Announcements

Bugbear Virus - New & Improved!

It's been awhile since we've seen a big virus outbreak, but there's a new one on the loose. It's the Bugbear.b virus (a variant of the original) and it's really nasty. It's infecting lots of systems and we've seen hundreds of infected e-mails.

What does it do? 

Mass E-mail - It locates any e-mail address it can find - including e-mails you've sent or received - and sends itself to those addresses. It's also fakes the "from" part, so looks like it's coming from somewhere it's not.

KeyStroke Logger - This is the scary part. It logs your keystrokes and sends the information to one of 25 preset e-mail addresses every 2 hours. Anything you type in via your keyboard - credit card info, SS numbers, passwords, bank accounts numbers, etc. becomes "public" knowledge in a very short time.

AV and Firewall Disable - If you become infected it attempts to disable your anti-virus and firewall software.

Backdoor Access - The virus allows its creator to log into your computer and access your files. Once in, he can delete, copy, start programs, grab keystroke log files the program creates, and so on.

Even identifying it is tricky -

The subject line can vary, as can the name of the attachment (the attachment will have a double-extension). The attachment size is 72,192 byes (72k).

As always, the best advice is to be very careful about opening anything you're not expecting - or better yet - get some good AV software (and keep it updated). For more information on this, check out:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.bugbear.b@mm.html

As time goes on, these viruses are only getting more dangerous - you can see why it's so important to have good anti-virus software on your computer. We were able to find a couple of sweet deals on Norton products for you - check 'em out:

Norton Anti-virus 2003 - We have one of the best deals going on this one - it's only $14.97 after $20.00 mail-in upgrade rebate (see site for details). I was at a big national chain store yesterday, and they get $49.95 for it.

This is the latest and greatest version of the software. It scans both incoming and outgoing e-mails - insuring that you won't get infected or infect your friends. It works seamlessly in the background, constantly looking for virus activity. It automatically updates itself with new virus definitions and is one of the easiest there is to work with. Basically, just install it and don't worry about it. For more info, head to:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/norton-antivirus-2003.htm

Norton Internet Security 2002 - This one is the best deal since it includes both Norton Anti-virus and Firewall for only $18.97. Sure, it's last year's model, but that doesn't mean it isn't good (several computers here at WorldStart are currently using this version). You can still update the definitions, and that's what really matters.

Here's a breakdown of what's included:

Norton Anti-virus 2002 - Very similar to the 2003 version. It keeps an eye on your system for virus activity, checks e-mail attachments, and more. It even updates itself automatically and checks outgoing e-mail so you don't infect your friends! It's one of the best Anti-Virus programs around!

Norton Personal Firewall 2002 - This keeps hackers out of your computer and prevents programs from sending information from your computer without your knowledge. In my opinion, this type of software is a must have. Hackers get better everyday, and if someone gets into your computer, it can be a disaster. I know people who have had problems and it took a complete reformat of the computer, plus firewall software, to get them up and running again. Besides, can you imagine the info that can be stolen if you were to get hacked into? Yikes!

Here's the link for more info:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/nortonis2002.htm

Regardless of which way you go, be sure to get some protection. It's a dangerous digital world out there! Oh, and quantities are limited, so if you want in on these great deals, better get to the site soon (really soon).

Microsoft PictureIt Platinum - We Still Have Some

We had a problem with the link pointing to the wrong location for this offer in Tuesday's newsletter. As a result, I had dozens of e-mails asking where they could get this. Well, we still have some in stock, but we are running low.

Again, these are on sale for only $18.97 - with FREE US SHIPPING. This retails for $69.95, (and we normally sell them at $24.97) so it really is a great deal. Here's the link for more info:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/picture-it-platinum.htm

Sorry for any inconvenience.

MS Office 101

Lists In MS Excel

Excel has lists?

Yes, it does. (And fortunately they're not "to do" lists!)

Have you ever noticed that when you type "Monday" in a cell and then use the fill handle (the little box in the lower right corner of the cell highlight) to drag down you get the rest of the days of the week?

Usually the fill handle will copy data if there's only one entry—this time it didn't. What's going on here?

Well—the short answer is that the days of the week are in a custom list.

So, what's a list?

I think a pretty basic answer to that would be that it's a set of data that have been designated as belonging together for one reason or another.

Obviously, the days of the week or months of the year would qualify. But there are probably sets of information you find yourself constantly entering, such as a list of names, part numbers, company departments, etc.

Wouldn't it be nice to have these in a list?

Imagine—instead of typing all the items, or copy/pasting them from somewhere else, you could simply type in one and then use the fill handle to have Excel put in the rest.

Seem too good to be true?

Well, this time it's not.

Want to know how to make your own lists?

I thought you might. Stay tuned—the details are coming right up.

Office Tip of the Day

Be The Master Of Your Excel Lists

Now that you know what an Excel list is, let's take a look at how to create a list that's all your own—in other words, a custom list.

You have several options for the creation of a list. One has you type the list into the Custom Lists tab in the Options window and the other allows you to highlight the cells that contain a list already in a worksheet.

So... to cover all the bases, let's go over both.

The first method—typing into the Custom Lists tab—requires you to open the Options window. (Tools menu, Options choice, Custom Lists tab or Alt, T, O then use the arrow keys to get to the correct tab.)

Now that you're in the right place, you should have a window that looks like this:

On the left you'll see the Customs lists already in Excel along with an option for a New List.

Highlight New List and then click into the pane on the right—List entries.

In this pane you need to type the items in your list. (Items in lists cannot start with a number.) Between each item be sure to hit the Enter key.

When you've completed your list click the Add button.

Presto change-o! Take a look at the list of lists in the left pane, you should now see your entries at the bottom.

At this point you can either start over to make another new list or click the OK button.

Now, if you go into your Excel worksheet and enter into a cell an item from your list and pull down the fill handle, you'll find that instead of a copy you get the rest of your list filled in.

Yeah :-)

Don't worry—I haven't forgotten about those of you who have a list already entered into a worksheet.

I'm sure you want to hear me say that there's a way to make a custom list from the data—without retyping everything.

Good news! I've got just the thing to take care of your situation.

The fastest way to get your list in is to first highlight the entire list.

Now go to the Options window, Custom Lists tab. (Tools menu, Options choice or Alt, T then O.)

If you take a look at the bottom of the Custom Lists tab you'll see a field at the bottom labeled as "Import list from cells:".

This field should now contain the adress of the highlighted cells.

Click the Import button.

Immediately the data should be added in the Custom lists pane (left) and displayed in the List entries pane (right).

Click the Add button.

And—believe it or not—that's it... you've got the custom list created without retyping the data.

Click OK when you're done.

(Do a little happy dance—you didn't have to retype the data!)

And what if you forget to highlight the data first?

Do you have to click Cancel and start over?

Well, I should hope not!

We can do much better than that.

Do you see the little button at the end of the "Import list from cells:" field? (The one that looks like a miniature worksheet with a red arrow.)

Click it.

You will be taken back out into the worksheet where you can highlight the list.

When you're done you'll need to click the small button at the far right of the Import lists from cells window that opened when you jumped back out to the worksheet.

Excel will then return you to the Options window where you can continue by clicking Import, then Add and finally click OK.

Still doing the happy dance?

If you have a lot of repetetive data categories then you probably are.

Yeah—dance—yeah—dance...

~ April