Save Time with Macros

At a book indexers meeting yesterday I realized that not everyone takes advantages of macros.

What is a Macro?
The Guide to Computing defines a macro as “a series of keyboard and mouse actions recorded to a single key, symbol, or name.” Macros are especially useful when you have to repeatedly perform the same series of keyboard and/or mouse actions.

Usefulness of Macros
For example, when I’m using Microsoft Word and want to format text on a page to save paper, instead of manually going through all the steps to change the page set up, format the text to two columns, and change the font size of all  the text, I record a macro of the process and use it to do the work for me.

Creating Macros in MS Word 2003
In Microsoft Word 2003, go to Tools > Macro > Record New Macro. When given the option to name your new macro it’s helpful to type in a meaningful name that helps you remember what the it does. Once the Record button is selected everything you do will be recorded in the Macro. When you’re done click on the Stop Recording button. To use your newly created macro just hit Alt + F8 and click on the Run button.

Macros in Other Software Programs
Many other software programs provide macro options that are easy to use. If you poke around in the software and can’t find the option consult the Help files and browse or search for macros.

Typing Speed Tests

Do you need to know how fast you can type or are you just curious? I checked out my typing speed with the online typing test at TypingTest.com. Thinking it probably went down I was surprised to find out it stayed about the same as it was 10 years ago, 55 wpm.

The online test is free and the time duration can be set to 1, 2, or 3 minutes. You can also pick the kind of information you want to type, such as Aesop’s Fables, Rules of Baseball, and others. For a fee, the site also provides official documentation of your typing speed and sells software for improving your typing skills.

After checking my typing speed I tried a couple of typing games and got hooked, wasting time playing the KeyMan Typing Game. If you remember Pac-man it’s just like that game. You have to work through the maze and catch the ghosts before they get you.

Retrieving Lost Passwords

Most of us have too many passwords to remember and like me you probably have a system for retrieving them. But sometimes the system doesn’t work. In that instance we can usually get a new password emailed to us.

Here’s another method for retrieving some passwords. If you have your password set to be automatically entered for you and you can see the asterisks that represent your password there’s a free tool that lets retrieve the password hidden behind some asterisks.

It’s called Asterisk Key and is available from Passware at
http://www.lostpassword.com/asterisk.htm.

Beware of Clicking on Shortened URLs

It seems like there’s always something new to beware of on the web. Although not new, spammers and others are using shortened URLs to their advantage.

About Shortened URLs
Shortened URLs can be created by using services such as TinyURL. They’re especially convenient for providing links to URLs that are exceptionally long. The service shortens a long URL, such as 100 characters, into something as short as 15 characters, making it fit on one line and short enough to  fit in messages, such as Twitter, that limit the amount of characters in a post.

The Problem
For example, if the URL points to Amazon.com, instead of being able to see that it really does point to a page on Amazon all you see is this.

http://tinyurl.com/n93tvz

The “http://amazon.com/” part of the URL is hidden and you don’t know if it really takes you to Amazon’s website.

A Solution?
TinyURL offers a preview option. Instead of taking you directly to the site the URL points to, the preview option takes you to TinyURL to view the original. Here’s the preview URL for the same page on Amazon.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/n93tvz

First it takes the surfer to TinyURL to view the original URL and provides a link to “proceed to this site.” It looks like a safer option but I imagine spammers will find a way to get around this.

Visit:
TinyURL.com
Information Week

Read More:
Information Week’s article Web Link Shrinkage Powers Spam Surge by Thomas Claburn .

WebNotes.net for Faster Research

Researching on the web and sharing the information can be a lot of work. For information I need to refer back to later I’ll either bookmark the page, or copy and paste the text and URL’s (webpage addresses) into MSWord. If I want to share the information I’ll email the URL with some notes about what the page contains.

Now I’ve discovered a much easier method for saving and sharing information using a new tool called Web Notes. With it you can highlight text on webpages, add notes to them, share the information, and save it for later. There’s no more copying, pasting, and opening multiple programs.

For easy organization and retrieval of all those notes and pages Web Notes provides folders and reports. The folder system is straight forward allowing for adding, organizing, and deleting notes. The reports tool provides full views of notes and URLs which can be saved and printed. I’ll be saving a lot of time with this tool.

Read the PC World review in the Washington Post.

Visit the:
Washington Post website
PC World website
Web Notes website

Windows Security Patches

If you’re running Windows and use Microsoft Office software make sure you have the latest updates from Microsoft.

From the WashingtonPost.com

Microsoft Issues Record Number of Security Updates

“Microsoft Corp. issued a record-breaking number of software security updates today, shipping patches that plug at least 31 different security flaws in its Windows operating systems and other software.”

View this Washington Post article.
Go to Microsoft security updates for June 2009.

Screen Captures

Have you ever wanted to capture what you’re seeing on your computer screen and share it with someone else? It’s really easy to do.

To do this hit the Ctrl + Print Screen buttons at the same time. Now it is saved to your clipboard for pasting into another file such as Microsoft Word. To paste the image into Word hit the Ctrl + V buttons at the same time.

To learn more about screen captures go to Cal Poly Pomona’s resources page or copy this link and paste it into your Web browser.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~wcweber/resources/screensh.htm

Online Medical Records

There’s a new online tool for storing personal medical records and managing individual health and fitness.

The Mayo Clinic has combined their medical knowledge with Microsoft HealthVault to provide the general public with the Mayo Clinic Health Manager, a free online tool for storing, maintaining, and sharing personal health records, getting reminders for scheduled and recommended doctor’s visits, and tracking and improving individual health.

A Few Things You Can Do with the Mayo Clinic Health Manager

1. Electronically share selected medical records and health information with your physicians and pharmacist.
2. Medical records and health information from many sources are stored in one location.
3. Connect health monitoring devices to your computer, such as blood pressure monitor, and upload the data into your HealthVault record.
4. Get reminders for scheduled doctor’s appointments.
5. Get personalized recommendations for managing your health.

It sounds good, especially for tracking chronic health conditions and sharing data from health monitoring devices with your doctor. If I had to take regular readings of my glucose, for example, it might be really useful for tracking that aspect of my health over time.

However, I wonder about a couple of potential problems with accessing and entering my personal health data in an online system. First, what about personal privacy related to accessing and sharing information? We’re supposed to read the fine print when signing up for free online services. But it’s usually hard to understand. What about information leaks and unauthorized access to and sharing of information?

The other issue is that not all health care providers use the system. That means I have to enter the data myself. I’m sure to make a typo, and if I can’t read the doctor’s writing or I don’t understand everything in my records then how am I going to enter the data accurately?

Hmm, for now I’ll stick with paper.

Password Protect Microsoft Documents

Microsoft has a built in tool for protecting your sensitive information from prying eyes. If you have financial, legal, or any other private information saved in Word or Excel files, here’s how to prevent others from peeking.

1. When you have the file open and are ready to save it, select File and then Save As.
2. In the upper right hand corner of the pop-up window, select Tools.
3. Select Security Options or General Options for the 2007 version.
4. Then type in a password that’s easy for you to remember.
5. Select OK.
6. If you’re prompted to re-enter the password, do so and select OK again.
7. Finally, select Save.

More Time Saving Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

Here are a few of my favorite Windows keyboard shortcuts. Although they are commonly known by many Windows users the shortcuts are new to some and are worth mentioning simply because they save a lot of time by keeping my fingers on the keyboard. If you want to see shortcuts for other commands just click on the drop down menu and you’ll find them displayed next to their respective commands.

Ctrl+C
Copy highlighted text and images.

Ctrl+V
Paste text and images that have already been copied.

Ctrl+A
Highlight the contents in an entire document or Webpage.