Download: Free quick reference guides for Office, Windows, Acrobat and Macromedia Products

http://www.customguide.com/quick_references.htm

I was looking for a quick reference card of some sort to share with a user to show some of the main differences between Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0 (yes, we are that far behind that we are just now getting to 7.0), when I stumbled across CustomGuides.com.  They are an on-demand resource that offers a variety of training services to you and your company – however, this wasn’t what drew my attention.

CustomGuides.com also offers a number of freely downloadable quick-reference cards that you can use as you wish in your company or at home.  For the most part, you can select from Microsoft Office and Windows guides, but there are a few niche cards for Lotus Notes, Quickbooks (2005, tho’) and Macromedia products.  It seems like some of the non-Microsoft items are dated a little bit (with Acrobat Standard ending at version 8 and Firefox at version 2).  However, with that said, the resources that are available are still very useful for the products that are covered.

Here’s a list:

Microsoft Quick References

• Microsoft Access 2003, 2007
• Microsoft Excel 2003, 2007, 2010
• Microsoft FrontPage 2003
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8
• Microsoft InfoPath 2007
• Microsoft Office 2007, 2010
• Microsoft OneNote 2007
• Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, 2007, 2010
• Microsoft Project 2003, 2007
• Microsoft Publisher 2003, 2007
• Microsoft SharePoint 2007
• Microsoft Visio 2003, 2007
• Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7
• Microsoft Word 2003, 2007, 2010

Mac Quick References

• Apple Appleworks 6
• Mac OS X Tiger Panther
• Mac OS 9
• Entourage X, 2004, 2008
• Excel X, 2004, 2008
• PowerPoint X, 2004, 2008
• Word X, 2004, 2008

Adobe Quick References

• Acrobat 7, 8
• Dreamweaver (Win) CS3, 8 MX
• Dreamweaver (Mac) CS3, MX
• Fireworks (Win) CS3, MX
• Fireworks (Mac) CS3, MX
• Flash (Win) CS3, 8, MX
• Flash (Mac) CS3, MX
• Photoshop (Win) CS3, 7, 6
• Photoshop (Mac) CS3, 7, 6
• Photoshop Elements (Win) 5, 6

Additional Quick References

• Computer Training
• ECDL
• Lotus Notes 8
• QuickBooks 2005
• Firefox 2

Spiceworks 5.0 is on it’s way!

Don’t know what it is?  Check it out here: Spiceworks.  I’ve been using it since 1.1 back in early ‘07, and they have come a LONG way since then.  We run our help desk and use it for our systems inventory.  Easiest reporting interface.

Check out the email I got today (ok, well, the important bits):

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For our 19^th release (can you believe it?), we’re putting the finishing touches on new and improved features that will deliver the next frontier of “everything IT” by making it even easier for IT pros to manage their networks, people, and purchasing. And it’s also going to be much faster – up to 30% speedier than previous versions of Spiceworks. Among the top new and improved features in Spiceworks 5.0:

• Config Management automatically backs up the configuration of your network devices and as built-in TFTP lets you compare and restore when changes occur
• A More Detailed Network Map has broader SNMP device support and collects deeper end-point device (i.e. desktop & networking) details
• Microsoft Hyper-V Support means you can manage more virtualized machines in your inventory
• People View associates your users with their assets and lets you perform basic support and troubleshooting tasks like password reset & unlock
• Purchase Tracking lets you track, calculate & report on costs as well as purchases for your environment and users
• For Managed Service Providers - Secure, centralized help desk that integrates to multiple, custom client portals so you can manage your clients' tickets from 1 location

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So awesome.  I can’t wait - - I think I’ll be setting up a beta box at work to check it out…I’m very excited about the configuration backup via TFTP for network devices.  Fantastic!

Is RealPlayer making a return?

http://www.real.com

Years ago, RealPlayer was the defacto player for all streaming media – this was before MP3’s hit it big, and it was most definitely Real Network’s realm.  At the time, bandwidth was limited, so compressing the crap outta that stream was the way everyone went.  Sure, the video was a little blocky, yes, the audio was tinny, but – it loaded fast on a low-speed connection.  Then broadband Internet came.  Not only was the Internet fast – now it was accessible.  Making your streaming media compressed as much as possible wasn’t quite the focus any more.

Read about RealPlayer's history

Flash has overwhelmed Real Audio/Video as a viable format, and even that is in jeopardy as HTML5 looms on the horizon.

Remember when you would install the player and you would have to deselect (I kid you not) around 15-20 options so you didn’t get all of the notifications or spam emails from them?  It was for this (Message Center) reason that I stopped using RealPlayer entirely.  It happily sat in the system tray, spewing forth notifications that I cared nothing about, offering nothing that my current media players could offer, other than supporting a dying standard as everyone was using .asf and then Flash-based streaming media.

Some years later (I’m talking around 7 or so), I noticed that RealPlayer was actually still around, and noticed that it is actually useful.  Now, I’m not saying it’s useful for all you tech-heads out there, but for the folks at the office or educators who need snippets of Youtube videos, etc. for presentations or other things…it’s a viable tool. 

Also, if you are a fan of gathering said videos and playing them from your iPad/iPhone, Blackberry or other device, RealPlayer actually has a converter that is extremely easy to use that will convert flash (or other) based videos to a variety of output formats suited for these devices.

My favorite feature is definitely the download video option that appears above supported video types.  Once downloaded, the video will appear in your ‘My Library’ tab, granting you additional actions you can perform against the video.  It’s dead easy to do.


 
Features that makes RealPlayer compelling:

• Easy one-click download of Flash-based videos, i.e. Youtube, CNN, more… (no DRM stuff like Netflix or Hulu, though!)
• Easy conversion process of recognized video types (including downloaded videos) to portable devices/smartphones or PC/Mac
• Quick snipping tool for videos.  Only want a short portion of that Youtube video you downloaded?  Crop it!

Overall, I still don’t use RealPlayer as my default player of choice, but it does add a certain something to my toolbox of media utilities.