December 25, 2007

Complete Closure in Outlook

Do you know about the wonderful world of the F4 key? If anything at all, you probably at least already have knowledge of these two little tidbits:

  • Ctrl + F4 will close the file.

  • Alt + F4 will close the program.

I bet some of you have tried cialis vs generic cialis Ctrl + F4 in MS Outlook with an e-mail or appointment you had open, but got nowhere, right? Or, at least not where you hoped to be.

Did you figure you were just plain out of luck on that account?

I'm sure some of you did, but I've got some great news for you today!

In MS Outlook, it takes an Alt + F4 to close a currently open item.

It doesn't close the whole program, but it closes the message, calendar item, note, task or contact that is currently open.

Hit Alt + F4 again and Outlook will close completely.

So, remember, if you've got an item currently open in Outlook, it takes Alt + F4 twice to get complete closure!

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Speed Up Those Drives

If you didn't know, Windows Vista operates external hard drives that are connected via USB differently than internal drives. Write caching is disabled so that you can safely remove the drive at almost any time. This is a great feature for USB flash drives that are frequently inserted and removed from your computer. But, if you have a large hard drive in an external enclosure that you never disconnect from your computer, write caching is also disabled, which can decrease performance. So, let's change that around a little, shall we?!

Today, I'm cialis usa going to show you a tweak that will increase the performance of your external hard drive by turning the write cache back on, as well as, activating an advanced performance. Let’s get started!

1.) First, in Vista, right click on the Computer icon on your desktop and select Manage.

2.) Click on Device Manager from the side menu.

3.) Next, expand the Disk Drives option and locate your external drive from the list.

4.) Once you've found it, right click on the drive and select Properties.

5.) Under the Policies tab, select Optimize for Performance.

6.) Next, checkmark both the options of "Enable write caching on the disk" and "Enable advanced performance," as shown below:

7.) Hit OK and then restart your computer.

That's all you have to do. Now, go on and enjoy your increased performance!

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Calling On Other Worksheets

I'm sure you've all used cell references in your MS Excel formulas, right? You know, let's say you want to add cells A2 and A3 and write a formula to do this in another location. Maybe even something as simple as =A2 + A3.

These formulas are great and pretty easy to use, but let's say there's a piece of data from one worksheet that you need to bring to another. What do you do then?

If cialis trial pack there's a chance the number from the other worksheet could change, you don't want to simply copy the number into the new worksheet. A move like that would only cause you grief. Every time you make a change that altered the value, you'd have to remember to retype the new number on the second worksheet as well.

Forget it! That method isn't worth the trouble.

Let's face it, if you can't set your workbook up to run smoothly and keep updates you have to make to a minimum, you're just looking for some trouble. You'll inevitably overlook one of those repetitive updates and the data will be meaningless.

So, now what?

The solution I suggest is to use the cell locations from the other worksheets in the formula, just like you would if the cells were located all on the same sheet.

Okay, so it isn't exactly the same. There is a slight difference in the way you reference the cells, but once you understand the new references, it's smooth sailing from there.

Now that we know why we want to use references for cells from different worksheets, let's get busy with the how to!

We all know about the basic formula to add two cells from within the same worksheet where the formula will be used. Let's use the one from above as our example: =A2 + A3

Now, let's just say that instead of A2 and A3 from the current worksheet, you want to use A2 from Sheet2 and A3 from Sheet3 in the workbook.

The new formula (with the different sheet references) would look like this: =Sheet2!A2+Sheet3!A3

Your formula has to somehow tell Excel where to find the cells in the workbook and do it before the cell location with the sheet name and the exclamation point. (Without the extra clarification, the program simply uses the sheet with the formula).

After using a formula like that, you're relieved from any extra updating! If you change a number in either of those cells, the formula will automatically update using the new values.

This type of referencing works in any formula, but you have to be sure not to have any typos in the sheet name. Excel will not guess what you mean, because it only works very literally.

What's that? You don't like all the extra typing? You're more of a "clicker" when it comes to building your formulas?

No problem!

You already know you can click to a cell location to insert it into a formula and well, it works the same way here.

  • Start your formula with the equal sign.

  • Use the sheet tabs (or Ctrl + Page Up/Page Down) to move to another worksheet in the workbook.

  • Click on the cell(s) you need inserted into the formula.

  • At this point, do not click back to the sheet you're working on, just simply continue inserting the elements (cell locations and keystrokes) of your formula.

  • When you complete the formula, hit the Enter key.

You'll be returned to the sheet you started with and your formula will be in place and hopefully, working correctly.

Now that you know how, feel free to call on all the worksheets in the book!

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