Wors World
All About Wor

I’ve been running Windows Vista on this laptop since about January 2008 and in that time I’ve come to hate how slow it is, how things that I used to know where they lived have been moved etc. etc.  I particularly have issue with the performance of Vista when it’s recovering from hibernation and/or when a network isn’t present.  It appears that Vista and all apps hang while waiting for the network to be restored.

I’d installed SP1 in the past and detected no marked improvements in the performance areas so it was with interest that I noticed the recently released SP2 has some improvements related to the performance of WiFi after resuming from sleep mode see here.

So I downloaded the service pack this afternoon and set out to install it looking for those WiFi improvements.  The download was 348Mb and soon down on my laptop.

I closed down my running apps and clicked the Windows6.0-KB948465-X86.exe.  The first screen that appeared was this

So I clicked next (without reading what I should know about installling SP2 but who does read this stuff? :-0).

The acceptance of the licence terms was next

So I accepted them and clicked next

SP2 began “preparing” my computer

a process which took only a few minutes.  The next screen informed me that I should close all running programs and that the install make take up to an hour or more and that my computer may restart several times.

As I was in the middle of a work day and didn’t have an hour or more to sit, I took a break at this point.

I left the install until I made it home and was ready to go out running.  I clicked install and headed off with a 19 pound pack on my back as part of my P Coy Challenge training – which one would be finished first the install or me?

My run went reasonably well and is documented elsewhere.  I got back in about 45 mins and pressed a key on my laptop to clear the screen saver.  The login prompt was displayed, I logged on and SP 2 completed installation

However at the same time Windows Messenger decided to reconfigure itself – an oddity or did the Service Pack make it do this?

So there it is Vista SP2 installed on my laptop

No fuss, no drama and all down while I ran myself into the ground – as they say at www.comparethemeerkat.com – “simples!”.

Now I need to use it and see if there are any improvements.  I’ll update this blog as and when….

I like this technology http://www.microsoft.com/tag/ a lot!

I created a tag which represented the url to this blog http://www.anthonypounder.com

I printed the design on a colour printer, downloaded the app for my moby and thought I’d witnessed proper magic when I clicked the camera on my phone and Safari started up and displayed this blog.

I really like this and think it has many applications, printed business cards, product flyers, company info leaflets etc etc. – the key is to get the app installed onto mobys and out there.  How will this uptake happen then?  To be honest, I don’t know at the moment but I’m hoping that by spreading the word ……

If you see one of these images about the place and you don’t have the app, go get it and take a pic…

1. a new CRM menu is added to Outlook 

1. a new CRM toolbar is added to Outlook

1. a set of CRM folders are displayed in your mailbox

There is a further visible installation point which appears in the task bar

It’s the three coloured triangles that I’ve left un graffitied(?).  This icon controls the connection to CRM and prior to SP2 it was forever complaining that it could not connect – post SP2 it’s as good as gold.

I’ve set out to check that Outlook/CRM integration still works after SP2.  Here’s how I’m going about it:

Simple Outlook/CRM tests

Can I use the menu/toolbar/folder to create new CRM contacts, activitiy records etc.?

Are there any performance changes?

More Taxing Outlook/CRM Tests

Can I carry out mailmerge with Outlook and Word as the client and have CRM send out maileerged emails and track this in CRM?

Are there any performance changes?

Testing Progress

Due to work commitments that do not require Outlook 2007 SP2 & CRM integration, I’ve not been able to get very far with this but so far:

Simple Outlook/CRM tests

Integration seems to work – I’ve created the main record types – Contact/Account/Activity from the menu, toolbar and folder display – I’ll continue to investigate these as I get time.  Performance seems comparable – as comparable as it can be when network latency is involved.

Promoting emails to CRM seems fine – performance improved? can’t tell

More Taxing Outlook/CRM Tests

I completed a mailmerge using a Word template and a handful of contacts, the contact records had the activity recorded in their history within a few moments and the and emails were created in my Outlook outbox.  The only problem is that they were stuck in the Outbox.

Other emails that I’d sent earlier in the morning where also stuck – where these due to the SP2 upgrade or a network/infrastructure thing?

I closed Outlook (very quick) and reloaded it (very quick).  All of the mailmerge emails were sent within a second or two but an earlier email remained.  This rendered the test inconclusive so I went again.

The mailmerge completed as expected but I had to wait a long long time before the activity records were created and the emails generated and placed in my outbox.  Again, I’ll have to continue with this as and when I have the time.

Conclusions

The integration with Outlook 2007 and CRM 4 appears to work as before.  Are there any performance improvements – don;t know yet Ill need to work with it longer before giving any definitive answers.

I Hate Outlook 2007!

I’ll start this by saying that I find Outlook 2007 to be a right royal pain in the ass.  It’s slow, unwiedly and at times proves to be not very useful.

I’m forever seeing what I call the "White Screen of Near Death" – this is where you click on the Outlook 2007 UI, nothing appears to happen so you click it again and a white glaze forms over Outlook and it stops responding – (Not Responding) appears in the title bar.  Outlook appears to be dead in the water but if you hang around a bit it usually comes back – I (and I’m sure many others) experience this and find it a real frustration.  "What the hell are you doing?", "I’ve only asked you to open an email?" I’d shout at Outlook day after day.

Office 2007 Service Pack 2

I was delighted to see that Office 2007 SP2 has been released today and that there were numerous performance fixes in place.  I read on Twitter that 140 Outlook 2007 issues had been addressed – it’s a good start but we’ll probably need SP3 to nail ’em all .

So I downloaded office2007sp2-kb953195-fullfile-en-us.exe and as usual I had the option of saving it or running.  I prefer Save in case of issues with install and I have to redownload it.

Laptop Info

Here’s the setup of the laptop I am installing SP2 on:

I was running a VPC with 1500M allocated at the time and didn’t want to stop it before starting this so installation times may have been skewed

Installing SP2

I double clicked office2007sp2-kb953195-fullfile-en-us.exe

Selecting Run

You must accept the MSLT to light the cpntinue button.  Click the co

About 30 – 40 secs on my laptop

Followed by

Reboot Required!

Aaarrggghhhhh!  I hate having to reboot my laptop when installing s/w – especially when I have stuff like VPC2007 running an image.  So 1 (long) Reboot later….

Restarting Outlook 2007

I started up Outlook 2007 SP2 and saw this:

Outlook then stepped through my mailbox/RSS Feeds etc. so depending on how many email, RSS feeds etc. will dictate how long this stage takes – on my laptop it took about 10 minutes to prepare Outlook.