Well this is one way to do it. I wish I had this link when I was helping a couple of customers out recently… Outlook Express is not available for Windows 7, so your choice is Windows Live Mail if you are a current Outlook Express user.

This short article walks you through how to import mail and contacts from Outlook Express.

Of course, we would be happy to come out and help you. We’ve had plenty of practice now after all… Call today (313) 799-DASH (3274)

How do I import my Outlook Express or Windows Mail accounts into Windows 7 and Windows Live Mail?

So I have to say, I have tried a lot of different antivirus products because I believe that by knowing what your alternatives are, you can make a more informed decision. Such is the case with Microsoft Security Essentials. And I will tell you up front that this offering from Microsoft is just as good as any of the other more established antivirus/antispyware/antimalware companies out there.

From the product website:

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

In this article on TechRepublic, Mark Kaelin walks you through the steps required to install and configure Microsoft Security Essentials.

Click the link to read more. And seriously, if you don’t have any kind of anti-something on your Windows system… please download and install this.

How do I install and configure Microsoft Security Essentials? | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com

Great tips from Microsoft at Work. Actually it’s more like a list of links to Microsoft sites to help you get your business idea off the ground. Resources include:

Business sites:

• Small Business Center

• Startup Business Center

• Midsize Business Center

• Enterprise Business Center

• Industry & Public Sector

• Business & Industry

Business software and resources you can use:

• Microsoft Dynamics

• People-Ready Business

• Volume Licensing

• Business Intelligence

• Microsoft Advertising

• Microsoft Retail

• Microsoft Services

Hop on over to the site for the links and all the goodness.

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/businesscentral.aspx

I’m a fan of this web application (TwitterFeed). It will allow you to hook up your blog postings to Twitter and Facebook. I use it on this blog (so you should see this post in Twitter within the hour – I’m still working on the link to our Facebook fan page). This is super-useful for people who want to get word out to multiple sources at the same time.

From the article:

You’re cranking out some solid blog posts for your company. And you’ve just convinced the boss to let you set up a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page, too. But the boss is worried it’ll take up too much time, and she asks: “Can you automatically update Twitter and Facebook with our new blog posts?” Yes, you can. Here’s how to do it reliably and for free.

Try it… You just might like it.

Update Twitter & Facebook Fan Pages Automatically via RSS

From Microsoft At Work:

When we think of documents, most of us think of such things as letters, memos, and reports. But the capabilities and demands of today's connected world mean that virtually anything we record, electronically or on paper, is a type of document.

OneNote is a wonderful tool for note taking. I’ve used it as a consultant, as a developer, as a woodworker, and on and on. This article shows how you can change your thinking about what “note” taking really means, including:

• Keep your own meeting minutes without learning shorthand (audio notes)
• Organize your notes for follow-up, without any extra time or effort (tagging your notes)
• Access and compile the notes you need in no time (automated lists)

These are just a few things that OneNote can help with. Contact Dash Technical Solutions today and we can get you started down the road to not only good, but EXCELLENT note taking for your business.

Get more from the notes you take every day and everywhere

I’m always looking for things to do with my USB flash drives (also called jump or thumb drives).

This is a great list, worth a look at. My two favorites… Run an Operating System From It… and Run a Web Site From It. It’s TRUE!

10 cool things you can do with a USB flash drive | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com

I’m following this with much interest. There are a few things holding me back from jumping feet-first into ASP.NET MVC:

1. No time… The current project I am working on is too far into the lifecycle to make the sudden and profound jump to ASP.NET MVC. For now, it’s plain ol’ web forms, which is not such a bad thing… Plus, my agile team members just got used to web forms, so it would be a big ask to ask them to make a paradigm shift now…
2. Lack of good controls… It seems like in the little time I have had to mess around with MVC that it does not have the rich control set that ASP.NET Web Forms has. If I’m wrong, somebody please let me know…

So, when I saw that someone has created a “DataGrid” for MVC, I was thrilled and started following. It looks like they are up to 5 parts in this multi-part series, and from what I have seen so far, this is good stuff, and a good primer for ASP.NET MVC folks who are creating their own MVC-specific controls.

ASP.NET MVC Grid – Part 1 « RAD for N-Tier web apps in .NET

Interesting. I love using GhostDoc as it helps speed up my documentation efforts… I went to go download an older version for Visual Studio 2003 (for an older project I need to work on) and discovered that the Visual Studio extension has recently been acquired by a company called SubMain (much like Reflector was acquired by Red Gate).

SubMain has recently acquired GhostDoc. We will continue to maintain and distribute the product free of charge. We will be improving GhostDoc and we always welcome the community feedback. If you have ideas, please post them in the GhostDoc forum. Roland Weigelt is the original author of GhostDoc and his web site can be found at http://roland-weigelt.de/.

SubMain / GhostDoc - Simplify your XML Comments!

I’ve said it once, and I will say it again… This is one heck of a good list of tools for my fellow developers out there. He hasn’t updated it since 2007, though so I am wondering what tools YOU think are useful now. Maybe we can convince him to put up a 2009 List.

Or at the very least, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I can create the 2009 list here…!!!

Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - Scott Hanselman's 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows