For quite a few iterations now iOS has had the option of something it calls text replacement. This feature allows a user to type in a string of characters and have the operating system replace it with whatever they have predefined. For example while texting a friend (or enemy for that matter - ed.) a user could put "oic" and have the actual phrase "oh I see" populate in the text message. This can be very helpful when quickly typing on a cell phone, tablet or other mobile device. A little known fact, however, is that Microsoft Outlook actually has this functionality as well: 

In Microsoft Outlook go to file in the upper left hand corner of the window. 

When presented with the new window select "options" from the column on the left hand side 

In the new window select "mail" from the left hand column

Your main window display should now give you an option labeled "Spelling and Autocorrect". Click this button. 

In the new window select 'AutoCorrect Options..."

you will now see a window with a "Replace text as you type" field option. Make sure the check box is checked next to this option. Type the shortcut you would like added underneath "Replace:" and what you would like it to relate to under "With:".  Ex: Replace: "oic" with "oh I see" (Please see image below) 

Click OK to save changes. Go to a new email and in the body type "oic" hit the space bar and "oh I see" will appear. 

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When working with Microsoft Outlook 9 times out of 10 everything will work relatively smoothly. That 10th time, however, can cause Helpdesk and Windows Administrators headaches. One such headache occures when emails get stuck in the Outlook outbox. This is especially prevalent when dealing with secondary attached group mailboxes. Users will only become aware of this problem when they stop receiving responses to messages, meeting requests, or task requests. Often times they will also see the error "There are still e-mail messages in your Outbox. Would you like to exit anyway." when trying to exit Outlook.

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When working at my last job we had a strange reoccuring issue with several of our users. When the user would exit their browser and reopen it, they would find their compatibility view options had been reset or cleared out. Our users would then have to re-add websites back into compatibility view in order to continue working on certain sites. While this issue was eventually side stepped with the implementation of group policy we still needed to find a solution for the short term. So to prevent this issue from happening entirely we made some very basic setting changes:

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During a recent installation I ran across a strange error: Key not valid for use in specified state. After much searching on the almighty Google I found that this issue can be caused by a corrupt Microsoft Crypto Folder. In order to correct this issue the folder must be renamed and then the software can be successfully installed: 

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I like to keep up to date with the latest Microsoft technologies and generally have a number of test environments running on my home computer. These test environments grant me the ability to create different "virtual" machines each with their own unique Operating Systems and programs without effecting my main computer. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit through a Window Server 2016 preview and thought I might like to get my hands on the new fledgling OS to see what I could glean from it. This is the second part of a multi part series running through the setup of a virtual environment on Windows 10 and the installation of Windows Server 2016 Essentials Tech Preview 3 on the newly established Hyper-V environment.

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