APIs.

Debug Diagnostic Tool assists in troubleshooting issues such as hangs, slow performance, memory leaks or fragmentation, & crashes in any Win32 user-mode process.

Debugging Tools for Windows – used to debug drivers, applications, & services on systems running both 32 bit & 64 bit versions of Windows.

Fiddler
HTTP & HTTPS Website Debugging PowerTool supports viewing & modifying HTTP & HTTPS traffic. It also can be saved to Visual Studio WebTest files.

Image Colorizer demonstrates how to write an application for colorizing digital photos using the inking support provided by Tablet PC APIs.

LUA Buglight helps developers & IT Pros (sysadmins) identify specific causes of admin-permissions issues (a.k.a. LUA bugs) in desktop applications.

PowerShell & PowerShell 64 command-line shell & scripting language allows managing computers via commands or scripts, improving productivity through system automation. (Support: Website)

Graphical Help File (including cmdlet help & the about topics) in a fully-searchable, graphical format (a standard Windows .chm file). Also included in the help file is the VBScript to Windows PowerShell Conversion Guide & a collection of PowerShell Tips of the Week.

PowerGUI is an extensible graphical administrative console for managing systems based on Windows PowerShell. The tool allows to use the rich capabilities of Windows PowerShell in a familiar & intuitive GUI console. (Support: MSDN)

PowerShell + console embedded in a rich & intuitive user interface. (Support: PowerShell Team)

Product Identification Tool creates a product signature for your installed application.

Robotics Studio is an environment to create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware.

Introductory Courseware demonstrates common robotics concepts such as reading sensors, controlling actuators, designing simple behaviors, & having a robot interacting with its environment.

SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is a free lightweight & embeddable version of SQL Server 2005. (Support: Books Online)

Storyboard Designer is used to diagram (model) & generate documentation for a storyboard scenario.

Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions. (Support: SDK)

Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions (Individual Files or ISO Image) includes:

• Visual Web Developer 2008 Express
  
• Visual Basic 2008 Express
  
• Visual C# 2008 Express
  
• SQL Server 2005 Compact
  
• SQL Server 2005 Express
  
• MSDN Express Documentation
  

Windows Media Center SDK – Documentation, tools, & sample code for developing Windows Media Center applications & services.

• Media Center Markup Language Preview Tool provides a graphical user interface to craft the command line parameters which can be used with the Media Center Markup Language Preview Tool available with the Windows Media Center SDK.
  

Windows Movie Maker & Windows DVD Maker Software Developers Kit create & add custom special effects and transitions to Windows Movie Maker; also create custom transitions, buttons, and menu styles to Windows DVD Maker.

Windows Vista SDK includes documentation, samples, and tools designed to help develop applications & libraries using both Win32 & .NET Framework 3.0 technologies. (Also: ISO Image).

OFFICE SYSTEM GOODIES

Desktop Language Settings allows you to identify and change language, keyboard, and regional settings for Windows, Internet Explorer, and Office programs with a single tool.

Creative Commons Add-in for Office enables you to embed a Creative Commons license into a document created by: Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. With a Creative Commons license, authors can express their intentions regarding how their works may be used by others.

Enterprise Setup replacement of the Microsoft Office 2003 setup.exe file for administrators who plan to deploy Office 2003 with Local Installation Source (LIS) enabled.

File Converter Pack provides file converters and image filters for older or seldom used program formats.

Font properties extension adds several new property tabs to the fonts dialog box.

Learning Essentials is a free add-in for schools, transforms familiar applications into customized tools for teaching and learning. Curriculum-based toolbars, templates, project assistance, and tutorials from leading publishers help students and teachers to do their best work. (Supporting Software: Content Development Kit (CDK))

Office Live Add-in installs a toolbar in Microsoft Office XP & 2003. You will be able to Open & Save documents located in Office Live Workspace directly from Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel, and Office PowerPoint.

Office Web Parts and Components is a collection of Web Parts, Web Part Page solutions, templates, and data retrieval services that work closely with Office 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. (For Office XP)

Office 2007 Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats – Open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 file formats.

Remove Hidden Data permanently remove hidden and collaboration data, such as change tracking and comments, from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files with documentation. (Or you may have the same problem as pharmaceutical company Merck!

Resource Kit Tools
2000,  XP,  &  2003 for those deploying Microsoft Office in a corporate environment.

Sounds add sounds to have fun audio cues play as you work with Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word.

Stock Actions for the Research Task Pane allows you to insert stock quote information from the MSN Money Stock Quotes service into Word & Excel.

Web Components are a collection of Component Object Model (COM) controls for publishing spreadsheets, charts, and databases to the Web. (For Office XP)

Windows Rights Manangment Services (RMS) Client (SP2) is required for your computer to run applications that provide functionality based on Windows RMS technologies. (IA64 Version)

Work smarter using the 2003 Microsoft Office system and Windows XP – These simple, easy-to-use customizable job aids created by Microsoft IT help employees get started with something new, learn more about using a technology or product effectively, select the right product or service, or review best practices.

Works 6–9 File Converter allows you to open, edit, and save files in the Microsoft Works Word Processor file format supported by the Works versions 6, 7, 8, and 9.

XML Date and Phone Number Smart Tags recognize most date and phone number formats in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Software Developer Kits (SDK)

InfoPath 2003 SDK — Sample forms, tools, and documentation to assist with InfoPath 2003 form development and deployment.

Office 2003 Research Service SDK — Build information services that provide users with robust information sources, all from within Office applications.

Office 2003 Smart Document SDK — Develop custom solutions that use the smart document functionality introduced in the Microsoft Office System.

Office 2003 Smart Tag SDK — Use the documentation, tools, sample code, and XML schemas in this SDK when creating solutions that use smart tags.

SharePoint Products and Technologies 2003 SDK — Programming tasks, samples, references, and conceptual overviews for SharePoint Projects and Technologies.

And of course, plenty of Free Clip Art, Templates, Fonts – and zillions of Calendars for the years  2005,  2006,  2007,  2008, &  2005-2014

ACCESS

Converter 2.0 Utility is used to convert files from the Access 2.0 file format.

Links Add-in helps maintains your Excel data-link with Access

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) Add-in contains the SQL.REQUEST worksheet function, which can connect to an external database and return a query to the worksheet.

Report Manager Add-in allows you to combine Excel worksheets, views, and scenarios into reports that can then be printed.

XML Spreadsheet Add-in moves XML data seamlessly from Access 2002 to Excel

Templates

• Accounts Ledger
  
• Asset tracking
  
• Classroom Management (Test & Grades)
  
• Contact Management
  
• Expense Report
  
• Inventory Management
  
• Personal Address Book
  
• Project Management Issues
  
• Public Relations Event Management
  
• Service call management
  
• Time and Billing
  
• Code Samples
  

EXCEL

MSN Money Stock Quotes Add-in allows you to get dynamic stock quotes from the MSN Money Web site.

Sample Spreadsheets:  Five Handy Gantt Charting Tips & Expense Report

SharePoint Services Add-in for designing Excel 2003 Spreadsheet Web Parts, and save them to a SharePoint Services.

Statistical Analysis Toolpak performs statistical and regression analysis, while Solver Add-in uses Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG2) nonlinear optimization code.

SQL Server Analysis Services Add-in enables users to access and analyze data from multiple Analysis Services Cubes, and to create rich, customized reports directly in Excel 2002 & 2003.

Treemapper Add-In research tool allows a user to quickly and easily generate a treemap visualization of any hierarchical data in Excel, or from a CSV or XML file. Treemapper is based on the Data Visualization Components also available from this group.

XML Tools Add-in can provide information about a selected cell’s XML properties, create XSD files for XML maps, rename the Root and Row elements, or refresh all of the XML maps in a workbook at once. (Support Document: Using the Excel 2003 XML Tools Add-in)

XML Toolbox provide useful tools for working with XML in Excel with additional available help.

Excel Templates

FRONTPAGE

1 Cool Menu FX Tool is a 3rd party tool to adding animated buttons, expandable menus, floating navigation and other Flash animations.

bCentral Commerce Manager is an add-in providing you with the tools you need to create, update, and manage a fully-powered e-commerce Web site.

Creating an RSS Feed is sample code providing a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) solution to programmatically generate an RSS feed.

Database Troubleshooting Utility checks for the following items that may cause a Database Results Region page to fail: The absence of a Global.asa file, Whether the Global.asa file is running, Whether the Global.asa file is running outside of the Web, The absence of any database connections in the Web.

Fiddler is an HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet; and can inspected all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and “fiddle” with incoming or outgoing data. Additional help is available for debugging and performance.

Flashation Flash Menu Builder is a 3rd party tool for adding Flash buttons and menus.

FrontLook Media Maker is a 3rd party add-in makes publishing & creating CDs for use with the presentation viewer.

Help Publisher is a 3rd party add-in to create full-featured HTML help files.

Mobile HTML Optimizer is an add-in for versions 2000 & 2002 that can jumpstart your development of a WML (Wireless Markup Language) site by converting existing HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files created for a static Web site to WML format.

Page Margins is a 3rd party add-that helps the user easily set page margins that are compatible with both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

Page Titles is a 3rd party add-in that changes page titles quickly and easily, individually and in-bulk.

Pre-publish is a 3rd party add-in that prompts you to save unsaved pages before your Web is published.

Windows Media Player Add-in enables users to embed the Windows Media Player control into websites.

Templates

• Accountant
  
• Clear Teal (Professional)
  
• Course Web-site
  
• Doctor
  
• Employment
  
• Finance
  
• Gradient Grey
  
• Government Site
  
• High School
  
• Hospital
  
• Human Resources
  
• Insurance
  
• Legal -  Small,  Large,  &  Corporate
  
• Project Management
  
• Real Estate
  
• Sales
  

ONENOTE

My Font Tool converts your own handwriting into a TrueType font, making typed text appear as though you had written it by hand.

Send to OneNote from Internet Explorer is a PowerToy that allows you to send the contents of a Web page from Internet Explorer to a new OneNote page with the click of a button.

Send to OneNote from Outlook is a PowerToy that allows you to send e-mail messages to a OneNote from Outlook with the click of a button.

Send to OneNote from Word is a PowerToy written by Microsoft’s Brad Covelle

OneNote Templates

OUTLOOK

Calendar Views is an add-in that allows viewing your Calendar appointments through a filter that is based on Outlook labels and categories.

Business Contact Manager Add-in for Pocket PC: allows you to synchronize your business contacts and a subset of your communication history to your Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC.

FedEx QuickShip Toolbar: Create and track U.S. shipments, get rates, schedule pickups, and find the nearest staffed FedEx location. (Thanks Channel 10)

Holiday Update for Office XP provides holidays for the year 2006 through the year 2012.

Holiday Update for Office 2003 provides holidays for the year 2008 through the year 2012.

Junk E-mail Reporting Tool lets you directly report junk e-mail to Microsoft and its affiliates for analysis to help us improve the effectiveness of our junk e-mail filtering technologies.

Lookout provides lightning-fast search for your e-mail, files, and desktop from within Outlook!

Notes Connector enable access your e-mail messages, calendar, address book, and To Do (task) items on an IBM Lotus Domino Release 5.x or Release 6.x server.

Office Outlook Connector, you can use Outlook 2002(XP), 2003 or 2007 to access and manage your Windows Live Mail or Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages, calendar, tasks, notes, and contacts.

Outlook Mobile Manager (OMM) brings the power of Microsoft Outlook to your portable device. OMM can prioritize your messages and makes smart decisions about when to send email. OMM also sends calendar reminders, task reminders, and an Outlook Today style daily summary all to your wireless device.

Oversized PST and OST Crop Tool used to resolve problems that can not be fixed using the Inbox Repair Tool due to the .pst or .ost files exceeding the 2 gigabyte (GB) size limitation. (Support Document: Troubleshooting Outlook)

Personal Folders Backup creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals. (Support Documents: How to automatically backup your personal folders file in Outlook 2000/2003 & 2002/XP -KB910873 “The Backup command is missing from the File menu”)

Pro Photo Shoot add-in allows photographers to add details of the client and equipment for a photo shoot appointment in Outlook. This allows photographers to greater leverage the power of Outlook when managing their photography. (Support: Never Forget a Lens Again)

SMS (MOSA) download will enable you to send SMS text messages through most GSM mobile phones connected to your PC.

SNARF, the Social Network and Relationship Finder filters and sorts Outlook e-mail based on the type of message and the user’s history with an e-mail correspondent. The result: a collection of alternative views of your e-mail that can help you make sense of the deluge. (Support Documents: Help Guide & Overview)

Snip IT Internet Explorer Add-on sends text selected in Internet Explorer as email. SnipIT can email selected text in Internet Explorer using your default (Google Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail & Outlook and Yahoo Mail) email client.

Thread Compressor macro compresses all mail messages from a specific conversation into a single mail message, thus reducing Inbox clutter and size.

Video E-mail uses a Web camera to send a video e-mail.

Windows Live Local Add-in enables you to add maps and directions to your Outlook meeting requests, calculate the travel distance between your start location and your appointment location, adjust your meeting departure time based on the estimated travel time, store custom locations, as well as print the map and step-by-step driving directions to take with you on the road. (Support Document: Read Me)

STATIONERY

• Baxter
  
• Boomerang
  
• Column Twill
  
• Dark River
  
• Forest Floor
  
• My Kitchen
  
• Pinstripe
  

POWERPOINT

Multicast add-in for PowerPoint allows a presenter to multicast PowerPoint slides, including animations and effects, to a group of viewers.

Presentation Broadcast makes it easier to synchronize audio, video, slides, and images to deliver your presentations.

Producer makes it easier to synchronize audio, video, slides, and images to create engaging and effective rich-media presentations.

Report Presentation Add-in helps a user to quickly and easily create a presentation from a Project file. The tool extracts task information from the Project file and populates a template with the user-selected information. This add-in provides an effective, integrated means for project managers and other users to create presentations with real-time project data while avoiding redundant data entry and potential input errors. (Support Document: Read Me)

These samples allow PowerPoint 2002 to create an organization chart from a database of employees in Word and PowerPoint, or an animated presentation from a Word outline.

Templates Packs  1,  2,  &  3 and even more Templates

PROJECT

Scrum Solution Starter is an Agile project management practice that employs short iterations and continuous improvement. The Scrum solution starter extends Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 or Project Standard 2003 and enables project managers to perform basic Scrum work.

The Software Development Kit (SDK) is designed for solution providers, value-added resellers, and other developers to help customize Project 2003, and to extend and integrate Project Server 2003 with other applications for Enterprise Project Management. It features articles, programming references, tools, and sample code, including extensive articles called Solution Starters.

Template Creation Wizard add-in gives you the ability to create your own design templates incorporating custom backgrounds. This Wizard allows you to create new design templates using custom images as title master and slide master backgrounds.

Project Templates

VISIO

20 Sample Diagrams related to support and sales demos.

IFilter is a component used by the Windows Indexing service and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to extract text strings from Microsoft Visio files (.VSD, .VSS, .VST, .VDX, .VSX, and .VTX formats). The text strings are then indexed by these servers and the resulting indices are made available to several client applications that provide a user interface to search for text strings in files. These search clients include Visio 2003 Find Shape, Windows 2000 and Windows XP File Explorer search, Office 2003 search, Microsoft Windows SharePoint™ Services 2003 search, and SharePoint Portal Server search.

Software Development Kit (SDK) contains sample applications, code librarian code snippets, documentation, and tools, including the ShapeStudio, Event Monitor, Persistent Events, Print ShapeSheet, and Solution Publishing tools.

Stencil Containing Shapes for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

Resource Kit are tools used to support deployment of Visio.

Visio Templates and Template & Stencil for designing SharePoint sites (beta)

WORD

Avery Wizard is a plug-in to Word XP, 2000, & 2003 and provides templates for hundreds of Avery laser and inkjet products. Use the Avery Wizard to print mailing labels, shipping labels, tab titles, Ready Index table of contents sheets, diskette labels, name badges, name tags, business cards, and tent cards.

Create Calendar in Word from Outlook 2000 Calendar Data The automated calendar template creates Outlook calendars in Word 97/2000. The template contains macros that automatically take the data from Outlook 2000 and re-create your monthly calendar view in Word. After you use this template to re-create your calendar, you can print it, with or without weekends, in either portrait or landscape orientation. You can also modify the document.

Create a Presentation from Word easily converts your documents into PowerPoint presentations.

Equation Toolbar allows you to choose from more than 150 mathematical symbols.

Legal User’s Guide is a reference for legal professionals that describe features useful to the legal industry. (Previous Versions)

Microsoft Reader Add-In uses Word to create your own Microsoft Reader eBooks by converting new or existing Word documents, letting you benefit from the features and convenience of Microsoft Reader.

Sales & Marketing Templates

Troubleshooting Word with SUPPORT.DOT

Word Redaction Add-in allows marking sections of Word 2003 documents for redaction. Create a new, redacted version of the document in which the marked text is replaced with a black bar that cannot be converted back to text.  (Support Document: Readme File & Online Support).

The XSLT Inference Tool creates XSL Transformations (XSLT) that quickly transforms XML files into WordprocessingML files with complex and rich formatting.

Word XML Software Developer Kit (SDK) online — Information and assistance for making the best use of the expanded XML features and support in Word 2003.

Word Templates & 3rd Party Graph Paper

AND. If you don’t own Microsoft Office – you can always use the Microsoft Office Viewers:

• Access
  
• Excel
  
• HTML
  J
  
• Journal
  
• PowerPoint 2007
  
• Word
  
• Word XML
  
• Visio 2007
  
• XML
  

Thank you,