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Below is Feedback we've received during September. If you have comments or questions
related to anything you've read here in TechTrax, feel free to use the Feedback
link on the main menu above and we'll do what we can to get you the additional
info you need. We love to hear from you! Especially when you just want to tell
us you love us!<smile>
Ed Montgomery Passed Away
I really hate to start with such a sad piece of feedback, but Ed was
one of my clients and students, as well as a member of several groups in which
I provide support. Ed was also a TechTrax subscriber. Shortly after sending
out the September TechTrax notices, I received the follow bounce feedback
from his email address:
"We are sad to inform you that Ed Montgomery has passed away. This
email account will be closed at the end of September."
Ed was in his 70s and had been trying to learn enough about Word to put together
a book for his family about their "Montgomery" lineage. He had hired
me to help him get his book layout started and later took my Word design course
in an effort to learn how to do the rest himself. I hadn't heard from him
lately and hope he was allowed to finish his project of love for his family
before he left them. Rest in peace, Ed!
Feedback
Martha Bagwell from Arlington, TX, writes...
Greg's Article 'Using
the Internet' is by far the best I've read regarding a user's responsibility
for protecting his/her computer. In view of all the recent Internet activity,
my personal view is this article should be required reading for everyone that
uses a personal computer. Excellent stuff!
With your permission I would like to post a link to this article on my own
web site.
Reply
Greg
Chapman writes...
Hi Martha! Thanks for the positive remarks! They are appreciated!
Linking to content at TechTrax is always welcome from what I understand
of the Copyright notice on the About
page. In fact, Dian was kind enough to leave it to me to decide but included
the Copyright notice so you may decide for yourself how best to use the
article and what kind of acknowledgement to give. And personally, I'm honored
when people want to quote or refer to my work. So I'm always pleased to
see the information re-used...unless it's embarrassing.<g>
Enjoy (responsibly, of course) and thanks again!!
Feedback
A reader writes...
I don't want Greg to get a swelled head, but that article on As
the Worm Turns was one of the great articles of all time. I can remember
when Greg got off on some riff about chinese character sets and keyboard-something-or-other,
and when Greg was complaining bitterly about authenticated signatures that
cost money but in the end add no value. In both instances, I was DAZZLED!
And this article left me feeling the same way. That is one smart dude and
it's a pleasure to listen to him (sometimes<g>).
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes....
Thanks for your comments. Yup, Greg is one of the smartest people I've
ever met and has a great way of putting words together. And yes...sometimes
he can make your ears bleed!<eg>
Feedback
Colin MCDonald from Scotland writes...
Great article by Greg on Internet
security. I'm sending it to several friends who suffered with MSBlaster.
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
Thanks so much for your comments. I'm forwarding them to Greg, I'm know
he'll be pleased to know folks found it helpful.
Feedback
David Gatheral, Database Administrator for Greenpeace UK writes...
Hi Greg, I just want to thank you for the utility
for email cleanup.
I was looking for a way to extract email addresses from "bounceback"
emails from Greenpeace UKs' Bulk Email Server. We email our supporters every
month or so with news and a magazine pdf attachment. Naturally a lot of our
email addresses are out of date which means many servers bounce back our emails.
Now I found your code below, I can use access to retrieve the addresses from
these messages and update our database, deleting bad email addresses.
I did have a bash at writing something myself but I'm not confident with VBA
really. I hope to learn more by using your code in the future and changing
it around according to what I am trying to do. So thank you very much Greg.
Really much appreciated!
Reply
Greg
Chapman writes...
Dave, I appreciate the thanks! In fact, those of us out there who are not
fans of SPAM and bouncing, etc., are relieved to see that at least one organization
is actually interested in maintaining its mailing list properly. And I,
for one, feel pretty good that this is how you're using my humble little
offerings. So the thanks go to you!
Reply
David's further reply...
I'll tell you a little about the situation I was in and how your code
helped me.
At Greenpeace UK, we use a bulk email program to send around 3500 emails
containing our supporter magazine to a group of supporters that have opted
into receiving the magazine electronically rather than by mail.
However, when these emails were returned to us by the supporters mail
servers because the supporters address did not exist or the mailbox was
full it was an onerous task to open each one and either delete the email
address or set a flag against it showing that the supporters mailbox was
full, etc.
So onerous was this task in fact that it did not get done for over a
year. Recently we got to the point where for every 3500 emails we sent
out 1200 were being returned to us due to bad addresses etc.
So I learnt how to download the emails from outlook to a .csv file which
I subsequently loaded into Access. But at that point I was stumped as
I needed Access to analyse the body of the email and extract the supporters
bad email address and provide me a list of bad email addresses that I
could batch load against the database in order to delete bad email addresses.
I found Greg Chapman's code through a google search, and it was absolutely
perfect for my requirements. It makes use of the instr() vba function
to find the characters "<" and ">" which commonly
surround bad email addresses in emails form mail servers. Then having
located these "<",">" characters it simply extracts
any text between them to leave the user with a clean email address!
I was especially impressed as the code was in a form that could just
be copied and pasted into an Access Module for instant use.
Many thanks, I'll take a more detailed look at MouseTrax.com and TechTrax
later today.
David Gatheral
Database Administrator
Greenpeace UK
Feedback
Michele Wong writes...
Can you give me a link where I can go to your website to download back issues?
I'm behind in my reading so I do it while waiting for kids, etc.
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
Sure. Although all issues are available online through our Archive
link, you can also download Word document versions of all the past year's
issues from our home subscription page at www.mousetrax.com/techtrax.
Realize, however, that these Word versions do not have any images in them
so our screen reader users can more easily use them. But links are active
should you want to go online to view the complete article.
Feedback
Stronze writes...
hello. i'd like to say thank you to the help from your website when i went
to brush up on my html. most sites i go to to help me learn html from the
start expect the reader to know some basics of it. yours went step by step
and showed a display of what it would look like. thank you for the easy lessons.
i learned a few things i didnt know.
i do truely hope you will add some php training. this is what im currently
trying to learn and am having troubles due to the same reason as the html
i encountered.
the hard work that is put into this magazine i owe a great thanks. due to
this i will check up on your articles more often.
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
Thanks for the great feedback. Glad you found our tutorials helpful. We
don't have any writer, at this time, who knows PHP, but with luck, someone
who knows this stuff will offer to help out in the future!
Feedback
A reader writes...
For Bill Coan.
Could you have really said,"XML is what makes this possible. It is
extremely exciting and I'm looking forward to the day when it takes over the
world."
Egads!! Call me a luddite, go ahead because it won't hurt me too badly. But
I gotta tell ya, I fear the results of XML everywhere. It's so damned wide
open, moving data back to text but with some sort of heirarchy this time.
The results we're likely to see first are over and misuse of the technology...something
like the way databases are commonly used today. Let's not even touch on the
abuses in database use in the old days (Hey!!! I wanna do this whizbang thing.
Let's build another database for it. No, I don't know if we really need one
but let's do it just in case!).
At approximately 8 times more storage and bandwidth required to do the same
job, well, I surely could stand to see a little maturity from the technology
before we get too excited about it.
I'm sure it will all work out as people discover that its real use is the
commoditization of data to the point that a job can execute anywhere and scale
cleanly. But, in the meantime I'll just quiver in fear of the same possibilities
that blew your socks across the room!<g>
Thanks, I needed to rant. ;>
Reply
Bill
Coan writes...
I can't argue with you. When I said I can't wait for XML to take over the
world, what I really meant was that I can't wait for users to realize the
power of a Word document that adheres to an XML schema of their choice.
From that will flow all the good things I mentioned in my own rant.
Oh, one other thing: My own personal estimate is that 95% of all the Access
databases ever developed have only one table in them. Does that mean we
should go back to flat file managers? Notonyerlife!
Feedback
A reader writes...
(Regarding AOL
Radio article)
I AM RATHER PUT OUT THAT YOU CAN NOT GET AOL RADIO UNLESS YOU HAVE BROADBAND.
IF I HAD KNOWN THAT I WOULD HAVE NEVER UPGRADED. I USE MY AOL RADIO ALLLLL
THE TIME AND LOVE IT AND AM MAD THAT IT WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE TO ME.
NOTHING LIKE TRYING TO FORCE BROADBAND ON YOUR CLIENTS. SHAME ON YOU.
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
Thanks for the feedback. I'm assuming (and hoping) that the shame on
you part was pointed to AOL and not us here at TechTrax!<smile>
I'll pass along your comments to Alan, the author of the AOL article
series and I'm sure, if he has any additional info that might help your
situation, he'll pass it along.
Reply
Further reader reply...
Shame on me i guess - thought you were part of AOL... sorry bout that...i
just miss my radio...
Reply
Alan
Wheeler writes...
You don't have to have broadband to get AOL radio. There are, however,
differences between plain AOL radio, and AOL radio for broadband.
Here's what the AOL Radio Help has to say about that. I also included
system requirements as well in what I've pasted here.
Radio@AOL is for users with a dial-up Internet connection. Radio@AOL
CD-Quality - Only on AOL for Broadband not only offers the same great
features as Radio@AOL but also takes advantage of your high speed
connection to bring you:
• CD-quality sound
• No commercial advertising
• More contextual links to AOL Music
Search and
AOL Box Office
• Album art
• What's playing now and coming up
information
• And much much more!
To enjoy Radio@AOL you must have the following hardware and software:
- A computer with a soundcard and speakers
- Windows 98/2000/ME/XP operating system
- A 28.8 kbps or faster modem
- AOL 7.0 or higher
Hope that helps!
Feedback
A reader writes...
(Regarding AOL
Radio article)
MY TWELVE YEAR OLD SON SOMEHOW MANAGED TO INSTALL AOL RADIO INTO MY COMPUTER.
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO DELETE THIS.
Reply
Alan
Wheeler writes...
AOL radio has an auto-launch feature that launches it when you sign on.
Here's how to turn it off.
To turn Radio@AOL Auto-Launch off:
- Start Radio@AOL (AOL Keyword: Radio).
- Click Radio Setup, and then click the Auto-Launch Preference tab.
- Click the check box next to Play Radio@AOL automatically when I sign
on to AOL to clear it.
- Click Save.
Feedback
Patrice writes...
I have read your article about using SelfCert
for signing Word macros. I've followed the instructions till the "install
the certificate on each machine."
Step :
Open a document based on the template in Word, using File/New/New from Template/General
Templates. You will get the Macro Security dialog box.
But instead of getting such a screen, i've got this one: (screen shot removed)
I've copied the template (i've created on my own PC) on a network PC (with
a different word install) and try to do : File->New and under General tabs
: select a template (highlight mytemplate.dot), and under Create New : select
Document. Do you think i'm doing something wrong ?
Reply
David
Horowitz writes...
Patrice, I have a feeling the template you created was not successfully
signed with your digital certificate. Remember, the steps are these:
- Create the template.
- Use SelfCert to create the digital signature. (Perhaps you did this.)
- Open the template you wish to sign, go to VBA (Alt-F11), select Tools/Digital
Signature/Choose, select the certificate, click OK twice. (Perhaps you
also did this step.)
- Now I see I neglected to mention in the article that the next thing
you need to do is Save the template, after you Choose the Digital Signature.
You can do this in VBA by clicking Save, or by going back to Word and
clicking Save. (I think this might be the "missing link".)
- Then you close the template, and use the file system to copy it to
the desired location.
If it is done this way, when you attempt to create a document based on
this template, you should get the dialog box mentioned in the article instead
of the message you received about macros being disabled. Please feel free
to contact me if this doesn't work.
Reply
Patrice further writes..
Thank you very much for your help
Feedback
Dr. Oché from Lombard, IL writes...
Hey Dian, Just thought I would say that I love the new Mousetrax.com.
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
Thanks so much. Yeah, it was time for a fresh look.
Feedback
Jamie Skojec from Washington/DC writes...
Okay.. here is a long time question I have about MS Word and custom toolbars
and Macros.
First I will start out with the Macros. I have created templates for letterheads,
memos, fax cover sheets and so forth. This is all well and good. But for the
lazy user, which I have many including myself, I created macros. These macros
basically open up the templates for use. Well the macros work if the templates
are stored on a local machine. But I create a macro to open a template from
the network, I get errors. The problem with this is that as the admin, I don't
want to install the templates on each machine I would like just to have the
one copy on the network.
Secondly, on that note since there are so many macros that are created, I
put them all on one toolbar. I want to share this toolbar company wide. What
do I have to do so that when I go around installing on local machines it is
(hopefully ) a quick cut and paste of a normal.dot file into the local machine?
Am I really far off?
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
Create a master template with all your company macros and your company
toolbar, then you can email to all and tell them to save it into their .../word/startup
directory. If you prefer to have it on the network, store it in a shared
drive and tell everyone to click Tools/Options/File Locations and set their
workgroup location to that shared network drive. This will make the master
template global and macros/toolbars contained within will be available to
all users. To have it accessible when Word opens, have them click Tools/Templates
and Addins and addin that master template. They can also use the Organizer
(Tools/Macro/Macro/Organizer) to copy the items from the master template
to their own Normal.dot template.
Reply
Further Jamie reply...
Thanks for the feedback. That is exactly how I thought it may work.
Feedback
Floyd E French from Gladstone, MO writes...
Regarding your WTC
Tribute...I can only add 'LEST WE FORGET' to your moving presentation.
I would like to download it and keep it forever along with a private memorial
I am in the process of creating. Can I purchase it, or get a copy, if so where
and what are the details. God Bless, I think you're the greatest.
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
Thank you very much for your kind words, Floyd, but this is not "our"
presentation. It was originally created by Jason Powers, an upcoming
artist and someone who felt the need to do it, shortly after 9/11, to help
him release the overwhelming grief we all felt. He's presented it to the
world, free of charge, as public domain material. You can learn more about
the presentation, as well as download your own, free copy to keep, at this
site: http://www.cantcryhardenough.com/
We discovered it shortly after 9/11 and were, obviously, so moved we downloaded
it and have since provided it to our MouseTrax visitors in honor of Vanessa
Kolpak, a young family friend who was killed there. (See the bottom
of this page for more info about Vanessa: http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMIssue.asp?ISI=5)
And yes...it's quite moving and something I feel the need to view now and
then...to remember and reflect...especially today [9/11]! It's wonderful
that Jason gave this to the world. We just help him share it.
Feedback
Rick Whited from Round O, SC writes...
Regarding Windows
XP Security—The Big Joke. When I bought my computer it came with
windows xp home, I later upgraded to xp professional. I started having problems
with the fax portion of windows and then finally I could not access my modem…
I tried to go to the setup and add my modem to the list and got an error message
to reinstall the option. I then tried to reinstall the fax section of Windows
and my system would freeze up.
I reinstalled my XP Professional operating system and now everything works
but now I can not access my original files, I get an error message saying
“ACCESS DENIED”. My question is “How do I correct this issue
so I can access my files”? Thank you for any help you can supply.
Reply
Vic
Ferri writes...
These links should be more than enough to help.
HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308418
HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421&sd=tech
Feedback
Brian writes...
im using your Word
back up utility and i like it alot and i was wondering is there a way
to make it not back up sub folders?
Reply
Dian
Chapman writes...
I know Greg is very busy with the current wave of virus threats, so I'll
take the liberty of answering this one, as I, too, use/love his backup utility.
Within the files you have for the program, is one called: ConfigExecBackup.cfg.
That's your configuration file. Open it in NOTEPAD only...you don't want
to open it in a word processing program like Word. It's a text file, so
use Notepad so it doesn't pick up any formatting!
Inside you'll see directory/folder paths/names. Just add a new line for
any new path you want...and you can either delete or just add a semi-colon
in front of the lines you don't want included. Those will then be ignored.
That's great when you have a folder that you might want backed up maybe
once, but don't need to keep having that one included in all the nightly
backups.
Just comment that line out with a semi-colon and it'll be skipped. Then
you can comment it back in by removing the semi-colon if you want it added
in again. Or just readd the path if you deleted it. Hope that answers your
Q.
Feedback
A reader writes...
The script you have for identifying old computer (in the article: You
Know You're a Real Admin When... Part IV) accounts was very helpful although
it did not delete the accounts, I had to do that manually. I am running Windows
2000 active directory in mixed mode could that cause any problem.
Reply
Greg
Chapman writes...
Yes, it appears I left a typo in the code. Replace strDomain with Domain
in Call strDomain.Delete("Computer", Member)
This should work with an Active Directory setup as well. But I STRONGLY
encourage you to examine the output and make sure that all of those accounts
are suitable for deletion. For instance, I know that EMC's Cellera NAS creates
a machine account in the tree...but it never changes its password. Deleting
its account will make pass-through authentication between the Cellera and
the directory fail, which means no domain account will have access to the
device until you rebuild the account.
Feedback
A reader writes...
Using
the Internet - Making Google Your Default, Thanks for the tip. It is very
nice to find a way to get around Microsoft's plan for the world.
Reply
Vic
Ferri writes...
Thanks for the thanks.
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