UNLOCKING SELECTED CELLS Excel 2003, Excel 2007

IF you are not comfortable with creating forms in your document, and yet need to take user inputs you can create a semi-locked range of cells. All you need to do is create a range of cells containing fi xed values and editable values.

In Excel, the cells are locked by default, but the users can still edit their content unless you protect the worksheet as explained below. Carry out the following steps for Excel 2003:

• Open the workbook to which restriction needs to be applied.
• Next, fill out the details that you want to keep fixed in the cell range of your choice.
• Select the required cell range that can be edited.
• Go to the 'Format | Cells'.

Password Protecting Document

EXCEL helps you create separate passwords for opening and editing files, but unlike Word, you cannot modify the macros settings from this option directly.

Here's how:

• Click the 'Office' Button in Excel.
• Click the 'Save As' option.

PROTECT SECTIONS OF A DOCUMENT Word 2003, 2007

YOU may have created reports where you need another reviewer to enter details and not tamper with certain sections of the document. For doing this certain parts of the document should be locked while some parts should be left open for editing.

To do so using Word 2007, carry out the following steps:

• Open the document to which restriction needs to be applied.
• Select the data which needs to be set as editable.
• Go to the 'Page Layout' tab.
• Click the 'Breaks' option appearing under the 'Page Setup' group of the tab.
• Select the 'Continuous' option from drop-down list.

TRACKING CHANGES IN A DOCUMENT Word 2003, 2007

IF your data is critical and you want to ensure that you give restricted access on the document, you can either control formatting or editing changes.

To do so using Word 2007:

• Open the document on which the restriction needs to be applied.
• Go to the 'Review' tab.
• Click the 'Protect Document' option appearing under the 'Protect' group at the end of the tab.
• Select the 'Restrict Formatting and Editing' option under the 'Restrict Reviewing Options' section of the drop-down menu that appears.

DISABLE WRITING TO USB DRIVES

IF your system is being used by multiple users, then there is a huge possibility of data being leaked from your system. Data thieves can simply plug in a USB device and copy sensitive data.

If you're concerned about data security, you can disable writing to USB drives with a simple registry tweak.

To disable the writing of data to USB drives follow these steps:

1. Go to 'Start | Run', type 'regedit' in the text box and press [Enter].
2. Browse to the 'HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE | SYSTEM | CurrentControlSet | Control | StorageDevicePolicies' registry key.

DISABLE AUTOPLAY

The Autoplay option in Windows Vista appears whenever a CD/DVD is inserted or an external drive is plugged in via the USB port.

This feature might be quite helpful but at times it may even get really annoying, especially when it affects your normal work or if you insert optical discs very often. If you feel that you no longer require the Autoplay function, you can disable it.

Simply follow the steps given below.

1. To disable Autoplay for all devices, go to 'Start | Control Panel'.
2. Under the 'Hardware and Sound' section click the 'Play CDs or other media automatically' link.

BLOCK WEBSITES

There are several websites which give out malware. Access to such websites could put your system at risk.

Windows Vista has an amazing feature known as 'Parental Control' which allows the administrator to deny access to certain websites. Other than this, the administrator can also block file downloads, view user activity, block specific applications and a lot more. Let's take a look at how to go about it.

• Go to 'Start | Control Panel'.
• Click the 'Setup parental controls for any user' link.
• Select a user account on the resulting screen.

Windows 7 Technical Know-how

Improving all the basics:

Windows 7 is satisfied with fewer resources than those required by Vista: Microsoft recommends a 1 GHz CPU and 1 GB of RAM. The company has learnt a lot from the mistakes made during the Vista launch: many teams of developers sat in their laboratories with everyday PC users and kept a close watch on them while they were working, as described in several blog posts that they have published. With this knowledge, they have tried to optimize Windows’ handling. A few annoying things that users have had to struggle with for a long time have been eliminated, and new integrated functions like Aero Snap and Aero Shake on the desktop allow for entirely new ways of window management. You can now minimize windows and call them up again with mouse gestures, e.g. a simple shake movement, or can also tile windows to half the screen with a familiar drag and drop.

Installation: The goal of making Windows 7’s installation quicker and easier has largely been met. The process is entirely graphical and doesn’t need much user intervention. You can set up your network during the process so you’re ready to download the latest updates as soon as installation is done.

Scaling any window quickly using Drag & Drop Windows XP, Vista

In the new Windows 7, the size of windows can be quickly adjusted using the mouse. Now you are looking for an option to get the same function in your old Windows.

The freeware AeroSnap enables practical control of open windows even in the older Windows versions like in Windows 7. This small tool is formally still in the beta version, but it runs very reliably. You will need the .NET Framework 2.0 installed for the program to work. Before using the program, you should change a few options.

• For that right-click on aero snap symbol in the taskbar and select ‘Options’.
• On the left, select the category ‘General’.
• There, deactivate the option ‘Show splash screen on startup’ and activate ‘Autostart AeroSnap with Windows’.

Automatic system log-in for users and faster booting Windows XP

As soon as several user accounts are created with passwords, Windows wants a password for the booting process. That is annoying, especially when you wish to use the system for test purposes multiple times consecutively with the same user account.

You can automate the login process by using a Registry entry.

• Open the Registry Editor by opening ‘Start | Run’, enter ‘regedit’ and click ‘OK’.
• Now, navigate to the ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software \Microsoft\WindowsNT\ CurrentVersion\Winlogon’.
• Open the entry ‘AltDefaultUserName’ and as the value, enter the name of the desired user account that needs to login automatically.

Clearing the working memory and releasing the system brakes Windows XP, Vista

During longer work sessions with frequent program change, the system becomes slower. Only after restarting it, does it runs at the usual speed.

The reasons for that are the ill-programmed applications, which, on being closed, do not completely clear the working memory. The Internet has numerous tools to offer which can clean the working memory, but this can be very easily done using on-board resources as well.

• First create a new text file, by rightclicking on a free spot on the desktop and selecting the context command ‘New | Text file’.
• Name this ‘RAM refresh. txt’.
• By double-clicking, open the file and enter the following command: FreeMem – space(64000000) Save and close the file.

Making better use of the taskbar when fewer programs are open Windows XP

The width of the buttons of running programs in the taskbar is restricted.

Even if only one program is open, its complete name is not visible. In such cases, you would like the button in the taskbar to be bigger. When several symbols have to share the space in the taskbar, Windows automatically reduces the size of the individual objects. With enough space however, a specific minimum value is used for these icons. With that, you can modify the size of the buttons in the registry. For that,

• Open the command ‘Run’ in the Windows start menu, enter ‘regedit’ and click ‘OK’.
• In the editor, navigate to the key ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics’.
• Search for the character string ‘MinWidth’ towards the right of the window.
• If the entry does not exist, create it with the command ‘Edit | New | Character String’.

Always having important system tools handy Windows XP, Vista

As an experienced user, you are often helping out your friends to solve their computer problems.

They often use special tools from the Sysinternals collection. Since you do not always have a USB Stick with the programs on it, you want to know, how to get to the required tool faster using a detour. As long as the computer has another browser with a functioning Internet access, you can download the required tool without installing the entire program collection from the website ‘http://live.sysinternals.com/’. Here, all the latest versions of the tool are listed in alphabetical order.

Sending your macros independent of the document Office XP, 2003, 2007

Finally! The new macro is working as intended. Now, you want to email the macro to someone you know. However, the macro is embedded in the document, which you do not wish to send. Macros can be exported and imported independent of the document.

• For that, start the command ‘Tools | Macro | Macros’.
• Select the desired macro in the list and then click on ‘Create’.
• In the Visual Basic-Editor, now open ‘File | Export file’ in the menu.
• For sending through email, it is practical, to change the ‘File type’ to ‘All Files’ first and then entering a name in the field ‘File name’ such as ‘My-Macro.txt’.
• If required, change the destination folder and then click on ‘Save’.