Back Up Your Computer Important Data

Just about everybody has important data on their hard drive, from digital pictures to important documents, emails, earmarked websites the list goes on and on. In my experience people are pretty lax about backing up their PCs, and I think this really is an area that deserves attention. With a good back up set you can bounce back from a fatal hard drive crash and be up and running with all the your pictures, documents, downloads, email and favorites before you know it. Having important files stored on removable media is also a good safety precaution in case you get a virus or Trojan horse.

There are a couple of different ways to back up important data, from the casual copy and paste to running complicated scheduled backups. There is no wrong way, as long you have a copy of everything you need.

You can save the data on a couple of different types of media (floppy, ZIP, CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Flash memory, even dat drives) but for home use I really recommend either CDs or DVDs, floppies are just to small, Zips, although bigger than floppies are still small (100-200MB), and they're old and kind of expensive. Flash memory can store data but it's not really something you want to save data to and store away unless there is no other option. DAT tapes are more for the corporate end of things and are overkill in most homes. CDs are cheap, hold a lot of data, work on any PC and are easy to store.

If you use CD-RW, or DVD-RW you can actually save money by setting up a "round robin" with your backups. To do this, you need at lest 3-4 of the same backup set, take the oldest and erase it. Now use the blank disk for the new backup, the next time you do a backup use the oldest disk in the set and so on and so forth.

As for the methods of backing up, I find it's easiest when all my intended files and folders are organized in structured manner and not scattered all over my hard drive. This is a good way to insure that you don't forget anything important by hunting for a bunch of individual files. An easy way to stay organized is to create a descriptively labeled folder structure and try to be diligent about saving your data to it's designed folder.

Another good practice is to test your backups, don't just take the burning software's word for it. After a backup, explore the disk and randomly go through files and open them up to make sure that they're complete and not corrupt. Learn from my experience, waiting for a complete system failure is not a good time to check the validity of your backups. This is a good way to get yourself in a lot of trouble as well ?I know if didn't back up the pictures or movies of our kids I wouldn't be able to live with my self.

Once you have all your ducks in a row, it's time to back up. There are a number of ways to do this as well. The easiest is to open you burning program and select data CD and go through the folder then explorer and grab the folders you want to back up. When you select a folder you should see it in the "burn" selection window, once you done with your backup selection choose "burn".

If you have Windows XP you have the luxury of being able to open up the blank CD or DVD in Windows Explorer and copying and pasting the desired folders right onto the disk and select "Write files to CD" and Windows will do the rest for you. This is nice but not all of us have XP, and I personally still like to use my third-party software.

Most burning software has their own backup services, and there are a number of third-party back up titles out there. The nice thing about using these types of software is the options. Things like compression, backup jobs, and incremental backups. These are nice features especially when you have some backups that you want to insure are up to date. For instance, you can create a "Back up Set" which is basically a saved and named list of folders and files that you want backed up. This makes the whole process so easy?you can create a backup set and once a week or so your can run it and it will either create a new back up or save just the changes to the backup. These are two options that are usually found in backup programs. If you use "backup sets", it's important to keep the files organized, and in all the correct folders. You can also schedule Backup Jobs, which are basically backup sets that are scheduled to run at predetermined times, and intervals

Beware from fake security warnings!

Sometimes you'll be surfing the web and a window pops up that looks like a legitimate warning from Windows. Before you click, read carefully and you'll find that it's just a pop up ad trying to entice you to a product site by clicking "Yes". I've even seen some with a shield that resembles the new SP2 Security Center logo.

Just click the X at the top of the window to close it and go on your way.

Careful with Attachments by Emailers

There have been a number of really bad viruses just within the past 6 months. We've seen the W32.Beagle, W32.Netsky, MyDoom, and so on. Most of these viruses were transported or replicated from pc to pc-using email attachments. These are easy to spot if you're paying attention, simply because they are usually executable files, but not always.

Some attachments contain Macros (simple programs that run within other programs, all the titles in Microsoft Office use macros). If you're not that familiar with spotting file extensions, don't worry, that's what I'm here to talk about today. If you are a little hazy on the whole "file extension" thing then let's spend a few moments explaining it.

File extensions are what tell the program how to treat a particular piece of data. For example, most people are somewhat familiar with .doc or a .txt file extensions these are both text documents and when the user opens this file the Operating System looks at this extension and then knows how to open it.

Hackers try to use some sort of eye-grabbing ploy to get you to open their email and activate the virus, which is always an attachment. Most Anti-virus nowadays stops, or at least warns, you of these high risk attachments and even take measures to protect you. However, on the average 10-15 new viruses are created every day and I personally wouldn't count on any program to 100% protect my pc. That's why I scrutinize any email, if I wasn't expecting an attachment, I won't open it until I had a chance to talk to the sender.

Some of the more common file types used to hide viruses include:

.scr - Windows Screen Saver - USE CAUTION if you receive a screen saver via email. They can contain worms or viruses

.pif - DO NOT OPEN! This is most likely a virus. Clicking it will run a program or code that can mess up your computer.

.exe - executable file - a program that contains a virus, Trojan horse, or worm

.pps - MS PowerPoint (can contain macro virus)

.zip - Zip (compressed) file

.vbs - Visual Basic script

.bat - Executable MS-DOS batch file

.com - DOS executable command

.asp - active server page - internet script

.doc - Word document (can contain macro virus)

.xls - Excel file (can contain macro virus)

This is in no way a complete list. Just because an attachment may have one of these extensions doesn't mean that it is a virus, but it should send up warning flags. Hackers use clever subject lines, and viruses can appear to come from a friend so keep on your toes and don't fall victim to their deceptive traps. Scan those attachments and verify with the sender before opening.

Connect your home computer from Remote location

Using the Remote Desktop feature, you can connect your home computer (host) from any other remote computer (client) and can access all computer resources (installed programs, data and any network resources). You can run any computer application on the remote computer as you were running actually sitting in front of home computer.

Follow the given steps to configure your computer to connect remote computer:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

To perform this task, first make sure your both computers are connected to the internet.

First you have to configure the host computer that allows the users to connect it remotely. On the host computer, right click on "My computer" and click on Properties option.

Under the Remote tab, select the option "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" and click Ok button.

Now get the IP address of host computer (type the "ipconfig /all" on the command prompt of host computer to find IP address).

Now make a connection on remote or client computer, click on Start button, go to All Programs> Accessories, and Communications, then click on Remote Desktop Connection, option. A Remote Desktop Connection, dialog box will appear.

Click on Options button for detail configuration, under the General tab, type the IP address of host computer in the Computer box and also type username and password of host computer then click on Connect button to make a connection to remote computer.

If your username and password is correct then a remote desktop windows will appear.

Enable Autosave feature in MS Excel

Microsoft Excel includes a powerful feature of saving your document automatically after some specified time intervals. By default, Excel automatically saves your current document after every ten minutes intervals but you can change this time. This Auto save feature save the data in the same file. However, AutoSave protects your data in the event that Excel unexpectedly quits. It is also good idea to create a backup of your files using any removable devices, because in this global network a computer can crash, a virus create problem, or a hard drive failure can wipe out everything

Follow the given steps to change default save time and enable auto backup feature:

A small dialog box will open, here select the Save tab in the dialog box.

Now click the "Save AutoRecover info every" check box and enter the time in minutes under "Settings" area.

Here you have choice to modify the location of saving your document automatically under "AutoRecover save location" option.

Click the Ok button of dialog box to finish the process.

Recover the corrupted files in Microsoft Excel

Today tip will help you to recover the corrupted files of Microsoft excel. There is no need to use any third party software to manage these types of corrupted files, because Microsoft provides built-in support in Excel to deal with these files in better ways. You can use the SYLK (Symbolic Link) format to restore the corrupted files in previous state.

Follow the given steps to recover the corrupted files in MS excel:

First click on Start button, go to Program then click on Microsoft Excel to run the excel page.

Now go to File menu and click on Open option to open the corrupted file.

Now again go to File menu and click on Save As option to save the file as type SYLK. Click on Save button to continue.

Here if you want to recover the multiple sheets then save each sheet separately as type SYLK.

Click on Yes button when you receive the message “Book2.slk may contain features that are not compatible with SYLK (Symbolic Link). Do you want to keep the workbook in this format?".

Now close the all opened excel files then again go to File menu and click on Open option to open the .slk type file that you saved in previous step.

Now again go to File menu and click on Save As option to save the file as type Microsoft Excel Workbook. Click on Save button to finish the process.

Insert Flash Movies into PowerPoint slides

MS PowerPoint is a powerful and attractive tool to express your ideas to others. You can convey these ideas in more effective ways, if you are using movie files with your simple slides. The Flash movies are normally the best choice to add into PowerPoint due to its small file size.

Follow the given steps to insert the Flash Movies into PowerPoint Slides:

Make sure before inserting the Flash Movies into PowerPoint slides that you have installed the Flash Player on your computer.

First of all open the presentation in which you want to insert Flash movie file.

Now click on "Toolbar" option from the "View" menu and choose the option "Control Toolbox".

Here a small floating menu will appear with the title "Control Toolbox".

Using "Control Toolbox" toolbar, click on the icon that looks like hammer for more controls and scrolling the objects then choose the object "Shockwave Flash Object".

Now using your mouse pointer, draw the box size and position where you want to play a flash movie.

Now right click on box and select the "Properties" option.

A small properties dialog box will appear with different options.

Under the Alphabetic tab, click the option "Movie" and type the full file path of flash movie in blank cell next to Movie (for example d:\flash_file).

Again under same tab, set the property "True" for "Playing" and "EmbedMovie" objects to add and play the flash file automatically with slide. Here you can also set the Quality, Width, Scale and Windows Mode objects for flash file.

Finally close the "Properties" dialog box. Save your PowerPoint presentation and run it for test.

Protect MS Excel file using password

In Microsoft Excel, you can protect a single cell, group of cells on a worksheet or an entire workbook by applying password so that unauthorized person can not display as well as modify your document. You can apply two types ofpassword.

Password to open the document:

If it is applied then you have to give the correct password to open the workbook. Otherwise you cannot open theworkbook.

Password to modify the document:

If it is applied then you have to give the correct password to modify the workbook. Otherwise your workbook is opened but you cannot modify the workbook. It means that your workbook becomes read-only.

To apply a password to MS Excel document, follow the given steps:

First click on "Tools" menu and select the "Option" from drop down menu.

A windows dialog box will appear, here select the "Security" tab.

Enter first password in "Password to open" text box under "File encryption settings for this workbook" section and second password in "Password to modify" text box (if required) under" File sharing settings for the workbook" section then click "Ok" button of dialog box.

Microsoft Excel will open "Confirm Password" dialog box for the confirmation of passwords. The maximum length of password is 15 characters.

Re-enter the password to open and password to modify and click "Ok" button of Confirm Password dialog boxes one by one.

Now close the file and then reopen to test the password.

Create digital photo album presentation in PowerPoint

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can create a digital photo album of your scanned photographs to represent as slide show presentation. Using this feature, you can display your business photo album on the web. Once you have converted it into HTML document, PowerPoint will allow you to publish this album to the internet. You can create unlimited albums and also add unlimited photos in each album.

Follow the given steps to create a digital photo album of your scanned photographs:

First create a folder of your scanned pictures or transfer from your digital camera or download from the web.

Now click on "Picture" option from the "Insert" menu then click on "New Photo Album" option.

Here a small dialog box will appear with "Photo Album" title. Now click on "File/Disk" button under "Insert picture from" area to add first picture in album.

Here you can add unlimited picture in one album. If you want to get pictures from scanner or camera then click on "Scanner/Camera" button.

Now you can add effects to your pictures, for example rotates picture to different directions, background colors, picture brightness and contrast levels.

Now under "Album Layout" area, you can choose the best picture layout, Frame shape and add design template also for your photos album.

Once you have selected the all required pictures and layouts for your photo album then click on "Create" button to start the process.

Now "Save" the file and then run this photo album in Slide Show.

Add Picture into Header/Footer in Excel

In MS excel header and footer option is used to display the repeated graphics or text on the top or button of each pages in a document. You can insert a picture (company logo or other related picture) in the bottom or top margin of each page. For reference, you can add the data, time and path for where you saved excel file on your computer or on any network server. Both the header and the footer are displayed in print layout view and save your time to enter the same items in pages again and again. You can use the same header and footer throughout a document or change the header and footer for part of the document.

You can leave the header or footer for the first page and can also use different headers and footers on odd and even pages or for part of a document.

To apply header or footer, follow these steps.

Select "Header and Footer" from View menu, "Header and Footer" Floating Toolbar will appear. The header and footer sections of document are also activated.

Now under Header/Footer tab, click on Custom Footer button then select left section.

To insert the picture, click on Picture icon (the 2^nd icon from the right side) to select the company logo that you want to add.

Select other options if required, for example you can add date, time file name and file path also.

Now click Ok button to finish the process.

packaging your PowerPoint presentation to CD

In Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, you can copy a presentation on to CD with all its supporting materials using "Package for CD" option. With this feature, you can merge the whole presentation components (pictures, music, charts, fonts and other graphics) as a single file so that you can run this presentation on another computer even if PowerPoint is not installed. This package file will useful for presentation backup and easy to transfer from one computer to other computer. In previous version of PowerPoint, the name of this feature was "Pack and Go".

Follow the given steps to create CD package for PowerPoint Slides:

First of all click on "Package for CD" option from the "File" menu, a small dialog box will appear with "Package for CD" title.

Now type the CD name in the "Name the CD" box.

Using same dialog box, click on "Add Files" button to add actual presentation file.

Click on "Options" button to explore more choices. Here you can include linked file, Embedded TrueType fonts and also set password so that unauthorized person can not display as well as modify your document.

Now if you are using windows 2000, click on "Copy to Folder" button to save this package on hard disk and then write it on CD. However if you are using windows XP, click on "Copy to CD" button and then your package will directly write to a blank CD.

After you have selected the necessary options, click on Ok button to transfer PowerPoint file and then close Package for CD dialog box to finish it.

How to convert word files into PDF?

You can convert your reports, spreadsheets and any word files into Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf). There are many free and paid software’s available to convert normal files into .pdf, for example you can download “Universal Converter Software” free trail. Using this converter you can convert your web pages, emails, books any others important documents into .pdf.

Benefits of .PDF

PDF files are platforms independent, for example if you are creating your resume in Microsoft windows, and you obviously wants that your resume look the same on all platforms, whether computer has Mac, Linux and Microsoft windows. PDF is the great way to send your important documents to others in same and secure ways.

PDF can not be modified in text or formatting in new style without your permission. Internet users prefer the .pdf format because they can download it easily in Adobe Reader.

Fellow the given steps to convert word file into PDF.

• First download the “Universal Converter Software” and install onto your computer.

• Now open any word document and press the File and then click on Print option to open printer dialog box.

• Here select the “Universal Document Converter” from the printer list and press Properties button to select the “Document to PDF, Color, and Multipage” profile.

• 
• Now press the Ok button to start the converting process into PDF.

configure speech recognition in Microsoft Office XP

Microsoft Office XP has working with built-in speech recognition features. The main purpose of this feature to understand the speech and then coverts to text file. You can run this feature in any Office XP applications, for example Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word.

Follow the give steps to install the speech recognition features in office XP:

First click on Start button, go to Control Panel then click on Add or Remove Programs.

Now find and select the "Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage" option in Add or Remove Programs list, then click on Change button.

Here select the option "Add or Remove Features" Change which features are installed or remove specific features", and click on Next button.

Here expand the "Office Shared Features"> Alternative User Input > Speech. Now click on Speech option and select "Run from My Computer" from menu and click on Update button to start installation process.

Now system will takes some time to install this feature.

After you have installed, open Microsoft Word > Tools > and click on Speech option.

Now click Next on welcome page.

If you are running it first time, then system will ask you for voice training, you can skip it but the voice training increase the chance of accuracy.

If the training is over, now try to speak "File" to open the File menu and check speech recognition feature has been working or not.

Microsoft Excel shortcut keys

Shortcut keys Action

Ctrl+A Apply to select all cells

Ctrl+B Apply/Remove bold formatting

Ctrl+C Apply to copy the selected word

Ctrl+D Apply to fill down the selected cell

Ctrl+F Display the Find what option

Ctrl+G Apply to run Go to dialog box

Ctrl+H Use to display Find and Replace dialog box

Ctrl+I Apply/Remove Italic formatting

Ctrl+K Apply to insert Hyperlink dialog box

Ctrl+L Press keys to insert Create list dialog box

Ctrl+N Press Keys to create new file

Ctrl+O Press Keys to open new file

Ctrl+P Press Keys to display Print dialog box

Ctrl+S Save the active file

Ctrl+U Press Keys to apply/remove underline

Ctrl+V Press Keys to paste the clipboard values

Ctrl+X Press Keys to cut the selected word

Ctrl+Y Press Keys to run previous action

Ctrl+Z Apply to undo the previous command

Uses of Function keys in Excel

Function keys Action

F1 Use to give the help of any windows panel

F2 Press Keys to edit any cell

F3 Use to insert name into formula

F4 Apply to repeat the previous command

F5 Apply to run Go to dialog box

F6 Apply to move between panel in worksheet

F7 Use to check spelling in worksheet

F8 Apply the extend mode on the status line

F9 Use to calculate the worksheets

F10 Use to select the main menu bar

F11 Apply to insert the chart of active worksheet

F12 Use to run Save As dialog box.