1. Use antivirus software and keep it up-to-date. You should check for new definition updates daily. Most antivirus software can be configured to do this automatically.
2. Install security patches. Vulnerabilities in software are constantly being discovered and they don't discriminate by vendor or platform. It's not simply a matter of updating Windows; at least monthly, check for and apply updates for all software you use.
3. Use a firewall. No Internet connection is safe without one. Firewalls are necessary even if you have a dial-up Internet connection -- it takes only minutes for a a non-firewalled computer to be infected.
4. Take control of your email. Avoid opening email attachments received unexpectedly -- no matter who appears to have sent it. Remember that most worms and trojan-laden spam try to spoof the sender's name. And make sure your email client isn't leaving you open to infection. Reading email in plain text offers important security benefits that more than offset the loss of pretty colored fonts.
5. Treat IM suspiciously. Instant Messaging is a frequent target of worms and trojans. Treat it just as you would email.
6. Avoid P2P and distributed filesharing. Torrent, Kazaa, Gnutella, Morpheus and at least a dozen other filesharing networks exist. Most are free. And all are rife with trojans, viruses, worms, adware, spyware, and every other form of malicious code imaginable. There's no such thing as safe anonymous filesharing. Avoid it like the plague.
7. Keep abreast of Internet scams. Criminals think of clever ways to separate you from your hard earned cash. Don't get fooled by emails telling sad stories, or making unsolicited job offers, or promising lotto winnings. Likewise, beware of email masquerading as a security concern from your bank or other eCommerce site.
8. Don't fall victim to virus hoaxes. Dire-sounding email spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about non-existent threats serve only to spread needless alarm and may even cause you to delete perfectly legitimate files in response.
With the introduction of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 all major browsers now support tabbed browsing. Below are various tips to improve your browsing using tabs.
1. Clicking on any link with your middle mouse button or wheel will open that link in a new tab. Alternatively you can hold down your CTRL key and click a link to open that link in a new tab.
2. Clicking on an open tab with your middle mouse button will close that tab.
3. Mozilla Firefox users can middle-click the back button to open a previous page in a new tab.
4. Pressing CTRL + T will open a new tab.
5. Pressing CTRL + Shift + T will undo the closed tab. Alternatively right clicking on a portion of the tab bar will also display this option.
6. Hold down CTRL and press 1 through 0 on the keyboard to open that respected tab.
7. Right-clicking the active tab will give you an option to close all other non-active tabs.
When most people create a comment (Review tab, New Comment, or Shift/F2), they accept the shape and colour and just enter the information they want. How about a change?
Here's how you can do it:
1. When you first create a comment, the cursor is right after whatever you typed. You need to select the comment itself, not the text inside. So, put in the border of the comment.
2. Then you need the Change Shape tool. This can be placed on the Quick Access toolbar. When the comment is selected by the border, click the new Change Shape tool.
3. From that, you can select basic shapes, block arrows, flowcharts, stars and banners, or callouts, each of which has yet another set of shapes to choose from. Shown here is the Cloud callout.
4. Once you have the new shape, right-click the border once again, and choose Format comment as shown.
Suppose you are looking at a worksheet which contains dates which can't be formatted as 'real' dates because of their structure.
1. Select the date(s), and use Data tab, Text-to-Columns
2. This brings up the Text-to-Columns wizard even though the dates are fixed width, in this case you can simply click Next twice
3. Select date (year, month, day)
4. Click Finish
