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Your questions: “Where do I go for help with my Windows Phone?” Here’s a link

Windows Phone logoWondering where to turn to contact Microsoft Customer Support? See my post on where to turn to contact Microsoft Customer Support.

But if you’re looking for support on Windows Phone, first visit the http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/howto/wp7/default.aspx, as I noted in my post with tips on moving from an iPhone to a new Windows Phone.

There’s also the customer facing site on Microsoft Answers site for Windows Phone at http://answers.microsoft.com/phone/ where you can search, browse, and post questions and answers about Windows Phone. 

These and several other options are noted on the Windows Phone Support page.

Added 12/17: There is also this review noted earlier, with great advice and prep details for your new phone: http://www.winsupersite.com/mobile/wp7.asp

 

Tags: Microsoft, how to, customer support, Microsoft Product List 2010, feedback, customer service.

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Dude, where’s my Windows Phone? Found it, with Windows Live

My favourite feature in Windows Phone is actually more than one feature: the features to help you find a lost phone.

Tonite I misplaced my phone. You have kids, you know what I’m talking about, dragging who-knows-what in from who-knows-where. And invariably, the phone gets misplaced or set somewhere in the mad dash of being a parent. BTW, this can apply to those without kids as well, given the demands of groceries, holiday shopping, getting around the office or whatever your schedule presents in a hectic day.

Did I leave it at the smoothie place? Could I have left it at my son’s drum lesson? Did I leave it on the counter at home, or on my desk at the office?

Enter Find My Phone from Windows Live. This free service was able to not only locate my phone on a map (reassuring me I hadn’t left it at the drum shop) but it was able to ring it even though it was set to vibrate only. CHecking the house and then the car: having slipped from my pocket, I heard the phone ringing under the driver’s seat. If I hadn’t tracked it down, Windows Live could also lock the phone remotely (and even put a “please return” note on the screen) or if all else failed, erase my phone.

Did I mention the features are free?

I. Absolutey. Love. It. And I’d say that even if I didn’t work at Microsoft.

To use Find My Phone, visit windowsphone.live.com and log in with the same Windows Live ID you registered on your phone. (See What is a Windows Live ID? and Which Windows Live ID should I use? to learn more about setting one up.)

 

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs, Microsoft, travel tips, Windows Phone 7.

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Dude, where’s my Windows Phone?  How to locate your Windows Phone 7. How to find your Windows Phone 7.

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Link: How to change your name on Facebook (well, we’ll see)

Has facebook made you change your name to something other than your name?

Recently, an automated system on Facebook demanded that I change my name, after having provided details to them previously verifying my name. “

“The name contains invalid characters.”

Really? It’s not like my name is M& or M*. Or Mr. Mxyzptlk, ‘tho people have said they claim an impish resemblance.

And it turns out I would have plenty of relatives on facebook. ðŸ˜‰

A few years ago when I first joined FB, I thought that with people like my friends Trip, Bing and T, there wouldn’t be a problem with my name.

Wrong.

Customer service reached out to me and asked that I provide official confirmation of my name. (What, doesn’t everyone have digits in their name?) I did, they approved it and that was that.

That is, until one day last month when FB told me that I had to enter a new name else they would temporarily freeze access to my account. Which is why today I’m listed on FB as Mthree.

How frustrating. It seems that there are lots of frustrated users with other name changing issues unable to get anywhere with the social netowking giant, as noted here.

Rather than skirt the system and contact people I know at FB, I decided to use their available support systems, initially submitting a support request. Nada.

A few weeks ago, I sent a letter to their customer service department in Palo Alto. Nothing.

So, after a little searching, I found the support page that allows you to contact a real person: http://on.fb.me/evYoJR:

I Need to Change My Name

Facebook requires all members to provide their real first and last names. Please provide the following information to help us verify your name.

Keep in mind that profiles are for personal use only. If you are trying to change your account name in order to represent a business or organization, or to represent yourself as a public figure, you should create a Page.

We’ll see if it works…
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Wondering where to turn to contact Microsoft Customer Support?

Wondering where to turn to contact Microsoft Customer Support?

I’ve been asked this a couple of times today, so I thought I’d include a couple of helpful links:

Microsoft KB 295539: How and when to contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support

imageTo make sure you receive the appropriate support information for your location, select your region setting from this list and click the arrow button.

Microsoft Support Home Page as shown here:

image

– Click here to submit your questions or to offer us comments.

Microsoft Answers, the consumer-based forums where you can search, browse, and post questions and answers. Thousands of community members—including Microsoft folks—are here to help. – Link to Microsoft Answers, the community-based forums where you can search, browse, and post questions and answers.

Tags: Microsoft, how to, customer support, Microsoft Product List 2010, feedback, customer service.

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How to access your bookmarks on Windows Phone 7

As I noted in my post with tips on moving from an iPhone to a new Windows Phone 7, I also touched on how to sync several files, including the backing up of my iPhone’s browser bookmarks. I failed to note how I access my favourites on Windows Phone 7, which I do via the power of Windows Live. (There are different ways to sync files on your phone, depending on the type of file and where it’s stored. To learn more, take a look at the article on syncing files with your phone.)

One easy way I’ve found to use the list of my favourites (sorry, in the US it’s favorites 😉 I use OneNote Mobile. As I noted previously, OneNote lets you take notes and sync notebooks with your new Windows Phone 7 and integrates easily with Windows Live SkyDrive.

Internet Explorer Favorites are Internet bookmarks, simply web URLs (such as http://blogs.msdn.com/mthree) along with the friendly names for them (“M3’s blog”).  Surprisingly, I found that I had relatively few iPhone bookmarks saved on my device, likely a testament to how I used the phone: often, I linked to sites from an email or app. As noted in my previous post, since Apple’s iOS v3 release, bookmarks can be backed up in iTunes.

When you connect your iPhone to iTunes, you’ll see an option to “Sync bookmarks with Internet Explorer”. This will enable iTunes to save your bookmarks and have them appear in your IE Favorites list.

Now, with my bookmarks all loaded into IE’s Favorites, I exported my favorites from IE as noted in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211089 – you can select which folder to export (if you have many, as I do) or just export them all.

Once I exported the Favorites file (as “bookmarks.htm”), I opened this file in IE. Using cursor I selected the bookmarks displayed in the browser window that I wanted to reference on my phone. I then copied and pasted the selection into a new OneNote document right in Windows Live (I use Office 2007 at home — shame on me — and Office 2010 at the office, which with OneNote 2010 can be linked directly with Windows Live — very slick).

You can also use the quick and dirty method by copy and pasting the Favourites directly into an email and send it to yourself (a tip I use from time to time to remind myself of other important items ;).

Click here to learn more about using Favorites and history in Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Phone 7.

Additional resources

 

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs, Microsoft, travel tips, Windows Phone 7.

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How to access iphone bookmarks on Windows Phone 7, How to access IE favorites on Windows Phone 7, How to access IE favourites on Windows Phone 7