Is Your PC “Back to School” Ready?
A PC can be a student’s most important ally when it’s time to head back to school.
Whether you’re sending your student to college with a brand new PC, or helping your high schooler get the most out of the “old but reliable” family machine, you need a computer that runs smoothly and efficiently, without downtime or slow-loading pages.
Just in time for back-to-school, SlimWare Utilities (www.slimwareutilities.com) has unveiled a new version of its award-winning SlimComputer software, featuring new “browser” cleaning and management functions. SlimComputer’s new browser section displays all the browsers installed on a PC, including the add-ons, plug-ins, toolbars and extensions associated with each one. In addition, the new version lets users see if malware may be lurking in their browser, as well as easily select their preferred search engine and gain back control of their home page.
“You want students to have the advantage of a fast, reliable computer,” said Bob Bryant, chief technology officer at SlimWare Utilities. “You don’t want a bloated machine that stalls or crashes the night before an assignment is due. SlimComputer can help keep a student’s PC humming all semester.”
Originally launched last fall, SlimComputer is free software that removes bloat and unneeded programs from brand-new computers. Aimed at getting computers up and running faster, SlimComputer removes the trialware, adware, toolbars, unwanted start-up entries and other unnecessary programs that come pre-installed on a new PC – and the bloatware clogging older PCs. Read more
Mac OS X Lion Available From the Mac App Store
Apple announced that Mac OS X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system with more than 250 new features, is available today as a download from the Mac App Store for $29.99.
Some of the amazing features in Lion include: new Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store, the best place to find and explore great software, built right into the OS; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app.
“Lion is the best version of OS X yet, and we’re thrilled that users around the world can download it starting today,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Lion makes upgrading a Mac easier than ever before; just launch the Mac App Store, buy Lion with your iTunes account, and the download and install process will begin automatically.” Read more
Microsoft Office 365 Launched Globally
Microsoft announced the availability of Microsoft Office 365, the company’s newest cloud service.
Office 365 is now available in 40 markets, and it brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date cloud service, at a predictable monthly subscription.
The service was introduced in beta last year with enthusiastic response and, in a few months, more than 200,000 organizations signed up and began testing it. Businesses using Office 365 are already reporting impressive results and reducing IT costs by up to an estimated 50 percent while boosting productivity.
Today, more than 20 service providers around the globe also shared plans to bring Office 365 to their customers this year. Bell Canada, Intuit Inc., NTT Communications Corp., Telefonica S.A., Telstra Corp. and Vodafone Group Plc, among others, will package and sell Office 365 with their own services for small and midsize businesses.
“Great collaboration is critical to business growth, and because it’s so important, we believe the best collaboration technology should be available to everyone,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “With a few clicks, Office 365 levels the playing field, giving small and midsize businesses powerful collaboration tools that have given big businesses an edge for years.”
A Game Changer for Businesses of All Sizes
Office 365 is available in a wide range of service plans designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes, ranging from the largest to the smallest.
With Office 365, people can stay on the “same page” using instant messaging and virtual meetings with people who are just down the hall or across the world. They can work on files and documents at the same time and share ideas as easily as they can share calendars. Office 365 gives people new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device.
Microsoft Office applications are at the heart of Office 365. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook and other Office applications connect to Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Lync to deliver a world-class solution for communication and collaboration.
“When I saw Office 365, I knew this was the way businesses would work in the future,” said Elia Wallen, owner of fast-growing temporary housing provider Travelers Haven. “With Office 365, I’m going to save $100,000 a year and cut 30 hours of work a day across my 35 employees, but most importantly, my team is going to be able to work together better — no matter where they are.”
Office 365 Partners
Microsoft is building a massive partner ecosystem around Office 365, including systems integrators, software vendors, resellers and other partners. Today, that ecosystem is expanding as the company partners in new ways with market-leading service providers. These companies will package Office 365 with their own services — from Web hosting and broadband to finance solutions and mobile services — and bring those new offerings to millions of small and midsize businesses globally.
“Our partners represent some of the best-known, most-trusted brands in their local markets,” said Kurt DelBene, president, Microsoft Office Division. “Our customers will be able to rest easy knowing their cloud services are backed by Microsoft and some of the greatest service providers in the world.”
Top 10 Reasons to Use SlimCleaner
Top 10 reasons for using SlimCleaner, fast, new software that cleans, optimizes and improves the performance of personal computers:
#10 You can send messages and comments to other SlimCleaner users in the SlimWare Utilities social network – it’s Facebook meets PC optimization.
#9 You can delete junk and tracking cookies from your PC.
#8 You can scan anything on your computer with over 40 antivirus engines in the cloud.
#7 You can shred documents with a 35-time overwrite – wiping them from your system permanently.
#6 You can rate applications on your PC and let other users know whether an app is useful.
#5 You can read a description for every item on your machine, and get the SlimCleaner community’s feedback about whether you should keep it.
#4 You can access millions of real-time reviews about items on your PC, direct from SlimCleaner’s community of users.
#3 You can speed your PC’s boot-up time by choosing which items run when your machine starts.
#2 You can identify programs that are slowing your machine.
#1 You can clean your PC for FREE in a second or less – the fastest PC cleaner on the market.
About SlimCleaner
SlimCleaner is the fastest PC cleaning tool on the market. A free download, SlimCleaner uses crowd-sourcing and community feedback to provide real-time reviews and recommendations to optimize PC performance. SlimCleaner gets rid of junk files, deletes browsing histories and cookies, uninstalls unwanted programs, runs antivirus scans, lets users adjust startup entries and performs other functions that clean and speed up PCs.
Microsoft Announced Free Accessibility Tools and Training for Developers
Online training and resources can help corporations, governments and NGOs worldwide make their technology products and services more accessible to people with disabilities.
Microsoft announced the immediate availability of Microsoft Accessibility Tools & Training, a package of free online accessibility training courses, tools and other resources to help developers worldwide create technology products, services and websites that are accessible to people with disabilities, and to enable business leaders to make more strategic technology decisions.
Microsoft made the announcement at the 26th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, sponsored by California State University, Northridge (CSUN). The annual CSUN conference brings the accessibility community together to share best practices and to learn about new and emerging accessibility products and solutions.
Microsoft initially developed the online tools and training courses to increase accessibility awareness and expertise among its own developer groups. In response to growing customer demand for accessibility guidance, however, Microsoft decided to make the resources available, free of charge, to corporations, governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) around the world that want to make technology more accessible.
Microsoft is also offering an accessibility resource guide to help organizations meet the needs of people with all types of abilities. The guide, which can be downloaded or printed, provides specific information about many types of disabilities, impairments and age-related difficulties and some of the accessible technology solutions that can help address them. The training courses, tools and resource guide are all available online; most of these resources are also available on CD.
“Microsoft is one of the technology industry’s leaders in accessibility innovation and developing accessible technology, and we continuously work to improve access to our products and services,” said Bonnie Kearney, director of marketing for Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft. “By making these training courses and resources widely available, we hope that we can help raise the level of accessibility worldwide for people of all ages and abilities.” Read more