______________________________________________________ ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers. The ezine YOU subscribed to. If you want to change your subscription options or unsubscribe, see the bottom of this email for full instructions. Thank you. Linda http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/abc ______________________________________________________ ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers Volume 32; December, 2004 - mailed to 4927 subscribers <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ANOTHER ABC SPECIAL: Exclusive Offer ONLY for ABC Visitors $10 off any FrontLook Product over $25! Sale good until Jan 31st 2004 Discounts applied on checkout page See below for details or click here: http://www.frontlook.com/?ref=abc&promoid=P10QJANAFF <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder http://snurl.com/6si ABC is also listed at FreeTechMail. Please rate it there too: http://snipurl.com/3egc <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> If you would prefer to read the online Web-azine, which includes pictures and screenshots and is, basically, more user-friendly, follow either of these links: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc (frames) http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/vol32.htm (no frames) or, scroll down to the Contents where you can click on over to any individual article <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> For definitions of any terms you do not understand, visit the GeekSpeak Translator: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/gs.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> You are receiving this newsletter because you (or someone using your email address) subscribed to it voluntarily. If you would like to remove yourself from ABC, please see SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT at the bottom of this newsletter. Using the "Reply" function will not unsubscribe you! My subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. I value every subscriber and respect your privacy. ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- ECLECTIC ACADEMY ~ A Better Choice in Distance Learning DO YOU WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL WITHOUT LEAVING THE HOUSE? It's the latest rage and it's called Distance Learning. Most colleges now offer Distance Learning classes because they know some people work hard and just can't fit a classroom into their busy lives. But, sometimes you don't want to enroll in a full program; you just want to take one class. ECLECTIC ACADEMY IS YOUR ANSWER! http://eclecticacademy.com Eclectic Academy offers a large range of classes to suit many needs. Go there now and check out their curriculum and roster. Classes are only $20 for 6 weeks. HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT? Here's a sampling of what they offer: *Art Courses, both digital and traditional *Business Courses, including all of the MS Office Programs (many taught by none other than Linda Johnson herself) *Graphics Courses - Flash, PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro & more *Website Development Courses - FrontPage, Dreamweaver, ASP, DHTML, Website Promotion, and on and on and on *Eclectic Classes - Computer Maintenance, Writing Workshops, Feng Shui, Eating Safely - just about anything you can think of Go to Eclectic Academy now and sign up to be notified when classes are added or ENROLL NOW in the class of your choice. Go there now to enroll in the next set of classes. ONLY $20 FOR A SIX-WEEK CLASS! http://eclecticacademy.com ********************************************* FLASH!! CLASSES BEGAN THIS WEEK, BUT YOU CAN STILL ENROLL UP UNTIL SUNDAY NIGHT, JAN. 10 AT MIDNIGHT ********************************************* ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- THIS MONTHS' FEATURED SPONSOR: ********************************************* @@@@@@@@@@ SPAM INSPECTOR @@@@@@@@@@ Here's another product I have added to my computer. Because I own a website and my email address is readily available to every spammer on the net, I get over 300 garbage spam mails a day! The subject lines in my inbox would impress even sailors. I get advertisements, pornography, and "business" proposals from all over the world. I've tried filtering this out with my mail rules, blocked senders lists, and even freeware programs like Mail Washer and found that none of these methods were as effective as I needed. But, this one DEFINITELY works. And, it's so easy to setup and monitor. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE AND DOWNLOAD A DEMO: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/spami.htm ********************************************* ********************************************* <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ADVERTISE in ABC: ABC offers inexpensive advertising in this email version. Full details on how to do this are explained here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/abcad.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Do you love ABC? Click here to donate any amount. http://snurl.com/pks Heck! If half the subscribers donated 25 cents each, I would be in business. LOL All contributions are greatly appreciated! <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> CONTENTS (all links below these items take you to the non-frames online versions) (items with *** behind them include pictures and/or are better if viewed online) 1. Important How-To Message for Reading This Ezine http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/vol32.htm#HowTo 2. GeekSpeak Translation from the Cap'n http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/gs.htm ~ by Patt Meara 3. Stuff from Linda http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/linda32.htm <><><>ABC HUMOR CONTEST ... Win a FREE Keyboard!! <><><>Important Info On Norton AV and Recent Computer/Word/Excel Problems <><><>Making Online Photo Albums *** ... with a little help from my friends ... and a FREE screensaver I made for you! <><><>Special FrontLook Sale ONLY for ABC Readers! <><><>A Tip For Those Who Used the FrontPage 2003 Beta or Any Other Version of FrontPage Before the Final 2003 Version <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: 4. Hey Dude, Where's My Productivity Gain? http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/ray32a.htm How the PC has failed to revolutionise business in a way our parents might have hoped ~ by Ray Blake <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> TIPS & TUTORIALS 5. Trigger Happy Animations in PowerPoint *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/kath32a.htm ~ by Kathryn Jacobs 6. Points of View in FrontPage - Reports, PART TWO http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/tina32.htm ~ by Tina Clarke 7. Set "Search Hidden Files and Folders" As Default in Windows XP http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/vic32.htm ~ by Vic Ferri 8. Finding the Last Cell In an Excel Range *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/ray32b.htm ~ by Ray Blake 9. Why Should I Scan My Outgoing Mail for Viruses? http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/mike32.htm ~ by Mike Baynes 10. Resolving To Get Organized in 2004? Let OneNote Help *** http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/kath32b.htm ~ by Kathryn Jacobs 11. DLLs, Explained http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/jas32.htm ~ by Jasmine ********************************************* 12. ASK THE FLEET ~ Questions submitted by readers and answered by ABC's Fleet of Writers http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/ask32.htm ********************************************* Miscellaneous: 13. Subscription Management 14. Contact Information 15. Advertise in ABC http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/abcad.htm *** means the article includes pictures in the online version or is better viewed online <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (1.) IMPORTANT HOW-TO MESSAGE <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> If you decide to go to the Online "Web-azine" version, go here first for navigation instructions: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/vol32.htm#HowTo If you are reading this plain text issue, maximize your email window for best viewing. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- USING WINDOWS XP AND CONFUSED? Here are two great resources for you and buying either one of them will help keep ABC alive! SHOW ME WINDOWS XP A Video Tutorial on CD that walks you through it all http://showmewindows.com/c.cgi/windowstutorial WINDOWS XP FOR NEWBIES An E-Book full of simple, easy-to-follow instructions http://newbieclub.com/wfncopy/?buntah Both are still available for Windows 95/98/ME users More info on them available on my Windows webpage: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/windows.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (2.) Cap'n Patt's GEEKSPEAK TRANSLATOR ~ by Patt Meara <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Visit the Cap'n's Official GeekSpeak Database at http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/gs.htm If the word you need defined is not there, or the definition is not clear, too geeky, or just plain confusing to you, email the Cap'n. He would love to hear from you at CapnPatt@xxxxxxx <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- Computer Help Central Presents... A BRAND NEW RESOURCE: Does your computer "scare you" at times? Are you tired of not getting answers to your computer questions? Don't worry, Mad Mick can teach you "How to Solve All Your Computer Problems... Fast & Forever...Even if You're Brand New to Computers And Think You'll Never Learn Them" He'll Answer Every Single Computer Question You'll Ever Have - BEFORE You Even Ask! (And if he doesn't, you'll have a chance to personally ASK HIM!) Download Mad Mick's 200 Computer Questions & Answers in pdf format **includes 30 days of FREE email support** http://hop.clickbank.net/?buntah/likeapro **SUPPORT ABC BY ORDERING THIS PRODUCT** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (3). STUFF FROM LINDA <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ABC IS HAVING ANOTHER CONTEST! And this one doesn't require any skill. This one is fun!! I'm a collector of funny computer stuff ... web pages, cartoons, jokes, etc. And some ABC members have contributed some of their favorite computer humor to us over the years. You can see some of it here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/chillin_out.htm My friend Oren Kramer at Ideazon Keyboards graciously offered us a free Internet keyboard as a prize, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone ... give my readers a chance to get a free keyboard, and increase the contents of our humor collection :-) So, here's the instructions and rules: * Use the link in the online version of this article to send me your favorite computer-related humor. You must send it by clicking on this link. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/linda32.htm * Your contribution can be a URL to a funny computer page, a cartoon or picture attached to the email (please do NOT embed the picture inside the email, you MUST send it as an attachment), or simply a joke ... but it MUST be computer-related and it MUST be something I can post on my website, so nothing adult-rated, please. If you send me a cartoon or joke from a website, you MUST include the URL where you got it, so I can credit the site. * You must send it to me from the email address you used to subscribe to ABC. Anything received from addresses not subscribed to ABC will not be eligible to win. * I will accept entries until midnight on Wednesday, February 4th ... however, in the case of duplicate entries, the winner will be determined by the one I receive first, so I'd recommend you send it SOON * You can send me as many as you want. But please, only send me one copy of each, and if you make multiple submissions, each one must be in a separate email. * The winner will be the one who makes me laugh the hardest ... so make it funny and look for something you think I may not have seen before. * Once I've chosen the winner, I will send that person an email telling them they have won. They MUST reply to me within 24 hours in order to get the prize. If I don't hear from them in 24 hours, I will send an email to the next person in line. I will continue to do this until I get a reply. So, check your email regularly from February 4th on, so you don't miss my email (and check them spam filters too, in case my email gets caught there). * Once I get a reply, I will send the winner an email, with a copy to Oren Kramer at Ideazon and he will mail the winner their keyboard. * And here's the prize you will win: Zboard (custom keyboard) starter system http://webstore.ideazon.com/banner_img/?click-1067228903-1062717434 (Unfortunately that link may wrap. SnipURL is down for maintenance this weekend to improve their server speed, so I could not snip any new links in this newsletter. If you can't get this link to work, go to the online version of this article and click from there) Don't miss out on this one. What have you got to lose? NOTE: Whether you win or not, I will be including many of the submissions on ABC's humor page, with credit given to the submitter. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Info for Norton AV users: All of a sudden yesterday, my computer started slowing down drastically. My right-click menus took FOREVER to appear, Word and Excel were launching VERY slowly, web surfing was at a crawl, I couldn't publish from FrontPage AT ALL cuz it kept timing out on me, and my computer was just generally running very sluggishly. I did all the regular troubleshooting on this - ran Ad-aware and Spybot to remove spyware, did a defrag of all my drives, scanned for viruses and trojans, deleted temp files, and rebooted about six times - but nothing helped. And this was happening on ALL of my computers! I was at a loss. Then I started seeing posts from people in a few tech groups that were having similar problems. I also saw posts from people who said if they opened Word while they were connected to the Internet, Word kept trying to run virus scans ... and that's when I realized the common thread here in all the posts I saw was that we were all using Norton AV, so I went off to the Symantec website searching for a clue and, sure enough, I found it. It seems there's a problem with the AV definition files we all downloaded on Jan. 7th. Norton is aware of the problem and the solution is to update the Verisign certificate in your computer or go into Internet Explorer and click on the Tools menu and click on Internet Options. From there, go to the Advanced tab and scroll down to the Security section and remove the check from the box that says "Check for publisher's certification revocation". I figured what the heck, I'd try it and BINGO...my computer was running perfectly again. So, I posted the link to the others who were having similar problems and every one of them replied that this fixed their problems too; even one poster who was having a different problem (Word templates wouldn't open) said this fixed her problem too. So, I would recommend, if you have seen any weird changes in your system or Office performance in the last couple days, that you try this too. Here's the full instructions from Norton: http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2004010810205113 (Unfortunately that link may wrap. SnipURL is down for maintenance this weekend to improve their server speed, so I could not snip any new links in this newsletter. If you can't get this link to work, go to the online version of this article and click from there) <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> OK.. this time the friends that helped me aren't human. I decided to crawl the net and find pictures of pets to use for my latest review. What I'm reviewing this month is a great little program from SWISH called SWISHpix. If you are like me and have lots of photos on your computer that you want to share with friends via the net, this is a handy program that makes photo albums that you can save as a webpage flash/html file, or as an exe file and a CD rom, or even as a screen saver. It's really easy to use and lets you add little callout bubbles to the pictures, select a background theme (or make your own), and add music. I had a lot of fun creating this one with various pet pictures. It supports most image file types and sound types. If you want to see what I did with it, with a little help from "my friends", you can go here: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/swpx/pets.html (Unfortunately that link may wrap. SnipURL is down for maintenance this weekend to improve their server speed, so I could not snip any new links in this newsletter. If you can't get this link to work, go to the online version of this article and click from there) It may load a little slowly for some, cuz I just HAD to include music from my favorite singer, Joe Cocker. But, let it load, then click on the "View Album" button, and sit back and enjoy Joe and the "kids". There are buttons to move from slide to slide, but it's not necessary ... you can just watch it and let it advance automatically. I also used SWISHpix to make a screensaver from this file that you can download for free here. Just download the zip file and extract the ABCpets scr file to the location in your operating system where screensavers are stored (search your hard drive for *.scr and you will see where that is). Then go into your display properties>Screensaver tab and choose ABC Pets from the dropdown choices. Enjoy! http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/dl/ABCpets.zip SWISH has this software on sale for the month of January, so you can get it for just $19.95, so I'd recommend you go check it out now. I think you will have as much fun with it as I am. There's a free 15-day trial download too: http://www.swishzone.com/index.php?area=products&product=pix <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> SPECIAL FOR ABC READERS: ********** NOTE FROM LINDA: I am a real fan of FrontLook's products. See my reviews here: FrontLook Addins: http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/flrev/ FrontLook Screen Capture: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v30/scrncap.htm ********** Exclusive Offer for ABC Visitors $10 off any FrontLook Product over $25! Have you been thinking about buying a FrontLook product to enhance your FrontPage web site? Well now is the time! During the month of January, you can click on the link below to save $10 off any FrontLook Product over $25! This is an exclusive offer for ABC site patrons, so you won't find this offer on the FrontLook.com web site. Click below to buy your favorite FrontLook product for $10 Off: http://www.frontlook.com/?ref=abc&promoid=P10QJANAFF *Sale good until Jan 31st 2004 - Discounts applied on checkout page. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Here's a tip I got from FrontLook's newsletter... In the final release of FrontPage 2003, Microsoft moved the "Themes", "Pages" and "Webs" folders to the "Themes11", "Pages11" and "Webs11" folders, respectively. If you installed any third party themes, page templates or web templates while using the beta or an earlier version of FrontPage, you may not see them. However, you still have them and can make them available by doing this: ------------------------------------------------------------- Go to the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Themes folder. Then copy all the theme folders into the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Themes11 folder. -------------------------------------------------------------- Now the Web Folders: Go to the C:\Program Files\ Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\Webs folder.Then copy all the theme folders into the C:\Program Files\ Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\Webs11 folder. -------------------------------------------------------------- Now the Pages Folders: Go to the C:\Program Files\ Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\Pages folder. Then copy all the theme folders into the C:\Program Files\ Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\Pages11 folder. ********************************************* Linda Johnson is a college instructor of all of the Microsoft Office Programs, as well as Adobe PhotoShop and Windows. She also teaches online distance learning classes in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word at Eclectic Academy. http://www.eclecticacademy.com She has worked helpdesk and teaches and lectures at Many local businesses and tech schools in her area. Support this newsletter by checking out Linda's website http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com and her ebook series, MS Word MAGIC! Part I: Fonts, Fun & Formats http://snurl.com/6sk Part II: Table Wizardry http://snurl.com/6sl AND, How To Get Started As a Software Trainer: http://snurl.com/6sd ********************************************* <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> AND DON'T MISS LINDA'S NEWEST EBOOK SERIES: If you have been interested in taking any of Linda's Online Classes but don't want to wait six weeks to complete all the lessons or don't have the desire to be part of an online classroom, why not SKIP THE CLASS & BUY THE BOOK INSTEAD? Check out the eBook .exe versions of all of Linda's classes here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/library.htm Only $15 each!! Where else can you master a software Program for that price? Separate eBook tutorials on Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. Terrific value!! OR BUY THEM ALL ON ONE CD Only $45.00!! Order online or by regular mail Details here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/cdtutorial.htm Download the free Sample Version at CNET: http://snurl.com/6sc And PLEASE rate it there for me? Thanks!! <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- *****THIS MONTH'S FEATURE***** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (4.) HEY DUDE, WHERE'S MY PRODUCTIVITY GAIN? How the PC has failed to revolutionise business in a way our parents might have hoped ~ by Ray Blake, GR Business Process Solutions <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ********************************************* NOTE FROM LINDA: I'm sure you readers have been enjoying Ray's regular contributions to ABC. Well, I finally got around to inviting him to be a member of the Fleet and now you can learn more about him by clicking here. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/ray_blake.htm Please join me in welcoming him to our regular staff! ********************************************* This is the computer age. With a PC on every desk and immense computing power available to all, we are more productive than ever before. We can accomplish in a few hours more than the last generation were able to in a month. Can't we? Well, actually, no. Repeated research shows the uncomfortable fact that we are no more productive now than we were in the 1950s, when the average desk was graced not by a PC, but often by a blotter and inkwell. How can this be? We are so used to the boon of personal computing power, many of us would feel powerless without a PC; in a very real sense, many jobs are just not possible any more without use of a computer. This dependence is a price worth paying provided the payoff is more productivity, more profit, more leisure time or less stress, but it seems that none of these have typically arisen from computerisation over the last 50 years. Why not? Here's my take on the issue: we're all spending more time and effort on presentation. Just think about how a 1950s manager would have written a report. He (because it would always have been a he) would have written it out longhand or dictated it, and his secretary would have quickly and efficiently typed it. She (because it would always have been a she) would have typed at an extremely fast rate, certainly 80 wpm or more, and would have had no choice over fonts, text size and the like. The options would have been confined almost solely to use of the shift key. Layout would be automatic, of course. Assuming there were no typing errors, the job would be finished once the last word was typed. There would be no repagination, no tweaking of styles, no endless changing of heading levels. Furthermore, the manager would have used all this typing time doing something else. Compare that experience to today's manager's approach; equipped with Microsoft Word, but probably not with a secretary, he or she types himself or herself, probably at considerably less than 80 wpm and then spends the same time again, or possibly more, on tinkering with the formatting. A more enlightened outlook on sexual equality is widespread, but business efficiently certainly isn?t. And here's another example. There was a time when budgets and accounts were only handled by specialists with paper ledgers and poor social skills. But now that every manager has Microsoft Excel, he or she takes on these tasks him or herself. Not only could a specialist accountant do the work in a fraction of the time, but Excel also has extensive formatting and layout tools, the great 21st century thief of time! And we haven't even touched on programming yet. If it were a crime to spend 8 hours writing a program which over the course of a decade might save 30 minutes or so, then I would inevitably be labelled a serial offender, as would most of my social circle. What will define our progress this century ? if we?re l ucky ? is the definition of a new working relationship with the PC and a return to specialism in business. Maybe then we'll finally start enjoying the long- awaited computer productivity boom. ********************************************** Ray Blake lives in England and spent 15 years training people in the financial services industry there. He had always used PCs in his work, and gradually realised he might make a career out of them. He and his business partner set up GR Business Process Solutions ( http://www.grbps.com ) which specializes in innovative IT to support knowledge testing and skills assessment. Although he spends a lot of time these days developing in VB and Access, Excel remains his favourite development tool, because, as he says, 'It can do everything; there's no computer application you can think of that you couldn't develop in Excel.' ******************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> POWERPOINT TO EXE We can convert your Powerpoint presentations into stand alone exe files that will play on all the major Windows platforms without the need for a Powerpoint viewer. More info here: http://www.angelfire.com/va3/vic3/index.html Email: pptexe@xxxxxxxxxx ******************************************** TIPS AND TUTORIALS ******************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (5.) TRIGGER HAPPY ANIMATIONS IN POWERPOINT ~~Kathryn Jacobs, PowerPointAnswers <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ********************************************** EDITOR'S NOTE: This article contains pictures and is clearer if read online here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/kath32a.htm ********************************************** Need to make content appear, change or disappear out of order? Need to control the order that things appear while in front of your audience? Playing games? You need to play with PowerPoint?s Triggers option for custom animations. Added with PowerPoint 2002, this option allows you to control animations via mouse clicks as well as along a time line. What can be triggered? Any animation or effect can be triggered. This includes the activation of a sound or a movie as well as the appearance, disappearance, and change of any slide element. Trigger example For our example, we are going to create a slide with a series of photos that appear when text boxes are clicked. We know that some of the users know what the items are already, but we want to make sure they have a chance to see each item anyway. When we click a box to reveal a picture, we want the picture to appear. We then want the picture to disappear when the next text box is clicked. The basic steps we are going to do are: * Add the pictures. * Animate each picture to appear on mouse click and disappear on the next mouse click. * Add the text boxes with the name of each pictured item. * Change the entrance animation for each picture to be triggered. Add pictures The first step is to add 6 pictures to the slide, using Insert> Pictures> From file. Multi-select three of the pictures and move them to the right side of the slide. Multi-select the other three and move them to the left. Once they are in the correct area of the slide, stack them one on top of each other. Once all the pictures were inserted, you can see in the online version of this article, how my slide looked. Animate each picture To animate the pictures, select all the pictures and bring up the custom animation pane (Right click, Custom Animation or Slide Show>Custom Animation). From the Add Effect Menu, do an Entrance> Appear. This adds the ?Appear? animation to all of the pictures. While the pictures are still selected, do Add Effect> Exit> Disappear. Your animation pane should look somewhat like the one I show in the online version of this article. Notice that all of the entrance effects (the green stars) are set up to happen on the same mouse click and all of the exit animations (the red stars) also set for the same mouse click. What?s more, all of the entrances will happen at once and all of the exits will happen at once. We don?t want this, so we need to rearrange the animations so that the order is Entrance, Exit, Entrance, Exit, etc. To do this, click on the first exit animation and use the re-order buttons on the bottom of the Custom Animation pane to move it up the list until it is just under the matching entrance animation. (You can also click and drag the animation if you find that easier.) Repeat this for each exit animation and your list will now look like mine, in the online version of this article. We are getting there, but we still have a problem: The pairs need to enter and exit on consecutive mouse clicks, not all on the same mouse click. To do this, click the third animation and change the ?Start? drop down to ?On Click.? (You can also do this from the right click menu.) Once you have done this for each animation, your list will look like mine, in the online version of this article. Add Text Boxes You are now ready to add the text boxes which, when clicked, will cause the pictures to appear. Add one box for each picture, and add text to each that contains the name of the item in the picture.) When you are done, arrange the boxes around the slide. Your slide should look something like mine, in the online version of this article. In case you are wondering, the blue boxes with the numbers in them match items in the animation list. They show which animations are going to happen to which pictures. Set up the triggers We are now ready to change the entrance effect for each picture to happen on a trigger instead of on a general mouse click. To start the process, select the first pair of animations. Right click on the first entrance animation and bring up the timing options. (Find it by right clicking the animation and selecting ?Timing?.) When the tab is visible, click the ?Triggers? button to show the options for your trigger. Change the radio button from ?Animate as part of click sequence? to ?Start effect on click of:? Clicking the drop down list will show a series of shape names. The first ones will be your pictures, then will come your title. Then, finally will come a series of rectangles named Rectangle #:Text, where # is the number of the rectangle and ?Text? is the text on the rectangle. Select the drop down item that matches the picture you have selected and click Okay. Notice that your animation has moved to the bottom of your list. Move the animation entry for the picture?s exit animation to just after the entrance animation. Your whole list should now look like mine, in the online version of this article. Notice that you now have two animations that have the number one and two more that are numbered two. Each time the numbering starts over, you have started a new timeline, triggered by a new event. Now that your first trigger is set up use the same steps to set up the triggers for the remaining pictures. When you have set up each trigger, the blue boxes for the picture have changed from holding numbers to holding pointing hands. This shows you that the picture is animated by the click of another object instead of during the main time line. Running the triggered slide To activate each trigger, you must be showing (not editing) the presentation. Start the show. Notice that all you see are the master slide elements, the title and the boxes. Click a box and a picture should appear. Click the box again and the picture will disappear. Click off the box and your presentation will advance to the next slide. Notice a slight problem? If you followed my directions exactly, all of the pictures come up behind the boxes on the right side. To fix this, multi-select the six boxes and do a send to back. Run the slide again and everything should be right. If you are setting this up as a stand-alone presentation, you will need to tell your viewers what to do to make the pictures appear. Add a simple text box at the bottom of your slide that reads ?Click a box to see a picture? and you are all set. ********************************************** Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, parent, and whatever else there is time for. I believe life is meant to be lived. But, if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived. ************************************************ <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Are you thinking about building your own website but you don't have a clue how to get started? Then, The Newbie Club's FIRST WEBSITE BUILDER is the package for you! The Brand New First Website Builder V2.1 contains ... ** FOUR specially created Newbie Club Software packages Worth $89.90 from our soon to be published Newbie Software Library. ** THREE updated ebook tutorials, by Famous Newbie Club authors. ** 24 part HTML Course ** HTML Editing Software ** Stunning Web Building Tips book by Dennis Gaskill ** Links to an abundance of free graphics, software and more ------- "Believe Me, This is Really Special!" Only $39.95 and you will be building websites with ease! Check it out here: http://newbieclub.com/builder/?buntah <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (6.) POINTS OF VIEW IN FRONTPAGE - REPORTS PART TWO ~~Tina Clarke, AccessFP - FrontPage Resource Centre <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Part One of this article can be seen here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v31/tina31.htm Printing Reports (in FrontPage 2002) In FrontPage 2000, you cannot print reports. See this tutorial to learn how to get around that. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc1/v2/vol2.htm#tina After generating a report, you can save or copy and paste the data into other Office programs. This feature does not work with ?Site summary? Reports nor with ?Usage Summary? Reports. ? See Part One of this article for an add-on that will print the site summary. First, select the report you want to run (i.e.: you have to enter that section - for example, click on ?Broken Hyperlinks?) then go to File | Save and choose the location where you want to save the file. You can accept the default names for the file name and page title, or select new ones. To change the file name, type a new name in the File name box. To change the page title, click Change title and type the new page title. Click Save. NOTE: The report is saved in Microsoft Excel HTML format. To view the report in Excel, double-click the file in any view except Tasks view. (You must have Excel installed or there is a free reader available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4EB83149-91DA-4110- 8595-4A960D3E1C7C&displaylang=EN (Unfortunately that link may wrap. SnipURL is down for maintenance this weekend to improve their server speed, so I could not snip any new links in this newsletter. If you can't get this link to work, go to the online version of this article and click from there) The Microsoft Excel 97/2000 Viewer is recommended for use with a stand-alone computer that does not have Microsoft Excel installed. This product allows the user to open and view Excel 97 and Excel 2000 spreadsheet files. The viewer is not suitable for use on a server. NOTE: While this viewer is called the Microsoft Excel 97 Viewer, it is important to understand that you are not limited to only viewing Excel 97 spreadsheets. Or After making your report selection as outlined above, right-click anywhere in the report and then click ?Copy Report? on the context menu. You can then copy the report to any program including a FrontPage Page file and the results appear in a table. However, the files are not clickable, but there is a FREE FrontPage add-on that can produce a printable report with clickable links to the graphic and htm files. FrontFX PrintWeb, by XZAKT Media http://www.xzmedia.com/frontfx/fpapweb.asp You can produce a customised printable report of all the files, folders and sub webs within the current web. Scan and report on Subwebs List only certain file types Select only the information you want to know. (Filesize, title, name, last modified date, author etc) Broken Graphics Report Have you ever wanted to check all the images in your FrontPage web to ensure that there are no broken images? FrontPage can?t do this but the FREE FrontPage addin FrontFX ET Image Reporter (created through ideas, thanks to Ernie Taylor and AnyFrontPage Bytes EZine) will do just that! http://www.xzmedia.com/frontfx/fpaimreport.asp Easy to Use! Just click the report and let the software start processing all the pages in your web for you. Save Headaches! With a simple to read report with affected pages and images listed, there will be no more headaches having to check each and every page manually for missing images. Add To "ToDo" Tasks! For disk based webs, the FrontFX ET Image Reporter can add all affected pages/images to your Task list of things to do! Customise views in reports To sort reports by a specific column, click the column heading. To move columns around, click and hold the column heading, and then drag it to where you want. To change the width of a column, place the cursor between the column headings until the cursor changes to a double arrow, then click and drag the column to the width you want. Show or hide gridlines in reports, on the ?Tools? menu, click ?Options?, and then click the ?Reports View? tab. Select or clear the ?Display gridlines when viewing reports? check box. Troubleshoot reports Why are some images or other files in my web site not represented in my web site reports? The Site Summary report displays the size, in kilobytes, of all the files in your web site. If your web site contains files located in hidden folders, those files will not be included in this report. To include files in hidden folders in your reports: On the Tools menu, click Web Settings, then click the Advanced tab. Select the Show hidden files and folders check box. Use AutoFilter with Web Site Reports AutoFilter is the way you view a subset of data in Reports view. A filtered list displays only the report data that meets the criteria you specify for a column. It is available for all reports except the ?Site Summary? report. On the View menu, point to Reports, and then select the report you want to run. Do one or more of the following: Filter a list by choosing an item from the drop-down list Click the arrow in the column that contains the item you want, and select it. NOTE: You can use multiple filters in one report by choosing values in different columns. For example, you can choose htm in the Type column, and 5KB in the size column to show all HTML files of 5KB. Filter a list for rows that contain customised information This procedure enables you to filter a list for the following customised information: Rows that contain specific text Items greater than or less than another item Items containing or not containing specific data The beginning or end of a text string Click the arrow in the column that contains the text, and click (Custom). In the box on the left, click equals, or does not equal, contains, or does not contain, begins with, or does not begin with, and so on. In the box on the right, enter the text you want. To add another criteria, click And or Or, and repeat the previous step. Filter for blank or nonblank cells Click the arrow in the column that contains the data then click (Blanks) or (NonBlanks). NOTE: The (Blanks) and (NonBlanks) options are available only if the column you want to filter contains a blank cell Remove filters To clear filters from a single column, click the arrow in the column that contains the filter you want to remove, and click (All). To clear filters for the entire report, right-click anywhere on the report, and click Remove Filters on the shortcut menu. NOTE: The filter settings are saved when you close the Web site, or when you close FrontPage. This article gives a more in-depth discussion on the AutoFilter: http://www.solution-shelf.com/FrontPage/Tips/ReportTips.htm ******************************************** Tina Clarke is the Webmaster of AccessFP - FrontPage Resource Centre http://accessfp.net/ and http://addonfp.com She is also an editor of AnyFrontPage Bytes Ezine. Subscribe to the ezine http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnyFrontPageBytes and get FREE FrontPage E-Books upon joining. Tina is also an artist and owner of http://artdoodle.com ******************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> LOCK&HIDE from Vic Ferri High level desktop folder security for Windows 95/98/Me Keep your personal and most valuable files locked and hidden from prying eyes, viruses, and other users of your computer. Easy to use and extremely secure. Lock&Hide is an extremely easy to use program that allows you to lock and hide any folder on your desktop. Folders secured with Lock&Hide cannot be seen, found, or accessed. Your folders remain totally invisible and highly secured, yet can be accessed quckly and easily at any time! More Info here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm Screenshots and instructions here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/scrnshots.htm Or download the free demo here (the demo does not include the "Restore All" feature or the password protection utility.) http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/demoinf.htm <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (7.) SET "SEARCH HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS" AS DEFAULT IN WINDOWS XP ~~Vic Ferri, WinTips and Tricks <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Normally, in Windows XP Pro, if you use the Search and set the Advanced Options to search for hidden files and folders, Windows will remember the setting and keep it as your default until you change it again. However, this may not always work. If you find that XP does not remember your search preferences, here is a simple reg edit that will allow you to set your preferences to default. 1. Click Start>Run and type regedit. This will open up the Registry Editor. 2. Use the plus signs to make your way to this key (keys are those yellow folder looking icons in the left pane): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer 3. Double click the Explorer key and look in the right hand pane for the following values: CaseSensitive IncludeSubFolders SearchHidden SearchSlowFiles SearchSystemDirs The above values are the advanced search options you set when you click "More Advanced Options" in Windows XP Search (Start>Search>For Files Or Folders>All Files and Folders>More Advanced Options) The options represented by the values are obvious by their names except maybe for "SearchSlowFiles" which represents the "Search tape backup" option. You will notice that each value has a setting of 0 or 1. 1 selects the option, 0 deselects it. To make any value the default, simply double click it and enter a value of 1. Therefore, to make Search for Hidden files and folders the default, you would set a value of 1 to SearchHidden and SearchSystemDirs. You'll probably also want to make IncludeSubFolders the default if you find Windows doesn't remember that option either. If the above values do not exist, you may try creating them. To create any value, right click an empty area in the right hand pane, choose New>DWORD Value and name it with the value you wish to add. Then double click your new value and enter 1 as the Data Value. Reboot or log off and log in again for the changes to take effect. If you find that the default values you set do not stick - that Windows reverts back to the preset values each time you reboot - then here's a workaround to ensure the values do stick. Create a reg file with the values set to your preferences and place it in your Start Up folder. This way, each time you reboot the search values will be reset to your preferences.To help make it easier for the novice, here is a reg file you can create by copying and pasting the following lines into a new Notepad document and saving it with a .reg extension, i.e.: search.reg Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] "SearchSystemDirs"=dword:00000001 "SearchHidden"=dword:00000001 "IncludeSubFolders"=dword:00000001 "CaseSensitive"=dword:00000000 "SearchSlowFiles"=dword:00000000 Notice that to set your preferred values, all you need to do is change the last digit of the dword entry to 1 or 0. Again, 1 to enable, 0 to disable. Example dword:00000001 enables. dword:00000000 disables. Once you have the settings set to what you want, then save the file to a reg file and place it in your Startup Folder. The above sample reg code, if you notice, is set to search system and hidden folders including subfolders. Case sensitive and search tape drives are deselected. ******************************************** Vic Ferri owns the very popular WinTips and Tricks email group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinTips-Tricks He is also in charge of the Printing Tips page at Linda's Computer Stop. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/printing.htm Vic has also created a program which allows you to Lock & Hide desktop folders in Windows 9X/ME. Read more and get the free demo here. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm And, he now offers a service to convert PowerPoint presentations to .exe files which can be viewed on computers which do not have PowerPoint installed. http://www.angelfire.com/va3/vic3/index.html ******************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Are you like me and unable to remember all the keyboard shortcuts in every program? Now that I'm becoming a better typist, I prefer to use my keyboard more and my mouse less, but my memory stinks so I'm always forgetting which keyboard shortcuts do what. My solution was to buy the custom keyboard sets from Ideazon. Now, I'm no longer lost when I switch from program to program and need to use different keys. And it only takes seconds to switch from one keyset to another. If this interests you, read my review of the Excel Keyboard here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v30/zboard.htm And check out all the other cool keyboards available for other programs, games, the Internet, etc. This is something that gets two thumbs up from ABC!! <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (8.) FINDING THE LAST CELL IN AN EXCEL RANGE ~~Ray Blake, GR Business Process Solutions <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ********************************************** EDITOR'S NOTE: This article contains pictures and tables, as well as a long formula which will wrap in email, and is clearer if read online here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/ray32b.htm ********************************************** Using built in Excel functions to locate the last cell containing data in a range of cells. There are all sorts of times in Excel when you will need to find the last cell in a range. For instance, in using a dynamic range name, it is vital to be able to detect which cells actually contain data. This article will explain and evaluate the different approaches. Let?s use the data shown in the online version of this article as our starting point. The first approach is based on the COUNTA function. This simply returns the number of cells in a given range containing alphanumeric information. You might find it useful to recreate this table on a worksheet of your own. Over to the right (i.e. NOT in columns A, B or C), find an empty cell, and enter the following formula: =COUNTA(A:A) This will return the number 5, because there are five cells in column A containing alphanumeric data. Because this data starts at Row 1, it ends at Row 5. In the same way, you can use this on numerical information. In a differnect cell, enter: =COUNTA(B:B) This will return 10, representing the text header in column B plus the nine numerical values which are also in that column. Note that one of them is a zero, but this is still caught by COUNTA. Only a blank cell will not be caught. So the last data here is in Row 10. But when we try to do the same with column C, we run into a problem. Try this formula: =COUNTA(C:C) This formula returns 7, although the data continues down to Row 8. The problem is, of course, that blank cell in C5. And here we find the limitation of the COUNTA method. If you suspect your list of values might contain blanks, you should avoid it, because it will tell you how many cells contain data, but not necessarily the location of the last one that does. Let?s instead look at a different approach, based on the MATCH function. MATCH is used normally to find the position of a value within a given range. To try this out, in an empty cell on your sheet, type in: =MATCH("Drew",A:A) This returns the number 4, because the 4th cell in the range contains the value ?Drew?. Change the formula now, though, to this: =MATCH("Charlie",A:A) I?ll bet you were expecting this formula to return 5, because Charlie is in the 5th cell in the range. But it actually returns 3. What?s going on? The answer is because the MATCH function has an optional third argument. In full, the format for this command is: MATCH(lookup_value,lookup_array,match_type) Of course, ?lookup_value? is what we want to find, and ?lookup_array? is the range in which we want to look. Both these arguments are needed in any MATCH formula. But what of the third argument? Here?s what Office Help has to say: Match_type is the number -1, 0, or 1. Match_type specifies how Microsoft Excel matches lookup_value with values in lookup_array. If match_type is 1, MATCH finds the largest value that is less than or equal to lookup_value. Lookup_array must be placed in ascending order: ...-2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ..., A-Z, FALSE, TRUE. If match_type is 0, MATCH finds the first value that is exactly equal to lookup_value. Lookup_array can be in any order. If match_type is -1, MATCH finds the smallest value that is greater than or equal to lookup_value. Lookup_array must be placed in descending order: TRUE, FALSE, Z-A,...2, 1, 0, -1, -2,..., and so on. If match_type is omitted, it is assumed to be 1. Now this takes a minute to get your head around. Let?s relate it to our problem, and you can see what happened. Because we omitted the third argument, MATCH worked on a Match_type 1 basis, which meant it thought the values were in ascending order and looked for the ?largest? value less than or equal to Charlie. In this context of course, think of ?largest? as meaning the latest in alphabetical order. Let?s step one value at a time through the range and follow the logic. Step 1: the function arrives at A1. It knows that this is likely to be a column heading, so if it?s not an exact match for ?Charlie?, it passes straight by. Step 2: it gets to A2, which contains the string ?Andy?. This isn?t a match, and it?s not alphabetically later than the search string either, so the function moves on. Step 3: now it comes to A3, which contains the string ?Bill?. Again, no match, and it comes alphabetically before the search string, so let?s move on. Step 4: it reaches A4, which contains the string ?Drew?. Now, this doesn?t match the search string, but it?s alphabetically later than the search string. Remember that with this Match_type set, the MATCH formula assumes the range is sorted in alphabetical order, so it thinks there?s no point in looking any further. It needs to go back one step to find the ?largest? value that isn?t greater than the search string. So the formula reports ?Bill? as the best match, which equates to a value of 3, because it?s the third value in the range. Don?t type this in yet, but think about the value you think the formula below would return: =MATCH(99,B1:B10) Now type it in an empty cell, and see if you were right. The result you got should be equal to the total number of letters in the name of the author of this article. How weird is that? The best match for ?99? is zero? Only, of course, because the next value in the list is greater than 99, thus forcing the formula to stop and pick the immediately preceding value. And here is the key to understanding how this use of MATCH to find the last cell with data actually works. If I tried to MATCH to an absolutely enormous number, the MATCH formula should always get to the last number in any range without a match. When this happens, the MATCH formula simply reports the position in the range of the last cell containing number data. So if there are 100 cells in the range, the formula will return the value 100, if there are 3,000, it will return the value 3,000, and so on, even if in the middle of the range there are blank cells. But, usefully for us, it will discount any blank cells at the end of the range. So if I specify an entire column, it will return the row number of the last cell in the column with a number in it. Sounds good, but how big is ?enormous?. Well, the biggest positive number Excel can cope with is 1 x 10307 ? 1. This is number with 307 digits, all of which are 9s. We can get pretty close to it with the following in Excel: 9.999999E306 That?s the number ?9999999?? followed by 300 zeros. Let?s put it all together. In an empty cell, type this: =MATCH(9.999999E+306,B:B) This time, the formula returns the value 10, because it is the 10th cell in the range which contains the last number value. Now let?s try it with a text column, though. Type this formula in: =MATCH(9.999999E+306,A:A) This returns an error, because the formula expects numbers and you?ve given it text to match against. Remember that MATCH always lets you get away with text in the first cell, because it assumes this is a heading, but beyond that cell, you need all numbers or blanks for this to work. Fortunately, though, there is a different form of MATCH which will work for us with text. Type in this formula: =MATCH("*",$A:$A,-1) You?ll notice it returns the value 5, the row of the last text entry in column A. You might want to think about how this works. Of course, the ?*? is a text wildcard, which means ?any text string? and by setting the Match_type as -1, we?re asking MATCH to find the ?lowest? value which meets the condition, assuming the list is in descending numerical order. Got it? Well, you?re either there or you aren?t. Either way, it works! You might think that this form of the command could replace the numeric MATCH we tried first, with all those 9s. To see why it can?t, type any number into cell A6. You see what happens? Your text MATCH formula still returns 5 rather than 6, because it?s looking only for text strings, not numerical values. On the other hand, leave the number there in A6 and try this formula again: =MATCH(9.999999E+306,A:A) A minute ago, this gave us an error, but now it?s returning 6, the position of the last (and only) number in column A. To put the final nail in this particular coffin, type the name ?Edgar? into cell A7. Now it?s the text form of MATCH that gives us the right answer (7), while the numeric MATCH insists the last cell is in row 6. What we really need is a formula which will return the last non-blank cell in a range, irrespective of whether this contains text data or numeric data. I call it the ?Combination MATCH? formula. Here it is: =IF(ISERROR(MATCH(9.999999E+306,A:A)),MATCH("*",A:A,-1),IF(ISERROR(MATCH("*" ,A:A,-1)),MATCH(9.999999E+306,A:A),MAX(MATCH(9.999999E+306,A:A),MATCH("*",A: A,-1)))) Let?s deconstruct it. It says: Try and get a result from the numeric MATCH formula first If this produces an error, then there are no numbers in the range, so just use the text MATCH formula and go no further Otherwise, try and use the text MATCH formula alone If this produces an error, then there are no text strings in the range, so just use the numeric MATCH formula and go no further If you get this far, it means there are numbers and text strings in the range, so calculate both versions of the MATCH formula and return whichever produces the highest value. So there we are. By way of summary, see the online version of this article for a chart showing the different results of each match type. As you will see, only the ?Combination MATCH? formula returns the actual last row in all situations. So, we?ve built an approach to find the last cell containing data in a given range. We started by using the COUNTA formula, and found that this worked well provided that there were no blanks in the range. We moved on to the MATCH formula, and saw how in its numeric form and its text form it produced a reliable answer provided the range contained only the correct kind of data: either numbers or text strings. Finally, we built the Combination MATCH formula, to produce the right answer in all conditions. ********************************************** Ray Blake lives in England and spent 15 years training people in the financial services industry there. He had always used PCs in his work, and gradually realised he might make a career out of them. He and his business partner set up GR Business Process Solutions ( http://www.grbps.com ) which specializes in innovative IT to support knowledge testing and skills assessment. Although he spends a lot of time these days developing in VB and Access, Excel remains his favourite development tool, because, as he says, 'It can do everything; there's no computer application you can think of that you couldn't develop in Excel.' ******************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Are you into Video Computing? VIDEOMAKER is the world's most popular monthly consumer video production publication and covers the use of digital video editing, camcorders, cameras, and desktop video and audio production for novice and expert enthusiasts alike. Its articles teach production techniques, survey and review the latest equipment, and explain the newest technological advances. Published monthly, and is available on select newsstands and to subscribers. In addition, you receive a password giving you full access to Club VId, Videomaker's vast online resource of information about making video. And the best part is, it's CHEAP! Only $14.97 for 13 issues! http://snurl.com/6t1 And, our own multimedia expert, Vic Ferri wants to tell you about the great offer being made by VideoMaker Magazine. You can now get a free trial issue and free Ulead CD of video editing software. No obligation, no cost. NOTE - the free CD is for US only. Other countries, free trial issue only. More info and instructions from Vic here: http://www.angelfire.com/va3/expert_guides/videomaker.html <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (9.) WHY SHOULD I SCAN MY OUTGOING EMAIL FOR VIRUSES? ~~Mike Baynes, MikesWhatsNews <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> This is a question I'm often asked. It is frequently followed by the comments, "I have an AV program so I know I'm not infected" and "well, they should have AV protection". We cannot afford to think as individuals. We must think of the internet/www as a global community in which we are all active members. Sort of an internet United Nations. Virus and Trojans are written to take advantage of unprotected computers. Some programs are more effective than others at blocking virus/worms/Trojans. Often computers are infected when the computer connects to the internet for the first time and, for this reason, it is wise to install an AV program before going online for the first time. Don't be afraid to ask for some advice from one of your more experienced friends. The purpose of scanning the email during the send process is to ensure that we do not accidentally spread a virus or worm which has infected our computer without our knowledge. These infections can come form hidden scripts in programs we have downloaded and neglected to scan with our AV program. Sometimes, unfortunately, they may even come embedded in commercial programs that we have purchased. I recommend scanning all program files and attachments every time. Frequently, new virus/worms/Trojans may be discovered overnight and the resulting infections may be waiting in your email. The patch for your AV program may also be issued the same day, so don't forget to check for AV updates often. ********************************************** Mike Baynes is the editor of MikesWhatsNews. To subscribe, send a blank email to mikeswhatsnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" in the subject line (without the quotes) See Mike's Anti-Virus pages ~ http://virusinfo.hackfix.org To subscribe, send a blank email to: virusinfo-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with subscribe in the subject. ********************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (10.) RESOLVING TO GET ORGANIZED IN 2004? LET ONENOTE HELP ~~Kathryn Jacobs, PowerPointAnswers <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ********************************************** EDITOR'S NOTE: This article contains pictures and is clearer if read online here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v32/kath32b.htm ********************************************** I am a note jotter. My house has always had a ton of pieces of scrap paper with little notes jotted on them. Everything from ?Refill this presctiption? to ?555-123- 4567?. Problem was, I seldom remembered which paper had what notes, which ones I had taken care of, or what the note was talking about. Years ago, I started using an electronic organizer to keep my notes. Great tool, but not very easy to use unless your fingers are small enough to work with tiny keyboards. Handwriting based machines weren?t much better, since my handwriting is terrible. Last fall, with the release of Office System 2003 came my solution: OneNote. OneNote is a new product sold as an addition to Office. It allows you to enter and organize notes of all types, search them, organize them, and share them with team members. OneNote is designed to work like your average notebook. You take notes on pages, which combine to make sections. Multiple sections make up notebooks. Notebooks are saved as files with an extension of ?one?. You open and close notebooks just as you would any other file. You can have multiple notebooks open at a time. While OneNote is easy to learn and use, you will find it a very powerful tool for organizing your notes. But first, you need to conquer the basics of its use. Basic Use Opening OneNote the first time gives you a blank page to write in. By default, this page is the first page in your General Notebook. To enter notes, you either type or draw on the area of the screen that looks like notepaper. If your piece of note paper doesn?t have lines, you can turn them on by clicking the icon that looks like a piece of paper. (This is the ?Show/Hide Lines? button.) The tabs at the top of the pages show which sections you currently have open. The three that are shown will always be available, you can add more by right clicking a tab and selecting ?New Section?. When you create a new section, it is called ?Untitled?. To change the name, just select the title and type your new name. Down the right side of the pages are indicators of which pages are in this section. By default they are numbered, starting at one. If you want to give your page a name, click in the area above the word ?Title? and type your title. The page will still show on the list as a number, but titling your page makes it easier to find things later. The page tab that looks like a piece of paper is a special tab. It allows you to add new pages at the click of a mouse. New pages always go at the end of the existing section. Want to move a page? Click the page tab and drag it to where you want it. Put a page in the wrong section? Use Edit>Move Page to> Another Section. Don?t want a page after all? Click the tab to select the page and use your delete key. Need to rename it? Just change the title text. So, what can go on pages? Short answer: Anything! You can type text from your keyboard. You can draw diagrams using your mouse or other input device. You can paste information from other applications. You can even add sound to your notes. To type text, click anywhere on the page and start typing. One of the nice things about OneNote is that text doesn?t have to be contiguous in order to be on the same page. You can click anywhere and start typing. To add diagrams, click and drag or draw with your mouse. If you have a tablet, you can draw with the pen as well. To add items from other sources, select the information, copy it, change to OneNote and paste it. One really nice feature of OneNote is that if you add information from a web page, it will automatically be annotated with the URL for the page that you copied it from. You can also add items from other sources by selecting the content and dragging it to the OneNote page. Again, if the information comes from the web, you will get the source URL. (This is a great feature for creating reports. Once you have all your notes, you can create your bibliography by copying the URLs from OneNote to your bibliography.) To add sound, go to ToolsàAudio RecordingàRecord. Any sounds picked up by your microphone will be recorded and saved with your notes. Even better, the sound will be coordinated with your typed and drawn notes. This allows you to record a lecture or meeting, take notes, and later hear what was being said when you were taking your notes. As you add information to a note page, you will see that chunks of information have a bar across the top. Clicking this bar allows you to move the element around on the page. If you bring two pieces of information so that they are one above the other on the page, OneNote will assume that you want them combined into one piece and stick them together for you. To take elements apart, either select the item and drag it to somewhere else or click to the left of the element where you see a four directional arrow. That arrow will select anything in its line and allow you to move it. So far so good ? What else can I do? One of the most powerful features of OneNote is the ability to use stationery to organize information. Many stationery sets are included with OneNote. To see what stationery you have available, do a Fileà New and bring up the ?New? pane. At the bottom of the pane, you will see an area of stationery categories. To expand the categories, click the plus sign to its left. To use a piece of stationery, double click the name. A new page will be created in your current section that has the stationery as its basis. Some of the ones I find most useful are: The ToDo lists ? Found under the Planners category, these pages give you easy ways to enter and track the items on your to do list. The Meeting Minutes pages ? Found under Business, these pages are pre-structured to help you get through your meetings in a less painful manner. They even make minute taking something I might actually volunteer to do! Lecture 3 ? Found under the Academic category, this page lets you easily track what is going on in a session. Students will use these pages as intended. I use them in my training design to make sure that I know what I need to cover during a particular session before I start the actual creation of the class. In addition, you can create pages that have elements on them already. These pages are called stationery. Just like paper stationery, they come with information already on them. You add your specific content to the page, or copy elements from the stationery page to your current note page. For example, I have a series of stationery pages that I have created which contain a wide variety of my most used AutoShapes. Since I can?t draw well, I copy these AutoShapes to my note page for emphasis during a design or note taking session. I can even add text boxes over top of the shapes by entering the text elsewhere on the page, selecting the text and dragging it over the shape. Next steps Now that you have been introduced to OneNote, go play with it. I?ll be offering more articles on this product as time goes on. If there are topics you want covered in detail, send them to ABC. ********************************************** Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, parent, and whatever else there is time for. I believe life is meant to be lived. But, if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived. ************************************************ <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (11.) DLLs, EXPLAINED ~~ Jasmine, <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Unfortunately, with Windows Operating Systems (OSs) you may sometimes experience the "dropping of," or "corruption of," or "loss of" DLL (Dynamic Link Library) files. This can cause a rather great variety of Windows error messages and the loss of functionality of inter- related software programs which "share" a DLL or set of DLLs. Needless to say, this, in turn, can cause a great deal of frustration on your part. Since hardware "devices," such as a printer, etc., are supported by a category of DLLs known as "device drivers," when a device-driver DLL file goes bad, the device itself goes "on the fritz." The device won't work properly or work at all. While Windows DLLs (.dlls) can often be restored from the original Windows OS installation CDs, or Device Driver Installation CDs (such as your Printer Installation CD,) and via other methods, it can often be helpful to understand, in simplified terms and as an "overview," what DLLs are in the first place. The following edited extract is a relatively easy-to- understand explanation of what DLLs are all about. I've placed explanatory notes within brackets [ ]s in the text below. In computers, a dynamic link library (DLL) is a collection of small programs, any of which can be called [upon] [or used] when needed by a larger program that is running in the computer. The small program that lets the larger program communicate with a specific device such as a printer or scanner is often packaged as a DLL program (usually referred to as a DLL file). DLL files that support specific device operation are known as "device drivers." The advantage of DLL files is that, because they don't get loaded into random access memory (RAM) together with the main program, space is saved in RAM. When and if a DLL file is needed, then it is loaded and run. For example, as long as a user of Microsoft Word is editing a document, the printer DLL file does not need to be loaded into RAM. If the user decides to print the document, then the Word application causes the printer DLL file to be loaded and run. A DLL file is often given a ".dll" file-name suffix [or "extension."] DLL files are dynamically linked with the program that uses them during program execution, rather than being compiled with the main program. The set of such files (or the DLL) is somewhat comparable to the library routines provided with programming languages such as C and C++. Source: http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid1_gci213902,00.html (Unfortunately that link may wrap. SnipURL is down for maintenance this weekend to improve their server speed, so I could not snip any new links in this newsletter. If you can't get this link to work, go to the online version of this article and click from there) ********************************************** Jasmine is founder/group moderator of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pro_tech and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/computersupport_2 She is also the co-founder of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/What_Error_Messages_Really_Mean and the OneWorldTechAlliance, as well as a moderator of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mycomputerheadaches ************************************************ <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- **************STATION BREAK***************** ^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^-.,.-^- <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> DREAM JOBS TO GO Check out OVER 80 INSTANT GUIDES to your DREAM JOB or LIFESTYLE, by real world been-there, done-that authors. Click here to get YOUR REAL LIFE moving NOW: http://snurl.com/6sd Including Linda Johnson's "How to Get Started as a Software Trainer" AND LOTS MORE! ********************************************** <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> (12.) ASK THE FLEET ~ Questions submitted by readers and answered by ABC's Fleet of Writers <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> QUESTION submitted by Jim C: Spam Inspector, Ver 4.0 operates quite differently than Ver 3., and not as well. It does not clean the Incoming mail very well. Frequently I get a PROGRAM ERROR siSpamFilterEng.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart. An error log is being created. Have others reported this kind of problem? How do I find and view the error log? ANSWER from Spam Inspector Support representative, Andrew http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/spami.htm : Hi Jim. Thank you Linda for putting Jim in touch with support so we can resolve this issue he is experiencing. Jim, I apologize for any issues you are experiencing with this version. Can you please send us the following items so we can investigate these issues you are having? 1) Your error log file. You can find this in the Spam Inspector installation path, the file name is errors.log. (C:\Program Files\GIANT Company Software\ Spam Inspector\) 2) Your diagnostics. To get the diagnostics go to About Spam Inspector. In the about window, select the Diagnostics button. A window will open. Copy the contents of this window into a reply to this email so we can analyze them. Also, if you have any further details on the issues you are experiencing, that would be very helpful as well. I look forward to receiving these items so that we can get resolve your issue as soon as possible. I do apologize for the issues you are experiencing. Once again, thank you for your help and we will work through these reported issues immediately. If you have any questions, comments or requests at all, please feel free to contact us at anytime. NOTE FROM LINDA: This is just one reason why I recommend Spam Inspector so highly. This immediate and helpful tech support is rare in the software game these days. And, I must add that I am running Spam Inspector 4.0 and don't agree with Jim that it doesn't work as well as 3.0. My experience has been just the opposite. I absolutely love 4.0. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Dennis at starband.net: In using the Label Function under tools, Word 2000 defaults to the Business Address when selecting a name from the Address Book. How do I set the default to be the Home address? ANSWER from Linda Johnson: The addresses in the address book come from Outlook and what Word uses when you choose the address book in Word email labels is the FIRST address in the address book, which, in your case, is the business address. If you want Word to use the the Home address as the default instead of the business address, you have to set the Home address up as the first one when you enter addresses in your Outlook Contacts. When you enter new contacts, notice that the business address is a dropdown and you can choose Home address instead as the first one. However, there is no easy way to reverse these fields if you are trying to change ones that already exist. The only way I know to do this would be to export your Outlook contacts to an Excel file, then put the columns in the order you want, then delete the contacts currently in Outlook and import the new ones. Good luck. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Rosemary Schmid: Hi Linda, First, Merry Christmas. Thanks for the holiday touches in the latest newsletter, especially the red and green scroll bar. Made me smile at the detail. You're doing a great job with things. Labor of love! and it shows. I know you're busy, but I've an important question. I've been searching online for specific information that I haven't been able to find. My question is: With the dangers of flu and colds, is there an easy, VERY convenient, and frequent-without- damage method for disinfecting the keyboard? I'm thinking that isopropyl alcohol on a cloth or wipe, swished across the keys might be OK. (Spraying directly on the keys doesn't seem like a good idea, right? I've also wondered about some of the spray surface disinfectants, like Lysol, or the professional stuff they use at hospitals. ) All I can find are more detailed, once-a-week or after-a-disaster kinds of things, and I want something to do that will work for me every day at home, and that I can suggest to our tech people at the university to use in the computer commons. They've already gotten signs from the health center about handwashing and not touching eyes, nose, and mouth, and some of that hand cleaner stuff, but I'd like to have something I can do besides that. (I'm not usually so paranoid about "a little dirt", but my husband has an auto-immune disorder and I sure don't want him to get the flu or a cold from me!) Do you or any of your team have any idea what to do? ANSWER from Linda Johnson: Hi Rosemary....thanks for the compliments about my holiday decorations on ABC...yes, it is indeed a labor of love. I'm glad to see it's appreciated :-) At the college where I teach, the flu thing is an issue also, and I can tell you we DO use Lysol. We don't spray it directly on the keyboards tho...instead we either spray it on a cloth and wipe the keyboard down or, better yet, put it in a bowl and dip q-tips into it and use the q-tips to clean the keyboard. I'm not a clean freak either, but I agree the keyboard is DEFINITELY a source of spreading the flu...and Lysol will not hurt it as long as you don't saturate it and let too much liquid run down under the keys...too much fluid can short out a keyboard, so do it carefully. I've found that if I spray a cloth with Lysol, then let it air dry until it's just damp and not dripping, I can quickly wipe it over a keyboard before I use it. Knock on wood...but so far this year, I've avoided the flu...and many others at the college where I work have not, so maybe I am doing something right. Hang in there...and have a wonderful holiday. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by "confused but happy": Hi ABC. Just a quick compliment and question please. First, I truly enjoy your site and have a great deal of trust in it. At least a quarter of my software is downloaded because of the recommendations of your site. Since I am recently retired I have been learning all this new comp. stuff. My wife gave me as a gift Photoshop 7 to play with. However I think I am way over my head with this. Even after I purchased 4 books (PS 7 for dummies to Teach yourself PS 7 in 24 hours) I still get that glazed look after trying to figure this out. BUT!!!!! on your site I found an article from Mr. Vic Ferri on how to make pictures look like a coloring book. It was clear, concise and a heck of a lot of fun! Thanks to you and Mr. Ferri. Now for the Question part. Where do I find more articles just like this. Articles like this are the meat and potatoes of learning PS 7.Getting down and dirty, not having to figure out a hundred small things just to do something simple.( I made 10 different pictures for my 6 & 8 year olds and they loved it! I proudly exhibit their finished works on my wall.) Again , cheers to you and yours on this holiday season and thank you in advance for any leads you can give. ANSWER from Linda Johnson: The best suggestion I can give you for good free step-by-step tutorials is this yahoo group called Inside Graphics. If you join (it's free), the owner of the group sends you one Photoshop lesson a week. So, that's all the mail it generates .. it's not high impact at all. Also, if you join, you can go to the "messages" section and see an archive of all of the other lessons he has sent out. They really are pretty good and I think they will give you just what you want. And, thanks for the nice words about Vic's article ... I forwarded it on to him. Here's the Inside Graphics sign up page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InsideGraphics ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Karen: I've used a short .avi file of a US flag fluttering in the wind for school news shows. I never had a problem with this file in the Office 2000 version of PowerPoint, but when I try to place this file into PP XP, I get a message saying it's not the right kind of file. It's not a corrupted file; I've tested it and it still works in other programs. The best I can do to use this file in PP XP is place it as an object/windows media and "hope" it will play automatically. I've uninstalled and reinstalled PP but that didn't help. Any ideas as to why this won't work. I've followed the instructions to the letter (I think) and have done this seemingly simple thing many times before. Before Office XP, that is. ANSWER from Kathy Jacobs (Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP. Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, parent, and whatever else there is time for.): My guess is that the needed codec is not on your system. Two things to check: First, read the Myers Multimedia FAQ. It is available on the PPT FAQ or Sonia Coleman's site: http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00099.htm As a part of that, you will want to check that the avi plays in the MCI player. To do that, do a "Run" command from your Start menu and type in mplay32.exe - Use that player to attempt to play your avi. Does it work? If it does, it is likely that your movie extensions have been hijacked. The FAQ will help you with that. Next, check the pathname for your avi. It needs to be less than 128 characters (some will say 120 characters). Third, check which version of Direct X you have installed. Should be the most recent. If it isn't, get the most recent one and see if that helps. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Dotty: Can text be "wrapped" around graphics in PowerPoint as it is in Word? ANSWER from Kathy Jacobs (Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP. Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, parent, and whatever else there is time for.): Simple answer: No, it can't. However, you can do what you need to do in Word (remembering to set the font, etc. the way you will want it in PowerPoint), select the graphic and the text, copy it, and paste it as a picture or metafile on your slide. REPLY from Dotty: Thanks, worked like a charm. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Jim: http://www.dot.state.il.us/blr/lrbull.pdf When I try to load this page, I keep getting "Microsoft Internet Explorer" Error "This page provides potentially unsafe information to an ActiveX control. Your current security settings prohibit running controls in this manner. As a result, this page may not display correctly." This is despite every setting on security being set low. Do you know how I can correct this problem so that I can load this page?? ANSWER from Linda Johnson: It's opening fine here. It's a pdf file, which is an Adobe Acrobat file. Do you have the Adobe Acrobat reader installed? You need that to view pdf files. And, are you SURE you've changed all of the ActiveX settings in Internet Explorer's Tools>Internet Options> Security to "enable"? (There are a lot of them in there so make sure you get them all...look for the ones that say ActiveX, since that's what the error message is telling you that you have set too high). If none of that fixes it, then I would suspect it could be a firewall, popup blocker, or your AntiVirus program blocking it .. so check all of those, if you are running them. Good luck. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by louellen_c_2000: I want to know how to upgrade Explorer to version 5.1! I was trying to download screen saver and get message that I need explorer 5.1 or higher! How do I find out what version I am running and how do I upgrade? ANSWER from Linda Johnson: Open Internet Explorer and go to the Help menu and click on "About Internet Explorer"...in there, you will see which version you have. If you want version 5.01, you can get it here, along with the later versions (5.5 and 6.0): http://cws.internet.com/ie.html But, be careful with that screen saver...screensavers that require a later version of Internet Explorer, usually want to use "Active Desktop" and using that will hog up a lot of your system resources. If you have an older version of Internet Explorer, I'm assuming you are running an older machine, with an older version of Windows .... so ask yourself this ... Is running a cute screensaver really that important? Is it worth slowing down my computer and possibly causing other video problems? If I were you, I'd pass on the screensaver. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Arben Hajrizi: I want to create a BAT file in Windows 2000 Pro so I can delete following Folders: History, Cookies, Temp, Temporary Internet File. The reason why I want to create a Bat file is because I'm not at home all the time so my younger brother don't know how to delete them via internet explorer. ANSWER from Vic Ferri (Vic Ferri owns the very popular WinTips and Tricks email group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinTips-Tricks He has also created a program which allows you to Lock & Hide desktop folders in Windows 9X/ME. Read more and get the free demo here. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/lh/lockhide.htm And, he now offers a service to convert PowerPoint presentations to .exe files which can be viewed on computers which do not have PowerPoint installed. http://www.angelfire.com/va3/vic3/index.html.): You can use the RD command in Windows 2000 (or XP) for this job. Here's an example bat file - all you need to do is substitute the paths with your own paths to the directories you wish to delete. @echo off RD /s /q "C:\Documents and Settings\vic\Cookies" RD /s /q "C:\Documents and Settings\vic\Local Settings\Temp" RD /s /q "C:\Documents and Settings\vic\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files" RD /s /q "C:\Documents and Settings\vic\Local Settings\History" cls Note that the quotes around the paths are essential. You can place the file in your startup folder if you wish or just double click whenever you wish to delete the directories listed in the bat file. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by carl at hotmail: How do I create a formula to generate random numbers in Excel between 1 and 35 with no repeats? Drawing 3 or 4 numbers at a time. Do I use RANDBETWEEN? ANSWER from Ray Blake (Ray Blake lives in England and spent 15 years training people in the financial services industry there. He and his business partner set up GR Business Process Solutions ( www.grbps.com ) which specializes in innovative IT to support knowledge testing and skills assessment): A tough one, this. At first glance, it should be easy enough, but there are a couple of nasty traps.First of all, I dislike using RANDBETWEEN (see my article 'Throwing Dice in Excel' in ABC 30 to learn why and what else to use instead.) But the real stinger here is the need not to have duplicated values. Random is random, and without using circular references and some smart cut and paste-special macro operations, you'll struggle to get non-volatile, non duplicating values using any of the worksheet functions. Instead, I turned to VBA to achieve what you need. The code below has been built so as to be reusable for a wide range of needs - simply change the constants as indicated. ----------------CODE STARTS HERE-------------- Sub GetRandomNumbers() Const intLowest As Integer = 1 'Lowest number required Const intHighest As Integer = 35 'Highest number required Const intHowMany As Integer = 4 'Number of different values to return Dim booFlag As Boolean 'Used to record if duplicate values generated 'Check to prevent infinite loop If intHowMany > (intHighest - intLowest + 1) Then MsgBox "Too many numbers or too small a range." Exit Sub End If 'Set up array to hold the random values Dim arrRandom(1 To intHowMany) As Integer Randomize 'resets random seed 'Generate the first random value arrRandom(1) = Int((intHighest * Rnd) + intLowest) 'Generate subsequent random values and ensure no dupes For i = 2 To intHowMany Do booFlag = False arrRandom(i) = Int((intHighest * Rnd) + intLowest) For j = 1 To i - 1 If arrRandom(j) = arrRandom(i) Then booFlag = True Next j Loop Until booFlag = False 'ensures value not kept if it is a dupe Next i 'Write the values to the worksheet - Change "B1" reference as required For i = 1 To intHowMany Range("B1").Offset(i, 0).Value = arrRandom(i) Next i End Sub ----------------CODE ENDS HERE-------------- REPLY from carl at hotmail: Thanks, I really appreciate your help. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Martha: How does one access the clipboard in XP Home edition?? ANSWER from Linda Johnson: you mean the clipboard viewer? go to Start>Run and type clipbrd.exe REPLY from Martha: I get a message that says "Windows cannot find clipboard.exe." Did you type the name correctly etc?? Why does it not come up & how can I restore it if it isn't there??? ANSWER from Linda Johnson: I did NOT type clipboard.exe ... I typed clipbrd.exe ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Sara E. hsrtulieres at zianet.com: I am having trouble inserting pictures into the Word document. I am new to Word but know Photoshop and Illustrator, and fear I hit the wrong button. I go to insert picture from insert, find the picture from my pictures folder, click on the picture I want, click on insert and in the document I get the edges of a graphic box but no picture. Yet when I go to Print Preview the picture is visible. I cannot view the picture in print layout or in normal full page view but in preview there it is. I have looked to see if for some reason I have sent the picture to the back but I cannot find this anywhere and when I am inserting there is no text in front of it. I hope the solution is a simple one and right before my eyes! ANSWER from Linda Johnson: Hi Sara .... in Word, go to the Tools menu and click on Options. Click on the View tab and in the top section, remove the check where it says "Picture Placeholders". That should solve your problem. ********************************************** QUESTION submitted by Ed H: How can I eliminate having to click on user name on boot up? ANSWER from Hal Cardona (Hal Cardona, PC Sleuth http://pcsleuth.com serves as tech support and/or offsite Sys Admin for over 200 clients around the US. He designs, builds, and troubleshoots networks and builds custom computer systems.): Start --> Run control userpasswords2 and remove check mark that forces users to log on or use tweakUI. <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Thanks to all who submitted questions this month. If you submitted a question and did not get an answer, and the problem still persists, try going here and submitting it again. http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc/ask.htm Just remember that we cannot guarantee that we will answer every question, though I think the Fleet did a bang-up job this month! Thanks to all of the Fleet for your expert advice and your valuable time :-) <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> <>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<>=====<> Well, gang.....that's about it for this edition of ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers. I sure hope you enjoyed it! If any of it was over your head and you need some clarification from one of the Fleet, just send me an email to linda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I will pass it on to them. Remember that they do this in their spare time on a voluntary basis, so you might have to wait for an answer. To make all things work more quickly, include as many details as you can in your email and make your questions as specific as possible. Also, feel free to write to me and let us know what you want the Fleet to teach you. This is YOUR newsletter! Happy computing, my friends! Linda Johnson http://personal-computer-tutor.com ********************************************* READ THIS CAREFULLY! ********************************************* ------------------------------------- (13.) 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CONTACT INFORMATION ------------------------------------- Routine Disclaimer: Although I make an effort to check out every advertisement and link, I cannot assume responsibility for the actions of my advertisers, or the availability of links. You use the information provided at your own risk, it is always wise to back up your data before editing. All advice given in this newsletter/ezine or at Linda's Computer Stop is given with the best of intentions and should only be taken as a suggestion and not a definite fix to a problem. ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers and Linda's Computer Stop are the property of Linda F. Johnson. The views expressed by readers or contributors are not necessarily those of Linda F. Johnson and, as editor, she reserves the right to deny inclusion of any contributions if she feels they could be harmful to someone's computer. However, just because she allows it to be included, does not mean she is responsible if it causes problems. 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If you no longer want to receive it, go here to unsubscribe or set yourself on vacation (which is Freelists' version of "no mail"). //freelists.org/webpage/abcomputers ********************************************************