ࡗ Like Microsoft’s more powerful Outlook application, Windows Live Mail Desktop also includes a Calendar component, yet another feature that’s lacking in Windows Mail (though you might opt to use the elegant Windows Calendar application we describe in Chapter 20 instead, of course). The Calendar module is based on the web-based calendar that’s part of Windows Live Mail, and like its e-mail brethren, anything you configure in the client will be synchronized back to the web so you can access your schedule from anywhere that has an Internet connection. ࡗ 520 Part VI: Internet and Networking ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ If you started off using Windows Mail before realizing there was a better solution out there, fear not: You can easily migrate your Windows Mail accounts and settings to Windows Live Mail Desktop. You’ll be prompted to do so after you’ve installed Windows Live Mail Desktop. Secret Downloading Windows Live Messenger Windows Live Messenger replaces MSN Messenger as Microsoft’s mainstream instant messaging (IM) application. In truth, the term instant messaging doesn’t really do this application a lot of justice. Although it can indeed be used to hold text-, audio-, and video-based chats online with your friends, coworkers, and other contacts, Windows Live Messenger is blurring the line with telephone-like functionality thanks to its integration of Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies. That means you can make long-distance and inter- national phone calls via Windows Live Messenger for a small fraction of what you’re probably being charged by the phone company. It might be time to invest in a PC head- set. Windows Live Messenger is shown in Figure 19-5. Windows Live Messenger can also be used to communicate with friends using Yahoo! Messenger, a competing instant messaging application. Secret 29_577048 ch19.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 520 Figure 19-5: Windows Live Messenger offers IM functionality and can be used to make PC-to-phone calls. Other Offers from Microsoft In addition to the Windows Live services mentioned previously, the Windows Vista Welcome Center also offers two other offers from Microsoft, “Go online to Windows Marketplace” and “Sign up online for technical support.” ࡗ Windows Marketplace is Microsoft’s shopping and download site, from which you can purchase hardware and software for your Windows Vista–based PC. It has developed into an interesting destination, especially because much of the software it offers can actually be downloaded, for instant gratification. Windows Marketplace is shown in Figure 19-6. ࡗ The second option opens Internet Explorer 7 and navigates to the Microsoft Support Web site ( http://support.microsoft.com/). From here, you can get guided help, visit the product solution center for Windows Vista, or submit support requests. It’s a good place to visit if more traditional support options — such as the Vista help files, this book, or the teenaged geek down the street — aren’t able to answer your questions. ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ Chapter 19: Using and Understanding Windows Live Services ࡗ 521 29_577048 ch19.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 521 Figure 19-6: Windows Marketplace showcases hardware and software that’s compatible with Windows Vista. ࡗ 522 Part VI: Internet and Networking ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ There are other support options available to you as well, of course. For example, you might use Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail Desktop to visit Microsoft’s product support newsgroups. There, you can get peer-to-peer support (from other Windows users) or even responses from the Microsoft engineers that frequent the groups. To access these newsgroups in Windows Live Mail Desktop, simply click the News shortcut and then Microsoft Communities. Secret A Few Other Windows Live Services In addition to the several Windows Live products and services that Microsoft promotes from within Windows Vista, the company offers a wide range of other Windows Live serv- ices, which you can examine and download at your leisure online. Here are a few of the more valuable Windows Live services you may want to check out. Live.com Microsoft’s newest Web portal, Live.com (www.live.com/), looks like a simple search page, but it’s highly customizable. You can add a number of dynamic content panes containing news, sports, or entertainment headlines, weather, stock quotes, and even your Windows Live Mail e-mail. Live.com is shown in Figure 19-7. 29_577048 ch19.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 522 Figure 19-7: Live.com offers Web search but is also highly customizable. Although Google has become so popular that the term Google is now used both as the company’s name and as a verb to describe searching the Web (as in, “I need to Google Windows Vista to find out more about it”), it’s not the only game in town. Live.com with its Windows Live Search is now the default homepage in Windows Vista’s version of Internet Explorer 7, and the company hopes that this exposure will help it convince users to give the service a chance. Give it a shot. The customization options are quite interesting. ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ Chapter 19: Using and Understanding Windows Live Services ࡗ 523 Like the Windows Sidebar (Chapter 6), Live.com can be customized with gadgets, small software programs that provide much more interactivity than is commonly associated with web pages. Live.com gadgets are created similarly to Windows Sidebar gadgets, so many developers will create gadgets that work in both places. To discover gadgets for Live.com (or the Sidebar), visit Windows Live Gallery ( http://gallery.live.com). Secret Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Although Microsoft does offer a Windows Live OneCare subscription product (mentioned earlier in this chapter), the company’s customers told it that it would need to protect non- subscribers online if it expected them to access its various Windows Live services. So Microsoft extended the OneCare brand into a variety of other free services, including an online virus scanner (the Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner at http://safety.live.com) and the Windows Live OneCare Family Safety service ( http://fss.live.com), which provides web filtering and contacts management for parents wishing to keep their children safe online. 29_577048 ch19.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 523 Windows Live OneCare Family Safety requires a small download — it also requires that you and your children all have Windows Live IDs (formerly called Passport accounts). But the effort of doing so is worth it. With this web-based service, you can monitor your chil- dren’s activities online, and protect them from undesirable content and online predators. And what the heck, it’s absolutely free. Windows Live Spaces Windows Live Spaces is Microsoft’s blogging solution, software that enables anyone to pub- lish a web site, complete with photos and interactive content, easily and without any techni- cal knowledge. Spaces has proven quite popular —by some metrics it’s the most popular blogging software in the world —and it certain does provide a friendly and welcome envi- ronment with professional looking page design and nice integration with other Windows Live services. You can find out more at the Spaces web site ( http://spaces.live.com/). A typical Windows Live Spaces blog is shown in Figure 19-8. Figure 19-8: Windows Live Spaces lets anyone create their own web site. ࡗ 524 Part VI: Internet and Networking ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ A related Windows Live product, Windows Live Writer, allows you to publish content to your Windows Live Spaces blog (or numerous other blog types, including Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, and many others) using a standard Windows-based application. Windows Live Writer, shown in Figure 19-9, is nice because it works offline, letting you cache blog posts until you can get online, and it provides true What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWIG) editing. Find out more on the Windows Live Writer web site ( http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/). Secret 29_577048 ch19.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 524 Figure 19-9: Windows Live Writer lets you use a Microsoft Word–like WYSIWYG environment for posting information to a blog. Summary In this chapter, we’ve examined Microsoft’s Windows Live products and services, which augment Windows Vista with a number of useful web-based capabilities, including instant messaging, PC safety and security, e-mail, and much more. With Windows Live services, you can communicate with friends, coworkers, and loved ones, publish your thoughts and photos to web sites, and keep your PC running securely and smoothly. And unlike previous Microsoft online services, the Windows Live services integrate with Windows only when you choose to install them: They aren’t simply provided for you whether you need or want them or not. ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ Chapter 19: Using and Understanding Windows Live Services ࡗ 525 29_577048 ch19.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 525 29_577048 ch19.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 526 Part VII Home Office/Power User Chapter 20: Managing Your Schedule with Windows Calendar Chapter 21: Keeping Your Data Safe Chapter 22: Microsoft PowerShell 30_577048 pt07.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 527 30_577048 pt07.qxp 11/29/06 8:22 PM Page 528 Managing Your Schedule with Windows Calendar ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗࡗ ࡗ ࡗ In This Chapter Discovering PC-based calendaring Navigating the Windows Calendar interface Working with calendars and calendar groups Creating and managing appointments and tasks Sharing and synchronizing calendars Searching for appointments and tasks Printing calendars ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ Chapter 20 31_577048 ch20.qxp 11/29/06 8:23 PM Page 529 [...]... Windows Calendar ࡗ 551 Figure 20-18: When printing calendars, you can choose between various view styles Secret The printing functionality in Windows Calendar prints only appointments, not tasks Summary Windows Calendar is a decent standards-based calendar, and given the fact that no such functionality existed in Windows XP, it’s a welcome addition to the stable of Windows Vista applications With Windows. .. while Windows Calendar is for individuals like consumers, soccer moms, and your grandparents Put simply, Windows Calendar is for people not businesses Understanding the Windows Calendar Interface Windows Calendar can be found in the All Programs portion of the Start menu When you launch Windows Calendar for the first time, you’ll be presented with a standard daily calendar view, and you’ll see that Windows. .. site (www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2445.txt) Exploring Windows Calendar Microsoft isn’t blind to this change in how people are interacting online via standardsbased calendars So Windows Vista includes a standards-based calendar application called, logically enough, Windows Calendar If you’re familiar with competing solutions such as Apple iCal or Mozilla Sunbird, Windows Calendar will seem very familiar It works... provide a name for your calendar (Windows Calendar uses the calendar name by default) Then, enter a URL where you’d like to publish the calendar This URL is formatted just like any web address, using the HTTP prefix If your web server is named windowssecrets.com and you have dedicated a remote folder for calendar sharing called ical, you might type in the address www.windowssecrets.com/ical Then, determine... can publish and subscribe to the same sources as those solutions However, because Windows Calendar is built into Windows Vista, it will soon become the predominant calendaring solution for individuals worldwide For this reason, we expect standards-based calendaring to become truly mainstream during the lifetime of Windows Vista tip Obviously, Microsoft isn’t giving up on its Exchange Server and Outlook... backups Managing automatic backups with Windows Backup Backing up an entire PC using system images Restoring an entire PC using the Windows Recovery Environment Using Volume Shadow Copy to recover old versions of data files Repairing Windows with System Restore ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ ࡗ 554 Part VII: Home Office/Power User ࡗࡗࡗ W ith Windows Vista, Microsoft has finally given... 536 Part VII: Home Office/Power User ࡗࡗࡗ Figure 20-4: Windows Calendar’s Day view Figure 20-5: Windows Calendar’s Week view ࡗࡗࡗ Chapter 20: Managing Your Schedule with Windows Calendar ࡗ 537 ࡗ Work Week view: The same as the Week view, except the display is divided into five columns, one for each workday of the week ࡗ Month view: The central pane of Windows Calendar is divided up into a standard monthly... applications for years, Microsoft has historically sold such functionality as part of its Office and Works productivity suites Starting with Windows Vista, however, Windows users are finally getting a first-class calendaring solution as part of their favorite operating system Dubbed Windows Calendar, this application provides attractive and full-featured calendaring features, including tasks functionality, the... of five years’ worth of digital photos? Given the almost complete lack of decent backup solutions in previous Windows versions, you may be surprised to discover that Windows Vista offers an almost mind-boggling suite of backup and restore solutions, each aimed at a different need Best of all, Vista also includes a friendly front end to all these capabilities, so that even the most non-technical person... let’s examine the various types of data safety facilities that Windows Vista supports Data Backup If you think of your Documents folder as the center of your data universe, and keep an elaborate series of folders and files there, then you’ll understand the necessity of backing up these crucial files on a regular basis To this end, Windows Vista supports both automatic and manual data backup options, . 19: Using and Understanding Windows Live Services ࡗ 521 29_ 577048 ch 19. qxp 11/ 29/ 06 8:22 PM Page 521 Figure 19- 6: Windows Marketplace showcases hardware and software that’s compatible with Windows. editing. Find out more on the Windows Live Writer web site ( http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/). Secret 29_ 577048 ch 19. qxp 11/ 29/ 06 8:22 PM Page 524 Figure 19- 9: Windows Live Writer lets you. Windows Live Services ࡗ 525 29_ 577048 ch 19. qxp 11/ 29/ 06 8:22 PM Page 525 29_ 577048 ch 19. qxp 11/ 29/ 06 8:22 PM Page 526 Part VII Home Office/Power User Chapter 20: Managing Your Schedule with Windows