Blackberry SureType and MultiTap

As nice as it is to have a cell phone sized Blackberry, one thing many people don't like about it is the lack of a full QWERTY keyboard. Recently someone asked me to help them change the default Suretype keyboard input method (I call it predictive typing) to the MultiTap option. This option was not really in an obvious place.

After poking around in many settings and options I finally found it under Options - Language - Input Language. You need to change the option to the other English (United States) selection that is not already set as default. I did not find this option at first since I could not read the full text for this selection. Perhaps RIM should look into making this option a little more obvious!

Hope this tip helps users of the Blackberry Pearl and other similar units. Check my Twitter account for more tips and tricks or subscribe to my blog for regular updates (it's FREE). As always, if you need additional help contact me via email.

8 Tools To Make MS Shops Run Smoother

The following is an excerpt from the original post by Network World. I found this list to be very helpful since I'm in the Windows Admin world. This list is for my reference and for anyone who finds this useful.

PolicyPak

This is a tool you can use to create Group Policy "Paks" that can manage apps like Acrobat Reader, Firefox, Skype. It handles many apps that currently are a nightmare for a network admin -- or require a ton of work

ClipTraining

A task-oriented video training tool that users can easily alter in order to meet precise software training needs. ClipTraining offers a hosted training portal, internal portal hosted on your server or on the ClipTraining appliance CheeTAh.

Password Reminder Pro

A tool for monitoring and auditing passwords in an Active Directory environment. It provides alerts for expiring passwords both for internal and external users. The software offers a full reporting and alert system to help keep your organization secure and in compliance.

HiveWare

A document collaboration tool for Microsoft Word that allows two or more users to edit an active document at the same time without interfering with each other. This is an add-on that uses p2p technology to share documents that change in real time.

Open VPN

A full featured SSL VPN solutio. It is easy to configure and manage. It is open source, it is also priced right.

Excito Bubba Server

A full featured Web-based server (running a Debian Linux distribution) that provides all the power of a full sized server in a small form factor. Bubba II adds Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors.

Windows 2008 Server Core Configurator

This is for those who want the security of Server 2008 core, but have not quite gotten used to the command line feel yet. Here is a GUI tool to help you configure your core server easily.

Open IT Online

A plug-in for Firefox that allows you to open and edit your documents wherever you are. The extension allows you to also open and edit spreadsheets, presentations and image files.

Check my Twitter account for more tips and tricks or subscribe to my blog for regular updates (it's FREE). As always, if you need additional help contact me via email.