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As observant PC owners will note, the funny thing about gaming on Windows 7 and Windows Vista is that you needn’t even consider yourself a “gamer” to enjoy it. That’s because an intuitive interface and ever-expanding range of titles for all ages, genders and skill levels make it easy for everyone to instantly jump in and play.

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Get your game on

Enter the era of “casual games,” or user-friendly digital diversions that require zero background or familiarity with the pastime to enjoy. So while diehard enthusiasts still benefit from full support for hardcore offerings like Fallout 3 and The Witcher, everyone else is suddenly rediscovering the pleasures of family game night as well.

The proof is in the pudding, too. According to the Casual Games Association, over 200 million people enjoy these titles each month, 51.7% of which are women, with those participating in online communities averaging 7-15 hours of gaming every week. A six-month study conducted by East Carolina University’s Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies even shows these amusements can significantly lower stress, brighten one’s mood and reduce depression levels – a great excuse to play.

Available for sampling and purchase via online download or local retailers, casual games don’t just cost less and sport lower system requirements than typical Games for Windows offerings, making them even more accessible. They’re also immediately engaging, easy to try in advance and capable of providing the kind of catchy hands-on experience that’s easy to learn, yet hard to master, guaranteeing they’ll captivate hardcore players as well.

Following is everything you need to know to play like a pro.
Standard features

At odds with traditional PC games, casual games sport several distinct characteristics:

Low prices—Single titles often sell for US $19.99 or less on average, compared with a standard US $39.99-49.99. Purchase a monthly subscription package, and prices can dip as low as US $6.99 per game. Added bonus: Pogo.com and PopCap.com actually let you compete in puzzle and card games for cash and prizes – now that’s what we call “play money.”

Minimal system requirements—Even older PCs can comfortably run these titles. While cool peripherals like sound and graphics cards or wireless gamepads provide tangible play enhancements, coming out of pocket’s typically unnecessary, with add-ons considered strictly optional. Compare the minimum system specs required to run Windows 7 with those for popular title Diner Dash, and it’s obvious… make the upgrade, and you’ll be set for some time to come.
Casual game Burger Island 2

Casual games like Burger Island 2 let you cook up instant fun.

Familiar themes—From travel to trivia, weddings to Westerns, and even cakes to county fairs, casual games generally feature concepts based on everyday topics or pop culture references, increasing their overall reach and appeal. Many are further inspired by timeless arcade favorites, earning extra points for nostalgic appeal.

Small sizes—Game downloads generally average about 25-50MB in size, meaning disk storage won’t be a problem. Better still, you can also retrieve them with little difficulty, even on a dialup or DSL Internet connection. Be aware, however. Certain titles originally sold on CD-ROM, such as Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock, or those containing multiple in-game movies like Casebook, may require 10-20X as much storage space, and take hours to download. Be certain you double-check system requirements and expected transfer times with online vendors before making any purchase.

Try before you buy—Dozens of providers like I-play, iWin and Reflexive Arcade offer endless hours of amusement. Titles either run right from Internet Explorer, or can be sampled gratis before you decide to purchase them via complimentary downloadable trials.
Gaming at Reflexive Arcade

Get started gaming at Reflexive Arcade.

Ease of installation—Installing casual games onto your PC couldn’t be simpler. Just double-click on the file you’ve downloaded or, in the case of retail titles, insert the CD and follow on-screen prompts or included instructions to launch the program. A step-by-step, guided wizard will walk you through the process.

Free with Windows

Even more exciting: Several cool casual games are included with Windows 7 and Windows Vista straight out of the box. To access them, simply open the Games Explorer, found on your Start menu.
Free games from the Games Explorer

Access free games right from the Games Explorer.

Between enhanced versions of old favorites sporting sharper graphics and gameplay to all-new, addictive outings, you’re sure to spend weeks entranced by these runaway hits alone. (Although parental controls in Windows 7 and Windows Vista let you easily prevent kids from doing so when schoolwork calls.)

Examples include:

FreeCell—The card game classic receives a pleasing facelift in the form of additional animation as well as built-in hints and tutorials.

Minesweeper—Avoid explosives as always, only now atop selectable backdrops boasting customizable grid sizes and slicker picture quality.

Purble Place—Includes three challenging children’s diversions based on baking sweets, matching shapes and playing guessing games.

Solitaire—A fresh edition featuring several decks and scoring systems, plus handy save options so you can take a break at any time, then pick up where you left off later.
Solitaire in Windows Vista

Classic games like Solitaire get sweeping upgrades in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Other bonuses include Spider Solitaire, Hearts, and Mahjong Titans.

You can preview the entire selection available for Windows 7 here and for Windows Vista here.
Top picks

While hundreds of titles are compatible, several acclaimed casual games such as Darwinia and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved have been specially enhanced for use on Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

These all-star outings promise major upgrades like snazzier audiovisuals and additional levels, and can even cause your Xbox 360 Controller for Windows to rumble, offering the most immersive gameplay possible.
Peggle Nights

Peggle Nights will test your patience and hand-eye coordination.

In addition, you’ll also find a limitless supply of equally engaging alternatives including:

Peggle Nights—Using a limited supply of balls, angle shots correctly to eliminate all colored pegs and blocks. Spunky power-ups add excitement.

Home Sweet Home 2: Kitchens and Baths—Like an interactive DIY home improvement TV show: Create custom interior designs then race to build them on tight deadlines.

Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox—Equal parts fantastical adventure and virtual scavenger hunt, this time-traveling odyssey wins with its smart challenges and catchy presentation.

Play for free online

Surprise! We’ve saved the best news for last: Literally tens of thousands of casual games are also available free to play online – and without the need to download and install additional software!
MSN Games

MSN Games – a great place to play.

Just fire up your favorite Web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer) and hit the following sites to permanently kiss boredom goodbye:

Shockwave

Kongregate

MSN Games

Ninja Kiwi

Addicting Games

Newgrounds

InstantAction

MiniClip

Armor Games

Online Flash Games.

Everyone has a unique personality, but we don’t always have the time or the know-how to express ourselves, particularly through computer applications. Here are some ideas on how to use the templates offered in Microsoft Works 9 and Microsoft Office Word to express your creativity on the PC.

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If you are looking for help using and finding Microsoft Office templates, read our article, “4 ways to simplify your life and show your style with templates.”
Party templates

Customize the occasion

Most of us look for any excuse to celebrate, and with special occasions around every corner you may frequently resort to generic greeting cards to express your sentiments. Creating a personalized card instead can really show how much you care. Surprisingly, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or innate artistic ability. Try using a template in Microsoft Works 9. There are more than 40 ready-to-use templates for several occasions, such as birthdays and holidays, as well as blank templates that can be customized without sacrificing the polished look of store-bought cards. You can also download Works greeting card templates. Once you have crafted your masterpiece, you can print it out from your own home. Microsoft Works 9 also includes a calendar, so you can set reminders of upcoming events like birthdays and anniversaries.
Microsoft Works birthday card templates

The wide variety of card templates makes it easy to create a custom card.
Example of birthday card using a Microsoft Works Cupcake card template

Make something special for your loved ones with birthday card templates in Microsoft Works.
Turn photos into memories to share

Do you snap enough vacation photos to put the paparazzi to shame? If so, you probably don’t want those memories cooped up in a dusty album along with your baby pictures. If you use a digital camera, it’s easy to get creative and turn those vacation photos into unique memories you’d like to share. Consider using Windows Live Spaces or Shutterfly to prepare a personalized online photo album. Or, try Photosynth, a tool that enables you to turn photos into an interactive 3-D experience with the cinematic quality of a movie and the control of a video game, and then share them on the Web. These services are free of charge, and they enable you to share memorable shots with your friends and they allow your loved ones to keep an eye on you from across the globe.
Photosynth of a creek

Turn your family or vacation photos into a unique interactive collage with Photosynth.
Take charge of your career

In business, they say you’re only as good as your next idea. So why not differentiate yourself from the rest of those trying to climb the corporate ladder and make your work stand out? For those looking to emerge as the next corporate hot shot, Microsoft Office Word offers a number of templates for personal correspondence, marketing plans, sales presentations, legal forms, and more. For more information or to download these types of templates, visit Office Online and read our article, “4 ways to simplify your life and show your style with templates.”

When looking for a new job, it’s important to put your best foot forward to make an impression on perspective employers. One great way to do this is through your resume and cover letter. Microsoft Office Word offers a number of customizable templates for job seekers looking to outshine the competition. This includes templates for résumés, cover letters, and job search letters that you can adjust to express your creativity and keep your résumé out of the recycle bin.

Office Online resume templates

You might not be a painter, a poet, or an actor, but don’t let that keep you from being creative. With a template as your guide, it’s easy to express your individual style.

The problem with most photos taken during the holidays or other special celebrations is that they don’t capture the special feeling of the season or event. That’s why most holiday, anniversary, birthday, and graduation pictures an seem so average.

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Why settle for ho-hum photos? With preparation and just a few simple tips on photography techniques and photo effects, you can turn your digital photographs into unique works of art that you and your family and friends will enjoy looking at for years.
1. Plan ahead for special occasion mailings

The classic problem with holiday photos that you want to use for cards, your annual family letter, or other special mailings is that they have to be taken weeks in advance. Some decorations, like Christmas trees, might not be available, or you might not want to take your menorah or other once-a-year holiday decorations out of storage so far in advance. Or maybe there’s no snow on the ground.

It’s never too early to think about the perfect image to accompany your special mailings.

One solution is to find a clip-art image or photo that says “New Year” or “Graduation” or one that evokes your special occasion. For ideas, check out the photos and other clip art images available from Microsoft Office. The quality and variety of choices will surprise you. Browse the Seasons, Special Occasions, or Religion categories. Or do a search for snow, palm tree, or graduation, for example, or for Christmas, Chanukah, Eid al-Adha, or poinsettia. Choose a photo or other clip-art image that you can use in your mailing. And don’t forget to check the site for backgrounds and borders that you can add to these images or to the photos you take.

Another great way to plan ahead for special mailings is to find an old photograph in one of your albums or memory boxes—a photo that evokes the celebration—and to scan that photo into your computer. After the photo is scanned, you can edit and use the image as you would any other digital photograph.
Scan a photograph

Windows 7

Windows Vista

Windows XP

If you’re taking your own photos for a holiday card or other special mailing, following a few photographers’ tips can help you get the photos you want. Here are a few photography techniques for how to take great special occasion photos with your digital camera and how to edit your images for even greater effect.
2. Keep it simple

Family photos are great, but you may want to save them for your family. If you want to mail a special occasion card to business clients, neighbors, or community members, consider using a simple and straightforward yet evocative image. For example, freshly fallen snow on ornate stone buildings and oak trees suggests the beauty of a northern winter. Orange trees lush with fruit suggest the beauty of warmer climates and seasons. If you don’t have fresh snow or blooming flowers on hand, gargoyles on buildings, iron gates, and other architectural elements can be compelling, too.
Picture of a cardinal sitting on a bare branch in a tree surrounded by snow.

This cardinal offers a pretty way to evoke the holiday season for non-family cards or mailings, and by using your camera’s Magnify feature, you get something beyond the typical nature landscape.

3. Get up close

Don’t be afraid to get up close. Most people see a beautiful nature scene, say “Wow!” and snap a shot of the whole landscape. Or they stand far back from the family gathering or the graduate to “get it all in.” Don’t settle for canned landscape shots; zoom in on the details that matter. Almost every digital camera has a Magnify or Macro button that lets you get close and create a much more interesting photo.
4. Get candid

There’s nothing wrong with pictures that are posed, but you can create variety by taking candid shots at family and social gatherings. Capture people while they’re engaged in conversation or as they’re opening a gift. Keep your camera batteries charged up and your camera nearby so you can catch spontaneous moments. Most digital cameras have a Motion or Sports setting that allows you to capture people in motion without blur in the photo. If your camera has shutter priority mode, you can use a higher shutter speed (1/100 to 1/400 seconds) to reduce motion blur.
5. Light the way

In ideal situations, use available light to eliminate problems like flares and the dreaded “red eye.” To prevent red eye, ask your subjects not to look directly at the camera. If you do get red eye in your photos, you can use Windows Live Photo Gallery to remove it.

To avoid distracting light flares, keep mirrors, glass, or other reflective surfaces that can cause flares away from your subject. Also, don’t take photos in front of windows or other back lights; the foreground will come out too dark unless you use fill flash.

If the scene is too dark, light it from several different directions. Don’t point bright lights right at people’s eyes. Light the space around them and diffuse the light if possible

6. Find a new angle

This is something I learned from my days as a reporter: Looking at rows of people staring at the camera and smiling at you head-on is a bit boring. If you want to take a photo of your family or friends, simply changing the angle and looking at a familiar scene from a new perspective can liven it up considerably. For example, get up on a ladder and look down; or get down on the floor and look up.

Another option is to fill the frame for dramatic effect. By tilting the camera down about one-third of a frame, you can create a much different effect. Look carefully at the picture you’re framing before you click the button. Experiment by moving the camera up and down or side to side. Tilt the camera to various angles and see what it shows you. Fill the frame with the object that interests you most. If your digital camera has an LCD screen, you can use it to improve your sensitivity to the scene and to help you find an interesting viewpoint.

7. Edit your images

Even the pros don’t get it right the first time. Professional photographers know that the best way to get the perfect image is to take several hundred that are imperfect. Some of the best photos emerge only after careful editing.

Windows Live Photo Gallery, a part of Windows Live Essentials, is a convenient and powerful tool for editing images. You can download Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Essentials for free. Our article Simple fixes for your digital photos gives some good tips.

You can use photo-editing programs, like Windows Live Photo Gallery, not only to remove red eye but also to crop photos, combine black-and-white and color in one image, adjust the color and light exposure of images, and apply other cool photo effects. With many of today’s digital imaging software packages, like Adobe Photoshop Elements and others, you can apply amazing effects to your photos that used to be available only to professional photographers.

Hint: Before you start editing, make a working copy of your original image by saving it with a new file name. You can do this by opening the image and typing, for example, bw (for “black and white”) at the end of the file name when you save it to differentiate the working image from the original. For example, if the image file name is “Leaf,” save the image as “Leafbw.” When you do all of your editing on your working copy of the image, you can always start over with a fresh copy of the original if you don’t like the results. Windows Live Photo Gallery has a convenient Revert to original button that you can use if you don’t want to save any of your editing changes after previewing them, but it’s still a good idea to save a copy of the original.

One dramatic effect, for example, that you can create using your favorite image-editing program is to convert color photos to black and white. With some camera models you can even do this in the camera—even before downloading the image to your computer. After the image is on your computer, you can use your image-editing program to adjust contrast and brightness to create a photograph that’s reminiscent of an Ansel Adams print.

Hint: Silhouettes look terrific in black and white, as do old buildings. The effect adds drama. But be sure to reserve this technique for landscapes or buildings. Photos of family members in black and white may not be as warm as you want them to be.

You can improve group portraits by editing them, too. How many times have you said, “If I could only combine this shot where my daughter is smiling and that one where the rest of the family is smiling, I’d have the perfect group portrait”? Photo Fuse in Windows Live Photo Gallery makes this possible. It combines the best parts of two or more photos to give you the image you want.
Edit photos with Windows Live Photo Gallery

Windows 7

Windows Vista

Transfer photos from your digital camera to your computer

Windows 7

Windows Vista

Windows XP

8. Don’t forget presentation

Anyone who’s ever wrapped (or unwrapped) a present knows how important presentation is. Imagine this: Your holiday greeting or special invitation arrives in your friends’ and family’s Inboxes and features a multimedia summary of your activities and special occasions from the year.

With Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can quickly turn your photos into a slide show with captions, transitions, and music. If you use Windows XP, you can download Microsoft Photo Story 3 to create a multimedia slide show. If you download Windows Live Movie Maker, either alone or as part of Windows Live Essentials, you can even turn your photos into a movie.

Another cool way to present your holiday photos is to use Microsoft Photosynth, which transforms regular digital photos into three-dimensional, 360-degree experiences. This service changes the way you experience and share photos. Please note that you have to download Photosynth and sign in with a Windows Live ID account to use or view photos within the Photosynth experience.

You can also use Microsoft PowerPoint to present a holiday greeting or party invitation that includes festive images and sound clips of your family or friends singing their favorite songs. If you have Windows 7 and PowerPoint 2010, you can even embed video of your family or friends on that great trip to the beach or clips of birthday parties. For the ultimate holiday or celebration mailing, save your file as a video. That’s a presentation your friends and family won’t soon forget.
9. Share your special moments

You’ve collected your best picks of candle-lighting, singing, and present opening. Now what do you do with them all? You could set up an online blog. Our article, “Share your vacation in real time,” can help you learn the basics.

Or create a collage. Photo collages celebrate important events and themes in our lives. Pick a folder, press a button, and, in a few minutes, Microsoft Research AutoCollage presents you with a unique memento to print or to email to your family and friends.

If you really want to wow them, you can make a wearable souvenir to send everyone by transferring a digital photo to a T-shirt. Here’s how to do it using Windows Vista.
Learn more about how to take professional photos, edit your images, and organize, print, and share them

Windows 7

Windows Vista

Windows XP

Get even more creative! For more tips from professional photographers, read the inspiring and informative articles on the Microsoft Photo Community blog.

We now have more ways to stay connected online than we ever imagined when email first entered our lives. With the right tools and know-how, you can stay tuned in to your friends, family, and colleagues—no matter how different your time zones, schedules, and pace of life.

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1. Instant message and chat online

Instant messaging (IM) is essentially a private chat on the internet, which makes it the perfect medium for check-ins with friends, coworkers, and family, or if you need a question answered quickly. Video chat takes IM’ing one step further, so that you can actually converse face-to-face, albeit over computers connected to the internet.

Windows Live Messenger is the perfect program to use for both IM and video chat (as well as for playing games, making voice calls over the web, and sharing photos online). It is available for free as a part of Windows Live Essentials, which is free. If you don’t yet have it installed, go for it! To get tips on installation and basic how-to instructions for both IM and video chat, read our article Use instant messaging and video chat to stay in touch.
Friend not online? Leave a Video Message

A new feature that allows you to leave a 30-second video message for your friend even if they aren’t currently online. This feature is available in the current Instant Messenger. Here’s how to leave a video message.
2. Publish your calendar

One of the best ways to stay in touch is to publish your calendar on the Internet (using a secure Microsoft site like Office Online) and then invite individuals to view and use it. That way, the important people in your life can know what you’re doing and when, and they can schedule themselves into your life without playing phone tag, waiting for email replies, or searching the house or office for the “master” calendar. A bonus: Because the calendar is electronic, you only have to enter your annual appointments and events once—never miss a birthday or anniversary again!

Below we describe how to share your Outlook calendar online. Another option, and one that allows you to merge multiple calendars into one, is to use Windows Live Calendar. Read this article to learn how to keep your family in sync using Windows Live Calendar.

Publish a shared calendar online
Outlook 2010
Outlook 2007
3. Share your photos online

Still emailing photos? There are much more effective and interesting ways of sharing photos to keep in touch—ways that don’t limit the photo file size or require you to write a new message every time you want to share your photos—and that give you more tools to be creative with your photos, too.

Windows Live Photo Gallery is a free application and part of Windows Live Essentials. If you haven’t yet downloaded Windows Live Essentials, now’s the time! You can upload photos, albums, or slide shows for anyone to view or for just those people you want to share them with. You can post photos for others to comment on, tag photos, edit and organize your photos, and even create group albums or slide shows that you can publish to the Internet. Our article Create an online photo album is a great place to get tips and how-to instructions on setting up an online album.

Windows Live Mesh is another excellent way to share photos between computer and mobile devices—even across thousands of miles. Watch this short informative video and read our instructions to find out how to use it.

Photosynth. Sharing personalized albums and slides shows online is a wonderful way to keep in touch. But wouldn’t it be great if you could turn a set of photos into an interactive three-dimensional (3-D) experience with the cinematic quality of a movie and the control of a video game—and then share that experience on the web?

Photosynth helps you do just that. You upload overlapping images, and Photosynth stitches them into a dynamic 3-D image that viewers can “tour” or explore on their own. When you create a synth, you can specify whether you want it to be public or unlisted (available for viewing only by those addresses you specify). You can also geotag your synth, which links it to a map showing viewers the exact location where the photos were taken. It’s a great way to give family and friends a sense of the house or neighborhood where you live, your favorite activity, an art project you’ve finished, or anything special you want to share.
Photosynth of a tree-filled park and bridge
Photosynth of toys on a table

Turn family or vacation photos or photos of your favorite places and spaces into a unique interactive collage with Photosynth.
4. Create a family or event website

A website is a great way to communicate broadly with others and to share information with family and friends. A family website is particularly useful for chronicling life-changing events, such as marriages, births, and family or class reunions, and for posting pictures of your home and neighborhood to faraway relatives to give them a window into your family’s day-to-day life. You can update pictures and content regularly.

There are lots of online services you can use to create a site without having to have any technology background. For example, you can use WordPress.com to start a blog where you can post pictures and share your thoughts. You can have your site up and running—with pictures—in less than 10 minutes. If you’re more advanced, you can create a site using Microsoft Expression Web 4.
5. Blog your heart out

These days, almost everyone has a blog, and it’s easy to see why. The hosts of these online journals made up of links and postings presented in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first) often allow readers to add comments and discuss the posts, which makes blogs a great way to share day-to-day information, communicate ideas, and encourage discussions between the blogger and the readers or even between the readers themselves.

One easy way to craft blog posts is with the help of Windows Live Writer, which enables you to share pictures and posts on almost any blog service. Windows Live recommends using WordPress.com to set up your own free blog. It’s simple to set up and easy to use.
6. Use online groups and collaborative workspaces

Online groups are a great way to keep in touch with people that share your passions, hobbies, or interests. They’re also a good way for people in similar situations (for example, single parents, people with the same medical condition, or people whose children attend the same school) to get and provide support for one another. Many schools and other organizations have online groups you can join.

Visit Windows Live Groups to organize your own team, club, or family group, and invite people to participate. It’s far simpler and faster than you imagine. Your online group can create its own webpage where everyone can view the group’s activities and can take advantage of a shared calendar and a space for sharing photos and engaging in discussions. It works with Windows Live Messenger, so you can use instant messaging with your whole group and chat together in real time, from your desktop, laptop, or mobile device.

Collaborative workspaces let you save, access, and share documents and files. Some workspaces are downloaded directly to your desktop, like Microsoft SharePoint Workspace in Office Professional Plus. Others, such as Microsoft Office Live Workspace, are located online so you can access them from anywhere. They’re not as complicated to use as you might think—the whole program sets up in minutes. And these spaces aren’t just for office work. Extended families, for example, often like using the discussion, calendar, and chat options. Quite a few other options are available, such as the ability to display pictures, use drawing tools, report and manage issues, and more.

Shared workspaces located online. If you use Microsoft Office, you’ll want to try Office Live Workspace or Office 2010 Web Apps. These programs are like having an addition to Microsoft Office that lets you store, access, and edit documents from a single online location, regardless of your physical location. Both work with programs that you already use (such as Word, Outlook, or PowerPoint, among others) and are designed for anyone who needs a place to save and share documents. Office 2010 Web Apps give you even more saving, editing, and sharing options. With Office Web Apps, you can save your documents directly to the web, in your Windows Live SkyDrive folder, and open them and edit them simultaneously with others. Documents stored on Windows Live can be viewed and edited with either the Office Web Apps or with the Office client applications on your desktop. And you can also work together on a single document online with anyone through a web browser—even in real time when using Excel. Learn about using Office Web Apps in Windows Live.

Office 2010 makes sharing documents with online groups and individuals even easier with Backstage view, a convenient all-access pass to almost everything you want to do. On the Ribbon, on the File tab, click Share, and then click one of the many options. Click Send e-mail to attach the document to an email message, send an email message with a link to the document, or send it as a PDF, XPS document, or fax. You can also send documents directly to Windows Live SkyDrive so others can immediately see and work on them, or to a blog.
Backstage View in Office 2010 with the Share option selected

Backstage view in Office 2010 can simplify and accelerate sharing files with others.

Keeping in touch with the people in your life, whether you communicate with them daily or only occasionally, is one of the keys to a successful and fulfilling life. By using the information presented in this article, you can take advantage of communications technology to establish, maintain, and develop relationships that are long-lasting and rewarding.