November 05

Sign in Weirdness

I got a new laptop, which I am loving.  It came set up for Windows Live, Windows Live Mail and Writer already installed - great since I was going to be using that any ways.  It also came with IE7, Windows Vista and different Internet security than I had before, a lot of new things to get used to but everything was working perfectly.  Having read in the OLSB Community about various sign in difficulties people have had I was a little apprehensive about signing in to Office Live but it went without a hitch.

Until this weekend, that is.  Suddenly all sorts of weird happenings would occur every time I tried to sign in. 

 The assorted ills that would happen:

 

• Internet Explorer would insist on opening a new window before going to the sign in page.
• When I signed in, yet more windows would open,. some with multiple tabs saying continue with a blank page and message that IE couldn't display the page.
• Sometimes it would say my password was incorrect.  Typing it in very carefully to be sure it was right did not change its mind.  I could sign into other Windows Live services with the same ID without any problem.
• Sometimes the sign in page would only display one of my assorted Live ID's, invariably not the one I wanted.
• When I finally did get in (and closed all the assorted extra pages and tabs) if I tried to get into anything some times it would send me back to the sign in page.  Other times it would get me there, after opening additional windows and tabs again.
• The whole shebang was repeated when trying to sign out.

I was certain I hadn't changed anything on my laptop.  I decided it must be a Microsoft problem and it would be fixed soon.  Not to be, the problems did not magically go away.  Then I tried signing in with my other computer and I could get in just fine.  Curses!  It must be my laptop and I was going to have to muck about with all the new stuff and figure it out.  I tried a bunch of things, perfomed uncounted numbers of RxDave's general exorcisms (also known as All Purpose Remedies) turning on and off various security features and changing different thing in IE.  Nothing seemed to make a difference.  I had noticed that at the bottom of the screen it would say Protected Mode Off, when everywhere else I went it said Protected Mode On.  May as well have said shfogghlhsoiughklshio for all I knew!

Finally I decided since it worked when I first got it that I was going to change everything I had mucked with back to the way it was at first (none of it worked no point in keeping the changes).  I went back into IE options and while I was changing everything back I remembered I had added Office Live and my web sites in the Trusted Sites, I had indeed changed something before this all happened.  I removed them and that did the trick! No more windows and tabs opening I could sign in!  I could edit my site, see my reports and sign out again!  Poof! All the weirdness was gone and Protected Mode stays on.

If weird things are happening to you when you try to sign in, you might want to  try removing Office Live from your Trusted Sites.

1:41 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

July 19

From Here to There and Back Again

Finding your way around the web can be challenging.  There are many tools that can help.  Adding sites to your Favorites is one way to get to everything you need to, your website, mail, workspace and blog.  If you are like me, the Favorites becomes less of a quick reference since I end up with many many folders and links!  IE8 also gives you a Favorites Toolbar, where you can add whatever links you want.

Another tool I find very useful is the Windows Live Toolbar.  You can include links to your Mail, Calendar, Windows Live Profile.  I especially like the preview of the Mail and Calendar, I can check those no matter where on the web I am without leaving and go right to my inbox if I have a new message.  You can also customize and choose from a variety of buttons to ad.

Despite all the tools available, I still wanted an easier way to navigate between working on my website, checking mail, go to my workspace or blog, pop over to the OLSB Community to see what was new and then get back again.  And now I can with my new custom toolbar button for Office Live Small Business:

If you would like to add the button to your Windows Live Toolbar you can get it here:  Office Live Small Business Button.

1:31 PM GMT  |  Read comments(4)

September 07

New Treatment for Link Contagion

Link Contagion in Office Live Small Business is when, for no apparent reason, a hyperlink ‘spreads’ linking other text, blank lines, images and even modules.  A telltale sign is seeing underlines where you haven’t underlined anything.  Sometimes it is hard to detect, a tiny, easily overlooked ‘rash’ of single underlines may appear in the blank lines between text, these might be the only sign.  At it’s worst it can turn an entire pages content into one giant link!

Previously, it has been difficult and frustrating to eradicate.  Deleting text and redoing it would sometimes seem to work only to still be there when the page was viewed, or I would find it had relapsed when I returned another day.  The best method I had was to, cross my fingers, hold my breath and find the very end of it on the page and hit backspace.  That did not always work.  Other times, much content would need to be removed before it cleared.  Sadly, sometimes the only cure was to overwrite the page and start fresh.

I had a sudden outbreak of Link Contagion a few weeks ago and for some reason, this time I remembered seeing an ‘unlink’ option in the hyperlink dialog box.  Since unlinking was what I wanted to happen, I decided it was worth a try.  I highlighted the infected linked content, clicked unlink and lo and behold it actually unlinked!  And. Stayed. Not. Linked.  My outbreak gave me opportunity to experiment some more, and highlighting just part of the infection, going to the hyperlink option and selecting unlink and Bam!, like magic, all the linking was gone!

I have not tested this treatment protocol in other sites, but it is definitely worth a try.  Let me know if it works!

5:42 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

February 27

Windows Live Toolbar

I recently added Windows Live Toolbar, which is, well, a toolbar for the top of the browser.  Just now I was actually looking at it for the first time and was wondering just what some of those icons up there do.   I discovered a couple of nifty ones, the translator which will translate any web page into a number of different languages, that will come in handy the next time I visit a site to find it in a language I don’t speak!

Most importantly for us Office Live Small Business folks is one that you can add – Office Live!

Now, no matter where I am there is access to my web site, no need to look in my Favorites, right there nice and handy.  To add it click on the little icon to the right.

8:27 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

April 30

Live Spaces Blog Module

If you are using the module on your Office Live Small Business website to display your Live Spaces blog you may have noticed that it stopped working this week.  Mine isn’t working either, the blog just isn’t displayed at all.  Many have asked about it in the Office Live Small Business Community.

I contacted Support about mine and they said they know about it and are diligently working to get it fixed, they don’t know how long it will be but expected it to be soon.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that it is easy to fix.

In the meantime you can put a little message on your site and provide a link directly to your blog.  A little inconvenient but it will allow your visitors to read it - which is the main point.

* This has been fixed and the Modules are working again.

5:23 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)