July - 2004

^{1911 2004}

Plans for the Fourth?

The State's Longest Running Fourth of July Celebration is Right Here in Annandale!  More Information

Have an HP Laptop?

You will want to see this!

Word Cross-Reference fields

Last month we discussed Word Form templates and how a fill-in field could be referenced elsewhere in the document.  Cross-reference fields are extremely handy and not limited to fill-in forms.  From the Word help file:

A cross-reference is a reference to an item that appears in another location in a document — for example, "See Figure 1 on page 3." You can create cross-references to headings, footnotes, bookmarks, captions, numbered paragraphs, and so on. 

In the Microsoft help example, page 3 has an image, table or chart that needs to be identified for later reference.  So the first thing you would need to do is place the cursor just below that image/table/chart and from the Insert menu, select "Caption."  Word will default to place the identifier "Figure 1.", (or the next available sequential number when there are multiple references.)  

Later in your document when you need to refer to Figure 1, you would add a Cross-Reference from the Insert menu: 

For the typical "See Figure 1 on page 3." reference, do this: From the Insert menu select Cross reference and in the dialog box, change the Reference Type: to Figure   and change the Insert reference to:, to Only Label and Number  Close the dialog box and type "See" and "on" in the appropriate place being careful not to delete either of the fields:    Figure 1  page 3

Likewise if you have created a fill-in form template and one of the fill-in fields contains a person's name, later in the document you could have Word automatically lookup that field's contents; first you need to name that fill-in field as discussed last month then when you want Word to display the field's contents, Insert Cross reference but change the Reference Type: to "Bookmark" and the Insert reference to:  to Bookmark Text.

References (by default) are hyperlinks meaning; in the Word document, you can click on that reference and the cursor would move to the referenced item.  

Inserting cross reference's offer too many options to discuss here so get in there and experiment!

Page not found?

A couple of weeks ago you may have had problem accessing Google, Microsoft and a few other major sites but don't blame your provider...   Recently some major web sites were hit with attacks making then inaccessible to users.   The article 

Problematic Application

Over the past month or so, we have been repairing many computers for a variety of problems; including lock-ups, not booting and poor performance.  Consistently, we are finding an Internet add-in called Wtools.  We are not sure of the application's origin but it appears to be coming in with a searchbar, "optimizer" or memory manager download.

This application is either so badly (or so cleverly)  written it cannot be uninstalled through the Control Panel.  Under Windows XP, you can end the task but WTools automatically reloads.  You cannot delete the files because they're in use by Windows.  The only way to rid a computer of this infection (our words) is to start it in the safe mode and manually remove the files and registry entries.

Read the Fine Print!

More and more, Internet downloads are adding adware/spyware WITH your permission!  By clicking yes to an End-User License Agreement, you may very well be giving them the necessary permission to load something that will affect your computer's performance (or worse.)  Article

Down-Right Dirty

Perhaps the worst case of web browser hijacking, I-Lookup is finally getting the bad PR they deserve but it's too little, too late for many people.  The Article  Here again, this problem occurs because someone downloaded/installed or agreed to a toolbar or some other Internet add-in.

Microsoft offers a step-by-step article on "safe surfing" but their settings make it nearly impossible to do many things on the Internet.  So short of those settings, (and we hate to sound like a broken record*), don't install toolbars.  * For those too-young to know... :-) 

Safe Surfing?  

We have discussed the possibility of getting viruses from unscrupulous web sites before but now, you may get one from "known safe sites" such as trusted banks!  Article1, Article2 And perhaps, maybe, some good news... Follow-up article

Old cell-phones, Eyeglasses, Ink Cartridges and now Laser Cartridges.

If you have any of these, please do not throw them away.  We collect them at the store for specific charities.    Thank you...

Looking to buy a new computer?  

Here are some ideas that may help you decide: http://www.bergesch.com/bcs/newcomputer.htm

That's all for now but we will leave you with this:  

• Now that food has replaced sex in my life, I can't even get into my own pants.
• Marriage changes passion. Suddenly you're in bed with a relative.
• A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Darn...that was fun!"
• I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't have signed up in the first place!
• When I was young we used to go "skinny dipping," now I just "chunky dunk."
• Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.
• Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over?
• Wouldn't you know it...Brain cells come and brain cells go, but FAT cells live forever.
• Bumper sticker of the year: "If you can read this, thank a teacher....and since it's in English, thank a soldier."