Announcements

Hi! Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season.

I know I'm looking forward to the holidays and being a teacher I'm really looking forward to tomorrow afternoon, since that's the beginning of Winter Break.

I'd also like to let you know that there will not be an MS Office Tips newsletter next Tuesday since it's Christmas Eve.

I'll talk to you again in a week.

Time To Upgrade? You Bet!

OK, we all know the drill. You buy a fancy new computer, but as the months pass, you want (OK need) more POWER! If you do the upgrades yourself, you'll probably save some serious bucks, but what if you make a mistake?

Well, we have an awesome solution! It's a new program called How To Upgrade Your PC (2003 edition) and it's absolutely fantastic!

This 2 CD ROM set covers everything you need to know in order to upgrade (or repair) your PC. It uses both text and video to demonstrate exactly how any given procedure is done. It's one thing to read about how to replace a motherboard, but actually watching a video of someone doing it is the BEST!

I've had this software for a couple weeks now and I've already used it on several occasions to verify tips or answer questions. It's really well done and the amount of information is incredible. It's a must have for every computer owner!

Every topic is covered in complete detail. Even if you've never opened a computer case before, this software can guide you through any upgrade you'll ever want to do. It even has a detailed glossary to help with those hard to figure out terms!

It covers upgrading everything- processors, memory, motherboards, sounds cards, hard drives, CD/DVD/RW drives, video cards, modems, network cards, adding a second hard drive, and more. It even includes a parts guide that tells you what type of parts to get (plus what to avoid) and why!

Let's face it - it's not a matter of "if" you'll need to upgrade, it's a matter of when. After all, why spend thousands on a new system when you may be able to upgrade your existing computer for a fraction of that cost?

The price on this? That's the best part - it's only $14.97 (retail $29.95) with FREE US shipping! Plus, you have our satisfaction guarantee - if you don't like it return by Jan 30th 2003 for a refund! Nothing to lose! Check it out:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/how-to-upgrade-your-pc.htm

PS - Think about this - most computer shops charge $75.00 hr for upgrades and repairs. For only $14.97, you can do it yourself! Limited quantities - get to the site ASAP!!

MS Office 101

Just Give Me Some Text

Have you ever needed some text in an MS Word document to demonstrate something. You know - text where the content just doesn't matter. Text for the sake of having text to show someone how to do something (text formatting, line spacing, indenting, bulleting, etc.). Perhaps you just want to play with different fonts... You get the idea.

I know I've needed this and spent time just trying to put nonsense into a document so I could get on with the show.

But, did you know that there's a faster way to insert random text?

Next time you need some text to work with try this on for size.

Open a document and type:

=rand(2,6)

What you'll get is a series of paragraphs with the same sentence repeated over and over.

The first number in the parentheses is how many paragraphs will be created and the second number controls the number of sentences in each paragraph. The bigger the numbers, the more text Word will create. (The formula above creates two paragraphs with six sentences in each.)

If you only need one paragraph, simply put one number into the parentheses - this number being the number of sentences that will be created.

And there you have it - now that you've got the text you can get on with your show.

And for the curious, the sentence you'll get is, of course, the infamous "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

Office Tip of the Day

Horizontal Borders / Dividers in MS Word Using The Keyboard

Do you find yourself constantly drawing horizontal lines in MS Word? You know, using the drawing toolbar to draw lines as borders or dividers in order to give your document a little extra pizzazz.

Are you tired of all the mouse work in the drawing toolbar to turn on the line tool, drawing the line and then changing the style?

Wish you had a faster way?

Maybe you'd like a way that involves only the keyboard?

Well, if this is you then I have a quick list of divider/border line options that take only 4 keystrokes to accomplish.

Ready to find out how?

Good, here it is.

Now here's the really cool part - once the line is drawn you can use your mouse to move it up and down to alter its distance from the surrounding text. (You can't move it all over the place, but it is enough to let you have some flexibility with regards to the line's position near the text.)

Simply run your mouse cursor over the line - slowly - until it becomes a double-sided arrow (pointing up and down). Once you have that arrow then click and hold the left mouse button. Now drag the line up or down as needed.

Note: If this trick isn't working for you then you should check to make sure that you've have this option turned on. To do this you need to go to the Tools menu, AutoCorrect choice. Then on the AutoFormat As You Type tab, make sure that the Borders box is checked in the "Apply as you type" section of the window. Click OK.

Now - moving on.

What about the Oops Factor?

You know, the line you now need to remove.

It can be a bit of a pain if you don't know what to do. Sometimes it's not as easy as simply hitting the backspace or delete keys.

What you'll need to do is to highlight the text around the divider line so that you have the border contained in the highlight. Like this:

Now go to the Format menu, Borders and Shading choice.

Once there, go to the Borders tab.

Make sure that the None box is selected (top of the left-hand column) and click OK.

Poof! Line gone.

That's it! Divider lines in 4 keystrokes. Go ahead! Jazz it up!

~ April