Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

Download the Windows Azure Poster in PDF format (1.1MB)

Click to view enlarged image Some interesting facts & trivia from this infographic on the Microsoft Careers Facebook page - Bing Translator for Mobile - lets you translate any printed language  MS Office is now reported to be used by over 1 billion people worldwide  Windows 8 Phone capabilities include multi-core processor support, Micro SD support, NFC wireless sharing and easier development of applications  Kinect is a groundbreaking NUI platform  VaporMg, the molded magnesium casing, allows Surface to weigh a thin 1.5 pounds.  XBox 360 hosts a triple core Xenon CPU, capable of processing up to 6 threads simultaneously  Windows RT is Windows for ARM devices  The new fast startup mode (in Windows 8) is a hybrid of traditional cold boot and resuming from hibernate, resulting in Windows 8 boot times up to 70% faster with virtually zero power consumption when in standby.  Also see: The History of Microsoft

Paraphrased suggestions from a Wired magazine article to make your passwords harder to crack - Don't reuse passwords. If you do, a hacker who gets just one of your accounts will own them all. If you must a dictionary word as your password, then string several together into a pass phrase. Avoid standard number substitutions. Think “P455w0rd” is a good password? N0p3! Cracking tools now have those built in. Use the longest possible password. Enable two-factor authentication when offered.  Give bogus answers to security questions - not something hackers can get through social-engineering Scrub your online presence so that your personal information isn't easily available. Use a unique, secure email address for password recoveries. Also see:  Don't let Chrome & Firefox remember your passwords on a shared computer