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There is a new cloud on the horizon, and it is in the shape of an office. It is called Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, and it is going to be a huge advancement in how people conduct their business and personal lives. DocVerse is a startup company that was bought by Google last March, and now is getting a chance to shine through integration into a widely used application for email.

The combination of a program like Google Docs and an email powerhouse like Office is deadly. One of the coolest features of Google Docs is the ability to access a document and edit it simultaneously with co-workers or other people. Forget about attaching the documents, that takes too long and is a thing of the past.

This is an amazing tool that will make life so much easier, no more having to wait for your client to look over changes in the document you just emailed and send it back, with Google Cloud Connect all you have to do is share the email and you are closer to finishing before you even start.

Another great feature of Google Cloud Connect is that you can connect to it from anywhere, just like Google Docs, all you have to do is save it. Once you save it, the document is given a unique URL(Uniform Resource Locator), allowing you to get it on your smart phone or office computer.

It is really a beautiful thing, this new “software of a service” office suite will be offered for free WHEN IT COMES OUT. Right now it is in the stage of testing.

The main reason Google is using MS Office as its platform to launch this new software is the fact that there are millions of people using Office, and it is not likely they will move to Google any time soon…unless…

Google Cloud Connect is targeting Microsoft Office and is taking over. With this new service users will also be able to work on PowerPoint presentations and Excel documents as well. The ones who need this are small business owners or companies that communicate throughout a large office that is otherwise hard to get things done.

Don’t worry, it will work with all existing Office versions, from Office 2003 to Office 2010.

Perhaps the best feature of Google Cloud Connect is the ability to access it from anywhere in the world with a computer and internet access. This is the cloud feature of the software. Personally I am an editor for a newspaper, so this tool is perfect for a person like me that needs to have constant contact with editors and writers on stories. When I am away from the computer, anything can happen where if I do not get to a computer, the whole operation could be compromised due to the fact that I could not see the article before it went to press. Google Cloud Connect will help a lot of people, including me.

Stay tuned to Geek Choice Blog for cool news and awesome updates that are sure to keep you informed and in-the-know.

It is all over television and magazine ads, and you might have run into those people who have different opinions than yours, about which computer is better: The PC or the Mac? Yes, there are two types of people in the world today that differ in their preference for a computer system, and they turn that preference into a side which they stand on thinking their choice is better.

In one commercial there is a hip guy who has been in cool movies as a side actor alongside a pudgy older guy who is confused about what is better: his choice of PC or this kind of funny guy who is telling everyone about how great the Mac is. The symbolism is super, the message is clear, but is that just a slander campaign or is that a fact?

PC just came out with a commercial a couple years late making an attempt to swing back at Apple.

In this video the decision to buy either a PC or a Mac might be swayed because of the ability of new PC laptops to play Blu-Ray discs. This is becoming a standard for PC’s. What does the Mac have to match up to that power?

Well, Popular Mechanics ran a real test to finally prove who is the stronger machine.

What a lot of people do not see in these commercials and are not told this by the companies, is that they both get there stuff from the same store. They are more similar than you think, they both use Intel processors, and both Windows Vista and Mac OS X Leopard have similar built-in media and internet browsers.

Now while the approach to these applications might be different, such as Macs’ Safari and Windows’ choice of Internet Explorer for a web browser, the goals are the same. But users are looking for that speed, that easy use, that perfect computer.

So Popular Mechanics decided to see which of the two had these three attributes. They used a Gateway One PC that was 400 MHz slower than the iMac, but had two extra gigs of DDR2 memory to make up for it. The test looked at how fast each computer booted and shut down, launch time for Internet Explorer and Safari, and other applications built-in put to the speed test, as well as ease-of-use and comfortable feeling.

So who do you think won?

If you thought PC, you are sadly mistaken my friend. iMac came out on top with numbers that beat the PC marginally. Both of them are very easy to use, very fast, and very comfortable. We have come a long way in the world of computers, it is amazing to see how far that it is and how awesome the capabilities are on these machines.

So which one should you pick? It depends on you and your preference, as well as on your environment. If you grew up in a predominantly PC neighborhood, chances are that crossing over to the “other side” will not happen. Which type of computer you use is almost a class of people now, as the divide between the two companies grows-the knowledge that they are very similar should not be over looked as the truth about these computers: they are the same!

If you are new to the Geek Choice Blogs, then you are in for an awakening, as this blog is where you can come for the TRUTH. We are hit with information as soon as we wake up and it lasts all day until we go unconscious. This can lead to health problems, as well as bad habits, so at this blog we try to alleviate the symptoms by cutting out all the B.S. and getting down to the facts.

The fact is that leaving your PC unprotected, or relying on some third rate anti-virus program, is not just unsafe it is down right ignorant. Microsoft has released a security tool for everyone to use, oh boy! Is it what you need during these times of dangerous, unsecured websites, drive-by attacks by hackers, and malicious downloads that you don’t even know is happening?

Microsoft Security Essentials, the new free anti-virus software that replaces Windows Live OneCare which costs money and only protected against adware and spyware, is available for all. It will protect you from not just these two attacks, but also from rootkits, malware, viruses, and Trojans. It goes back to Windows xp, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. But there is some drawbacks here that are significant enough to complain about.

The first is that you need a computer that has a valid license to run Windows. This leaves a whole slew of companies with their computers unaccepted thus unprotected. By throwing this software into as many computers as they can, which is Microsoft’s aim, to give freely of what they found to be a “super” deal. Do not be too sure.

Think if this anti-virus program made up the majority of protection for millions of people with computers. Green light for hackers, red light for you. By trying to be altruistic Microsoft seems to have mixed motives. Maybe if this software was perfect in every way and made life worry free, then we wouldn’t have to explain the truth to you: Microsoft is looking out for themselves, the selfish company.

It is interesting how all these anti-virus competitor companies such as McAfee, Symantec, and Norton dismiss Microsoft Security Essentials as being insignificant compared to their programs. Yet their shares have fallen drastically since the release of MSE in July of 2009 when they released the beta. Who is right? Who is wrong? It seems the war against viruses has turned inward and now a battle for supremacy over who is the most protecting has taken over. What about us?

If you are looking for the right anti-virus program, I urge you to test each one out. Try Microsoft Security Essentials, see how it fits with your system. Do not take the word of any blog, article, or anyone who tells you that their software is the best. The world we live in is hostile, so take the right actions to prevent your personal and business life from being invaded.

These anti-virus programs all work. It is just a matter of scanning for the truth and quarantining the lies.

If you have not already made the jump to Office 2010, then you are still sitting on the lily pad, with all the other frogs deciding when to jump into something better.

The new edition of Office came out last June, changing the way people use the computer and how they conduct their business through it, and now is standard in new PC’s. Microsoft Office is really just an easier way to handle multiple operations at once when the operating system normally could not perform these tasks. For businessmen and professionals, Office has become the standard for email, meetings, and productivity.

Office provides Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, InfoPath, Groove, and Publisher. That is a ton of operation for one program to handle, and Office fits them all together for you to use them with ease. So if you have the old version of Office, why not turn your ‘ease’ into ‘easier’?

New Features

One new add on to Microsoft Office is PowerPoint LiveWeb, which is perfect for anyone who uses PowerPoint. Who does not love this program? Students especially have benefited from using this program greatly because it offers such a detailed and neat presentation. No more posters or weird looking projects that you have to spend hours on making. With this new feature, you can add web pages right to the slide making your presentation perfect. The OLD PowerPoint is so hard to configure because you have to add the code to the page.

To top it all off, a new feature called Producer takes the cake on ease. It lives up to its name, it produces results allowing the user to import video, photographs, and audio right into your presentation. If you are involved in e-Learning, a conference, office communications, and public speaking, Producer lets you do what you want to do: the best!

Office 2010 gets into the social network scene with Outlook Social Connector. With this feature you can see what your friends and business associates are doing instantly through Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Window’s Live Messenger. Using this feature allows people to follow each others progress and status when at work, school, or home.

Offisync is more than a combination between Office and synchronization, it is a revolutionary change in the way people share, edit, and communicate documents. If you use Google Docs, another multi-usage platform that combines a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation along with storage, then Offisync is the right stuff. With this feature you now have access to your Google Docs within Office. This makes it easier because you are free from being confined to the Google Apps. It is the key you have been looking for to unlock the door to accessibility.

For all of you that travel across the world seeking business and/or pleasure, Office has combined with Bing to create: Bing Travel Planner for Outlook. Especially if you have trouble to begin with trying to plan a trip or multiple trips over the year, Bing Travel Planner helps you schedule flights and also remember them.

Perhaps one of the most useful tools that Microsoft has added to its new edition of Office, is Microsoft Mathematics Add-In for Word. You can download this free of charge at the Microsoft website. What this allows you math illiterate people like myself to do, or math geniuses like you to accomplish, is graphing 2D or 3D, solving equations in arithmetic and algebra, and even completing statistical functions. How awesome is that? This is something that has been missing in computers, an application that is easy to use and effective in helping the student or businessman who has to deal with numbers daily, finish the work they started.

So for all you Microsoft Office Addicts out there who are off the wagon and need a fix? Office 2010 gives you all that need to satisfy that craving for more.

By Sean Wilcoxson

About a year ago Windows 7 hit the computer world, offering a wide variety of new features, and in the past year it has showed everyone just how strong a Operating System it is. How else did it become the fastest selling OS in history?

Among the many things that make Windows 7 what it is, there are seven that stand out. Let’s take a look at what exactly is going on when we look out of the Windows 7:

The first one is a cool feature that allows you to customize your desktop wallpaper. Instead of just seeing the same old picture of a tree or the face of your baby, now you can put a slide-show that can be displayed in intervals on the background. I have tried it, it is a pretty neat seeing a whole trip I took change pictures on my desktop. The feature gives Windows 7 its true name: a window into exciting technology at our fingertips.

The second feature is the back-up tool that you can use to make sure your files will never be lost. By plugging in a flash drive or inserting a CD-R, the window pops up asking you if you would like to back-up your files. Once you do this, whenever you insert them in that same computer you can re-run that operation. It is an easy way to protect those important files you have stored.

The third feature is found in the taskbar, where your whole hard drive is at your fingertips with the search box. Type in that missing essay you wrote last week and need to edit, like magic it appears right before your eyes found in seconds. A common problem exists with iTunes when certain music files are moved around by accident, and when you try to play the song you have to locate it. Instead of trying to search your memory, search with the box and you will find what you are looking for.

The fourth feature is something that was anticipated by the makers of Windows 7, the inevitable clashing of OS like Windows XP(an older version). So Windows 7 includes a program that allows users to run XP from within Windows 7.  Not all programs run smoothly on Windows 7, so having this feature is vital to performance.

The fifth and final feature that makes Windows 7 a great system is the time it takes to boot up. In a test with Windows Vista, Windows 7 beat it out by 30 seconds, making it 20% faster than it’s competition. This time adds up, especially when you are in a hurry and need to get up and running as fast as possible to get on the web or get to your business.

Overall Windows 7 is definitely worth the upgrade. It has been open only a year, and guess what? Rumors around the computer world are whispering about a Windows 8 release in 2012. Can it get better than Windows 7? For now the best is in the number 7.

With the internet, cooking has never been easier, the sheer number of available recipes enough to tide you over until the end of time. Simply visit your favorite search engine, type in the name of a dish, and pore over the various recipes for your culinary favorites.

If Bing is your search engine of choice, you should know that Microsoft has spiced (pun intended, of course) it up with a neat addition that makes searching for recipes easier than ever.

Just visit Bing.com, type in an ingredient, and Bing will return with results culled from recipes sites the world over. When clicking on the Recipes link, you’re brought to a list of recipes that include the ingredient you searched for. Accompanying the recipes are pictures of the dish, a nutritional description, every rating it’s received, and the name of the site from which it came. Using the sidebar, you can filter through the results down to the category of cuisine and the convenience of its preparation.

For many, cooking is therapeutic, while others simply love to eat. Whatever your reason for hitting the kitchen, this site is an excellent resource to aid you in your effort.

You can visit Bing here.

If you’re the administrator of a shared computer on which you have multiple users, you very well could be someone who wants that computer used for a specific purpose, wanting to limit access to a select few applications. This is especially true of businesses where lapses in productivity could be a concern. You could be a manager looking to have your network administrator to craft a means of increasing the productivity of employees, or you might be a parent who’s mindful of the impact your children’s computer use is having on their studies.

For whatever the reason, Windows 7 allows you to decide just which applications users of that shared system can open.

This feature is not available for users of Windows 7 Home versions.

First, you want to click on the Start button and enter “gpedit.msc” in the search box. Press Enter.

Then, you’ll want to go to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ System. Once there, look under “Setting,” where you will then double-click on “Run only specified Windows applications.”

You” have to set that to “Enabled.” Then, in the Options section, click on the “Show” button.

Doing so will pull up a “Show Contents” window in which you can enter only those applications you want users to have access to. Once you’ve completed the list, click “OK.” Close out of the Local Group Policy editor.

With that done, you have now set restrictions on which applications users of your computer can avail themselves of. Should someone try to use one that isn’t included on your list of allowed applications, they will see the following message:

If you’re someone who monitors which applications are being used on your computer, this a great feature that will assist you in that regard.

A few blog posts ago, I touched upon Microsoft Security Essentials’ recent accolades from AV-Comparatives, an anti-malware testing group that compares various anti-malware solutions and ranks them accordingly. As reported, Microsoft Security Essentials is one of just two anti-malware packages — the other being F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 — that were rated “very fast” in every test category included in the company’s comparisons.

Adding to that initial honor, AV-Comparatives has also given Microsoft Security Essentials the award for the best performance of those programs tested.  Subjecting the competing anti-maleware solutions to a variety of tests derived from real-world scenarios — downloading, extracting, copying, encoding files, application launches, etc. — gave a  clear leader in Microsoft Security Essentials.

What became most noticeable was how little Microsoft Security Essentials demanded of a system’s resources, contributing to AV-Comparative’s decision to rank it as the best-performing anti-malware solution that you can get for free. Brisk performance in every major category, while being light on resources, is reason enough to give this highly recommended anti-malware program a look — particularly when you taking into consideration that it’s free, outpacing those solutions that cost money.

Proving its mettle against the competition, Microsoft Security Essentials is a great tool to protect your computer with.

Read AV-Comparative’s findings here.

If you’re interested in using Microsoft Security Essentials, you can find it here.

If you use either Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 2010 or McAfee Virus Scan Plus 2010, you might be interested in knowing that a recent report by AV-Comparatives — an Austrian non-profit that assesses differences between anti-virus software, informing the public of their findings — concludes that Microsoft Security Essentials runs faster than the two aforementioned competitors.

Still, Microsoft Security Essentials placed 6th overall amongst 16 products tested by the firm. Coming in at the 8 spot was Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 2010, while McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010 came in 10th place. Microsoft Security Essentials was rated “very fast” in every test category, with just one other anti-virus program — F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 — qualifiying for the “very fast” honor in every test category.

This is of particular significance for those of you looking to install a security solution that doesn’t hinder the performance of your computer, a problem that persists with many anti-virus programs.

Microsoft Security Essentials has received high marks for its relative lack of bloat and fast performance. More enticing, Microsoft Security Essentials is free, making it the superior alternative to anti-virus solutions that are both costly and less efficient.

You can grab Microsoft Security Essentials here.

If you’re interested in reading more about the findings from AV-Comparatives, here’s their PDF.

Below, you’ll find a chart detailing the results of their assessment:

While being a release that has seen Microsoft regain much of the faith it lost with recent installments of its operating system, Windows 7 arrived with many long adored features either missing or peculiarly buried in such a way as to make their use unnecessarily tedious.

For those of you pining for the Quick Launch toolbar, it’s still available, but you’ll need to perform a few quick tweaks to get it working.

The contents of your Quick Launch folder can be found at this location: %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick launch. Very easily, this tool will transform those shortcuts into a list that effectively acts as your Quick Launch toolbar.

Called JumpLaunch, this application is a free tool that adds a blue orb to your Windows 7 bar. Right-clicking on the orb will bring a list of applications stored in your Quick Launch list. When left-clicking on the same orb, you’re able to add or remove programs from this list, customizing it to your preferences.

Windows 7 is an excellent addition to Microsoft’s stable of programs, but it’s not perfect. At Geek Choice, we’ll continue to offer you tips that aid you in getting the most out of this new operating system.

You can download JumpLaunch here.