By now, most of you have heard about editing your startup options via msconfig, but that process involves checking or unchecking programs from running at startup altogether.

However, you might have quite a few programs that you do need to run, like your online backup or your anti-virus auto-updating program. Unfortunately, some of these programs can take a lot of time to start up when you first turn on your computer. This is where Startup Delayer can help.

Startup Delayer takes a different approach than msconfig. Like msconfig, you can use the program to enable and disable programs from running, but you can also use it to have programs run after startup at a designated time, by customizing the intervals at which they begin to run.

To do so, you just go into Startup Delayer's options and specify how many seconds after Windows has started up before running each program.

Startup Delayer is free and can be downloaded from here. (via Download Blog)

HP has just announced that they are launching a new online storage service called Upline. The service provides unlimited storage for all your documents, photos, music, videos, and anything else you have on your Windows PC. The interface makes Upline easy to use, which is important, and once installed, the service checks for new files every 15 minutes (by default) and then uploads them in the background to HP's servers.

A free version lets you store 1 GB of data for one year, but if you're really going to back up your computer, you'll need to go with one of the paid plans. For $59/year, a "Home" plan is available, which gives you unlimited storage and allows up to three PCs to connect. That's quite a bargain when you think about it. (But is it really unlimited?)

For businesses, the unlimited storage option can range up to $299 per year, depending on how many users and PCs you have.

While you're traveling, you can access your stored files from a web-based interface from which you can also email the files or publish them for public access.

If desired, you can specify the program to back up to a second hard drive, server, or PC on your local network, too.

There are, however, a couple of problems you should be aware of: Upline doesn't back up email archives or system restore files, but that may change in the future.

In the meantime, you can check out what Upline has to offer from the HP homepage for the service here.

Here's a twist on multiple desktops: software from Cubedesktop increases your working space by offering you a 3D virtual desktop environment. With Cubedesktop, you will have 6 virtual desktops which you can move between in different ways, one of which is a 3D cube. As you move from desktop to desktop, you will see a live preview of what's happening. All the windows update in real time, so you can find just the one you are looking for. Each desktop can be named (like "work," "school," or "fun") and can have its own wallpapers and icon arrangement.

Besides the 3D cube, you can also use features like the "Window Exposer," which tiles the open windows on to your screen, or a simpler Desktop Explorer. The software is available as a free trial for both XP and Vista (does not specify if x64 supported). (via Go2web20)

Does information technology really improve care quality and safety?  Can well designed and implemented clinical software applications really improve physician satisfaction?  Can healthcare information technology really have a positive return on investment?  For Vanderbilt University Medical Center's perioperative anesthesia department the answers are yes, yes, and yes! 

While not every IT solution in healthcare clearly demonstrates results as stunning as those I'm about to share,  here's what I gleaned from a keynote presentation made by Dr. Paul St. Jacques earlier this week at the MSHUG Tech Forum 2007 in Redmond. Dr. St. Jacques shared the stage with me on day one of the conference.  I delivered the opening keynote, and he provided the close.

Dr. St. Jacques is Associate Professor and Director of Anesthesiology Informatics in the anesthesiology department at Vanderbilt.  Vanderbilt's perioperative information management system, VPIMS, serves as "master control" for the medical center's 60 operating rooms in 6 suites, handling thousands of surgical cases each year.  You may be surprised to learn that less than 5 percent of all surgeries in America are fully managed and documented electronically.  That's right.  In the year 2007, 95 percent of the "life and death" work-flow processes in surgery are still done on paper.

So what's to be gained by going electronic?  How about a 100 percent improvement in on-time cases starts, or a 90 percent compliance with perioperative antibiotic protocols resulting in an 1 percent decrease in surgical wound infections.  How about a 67 percent reduction in chart errors.  How about the average time to produce a billable chart moving from 12 days to 1, with a $1 Million plus improvement in formerly lost revenues.  Or how about a 10 percent yearly increase in case volume without adding capacity, keeping in mind that every additional case per day generates more than $1 Million in revenue per year.

 VPIMS handles everything from surgery scheduling, to perioperative documentation, to billing.  In addition, a module called Vigilance provides real-time monitoring of every operating room in the facility with multi-view streaming video, patient vital signs, alerts and reminders.  It might look like something out of Star Wars, but what it does for patient safety and staff satisfaction is priceless.  And did I mention there's a whole lot of Microsoft technology under the covers?

Greater detail on VPIMS is beyond the scope of my Blog.  Let me just say if you ever want proof that information technology in medicine saves lives and saves money, look no farther than the very fine work going on at Vanderbilt.  And yes, VPIMS has been so successful at Vanderbilt that the medical center is exploring options to commercialize and sell it.  And with 95 percent of the market still doing perioperative management on paper, they should have no problem finding customers.
 

Bill Crounse, MD  Worldwide Health Director   Microsoft Corporation 

PS  If you would like information about some of the other presentations at this year's MSHUG Tech Forum, my good friend and colleauge who serves as Microsoft's senior technical strategist for our worldwide health group, Roberto Ruggeri, provides play by play coverage on his Healthcare IT Blog.

Last night the Plasq team released a beta of Comic Life for Windows, while some of us from the 10 team were watching the last piece of epic cinema. As you can see from our three minutes of handiwork, any single photo can be quickly turned into a hilarious piece of original art. This normally Mac development house has given the masses access to one of the more entertaining applications to come around in years, particularly if you’ve got a dedicated web-cam connected to your machine. If you install the beta, be sure to give the team as much quality feedback as you can, as that’s how devs know you really care ;)

The PMA convention in Las Vegas last week was the event to watch for any self-respecting shutterbug, with Sony unleashing svelte, new point n’ shoot Cybershots, and Canon dropping a 10 frames-per-second 1D Mark III beast on those with the cash (and the muscle) to carry one away. Not to be left out, Microsoft came to the show to talk about…platforms! In this case the new HD Photo image file format, which has been designed to provide superior image quality and features to support digital photography. CNET reported Microsoft’s intentions to make HD Photo a neutral standard, as it will be submitted to standards organizations in order to make sure it can get the widest adoption possible. Right now there are beta plug-ins for Photoshop that run in CS2 as well as the CS3 beta available for XP and Vista, with OS X drivers available shortly, and the finished plug-ins targeted for a May release. The HD Photo format has support for different pixel formats, high dynamic range, and wide gamut imaging. If those terms flew over your head, you can get the skinny in Bill Crow’s post about the HD Photo announcement.

[via Mattias talks…]

Microsoft’s Conference Center has been buzzing this week and we’re going to bring you up to speed for all of your weekend dinner party banter. The boffins from MS Research were on campus to peel back the curtain on all of their latest and greatest and they came nowhere near disappointing. Tuesday the show was also open to public press for the first time in the event’s 15 year history.

Rory Blyth published his videos to Channel 9, the first featuring DynaVis and FastDash and the second focusing on technology on the wall. Both videos give you a great idea of the vibe in the room, as well as Rory’s unique style if you haven’t ever sampled it.

Scott Beale of Laughing Squid shot gorgeous photos (as usual), featuring Lego workfolk, Windows Vista soda, and of course kittens. Brady Forrest came down from O’Reilly and was smitten by Asirra (a crowdsource service that helps cats and dogs find new homes) and how some Microsoft Researchers are able to move gigapixel images across the web with their HDView technology. Scoble experienced TechFest by viewing everything through the LCD on his PodTech camera. He also determined that using Twitter to publish updates of Rick Rashid’s keynote, available in webcast and transcript forms, was the right tool for the job--a decision probably best described as, “permalinks schmermalinks.”

Bre Pettis was reporting for Make Magazine and talked to MSR boffins about Personal Audio Spaces (think grooving to Sketches of Spain where you’re sitting, but the person next to you is rocking to Now Here Is Nowhere). And of course Engadget’s Ryan Block was there to photograph his fingers on everything.

All told it was quite a whirlwind tour. We here at the 10 HQ have certainly got ourselves a new list of people and projects to follow as we hunt for the cool inside of Microsoft, in this Year of our Bond.

Photo credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid.