Author: bnb-user

ll things eventually come to an end, and for Windows XP and its legion of holdouts, the end is nigh. It’s a dead OS walking and the governors at Microsoft aren’t going to pick up the phone at the last moment and give it yet another stay of execution. Microsoft general manager for Windows Commercial marketing, Rich Reynolds, confirmed as much in an interview with InformationWeek.

He said flat out “there’s absolutely no chance” of Microsoft extending support for Windows XP beyond its end-of-life date in April, 2014. That still seems a long ways off, especially for an OS that officially turned 10 years old today, but if businesses don’t get on the ball soon, Reynolds fears they’ll find themselves scrambling around at the last minute.

“What we’re concerned about is organizations that haven’t started yet,” Reynolds said. “It takes anywhere from 12 to 14 months to do the planning and application remediation.”

According to Reynolds, only about a quarter of enterprise systems are locked and loaded with Windows 7, however the vast majority have a plan to upgrade.

Are you still using Windows XP?

When it comes to protecting the data on your computer, you can’t do better than strong encryption. Properly encrypted, your files are safe even if a ne’er-do-well gains access to your computer, either physically or through a network. In the past, we’ve discussed how to use various encryption tools to encrypt individual files or create virtual, encrypted drives. Now, we’ll look at how to get maximum security by encrypting your boot disk using the BitLocker full-drive encryption system that’s built into Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise.

Step 1: Assess Your System

Ideally, you have a motherboard with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip. A TPM chip securely stores cryptographic keys, which BitLocker uses to access your boot drive before Windows even loads. The TPM also detects any early boot files that have been modified, protecting you from rootkits and other low-level malware. You can check with your motherboard manufacturer to see if you have a TPM, or you can just attempt to go straight to Step 3. If you don’t see a message that looks like the image below, you’re good to go. Otherwise, you don’t have a TPM and you’ll need to continue to Step 2.

You’ll also need an additional, small partition on any boot drive you wish to encrypt in order to use BitLocker. Windows creates this extra partition by default during installation, but even if you don’t have one, the BitLocker software can create it for you.

Step 2: Enable USB Key Storage

By default, BitLocker requires a TPM chip to work. To change this, open the group policy editor by bringing up the Run menu (press Win + R) and then typing gpedit.msc.

Navigate through the hierarchy on the left side of the group policy editor, selecting the following folders, in order: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives (image below). Once you’ve found the right folder, double-click “Require additional authentication at startup” to edit that policy entry.

In the policy editor, all you need to do is click the radio button marked Enabled. In the bottom‑left, a checkbox labeled “Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM” should already be checked. If it isn’t, check it. Click OK and exit the group policy editor.

Step 3: Enable BitLocker

The actual process of enabling BitLocker is straightforward: You can right-click a drive in Explorer and click Turn On BitLocker, or you can go to the BitLocker section of the control panel and enable it on any drive from there.

As long as you’ve followed the previous two steps, you should see a screen asking you for your BitLocker startup preferences. If you have a TPM, you have three options. If you select “Use BitLocker without additional keys” your startup process will be basically unchanged. Someone with access to your computer will be able to get at your data, but you’ll be protected from rootkits and from people accessing your data remotely. Alternatively, you can choose to enter a PIN every time you log in.

If you’re using the USB method, you only have access to the last option, “Require a Startup key at every startup.” With this method, you’ll only be able to boot your computer while you have a USB drive with a startup key inserted in the machine.

Once you select an option, you’ll be asked to insert a USB drive to use as the key, and you’ll choose where to store your recovery key, which you’ll need if you want to decrypt your data on a different computer, or if the TPM detects a problem. It will take some time for BitLocker to encrypt your drive, but once it’s finished, your data is safe. Anyone attempting to boot from your drive without the proper key won’t even get to the Windows boot screen (image above).

Excel isn’t the sexiest application in the world–it has an unfortunate association with the type of Milton-esque office drones we all wish we weren’t. All the same, it’s a program that most people will end up having to use at some point in their life, and it’s one with a lot of arcane secrets. Read on for 10 quick Microsoft Excel tips and tricks that will get you accounting like a pro in no time flat.

Time to Pivot

Pivot Tables are one of Excel’s most useful—and misunderstood—features. Here’s a quick lesson: Click within a chunk of data, click Insert, and select “Pivot Table.” Excel should automatically pick the entire range of said data (provided you don’t have any blank columns interrupting your dataset), and convert this into an editable, table-as-you-go kind of setup.  You can use the various “fields” on Excel’s new sidebar to basically create new tables of information (and calculations) on-the-fly.

Let’s Lookup!

Another widely used, but often confusing feature of Excel is Vlookup—the function by which one looks at data A, finds data A and data B in another spreadsheet, and slaps data B somewhere into the original spreadsheet. It’s tricky to explain, but easy to use: You’re basically using the contents of a single cell as an anchor for referencing information from one location to another. Master the command, and you’ll find a new use for it every day!

Conditional Formatting is your Friend

If formulas aren’t your thing, here’s an easy way to duplicate data between two columns. Highlight the columns and select Excel’s Conditional Formatting feature on the Home tab. Then, select the “Highlight Cells Rules” listing and pick whatever option fits your style. Duplicate values, for example, would highlight all repeated instances with a given color.

Insta-Jump to a Cell

Did you ever stop and wonder if you can actually modify the cell listing that appears to the left of the Excel’s formula bar?  You know, the one that automatically changes to tell you exactly row and cell you’re on at any given moment?  Guess what: You can.  Click on it, and then type in a given row name and column number—you’ll jump right to that cell as if you just hopped through a magical portal.  Really, it’s that fun.

Get Set for Macros

Trying to discuss Excel macros in a tiny paragraph is like trying to stuff an elephant into a car.  However, the first step toward being able to use Macros is an easy one: Open up Excel’s options (Jewel button > Excel Options) and select “Customize Ribbon.”  Click on the unchecked “Developer” box that’s on the right-side of the options window, and you’ll gain access to the “hidden” section of Excel that’s a quick shortcut to the almighty macro.

Why Not Numbers?

From time to time, Excel will foolishly store numbers like a “0” as text instead of a numeral, which can be a real pain if you’re trying to do anything with said information. So how do you fix 23,414 rows of the same error? Insert a new column and type a “1” into an empty cell. Select it, copy it to your clipboard, then select the range of numbers you’re looking to fix. Click on the drop-down menu under the Paste icon, click “Paste Special,” and select the options “Values” and “Multiply.”

Why Not Empties?

Dovetailing off the previous tip, Excel also has a nasty habit whereby information you’ve modified such that a cell should be empty… isn’t.  The cell has no values in it per se, but it still doesn’t register as empty for uses of the Count command or things like that. The easy way to fix this is to simply sort your affected columns in A-to-Z order, then manually select the range of “blank” cells starting at the bottom of the listing all the way down to Excel’s final row. Now, hit “Delete.”

Delete Blank Rows

If you have a bunch of data that’s separated out by blank rows of cells for whatever reason, it’s easy to just nuke these out of your dataset forever without having to do any kind of crazy sorting. Select a column, hit F5, click on Special, then select the “Blanks” option. With said blank rows now targeted, click over to Excel’s Home tab, select “Delete,” and choose the option for eliminating said rows.

Show Thy Formulas

This one’s quick, but super-effective: If you have a spreadsheet full of formulas and you want to see exactly how you’ve built all of your constructions, you can do this by hitting CTRL+~, which will instantly transform your spreadsheet from values to the formulas that constructed them.

Double-Click to Freedom!

Double-clicking various parts of the Excel interface can automate a number of functions, including: double-clicking on the Jewel to close Excel, selecting multiple columns and double-clicking on the separators to auto-adjust the widths of all, double-clicking on the tabs of Excel’s ribbon menu to minimize the whole thing, double-clicking the lower-right corner of a cell to Fill Down its contents based on the contents of the column to its left… the list goes on!  When in doubt, double-click.

Adding Multiple Lines of Text

It’s frustrating to try to add multiple lines of text to a given cell. How the hell do you do it? The answer is so easy, it’s almost shocking. When you want to insert a line break in a cell to split your text up in a more readable fashion, just hold down Alt and hit Enter. Technically, you’re also turning on “Wrap Text” for the affected cell as well.

Email… Anything!

Check out the Excel plugin RDBMail if you want to super-charge your ability to quickly email portions of a worksheet to an Outlook recipient. It adds a new tab to your Ribbon that you can use as a single-click utility for emailing your entire worksheet to a person or the pertinent parts that you’ve selected. You can also toggle between sending the worksheet as-is—formulas included—or sending off only the values of what you’ve been working on.

Microsoft Word. The name’s practically synonymous with “productivity app.” If you’re reading this article at work (shame on you!) there’s a pretty decent chance you’ve got a Word doc open right now, and you probably think you’ve got a good handle on Microsoft’s word processor. We’ll bet you don’t know as much as you think you do.

Don’t believe us? Read on for 10 quick tips and tricks for Microsoft Word–we think at least a few will suprise you. If you’re such a Word expert that they don’t, hit the comments and share some of your favorites tips.

Be Selective with How You Select

You already know that double-clicking selects a single word, and you probably figured out that triple-clicking selects an entire paragraph. But if you just want to select a single sentence, hold down Ctrl and click on any word. To select an entire table, hold down Alt and double-click.

Add a Comment Box

When a friend or family member sends you a document to proofread, don’t waste your time writing a lengthy email detailing all the horrendous mistakes you found; mark up their Word file instead. Highlight a portion of text, click the Review tab in the Ribbon bar, and select New Comment.

Insert Bullets and Number Lists Using Your Keyboard

When inspiration hits, lifting your fingers off the keyboard to use your mouse can mess up your mojo, but what do you do if you need to insert a bullet or numbered list? It’s simple: type an asterisk and hit the spacebar to auto-create a bullet list. You can do the same with numbers and dashes.

Use the Built-In Thesaurus

You don’t need to hop online to use a thesaurus, the folks in Redmond had the good sense to bundle one in Word. To use it, highlight an entry and press Shift+F7. Pretty simple, right? Or maybe we should say it’s trouble-free, straightforward, effortless, uncomplicated, or painless.

Backup/Transfer Your Settings

Nearly every customization you make to Word gets saved in the Normal.dot template, a hidden file that you should keep backed up. You’ll find it by navigating to C:Users[username]AppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates. Be sure to enable viewing of hidden files, folders, and drives.

Extend Word’s Trial Period

Microsoft allows you to test drive Office 2010 free for 30 days; after that, you have to pony up for a license and activate. Or you can ‘rearm’ Office for another 30-day trial, up to 5 times for a total of 180 days. To rearm, open an elevated command prompt and go to C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft SharedOfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform and run OSPPREARM.exe. If you installed the 32-bit edition of Office on a 64-bit OS, replace Program Files with Program Files (x86).

Insert Screenshots into Word

One of our favorite new features in Word 2010 is the ability to glue screen grabs right into the document we’re working on. Just use the Print Screen key as normal to grab an image, and then go to Insert > Illustrations > Screenshot.

Hop Back and Forth with Bookmarks

To add a bookmark in Word, position your cursor and go to Insert > Links > Bookmark. Give your bookmark a name and click Add. To jump back to that point, just go back to the Bookmark menu, highlight your entry, and click Go To.

Select Text Vertically

Did you mess up your numbered list? Maybe some funky symbols got placed at the beginning of each sentence when you copied over an email. Whatever your reason for wanting to select text vertically, you can do so by holding down the Alt key and using your mouse cursor.

Password Protect Work Documents

One of these days, you’re going to punch your obnoxious roommate square in the face for digging around your personal documents. Or better yet, just lock your docs. To password protect a Word document, click on File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password

Step The First: Your Peripherals

We’ll start with the easy parts.  Your mouse and keyboard might not be dust magnets, but they sure can attract all sorts of nastiness between their various buttons and surfaces.  Your keyboard is, perhaps, the easiest item to clean in all of your desktop system: Just slap it in the dishwasher.

   

We jest; You can do that, but it requires more preparation than we’re prepared to go into with this brief cleaning overview.  Instead, you’ll want to hold your keyboard upside-down and use short blasts of compressed air to remove all the fingernail clippings, food particles, hair, and other gunk that’s found a home between your keys.  If you’re facing a herculean amount of gross, you can also use a small wedged object (like a mechanical pencil or the edge of a nail clipper) to gently pop each key off.  Get in there with a nice damp cloth and wipe the crud out, and then test your geek skills at remembering a keyboard’s layout when you go to reattach the keys.

   

As for your mouse, we’ll assume that you’re rocking a pretty typical design.  If so, you can also gently pop off the left and right mouse buttons without harming the mouse. Now that you have access to the dirt traps underneath, wipe these areas clean.  Once you’ve reattached your buttons, give the mouse a good overall wiping – and don’t forget about the nonstick pads on the bottom of the mouse.  These can be prime targets for accumulated grime.

Step The Second: Your Monitor

   

Why invest so much money in a beautiful, huge, possibly LED-backlit monitor if it’s covered in dust, dirt, and who-knows-what-else-you’ve-spilled-on-it? Goodbye, picture quality. But before you bust out the Windex and the rag, hear us: You can clean your LCD monitor with a simple damp cloth. Wet part of the cloth, gently use it to rub your monitor’s screen, and use the dry part of the cloth to dry it off. Easy.

   

Resist the urge to use paper towels. And, please, don’t just attack your monitor with a bevy of Windex sprays. In fact, don’t use Windex or any other cleaner with ammonia in it, and don’t spray any kind of cleaning solution directly onto your screen. If water just isn’t doing the trick for you, make a 50/50 mix of water and isopropyl alcohol and gently apply it to a wet rag before you give your screen some elbow grease.

Step the Third: Your Desktop PC

   

Roll up your shirtsleeves: It’s time to become the Mike Rowe of computer cleaning. Let’s start by talking about the easy method for de-dusting a filthy desktop computer: compressed air.

Tempting as it might be to just buy a few cans and just blast the heck out of your system’s insides, you’re just going send dust flying all around your desktop or, worse, all over your nice, carpeted floor. You need a battle plan.

   

For the most thorough clean, you really will want to remove every part and piece inside of your PC. You can then use compressed air to target all the nooks and crannies that you might otherwise miss, and you’ll be able to wipe down some surfaces (like an optical drive, your tangled mess of power supply cables, or even the outside of a video card) to catch all the dust that even compressed air can’t send flying. You’ll also be able to give the entirety of your case a thorough wiping to get rid of all the dust and grime that’s collected over time: Feel free to once again use the 50/50 mix of water and isopropyl alcohol we mentioned earlier for a quick-drying, disinfecting clean.

   

Now, you might be tempted to do that age-old trick where you blast compressed air against one side of the blades on your system’s fans (or, worse, your videocard or CPU cooler’s fans), get them spinning nice and fast, and then blast air in the other direction to send dust flying every which way. Don’t do that. It’s a great way to damage your fans. Instead, you’ll want to keep the fan blade stuck firmly in place (by way of a pen or some other creative device) before you attack the dust. If you’re especially sensitive to grime, use a cotton swab to wipe the dirt off of the blades manually.

   

When you’re ready to reassemble your computer, you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time for outfitting your system with proper cable management. Here’s why: Cables strewn about the middle of your system deliver inefficient airflow and serve as magnets for dust. You might have noticed this fact if you just spent the last hour wiping down all of your dirty power supply cables.

   

The more you can tuck your cords out of sight (between the motherboard and your case’s side panel, for example), the prettier and cleaner your PC will look. And even if you can’t hide your cables within your case, at least you can use Velcro strips or twist-ties to bundle them together into one giant chunk. It’s not the most satisfactory solution, but it’ll at least help you keep your desktop’s insides a little cleaner than the alternative spiderweb of cables. A little foresight goes a long way toward reducing the time you spend during next quarter’s big clean!