Sorting Data in Word

Have you ever found yourself wishing that a list you typed in MS Word could be alphabetized? Or, for those of you who are good with Excel, you’re probably wondering why you didn’t type it up in Excel in the first place (you know, where it’s so easy to sort data).

Well, stop dwelling on the “should have, could have” stuff and smile. It’s very easy to sort data in Word too!

Here’s all you have to do!

The first thing is getting the list into Word, so go ahead and type away.

Note: If you want the list to be double spaced, you need to set the paragraph that way. Do not simply hit the Enter button twice! If you do, your list will become an editing nightmare and when the sorting is finished, it will put all of the blank spaces at the top of the list, leaving the data single spaced anyway.

Now that you’ve got the typing finished, let’s move on.

Here’s how you begin the sort (alphabetizing).

Highlight the entire list.

In Word 2007, you’ll need to locate the Sort button in the Paragraph section on the Home Ribbon.

For other versions of MS Word, you need to go to the Table menu, Sort choice. In any event, the Sort Text dialogue window will open:

The default is set to Sort by Paragraphs, Type of Text, Ascending. That will make your list alphabetical A to Z.

(Descending will reverse the list from Z to A).

At the bottom of the window, there’s an option to tell the program your list has a header row (or title). If you highlighted a title with the data, you would use this option to prevent the program from sorting your title into the list. (In other words, the first row stays in place regardless of the first letter).

Click OK.

You will then be returned to the document and you should see your list in order.

Just like magic, everything is in its proper place!

~ April

Securely Using Public Computers

I have written several articles in the past about ways you can protect your computer, but what if you’re not using your own computer? What if you’re using a public computer instead (at a library or hotel, for example?) Those computers may not be as secure as your home system and you need to take the proper steps to ensure your personal data stays safe. Here are five tips you can follow for securely using a public computer!

1.) Don’t Do Online Banking

I know this seems like a no brainer, but people do it. If you’re using a public computer and you log in to your online banking Web site, you’re putting yourself at great risk. There is no way to tell if there’s spy ware or ad ware on the computer you’re using that could steal your data. That’s why it’s never a good idea to do any of your banking on a public computer.

2.) Don’t Save Anything

Would you bring a stack of tax documents to a hotel lobby and leave them there? Probably not! The same goes for saving any of your personal documents on a public computer. This one applies to files, passwords, music, pictures, downloads, etc. It’s just not a good idea to do anything like that on a public computer.

3.) Don’t Buy Anything

This tip is similar to the first one. Buying something on a public computer usually involves some sort of financial information, which is simply a bad idea!

4.) Delete Internet Explorer Temporary Files

This is a simple step that will help a lot! After you’re finished using a public computer, make sure you delete the Internet Explorer temp files. To do that, go to Tools, Internet Options and click on the Delete button. Then just click Delete All. That way, no one else will know what you did on the computer.

5.) Restart the Computer

This is another simple step that will do a lot of good. Restarting the computer after you’re done using it will delete a lot of the temporary files and it will clear out the memory of the computer. People waiting behind you to use the computer might not like the hold up, but when it comes to your safety, it’s a very important step.

Introducing IE 8 New Features

As you probably know, Microsoft recently released Internet Explorer 8 Beta and it already promises its users “the best Web experience ever.” It is now available for download to everyone, but it primarily targets Web developers and designers so that they can test the new tools, layouts and programming enhancements.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta will run on both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows Vista with the Windows Vista SP1, as well as, Windows XP SP 2 and Windows Server 2003 and 2008. So, what do you say we go over a few of the new features found in IE 8? Let’s go!

Controlling active x Installations – Many controls are not secure and could be misused by malicious Web sites. Luckily, all of that can be eliminated by running Active X controls on a site by site basis.

Activities – This is a new right click menu feature in IE 8. You can right click a selected item to find a list of activities that can be done, such as blogging, defining, searching, translating and many more.

Web Slices – This new feature enables you to subscribe to marked content on a Web page. It is similar to subscribing to an RSS feed. When the content changes, you receive a notification on the new Favorites bar. A Web Slice can also be previewed without an additional navigation, because it is provided as a drop down item under the Favorites bar. When you click on a Web Slice, it drops down and you can preview the content. You can then click through to go to the slice’s original Web page or you can simply view it in the drop down list.

Developer Tools – These tools expose the way IE interprets a Web page. Therefore, you can view individual attributes of an element on a Web page, etc. To open the Developer Tools, press Shift + F12 or simply click on the Developer Tools button located on the Internet Explorer tool bar.

Favorites Bar – The Links bar has been replaced with a new Favorites bar. It can contain links to documents on your hard drive, Web Slices and RSS feeds.

Crash Recovery – This long awaited feature is finally making its debut in Internet Explorer. After a browser or individual tab crashes, you will now have the option of restoring it on the spot.

There you have it. Now you know what you can expect from IE 8.

Outlook Express Problems

The first thing you’ll want to check is your Outbox folder. Go in there, click on the View menu and choose Current View. Once you’re there, make sure the Show All Messages choice is selected. That ensures that you’re able to see all of the messages contained in your Outbox folder. If you then see an e-mail message appear, you can send it off normally or even delete it if you want.

The next thing you can check is within the Outbox folder itself. Go to File, Folder, Compact. If nothing happens, your folder is probably ok and you don’t need to worry about it any longer. If you happen to get an error message, the Outbox.dbx file may be damaged. There are a couple of possible causes for that.

One could actually be an anti virus program that scans outgoing e-mail. Unknown to some, the e-mail scan isn’t really necessary to protect your computer, especially if you have a regular anti virus program running as well. Go ahead and disable any e-mail scans to prevent any other e-mail files from being damaged in the future.

If you do have a damaged Outbox file, the next thing you’ll want to do is repair it (obviously!) To do that, you need to know where your store folder is for your e-mails. If you’re not sure where yours is, go to Tools, Options and click on the Maintenance tab. Toward the bottom, you’ll see the Store Folder button. Click on that and a box will pop up telling you where your store folder is located on your computer. It will also give you a drive letter. Write that down if you think you’ll forget. You can change the location at this point if you want to do that as well.

Once you have the information you need, close Outlook Express and open up your store folder. Find the file titled “Outbox.dbx” and delete it. When you open Outlook Express again, a new Outbox folder will automatically be created, so you can continue to use it just like normal. Most times, the problem lies within an unsent message, but it’s good to know what you can do if that isn’t the case!

Vista Shortcuts

So, tell me, have you been using Windows Vista for awhile now? And are you still trying to master it? If you are, that’s perfectly normal. It’s not easy learning a whole new operating system and it will take some time. Luckily, there are some things you can work on to make the process go a little faster. I’ve already covered a few in past articles, but I have a brand new one for you today! It has to do with managing shortcuts on your Vista computer. So, if that’s something you’ve been wanting to learn a little more about, read on!

I’m sure you all know how helpful shortcuts can be, but if you’re not sure how to create them, what’s the point, right? Well, in Windows Vista, there are several ways you can create shortcuts, but for today, I’m just going to show you two of the easiest. The first is a simple drag and drop. For example, if you want to create a shortcut for one of your favorite programs, just find it under your Start menu and drag it to your desktop. That’s all there is to it! The second way is to find the item you want to create a shortcut for, right click on it and choose Send To, Desktop. Either way you choose, a new icon will appear on your desktop for easy access!

Now, what if you want to create a shortcut for one of your favorite Web sites? Well, all you have to do is go to that site and drag the small icon you see next to the site’s URL to your desktop. That way, you won’t have to type in the Web address every time you want to visit that site. How cool is that?! Also, if you want to rename one of your shortcuts once you get them on your desktop, just right click on it, choose Rename and type in the name you prefer. Or, if you want to remove one of your shortcuts, simply right click on it and select Delete, then Yes. No matter what you make a shortcut for, your Vista experience just got a whole lot easier!

Vista Screen shots

In the past couple of days, I’ve realized that several of you have just recently upgraded to Windows Vista and the questions on how to do things with the new operating system just keep pouring in. That’s wonderful! Of course, I’m still quite new to Vista too and by answering all of your questions, I’m learning right along with you and that’s very exciting! And today’s topic is no exception. Let’s check it out!

As you all probably know, the older versions of Windows mainly made use of the Print screen button (Prt Scr) on the keyboard to make screen shots. So, whenever you wanted to make a screen shot for yourself, you had to hit that button and then go into a photo editing program to crop it, sharpen it, etc. until it finally looked the way you wanted it. Well, in Vista, you can actually bypass a lot of that work. Want to learn how? Then let’s get started!

Today, I’m introducing you to the Windows Vista Snipping Tool. This tool is so cool, I just know all of you are going to fall in love with it by the time you’re done reading this tip. And I promise if you have Vista on your computer right now, you’re going to want to try it out ASAP! First of all, to open the Snipping Tool, go to Start, Accessories, Snipping Tool. (You can also access it by typing the word “snip” into the Start menu search box).

When it opens, you’ll see a box with three commands in it: New, Cancel and Options. The New button is what you can use to decide which part of the screen you want to capture, the Cancel button can be used to cancel any action after you’ve already started a screen capture and the Options button is there to help you choose which way you want your Snipping Tool to work. Those choices will come up each time you go to create a new screen shot.

When you’re ready to take your screen shot, open the Snipping Tool and click on the New button. From there, you can choose which type of shot you’d like to do. The choices are: free-form snip, rectangular snip, window snip or full-screen snip. When you’ve decided which one you want to do, focus in on what you want to capture. You may have a photo you want to make a screen shot for or you might have part of a Web site you’d like to send to a friend. Either way, make sure it’s up on your screen so that you can start to “snip” it.

To snip the image, just drag your mouse until you’ve captured what you want. Once you’ve got it snipped, you can choose from different customizing options to add certain things to your image. For example, you can use a highlighter to highlight certain things in whatever color you’d like to use. You can use the pen tool to write in some colorful text and if you make a mistake, the eraser tool is always there to bring you back to the start. Now, if none of those tickle your fancy, you can click on the Options choice to change your image around even more. This is what the Options window looks like:

Now, when you’re done with your screen shot, you can either save it or you can even send it to someone in an e-mail. To save it, go to File, Save and just save it to a folder on your computer. I always like to save mine to the My Pictures folder, but it’s up to you. If you’d like to send your screen shot in an e-mail, go to File, Send To and you can choose to send it in the body of an e-mail or you can send it as an attachment. Then just type in your recipient’s e-mail address and they’ll be able to see all the snipping work you did!

I know this new tool might still be a little confusing to you, but you can’t really get a good feel for it until you’ve tried it for yourself. So, my recommendation is to go and experiment with it as much as possible. Once you do that, I think you’ll find there’s so much you can do with the Snipping Tool and you’ll be using it all the time. It really is a cool addition to Windows Vista and it’s much easier than using the Print screen button. With it, you’re able to go past all the steps of editing and do it all in one quick swoop. Give it a try today!

Don’t Toss Out Those Floppies

Have you noticed that most new computers don’t have floppy drives? I didn’t notice that until I went to put a floppy disk in my computer (after I’d had it for about a year) and couldn’t find the floppy drive ~ well, that was quite entertaining for anyone that might have been watching! Me, crawling around on the floor with a flashlight trying to find where my floppy drive was “hidden” ~ after about a half hour I had to accept the fact that my computer did not have a floppy drive! Boy, did I feel like a nitwit!

But then, I began to panic ~ “How am I going to get the data off all of these floppies I have laying around?”

Well, it was a long process of using a friends computer to transfer the data to CD’s (and I mean long and just plain annoying)!

I am here to save you the same trouble! We just got back in stock an awesome External Floppy Drive and wanted to share it with you all to save you the grief I went through!

This couldn’t be simpler! You just plug this baby into your USB port and viola! an instant floppy drive! You don’t even need drivers with Windows XP or Vista!

I mean, let’s face it. The time will come when you really need to get data off a floppy disk and have no way of doing it (trust me, I know). Grab one of these and you’ll have a floppy drive that will work on any computer with a USB port! It’s also great for notebook computers ~ lightweight and compact so it’s easy to store!

personal website maintenance

Often times, other Web site administrators will come across your site and see something they would like to include on theirs. For example, that happens a lot with World Start’s wallpaper. We get e-mails everyday from people asking if they can put our wallpaper on their Web site. Fortunately, we are very open to letting other people use our material, as long as they give us proper credit. So, if you have a business Web site and you have a daily business tip (or something similar), other people may be interested in using it on their site as well (as long as proper credit is given, of course!)

This type of thing is very common. Most people seem to like it, because it gives their site more recognition and it helps spread the word all over the Web. On the other hand, some of you may not like your material being used on other sites. Of course, that’s perfectly fine, because it is your Web site. You own it, you run it and you can do what you want with it.

Either way, the next little trick I’m going to share with you will help you see which Web sites are linked to yours, which in turn, anyone can see. If you like the recognition, you can always go and check to make sure the site is giving you credit. Or, if you don’t like the situation, you can always go to the site and look up the administrator’s contact information to e-mail them and ask them to remove your material from their site. They have to comply with you, because it’s your property! But all in all, you can see this tip is good for either side of the track.

Ok, so here’s the trick! This is for the Google search engine only. Go to Google’s homepage and in the search box, you’re going to type a simple line: link:yoursite.com. When you’re done, just click on the Search button.

Message Board Stickies

Just out of curiosity, how many of you use World Star’s message board? I know there are quite a few of you out there, because a lot of you e-mail me and tell me how much the message board has helped you with your computer problems and I know several of you use it by referral from me as well. So, when you’re using it, do you ever run into a sticky message? If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, keep reading and you’ll find out!

A lot of message boards these days use a configuration where the last message posted or the one that was most recently responded to is automatically placed at the top of the list. While that method is good in some ways, if there are a lot of people posting new threads every few seconds, the messages can get moved around rather quickly. As a result, a lot of the posts are pushed down to the bottom of the page or taken off the front page completely. Therefore, a lot of the important messages are missed. That’s when a sticky comes in handy!

Message board stickies are used to keep the most important posts organized and easily accessible. If there’s a message that everyone needs to see, the poster can pin it to the top of the page so that it doesn’t get moved around. Most stickies are posted by the administrator of the message board for special announcements, forum rules and FAQs. So, if you’re a new message board user, you should check out the stickies first. They’re always located at the top of the page and they always contain very important information. Steve posts stickies on our message board all the time, so be on the look out for them. You never know what he might have to say!

Excelsior Installer 1.6 Management Tools & Editors

This free, small-footprint installer tool just keeps getting better, coming out recently with version 1.6. In addition to its admirable goal of taking 10 minutes to learn and build install packages in just two clicks, Excelsior Installer now includes a project history (so you can reopen recent projects), a time-saving difference tracker for updates, the ability to grab version info from executables and delete files from installation folders, and support for post-installation actions (such as restarting or pulling up a read me file). All this is in addition to Excelsiors already easy-to-use, wizard-driven interface and simple, solid features like the ability to create shortcuts and registry entries.