Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Back when you first started using Internet Explorer (IE), it asked you if you wanted the program to remember your passwords so you wouldn't need to type them in again. Chances are pretty good you let IE have its way. IE is possibly storing your passwords even now.
Here are some points to consider about allowing IE to save your passwords:
Your passwords are sitting around in a file somewhere. Even though they're protected and encrypted, you might not trust IE to absolutely, positively keep the passwords safe from every clever virus or worm that's running around. Is this paranoia? Perhaps not.
If you don't type your passwords on a semi-regular basis, you'll forget what they are. Memory's the second thing to go, right?
Anyone casually walking by your PC, who can log on to Windows with your ID, can then log on to any site and pretend to be you. That's particularly distressing if any of your credit card information has ever been entered on any form — and your bank accounts.
The minute you let anyone sit down at your PC, he or she can break anything on it. It should send shivers down your spine that anybody who can guess your Windows password immediately has access to any Web site, and he or she can do anything you can do (in your name), including shopping with your credit card or sending wire transfers from your bank account.
Don't let IE hold onto your passwords. Period. To keep IE from storing away your passwords, follow these steps:
1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Choose Tools --> Internet Options --> Content.
IE shows you the Internet Options dialog box.
3. Click AutoComplete.
IE brings up the AutoComplete Settings dialog box.
In general, to save time, you want to have IE remember the Web addresses that you type. If don't like the idea of IE storing your credit card number to be used automatically when filling out forms on the Web, then uncheck the Forms box. That's a tough choice for timesavers because it also tells IE that it shouldn't store your name, address, phone number, and so on, to use on forms. You're potentially saving yourself more than simple time by playing it safe.
Use Table 1 to figure out how to handle the last two check boxes.
4. In the Use AutoComplete For area, choose the settings that work best for you.
5. If you want to clear out any of IE's current AutoComplete data, click the appropriate button.
If you click Clear Passwords, IE deletes all the passwords that it has stored. If you click Clear Forms, all the data IE has — including all user names and passwords, in addition to addresses, telephone numbers and the like — gets the heave-ho.
6. Click OK twice.
Table 1: Consequences of Internet Explorer AutoComplete Options
User Names and Passwords on Forms
Prompt Me to Save Passwords
IE Does This
Checked
Checked
IE stores all the user names you enter on forms, but it stores passwords only if you explicitly give permission when you type the password.
If you can remember to tell IE that it's okay to remember relatively unimportant passwords (say, the password to log on to a news site, or a vendor's support site), but can always remember to tell IE to not remember important passwords (for example, on a banking site), this is a good, timesaving combination.
Checked
Not Checked
This is the most dangerous combination. IE remembers all the user names and passwords that you enter and offers them when anyone using your Windows ID reaches the logon Web page.
Not Checked
N/A
IE doesn't store any user names or passwords. The most secure, but most time-consuming, option.
If you want to delete some AutoComplete entries (such as your credit card numbers) but want to use others (such as your name and address), there's a way. The next time you fill out a form on the Web and you see some data you don't want IE to remember, double-click the box that's coming up with your sensitive data, and then click the unwanted entry once and press Delete. That gets rid of it.
Here are some points to consider about allowing IE to save your passwords:
Your passwords are sitting around in a file somewhere. Even though they're protected and encrypted, you might not trust IE to absolutely, positively keep the passwords safe from every clever virus or worm that's running around. Is this paranoia? Perhaps not.
If you don't type your passwords on a semi-regular basis, you'll forget what they are. Memory's the second thing to go, right?
Anyone casually walking by your PC, who can log on to Windows with your ID, can then log on to any site and pretend to be you. That's particularly distressing if any of your credit card information has ever been entered on any form — and your bank accounts.
The minute you let anyone sit down at your PC, he or she can break anything on it. It should send shivers down your spine that anybody who can guess your Windows password immediately has access to any Web site, and he or she can do anything you can do (in your name), including shopping with your credit card or sending wire transfers from your bank account.
Don't let IE hold onto your passwords. Period. To keep IE from storing away your passwords, follow these steps:
1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Choose Tools --> Internet Options --> Content.
IE shows you the Internet Options dialog box.
3. Click AutoComplete.
IE brings up the AutoComplete Settings dialog box.
In general, to save time, you want to have IE remember the Web addresses that you type. If don't like the idea of IE storing your credit card number to be used automatically when filling out forms on the Web, then uncheck the Forms box. That's a tough choice for timesavers because it also tells IE that it shouldn't store your name, address, phone number, and so on, to use on forms. You're potentially saving yourself more than simple time by playing it safe.
Use Table 1 to figure out how to handle the last two check boxes.
4. In the Use AutoComplete For area, choose the settings that work best for you.
5. If you want to clear out any of IE's current AutoComplete data, click the appropriate button.
If you click Clear Passwords, IE deletes all the passwords that it has stored. If you click Clear Forms, all the data IE has — including all user names and passwords, in addition to addresses, telephone numbers and the like — gets the heave-ho.
6. Click OK twice.
Table 1: Consequences of Internet Explorer AutoComplete Options
User Names and Passwords on Forms
Prompt Me to Save Passwords
IE Does This
Checked
Checked
IE stores all the user names you enter on forms, but it stores passwords only if you explicitly give permission when you type the password.
If you can remember to tell IE that it's okay to remember relatively unimportant passwords (say, the password to log on to a news site, or a vendor's support site), but can always remember to tell IE to not remember important passwords (for example, on a banking site), this is a good, timesaving combination.
Checked
Not Checked
This is the most dangerous combination. IE remembers all the user names and passwords that you enter and offers them when anyone using your Windows ID reaches the logon Web page.
Not Checked
N/A
IE doesn't store any user names or passwords. The most secure, but most time-consuming, option.
If you want to delete some AutoComplete entries (such as your credit card numbers) but want to use others (such as your name and address), there's a way. The next time you fill out a form on the Web and you see some data you don't want IE to remember, double-click the box that's coming up with your sensitive data, and then click the unwanted entry once and press Delete. That gets rid of it.
After you figure out the mechanics of your camera — how to load the batteries, how to turn on the LCD, and so on — taking a picture is a simple process. Just aim the camera and press the shutter button. Taking a good picture, however, isn't so easy. Sure, you can record an okay image of your subject without much effort. But if you want a crisp, clear, dynamic image, you need to consider a few factors before you point and shoot.
Parallax
You compose your photo perfectly. The light is fine, the focus is fine, and all other photographic planets appear to be in alignment. But after you snap your picture and view the image on the camera monitor, you see something different from what you saw through the viewfinder. The framing of the image is off, as though your subject repositioned itself while you weren't looking. You're not the victim of some cruel digital hoax — just a photographic phenomenon known as a parallax error.
On most digital cameras, as on most point-and-shoot film cameras, the viewfinder looks out on the world through a separate window from the camera lens. Because the viewfinder is located an inch or so above or to the side of the lens, it sees your subject from a slightly different angle than the lens. But the image is captured from the point of view of the lens, not the viewfinder.
When you look through your viewfinder, you should see some little black lines near the corners of the frame. These lines indicate the boundaries of the "real" image — the edge of the frame as seen by the camera lens. If you don't pay attention to these framing cues as you shoot, you can wind up with subjects that appear to have been lopped off at the top.
The closer you are to your subject, the bigger the parallax problem becomes, whether you use a zoom lens or simply position the camera lens nearer to your subject. Some cameras provide a second set of framing marks in the viewfinder to indicate the framing boundaries that apply when you're shooting close-up shots.
If your camera has an LCD monitor, you have an additional aid for avoiding parallax problems. Because the monitor reflects the image as seen by the lens, you can simply use the monitor instead of the viewfinder to frame your image. On some cameras, the LCD monitor turns on automatically when you switch to macro mode for close-up shooting.
Light
Digital cameras are extremely demanding when it comes to light. A typical digital camera has a light sensitivity equivalent to that of ISO 100 film. As a result, image detail tends to get lost when objects are in the shadows. Too much light can also create problems. A ray of sunshine bouncing off a highly reflective surface can cause brown highlights— areas where all image detail is lost, resulting in a big white blob in your picture.
When you take digital pictures, capturing just the right amount of light involves not only deciding whether to use a flash or external photographic lights, but also figuring out the right exposure settings to choose.
Keep in mind that you can correct minor lighting and exposure problems in the image-editing stage. Generally speaking, making a too-dark image brighter is easier than correcting an overexposed (too bright) image. So if you can't seem to get the exposure just right, opt for a slightly underexposed image rather than an overexposed one.
Exposure
Exposure refers to the amount of light captured by the camera. Most consumer-level digital cameras feature autoexposure, sometimes known as programmed autoexposure, in which the camera reads the amount of light in the scene and then sets the exposure automatically for you. In order for your camera's autoexposure mechanism to work correctly, you need to take this three-step approach to shooting your pictures:
1. Frame your subject.
2. Press the shutter button halfway down and hold it there.
The camera analyzes the scene and sets the focus and exposure. After the camera makes its decisions, it signals you in some fashion — usually with a blinking light near the viewfinder or with a beeping noise.
If you don't want your subject to appear in the middle of the frame, you can recompose the image after locking in the exposure and focus. Just keep holding the shutter button halfway down as you reframe the image in your viewfinder. Don't move or reposition the subject before you shoot, or the exposure and focus may be out of whack.
3. Press the shutter button the rest of the way down to capture the image.
On lower-end cameras, you typically get a choice of two autoexposure settings — one appropriate for shooting in very bright light and another for average lighting. Many cameras display a warning light or refuse to capture the image if you've chosen an autoexposure setting that will result in a badly overexposed or underexposed picture. Higher-priced cameras give you more control over autoexposure.
Parallax
You compose your photo perfectly. The light is fine, the focus is fine, and all other photographic planets appear to be in alignment. But after you snap your picture and view the image on the camera monitor, you see something different from what you saw through the viewfinder. The framing of the image is off, as though your subject repositioned itself while you weren't looking. You're not the victim of some cruel digital hoax — just a photographic phenomenon known as a parallax error.
On most digital cameras, as on most point-and-shoot film cameras, the viewfinder looks out on the world through a separate window from the camera lens. Because the viewfinder is located an inch or so above or to the side of the lens, it sees your subject from a slightly different angle than the lens. But the image is captured from the point of view of the lens, not the viewfinder.
When you look through your viewfinder, you should see some little black lines near the corners of the frame. These lines indicate the boundaries of the "real" image — the edge of the frame as seen by the camera lens. If you don't pay attention to these framing cues as you shoot, you can wind up with subjects that appear to have been lopped off at the top.
The closer you are to your subject, the bigger the parallax problem becomes, whether you use a zoom lens or simply position the camera lens nearer to your subject. Some cameras provide a second set of framing marks in the viewfinder to indicate the framing boundaries that apply when you're shooting close-up shots.
If your camera has an LCD monitor, you have an additional aid for avoiding parallax problems. Because the monitor reflects the image as seen by the lens, you can simply use the monitor instead of the viewfinder to frame your image. On some cameras, the LCD monitor turns on automatically when you switch to macro mode for close-up shooting.
Light
Digital cameras are extremely demanding when it comes to light. A typical digital camera has a light sensitivity equivalent to that of ISO 100 film. As a result, image detail tends to get lost when objects are in the shadows. Too much light can also create problems. A ray of sunshine bouncing off a highly reflective surface can cause brown highlights— areas where all image detail is lost, resulting in a big white blob in your picture.
When you take digital pictures, capturing just the right amount of light involves not only deciding whether to use a flash or external photographic lights, but also figuring out the right exposure settings to choose.
Keep in mind that you can correct minor lighting and exposure problems in the image-editing stage. Generally speaking, making a too-dark image brighter is easier than correcting an overexposed (too bright) image. So if you can't seem to get the exposure just right, opt for a slightly underexposed image rather than an overexposed one.
Exposure
Exposure refers to the amount of light captured by the camera. Most consumer-level digital cameras feature autoexposure, sometimes known as programmed autoexposure, in which the camera reads the amount of light in the scene and then sets the exposure automatically for you. In order for your camera's autoexposure mechanism to work correctly, you need to take this three-step approach to shooting your pictures:
1. Frame your subject.
2. Press the shutter button halfway down and hold it there.
The camera analyzes the scene and sets the focus and exposure. After the camera makes its decisions, it signals you in some fashion — usually with a blinking light near the viewfinder or with a beeping noise.
If you don't want your subject to appear in the middle of the frame, you can recompose the image after locking in the exposure and focus. Just keep holding the shutter button halfway down as you reframe the image in your viewfinder. Don't move or reposition the subject before you shoot, or the exposure and focus may be out of whack.
3. Press the shutter button the rest of the way down to capture the image.
On lower-end cameras, you typically get a choice of two autoexposure settings — one appropriate for shooting in very bright light and another for average lighting. Many cameras display a warning light or refuse to capture the image if you've chosen an autoexposure setting that will result in a badly overexposed or underexposed picture. Higher-priced cameras give you more control over autoexposure.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Not sure how Outlook Express rules can simplify your life (not to mention your e-mail box)? Consider the following. Automatically delete messages with specific words (anything that indicates offensive or objectionable topics) in the subject line. Place messages marked as priority in a Priority folder, or put messages with attachments in an Attachments folder. When you're on vacation, choose to have all messages forwarded to somebody else, such as an assistant; or if a message is from a certain person, mark it with a color. Note: If you use the Autoforward feature, you have to leave your computer on and leave Outlook Express open while you're away.
Monday, November 28, 2005
eBay has partnered with MissionFish, an organization based in Washington, D.C., that has been raising money through online auctions since 2000. They're a forward-thinking, great group of people who founded this company with the purpose of doing good for others. Now, MissionFish is a service of the Points of Light Foundation.
MissionFish operates as the hub for nonprofits selling on eBay. They qualify the nonprofits, by verifying their eligibility before they can begin to raise money online with eBay. Aside from verification they also provide other service and support activities including donation collection and disbursement, tax receipting, and online contribution tracking.
MissionFish operates as the hub for nonprofits selling on eBay. They qualify the nonprofits, by verifying their eligibility before they can begin to raise money online with eBay. Aside from verification they also provide other service and support activities including donation collection and disbursement, tax receipting, and online contribution tracking.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Bloggers frequently comment on each other. Sometimes the comments are nice, sometimes they're not so nice, but they're certainly, uh, involved. Most blogs let visitors leave comments, but the serious discussions are often between two or more blogs, with each containing comments on the other blog. Anyone reading the blog with comments can see the reference to the original blog, but there's no way for someone reading the original to know where to look for comments. That's where trackbacks come in.
Let's say one blogger, call him John (not his real name), posts a provocative entry in his blog. Then a second blogger, Margy (not her real name, either) posts "For an utterly priceless example of garrulity, check out this entry in John's blog" with a link to John's blog. If John's blog software is set up to handle trackbacks, Margy's blog system can tell John's blog about the new link, so John's blog adds a trackback note with a link to the comment, thereby making the connection two-way.
The original vision of hypertext, of which the Web is a quick-and-dirty, hacked-up version, made all links two-way. Trackbacks bring the real-life Web closer to what it was originally supposed to be.
Let's say one blogger, call him John (not his real name), posts a provocative entry in his blog. Then a second blogger, Margy (not her real name, either) posts "For an utterly priceless example of garrulity, check out this entry in John's blog" with a link to John's blog. If John's blog software is set up to handle trackbacks, Margy's blog system can tell John's blog about the new link, so John's blog adds a trackback note with a link to the comment, thereby making the connection two-way.
The original vision of hypertext, of which the Web is a quick-and-dirty, hacked-up version, made all links two-way. Trackbacks bring the real-life Web closer to what it was originally supposed to be.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Maybe you don't want every blasted search engine in the universe beating a path to your site and listing every page. You can communicate to crawlers your intent to exclude a specific page from indexing by placing a META tag within the page's document head. The name of the META tag in this case is robots, and the possible instructions are index (or noindex) and follow (or nofollow). Index means that robots record the page's contents for use in a database or search engine. Follow means that the robot follows all the links on that page to collect more data.
To invite a robot to index and follow a page, the tag would look like this:
To instruct a robot not to index or follow the links on a page, the tag would look like
To invite a robot to index and follow a page, the tag would look like this:
To instruct a robot not to index or follow the links on a page, the tag would look like
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
It seems odd at first, but Microsoft Money requires you to transfer funds not only when you transfer funds between bank accounts, but also when you contribute to IRAs or other kinds of investments. Think of it this way: If you open an IRA and you write a $1,000 check for a contribution to your IRA, that $1,000 still belongs to you. You haven't really spent it. All you have done is transfer it from one account (checking) to another account (the retirement account with which you track the value of your IRA). Therefore, when you open a new account, you record the initial deposit as a transfer from your checking account to the new account.
You also transfer money between accounts when you pay a credit card bill. Here's how it works: Each time you record a charge in a credit card account, the charge is added to the amount of money that you owe. Suppose that at the end of a month your account shows that you owe $200 because you charged $200 worth of items. To pay the $200 that you owe, you record a check for $200 to the credit card issuer, but in the register, the $200 is shown as a transfer from your checking account to your credit card account. After the transfer is
You also transfer money between accounts when you pay a credit card bill. Here's how it works: Each time you record a charge in a credit card account, the charge is added to the amount of money that you owe. Suppose that at the end of a month your account shows that you owe $200 because you charged $200 worth of items. To pay the $200 that you owe, you record a check for $200 to the credit card issuer, but in the register, the $200 is shown as a transfer from your checking account to your credit card account. After the transfer is
If a new printer is placed on the network and shared with everyone, you'll be able to use it -- but only after you tell your computer about it. To add a networked printer to your Printers folder, follow these steps.
Click on the taskbar's Start button, and slide the mouse up to Settings and over to Printers. Click on Printers.
In the Printers folder, double-click on Add Printer. A helpful wizard program opens.
Click Next. Check the Network Printer box to tell the wizard that the printer you want to use is on the network.
On the wizard's next page, you can instruct the wizard to find a printer in the (Active) Directory. Or choose the second option to type the printer name or browse for a printer. Click Next.
If you chose to search the directory, click Find Now. The wizard returns a list of printers available to you. If you chose to browse for a printer, you also see a list of shared printers in the Browse for Printers box.
Highlight the printer you want to add and click Next.
If you want the printer to be the default printer (the one your programs will use automatically), click Yes. Click Next again.
The final wizard window summarizes the selections you made. If they're OK, click Finish. If the settings need adjustment, click the Back button.
Even if a printer actually exists, you may not be able to see it on the network because you haven't been granted access to it. The administrator is the only one who can fix that for you. But if you can see it, you probably have the right to use it, so go ahead and try.
Click on the taskbar's Start button, and slide the mouse up to Settings and over to Printers. Click on Printers.
In the Printers folder, double-click on Add Printer. A helpful wizard program opens.
Click Next. Check the Network Printer box to tell the wizard that the printer you want to use is on the network.
On the wizard's next page, you can instruct the wizard to find a printer in the (Active) Directory. Or choose the second option to type the printer name or browse for a printer. Click Next.
If you chose to search the directory, click Find Now. The wizard returns a list of printers available to you. If you chose to browse for a printer, you also see a list of shared printers in the Browse for Printers box.
Highlight the printer you want to add and click Next.
If you want the printer to be the default printer (the one your programs will use automatically), click Yes. Click Next again.
The final wizard window summarizes the selections you made. If they're OK, click Finish. If the settings need adjustment, click the Back button.
Even if a printer actually exists, you may not be able to see it on the network because you haven't been granted access to it. The administrator is the only one who can fix that for you. But if you can see it, you probably have the right to use it, so go ahead and try.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
I had this conversation recently with a lady who swore she had been using computers since forever.
Tech Support: "All right. Now click 'OK'."
Customer: "Click 'OK'?"
Tech Support: "Yes, click 'OK'."
Customer: "Click 'OK'?"
Tech Support: "That's right. Click 'OK'."
Customer: "So I click 'OK', right?"
Tech Support: "Right. Click 'OK'."
Pause.
Customer: "I clicked 'Cancel'."
Tech Support: "YOU CLICKED 'CANCEL'???"
Customer: "That's what I was supposed to do, right?"
Tech Support: "No, you were supposed to click 'OK'."
Customer: "I thought you said to click 'Cancel'."
Tech Support: "NO. I said to click 'OK'."
Customer: "Oh."
Tech Support: "Now we have to start over."
Customer: "Why?"
Tech Support: "Because you clicked 'Cancel'."
Customer: "Wasn't I supposed to click 'Cancel'?"
Tech Support: "No. Forget that. Let's start from the top."
Customer: "Ok."
I spent the next fifteen minutes re-constructing the carefully crafted setup for this lady's unique computer.
Tech Support: "All right. Now, are you ready to click 'OK'?"
Customer: "Yes."
Tech Support: "Great. Now click 'OK'."
Pause.
Customer: "I clicked 'Cancel'."
And people wonder why my mouse pad has a target on it labeled "BANG HEAD HERE."
Tech Support: "All right. Now click 'OK'."
Customer: "Click 'OK'?"
Tech Support: "Yes, click 'OK'."
Customer: "Click 'OK'?"
Tech Support: "That's right. Click 'OK'."
Customer: "So I click 'OK', right?"
Tech Support: "Right. Click 'OK'."
Pause.
Customer: "I clicked 'Cancel'."
Tech Support: "YOU CLICKED 'CANCEL'???"
Customer: "That's what I was supposed to do, right?"
Tech Support: "No, you were supposed to click 'OK'."
Customer: "I thought you said to click 'Cancel'."
Tech Support: "NO. I said to click 'OK'."
Customer: "Oh."
Tech Support: "Now we have to start over."
Customer: "Why?"
Tech Support: "Because you clicked 'Cancel'."
Customer: "Wasn't I supposed to click 'Cancel'?"
Tech Support: "No. Forget that. Let's start from the top."
Customer: "Ok."
I spent the next fifteen minutes re-constructing the carefully crafted setup for this lady's unique computer.
Tech Support: "All right. Now, are you ready to click 'OK'?"
Customer: "Yes."
Tech Support: "Great. Now click 'OK'."
Pause.
Customer: "I clicked 'Cancel'."
And people wonder why my mouse pad has a target on it labeled "BANG HEAD HERE."
Friday, November 18, 2005
The first place to go for help in Excel is the Ask a Question box that appears on the right side of the Excel Menu bar. This combo box is your ever-present key to accessing the Answer Wizard, a component of the Excel Help system that tries to respond intelligently to your queries by suggesting related help topics to which you may want to refer.
Although it's called the Ask a Question box, you really don't have to ask a formal question; entering a phrase with key terms will usually do just as well. For example, instead of typing out the formal question, "How do I get my spreadsheet headings to print on every page of my report?" you can simply enter the keyword phrase "print headings."
To use the Ask a Question box to consult the Answer Wizard, follow three easy steps:
Click the Ask a Question box to select whatever text it currently contains.
When you first use the Ask a Question box, it contains the phrase, "Type a question for help." When you click anywhere in this box, Excel selects all of the text in the box so that whatever you begin typing in the box replaces this original text.
Type the keywords or a keyword phrase describing the topic that you want help with in the Ask a Question box.
Whatever you type in the Ask a Question box replaces the original text it contains.
Press Enter to display a pop-up list of possible help topics.
Simply click the topic to open the Help window and display information on one of the help topics listed in the Ask a Question box's pop-up menu. If none of the topics suggested by the Answer Wizard seem to fit the bill, click the See More button at the bottom of the list. If these further topics don't offer a good match, click the Ask a Question box and try using other keywords or more descriptive phrases.
Although it's called the Ask a Question box, you really don't have to ask a formal question; entering a phrase with key terms will usually do just as well. For example, instead of typing out the formal question, "How do I get my spreadsheet headings to print on every page of my report?" you can simply enter the keyword phrase "print headings."
To use the Ask a Question box to consult the Answer Wizard, follow three easy steps:
Click the Ask a Question box to select whatever text it currently contains.
When you first use the Ask a Question box, it contains the phrase, "Type a question for help." When you click anywhere in this box, Excel selects all of the text in the box so that whatever you begin typing in the box replaces this original text.
Type the keywords or a keyword phrase describing the topic that you want help with in the Ask a Question box.
Whatever you type in the Ask a Question box replaces the original text it contains.
Press Enter to display a pop-up list of possible help topics.
Simply click the topic to open the Help window and display information on one of the help topics listed in the Ask a Question box's pop-up menu. If none of the topics suggested by the Answer Wizard seem to fit the bill, click the See More button at the bottom of the list. If these further topics don't offer a good match, click the Ask a Question box and try using other keywords or more descriptive phrases.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
If you use Outlook 2000 on a network at work, you may find some interesting information posted in the public folders. Many public folders are organized as open discussions in which anyone can put in his or her two cents' worth. All the messages can be read by anybody, so everybody reads and replies to everybody else. If you view a folder and find it's full of messages from different people all replying to one another, you're looking at a discussion folder.
To add new items to a public folder, follow these steps:
Choose View, Folder List (or click the Folder List button in the toolbar).
The Folder List appears.
Click the name of the folder.
The list of messages in the folder appears.
Choose File, New, Post in This Folder.
The New Item form appears.
Type a subject and your message.
Click Post.
Now your message is part of the list of items in the folder.
To add new items to a public folder, follow these steps:
Choose View, Folder List (or click the Folder List button in the toolbar).
The Folder List appears.
Click the name of the folder.
The list of messages in the folder appears.
Choose File, New, Post in This Folder.
The New Item form appears.
Type a subject and your message.
Click Post.
Now your message is part of the list of items in the folder.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Most Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service is sold as part of an Internet access package, so your Internet service provider will be your interface to getting a DSL connection to the Internet. To help decide which DSL service to buy, you want to consider what IP (Internet Protocol) networking services are included in the agreement.
What you can and can't do with your DSL Internet connection is defined in large part by the particular configuration of services offered by the ISP.
The United States has thousands of ISPs, and a wide variety of them offer DSL service. As a result, the packaging and pricing of DSL service is all over the map — literally and figuratively.
Three types of ISPs offer DSL-based Internet access service:
Independent ISPs. These ISPs buy their DSL circuits from Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) or Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) and provide the bulk of DSL service offerings. In large metropolitan markets, independent ISPs typically buy DSL service from multiple DSL circuit providers. For example, an ISP serving northern California may offer DSL service from Pacific Bell, NorthPoint, and Covad Communications.
ILEC ISPs. These ILEC-owned ISPs provide an Internet access package added to the ILEC's DSL offerings. ILEC ISPs have names such as PacBell.net, BellAtlantic.net, and USWEST.net. They compete with independent ISPs but offer only the ILEC's DSL service.
ISPs acting as CLECs. These ISPs become CLECs by filing tariffs with the state regulatory agency, installing Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexes (DSLAMs) in central offices (COs), and using the ILECs' local loops in a similar way that larger CLECs do. A pioneer of this approach is Harvard Net, which is located in the Boston area
Given the complexity of TCP/IP networking combined with DSL service issues, most ISPs could do a better job of creating user-friendly packaging of DSL-based Internet access services. ISP Web sites are the main source of initial customer information, yet many of these sites lack helpful information for customers trying to define their needs. In many cases, you have to call the ISP for basic service information. And even when you call, you may get a salesperson ill-prepared to answer your questions. One site to check out is DSL Reports, which provides DSL customer reviews of ISPs offering DSL service.
What you can and can't do with your DSL Internet connection is defined in large part by the particular configuration of services offered by the ISP.
The United States has thousands of ISPs, and a wide variety of them offer DSL service. As a result, the packaging and pricing of DSL service is all over the map — literally and figuratively.
Three types of ISPs offer DSL-based Internet access service:
Independent ISPs. These ISPs buy their DSL circuits from Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) or Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) and provide the bulk of DSL service offerings. In large metropolitan markets, independent ISPs typically buy DSL service from multiple DSL circuit providers. For example, an ISP serving northern California may offer DSL service from Pacific Bell, NorthPoint, and Covad Communications.
ILEC ISPs. These ILEC-owned ISPs provide an Internet access package added to the ILEC's DSL offerings. ILEC ISPs have names such as PacBell.net, BellAtlantic.net, and USWEST.net. They compete with independent ISPs but offer only the ILEC's DSL service.
ISPs acting as CLECs. These ISPs become CLECs by filing tariffs with the state regulatory agency, installing Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexes (DSLAMs) in central offices (COs), and using the ILECs' local loops in a similar way that larger CLECs do. A pioneer of this approach is Harvard Net, which is located in the Boston area
Given the complexity of TCP/IP networking combined with DSL service issues, most ISPs could do a better job of creating user-friendly packaging of DSL-based Internet access services. ISP Web sites are the main source of initial customer information, yet many of these sites lack helpful information for customers trying to define their needs. In many cases, you have to call the ISP for basic service information. And even when you call, you may get a salesperson ill-prepared to answer your questions. One site to check out is DSL Reports, which provides DSL customer reviews of ISPs offering DSL service.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Link Checker by 2bone.com is a service that tests the links on any Web page, and it's totally free. Really, no strings attached. No advertising commitments, no registration -- you don't even need to supply your e-mail address. How nice is that?
To check the links on a Web page, follow these steps:
Go to www.2bone.com/links/linkchecker.shtml. The Link Checker page appears.
In the Step 1 text box, enter the URL of the page you want to check. Note that you cannot check more than one page at a time.
In the Step 2 area, click either the Express Lane option button or the I Can Wait Service option button. The difference between the two is that the Express Lane option is limited to ten items per page, although the other takes a lot longer because it waits until it can display all the test results on one page (exactly how long depends on the number of links on the site).
If you want to add your URL to 2bone.com's Links page, click the Check Here check box in the Step 3 area.
Click the Test My Links button.
While you wait for the test results, a pop-up window appears, which talks about the 2bone.com Web site. You need to click the Close link to get back to the Web page, which, depending upon how fast a service you selected, should be showing up any second now with the results of your links test.
To check the links on a Web page, follow these steps:
Go to www.2bone.com/links/linkchecker.shtml. The Link Checker page appears.
In the Step 1 text box, enter the URL of the page you want to check. Note that you cannot check more than one page at a time.
In the Step 2 area, click either the Express Lane option button or the I Can Wait Service option button. The difference between the two is that the Express Lane option is limited to ten items per page, although the other takes a lot longer because it waits until it can display all the test results on one page (exactly how long depends on the number of links on the site).
If you want to add your URL to 2bone.com's Links page, click the Check Here check box in the Step 3 area.
Click the Test My Links button.
While you wait for the test results, a pop-up window appears, which talks about the 2bone.com Web site. You need to click the Close link to get back to the Web page, which, depending upon how fast a service you selected, should be showing up any second now with the results of your links test.
Monday, November 07, 2005
When working in a Word 2003 table, you'll notice that each cell has a little box in it called the end-of-cell marker. You can think of these markers as the paragraph marks for cells. In fact, you can't see the end-of-cell markers unless you've decided to display paragraph marks also. If you don't see paragraph marks or end-of-cell markers in your documents, choose Tools, Options, click the View tab, and select the Paragraph Marks check box. Alternatively, click the Show/Hide button (resembles a big Paragraph symbol) on the Standard toolbar.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Drag-and-drop in Insert mode is one of Excel's more finicky features. Sometimes, you do everything just right and you still get the alert box indicating that Excel is about to replace existing entries instead of pushing them aside (always click the Cancel button). Fortunately, you can insert things with the Cut (Ctrl, X) and Insert Paste (Ctrl, V) commands without worrying about which way the I-beam selection goes
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Computer Help Desk Calls
User's new notebook PC has a wireless network card. He loves it - for a day or so, until the battery goes dead. Did you plug it into a power outlet to charge it? asks systems administrator. "No," says sales guy impatiently. "It's wireless, why would I?"No more floppy disks from home, Systems Administrator tells user whose PC keeps getting re-infected with viruses. A week goes by with no problems - then user's machine is infected again. Yes, she used a disk from home, user admits. "But I let the diskette sit on my desk for a whole week. Who knew that the virus could live that long?"New computer room is state of the art, beautifully laid out and stuffed with useful tools for systems management. "But the feature we're all proudest of is the fact that the card-key reader to get in is located much lower on the wall than in the old room," says Systems Administrator who works there. "Nothing to do with accessibility requirements - the sys admins were around when the electricians were hooking it up, and we requested it that way. You just bang your butt up against it, with the access key still in your back pocket, and it clicks. A great time-saver."Computer guy, getting ready to leave for a conference, requests a company laptop so he can stay in touch with e-mail while he's on the road. "Our department has four or five high-end laptops for visiting staff," says fish, "so I figured this would not be a problem." Request denied, say the laptop keepers: "Our IT department policy is that company laptops cannot be taken out of the building."After a chain e-mail makes the rounds at this company, Sys Admin sends e-mail to all users reminding them that this is against company policy, quoting from the employee handbook about appropriate e-mail use. But this Systems Administrator receives an extra copy with a directive at the top: "Please print and distribute to all those employees without e-mail access."Working on the requirements for a new version of an order processing application, developer gets a very specific request from a user: "On the accounts receivable screen, I want the system to tell me when I have checks that I haven't deposited."Help desk gets the call from a receptionist whose tab key on the keyboard isn't working. "I told her to shake the keyboard upside-down and tap one corner on the desk." No luck. "I then told her to pick up one end about two or three inches off the desk and drop it. Hearing a loud thud, I asked what she was doing. She said, 'I am dropping one side of the laptop they just got fixed for me yesterday." This university has a new voice-mail system, and tech aide watches as a vendor rep trains staffers to use it. Rep: "The first time you use your mailbox, you'll be prompted to choose and enter your password using the phone's keypad." Support staffer: "Can it be letters and numbers?" Rep: "Well, sure." Staffer: "Is it case-sensitive?" "When the air conditioning goes down, it gets hot in the server room - climbing to over 100 degrees. The infrastructure guys get the bright idea of opening the window - yes, this server room has a window - to cool off the room. Great idea, right? However, the lawn sprinklers go on causing two brand-new high-end servers to get wet and bringing an entire project team of over 30 people to a grinding halt.A user calls the support desk and reports she's having trouble powering up her new laptop. She says the battery is good; she used it last night. The tech desk asks, "Is the laptop plugged in?" The user says, "How do I determine if it's plugged in?"A user with a problem calls the help desk, saying "An error message just popped up. It's asking for me to hit OK or cancel. What should I do?" The tech rep says, "Click Cancel." The user promptly states, "Well, I already clicked OK!""I know you'll think I'm crazy, but Elvis keeps crashing my computer," this user tells help desk. And she's right - when she takes a CD-ROM out of the drive, Elvis starts singing. It was finally figured out: Apparently, she put an Elvis CD in the drive on top of another CD, and it got stuck on the plunger of the CD-ROM drive. When she took out a CD, Auto-run would start the audio CD (stuck on the plunger), and Elvis started singing!User tells support tech that she knocked a key off her laptop. She replaced it, but now it won't work. Tech asks, "is the key loose?" "Not now," user replies. "It was loose, but I fixed it. I used super glue." Phone system administrator reports a problem to vendor: He can't connect to the system remotely for monitoring and maintenance. Help desk: "Fine; a technician will remote into your system and fix the problem." Admin: "But I'm reporting that we can't remote in." Help desk: "Yes, that's on the ticket. I'll give it to the tech and he'll remote into your system and fix the problem." Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.A manufacturer generates bar codes for different departments, and though no two formats are alike, they all get done, until one manager's sample bar code doesn't scan. "Even our best scanner beeped back an error," tech says. So he calls the manager, who admits he created it with a drawing program. "We don't really use bar codes," he confides. "We just thought it would look professional." Employees who travel are literally destroying their laptops, technician says. So when one vendor rep says his laptop can be thrown to the floor without damage - "try it," he says - tech is impressed and asks the agency head to come see. "The head guy walks into this office without a word, picks up the laptop and slams it to the floor, just as my assistant informs him we are in the office next door." IT tech rep sends a report to several accountants in two parts - he has to break it up because it's bigger than the 1,500KB size limit on attachments. But one user says that's unnecessary. "Quit sending me kilobyte files", she says. "Send megabytes. The file will only be 1.5MB - much smaller than the 1,500 system limit."A lady was putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. I inquired as to what she was doing and she said she was shopping on the internet, and they asked for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy.""Everything on my laptop is turning blue," user complains. Support rep hustles to the scene and finds user has attached the laptop to a video projector. The wall you're using as a projection screen is painted light blue, support rep patiently points out. "I know that!" user snaps. "I'm not stupid. Just fix the thing so it projects white!"Layoffs are coming, so an insurance company ranked all employees for future termination. "To maintain secrecy, they shredded the printed spreadsheets with the ratings," says an employee. "Unfortunately, the spreadsheets were printed in landscape mode, so the shredder blades separated each employee and rating, by name, on his own strip of paper. After I came across them in the recycling bin, I knew each person's rating - all 126 of them." An individual who plugged their power strip back into itself and for the life of them could not understand why their computer would not turn on.A user's PC is flickering and rebooting. It checks out fine for support tech assistant so he tells the user, "Do what you normally do." She sits down and goes to work - and the system soon reboots. "The fourth time, I noticed she was tapping her foot to the music on the radio", tech says. "Her foot was hitting the power strip on/off switch just enough to cause the system to reboot." Important HR reports must be shredded - they have confidential data, boss tells IT rep. Since most of these reports are just for reference, why not just save the printing and keep them on disk? rep suggests. "No, they must be shredded," boss insists. Well, why don't we hook the shredder to the back of the printer for the unnecessary reports? rep jokes. "Sounds great!" says the boss. "How much will it cost?"A distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery in this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery for this?" "Hmmm, I don't know. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just the remote 'thingy'" she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries as it's a long walk."It's a tech's first day on the job as a quality control analyst in the operations center. She boots up her workstation, and the splash screen proclaims the department's slogan: "Comitted to Excellence." She points out the misspelling to her boss. "Yeah," boss says, "it's close enough. Everybody knows what they mean."When this executive's PC stops working, support tech patiently explains that the executive really shouldn't have deleted critical Windows system files. But a week later, it happens again. And when tech asks why, executive explains, "Oh, I needed to make room for some big spreadsheets, and my files are much more important than those. Why doesn't the computer still work?" This Army hospital commander likes voice-recognition software for dictating notes, so he assigns three IT staffers to get it working. "One was from India, one from the Far East and one, though born in the United States, had a strong Southern accent," reports support crew member. "They took turns reading the training paragraphs to the system. For some reason, it never worked right." For two years, this company's purchasing agent has bought printer supplies from the same outfit: Tech rep says "the prices are high, a third of the refurbished toner cartridges are no good, and she never sends them in for credit." So tech finds a better, cheaper supplier and management declares to be the preferred provider. So why are invoices still coming in from the old outfit? Purchasing agent admits it's because she likes the candy the first supplier sends with each order. "For this invoice alone, that bag of candy cost us an additional $204."Tech Support: "What does the screen say now.." Person: "It says, 'Hit ENTER when ready'." Tech Support: "Well?" Person: "How do I know when it's ready?"Several years ago we had an intern who was none too swift. One day he was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. "What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," she told him. With that, the intern took his last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five blank copies.One of our servers crashed. I was watching our new system administrator trying to restore it. He inserted a CD and needed to type a path name to a directory named "i386." He started to type it and paused, asking me "Where's the key for that line thing?" I asked what he was talking about, and he said, "You know, that one that looks like an upside down exclamation mark." I replied, "You mean the letter i?" and he said, "Yeah, that's it!"User calls the help desk to ask if something is wrong with the mail server. "My e-mails are coming in with next week's date. This is March 31, isn't it?" No, says tech support, it's April 7. That's when the user realized she forgot to change her calendar. Network techs at this manufacturer are surprised when they get a poor evaluation -- the networks are running fine with few user complaints. "That's the problem," says IT guy. "Their metric is how many trouble tickets they resolve and how quickly." So techs take to randomly unplugging a hub, waiting for trouble tickets to come in, then restarting the hub. Rep says, "They were rated 'excellent' on their next review."1st Person: "Do you know anything about this fax machine?" 2nd Person: "A little. What's wrong?" 1st Person: "Well, I sent a fax, and the recipient called back to say all she received was a cover sheet and a blank page. I tried it again, and the same thing happened." 2nd Person: "How did you load the sheet?" 1st Person: "It's a pretty sensitive memo, and I didn't want anyone else to read it by accident, so I folded it so only the recipient would open it and read it."IT guy is fed up with executives who say they need the latest technology, so he comes up with an idea. "Every six months, we have people turn in their laptops for a technology refresh," he says. "Their laptop cases and keyboards are cleaned and fitted with new, upgraded "Intel" stickers. They love their "new" laptops, and never catch on that all they get are new stickers. And this frees up considerable budget for users who actually do need the power but who are too far down the ladder to actually get it." AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that the system wouldn't read word processing files from his old 5 1/4" diskettes. The customer had stuck labels on the diskettes, then rolled them into his typewriter to type on the labels.Support rep gets a call from a user whose new PC is shutting down at random. User suggests the cause might be a virus-laden e-mail but then mentions that the monitor, printer and fax machine are shutting down, too. Are they all plugged into the same power strip? rep asks. "Yes, but that couldn't be it," user says. "I've had that for years." Another customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later, a letter arrived from the customer along with photocopies of the floppies."The bottom half of all my printouts are blurry," user complains to support crew. He orders a replacement drum for the printer, but it doesn't help. Neither does a new printer. So he goes to her desk and asks her to print something. As the paper starts to emerge, she yanks it out of the printer and says, "See what I mean? Look at the bottom of this printout!" A Dell technician advised a customer to put his troubled floppy back in the drive and close the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and was heard putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close the door to his room.Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the tech discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.Boss's fast new CD burner needs the right media, so tech assistant asks the office secretary to order some recordable CDs rated at 40X. "Imagine my surprise later in the day," assistant groans, "to hear the water-cooler discussion about my trying to acquire 40 X-rated CDs for my department!"A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid." The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.User has gotten her third replacement monitor in as many months, so support tech checks it out - and finds water under the monitor, but no source of a leak. The next day, he's walking by and catches the user's new secretary in action. "I explained to her that watering a plant on top of any electronic equipment is a bad idea, and that maybe watering an artificial plant wasn't the best use of her time either." A confused caller to IBM was having troubles printing documents. He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't find printer." The user had tried turning the computer screen to face the printer, but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happened." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.Another customer called Compaq Tech Support to say her brand-new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked, "What Power switch?"True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp: Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support ?" Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?" Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotion, at a trade show?" Caller: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it." At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!Another IBM customer had trouble installing software and rang for support. " I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and I had some problems with that disk. When it said to put in the third disk - I couldn't even fit it in...." The user hadn't realized that "Insert Disk 2" meant to remove disk one first.Network admins decide all users should move their files to network folders. But after 15 minutes of copying, one user complains to support crew about how long it takes. Rep explains that she has lots of documents and a slow network connection, and all the other users are uploading files too. But user points to the Windows animation of documents floating from one folder to another and says, "Well, wouldn't it go faster if they just moved these two folders closer together on the screen?" Big electronics company is building a factory for a joint venture. But the locally hired IT manager is a little fuzzy on some details, says a lackey working there. "The general manager told him to build a raised floor in the computer room. A month later, we saw it - he literally raised the floor six inches by pouring a cement slab six inches thick."
User's new notebook PC has a wireless network card. He loves it - for a day or so, until the battery goes dead. Did you plug it into a power outlet to charge it? asks systems administrator. "No," says sales guy impatiently. "It's wireless, why would I?"No more floppy disks from home, Systems Administrator tells user whose PC keeps getting re-infected with viruses. A week goes by with no problems - then user's machine is infected again. Yes, she used a disk from home, user admits. "But I let the diskette sit on my desk for a whole week. Who knew that the virus could live that long?"New computer room is state of the art, beautifully laid out and stuffed with useful tools for systems management. "But the feature we're all proudest of is the fact that the card-key reader to get in is located much lower on the wall than in the old room," says Systems Administrator who works there. "Nothing to do with accessibility requirements - the sys admins were around when the electricians were hooking it up, and we requested it that way. You just bang your butt up against it, with the access key still in your back pocket, and it clicks. A great time-saver."Computer guy, getting ready to leave for a conference, requests a company laptop so he can stay in touch with e-mail while he's on the road. "Our department has four or five high-end laptops for visiting staff," says fish, "so I figured this would not be a problem." Request denied, say the laptop keepers: "Our IT department policy is that company laptops cannot be taken out of the building."After a chain e-mail makes the rounds at this company, Sys Admin sends e-mail to all users reminding them that this is against company policy, quoting from the employee handbook about appropriate e-mail use. But this Systems Administrator receives an extra copy with a directive at the top: "Please print and distribute to all those employees without e-mail access."Working on the requirements for a new version of an order processing application, developer gets a very specific request from a user: "On the accounts receivable screen, I want the system to tell me when I have checks that I haven't deposited."Help desk gets the call from a receptionist whose tab key on the keyboard isn't working. "I told her to shake the keyboard upside-down and tap one corner on the desk." No luck. "I then told her to pick up one end about two or three inches off the desk and drop it. Hearing a loud thud, I asked what she was doing. She said, 'I am dropping one side of the laptop they just got fixed for me yesterday." This university has a new voice-mail system, and tech aide watches as a vendor rep trains staffers to use it. Rep: "The first time you use your mailbox, you'll be prompted to choose and enter your password using the phone's keypad." Support staffer: "Can it be letters and numbers?" Rep: "Well, sure." Staffer: "Is it case-sensitive?" "When the air conditioning goes down, it gets hot in the server room - climbing to over 100 degrees. The infrastructure guys get the bright idea of opening the window - yes, this server room has a window - to cool off the room. Great idea, right? However, the lawn sprinklers go on causing two brand-new high-end servers to get wet and bringing an entire project team of over 30 people to a grinding halt.A user calls the support desk and reports she's having trouble powering up her new laptop. She says the battery is good; she used it last night. The tech desk asks, "Is the laptop plugged in?" The user says, "How do I determine if it's plugged in?"A user with a problem calls the help desk, saying "An error message just popped up. It's asking for me to hit OK or cancel. What should I do?" The tech rep says, "Click Cancel." The user promptly states, "Well, I already clicked OK!""I know you'll think I'm crazy, but Elvis keeps crashing my computer," this user tells help desk. And she's right - when she takes a CD-ROM out of the drive, Elvis starts singing. It was finally figured out: Apparently, she put an Elvis CD in the drive on top of another CD, and it got stuck on the plunger of the CD-ROM drive. When she took out a CD, Auto-run would start the audio CD (stuck on the plunger), and Elvis started singing!User tells support tech that she knocked a key off her laptop. She replaced it, but now it won't work. Tech asks, "is the key loose?" "Not now," user replies. "It was loose, but I fixed it. I used super glue." Phone system administrator reports a problem to vendor: He can't connect to the system remotely for monitoring and maintenance. Help desk: "Fine; a technician will remote into your system and fix the problem." Admin: "But I'm reporting that we can't remote in." Help desk: "Yes, that's on the ticket. I'll give it to the tech and he'll remote into your system and fix the problem." Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.A manufacturer generates bar codes for different departments, and though no two formats are alike, they all get done, until one manager's sample bar code doesn't scan. "Even our best scanner beeped back an error," tech says. So he calls the manager, who admits he created it with a drawing program. "We don't really use bar codes," he confides. "We just thought it would look professional." Employees who travel are literally destroying their laptops, technician says. So when one vendor rep says his laptop can be thrown to the floor without damage - "try it," he says - tech is impressed and asks the agency head to come see. "The head guy walks into this office without a word, picks up the laptop and slams it to the floor, just as my assistant informs him we are in the office next door." IT tech rep sends a report to several accountants in two parts - he has to break it up because it's bigger than the 1,500KB size limit on attachments. But one user says that's unnecessary. "Quit sending me kilobyte files", she says. "Send megabytes. The file will only be 1.5MB - much smaller than the 1,500 system limit."A lady was putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. I inquired as to what she was doing and she said she was shopping on the internet, and they asked for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy.""Everything on my laptop is turning blue," user complains. Support rep hustles to the scene and finds user has attached the laptop to a video projector. The wall you're using as a projection screen is painted light blue, support rep patiently points out. "I know that!" user snaps. "I'm not stupid. Just fix the thing so it projects white!"Layoffs are coming, so an insurance company ranked all employees for future termination. "To maintain secrecy, they shredded the printed spreadsheets with the ratings," says an employee. "Unfortunately, the spreadsheets were printed in landscape mode, so the shredder blades separated each employee and rating, by name, on his own strip of paper. After I came across them in the recycling bin, I knew each person's rating - all 126 of them." An individual who plugged their power strip back into itself and for the life of them could not understand why their computer would not turn on.A user's PC is flickering and rebooting. It checks out fine for support tech assistant so he tells the user, "Do what you normally do." She sits down and goes to work - and the system soon reboots. "The fourth time, I noticed she was tapping her foot to the music on the radio", tech says. "Her foot was hitting the power strip on/off switch just enough to cause the system to reboot." Important HR reports must be shredded - they have confidential data, boss tells IT rep. Since most of these reports are just for reference, why not just save the printing and keep them on disk? rep suggests. "No, they must be shredded," boss insists. Well, why don't we hook the shredder to the back of the printer for the unnecessary reports? rep jokes. "Sounds great!" says the boss. "How much will it cost?"A distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery in this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery for this?" "Hmmm, I don't know. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just the remote 'thingy'" she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries as it's a long walk."It's a tech's first day on the job as a quality control analyst in the operations center. She boots up her workstation, and the splash screen proclaims the department's slogan: "Comitted to Excellence." She points out the misspelling to her boss. "Yeah," boss says, "it's close enough. Everybody knows what they mean."When this executive's PC stops working, support tech patiently explains that the executive really shouldn't have deleted critical Windows system files. But a week later, it happens again. And when tech asks why, executive explains, "Oh, I needed to make room for some big spreadsheets, and my files are much more important than those. Why doesn't the computer still work?" This Army hospital commander likes voice-recognition software for dictating notes, so he assigns three IT staffers to get it working. "One was from India, one from the Far East and one, though born in the United States, had a strong Southern accent," reports support crew member. "They took turns reading the training paragraphs to the system. For some reason, it never worked right." For two years, this company's purchasing agent has bought printer supplies from the same outfit: Tech rep says "the prices are high, a third of the refurbished toner cartridges are no good, and she never sends them in for credit." So tech finds a better, cheaper supplier and management declares to be the preferred provider. So why are invoices still coming in from the old outfit? Purchasing agent admits it's because she likes the candy the first supplier sends with each order. "For this invoice alone, that bag of candy cost us an additional $204."Tech Support: "What does the screen say now.." Person: "It says, 'Hit ENTER when ready'." Tech Support: "Well?" Person: "How do I know when it's ready?"Several years ago we had an intern who was none too swift. One day he was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. "What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," she told him. With that, the intern took his last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five blank copies.One of our servers crashed. I was watching our new system administrator trying to restore it. He inserted a CD and needed to type a path name to a directory named "i386." He started to type it and paused, asking me "Where's the key for that line thing?" I asked what he was talking about, and he said, "You know, that one that looks like an upside down exclamation mark." I replied, "You mean the letter i?" and he said, "Yeah, that's it!"User calls the help desk to ask if something is wrong with the mail server. "My e-mails are coming in with next week's date. This is March 31, isn't it?" No, says tech support, it's April 7. That's when the user realized she forgot to change her calendar. Network techs at this manufacturer are surprised when they get a poor evaluation -- the networks are running fine with few user complaints. "That's the problem," says IT guy. "Their metric is how many trouble tickets they resolve and how quickly." So techs take to randomly unplugging a hub, waiting for trouble tickets to come in, then restarting the hub. Rep says, "They were rated 'excellent' on their next review."1st Person: "Do you know anything about this fax machine?" 2nd Person: "A little. What's wrong?" 1st Person: "Well, I sent a fax, and the recipient called back to say all she received was a cover sheet and a blank page. I tried it again, and the same thing happened." 2nd Person: "How did you load the sheet?" 1st Person: "It's a pretty sensitive memo, and I didn't want anyone else to read it by accident, so I folded it so only the recipient would open it and read it."IT guy is fed up with executives who say they need the latest technology, so he comes up with an idea. "Every six months, we have people turn in their laptops for a technology refresh," he says. "Their laptop cases and keyboards are cleaned and fitted with new, upgraded "Intel" stickers. They love their "new" laptops, and never catch on that all they get are new stickers. And this frees up considerable budget for users who actually do need the power but who are too far down the ladder to actually get it." AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that the system wouldn't read word processing files from his old 5 1/4" diskettes. The customer had stuck labels on the diskettes, then rolled them into his typewriter to type on the labels.Support rep gets a call from a user whose new PC is shutting down at random. User suggests the cause might be a virus-laden e-mail but then mentions that the monitor, printer and fax machine are shutting down, too. Are they all plugged into the same power strip? rep asks. "Yes, but that couldn't be it," user says. "I've had that for years." Another customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later, a letter arrived from the customer along with photocopies of the floppies."The bottom half of all my printouts are blurry," user complains to support crew. He orders a replacement drum for the printer, but it doesn't help. Neither does a new printer. So he goes to her desk and asks her to print something. As the paper starts to emerge, she yanks it out of the printer and says, "See what I mean? Look at the bottom of this printout!" A Dell technician advised a customer to put his troubled floppy back in the drive and close the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and was heard putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close the door to his room.Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the tech discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.Boss's fast new CD burner needs the right media, so tech assistant asks the office secretary to order some recordable CDs rated at 40X. "Imagine my surprise later in the day," assistant groans, "to hear the water-cooler discussion about my trying to acquire 40 X-rated CDs for my department!"A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid." The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.User has gotten her third replacement monitor in as many months, so support tech checks it out - and finds water under the monitor, but no source of a leak. The next day, he's walking by and catches the user's new secretary in action. "I explained to her that watering a plant on top of any electronic equipment is a bad idea, and that maybe watering an artificial plant wasn't the best use of her time either." A confused caller to IBM was having troubles printing documents. He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't find printer." The user had tried turning the computer screen to face the printer, but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happened." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.Another customer called Compaq Tech Support to say her brand-new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked, "What Power switch?"True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp: Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support ?" Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?" Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotion, at a trade show?" Caller: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it." At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!Another IBM customer had trouble installing software and rang for support. " I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and I had some problems with that disk. When it said to put in the third disk - I couldn't even fit it in...." The user hadn't realized that "Insert Disk 2" meant to remove disk one first.Network admins decide all users should move their files to network folders. But after 15 minutes of copying, one user complains to support crew about how long it takes. Rep explains that she has lots of documents and a slow network connection, and all the other users are uploading files too. But user points to the Windows animation of documents floating from one folder to another and says, "Well, wouldn't it go faster if they just moved these two folders closer together on the screen?" Big electronics company is building a factory for a joint venture. But the locally hired IT manager is a little fuzzy on some details, says a lackey working there. "The general manager told him to build a raised floor in the computer room. A month later, we saw it - he literally raised the floor six inches by pouring a cement slab six inches thick."
Teams that work closely on related projects often share Outlook 2002 calendars or task lists. You can't open another person's Outlook folder, however, unless that person has given you permission. (To do so, that person needs to choose Tools, Options. Click the Delegates tab, and then click Add. Next, double-click the desired name or names and click OK.)
After you have permission, you can open the other person's folder by following these steps:
Choose File-->Open Special Folder-->Other User's Folder.
The Open Other User's Folder dialog box appears.
Click the Name button.
The Select Name dialog box appears. (It's really the Address Book.)
Double-click the name of the person whose folder you want to open.
The Select Name dialog box closes and the name you double-clicked appears in the Open Other User's Folder dialog box.
Click the scroll-down button (triangle) on the Folder box.
A list of the Folders you can choose appears.
Click the name of the folder that you want to view.
The name of the folder you choose appears in the Folder box.
Click OK.
The folder you pick now appears in your folder list.
After you have permission, you can open the other person's folder by following these steps:
Choose File-->Open Special Folder-->Other User's Folder.
The Open Other User's Folder dialog box appears.
Click the Name button.
The Select Name dialog box appears. (It's really the Address Book.)
Double-click the name of the person whose folder you want to open.
The Select Name dialog box closes and the name you double-clicked appears in the Open Other User's Folder dialog box.
Click the scroll-down button (triangle) on the Folder box.
A list of the Folders you can choose appears.
Click the name of the folder that you want to view.
The name of the folder you choose appears in the Folder box.
Click OK.
The folder you pick now appears in your folder list.
