Announcements

Hello everyone.

I hope your summer is going well.

I have an update for the recent "Visible Cells" tips.

A reader submitted the keyboard shortcut for the selection of visible cells, which for some of you is the only way to go.

Next time: highlight the cells to copy, press Alt + ; (semicolon), then complete your copy/paste.

Thanks for the tip Luke!

I was just backing up my computer with Drive Image yesterday and it reminded me of an event that took place about 6 moths ago...

It Happened To Me - Windows Died.

You know how I'm always saying you need to backup your stuff? How I’m always trying to sell stuff to help protect you from disaster? Well, my Windows XP kicked the digital bucket. It became so severely crippled (even after multiple reboots), I could no longer use it. It was (sniff) gone.

My data was all backed up (and on a separate drive), so that wasn’t a problem.

However, I did need to restore my system. You know how that can go. You grab the restore disk from your computer manufacturer, but it only puts you back to the way the computer was when it was new- all your software is history.

Well, fortunately I had installed Drive Image on my system back when I first purchased my computer. After installing all the software I regularly work with, I had made a backup "image" of the drive and saved it.

So, instead of spending hours locating and installing all my software, I just restored my hard drive with the backup image had I created. In less than a half hour, everything was back to normal, all my software was in place, and I was back in business.

I can’t tell you how happy I am with Drive Image. I absolutely love it. It worked great and saved my behind. In light of this, I wanted to run it in this newsletter at a discounted price. Here’s the info:

Finally! Backups Made Easy! (really easy)

OK, you know the drill. You should backup your computer. Now - be honest - do you "forget" to back up from time to time? It's OK, I have a hard time getting to it myself - it's such a pain in the digital rear.

Well, all that ended for me when I started using a fantastic program called Drive Image 2002. It makes backing up your entire computer incredibly easy. And easy is good, right?

What this software does is to make an "image" (exact copy) of your hard drive. Now, this image can be created on another hard drive, a partition of your current drive (it can painlessly create this for you - don't worry), or on a set of CD ROMS - whatever you prefer. It's fast and extremely easy to do.

The great thing? It only took me 20 minutes to back up my entire hard drive! Should my 20 month old son decide to push my laptop down the stairs, it won't be as bad as it could have been (I'll still be crying though :-)

Think about all the info and programs you have on your computer. If disaster strikes, what will happen? Will it take weeks to get back to normal - assuming you even can get back to normal?

With this fantastic software you can back up your computer with ease - insuring that when you experience the inevitable hard drive crash, destructive virus, nasty hacker, or even bad software install you can be up and running again in no time.

This current version of Drive Image sells for $69.95 at most retail stores, but your price is just $29.97! Yes - that's over HALF OFF! And yes, US shipping is FREE! Here's the link for more info:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/drive-image-2002.htm

Warning - Don't delay - head to the site ASAP! Quantities are limited and these are going to be sold on a first come, first served basis. Be sure to get in on this one - I can't recommend it highly enough!

MS Office 101

Order Up

Have you ever found yourself wishing your toolbar buttons or menus were in a different order?

Maybe their current order just doesn't work efficiently for you—or maybe you're used to some other program and would like to make a smooth transition to your new habitat.

Whatever the case, if you're looking for a way to quickly rearrange the "furniture" (that is, the menus and buttons), then I've got the tip for you.

First hold down the Alt key.

Now, using the mouse, click-hold-and-drag the menu name or button to its new location.

You should notice that the pointer becomes a vertical bar showing you exactly where the button or menu will be located.

When it's positioned as you wish simply release the mouse button.

Voila! You can't make rearranging any easier than that!

Office Tip of the Day

Customizing MS Word Menu Items

Are you someone who hates having a bunch of toolbars open all the time?

I've worked with many different people over the years and I've noticed that some people just hate having their workspace cluttered with open toolbars. In their perfect world everything is accessed with either a menu or a key combination.

Not a bad idea—if that suits your work style.

However, it seems to me that it could get to be quite a pain. After all, some things are buried within menus and windows.

For example, paragraph indenting is under the Format menu, Paragraph choice then a part of the options in the Paragraph window. Seems to me a button is faster and easier—but that means needing more toolbar space.

Seems like a no-win situation, doesn't it?

Fortunately for all of us—it's not.

The first solution for this stuff was discussed in Tuesday's issue. You could use the Alt + Ctrl + + to make a keyboard shortcut.

Great idea for my readers who love key combinations and are good at remembering them.

But what about the people who want the stuff conveniently located in a menu?

Is there help for them?

The answer is yes, of course, why else would we have come this far?

Believe it or not, it is possible to make changes to your menus. You can add and delete items from menus and I'm sure it's easier than you ever thought it could be.

So if you've decided to give this one a try then I bet you're ready to find out the "how to" part—let's begin.

To add something to a menu:

Press Alt + Ctrl + =.

Your mouse pointer will change into a large, bold plus sign. (The Esc key will cancel this process.)

Now use your mouse and move the new pointer to a button whose command you want placed in a menu.

Left click.

And there you have it—the mouse pointer should have returned to normal and if you take a quick moment to look in the menus you'll find your new command nicely placed among the usual menu items.

You also might want to notice that the new item also has the usual underlined letter. This indicates that you can use the Alt key then the correct series of letters to get to that item in the menus.

(For more information on how to use the Alt key and underlined letters to access the menus visit our archives at http://www.worldstart.com/archives/index.htm. Look for the October 29, 2002 issue of MS Office Tips & Tricks.)

Now that you have the "how to add items part" we should probably should talk about removing a command from a menu.

Here you should start with Alt + Ctrl + - (the minus to the left for the = key).

Again your mouse pointer will change. This time it will become a large, bold minus sign.

Now use your mouse to find the menu item to remove.

Click it.

Poof—your pointer is returned to normal and if you go back into the menu you'll find that the offending item is gone.

And there you have it—menu control you never knew you had.

~ April