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Today's Tips 10/19/2006
Using The Registry Editor In Windows!
The Registry Editor (regedit.exe) is included with Windows to enable you
to view and edit the contents of the Registry. When you open the
Registry Editor, you'll see a window divided into two panes. The left
side shows a tree with folders (see Structure of the Registry above),
and the right side shows the contents (values) of the currently selected
folder (key).
To expand a certain branch, click on the little plus sign [+] to the
left of any folder, or just double-click on the folder. To display the
contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key, and look at the
values listed on the right side. You can add a new key or value by
selecting New from the Edit menu. You can rename any value and almost
any key with the same method used to rename files; right-click on an
object and click rename, or click on it twice (slowly), or just press F2
on the keyboard. Lastly, you can delete a key or value by clicking on
it, and pressing Delete on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on it, and
choosing Delete.
Gary Chambers
Importing, Exporting, And Applying Registry
Patches In Windows!
Although you can edit the Registry with the Registry Editor , you can
also make changes by using Registry patches. A Registry patch is a
simple text file with the .REG extension that contains one or more keys
or values. If you double-click on a .REG file, the patch is applied to
the registry. This is a good way to share or back up small portions of
the registry for use on your own computer, or someone else's, because
(among other reasons) it's much simpler and less dangerous than manually
editing the Registry.
You can create a Registry patch by opening the Registry Editor,
selecting a branch, and choosing Export from the File menu. Then,
specify a filename, and press OK. You can then view the Registry patch
file by opening it in Notepad (right-click on it and select Edit).
Again, just double-click on a Registry patch file (or use Import in the
Registry Editor's File menu) to apply it to the registry.
Gary Chambers
Speeding Data Entry With AutoComplete In Excel
97-2000-2001-2002!
You hardly have to do any data entry before you stumble across Excel’s
AutoComplete feature. As you enter text into a cell, Excel checks the
other adjacent cells that precede it in the column to see if any
existing entries match what you're entering. As soon as Excel detects a
possible match, it fills the cell with the anticipated word. You can
then exit the cell to accept the suggestion or keep typing to remove the
suggested word and finish your entry.
For example, open a new workbook and enter United States in cell A1.
Then, enter U in cell A2. As soon as you press U, Excel displays United
States in the cell. Now, press the [Down Arrow] key to select cell A3
and enter United Kingdom. Until you press the K key, Excel assumes that
United States is the entry you want to make. As soon as you press K,
Excel clears the suggested entry and you can finish typing Kingdom.
Finally, select cell A4 and enter United States again. Excel can't
differentiate between the prior entries until you press the S key, at
which point it makes an assumption about your current entry. In a case
like this, waiting to get to the character that differentiates similar
entries can be tiresome. Fortunately, you can speed the process. To do
so, press [Alt] and the [Down Arrow] key when you begin your new entry.
For example, select cell A5 and press [Alt][Down Arrow]. Excel displays
a dropdown list of the column's previous entries. Use your mouse or
keyboard’s directional arrows to select an item and press [Enter] to
insert it into the cell. You can also display the item list by
right-clicking on a cell ([control]-clicking on the Mac) and choosing
Pick From List.
When working with a long list of column entries, enter the first few
letters of the word you're looking for prior to displaying the dropdown
list so you don't have to scroll through a lot of entries. To
demonstrate, enter Canada, France, Uganda, Ukraine, and Zambia beneath
the entries in the current column. Now, let’s say that you want to enter
United States again. In the column’s next available cell enter Un and
press [Alt][Down Arrow]. The dropdown list opens and the first entry
matching the criteria, United Kingdom, is selected. Although you need to
manually select the United States item, this technique is much faster
than scrolling through the entire list or typing the name until Excel
recognizes it.
Cathy Chambers
Add Or Remove Directories From The Indexing
Service's System Catalog In Windows 2000!
Windows 2000 Professional's Indexing Service can index documents on the
local system to help you locate a specific document based on a variety
of criteria, including content. The Indexing Service can also index
documents on remote computers.
Although people typically use the Indexing Service on servers to support
Web-based queries, you can also use it on workstations to support
searches for documents. Go to Start | Search to search documents indexed
by the Indexing Service.
By default, the Indexing Service creates a System catalog with a handful
of directory entries to specify which folders to index. You can view and
manage these in the Computer Management console. To view the existing
directories, navigate to the Services and Applications\Indexing
Service\System\Directories branch.
To streamline performance, you can modify the entries in the System
catalog to remove or add directories from indexing. To remove a
directory, right-click the directory in the right pane, and choose
Delete.
To add a directory, right-click the Directories branch, choose New |
Directory, and enter the directory path in the Path field. If others
will be querying the directory across the network, enter the UNC path to
the directory in the Alias field, choose Yes, and click OK.
After you finish adding and removing directories from the System
catalog, open the Services console, and restart the Indexing Service. To
force a rescan by the Indexing Service of a directory, open the Indexing
Service branch of the Computer Management console, right-click the
directory, and choose All Tasks | Rescan (Full).
Gary Chambers
Capture Error Messages in Windows 98!
Many computer problems involve error messages, and it's essential to
record the precise wording of these messages. In Windows 2000 and XP,
pressing Ctrl-C will copy most error messages to the Clipboard. Launch
Notepad, paste a copied message, and save it.
Under Windows 98 and Me (or when Ctrl-C doesn't work), type the exact
text of the message into Notepad for reference. (You can also take a
screenshot of the error message by hitting Alt-PrintScreen, which copies
the screen image to the Clipboard, and then opening Paint and pasting
the image into a blank file. You now have a picture of the error
message.)
When copying or reporting an error message, you can omit the
interminable lists of numbers found at the end of some message boxes.
Gary Chambers
*** Depending on some Email
Programs Some Formulas And Pathways Don't Show Up Correctly In The
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Some Requested
Performance Tips For Windows! I Just Listed Them On A Web Page Because
Some Are Registry Edits.
1. Speed Up The Start Menu In XP!
2. Disabling Hibernation In XP!
3. Optimize System Performance In Windows XP!
4. Want To Enable Boot Defragment?
5. Balance System Performance and Visual Effects!
6. Customize the CPU Cycles Given to Programs and Processes!
7. Turn Off Multimedia and Graphics on Web Pages!
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Made Some Changes To The Microsoft Access Database's That You Can
Download.
Take A Look!
Second Page Of Database's
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Feature Article Section Of MY Website To Make Sure It Is Correct!
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