Why I’m using Foxit reader for Acrobat PDF files

August 13, 2007 2 Comments

For a while I had been reading good things about Foxit Software’s tools for reading, creating and editing PDF files, but never bothered to actually try them out. I recently switched from using Adobe’s Acrobat reader when I finally got fed up with the oversized, bloated product and it’s constant nagging to go off and update itself online (especially since this causes a UAC prompt on Vista). I used to dig around and kill off the update functionality, but enough was enough – why should I have to struggle to try to make the software behave how I want when it might just be easier to switch to a different product.

So, after a very quick download of the 3MB installation file and a simple, no frills installation, I was ready to go. Compare this with the vast and unnecessary 21MB of Adobe’s Acrobat reader – and don’t get me started on the fact that they force me to first download a download manager before I can finally download the actual setup file, when I could have just used my several highly competent browser plugins to get the install files so much quicker. Foxit also comes as an MSI – so much easier than Adobe’s EXE file when it comes to deployment using standard tools such as Group Policy Software Installation (GPSI) or scripts. These download sizes are reflected in the relative amounts of memory consumed by these two products when opening files to view.

Why do I care about my PDF file reader so much? Well, I actually use PDFs fairly extensively for storing “read-only” copies of my own documents, which I then want to access, print, share or publish as easily as possible.

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Filed under Training + certification, Utilities + Tools, Web publishing Tagged with , , ,

How many people share your Microsoft qualifications?

July 26, 2007 5 Comments

When I am revising hard to pass my various exams I often get asked by friends and family “so what exactly does this qualification mean?”

The implied question is “how special is this?” or “how many millions of others already have one of these?” to which I never had an answer because Microsoft never provided one.

Now I can answer these questions as Microsoft have posted a page listing all the major technical qualifications such as MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCSD and MCDST along with the number of people who hold each one. Obviously some people get counted several times for their MCP, MCSA and MCSE (for example), but it is still a useful indication of how you compare to others. They have said this page will be updated monthly, and should soon include all the new Vista and Exchange 2007 MCITP stuff.

As things stand at the moment this means that when I pass my 70-291 (hopefully very soon) I will be one of about 42,000 people in the world with an MCSA:Messaging (2003).

I’m not sure how special that makes me feel, but it is certainly a step up from being one-in-two-million vanilla MCPs.

Filed under Training + certification, Work and profile

Ceci n’est pas une brand

June 12, 2007 Leave a comment

One of the training courses I run is about producing and delivering better PowerPoint presentations. This looks at ways to avoid Death by PowerPoint by using well-crafted, visually attractive slides to provide maximum impact and increase audience understanding and information retention.

In a future blog post I might collect some thoughts together around that topic, but for now I thought I would link to a pretty good example. Given that this is a slideshow with no presenter, there is text accompanying pictures which would not necessarily be the case if it was speaker-driven. However, it is still a great example of visual impact to deliver a strong message.

Notice that because of the limitations of SlideShare (and good taste on the part of the designer) there are no animations, no builds, just pure, simple, accessible slides. One of the disciplines I ask my course delegates to adopt is to print their slide deck in black and white, 6 slides to a page. Only if their slides are readable and make sense (and have impact) in this format will they be successful for a presentation. Maybe my new discipline should be “post it to SlideShare” which has similar limitations of size* and lack of animation .

*I know you can view it in full-screen mode but many people won’t do this, and those that do often want to see if the first couple of slides draw them in before doing that.

The Brand Gap Presentation is also an interesting insight into the topic of branding and marketing, which is often a theme which comes into choice of presentation style and touches on some of the areas I teach.

Your brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is.

Filed under PowerPoint, Presentation design, Presenting skills, Training + certification Tagged with

Huge PowerPoint files and how to avoid them

June 7, 2007 2 Comments

I have used PowerPoint for many years in a variety of job roles and it never ceases to amaze me that other people are able to create presentations which are, quite frankly, vast in their file sizes. There are several reasons for this, but the underlying problem is twofold:

a) users don’t think about file size until it is too late (when they realise they can’t email it, nor fit it on their memory stick nor even burn it to a single CD)

b) they don’t know how to avoid or fix the problem even if they did think about it

This means that many common causes of over-sized files go unchecked, files are used and re-used, and by the time you see there is a problem you have a huge clearing up job to do. Much better to tackle the issue at the source – when creating your presentation in the first place.

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Filed under Office System, PowerPoint, Presentation design, Training + certification, Utilities + Tools Tagged with

Free IT training – TCP/IP, Cisco, CompTIA

May 4, 2007 Leave a comment

Train Signal have some free videos available to watch online as a demonstration of their training course content. These are also useful as refreshers on certain topics (especially if you have an exam coming up!)

Interestingly the prepared lesson sections (as distinct from demonstrations) are done using Microsoft OneNote, with the trainer writing and drawing directly on the page, rather the ubiquitous PowerPoint.

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Filed under Training + certification

Passed Microsoft Exchange 70-284 exam

January 12, 2007 1 Comment

Today I passed 70-284 Exchange Admin exam after a judicious bit of self study (and several years of looking after Exchange 2000 and 2003).

I found one particularly useful site worthy of being given the credit for some great Microsoft exam cramming notes – all for free and completely altruistic. That in itself makes me feel there is still some good in the world, the fact that it helped me to pass is just a bonus.

Filed under Exchange, Training + certification

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