Received TWBlog Invitation? Some useful info.

Welcome - again - to our blog. Some of you visiting may have received an electronic invite to our blog and now are trying to figure out what to do with it. Well, you could just ignore it, but then you would miss out on our rants syndicated through RSS/ATOM/e-mail/WEB/etc feeds that make this form of publishing so very cool. So, here is some useful info:

• What is a blog?
  A web-based publication conisting of periodic articles - which are generally less formal and more personal - that generally consist of information, thoughts, ideas, etc.. In our situation, we use a popular blogging system, available to anyone, to syndicate our articles. Publishing is fast and easy, so is news delivery. Once a new article is published subscribers can be instantly notified using e-mail or RSS. End result, you're always current on the latest scoop.
  
• What is the TrialWorks Blog?
  This is a free news syndication service available to anyone designed to increase communication with our customers and deliver important information realted to our industry. Our mission is to publish articles quickly on new developments that may affect your busienss. To date we've published valuable information about missing calendar appointments and freeze-ups in office that have affected dozens of companies. Our topics are generally triggered by patterns discovered by our support/networking team. In addition, we will also use this to publish relevant information to TrialWorks, including new software releases.
  
• What is RSS?
  Really Simple Syndication is a web feed format used for delivering news and podcasts. It consists of a title, date, description, and the article which are standardized to a universal publishing system. Users can "subscribe" to these feeds using various tools like:
  > Microsoft Live (www.live.com)
  > Google Desktop Side Bar
  > Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 (now in BETA, will be available in Windows Vista).
  > All sorts of RSS Readers.
  
  As a side note, I use IE 7.0 but I do not recommend it - just yet - for non-advanced users. I suggest signing up with Windows Live, a free website operated by Microsoft.
  
  For more info on RSS feeds, check out WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29
  
• How do I subscribe to TrialWorks Blog RSS?
  Simply go to http://trialworks.blogspot.com/atom.xml. You will see the feed. Some software will automatically detected. If using Windows Live, you will be able to "add" the feed using one of their gadgets - most other software works that way also.
  
• How do I subscribe to the TrialWorks Blog E-Mail Notifications?
  The easiest way is to use the RSS feeds above. If you are not doing RSS, you are behind the times. It's the only way to stay current on all the latest news from multiple sources. Even if you are new to it, it's easy, just use some of our recommended tools mentioned above.
  
  If you want to do things the hard way, you can always e-mail an article to yourself using the envelope below each article. That will keep you updated - somewhat. A potentially easier choice is to sign up with Blogger.Com and FLAG this blog using the option on the top blue bar across the top. HOWEVER, we are using Blogger services because they are simple and readily avialable. Please be sure to review Blogger.com's privacy policies and terms of use agreements before signing up (here is the link: http://www.blogger.com/privacy).
  

That's all I can think of for now. Feel free to e-mail us/me with questions. To limit spam we have a blog inquiry form you can use for questions. Click on this link: http://www.trialworks.com/form_blog.htm

-Karl J.

Microsoft Word suddenly freezing when trying to browse for files.

Today I have had several reports of people freezing in Microsoft Word and Outlook for no particular reason. Well, the problems is a result of a recent series of Microsoft Updates that affect browsing. Fortunately there is a fix published April 15, 2006. You can read Microsoft Article 918165 and retrieve the fix.

This is the link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/918165

SYMPTOMS
After you install security update MS06-015 (908531) - THIS IS NOT THE FIX!!(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-015.mspx), you may experience one of more of the following issues:

• Unable to access special folders like "My Documents" or "My Pictures".
  Microsoft Office applications may stop responding when you attempt to save or open Office files in the "My Documents" folder.
• Office files in the "My Documents" folder are not able to open in Microsoft Office.
  Opening a file through an application's File / Open menu causes the program to stop esponding .
• Typing an address into Internet Explorer’s address bar has no effect.
• Right-clicking on a file and selecting Send To has no effect.
• Clicking on the plus (+) sign beside a folder in Windows Explorer has no effect.
• Some third-party applications stop responding when opening or saving data in the “My Documents” folder.

- Karl J. 4/18/06

Missing Calendar Appointments - One last update.

We have found a way to undo the service pack modification byediting the registry, but it is not intended as a final fix/adjustment/correction for the problem. Also, Ihave noticed users are more likely to experience this situation when updating appointments from the Docket Tab in TrialWorks, simply because of the nature of the system. So, these 3 articles apply to new appointments (Outlook and TrialWorks), and updates (Outlook and TrialWorks).

As far as changing the registry key - use it as a temporary solution. The final fix is is really to educate users and change your internal work-flow processes to accomodate the changing technology.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.This step-by-step article describes how to add, modify, or delete registry subkeys and values by using a Registration Entries (.reg) file. Regedit.exe uses .reg files to import and export registry subkeys and values. You can use these .reg files to remotely distribute registry changes to several Windows-based computers. When you run a .reg file, the file contents merge into the local registry. Therefore, you must distribute .reg files with caution.

Description of the Microsoft Windows registry
(256986) - Describes the Microsoft Windows registry and provides information on how to edit it.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/en-us

How to back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
(322756) - Explains how to export or backup the registry in case something goes wrong when you edit the registry and you must restore the registry.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/en-us

So - here is the key:

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar DWORD: DisableMeetingRegeneration Values: 1 = revert to the pre-SP2 behavior; 0 = use the new SP2 behavior

-Karl