Greetings from the Land of Perpetual Ice and Snow. We have two seasons here in Minnesota -- winter and the Fourth of July. Did I mention that I hate ice? I need ice cleats to walk across the yard, and it's 3 inches thick at the end of my sidewalk. I'm thinking of taking a sledge hammer to it later...film at 11.

When I wasn't busy breaking up furniture to throw on the fire this week, I ran across a minor issue with Windows XP on my main computer. For some reason, some of the album folders under My Music were identified as document folders rather than album folders. The result: I could no longer right-click on an album folder and choose Play with Media Player to play all of the songs in the folder. Instead, I had to open the folder and select all of the songs and hit Enter to play them. The solution: Right-click the folder, choose Properties, and click the Customize tab. Choose Music Album from the drop-down list and click OK. No more struggling to line up all those Bob Marley and the Wailers songs.

Another disappointing discovery this week: UPN is cancelling Star Trek: Enterprise. They finally get an ST series right from the first episode, then cancel it before the usual seven-year run. Guess I'll have to continue to rely on Stargate SG-1 for my weekly dose of sci-fi. Now if I could just get reruns of Dr. Who or Red Dwarf...

As promised, I have some free books to give away this time around. A visit here could win you one of four copies of Windows XP Answers from the Experts (Osborne), or one of ten copies of Windows XP Power Productivity (Sybex). Winner selection will be totally arbitrary and possibly unfair. Books will go out to lucky winners as soon as the ice thaws enough on the mailbox to open the door.

Hasta luego,

Jim

Featured Windows Tip
Make document access easier

The My Recent Documents menu on the Windows Start menu automatically displays the last fifteen documents you've opened, enabling you to quickly access documents you've opened recently. The Start menu also contains a link to your My Documents folder.

To get the most out of My Documents, create a directory structure under My Documents that mirrors the way you work with documents. For example, I have a folder for every book publisher, and each of those folders contains a subfolder for each book. Likewise, My Documents contains folders for each of the other publications I write for, as well as my Money files, web site source files, and other documents. Organization is the key here.

A quick change to the Start menu can make My Documents even easier to use. Right-click the taskbar, choose Properties, then click the Start Menu tab. Click Customize and click the Advanced tab. In the Start Menu Items list, select Display as a Menu under My Documents, then click OK. The next time you open the My Documents item on the Documents menu the menu will expand to show the directory structure and contents of My Documents, rather than opening the folder itself. Right-click My Documents and choose Open if you prefer to open the folder window.

Featured Office Tip
Use automatic formatting to identify contacts

Outlook offers several features to help you easily locate specific items. For example, automatic formatting is a useful tool for helping you organize items in your Outlook folders. While many people turn to automatic formatting to help flag and identify messages, automatic formatting can also be useful for quickly identifying contacts. For example, you might color all contacts for a particular company using a certain color to enable you to tell at a glance that a contact works for that company.

To use automatic formatting with contacts, first open the Contacts folder and then choose View, Current View, Customize Current View to open the View Summary dialog box. Click Automatic Formatting to open the Automatic Formatting dialog box. Click Add, enter a name for the formatting rule in the Name field, then click Condition. Use the resulting Filter dialog box to specify the condition, such as searching for the company name in the Company field.

With the condition specified, click OK and then click the Font button. Choose the color and font characteristics you want Outlook to apply to contacts that match the specified condition.

Featured Windows Server Tip
Configure a caching-only DNS forwarder

When you want to reduce network traffic for DNS and improve DNS lookup, one solution is to create a caching DNS forwarder on your network. A caching-only DNS server receives queries from clients, performs the queries against other name servers, caches the results, and returns those results to the client. Subsequent queries for the specified host are returned from the cache rather than submitted to an external server, reducing outgoing DNS traffic and speeding up name resolution.

You can set up a caching-only server by configuring the DNS service with one or more forwarders, which are upstream DNS servers to which the local DNS server will forward queries (essentially acting as a DNS client).

You can configure the DNS service to work with forwarders either nonexclusively or exclusively. In nonexclusive mode, the DNS server checks its cache for the host, and if the lookup fails, forwards the query to the specified forwarder(s). If that query fails, the DNS server attempts to resolve the query on its own through the root servers.

In exclusive mode, the DNS service checks its cache, and if the host isn't cached, forwards the query to the forwarder. If the upstream servers fail the query, the DNS server does not attempt resolution on its own, but instead fails the query to the client. A DNS server acting in exclusive mode with a forward is called a caching-only slave.

To configure forwarding, open the DNS console, right-click the server, and choose Properties. On the Forwarders tab, choose Enable Forwarders and then add the IP addresses of the upstream DNS servers to which queries will be forwarded. If you want the DNS service to work in exclusive mode, check the Do Not Use Recursion option. Then, click OK to apply the change.

Note that the DNS cache is cleared when the server is restarted, so a caching-only server works best when it has been up for an extended period of time.

In the News

Google Toolbar: Google is updating its desktop search toolbar. If I had any money, I think I'd buy some Google stock. Story

IE 7 around the corner? I'm sure you'll be seeing this one in your other newsletters, too. Microsoft has changed its collective mind and decided it will release a new version of Internet Explorer before the Windows Longhorn release (which was supposed to essentially do away with the need for a separate browser). Only XP SP2 users need apply. Story1 Story2

Longhorn is coming: Microsoft has announced it will release the first beta of the next Windows OS in June. Story

Free anti-spyware from Microsoft: The Software Giant plans to make its anti-spyware product free for individual users. The enterprise version, with management capabilities, will cost you. Story

Verizon buys MCI: Yikes! I hope they get their customer billing straightened out... Story

No more DVD copying? Can we soon forget about making backup copies of our movies? (Someone will certainly find a way around this new technology.) Yet another example where a few naughty people ruin it for the rest of us. Story

Sites and Software

The Final Frontier: While we're on the subject of sci-fi and space, how about some great Hubble photos, space art, and space news? www.space.com

Clean your system: My buddy Scott recommend this to me. It cleans out an amazing amount of, uh, stuff on your computer. www.ccleaner.com

Yet another Windows GUI: I don't spend much time customizing my Windows interface, but if I were into that sort of thing, I'd definitely check out WindowBlinds. Very cool.

Yet another SPAM blocker: Outlook 2003 does a pretty good job of blocking spam, but the more filters you can put in place, the better. This one is very popular. SpamCatcher.

Microsoft Press wants your opinion: My editor at Microsoft Press asked me to poll readers about their experiences with the Inside Out series of books. If you have one and would like to offer your opinion, click here.

Recommended Newsletters and Tip Sites

WinXPnews, The Office Letter, LangaList, Mike's List, Scot's Newsletter

Cool Gadgets

I gotta have one!

Dell 24" LCD: I switched to a 19" LCD about a year ago. Now Dell has introduced a 24" model for $1,199. Still pricey, but Ooohhh, Baby! Story

Continuous Silicon Laser: No, you can't buy one, but Intel has developed the first continuous laser beam using silicon components. I haven't wrapped my brain around the ramifications yet, but I have a feeling it's a biggy. Story

Recipe
Sweet almond pie crust

This is the perfect foundation for a fresh strawberry pie. Hey, it's butter and sugar...what's not to like? Use this crust for any non-bake pie, or just eat it plain with some whipped cream or cream cheese!

In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt, and nuts. Blend until nuts are cut into small pieces (don't pulverize them). Transfer to a mixing bowl and cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until completely mixed. Combine egg yolk, vanilla, and water and beat well. Combine liquid and flour mixture and mix well until you have a ball of dough. Throw into a pie pan and press out with your hands to about 1/8" thickness. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until light brown.

For strawberry pie (my favorite), spread crust with a thin layer of cream cheese. Slice fresh strawberries into the crust, mixing with strawberry glaze as you fill the crust. Great served as-is, even better when topped with fresh whipped cream.