Syncing your Outlook Calendar status with Office Communicator

This post is specifically meant for users using Office Communicator in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook, at work. Many a times you might find that while you are on a meeting which reflects on your Outlook Calendar, your Office Communicator still shows your status as "Online" rather that "In a Meeting".

The solution to this problem is very simple. This generally happens when your Office Communicator is not able to read your Outlook Calendar. To correct this problem always keep an eye on the lower right hand corner of the status bar of your Office Communicator. If your Office Communicator is unable to read your Outlook Calendar you would see a small Server icon with an exclamation shown in the status bar. On hovering your mouse over the icon you would see an error as shown on the right.






To solve the problem just double-click on the icon which would pop-up a message as shown on the right. Just click on YES & you would soon find out that your Office Communicator reflects the correct status as per your Outlook Calendar entry.

Do let me know once you try out this.

Fixing your PS/2 Keyboard detection problem

Last year in April I had to replace my original Intel 865 GBF Motherboard as it had gone bad due to my SMPS. At the same time I also changed my SMPS. Everything was running smooth when all of a sudden (from past 2 months) my Motherboard stopped detecting my PS/2 Keyboard occasionally during boot-up. The Keyboard would again start working if I unplugged it & plugged it back again.

I initially thought that possibly my PS/2 Port had gone faulty when my Keyboard wired stretched too much while I was working on my PC few months back. I also thought that my Keyboard (which was around 4-5 years old) had gone faulty I thus got another spare Keyboard from my neighbor for testing purposes. I initially exchanged the Keyboard & Mouse by connecting into each others Ports. But nothing actually worked.

After frantically searching for the solution on the Net last night I interpreted a small little thing though I did not get a direct solution to my problem. Most of the forums talked about USB Power utilization's. It then suddenly struck me that I had permanently connected my external 1 TB Hard Disk to my USB Port which might possibly be drawing Power during boot.

The Final Solution - Keep any USB Powered devices disconnected during Boot if you encounter a similar problem. You could also press your CPU's RESET button if your PC does not proceed with the Boot process in the 1st attempt & continue to keep your USB Powered devices connected during Boot.

Do let me know if my solution works for you.

Consumermate - the ultimate destination for latest prices across models for Mobiles, Digital Cameras & Laptops

My friend's Birthday was lined up within the next 2 weeks & I planned to gift him a Mobile. I was totally confused about how to channelize my buying decision. Then it suddenly struck me about my good old friend, who else - Consumermate, & within 10 days or so the Birthday gift was at my doorstep.

Consumermate is the ultimate destination for latest prices across models for Mobiles, Digital Cameras & Laptops. Once you visit this site, you would simply close the doors for other online Tech portals for buying your favorite goody. Not only do you have an option of searching a humongous database of Mobiles, Digital Cameras & Laptops, you can also have a competitive price check, feature review, user reviews & last but not the least - to buy the item online from the reseller.

Something which is now popularly being used by users is to search for Mobile Phones price. Users also frequent this site to check SLR Digital Cameras price. Nikon being a very widely known Digital Camera brand, the SLR Nikon section also gives you a good preview of the latest range of SLR cameras from Nikon. I personally own a Nikon Coolpix P90 camera, which I love very much & whose buying decision was obviously inspired by Consumermate.

All this time I have been speaking only about Mobiles & Cameras. The portal also has a dedicated section for Laptops. The latest trend these days are the ultra-portable Laptops, also known as Netbooks. There is a good database of Netbooks too.

Why don't you check out the portal & book your favorite gizmo right away!!!

Online Music - once a dream, now a reality!!!

I still remember those days when I had enrolled at NIIT to complete GNIIT in the year 1996. It was the initial days of Internet in India. With unstable connections, slow speeds & very few service providers it was still very interesting as we all got connected to the gigantic information database. In those days I couldn't even imagine streaming data over the existing net connection.

On Feb 16, 2010 MTNL Mumbai (my local ISP) upgraded the Unlimited Internet Plans on many Tariff Plans. I believe an Unlimited Internet Plan with a basic speed of 1 Mbps at a reasonable rate is what you need to enjoy the basic streaming experience. I now pay INR. 999 & am having the speed of 1 Mbps with an Unlimited Plan which I just told you earlier.

There might be 100s of sites providing streaming Music. I just found a site which provides some good Online Music & Radio. The best part is it provides a downloadable player with interchangeable skins, that can be used to listen to Online Music, Radio & Videos. Here is a screen-shot of the players' default skin -

Ohh!!! I forgot to mention the site. Its www.dizzler.com. It has a good collection of Bollywood songs, which I generally enjoy & possibly that's why I spoke of this site. he streaming quality & speed also seems good over a 1 Mbps connection. Why don't you visit this site & enjoy some cool Music?