I've written in the past about how much I like using Microsoft's Live Mesh Beta service to sync my current client folders across the three computers I regularly use in my practice (desktop, full-sized notebook, and netbook). Microsoft is in the process of transitioning this beta service into its more full-featured Windows Live Mesh 2011 service for Windows 7 and Vista PC's, but not for computers still running Windows XP. XP users wanting to keep the Live Mesh Beta service will soon be out of luck or will need to upgrade to Vista or 7 . Once Windows Live Mesh 2011 has been out and in use for a few months, Microsoft is expected to terminate the original Live Mesh Beta service. XP users could switch to a non-Microsoft file and folder sync service such as Dropbox that remains compatible with XP. My full-sized notebook and my netbook are still on XP, so I will have to make this decision myself very soon. Like the Live Mesh Beta, Windows Live Mesh is free. In addition to the very useful remote desktop and file syncing features of Live Mesh Beta, Windows Live Mesh 2011 adds the ability to sync your Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer settings across multiple computers. If you use more than one computer, you know what a nuisance it can be if Office is not set up exactly the same way on each computer or if you set IE favorites on one computer, but they don't appear when you open IE on your other computer. The inability to sync favorites/bookmarks was one of the reasons I switched from IE to Firefox a few years ago. Now, if you have a computer at the office and at home (or have a notebook or netbook in addition to your primary desktop), you can use the free Windows Live Mesh 2011 service to do the following: Keep your client or firm files/folders (this includes PDF's and other files in addition to MS Office format files such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint) in sync between your office and home or portable computers. Connect to and remotely control any of your computers you have assigned to your Windows Live Mesh account, even if they have a "home" version of Windows Vista or 7 that does not directly support a Remote Desktop connection. This would substitute for a service such as LogMeIn or GoToMyPC. Keep your MS Office and IE settings consistent across each of the computers you use. Also worth mentioning is the 25 GB of free on-line storage provided by Microsoft's SkyDrive which integrates well with Microsoft Office's web apps for collaboration and sharing files with others.

Whether you thought it was a convenience or an annoyance, you will within a few days have the option to turn off the threaded or conversation view in Gmail's web interface. In this view, all messages in a conversation are grouped together. Email traditionalists (wouldn't that have been an odd phrase just decade ago?) complained that they often couldn't find new messages in the threaded view. Others liked having all messages in a given exchange lumped together for easy access. Whichever side of this divide you are on, Google will over the next few days roll-out to your account the option to turn off threaded view. Details are in the official Gmail blog.

Some solo and small firm law offices have telephone systems lacking the ability to make conference calls. Or in some cases the process for joining more than two people in a call is too cumbersome to easily use. If so, consider using Skype's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) inexpensive subscription service to make conference calls to regular telephones, cell phones, or other computers from your computer. If you download the latest version of Skype for Windows (Version 5 Beta), you can also use Skype to make multi-party video conference calls to join an entire case team together including clients, co-counsel, experts, etc. I've been using Skype in my solo appellate practice for many years. For $2.99 per month (with a 15% discount if you prepay annually), I can call any land line or cell phone in the U.S. or Canada (computer to computer calls have always been free worldwide). For voice-only calls, I use the same headset I use for my Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software. For video calls, I skip the headset and use the microphone built into my Logitech web cam. Most headphone/microphone combinations will work for Skype calls. Skype is less demanding of microphone quality than NaturallySpeaking. Because Skype is a VoIP service, occasionally audio artifacts will intrude into your calls. The faster your Internet connection, the less likely this will happen. You can also change your Quality of Service (QoS) and other settings on your office or home router and computer to improve Skype or other VoIP calls, making these artifacts less likely to occur. Skype will let you import your Contacts from Outlook to provide simple one-click calling. Adding people to a call in progress is also just a couple of clicks, or you can pre-configure groups if you have regular calls with specified contacts. I have often used Skype for conference calls involving cases, to plan seminars or written CLE materials, and for communication with my son and daughter at college. Other useful Skype features include instant messaging, file sending, and screen sharing. Even if your office phone system handles conference calling well, a Skype subscription for your home or portable computer is a cheap way to add conference calling capability to your home office or travel setup.

When you buy a new computer, or when you consider upgrading your existing computer running Vista or XP to the Windows 7 operating system, a key decision is which edition of Windows 7 do you buy. We generally recommend against "Home" editions of Windows operating systems for several reasons. The most compelling reason has been the inability of Home edition OS's to join a business network or "domain" that you are likely running at your office. While you may be able to partially connect to the office network to gain Internet access, you may not be able to use many network resources such as shared folders, printers, etc. A recent post to the PCWorld Answer Line blog highlights another reason to avoid the Home Premium edition of Windows 7. If you need to run older software designed for Windows XP, 98, 95, or even 3.1, there is a chance it will no longer run properly in Windows 7. Simply altering the Compatibility tab settings as shown in the PCWorld blog post may not make a difference. However, if the program ran for you in XP, it likely will run if you add Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode to your new Windows 7 computer or installation. We discussed this process in an earlier post. Once installed, XP mode is a separate Windows XP computer within your Windows 7 computer. It will have its own desktop, applications, and user environment. It truly is a "virtual PC" running in a window on your Windows 7 desktop. Just install your old software within that virtual PC and it should run fine. The catch is that Windows Virtual PC with XP Mode is only available on Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate editions. It is not available with Home Premium. If you bought a new computer with Windows 7 Home Premium, all is not lost. It is easy and relatively inexpensive (about $80) to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade feature to move up to Professional from Home Premium.

The Legal Technology Institute (LTI) at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law issued its detailed CASE, MATTER, & PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM STUDY earlier this year. An executive summary by the Institute's Director, Andrew Z. Adkins III, can be downloaded here. It is an interesting read for anyone involved in making technology decisions for their firm. Among the "surprising" findings is how few lawyers are using dual monitor setups despite the well-documented benefits of such an arrangement. Less than one-third of lawyers reported using more than one monitor, with the percentage higher in large firms than in small ones. Adkins recommends what we have suggested here and in our newsletter on several occasions, "With costs of an extra monitor less than $200, law firms and legal departments should explore this benefit of increased productivity (and billable time)." Small law firms surged ahead of large firms in the adoption of MS Word 2007, with large firms and corporations continuing to use Word 2003. Perhaps the greatest missed opportunity for law firms of all sizes, including solo practitioners, is the failure to improve productivity by implementation of a Document Management System (DMS). Adkins wrote: It still amazes me that law firms and legal departments have not implemented document management. Our 2000 ASP Study (Legal Technology Institute - iManage, Inc. Application Service reported less than 50% of the legal profession did not use a document management system.This year, our CMS Study reports the same – more than half of the respondents (52%) indicated they do use a document management system. Larger firms and legal departments did, however, report a higher use of DMS (80%) than those in smaller firms and legal departments. Of those that use a DMS, reported a higher use of iManage WorkSite than OpenText/Hummingbird or WORLDOX. Our experience is that law firms of every size realize significant productivity gains from a properly-implemented document management system (DMS). I recall a visit to a public law department approximately six years ago to present the full range of software solutions we thought could help improve the department's productivity. Public budgets being limited, they could afford to purchase and implement only one type of solution. They selected a document management system, in that case Worldox. In their view it was the one addition that would add the most to their overall productivity. It was a wise decision. For nearly all small and mid-sized firms, including solos, the right DMS choice is likely to be Worldox for its reasonable cost, flexibility, scalability as you grow, ability to integrate with other key law office software, and its ease of use. We use it ourselves. If you would like to learn more about Worldox and how it can improve your firm's productivity, contact your Affinity Consulting Group office.

A remarkable variety of what we call "legacy applications" designed for older versions of Microsoft Windows actually run well in Windows 7. I've had better luck running older apps in Windows 7 than in Vista Business. But for those that don't, Windows 7 provides you with the option to run a Windows XP Virtual Machine, which is essentially a full Windows XP computer running within your Windows 7 computer. Enabling Windows XP Mode is not much more difficult than installing an ordinary software application. There are a few more steps and a couple of reboots required, but nothing too taxing if you are reasonably tech-oriented. But you do have to remember that once installed, the XP virtual computer must be maintained (system updates and anti-virus software and updates) just like your Windows 7 installation. There is a complete set of instructional documents and videos available for free download from Microsoft. Also, with XP Mode running, your Windows 7 environment could slow down a little as you are diverting some RAM and processing power to the XP Virtual Machine. If your Windows 7 PC is fairly new with adequate RAM and a fast processor, this should not be a problem. It could be a bigger issue on an inexpensive notebook or netbook PC. You won't know for sure until you give it a try. On my Windows 7 Professional 32 bit desktop, I had a problem running a neat application designed to convert my movies on DVD into compact AVI files to run on portable devices such as my smart phone or netbook to watch when traveling. Initially, I worked around the problem by installing the app on my Lenovo ThinkPad notebook PC which still runs Windows XP Professional. But it was inconvenient to move to my notebook each time I wanted to convert a DVD to a portable AVI file. So I decided to follow the simple instructions to download and install XP Mode on my Windows 7 desktop PC. The download and installation process took about 10 minutes including two reboots, then another 10 minutes or so while the XP virtual environment was prepared and initialized the first time. Opening it after that initial process takes much less time. Overall, the process was fairly painless, and it lets me run legacy applications that otherwise would not run or were unstable in Windows 7. And XP Mode is free for Windows 7 users. Not a bad deal at all. If you lack confidence in your ability to add XP Mode on your own, please contact your Affinity Consulting Group office for assistance in determining if you really need this capability and also with installation and configuration.

Affinity Consulting Group announces new June promotional prices for Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal and Professional! Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal, normally priced at $799, is discounted to $729 (MSRP $1,199), saving you an additional $70 off the already discounted price. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional, normally priced at $729, is discounted to $649 (MSRP $899), saving you an additional $80 off. These prices won’t last long; the promotional pricing runs out June 30th. Take advantage before time runs out!

Yesterday, HotDocs Corporation released the latest line of document automation products. HotDocs has long been recognized as the industry standard when it comes to automating documents across a variety of industries including legal, banking, insurance, health care and other corporate entities. The 2010 line represents the newest innovations in document processing to meet a variety of business needs: HotDocs Developer 10 This software is perfect for the person who not only assembles documents but often has to tweak or create a template for use. This new release also includes PDF Advantage and supports Microsoft Word 2010 and Corel WordPerfect X5. HotDocs 10 Developer will also publish templates for use with HotDocs Server. HotDocs User 10 Meant for the user who assembles templates but has no need to do any development work, HotDocs User 10 continues to allow for fast, accurate document assembly with even more performance enhancements. PDF Advantage is now included in HotDocs 10 User and is no longer a separate product. HotDocs Server 10 The ultimate document processing experience for large businesses or geographically dispersed companies, HotDocs Server 10 provides web based document assembly. Exercise control over the templates you create from a central location while making them easily accessible through an internet portal. HotDocs server is the engine that drives all your document automation needs. HotDocs Server 10 can provide JavaScript or Microsoft Silverlight based interviews as well as multiple browser compatibility (with Silverlight). Affinity Consulting has partnered with HotDocs for decades - we are uniquely suited, as a HotDocs Platinum Partner, to not only help you select the version of HotDocs you need, but also to assist in your development, training and support. Contact us today to learn more about the latest versions of HotDocs and if an upgrade makes sense for you. Follow HotDocs on Twitter Interact with HotDocs on Facebook Connect with HotDocs on LinkedIn

Recently I wrote of the benefits of upgrading from Adobe Acrobat Standard to Acrobat Professional for the features that are useful in the law office, such as batch OCR processing. The upgrade is $160 (or less) very well spent. You should have at least one copy of Acrobat Professional in your office. However, you may not need Acrobat Professional on every computer in your office (or on your travel notebook/netbook or home PC). Indeed, depending on how you use your PC, you may not need the Standard version of Acrobat either. There are alternatives that let you read and create PDF documents. Some of those alternatives are free. A few offer nice features for legal users. One example recently featured in the always-interesting Lifehacker blog is the free version of Nitro PDF Reader. Unlike more basic free PDF readers and creators, Nitro has a full range of features that allow you to add annotations to PDF files (excellent for taking notes on transcripts, briefs, or documents you are reviewing), markup text (for marking necessary changes to draft documents), and fill-in PDF forms (becoming increasing common on court web sites). You can also scan your signature and sign PDF documents, saving the need to print a paper copy solely for the purpose of signing it, then rescanning it for transmittal via email attachment. Beyond viewing and annotating, Nitro includes a PDF print driver that lets you create PDF files from almost any Windows application. I particularly like the ability to drag any file and drop it onto the Nitro desktop icon to create a PDF file. Perhaps what truly sets Nitro PDF Reader apart from other free PDF viewing and creation tools is its use of a ribbon interface similar to Microsoft Office 2007. If you have become familiar with using Word 2007, using Nitro PDF Reader has the same look and feel. I installed it on one of my computers that also has Adobe Acrobat Standard. Although there are some things Acrobat can do that Nitro PDF can't, such as create bookmarks in PDF files, I like the simple uncluttered interface of Nitro better than Acrobat and will probably use it instead of Acrobat when I don't need full Acrobat functionality. For example, as an appellate lawyer, I often take notes and incorporate those directly into the PDF document when reading trial transcripts or reviewing documents that make up the trial court record. Nitro PDF seems easier to use for that purpose. Nitro PDF Reader is not a complete substitute for Adobe Acrobat, particularly the essential Professional edition of that application. But as a PDF tool on a secondary, home, or travel computer, it is worth serious consideration for the added features lawyers and law office staff will find useful.

Philips has released a new version of their popular digital dictation management software, SpeechExecSR Pro. Version 6 of SpeechExecSR Pro now seamlessly connects to Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional Series Editions from Nuance. Users are now able to control the entire speech processing workflow within a single application. SpeechExecSR Pro allows for a wide variety of workflows and input devices, to suit each users’ needs and allow you to determine how and to what extent you wish to apply speech recognition within your daily work. User may select to integrate with Dragon now, or down the road and each audio file can be processed as you deem appropriate. The beauty of this for existing SpeechExec users is that no changes will be required to your existing workflow, ensuring an easy transition. The existing intuitive user interface is still in place and even improved, allowing for efficient management of audio files. Additionally, SpeechExecSR Pro allows for secretaries to edit recognized text without having a speech recognition application installed on their computer. The dictation profiles of the authors are adapted, even if the secretary edits the text, thus constantly improving the author’s speech recognition accuracy. If you are interested in learning more about what digital dictation and/or speech recognition software can do for you and the productivity of your office, contact us for more information!

Preliminary tests by one of our consultants suggests that users of the beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business edition may not be able to select Outlook as the default email client on their computer. This inability would prevent integration of Outlook with practice management software such as Amicus Attorney. It could also affect the ability to link Outlook to Worldox and possibly preclude synchronization of Outlook information with a user's smart phone. Similar tests using the beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 Professional edition have not revealed this problem. With the official release of Microsoft Office 2010 fast approaching, we suggest our clients to opt for the Professional edition and avoid the lower-cost Home & Office edition until these issues are further explored and resolved.