Download the Office 2010 “Getting Started” Screensaver—a new way to get tips from Office.com

These aren't your father's flying toasters.

If you have Office 2010, you really need to check out the Office 2010 "Getting Started" Screensaver. This free screensaver automatically downloads short 60-90 second tips from Office.com (like the one shown below) and displays them when you're not using your PC.

And if a particular tip piques your curiosity, a simple click takes you to a web page where you can replay the video, watch smililar videos, or read an article to learn more.

Easy to ignore, yet hard to overlook

The quest to help you get started with new software isn't new. Remember those "tip of the day" dialogs that popped up whenever you started a program? Weren't they annoying? Didn't you close them almost instantly? The problem was that they interrupted you when you were trying to get work done. But what if we took a step back to a time when you weren't using your PC? Enter the screensaver. The cool thing about screensavers is that they're easy to dismiss when you have something to do, but they're there waiting for you when you don't.

Get 'em while they're fresh

Screensavers are easy to create, so we decided to do something cool with ours. We coded our screensaver so that it pulls videos from an RSS feed. That way, the tips are always fresh, and you learn something new every day. Using RSS, you see a new video the day we publish it.

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And when you dismiss the screensaver, we provide a brief "popup" alert (similar to an Outlook email alert) that you can click to learn more.

Success is in the screen of the beholder

In 2006, Cedars-Sinai hospital tried desperately to get doctors to wash their hands more often. Studies showed that they washed their hands less than 65% of the time between patients. The hospital sent emails and faxes. They put up posters. They even recruited a cadre of nurses to spy on doctors and hand out Starbucks gift cards as rewards. It didn't work. Then they tried something that did. Turns out, the best tactic had nothing to do with rewards or financial gain. The best tactic was a visual reminder in the form of a screensaver on every hospital computer. (Source: The New York Times)

Screensavers work. And a screensaver with tips and timesavers from Office.com will help you work better.

Install the Office 2010 "Getting Started" Screensaver today.

--David Salaguinto