Microsoft Office and MS Word are the clear winners when it comes to adoption of integrated office suite and word processing programs.This might not be so bad if figuring out how to use these programs wasn't so counter-intuitive. To add insult to injury, after years of forcing users to learn the MS "way " of doing things inside these programs, they actually had the temerity to introduce menus that made sense in Office 2007.

Unfortunately, since we had spent years learning the counter-intuitive MS menu structure, the Office 2007 menus didn't make sense. Add to this the less than helpful help screens (remember "Clippy" the paperclip), the end result could be extreme frustration on figuring out what should be a simple task ( or so one thought) extremely painful. MS finally appears to be serious about helping users get the most from their Office programs by creating a number of websites that provide useful links, templates and "how to's". If you haven't previously bookmarked these sites, you really should do so.

MS Office Online

Find help and how to articles, free templates and clip art and Service Packs for MS Office. Explore the ribbon in Office 2007, learn keyboard shortcuts and training for each of the Office applications.

microsoft at work

Get tips for getting the most out of Office and working smarter with features you may not be aware of such as audio recording in OneNote or how to collaborate using MS Office Live.

Microsoft Showcase

Here you will find videos on for home, business,gamers and IT professionals. Check out Office Casual and see how to use the Quick Access Toolbar or learn about free online storage using Windows Live Skydrive.

Whether you love or hate Microsoft, you need to be able to get the most from it's products if you sue them on a regular basis. So why not take advantage of the free resources that MS provides? Who knows, you may actually learn a better or easier way to do something in Office and make your life a bit less stressful.