Skype and Live IM on Windows 8 Not Playing Nice Together

We have both Skype and MSN (Messenger on Win8) going with messages showing on one and sometimes in the other.

The above snip is from Skype on Windows 8. Messages sent via IM Messaging in Windows 8 appear on other system’s IM and Skype but for some reason Skype messages sent via Skype on this Windows 8 system do not.

If we are to drop MSN Messenger/Live Messenger altogether one would hope that the system’s bugs will be worked out.

For now, we will continue to run both service clients on this system and others until messages sent via either client show up 100% on the other.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft/Live ID in Windows 8 Actually Says, "Your password has expired. It's time to choose a new one."

This is a nice change:

Instead of this:

And a, "There is a problem with your Microsoft account".

Windows Messenger says that there is a problem with the connection.

We have all of our Microsoft/Live ID accounts set to expire their passwords after 72 days. It is an option available when changing the password.

So, at least the Microsoft account integration in Windows 8 _tells_ us what the problem is and how to fix it.

Now to figure out _what_ characters are allowed. :S

It's not allowing spaces. Special characters are okay but spaces are not. Oh well.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SkyDrive Limit 7GB: Need to Upgrade to Keep 25GB!

Thanks to fellow MVP Dave Nickason for pointing this out!

Log into the SkyDrive site and you will see:

Click on the link and:

We see that we need to opt-in to the 25GB of storage.

Once we opt-in we can now comfortably store 25GB of data on the SkyDrive!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Office Live 365 – We Are Now Online

Okay, so five minutes after hitting the post button in Windows Live Writer our SharePoint site came online.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: Office 365 Beta – Go Live Time Here

Now that DNS has had a chance to propagate for our new domain we are trying to get our Outlook connected.

Step 1 – Get that info in:

Step 2 – Authenticate:

Step 3 – We are connected:

Step 4 – Outlook wants to restart:

Step 5 – Outlook shows the mailbox:

Now, let’s test to see just how the system will handle spam:

• E-mail: PhilipElder@hostedmpecs.ca

With the above address being integrated into my Outlook, please feel free to e-mail me there however with Microsoft announcing that the O365 service is going live in a few days there is no guarantee on how long this beta based mailbox stays alive.

We will not pay for this service as we are already properly licensed in-house and utilize OWN’s Hosted Exchange for our client’s needs as well as our own.

So, let’s see just how long this lasts! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Favorite Sync Now In Windows Live Essentials 2011

It has been a bit of a struggle to figure out what happened to the Live Toolbar ability to sync Internet Explorer’s Favorites.

After searching around we came upon Windows Live Mesh, now called Sync, that allows is to synchronize our Favorites folder across many different systems.

With the introduction of the Tega v2 we now have_a lot_ of devices to keep shared profile data synchronized across. The Live Toolbar helped to keep things sorted out when it came to IE Favorites.

Now that we have that worked out . . . for now . . . we have some addition profile tweaks to complete such as adding SharePoint libraries to Windows 7’s Favorites list (previous blog post) on the Tega v2.

• Windows Live Essentials Download

Posted via Tega v2 entirely by touch. This will take some getting used to. A small Bluetooth keyboard is now on the To Do list for this week.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer