Sometimes even the most disciplined time management gurus cannot cope with sheer volume of emails flooding into their Outlook Inbox. And while it's good practice to keep your Inbox as empty as possible ( converting all those 'things to do' into tasks...

Here at Microsoft, all full time employees have to sign up to personal commitments for their job. At the end of each financial year these are reviewed in a Performance Review on which all sorts of things depend including bonuses and promotion prospects...

Outlook has always provided an amazing amount of customisation, and it's never been better than in Outlook 2007. One area that I've personally chosen to customise is the default Inbox view. The default view now shows both the new colour category and the...

[POST UPDATED - SEE COMMENTS FOR THE LATEST!] Those with ageing memories have long enjoyed the powerful search capabilities in Outlook using add-ons like Lookout or Windows Desktop Search. I'm loving the latest beta of Outlook 2007 (I'm running the Beta...

My regular reader will know how much of a fan I have become of Windows Live Local . While Google Earth was very quick out of the blocks in 2004 after they acquired Keyhole Corp, it's now looking a bit creaky in comparison to the much improved, if absurdly...

While I sit waiting for the 2007 Office system Beta 2 Technical Refresh to finish installing, I thought I'd share this blog posting of some of the new icon sets included in Build 4228 of the Beta. Of course, there's no guarantee that these icons will...

I'm just back from a short break at everyone's favourite sunshine destination: the North-East Essex coast! I was amused by the continued mass hysteria raging over the planned replacement of the famous railway gates at Frinton-on-Sea with automated barriers...

I am all of the above. And if you're English you are too. I've just discovered this fascinating list of colloquial ways to address your fellow citizens of the world. And before you start using any of these and upset someone, bear in mind that they probably...

This isn't a new webpage, but a question from a colleague reminded me that I really should mention this on the UsefulTechnology blog. For the definitive view of every icon in Outlook 2003 check out this page . Now, what's the betting on Blake being the...

What's going on? We seem to have a swathe of dubious sounding product names emerging from Microsoft just recently. There's the legendarily bad "OneCare" (careful how you say that), we've "SmartArt" in the 2007 Office system, and IE7 is now "RC1" which...

I'm fascinated by the human relationship with technology and how one helps shape the other. A recent example that got me thinking came after the Thames Valley Park Security team installed a speed camera on one of the roads approaching the UK Microsoft...

Straight from the oven: Internet Explorer 7 (Release Candidate 1) . Get it while it's hot.

The Microsoft Office Online team has paired up with Laura Stack, President and CEO of The Productivity Pro, to deliver a webcast at 9am Pacific Time (that's 5pm UK time) on Wednesday 23rd August. The topic: Tips to Survive Information Overload. In...

This was recently voted Britain's funniest joke: A woman gets on a bus, carrying her baby. As she pays her fare, the driver says 'Urghh, that's the ugliest baby I've ever seen.' The woman goes to the back of the bus, fuming with indignation, and sits...

It's Friday. And Steve Clayton writes today about how his Out of Office message has taken on a personality all of its own. Mine has too. We all get so many "OOFs" that the very least you can do is inject a little life into your own message. In the spirit...

That was a big moon over the North Sea the other night. And it's amazing what you can do with a point and click camera these days. Thought I'd share this calming little photo as we enter another busy working day.

Alfred 's been asking what's the quickest way to search for stuff online. Putting aside the debate of which search engine you prefer, there are some really neat shortcuts you can use to reduce the time from 'query to answers'. If you use IE7 there...

Contrary to one correspondent's theory, the lack of recent postings here is not evidence of my having been seized by British Anti-Terrorist Police. I agree that the liquids I carry onto aircraft may have a dangerously high alcoholic content that could...

Congratulations to Blake Handler (yes, that's his real name) for the most shameless self-publicity move ever in the history of blogs! Blake has been the victim of a regularly changing URL for his MSN Spaces (now Windows Live Spaces) Blog. Which has...

Is anyone else worried about whether to upgrade to the latest version (Beta 3) of Internet Explorer? I pondered (that's like thinking, but more posh) for a while then thought "what the heck, the worst that can happen is it destroys my PC and my life....

I have my annual performance review in half an hour. This reminds me of a great little non-technical tip that may help you get even more value out of Microsoft Outlook. Every time you receive an email thanking or praising you for some work that you...

Slipstick features a comprehensive article detailing the latest known issues that people encounter while testing Outlook 2007 Beta 2. The most common problems I hear about are caused by incompatible add-ins which can be disabled in the new Tools >...

As if by magic, my RSS feed in Outlook 2007 brings me another interesting perspective on how to give great presentations. Garr Reynolds' blog Presentation Zen is a must-read site for anyone interested in finding new ways to make their presentations punch...

My colleague Darren (he's not as effeminate as his photo would suggest) has written up a great post with some really useful tips on how to give good presentations. So many people complain about 'Death by PowerPoint', yet so few take active steps to improve...

If you still don't know your RSS from your elbow it's about time you made use of this very useful techno gizmo. Eileen Brown tells all in this blog posting from many moons ago. And life's even simpler if you're using the shiny new Internet Explorer...