**Issue 38 - July 1st, 2008 **
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Contents
In This Issue...
Newbies Nook - Information for those who are new to computers and computing.
Problems in Paradise - Answers to reader problems and questions.
Security Corner - Computer Security by Kenny Harthun.
Learning Linux - Joseph Bales provides instruction and insight into Linux.
Carol's Corner Office - Carol tells us how to get started with Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc.
My Recommended Software - Need software? Check this list first!
Useful Freeware - Free programs that you may find useful. Did I mention they're free!
Useful web sites - Websites I've visited lately that you may find useful.
The Lighter Side - Some humor to lighten your load!
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Carol is our resident "Office Goddess". If you have Microsoft Office, OpenOffice questions, or suggestions for future Office articles shoot her an email at .
Thank you for taking a few moments to read my newsletter,
Newbies Nook
By David Hartsock
What would you like to see covered in Newbies Nook? Email me at
What is Random Access Memory
If you missed the last newsletter I highly recommend you go back and read the Motherboard article!
Random Access Memory is more commonly referred to as RAM, and no it isn't an animal! RAM is used by the CPU as short term data storage for your computer. RAM is also the fastest storage location available to the CPU, due to this adding RAM is the most cost efficient thing you can do to increase performance. RAM is actually a series of memory chips mounted on a circuit board.
This circuit board and memory chip combination is called a DIMM, or Dual In-line Memory Module, for desktops and has 240 contacts. Laptop RAM is called SODIMM, or Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module, and has 200 contacts. Both are often referred to as a stick, as in RAM stick. The notches, indicated with arrows, prevent insertion of non-compatible RAM.
What happens when you do not have enough RAM?
Your computer has a fixed amount of RAM. As you open programs Windows allocates memory from RAM to the program, which allows the program a place to quickly store the data in use. If the program requires more RAM or you open additional programs, the amount available for other processes dwindles because there is a fixed amount to begin with. When Windows sees this happening it moves less used data from RAM to the hard drive. This is called Virtual Memory and is stored in a file named pagefile.sys. The hard drive is not nearly as fast as RAM so this often results in a slow down of the computer. The goal is to have enough RAM so that virtual memory is used little, if at all.
Let's talk about RAM
What do all these numbers mean?
The first thing you need to know about is Front Side Bus, or FSB. The FSB connects the CPU and the chipset and is usually listed as a frequency in megahertz (Mhz). You can look at the FSB as a garden hose connecting the CPU and chipset. The higher the listed FSB frequency - the bigger the garden hose - the more data it can pass. This not only affects memory, but everything else controlled by the chipset on a motherboard.
The FSB is important because it sets the performance baseline for a CPU/motherboard combination. The common FSB speeds in use today are 100Mhz, 133Mhz, 166Mhz, and 200Mhz. Another point to remember is that many chip manufacturers are beginning to publish FSB numbers as Millions of Transfers per Second (MT/s), which is technically inaccurate but looks good from a marketing standpoint. MT/s is accurate from a bandwidth standpoint, so it is important -maybe more important than the actual FSB clock speed- to look at.
DDR what?
Until a few years ago signals were sent to memory on the rising pulse of the clock cycle and memory operated at the same speed as the FSB clock. At that time FSB speeds were either 66Mhz, 100Mhz, or 133Mhz and RAM was labeled accordingly as PC66, PC100, and PC133. In the early 2000's manufacturers were able to reliably send memory signals on both the rising and falling clock cycle. They called this technology double pumping.
DDR, or Double Data Rate, memory is the result of double pumping. DDR can perform memory transfers at twice the FSB speed! But wait! It get's better!
As time goes on technology improves. While DDR was popular 5 or 6 years ago, DDR2 has taken it's place with DDR3 becoming more and more popular everyday. As the memory technology improves the speed doubles, which means better performance. Not only does it become faster, but more energy efficient as well. DDR required 2.5 volts to operate. DDR2 requires only 1.8 volts and DDR3 only 1.5 volts.
DDR Memory |
||||
| FSB in Mhz | MT/s - Millions of Transfers per Second | Peak Bandwidth in MB/s | DDR Name | PC Name |
| 100 | 200 | 1600 | DDR-200 | PC-1600 |
| 133 | 266 | 2100 | DDR-266 | PC-2100 |
| 166 | 333 | 2700 | DDR-333 | PC-2700 |
| 200 | 400 | 3200 | DDR-400 | PC-3200 |
DDR2 Memory |
||||
| FSB in Mhz | MT/s - Millions of Transfers per Second | Peak Bandwidth in MB/s | DDR Name | PC Name |
| 100 | 400 | 3200 | DDR2-400 | PC2-3200 |
| 133 | 533 | 4200 | DDR2-533 | PC2-4200 |
| 166 | 667 | 5300 | DDR2-667 | PC2-5300 |
| 200 | 800 | 6400 | DDR2-800 | PC2-6400 |
| 266 | 1066 | 8500 | DDR2-1066 | PC2-8500 |
DDR3 Memory |
||||
| FSB in Mhz | MT/s - Millions of Transfers per Second | Peak Bandwidth in MB/s | DDR Name | PC Name |
| 133 | 1066 | 8500 | DDR3-1066 | PC3-8500 |
| 166 | 1333 | 10600 | DDR3-1333 | PC3-10600 |
| 200 | 1600 | 12800 | DDR3-1600 | PC3-12800 |
The most important knowledge to gather from the above list is to compare actual FSB speeds for each memory type. Notice how each progression improves performance dramatically at a given FSB speed? Isn't technology grand!
What you need to know about RAM before you upgrade
- You must choose the same type RAM that is already installed in your computer (DDR, DDR2, or DDR3)
- If you plan to upgrade other components, such as a CPU and motherboard, at a later time it is advisable to buy a higher RAM speed than what is currently in your computer. As an example: If your computer uses DDR2-667 RAM and you intend to upgrade the CPU and motherboard at a later time you could buy DDR2-800. The memory will operate at the lower speed of your current CPU/motherboard, but will function at the proper DDR2-800 speed if you upgrade.
- Do not buy lower speed RAM sticks! Doing so will cause your computer to operate at the lower RAM speed and decrease performance!
- Buy and use RAM in matching pairs. Using a matched pair of RAM sticks gives up to an additional 10% performance boost!
- You can never have enough RAM. I suggest a minimum of 1GB for Windows XP users and 2GB for Windows Vista users.
- Users of 32bit versions of Windows will only be able to access between 3 and 3.5GB of RAM. This is a limitation of the 32bit architecture.
I use and recommend Crucial Memory. Even if you don't buy their memory they have a great tool on their site which allows you to see what type and speed memory you have in your computer!
Please share your thoughts and comments about this article in the box below!
Problems in Paradise
By David Hartsock
If you would like to see your question or problem answered here email me at
I've received a few emails asking about the backup feature in Windows Home Server, so I thought I would answer it here. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion and give an easy to understand explanation. There are also two juicy tidbits at the end!
How backups work on Windows Home Server
The best feature for the home user in Windows Home Server has to be the backup of every Windows based computer on your network. Once you have installed the Connector software on a computer WHS will begin backing it up automatically. There are settings that you can control such as: backup time and number of backups to store before reusing the space.
Set the backup time for a time when the computers likely won't be in use and give it a couple of hours, in case they are in use. The number of backups to keep depends the amount of space you want to devote to backups and if you have another backup method in place. It is well known that I like to use Acronis True Image for backups, and I continue to use it. I create a new drive image every week or two and store it on an external hard drive, but I let Windows Home Server manage my day to day backups.
Once you have the settings on this tab as you like and click enter WHS will backup your computer every day! It runs in the background and, other than a popup letting you know the daily backup is complete, you will never know it's there (until you need it!).
What makes the WHS backup so special?
When a computer is first backed up a complete backup is made. WHS's backup works on the cluster level. It looks at 4kb chunks of the drive as it backs up. Because of this on subsequent backups it only stores clusters that are different from the first backup. This backup method saves space on the server, requires less time to complete, and keeps the data sent across your network to a minimum! Ah, but there's more! WHS also keeps track of the clusters from other computers it has already backed up. If multiple computers have the same files they only get backed up once. Again speeding the process, limiting time, and saving network bandwidth! WHS keeps a database noting which computers have specific clusters, which makes this process work. All of this happens in the background. You don't have to remember to do the backup, or what has and has not been backup up previously. This is very similar to an incremental backup when using drive imaging software.
When it comes to drive imaging software, such as True Image, I recommend complete images instead of incremental images. I believe with WHS it works and works well.
There are a few things to keep in mind:
- WHS will not backup recorded TV shows from Windows Media Center. This may be of concern to some, but TV shows are temporary and the space saving on the server is worth it
- WHS will only backup drives formatted at NTFS. This means that older versions of Windows (95, 98, Me) will not be backed up.
- Computers must be turned on, in sleep mode, or hibernation mode to be backed up. WHS will wake computers in sleep or hibernation mode to perform the backup and return them to their original state when the backup is complete.
The Windows Home Server Backup Hack
WHS stores files like videos, documents, and music in folders called shares. WHS has a neat feature called duplication. Using duplication a user can specify shares to be duplicated on more than one drive, if the server has two or more drives. When duplication is chosen WHS keeps two copies of each file and stores each copy on a different physical hard drive. Should you experience a hard drive failure the file will not be lost.
Duplication is not possible with the computer backup files. Some people have expressed concern about this, but backups are backups. They are not the original files. The original files remain on the original computer and probably in shares on the server. If anything should happen to the backups on the server you would just create a new backup. This saves storage space on the server for other files.
If you are one who is concerned about backups not being duplicated I have the answer! Be aware that duplicating backups will use a lot of storage space!
This registry hack is officially unsupported by Microsoft. Using this hack will double the storage space required for backups.
Remote Desktop into your Windows Home Server. Go to Start>Run and type regedit.exe in the window that opens. This will open the registry editor. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Home Server\Storage Manager\Folders
You will see several folders listed under this key. Click each one and look at the contents in the right pane. The folder we want contains an entry called FriendlyName and a value of Windows Home Server Computer Backup.
Expand the entry to show the Attributes folder by clicking the + sign next to the highlighted folder in the left column. Right click in a blank area of the right pane and select New>Dword.
Type Reliable in the new entry and press the Enter key. Now right click on the Reliable entry we just create and select Modify.
A box will open. Change the "0" to a "1" and click OK.
Exit Regedit and reboot your server. You have now enabled duplication of the computer backups on your server!
Disable the Warning Message After Upgrading to Power Pack 1 on Windows Home Server
Power Pack 1 for Windows Home Server is basically what we would call a Service Pack for other versions of Windows. It will be available soon.
Once Power Pack 1 is installed and you logon or Remote Desktop into your server as an administrator you are automatically greeted with the following warning:
To disable this warning go to Start>Run and type msconfig.exe into the window that opens. This will open a new window titled System Configuration Utility. Click on the Startup tab at the top. Find the entry labeled "Logon Warning" and uncheck the box next to it.
Click OK and reboot your server. No more Administrator Warning!
Please share your thoughts and comments about this article in the box below!
Security Corner
by Ken Harthun
If I Steal Your Laptop, Could I Assume Your Identity?
This is what the criminal is thinking, so better be prepared. We frequently hear news of a laptop holding sensitive information having been stolen. Bad in itself, but the reports often note that the information was unencrypted. Doubly bad. Certainly, physical security is important — you want to do everything you can to prevent physical access to, or theft of, your computer — but data security is senior. Why? Because the real value lies in the data, not the hardware. With laptop prices averaging around $600.00 for a new system, a criminal is only going to be able to get $150 or so on the black market for some kid's stolen laptop.
But, if the hard drive in that laptop contains any sensitive information like bank account, credit card, or social security numbers, the thief can sell that computer for tens or hundreds of times the value of the hardware. From the thief’s point of view, any laptop sitting on the seat or floor of a decent car or a desktop PC in a middle class home office could belong to someone who has access to valuable information, and that information could be stored on that computer. Given enough information, anyone can then assume your identity easily, something you certainly don't want to happen.
However, if the hard drive is encrypted, the thief is out of luck. Without the pass phrase used to encrypt the drive, no one is going to read anything off of it. Obviously, you don't want your laptop to be stolen, but that's a matter of physical security. I’ll cover that later. For now, I present Maxim #7:
If you store sensitive information on a PC or laptop, even if it’s only personal information, encrypt the folders or drives where the information is stored and use an unguessable pass phrase as the encryption key.
Next issue, I'll show you step-by-step how to download TrueCrypt--the best Open Source encryption solution available--and create secure, encrypted files that no one can break.
Ken Harthun writes about security issues for IT Knowledge Exchange and blogs on general Geek things at Ask the Geek. He's always interested in your questions.
Please share your thoughts and comments about Ken's Security Corner article in the box below!
Learning Linux
by Joseph Bales
Changing the Boot Menu and Command Line 101
Please Note: This is the fourth article in a series about Ubuntu. I go into great detail about simple items on the assumption that these articles are being read in order by first time Ubuntu users. Feel free to skip around if you already know how to do certain things. This was written in reference to Ubuntu version 8.04.
When you installed Ubuntu (or just about any Linux variant for that matter), a boot loader was likely installed as well. The boot loader, as the name implies, is the program that makes the operating systems installed on your computer boot up. It can be installed on a floppy (does anyone still use those?), a CD (the Ubuntu LiveCD has one built in), a USB flash drive, or just about any type of removable media. The most common place to install the boot loader is your computer's hard drive.
The boot loader is installed in a special place on the hard drive called the Master Boot Record (hereafter to be referred to as the MBR). When your computer powers on, it does a series of tests called the Power On Self Tests (POST). These are the messages you see immediately when you turn your computer on and they often list your computer's main hardware. Once this is done (it takes about 1 to 5 seconds), the computer checks the boot order you have selected in the BIOS settings and attempts to boot from that device. If it is your hard drive (and it most often is), the computer looks at the MBR and executes whatever program is there.
When Windows is installed, it automatically installs a program into the MBR that boots Windows. This is completely invisible to the user and most people don't even know it exists (until something happens to it). When Ubuntu is installed, it installs a boot loader into the MBR called GRUB (GRand Unified Boot loader). GRUB allows you to boot any number of installed operating systems by presenting you with a menu. It will also automatically boot the first operating system in the list after a certain period of time. By default Ubuntu lists itself as the first operating system, but I suspect many new users might prefer that Windows be first. So here is how you change the boot menu in grub.
Warning: Command line usage is ahead!
Grub menu configuration (as with most GNU software) is done through the editing of a text file. To edit that file we first need to open the terminal. Click on Applications >> Accessories >> Terminal.
The terminal gives you access to the command line and is something you may or may not use very often. It's good to know where it's at though and now you know. The terminal gives you a simple prompt consisting of your login name, the computer name, the current working directory (in this case it will be a ~ which represents your home directory i.e. /home/username), and a dollar sign. Then there is a flashing cursor where the fun begins!
Important: The Linux command line and file system is case sensitive. This means that foo is completely different from Foo or foO or FOO. Also, it is not appropriate to put spaces in file names in Linux. Linux can handle it, but not very well. Instead you should use an underscore or dash and save yourself a lot of trouble.
The first thing you want to do at the command line is save a backup of the grub menu configuration file. If the worst happens and you manage to mess up the file, we can can simply restore from backup.
At the prompt, type the following and hit Enter:
cd /boot/grub
The cd command changes directories. Directory is just another name for a folder. /boot/grub is the location we are changing to. So this is the grub directory within the boot directory, which is within the root file system. Note that the directories are separated by forward slashes and not backslashes like in Windows. In Windows this directory location might look like this- C:\boot\grub.
Once you execute this command, your prompt will change to indicate your new location within the directory structure. Now let's take a look at the files in the grub directory, type the following:
ls
That was simple. The ls command lists the files in a directory. There are several files, but we are looking for one called menu.lst so that we can make a backup. Yup, there it is, let's make a backup copy. Type:
sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.backup
You'll be asked for your password, enter it. The sudo command lets the system know that you wish to execute the following commands as the administrator. If you do not use sudo, you will not be able to edit files owned by the root account. In this example, the /boot/grub directory is owned by the root account, so we wouldn't be able to write files to it without administrator privileges. The root account is the superuser account within Linux. By default, Ubuntu does not allow you to directly log in as root as the potential for damaging your installation is great.
The cp command copies a file from one location to another. In this case we are copying the location to the same directory, but changing the name. Any time you use cp, you'll type the file you want to move first, then you will type the location you want to copy it to, or the name of the new file, or a combination of both if you want to copy it and change the name as well. You can name your backup file whatever you wish as long as it doesn't contain any spaces or other weird characters. Try to just use numbers, letters, dashes, underscores, and periods. I just added a period and backup. It's often a good idea to put the date and even time in the backup name in case you need to create multiple backups.
Now we are finally ready to start editing the grub menu. At the prompt type the following:
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst &
We've already went over the sudo command. You may or may not be asked for your password again. If it asks, just enter it again. The gedit command opens the text editor gedit, the Ubuntu equivalent to Notepad. /boot/grub/menu.lst is the location and name of the file we are editing. The "&" means that this program will be run as a background process and will return you to the command prompt once gedit opens. If you did not use the "&" gedit will open and you will not get a new command prompt until you close it. Also, if you do not use "&" and you close the terminal, it will also close gedit.
In gedit you will see a text file with a bunch of "#" symbols in it. These are usually called hash marks or hashes. Grub treats everything after a hash mark on a single line as a comment and ignores it when it executes. There are a lot of things we can edit in the file, but for now we will just concentrate on making Windows first on the boot list. Scroll all the way to the end of the file and your Windows entry should be there. It will look something like the following although your details may differ depending your hardware and Windows version:
### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root
# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
First you want to comment out the divider listing. Since we will be moving the Windows entry to the top we don't need it (not that we needed it in the first place). Just add hash marks to the lines that start with the words title and root after the lines. It will look like this afterwards:
# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
#title Other operating systems:
#root
Now we need to move the Windows entry to the beginning of the list. Select the entire Windows entry including the comments and copy it to the clipboard. We need to insert it BEFORE the automagic kernels list so look for the following line which is near the middle of the file:
### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
Paste the entry into the file BEFORE this line. It will look similar to the following:
#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST
# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below
Now go back to the bottom of the file and select and delete the Windows entry there. You can also just comment it out with hash marks in front of each line if you wish. Now you should save the file and reboot to see if it works. It should since it worked for me!
If it didn't work, your computer may not be able to boot to the hard drive. You will need to boot from the Ubuntu LiveCD to fix it so have one handy. Extensive documentation on how to do this can be found at the Ubuntu help site, but here are the basic instructions:
- Boot to the Ubuntu LiveCD as if you were going to try Ubuntu for the first time.
- Open a terminal window as mentioned above.
- Type grub at the prompt and you should get a short message and a grub prompt.
- Type find /boot/grub/stage1 and make a note of the results.
- Type root (hd0,4) substituting the results from step 4.
- Type setup (hd0) substituting the hard drive number you obtained from step 4.
- Quit grub by typing quit.
- Reboot and you should be able to boot into Ubuntu.
To restore the original menu.lst file from the backup we made simply follow these instructions:
- Open a terminal window.
- Type cd /boot/grub
- Type sudo rm menu.lst
- Type sudo mv menu.lst.backup menu.lst
In step 3 we used the rm command. This command deletes files (rm stands for remove). In step 4 we used the mv command. This is actually the move command which moves something from one place to another. It can also be used to rename a file as we did above, just type mv then the name of the file to be renamed and then the name you want to rename it as. We could have also used the cp command again in place of mv if we wanted to keep the same backup copy.
For more detailed information about grub, visit the grub manual page online or type man grub at the command prompt.
Joseph Bales is a writer of fiction and humor, as well as a true computer geek and Linux guru. Visit his blog at http://josephbales.com.
Please share your thoughts and comments about Joey's Linux article in the box below!
Carol's Corner Office
by Carol A. Bratt
Hi everyone,
Summer is officially here now and we have the thunderstorms to prove it! We lost part of a very old tree in the last storm. Those suckers are really heavy when you have to haul them away - even after they have been cut up!
But I do love waking up hearing the birds singing outside the french doors and the sun streaming in. I definitely like the spring and summer months the best! I just wish I had more time to be outdoors and enjoy it longer. We have had steamed crabs and beer out on the deck a couple of times already though. For those of you who aren't aware, steamed crabs are a real delicacy in Maryland!
I won't bore you any further about our strange eating habits. Instead I'll get started on my article for you!
More Getting Started with MS Excel
Let's see, where did we leave off last time? Yes, I was explaining the screen and toolbars in MS Excel and OpenOffice Calc. They are very much alike in many way.
I hope that you all took the hiatus between articles to really explore and move around the Excel and OpenOffice Calc screens. I hope you tried right-clicking as well as left-clicking on every button and toolbar you could see. Always remember, left-clicking selects and right-clicking gives you options.
In MS Excel, when you use the keyboard to move around in the worksheet, you move the location of the active cell. You then begin adding or editing the contents of the active cell.
You can also use the Scroll Bar to move about in your spreadsheet in MS Excel. You can use the Scroll Bar to click or drag to view different parts of a worksheet. If your mouse has a wheel button, you can use it to scroll through the document. Rotate away from you to scroll up; rotate toward you to scroll down.
The difference between using the keyboard and the scroll bars is that when you use the keyboard, you are moving the active cell. Alternatively, using the mouse to scroll up or down in a worksheet only changes the view. You must click the mouse in the worksheet to move the active cell.
To jump directly to a specific cell, click the Name Box on the left side of the formula bar, and type the cell address and press Enter. As soon as you press Enter, the Excel screen displays that cell and makes it the active cell.
Typically, workbooks contain three worksheets, although you can easily add or delete sheets to suit your needs. To move between worksheets in a workbook, you can simply click the tab on the bottom of the worksheet. The tabs are labeled Sheet 1, Sheet 2 and Sheet 3 until you rename them. When you click on the tab of a worksheet it is then opened for you.
The cells in a worksheet can contain five kinds of entries - text, numbers, dates and times, formulas, and comments. To build your worksheet, you first enter numbers and text that describe them and later, you will use formulas to perform calculations.
When you enter text, it always appears in the active cell.
- Click the cell where you want the text to appear. The bold border moves to this cell, showing that it is the active cell.
- Type the text. What you type appears in the active cell and in the formula bar. If you make a mistake while typing, simply press the Backspace and correct it.
- When you have completed the contents of one cell, press Enter.
If the text you entered is longer than the width of the cell, it flows to the right and overlaps any blank cells. Occasionally if something is in the cell to the right, the text appears to be cut off. It really isn't. The text is there and it will appear after you widen the column. We can cover that in the next article.
After you have finished keying in your text, you can complete the cell entry in any of the ways listed below:
- Press Enter to move down one cell.
- Press Tab to move to the right one cell.
- Press an arrow key to move one cell any direction.
- Click any other cell to move directly there.
- Click the check mark on the formula bar.
You type numbers into a cell by using the keys ont he top row of the keyboard or, if Num Lock is turned on by using the keypad to the right side of your keyboard.
More in OpenOffice
As is usually the case, Calc is pretty much the same as MS Excel. Everything above that I said regarding using the scroll bar and moving to and from cells is just about the same in Calc.
As in MS Excel, Calc workbooks generally have three worksheets as well. You can rename the sheets by clicking on the tabs as above and you can also insert or delete a sheet. The only differences I see are that when you right-click on a sheet tab in MS Excel, one of the selections is View Code and Tab Color and I do not see those selections in Calc.
Entering data in Calc is fairly straightforward.
- Click in the cell where you want text.
- Key in the data.
- Press Enter. You can also use the arrow keys to move to another cell.
After you have finished keying in your text, you can complete the cell entry in any of the ways listed below:
- Press Enter to move down one cell.
- Press Tab to move to the right one cell.
- Press an arrow key to move one cell any direction.
- Click any other cell to move directly there.
- Click the check mark on the formula bar.
If you have both of these programs, I invite you to read the article and then go back and forth between the two programs and see if they aren't pretty much the same insofar as this article goes. And if you only have one of the programs, launch it and try entering some text and moving around afterwards so that you become familiar with the Excel or Calc screen.
I apologize for not having screen shots with this article. My screen shot software seems to be on the fritz and I cannot make it work! Hopefully, I will have it up and running by the time the next newsletter rolls around.
Until then, take care of YOU!
Carol Bratt has authored several informative Microsoft Office books and writes the monthly Word Bytes Newsletter with more tips and tricks in each issue. Visit Carol's website for more great Microsoft Office tips and tricks! Click here to see her latest books!
Please share your thoughts and comments about Carol's article in the box below!
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ESET Smart Security - New from the maker's of NOD32. Antivirus, Antispyware, Antispam, and Firewall all wrapped into one effective, swift, and low resource package. It is what I use to protect each of my computers!
Kaspersky Antivirus - Kaspersky is my second choice for antivirus software. A good program that is very close in performance to NOD32. Free trial.
Online Armor Firewall - You shouldn't be on the internet without a software firewall that offers inbound and outbound protection. Online Armor is the Best of the Best. Online Armor uses an interface that is easier to navigate than most other firewalls and the protection level can't be beat! Online Armor is available in both a free and reasonably priced paid version, which offers even more protection!
Audio and Video Software
Acoustica Audio Converter Pro - This program converts audio formats and bitrates. Perfect for those with portable audio players or large music collections. 30 day trial.
Adobe Premier Elements 7 - Elements is the home version of Adobe Premiere, the best professional video editing suite today. Premier Elements costs 1/6th the price of the professional version, but is very capable of making videos that will impress everyone.
DVDFab is my favorite DVD software. I tried over 30 different programs before settling on DVDFab. It offers every function of the other programs and more! Copy, burn, shrink, convert for mobile devices, or convert for streaming. Almost all of the other programs I've tried did not function as advertised, were extremely slow, or did not have features that worked as advertised. DVDFab works, and works as advertised! It's easy to use, has a pleasant user interface, and it updated often.
Computer Hardware
Crucial Memory - Memory (RAM) is the upgrade that gives any computer the best bang for the buck. If you want to speed things up with more memory, why not purchase it from the leading source of quality RAM memory. Great selection, good prices, excellent support, and a lifetime warranty! A real winner!
CyberGuys - The place to get those hard to find cables and accessories for your computer!
HP Computers
- My current pick for new laptops and desktops. In the current market I don't think you can beat HP's combination of price and performance. Their laptop line is very cost effective and the design is absolutely beautiful!
Newegg - Newegg.com is known for great service and awesome pricing on computers, upgrades, and electronics. If you're looking for computers, computer parts, or electronics you owe it to yourself to start here! Great Products. Great Prices. Great Customer Service!
Computer Maintenance Software
Diskeeper 2008 - My current favorite defrag program. As files are written and erased from the hard drive they begin to leave "spaces" behind. When the drive is written to again files are broken up to fill in these spaces. This causes the drive to go to several different locations to read an entire file, which slows performance greatly. Diskeeper has several advanced features such as; automatic defrag, scheduled defrag, and the ability to defrag the MFT (Master File Table) and paging file. 30 day trial.
Registry Mechanic - A very thorough and efficient registry cleaner and defragmenter. A definite must to maintain peak performance and stabile operation. 30 day trial.
Computer Utility Software
Acronis True Image 2010 - Do you value the data on your computer? Do you value your time? How much time will you spend recovering data and returning your computer to its original state after a hardware failure or software glitch? True Image is my #1 choice in backup tools. Whether you choose file or image based backups (you should use both!) True Image will perform better than any other application I've used. Disk images created with True Image are generally 10-20% smaller than those from comparable programs. If your time and files are as important to you as mine are to me this is a must have.
Acronis Disk Director - My favorite tool to partition, format, and resize hard drives.
Roboform - This program is the next best thing since sliced bread in my book! This program integrates into Internet Explorer and firefox. It generates very secure passwords at the click of a button. How do I remember these complex passwords? Roboform allows you to save passwords and personal data in an encrypted format. A master password (yes only one password to remember!) allows access. Roboform in IE and FireFox works like a super powered bookmark. You click the site you want to go to and Roboform opens the site, enters your username and password for the site (if required) and as if by magic clicks the submit button. If you shop online Roboform can enter your personal information and credit card information, which is also stored in a secure encrypted file, in one click. A real time saver with great security thrown in to boot! 30 day trial.
WinRar - What is commonly called a zip utility, similar to the more widely known WinZip. WinRar is faster and works with more formats for about 1/2 the price of WinZip. 30 day trial.
Desktop Utility Software
Bootskin Vista - Change the boot screen (the one with the moving bar) in Vista. It's free!
LogonStudio - Change the screen that appears when you log into Windows (where you enter your password). Hundreds of skins available online. It's free.
CursorFX Plus - Change the cursors on your computer, add interesting effects. Hundreds of cursor packs are available online for free.
IconPackager 4 - Icon Packager puts you in control to change every icon with the click of a button. Tired of the plain icons built into Windows? There are hundreds of Icon Packs available online for free, which will add a truly personal feel to your computer.
WindowBlinds 6 - WindowBlinds changes the look and feel of Windows. By changing the appearance of the task bar, start menu, and any other window or program you open. It adds transparency, shadows, alpha blending, and animations. Hundreds of themes are available online for free.
Internet and Email
1&1 hosting - If you want to start your own website, blog, photo gallery, or have a personalized email address then 1&1 is for you. 1&1 can not be beat for reliability, features, support, and price. 90 day guarantee.
Google Gmail - The best internet based email (webmail) available. Each mailbox has a 6.5GB limit. The interface is superb, and the spam filter is top notch. You will never need to delete an email again! It has a great search function and a feature called thread view, which makes finding emails easy. A webmail account offers several advantages including not being required to change your email address if you change service providers. Gmail requires an invitation from a current member. If you are interested shoot me an email and I'll send you an invite.
Microsoft Outlook 2007 - Outlook is the current email client of choice for corporate America. I get well over 200 emails a day. Outlook has a few features I really need such as a plug in for automatic backups, office sounds which offers me some audible feedback, and the ability to change headers. I've used Mozilla Thunderbird and liked it a lot. With the amount of mail I go through I really need the features of Outlook. If you aren't a heavy user, or don't need the features I do then Thunderbird is a great alternative.
Firefox 3 - An amazing, free, web browser. If you aren't using it you should be! Highly customizable through addins called extensions. There are thousands of extensions which can allow FireFox to do just about anything you can imagine. More importantly, Firefox is not subject to ActiveX, which is a large part of Internet Explorer, AOL, and MSN. No ActiveX means much less chance of getting spyware! Firefox also conforms to web standards more closely than Internet Explorer, which means you will see what the authors intended, not Microsoft.
Mozilla Thunderbird - A great free email client, from the same folks that brought us FireFox. Easy to use and highly customizable through extensions.
Photo and Picture Software
Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 - Photoshop Elements is the home version of Adobe Photoshop. If you are serious about digital photos you will find Photoshop Elements a great program to have at your disposal. Elements provides all the functionality most will need at 1/6th the price of the full Photoshop version.
Picasa - A great (FREE) way to organize, edit, and share your digital photos.
Please share your thoughts and comments about Dave's Recommended Software in the box below!
Useful Freeware
If you find a program that hasn't been included in a previous newsletter tell me by emailing me at
TreeSize - A free program used to graph the contents of your hard drive. TreeSize allows you to see which files and folders are taking up space on your drive.
Shadow Explorer - All versions of Vista create shadow copies (point-in-time copies of of files). Only Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise versions have access to these shadow copies, even though they are created on all versions. Shadow Explorer allows the users of Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium access to restore a previous version or deleted copy of a file.
Foobar2000 - A great little audio player that supports almost every audio format available and has a simple and affective user interface.
VLC Media Player - A great low resource video and audio player. VLC supports most video formats, including DVD's, without downloading any additional codecs. VLC is multi-platform software, meaning there are versions available for Windows, OSX, and Linux.
CCCP Project - Combined Community Codec Pack. CCCP is a single download containing the codecs which allow your favorite media player to play hundreds of different video formats.
Hamachi - Hamachi allows you to create secure virtual networks between computers that can be thousands of miles away. Think of it as adding a remote computer to your home network. I use this to remotely manage relatives computers, but the uses are endless.
Please share your thoughts and comments about this software, or other free software, in the box below!
Useful websites
If you find a website that hasn't been included in a previous newsletter tell me by emailing me at
Linksys Info - If you have a Linksys router this is the place to go for information!
KBAlertz - KBAlertz sends you notification when the latest articles are published to Microsoft's Knowledge Base. Choose the categories you and software you want to monitor, enter your email address, and get notified when new articles appear!
GIFWorks - Looking for some really cute graphics for your documents? Take a look at GIFWorks.
Please share your thoughts and comments about these websites, or other useful sites, in the box below!
The Lighter Side
I spend thousands of hours each week searching the internet for funny or entertaining items to share with my readers. Enjoy!
Three Ways to Lower Gas Prices - Seems logical to me! ~ Thanks Don
Two Cats on a Treadmill - No cats were harmed in the making of this video! ~ Thanks Ray
Some Cats Don't Like Exercise!
Retro Encabulator - A very funny corporate video!
Please share your thoughts and comments on The Lighter Side in the box below!
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