10+ tips for working In Outlook’s Calendar view

TechRepublic has a post on 10+ tips for working In Outlook’s Calendar view.

Update Your Facebook Profile from Outlook

SlackerGeek has a post on how to Update Your Facebook Profile from Outlook.

This requires an add-on to Outlook called FBLook.

TwInbox – Use Twitter directly from Outlook.

TwInbox lets you use Twitter directly from Outlook.

“Now you can have a fully-featured, powerful Twitter client at your fingertips without having to open any other applications. TwInbox seamlessly integrates Twitter into Outlook. It is a perfect Twitter client for any Outlook user, from a Twitter newbie to a business professional.”  Freeware.  Use at your own risk.

Features

• Update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.
• Receive your friend updates in Outlook.
• Archive, manage, group and search your tweets the
  same way you manage your email (details).
• Search, track keywords. TwInbox will automatically download ALL tweets matching the keywords you specify, even if you are not following the tweet sender. This feature is perfect for keeping up to date with the Twitter buzz on your name, brand, interests, etc.
• Group tweets by sender, topic, etc using the Search feature.
• Upload and post picture files and Outlook email attachments.
• See new tweets at a glance (details).
• Assign custom folder and categories to new messages.
• Use Outlook’s “Reply” and “ReplyAll” commands to send twitter direct messages and @replies.
• Automatically sort new tweets into per-sender folders.
• Shorten URLs with tinyurl.
• See graphs of your Twitter usage statistics.
• Tweets sent to you (@replies and direct) are marked with high importance, so you can see them at a glance.

Bounce Bully – Bounce Spam Back to Spammmers

Here’s a nicely vengeful idea.

Bounce Bully lets you “Bounce Spam mail Back to Spammmers in Outlook and Outlook Express”.

“Make them think your email address is invalid. BounceBully sends a spammer a message that’s the equivalent of “Return to Sender. Address Unknown.” Spammers who receive these bounced messages may be encouraged to remove you from their spam lists because they think your email address is not active. Punish spammers by sending a “hit” to there website that does not produce money for them. Find out where in the world your latest spam message came from.”

Freeware. Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector lets you “use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to access and manage your Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail or Microsoft Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages, contacts and calendars for free!”

KLS Backup to backup your email

KLS Backup 2008 is an easy backup program for Windows Mail/Outlook Express/Thunderbird and even Firefox profiles and email.

Freeware.  Windows 2000/XP/Vista.

Copy your Outlook Express email files to a backup folder

Internet Fixes has instructions on how to Copy Outlook Express Mail Files to a Backup Folder.

Email programs tend to bury files in odd places, so here’s how to track them down if you’re using Microsoft Outlook Express.

Microsoft Office student discount

While this site normally doesn’t promote commercial software (companies have budgets of their own for that!), the Microsoft Office Suite is the campus standard software and many students would like to get it at a discount.

Try the student discount for the ultimate package here.

Google Calendar now goes with Outlook

Office Watch has an article on the free Calendar Sync function that lets you sync your Google Calendar entries with Microsoft Outlook.

Office Watch, by the way, has a continuing free newsletter with updates on Microsoft Office products, pro and con, and is a good source of information.

Outlook and virus prevention

Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express are popular choices for email and other functions, but they have gained a reputation as primary targets of viruses, trojans, and other malware.  (In fact, ANYTHING from Microsoft tends to be a primary target, since it is the most popular software in many categories, so damage would be done to more users.)

Internet Fixes has advice on avoiding infection while using Outlook Express.   The same precautions will help with regular Outlook.

These include:

• using the latest, updated version of Outlook or Outlook Express
• disabling the Preview Pane when using Outlook or Outlook Express
• sending all messages with attachments to a special folder first, then scanning them with anti-virus software (which you also keep updated!) before opening

REMEMBER: viruses and other malware may steal addresses from a friend and use them to send copies of malware to you.  Just because you got a message from a friend you trust, does not mean that you can trust the message!  Your friend may not even know it was sent to you.