|
Below are just some of the Feedback comments we received during the month of January. We get so much feedback now, we apologize for not being able to post it all. We do try to get all questions related to articles posted.
Note that, due to time constraints and the amount of feedback we get, not all posts were able to receive replies. So big thanks to all of you who take the time to pass along your comments!
Feedback
Mohann Aiyer from Rajkot/Gujarat/India, writes...
Regarding Stephen Bullen's Excel Page
The link provided on your website for visiting Stephen Bullen's Excel Page is broken. Worse, when you click on the link you are taken to XXX website with objectionable photos.
I request you to kindly look into the matter and confirm whether what I have stated above is true or not.
I have found the articles on your website very informative and it was in the course of finding related articles on Dynamic Charting in Excel that I stumbled upon the fact stated above.
I have no doubt in my mind that I will keep visiting your website for more such informative and educative articles on various subjects.
Reply
Dian Chapman, Editor of TechTrax, writes...
SINCERE apologies to anyone who clicked the links to Stephens Bullen's excellent Excel web site (which has been listed in some of our Excel articles) and ended up at a pornography site!
Very sadly, as it turned out, some squatters watched Stephen's site (as many of the low lives on the Internet do to popular sites!) and waited to see if Stephen ever missed his renewal deadline. He did once miss it and someone jumped up and bought his domain. So, the URLs to his previous, popular site now belonged to a porno site. It's not an uncommon practice to attempt to overtake popular sites. We're sorry we didn't catch it before many readers did. We believe we have now adjusted all the links to Stephen's site.
If you have any old URL to Stephen's Excel site, know that you can find the info via his new URLs. See http://www.oaltd.co.uk/Excel.
Feedback
Andy writes...
Regarding The Word Crayon
I'd like to work with this man [Greg Chapman] for six months!
Reply
Dian Chapman, Editor of TechTrax, writes...
You're not the only one, Andy. As one of Greg's bosses once said when someone said that they would only stay with the company if they could work with Greg..."Get in line. Everyone wants to ride on Greg's coat tails!"
Thanks for your nice comments Andy, I know Greg humbly appreciates it.
Feedback
Dave E. writes...
Regarding Converting Mini-Cam AVI files to MPEG with TMPGEnc Plus
Excellent! My MiniDV camera is not new but I still have not created a DVD. I have all the tools but still need help with the editing @ authoring process. Would love to see a flowchart with all the file types & options shown.
Feedback
Mark F. writes...
Regarding
Normal.dot Template—Explained
Excellent article. I was one of those who used to recommend deleting the "normal.dot" template, but will refer users to this article from now on. Many thanks, Mark
Reply
Dian Chapman, author of Normal.dot Template—Explained, writes...
Thanks for the kudos, Mark. Hope I didn't chastise you with my comments about those who advise to delete the file!<smile> But I'm very glad you learned from the article and thanks for pointing folks to this info. It will help save further cries for help when users realize all their macros and styles have been deleted!<wink>
Dian ~
www.mousetrax.com/consulting
Feedback
A reader writes...
Regarding
Understanding Frames and Anchors in Word
Loved the multiple-frame trick to vary the "boring old square" wrapping. Thanks!
Feedback
Genevieve writes...
Regarding Understanding Frames and Anchors in Word
I rarely used frames and text boxes before. Never had really time to learn how to use them properly. this article has definitely given me the confidence to use these features. Thanks Dian
Reply
Dian Chapman, author of Understanding Frames and Anchors in Word, writes...
Thanks for the thanks! Glad you found the article useful.
Dian ~
www.mousetrax.com/consulting
Feedback
Peter writes...
Regarding Downloading 101
Dear Dian Your article was very clear and concise and I loved it! You're right, so many people just say "download it" without any further explanation. I saved your article in my "downloads file," which I learned from you how to create. That simplifies things for me. I thank you so much for helping. Gratefully yours...
Feedback
Elaine writes...
Regarding Self-Advocating Human Rights!
This is a very good article. However, I'd like to see the language changed to reflect more positive images. As a disability advocate myself, I would prefer to see phrases like "disabled person" changed to "person/individual with a disability". "Person First" language can be reviewed at www.disabilityisnatural.com Thank you for your advocacy work.
Reply
Dian Chapman, Editor of TechTrax, writes...
Thanks for your comments, Elaine. I haven't been in touch with Diane for sometime, but will try to pass along your comments. Hopefully, posting this info here will help for a better understanding.
Feedback
Vernon writes...
Regarding Mark Thorpe's Excel VBA, No Experience Necessary series.
Hi Mark,
My name is Vernon(28y) from Holland. I got interested in VBA when I
wanted to import my yearly bank account and sort out my expenses
automatically. So, pick out and sort all the Periodic expenses, Gas
stations, Grocery shops etc etc. Just to keep track of where most of
my money goes to.
I learned that it was pretty hard to find some useful information on
the internet about VBA programming. And finally I found your lessons
which gave me a great deal of insight in VBA programming.
I just wanted to thank you for the time and efforts you have put in
your lessons and that there are a lot of other people, I think, who
find it very helpful. So again thanx a lot, without your help I probably had to buy the
Excel bible first :) before I could have written my program.
Best regards,
Vernon
Feedback
Bill writes...
Regarding Gantt Charts in Microsoft Excel
This is a real easy setup for this document, for some reason it took me a little extra time to work it out. I guess I misunderstood how it work. Once I got it working I could do it very easy now. It really works great and is a great help to me in the work I do. This makes a great Construction schedule bar chart. Simple one pager. Thanks, Bill
Feedback
Jon Peltier writes...
Regarding Did You Forget Something, Again?
Dian -
After I proofed my article, I poked around a little (hope you don't
mind). I read David Horowitz's latest article, and implemented his Outlook
macro that checks whether you might have wanted to attach a file to your
message. It's the best thing I've ever done with Outlook, and has already
saved me from embarrassment a couple of times. I've already told him thanks,
but thought I'd pass along the fact that Tech Trax is good for us supposed "experts"
too.
- Jon
Feedback
A reader writes...
Regarding Number Formats in Microsoft Excel
How do you change the settings for the Format Cells/Number/Number dialog
box to "(1234.10)" instead of "-1234.10"?? The "-1234.10" basically sucks.
Reply
Jon Peltier, author of Number Formats in Microsoft Excel, writes...
That's the third option for negative numbers in the Format Number dialog,
under the Number category. The code looks like this (if you don't want to
use the dialog itself):
0.00_);(0.00)
The _) in the first entry (for positive numbers) means allow a space as wide
as the ) character, but don't show the character. The second entry (for
negative numbers) is enclosed in parentheses, which means the negative
numbers will be enclosed in parentheses. This keeps positive and negative
numbers aligned, whether there's a parenthesis or not.
- Jon
http://peltiertech.com/
Feedback
Stephen writes...
Regarding Normal.dot Template—Explained
Thought I'd get back to you and let you know how I got on with that
Normal.dot locking problem.
I was under the impression that when you press the Word icon on your desktop
x number of times you got x number of instances of Word running
simultaneously. This is not the case. Word is clever enough so that when
you open up an instance of Word from the desktop it will search for other
instances so you only ever have one instance of Word open normally and
therefore no locking issues with Normal.dot. (Check this by counting number
of WINWORD.exe's in task manager)
Our application forces another instance of Word to open, the reason being
that our ActiveX control cannot search for existing instances. In doing
this we get a locking problem on some machines where the Normal.dot file has
been modified by the first instance of Word. The reason for the
modification on each machine will be different, but on the one we
investigated btsendto_office.dll was running a macro that modified
Normal.dot every time and caused the locking. Now that this dll has been
identified, the offending macro can be stripped out and the locking no
longer occurs.
I hope this all makes sense Dian. I've been staring at this thing so long
it's just great to finally get it off the things to do list. Any questions
you have about what I've said just ask. Thanks again for all your help.
Feedback
Debbie writes...
I love reading your articles. My company needs a Survey Software for our Internet and Intranet. Do you have any recommendations? I would appreciate your wisdom.
Thank you!
Debbie
Reply
Dian Chapman, Editor of TechTrax, writes...
Contact Brian Reilly. He's a Microsoft MVP and knows a lot about Survey software. Brian can be reached at...
Brian Reilly, COO
Customer Solutions, Inc.
917-690-1726
www.customer-solutions.com
Feedback
Freddy Claros from Streamwood, IL, writes...
Regarding Review Toolbar Annoyance
Comments: The AutoExec() macro for disabling my Reviewing toolbar did work. However, every time I logged off and back on I needed to manually launch the macro to disable this toolbar. The workaround I found that worked was to enter into customization mode, I copied all the icons in the Reviewing toolbar into a new toolbar and named it "Review". Then I deleted ALL the icons in the Reviewing toolbar and left the empty toolbar docked. If you find this tip helpful, please feel free to post it.
Reply
Beth Melton, author of Review Toolbar Annoyance, writes...
Hi Freddy,
If you are using Word as your email editor in Outlook then you may need to
use an AutoOpen macro instead of an AutoExec. It's a known issue that an
AutoExec macro may not run if Outlook is started before Word.
The workaround you came up with is another way of dealing with this issue. I
recall using a similar method when the Web toolbar was the annoying popup
toolbar in previous versions. I'm sure others will find your workaround
useful as well. :-)
Thanks for your feedback!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
Feedback
Lou Winklemann from Woy Woy Bay / NSW / Australia, writes...
Regarding Registry Tip for Increasing Icon Cache
Comments: Hi,
Something I do not understand about the procedure advocated in the article.
FIRST: the article indicates that the procedure works for both, "Windows 9x
and WinXP".
I run Windows 98 SE and here are my problems:
1- when inserting the DWORD value, the article shows the following: "HKeyRoot=dword:80000002". However, the only modification I can make is: "0x04c4b402 (80000002)" I cannot insert "dword:"
2- although I have created the 'Huge'(8192) key, it will not show up in the Advanced Settings in Folder Options.
3- the setting will only show 'Small - Medium - Large' and ALWAYS default back to the Medium (2048) setting.
How do I rectify the above?
I have a funny feeling that the procedure, as listed in the article, only
applies to Windows XP. Thanks for the help
Lou
Reply
Vic Ferri, author of
Registry Tip for Increasing Icon Cache, writes...
First it does work in 98. Below is a screenshot I just took from a 98 system which had the tweak applied to it. The article assumes a basic understanding of the registry. I suggest you use the premade reg file to apply the changes. It can be downloaded here from the file section of Wintips&Tricks. Name of the file is iconcache.reg. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinTips-Tricks/files/.
Feedback
Dixie Strunk from Seattle, WA, writes...
Regarding PowerPoint
Comments: I love your emagazine. Question for you: One of our teachers uses PowerPoint to give her presentations. I showed her how to get all the pages to transition the same. Now, she want to know how to transition all 50 slides on the slide. Example: Slide two has 3 points, she has told PowerPOint that when she clicks, dim the first point and move on to the next point, and then clicks and the 2 pt dims and moves onto the next slide. Is there any way to set the above transition for all slides without having to do each slide individually?
Reply
Geetesh Bajaj, PowerPoint MVP, writes...
Hi Dixie,
You cannot apply custom builds across all slides in a presentation at one
go unless you apply those builds to the relevant placeholders in the
slide/title master.
Applying the builds to the masters will not help with existing slides -
rather only the new slides that you insert based on that master.
Geetesh Bajaj, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
http://www.indezine.com
http://www.powerpointed.com
Feedback
Linda Tadir from Israel, writes...
Regarding Paste Special Unformatted Text At Your Fingertips
Comments: thank you, thank-you, thank-you.
Finally got a macro for that working thanks to your article
Herb Tyson, author of Paste Special Unformatted Text At Your Fingertips, writes...
If a reply is needed, I suggest something like the following:
I'm so glad that you have a new tool in your ensemble. Remember "Herb
Tyson's 5th Law: Annoyance + Imagination = Solution".
Cheers,
Herb Tyson
http://www.herbtyson.com
Feedback
A reader writes...
Regarding MS Photo Editor, Wherefore Art Thou?
Comments: Thanks for your article on the above subject...I thought I was losing my mind until I read your article and discovered I wasn't alone!
Herb Tyson, author of MS Photo Editor, Wherefore Art Thou?, writes...
Nope. The only people losing their minds were whatever geniuses at MS
thought that Photo Manager could fully replace Photo Editor. I'll be eager
to see what MS includes with the next version of Office. I'm hoping they'll
see the Photo Manager decision much as Coca Cola saw the "new Coke" decision
a few years back, and either include "Photo Editor Classic," or at the very
least provide the same level of functionality in whatever tool they do
provide.
Cheers,
Herb Tyson
http://www.herbtyson.com
Feedback
Rochelle Witherspoon from Huntsville, Alabama, writes...
Comments: I am not very experienced with computers and was hoping you could help me. I am using windows xp and my computer used to run really good but lately it has been running really slow and tends to lock up. Do you have any suggestions on what I need to do or what the problem may be?
Reply
Dian Chapman, Editor of TechTrax, writes...
Read these articles. It could be that you have a lot of junk piled up or
maybe you have a lot of spyware?
RAM Explained: Simply
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=71
Maintaining Your Computer
http://www.mousetrax.com/maintain.html
Hey, Who’s Peeping Through My Windows?
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=475
Good luck...
Dian ~
www.mousetrax.com/consulting
Feedback
Tom writes...
Comments: Is it possible to get telephone training on a hourly basis to help me with several issues related to building form in WOrd. I am using both the Forms toolbar and the command toolbar and have some questions I would like covered. What would the cost be?
Reply
Dian Chapman, Editor of TechTrax, writes...
Hi Tom...Yes, I provide phone/email/online video support for users who want custom training. You can either purchase my beginning VBA course at http://www.mousetrax.com/techcourse.html or bank consulting time through my consulting site at www.mousetrax.com/consulting. My rates are posted there, too.
Dian D. Chapman, Technical Consultant
Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified
Editor/TechTrax Ezine
www.mousetrax.com/consulting
Feedback
Joan from Australia, writes...
Comments: I can't record a macro in Word(2000). Each time I try it doesn't work!
I get hung up on giving the macro a name and filling in the other information.
Please help.
Joan Also,
I find your articles so good and extremely helpful, thank you.
Reply
Dian Chapman, Editor of TechTrax, writes...
See this link for a free web video that you can view to learn how it works:
http://www.mousetrax.com/TechCourses.html#samples. Specifically, click the link for MACROS. That video shows you how to record a macro and then edit the code to make custom modifications. This should get you rolling.
The above is a sample from my beginning VBA course. You'll need a browser that can view a Flash video, which most
newer browsers can do. And you should have sound to hear my instructions in
the video. Good luck.
Dian D. Chapman, Technical Consultant
Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified
Editor/TechTrax Ezine
www.mousetrax.com/consulting
Further reply from Joan...
Dear Dian,
Thank you very much indeed for such a prompt response to my request. I
intend to study the information and hope to succeed in "Making Macros"! I am not in the workforce, but very much a senior citizen and intend to
fully master Word. I find the computer fascinating. I never used one when I worked in an office.
Feedback
William (Bill) H. Roberts, Battelle Equipment Development, writes...
Regarding Text Effects
Author Kim Hedrich notes the need to stick with a few fonts.
When I first ventured into newspaper typography in the 1960s, I was told
that you could readily identify an amateur because he would use as many
fonts as possible. The availability of fonts in modern word processing
makes it easy to create practically unreadable documents--thanks to Ms.
Hedrich for pointing out this fact.
Feedback
Julia Toft writes...
Regarding Looking Out Through Outlook and Organizing Outlook Mail
Dear Dian
I just had to drop you a line to let you know how incredibly grateful I am for your articles Looking Out Through Outlook and Organising Outlook Mail. I have certainly added these to my favourites! Last week I added a new hard drive to my PC before copying, or exporting the .PST files (folders and email addresses) and of course once I made the old hard drive the slave, I was no longer able to open the old outlook program…. I had considered (briefly!) dismantling the whole drives etc again and rebooting from the old one, but instead decided to try the web for some ideas first, and was lucky enough to find these two sites. It might be worth mentioning that once a drive becomes a slave, these files become hidden so I had to unhide them via control panel in order to actually locate them, but I knew they were there somewhere as I did a search for .PST as you suggested. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I am very happy with the outcome and thought that you might like to know this!
Gratefully, Julia
Reply
Dian Chapman, author of Looking Out Through Outlook, writes...
Thanks so much for the nice letter, Julia. Glad it helped and thanks for the extra tip.
Dian ~
www.mousetrax.com/consulting
Feedback
Frank writes...
Regarding Hard and Soft Asset Management with VBScript!
I just want to say thanks for all your work on the vbscript for Software and Hardware inventory. I find it very useful .. I am a Network Admin starting to cross over into the vbscript world to perform domain wide tasks. Your script is not only helpful but also has a lot for me to learn from. If you have any Cisco questions, feel free to ask ..
Thanks,
Frank
Reply
Greg Chapman, author of Hard and Software Asset Management with VBScript!, writes...
Absolutely no problem, Frank! Sounds like you're right at the point of
frustration I was when I started writing scripts. It was merely a matter
of no product existing to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it
and at the right price. It gets somewhat easier if you learn to 'roll your
own'.
Good luck and thanks for the Cisco offer!
Greg Chapman
http://www.mousetrax.com
http://www.layer1wireless.com
Feedback
Rick Helstrom, writes...
Regarding Hard and Soft Asset Management with VBScript!
Greg, I have utilized your script from mousetrax for hard and soft asset inventory and found that it does a very good job of gathering the data. I want to put the data gathered (specifically that in the OS directory structure) into a hardware asset spread sheet but cannot figure out a good way to combine the data from each text file into a single spread sheet or database. I am hoping you have already addressed this need and I can save myself a good deal of time. In either case, excellent work on the script and thank you for your time.
Rick Helstrom, Technical Support Specialist
Reply
Greg Chapman, author of Hard and Software Asset Management with VBScript!, writes...
Thanks, Rick! I appreciate the compliments!
In fact, it was because I was having trouble with getting consistent columns in Excel that the script does what it does now. Another way of looking at it is that I got lazy. Here's the problem (which I'm sure you've already considered):
Example:
System A has a single processor, 2 Gigs of physical memory
System B has 2 processors, 3 Gigs of physical memory
If I want the spreadsheet to be completely dynamic, that means the parsed results in CSV format look like this:
System A, CPU0-Intel yada, 2G
System B, CPU0-Intel yada, CPU1-Intel yada, 3G
As soon as the processor count changed, the columns became skewed and the information in the 3rd column contains both processor and memory values. The only other choice was to force a static report in Excel with a rigid number of processors that could be reported, etc.
I didn't like either choice and then decided to look at using a relational DB. Unfortunately, my own ignorance got in the way there. How should I set the relationships? How many tables should I use ideally? If System A has 300 installed apps and System B has 200 and only 50 of those apps are common between them, how should the DB be designed so that I get accurate results on a query per application?
That's why I decided to just parse the results out into refined text files showing the single point of commonality per detailed element. Microsoft Word XP.txt, for example shows every system which has Microsoft Word XP registered as installed, etc.
You're right, there has to be another way to think of this problem and arrive at a solution more usable in Excel, Access, SQL, what have you but I simply haven't figured out what it would be yet. Have you any ideas that survive those specifications?
Thanks again!
Greg Chapman
http://www.mousetrax.com
http://www.layer1wireless.com
|
