Essential Security for Computers

In 2010, no fewer than 24 people approached a certain technology enthusiast asking for help in fixing misbehaving computers. Each computer was infected with malware — malicious software.

People can run software removal tools designed to repair infected computers. The problem, however, is that not every piece of malware works the same way and it's hard to be sure if the removal tool got rid of all the badness. In many cases, the best solution is to back up important data, erase the computer, and then reinstall the operating system — from DVD, rather than from an internal drive, if possible — and any additional applications. This is a time-consuming process, but it's reliable.

Many people use anti-virus and anti-spyware programs to help prevent bad software from getting on their computers in the first place. There is a long list of antivirus software from which to choose. Some programs are free, some not.

If you use Windows and do not have up-to-date antivirus software running on your computer, consider using Microsoft’s Security Essentials; it’s free and it comes from Microsoft.

If you use an Apple computer, consider running an antivirus software program. Apple computers have, in recent years, faced fewer threats from malicious software, but the number is on the rise as Apple gains popularity. The time is right to explore Mac-based security software. Check out Sophos. It provides free antivirus for Mac.

It's interesting to note that of the previously-mentioned 24 computers, all ran Windows, yet only half ran security software — expired security software. Does your computer have the essential security it needs to stay safe on the Internet?

Word: Change Whatever the Case May Be

People who use Microsoft Word on a daily basis have a few standard keyboard shortcuts stored in their memory.  Among them are Save, Cut, Copy, Paste, and Print — that's Ctrl and either "S," "X," "C," "V," or "P," respectively.  No doubt these daily users of Word may have a few other keyboard combos handy in the event of a Word Processing emergency.

There is, however, another shortcut worthy of being added to the standard list.  It is Shift+F3, Change Case.  The Change Case command, when invoked, changes the case of selected text.  If all lowercase text is selected, it capitalizes the first letter of each selected word.  If each of the selected words begins with a capital letter, it changes all the text to uppercase.  And, if all the words are already uppercase, it then changes the selected text to all lowercase letters.  It is worth noting that the Change Case command toggles between sentence case — the first letter of the selected range as capital followed by the rest in lowercase — and uppercase if the last character of the selected text is a period.

There is a menu command, Format > Change Case, which allows text to be converted by selecting an option from a dialog box that appears.  The choices are: lowercase, uppercase, title case, sentence case, and toggle case.  Of course, it is easier and faster to press the keyboard shortcut.

The Change Case command makes it possible to fix capitalization of text without the need to retype, which can save a lot of time.  And saving time is always a good thing, whatever the case may be.

Apple's iPad: First Impressions. Can You Put it in a Box?

I have had an opportunity, thanks to a generous friend, to use an iPad for several hours over the past week. During that time, I showed it to roughly 2 dozen people and managed to collect some of their first impressions.

Each person I spoke with was interested in something different. An iPad is a different thing to different people.

The Beautiful Screen

"Pictures look amazing." "The videos look great. It’s like HD." "The web looks like the real internet." "Zooming in and out of the screen is fast."

It’s Heavy

"It's heavier than I expected." "For its size, the iPad seems heavy." "It seems very solid." "It is really sturdy."

Inside a building or at home, the iPad seems very solid. However, when walking down the street I felt as if I were holding a sheet of glass, waiting for someone to karate chop it in half. For me, a case is required for toting this object about town.

Internet Access

Several of the people I spoke with were a bit unclear about how the Internet is supposed to work on the iPad. The wireless version — the one currently available — is like most laptops. You can access the Internet when in range of a wireless network. However, Internet access isn’t necessarily available when you are walking down the street. The 3G version — available later this month — costs $129 more than the wireless counterpart and allows you to sign up for a $15 or $30 per month plan which will give you Internet access wherever you have coverage. It’s like cellphone data, without the contract. The 3G plans can be activated one month and turned off the next, without penalty.

I have been trying to decide whether I’ll get the wireless or 3G version of the iPad.  There are 2 things preventing me from going with 3G: the $129 price difference for the 3G model and the monthly 3G fee.  If the cost of the 3G model were the same as the wireless one, or even just a few dollars more, I’d buy the 3G version.  However, the price difference is enough to buy the next "size" iPad.  In addition, I already pay a lot of money to AT&T, so adding another separate monthly expense when I know AT&T is preventing the iPhone from sharing its Internet connecting is a bit vexing.  At this point I may leave AT&T and go to a cell phone provider that allows sharing of the phone’s Internet connection and opt for the less expensive iPad model.

About Books

"What about books?" "Is it better than the Kindle?"

The Kindle is a great device for reading novels; it's better than the iPad. It’s a specific device for a specific task and it does that task very well. Arguably, this statement can be expanded to any of the e-ink display readers currently on the market.

The iPad excels when it comes to more visual content. Magazines, newspapers, cookbooks, and other items that can be traversed in a linear fashion work well. The iPad beats the Kindle, and other e-ink readers, when you begin traversing content in non-linear ways. It is quick and easy to skim through a book on the iPad.

Working with Documents

"Can I edit documents with it?" "What about documents?"

Yes. You can create and edit documents.

Pages is a word processing app and is available for $9.99 in the app store. For easier editing, you can connect to a physical keyboard to the iPad via Bluetooth or with a special dock from Apple. There is also an app for presentations and another for spreadsheets. Each app is compatible with Microsoft Office documents.

Does it replace a laptop?

No, not exactly. You need a computer to use the iPad, or at least get it going. And you have to use iTunes to if you want to put your personal documents on it. In the Fall, with the release of iPhone 4.0 software — which I like to call iPad 2.0 — Apple will allow documents attached to e-mail to be launched by apps installed on the iPad.

But, until then, iTunes is the only way to get your personal documents on the device.

[Update: You can open documents, presentations and spreadsheets on e-mail attachments with Apple's iWork applications.  In the Fall, 3rd-party applications will be able to open associated files attached to e-mail messages.]

What’s it for?

"This is nice, but what would I use it for?" "So, what can I do with this?"

I was surprised people asked what it was for after holding it and using it for a few minutes. However, the iPad is a new kind of device. It will take a while for people to figure out whether they need one.

To someone who is unsure about the iPad I would say, "Have you ever needed something on your computer, but felt it was too much of a hassle to go and turn it on? Or, have you ever wished that your laptop was a bit smaller sometimes?  If so, you might want to take a look at the iPad."

It is subtle, but there is something compelling about being online while lounging with a book-sized device. The experience is much different than surfing the web at a desk or on a kitchen table.

Plans to Buy

"I don’t really need one." "It’s nice, but I’ll wait until the price drops." "I'm not going to buy one.  It's too expensive."

I didn’t run across anyone who didn’t want the iPad. Everyone wanted one. There were even a few who were sure they wouldn’t buy one, but they reconsidered after seeing and using it for a few minutes.

I bought one for my wife and so far it’s been a big hit.

Printing

The first questions my wife asked were, "Can I edit documents?" and "How do you print?" The iPad cannot print. There are a number of iPhone apps and a growing number of iPad apps that allow you to print by running printer-sharing software on a computer. However, there is no elegant printing solution. For now, we will e-mail files to computers when necessary.

Your Plans?

The iPad is a multi-purpose device. It might be exactly what you need. Whether or not that is true for you, the landscape is changing. An iPad 12 months from now will be a more compelling and better-defined object than it is today.

Are you going to get one? Do you have one already?

Apple's iPad: Will it Find a Place in Your World?

On January 27th, in the year twenty-ten, Steve Jobs announced to the world Apple's latest creation, the iPad, coming to stores in March and starting at $499. The world responded with mixed reviews. Journalists and others within range of Jobs' "Reality distortion field" — some of whom managed to get hands-on time with the iPad — were definitely keener on the device than those who learned about it online and through other media outlets. Leo Laporte, founder of This Week in Tech went so far as to say, "I think this is going to save newspapers." Elsewhere on the web, some expressed disappointment, while other posts like "Five Reasons the iPad Will Fail” sprang up left and right. Why the difference of opinion? Notwithstanding the many Apple Tablet rumors, some dating back as far as 2002, the iPhone is a tough act to follow.

Since the iPhone hit the market three years ago, there have been dozens of imitators, and a plethora of touch-screen phones that weren’t as easy to use or as well designed as the iPhone. Andi Ihnatko, of the Chicago Sun Times, described the Motorola Droid after its launch a few months ago by saying, “It’s the very first phone that’s truly in the same class as the iPhone.”

A few years ago, on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs took the stage to reveal the iPhone, he said,

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. […] In 2001, we introduced the first iPod and it didn’t just change the way we all listen to music, it changed the entire music industry. Well, today we’re introducing three revolutionary products of this class: the first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls, the second is a revolutionary mobile phone, and the third is a breakthrough internet communications device. […] These are not three separate devices. This is one device and we are calling it iPhone.”

And so, the iPhone was born. Jobs demonstrated it and made a clear case for why a person might want — strike that — need one. Apple did not need to create a smartphone metaphor, one already existed; Apple reimagined and refined it. The iPhone was easy for people to grok — to fully and completely understand it.

Part of Apple's job at the recent iPad event was to create a new metaphor for tablet computing. This task was difficult for a couple of reasons: the first, the iPad is not three revolutionary products in one; it's only a “breakthrough internet communications device.” The second, it looks like a giant iPod Touch.

The iPad is not a netbook and it is not a tablet computer either, at least not in the traditional sense. Companies have been trying to figure out how to make compelling tablets for years and until now there have been no wild successes; products Momenta Computer (1991) and the PepperPad (2004) are just a two examples in “the long fail.” Most tablet devices have been laptop computers stuffed into an ultra-portable form factor, with a stylus thrown in for good measure.

The iPad is not a laptop replacement. Today the iPad is a giant iPod Touch with data; it has the option for an always-on month-to-month data plan. It runs the iPhone software. It requires iTunes to manage media. It doesn't support Adobe Flash. It doesn’t run 3rd-party applications in the background. And, today iTunes requires a computer, meaning the iPad needs a computer to manage its content.

The iPad is a digital media appliance in the same way a DVD player or DVR is a digital media appliance. You use it to access your media, but you don’t have to interact with any of the underlying complexities of the system to make it work. For DVD players most DVRs, you never worry about running software updates; you use the built-in interface to access your content.

The things that make the iPad compelling are the same things that make the iPhone compelling: the App store and the touch-based interface. Arguably, the iPad is more compelling than the iPhone because developers will have a much larger canvas on which they can create. During the iPad event, Apple introduced iPad-specific versions of Pages, a word processing application compatible with Microsoft Word; Keynote, a presentation program compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint; and Numbers, a spreadsheet application compatible with Microsoft Excel. Over the last year, they worked on designing user interfaces that took advantage of a large touchscreen. With these apps on an iPad, it is clear that students or business people could address at least some of their mobile computing needs.

Of the more than 140,000 iPhone applications currently in the app store, quite a few of them focus on allowing you to sync your data from one place to another. If you were to combine Pages, Keynote, or Numbers with the ability to wirelessly and automatically sync, it becomes easy to imagine drafting a document on a computer and later editing it on the iPad when on the go. Of course being able to print while on the go would be nice, too.

The iPad already has a few accessories which allow it to be connected to external peripherals; unfortunately printers aren’t supported just yet. The accessories include a keyboard dock, a camera connection kit for importing photos from an SD card or directly from a camera over USB, and a VGA connector, to connect to projectors or external monitors. These peripherals help to differentiate it from the iPhone and iPod touch.

There have been more than a few articles online pointing out that the iPad is not open. Does it matter? No, not necessarily. The Tivo digital video recorder wasn’t open either, yet it revolutionized the way people record and watch television. The iPod wasn’t open and it revolutionized the way people interact with their music. The iPad doesn’t need to be open if you can get your content in and out of it when you want. And, as in the case of iPhone, once competitors have a firm understanding of Apple’s tablet metaphor, we are sure to see a huge variety of new tablet devices come to market, some of which might become as popular as the some of the iPhone’s competition, like the Droid or Nexus One.

Many have asked whether the iPad will kill the Kindle. The question behind the question is, “Will e-ink display readers stand a chance against full-color backlit screens that supports full-motion video?” For any who have had an opportunity to read an e-ink display device the answer is clear: yes, they will. Reading e-ink is almost like reading real ink on a printed page. And e-ink displays, unlike LED, will not strain the eyes. Of course there will be people who favor LED displays for the flexibility of what they can render, but not everyone will.

The real question is, “Do you need one?” For most people, no, probably not. Not yet. The iPad is a new kind of device. In the past, when a new device or technology emerged most people didn't need it. Remember voicemail? Or the pager? The cellphone? The Internet? Email? Once the iPad has been around for a while, people will figure out where it fits within their world.

This tablet may not be as “world changing” as the ones Moses brought down from on high. However, Apple has laid the groundwork for great things. By this time next year there will be a whole new generation of apps that tap into the iPad in ways that we cannot yet imagine. Until then, the Apple faithful will line up, en masse, and buy as many as their arms can hold.

In Jobs we trust.

Read More

Apple introduces the iPad.

Read about the “Reality Distortion Field” on Wikipedia.

See real-time Twitter posts on iPad Disappointment.

Read 5 Reasons iPad will fail by Adam Sharp.

See the Apple Tablet rumors: A comprehensive timeline on Theweek.com.

Read Verizon Droid almost enough to give up iPhone by Andi Ihnatko.

Read about the history and meaning of the word Grok on Wikipedia.

Read The Long Fail: A Brief History of Unsuccessful Tablet Computers by Harry McCracken.

Read about iWork for the iPad: Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.

See accessories for the iPad.

Read The iPad’s Closed System: Sometimes I Hate Being Right by Tom Conlon.

Learn more about the Droid.

Learn more about tne Nexus One.

Read How Electronic Ink Works by Kevin Bonsor.

Read Apple Meets Moses: The Mac Tablet by Jim Goldman.

Keys to Reduce Scrolling on the BlackBerry® Home Screen

BlackBerry® smartphones excel when it comes to working with large amounts of e-mail.  Many of the new models feature a trackball which can be used to navigate and select items.

Because the BlackBerry smartphone is a telephone, it ships configured to allow easy dialing from the Home screen.  To dial from the Home screen, press the number keys and then press Send or the Enter key.

For BlackBerry smartphones with physical QWERTY keyboards, this “Home screen” functionality makes tapping in a phone number a snap — or more precisely, a tap.  However, disabling Home screen dialing will enable Home screen shortcuts for many of the built-in BlackBerry apps. Shortcuts on the Home screen can help reduce scrolling.

To Enable Home Screen Shortcuts, disable “Dial From Home Screen”

1. Navigate to the Home Screen.
2. Press the Send key to launch the BlackBerry Phone application.
3. Press the Menu key, then click Options.
4. Click General Options.
5. Set Dial From Home Screen to No.
6. Press the Menu key, then click Save.

With “Dial From Home Screen” disabled, a number of Home screen shortcuts become active.  Shortcuts like “A” for Address Book, “M” for Messages, and “O” for Options, are just a few.

Depending on the version of BlackBerry® Device Software, the smartphone may underline the corresponding shortcut key for the selected Home screen item. (See screenshot below.)

Do you use a BlackBerry smartphone? Leave a response and let us know if this tip gets a “thumbs up.”

BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion®, SureType®, SurePress™ and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world.

Get a Handle on AutoFill in Excel

If you have used Microsoft Excel for any length of time, you have probably discovered the AutoFill handle — the tiny black square on the lower right-hand corner of a selected cell — to be one of its most useful tools. You can use the AutoFill handle to quickly drag a series into existence. You can drag days of the week, months of the year, or a numerical series — you can even create your own custom series.

Use AutoFill to enter the days of the week or months of the year

Even though Excel can’t sing, it knows the days of the week. You can begin a list by typing either the full day of the week or its 3-letter abbreviation in a blank cell. Then, position the mouse pointer above the AutoFill handle and drag the handle horizontally or vertically across adjacent cells. Dragging the handle down or to the right fills in the next item in the series, while dragging up or to the left fills in the previous item.

Similarly, Excel knows the months of the year. You can enter the month or its 3-letter abbreviation, then drag the AutoFill handle to fill in other months of the year.

AutoFill a numerical series

When it comes to automatically filling in a numerical series, you have a couple of options.

First, if you select a cell containing a number and drag the AutoFill handle, Excel assumes you want to simply copy the value. When you release the mouse button, the AutoFill options button appears. Click the option for

Fill Series

to replace the multiple copies of the selected number with a series of numbers that increment (or decrement) by one.

Second, if you select two adjacent cells with distinct numerical values and drag the AutoFill handle, Excel fills the cells with a series which increments by the difference of the two values. In other words, if you selected one cell containing the number 1 and another cell containing the number 3 and then dragged with the AutoFill handle to the right, the resulting series would be 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. Each subsequent value would be 2 more than the last. In this way you can increment a series by twos, by threes, or even by twenty-sevens.

Customizing Excel’s AutoFill List

As we have seen, Excel knows days, months, and numbers — and that’s it. If you select a cell with any other “non-series” data and drag the AutoFill handle, Excel just copies those cells. However, you can create your own custom list — or lists — to “teach” Excel new series.

Let’s teach Excel the first ten ordinal numbers, first through tenth. In Excel 2003, click

Tools > Options > Custom Lists

. Then select

New List

and type each list entry, separating the values with commas. Finally, click

Add

, then

OK

.

Note: In Excel 2007, click the Microsoft Office button, then click Excel Options. Click the Popular > Top options for working with Excel > Edit Custom Lists.

Now, you can AutoFill a series based on items in your custom list. And, you can even sort your data according to the order of items in your custom list.

AutoFill isn’t always a drag

You can extend a series in a column by double-clicking the AutoFill handle; Excel uses the column to the left as a guide.

Toggle the display of formulas on a sheet in Excel

When working in Excel, you may wish to see the formulas in use on your worksheet to help you track down an error, or to see which cells are dependent upon other cells.

To toggle the display of formulas on a sheet:

1. In the Tools menu, click Options.


2. On the View tab, in the Windows options area, check Formulas.

Excel Options Dialog box

3. Click OK.

Excel displays the formulas contained in cells on the active worksheet; it displays the underlying serial numbers for dates, and opens the Formula Auditing toolbar.

Excel spreadsheet with formulas displayed

Note: Alternatively, you can toggle the display of formulas in Excel by pressing CTRL + ` (grave accent).

Set up reliable data validation in Excel

You can use data validation to restrict the type of information allowed in a given cell (or cells). You can also specify a range of valid data for numerical, time or date values, and even text length. In addition, you can use data validation to limit data to a predefined list of acceptable items.

To set up data validation:

1. Select the cells you wish to affect.

Cells you wish to affect

2. In the Data menu, click Validation.

The Data Validation dialog box appears.

Data Validation dialog box

3. On the Settings tab, in the Allow box, click List.


4. In the Source box, type the values, separated by commas, you want to allow.

For example, try typing: blue, green, orange.

5. Click OK.

When you click on a cell, the drop-down arrow is available with the values you specified.

Dropdown list

Note: In the Source box, you can use a formula or reference to a range of cells that contain your list values rather than explicitly typing those values in.

However, if you want to refer to a range of cells on a different worksheet in the same workbook, you need to define a named range, then refer to the named range in the Source box, =named_range.

Use the Lookup feature to find values in lists with vLookup in Excel

You can use VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP to find corresponding information in a list of data, either vertically (VLOOKUP) or horizontally (HLOOKUP).

The VLOOKUP function scans vertically down the leftmost column of data, looking for a match to the input you provide. Upon finding a match, VLOOKUP returns a value from the given row, corresponding to a column you specify.

Note: HLOOKUP functions similarly, but it scans horizontally across the first row of data and returns a value from a given column, with respect to a corresponding row number.

For example, if your data looks like the data in screenshot below, then this formula, =VLOOKUP("associate",A1:B4,2), would return 135:

VLookup Screenshot

The three arguments required by VLOOKUP are Lookup Value, Table Array, and Column index. There is an optional fourth argument, Range Lookup.

• Lookup Value: The data you want to find. This can be text (enclosed in quotes) or it can be a reference to another cell.


• Table Array: A reference to a range of cells of at least 1 column of data. By default, the first column of data is used as the index to find the corresponding data for each row. Your data should be sorted in ascending order by the first column.


• Column Index: The corresponding column that contains the data you want to return.


• Range Lookup [optional]: A logical value, TRUE or FALSE. If this argument is omitted or TRUE the lookup returns the first closest match. If the argument is set to FALSE, lookup searches for an exact match.

Note: If you plan to copy your formula to use across more than one cell, you may wish to use absolute cell references for the table array so the addresses do not automatically adjust to a new range as the formula is copied. In our above example, the Table Array reference would become $A$1:$B$4.

Combining data from multiple cells with Concatenate in Excel

Excel gives you the ability to combine text from multiple cells into a single destination cell.

For example, if you have a cell that contains a first name and another cell that contains a last name, you can combine those cells together and also include arbitrary strings of characters such as a spaces (“ ”), or comma space (“, ”), or even whole words or phrases.

To combine text from multiple cells:

1. Select the empty cell where you want the function to be stored.


2. In the Insert menu, click Function.


3. In the Category dropdown list, select Text.


4. In the Function area, select Concatenate, then click Enter.

Insert Function - Concatenate

5. Select Text1 in the Concatenate dialog box, then either click a cell on the sheet or type some text.


6. Select Text2 in the Concatenate dialog box, then either click a cell on the sheet or type some text.


7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 as necessary, then click OK.

Function Arguments

Note: In this example, the text elements for a last name, a comma followed by a space, and a first name are combined to make the text string “Beverly, Martha.”

You can use the “&” symbol to make your own concatenate string. This alternate formula would read =C2 & “, “ & B2.