Playing Excit!

The goal of Excit! is to navigate the cross around the spreadsheets obstacles and reach the exit without leaving the screen.

After each level you complete you’re given a password so you don’t have to go through all the levels every time you play.

Another goal to work at is collecting MIS logos scattered throughout the levels.

As you progress through levels they become increasingly difficult and add more challenges and include different items to collect to complete the level.

This game is a lot of fun and helps you get away from the normal drudgery of looking through spreadsheets by putting a fun twist on them.

Play Excit!

Using Weather Watcher

Installation is quick and easy following the installation wizard.  One thing to point out is to uncheck the Ask Toolbar install if you don’t care for it.  Also make sure to uncheck Ask.com as your default search provider if you already have a favorite.

The first time you launch Weather Watcher after the installation you will be prompted to go in and setup options.

The main thing we sat up right away was a location to start getting current conditions, which is under the Active City tab.  Here you can enter in what locations you want to keep track of, either by city name or zip code.

The main interface is pleasantly laid out, is skinnable, and controls are easy to use.

Hover over the Weather Watcher Taskbar icon which you can set to show the current temperature to get an overview of current conditions.

You can also set up severe weather alerts.

They offer various other world view weather maps you can view such as this one powered by NASA imagery.

There is also the ability to add other types of world maps you might be interested in such as wind streams, humidity, rainfall totals, etc.

Another great feature is checking out the regional or national radar which is powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth and The Weather Channel.

Being powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth allows you to zoom in to specific areas for a detailed view.

If you are a “weathergeek” or just a geek who wants to know if the sun is shining outside your dungeon, Weather Watcher is an excellent free application to have.  Weather Watcher works on versions of Windows from 98 – Windows 7.

Download Weather Watcher for Windows

The object of the game is simple, kill your character, but as the game progresses the scenarios increase in difficulty.

When you begin the first levels there are helpful hints telling you what different objects are. 

If you get stuck you’re allowed restart the level.

A game that requires killing your character may seem easy, but the methods increasingly become more difficult.  There are 50 levels and a boss to kill in the end which should keep your mind off work until the whistle blows!

Play Karoshi Suicide Salaryman

PC Audit is an easy to use free application that doesn't require installation and will run directly from a USB flash drive, CD, or even Floppy Disk.  Simply double click the executable and it will scan your system and generate the findings.

It runs quick and will give you details about installed hardware, software (including version and product key), and processes running.

If you are working on an older system you can run the 997KB program from a floppy disk which comes in very handy for troubleshooting old systems.

PC Audit may not be as detailed as other system information utilities but it is small, fast, and gives you a good amount of system data … great for troubleshooting legacy computers.

Download PC Audit for Windows

Original Nintendo Mario Brothers and Super Mario Brothers 3

To start off playing where it all began (After Donkey Kong) check out this original version of Mario Brothers for the 8-bit Nintendo System.  You will need Java installed for this site to work.

Play Mario Brothers at Nintendo8.com

If you are a fan of the original Super Mario Brothers 3  – 8 bit Nintendo version – this is the place to go.  In fact this site has a bunch of original 8 bit Nintendo games you can play.

Play Super Mario Brothers 3 at Nintendo8.com

Super Mario 63

This game is 2D but includes a lot of the Super Mario SNES and Super Mario 64 elements into the game play.

Play Super Mario 63 at MeltGames

Mario Tetris 3

This actually allows you to enjoy both Mario themes and play one of the most fun and addicting games ever in Tetris.  You can change the backgrounds and different music from the various Mario games.

Play Mario Tetris 3

These are just a few favorites we have for you to check out on your boring Friday afternoon.  If you have come across any cool online Mario games please lets us know by leaving a comment!

Open Excel 2007 and under the Data tab select Get External Data and From Web.

This will open up the New Query window where you enter in the URL of the site you want to get data from.  There will be yellow arrow icons next to the table data that can be imported, click the areas of the data you want to import which turns the box to a green checkmark.  After you have what you want selected click on the Import button.

Next choose the cell where you want the data to appear in the spreadsheet and click OK.

The data will begin to be retrieved from the site, the amount of time it takes will depend on the amount of data you selected.  Now you can organize the data how you like for presentation. 

This tip comes in very handy when doing research or for easily adding website table data to reports.

Using FBLook

FBLook is a small utility that integrates seamlessly with Outlook and allows you to update your Facebook status, show what your playing in iTunes or WMP, see your friend status, and receive notifications.

The download is less than 320KB and installation is quick and easy following the installation wizard.

After installation you will see FBLook as a inconspicuous toolbar in Outlook.  To start using FBLook you will need to log into your Facebook account from the toolbar.

Also, the first time you want to change your status you will have to allow 3rd party application updates so just click OK.

Then you will be brought to the Facebook page to allow FBLook to do status updates.

Now you can change your status by writing in your own custom thought or choose from some of the preconfigured messages from the drop down box.  If you have music playing in WMP or iTunes there will be a selection for the music.

Drop down the FBLook menu on the left to log out, check new activity, or visit the FBLook site.  The left dropdown arrow will show you the amount of messages you have.

Scroll further down on the FBLook drop down menu and you’ll see what all of the messages above actually are.

FBLook is a great way to clandestinely keep up with your Facebook activities while at work and works with Outlook 2003 and 2007.  The pointy-haired bosses will just think your busy writing business speak to their clients and be none the wiser.  If you’re a Twitter fan, check out how to Integrate Twitter with Microsoft Outlook which The Geek wrote about a while back.

Download FBLook from Tech Hit

The first thing you will need to do is download and install Google Desktop.  You may think of this as a free product offered from Google that will index email, files, and web history on your computer for faster searching and access.  While it does offer faster searching for computer items, when you install Google Desktop you're not required to include the enhanced search features.  We will cover the indexing and other enhanced features of Google Desktop in future posts.

For the sake of this article we are only going to install the Sidebar with Gadgets.  The desktop gadgets will work with a basic install and no additional features.

After installation there will be a sidebar shown with some gadgets like an analog clock and notepad.  The bar can be minimized or placed on different areas of the desktop.  To find and install new gadgets for your interests Right-click and select "add gadgets".

This will pull up a menu of different gadgets available where you can browse through different categories or search for specific ones.  In this instance it's adding the Music Player gadget.

After choosing the gadget there may be a description and note and just click OK.

New gadgets will be placed in the sidebar and you can easily unlock them and move anywhere on your desktop.

These can be a lot of fun and productive and for XP users it can really transform your desktop to a more modern look and feel.  Google Desktop Gadgets are also available for Linux and Mac OS X users.

Download Google Desktop Gadgets for Windows, Linux, or Mac

From the site - Boxhead: The Zombie Wars is the 5th game in the series. It comes with new graphics, new enemies (lots of them) and Zombie Wars brings a new feature to the series, now you can construct your own base with turrets and barricades.  Choose Classic or Defence mode and get ready to enter Hell.

Shoot the zombies before they steal all your health.  You get power ups to increase health, get more ammunition, and better weapons.

Defence Mode is another cool option where you get to set up barricades, use turret guns, and defend your home base.

You can configure different settings and customize controls for the game.

This game is definitely a lot of fun with lots of zombies to shoot.  You only get one life so you will need to use creative strategies to progress up levels.

Play Boxhead: The Zombie Wars by Sean Cooper on the Geek Arcade

Once you receive and email with a bunch of individual attachments in Outlook 2007 click on Other Actions in the Actions section on the Ribbon and scroll down to Save Attachments.

This will open the Save All Attachments dialog box where you can choose them all or only certain ones by holding down the Shift or Ctrl keys to highlight them.  When you have selected the ones you want just click OK.

This will open up Windows Explorer so you can choose the directory to save the attachments.

Now that we have covered that lets look at an even easier way.  Highlight all of the attachments by using Shift + Left Click or Cttl + Left Click, now Right-Click and choose either Save As or Copy.  This allows you to save the attachments to a specific directory or copy them using the Clip Board. 

A Simple yet effective time saving tip when working with a lot of documents and Outlook all day.  For Office 2003 users you can do the same thing by going to File \ Save Attachments.