EBOOKSINSIDE

Security for Microsoft Windows System Administrators 2011

2011-02-24T09:15:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1 Introduction to General Security Concepts

Principles of Information Security.

Information Security Standards, Regulations, and Compliance.

Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA).

Access Control .

Summary.

Chapter 2 Cryptography.

Basic Cryptography Concepts.

PKI Concepts.

Implementing PKI and Certificate Management .

Summary.

Chapter 3 Network Security.

General Network Concepts and Vulnerabilities.

Network Services and Network Devices.

Internet Security and Vulnerabilities.

Network Security Tools and Devices.

Summary.

Chapter 4 System Security.

General System Security Threats .

Hardware and Peripheral Devices.

OS and Application Security.

Virtualization.

System-Based Security Applications .

Summary.

Chapter 5 Organizational and Operational Security.

Physical Security Concepts and Vulnerabilities.

Policies and Procedures.

Risk Analysis.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery.

Summary.

Chapter 6 Security Assessments and Audits.

Vulnerability Assessments and Testing .

Monitoring.

Logging and Auditing.

Summary.

To Download

Visual Adobe Photoshop CS3 Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks

2011-02-23T21:58:00.000-08:00

Photoshop CS3: Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks includes 100 tasks that reveal cool secrets, teach timesaving tricks, and explain great tips guaranteed to make you more productive with Photoshop CS3. The easy-to-use layout lets you work through all the tasks from beginning to end or jump in at random.

Who is this book for?

You already know Photoshop basics. Now you would like to go beyond, with shortcuts, tricks, and tips that let

you work smarter and faster. And because you learn more easily when someone shows you how, this is the book for you.

1. Customizing Photoshop for Your Projects

#1 Select the Color Settings for Your Projects

#2 Set the Preferences for the Way You Work

#3 Customize Your Personal Workspace

#4 Personalize Your View of the Bridge

#5 Add Your Own Keyboard Shortcut for a Favorite Filter

#6 Create a Custom Action to Increase Your Efficiency

#7 Design a Customized Brush with Your Settings

#8 Make a Special Gradient to Suit Your Design

#9 Calibrate and Profile Your Monitor for Better Editing

#10 Turn on the Full Power of Photoshop with a Pen Tablet

2. Working with Layers, Selections, and Masks

#11 Duplicate and Change the Background Layer to Fix Problems Such As Overexposure

#12 Using an Adjustment Layer to Adjust a Photo Nondestructively

#13 Blend Two Photos Together with a Layer Mask

#14 Using Custom Shape Layers to Add Designs to Photos

#15 Accentuate a Sky Easily with a Gradient Fill Layer

#16 Using the Quick Selection Tool and Refine Edge Palette for Selections 36

#17 Using a Quick Mask to Make a Detailed Selection

#18 Extract the Main Subject from the Background

#19 Open or Add Layers as Smart Objects for Nondestructive Changes

#20 Apply Filters as Smart Filters for Dynamic Adjustments

3. Straightening, Cropping, and Resizing

#21 Crop Your Images and Use a Rule-of-Thirds Grid to Improve Composition

#22 Create a Level Horizon

#23 Try a Reverse Crop to Expand the Canvas

#24 Crop and Straighten in Camera Raw

#25 Straighten Crooked Scans Quickly

#26 Crop Multiple Images from One Original to Create a Triptych

#27 Change Your Perspective with the Crop Tool

#28 Straighten Buildings with the Lens Correction Filter

#29 Create a Panorama from Multiple Photos

#30 Maximize Your Image Size with Minimal Visible Loss

4. Retouching Portraits

#31 Remove Blemishes and Improve the Skin

#32 Remove Red Eye to Quickly Improve Any Photo

#33 Change Eye Color Digitally

#34 Reduce Wrinkles with a Soft Touch

#35 Whiten Teeth to Improve a Smile

#36 Brighten the Eyes by Lightening the Whites

#37 Add Depth to Eyes to Emphasize Them

#38 Add a Catch Light to Make the Eyes Come Alive

#39 Sharpen Just the Eyes to Add Focus

#40 Add a Soft-Focus Effect to Make a Portrait Glow

5. Changing and Enhancing Colors and Tone6.Making Magic with Digital Special Effects
7.Designing with Text Effects
8.Creating Digital Artwork from Photographs
9.Giving Your Images a Professional Presentation
10.Plugging into Photoshop CS3

To Download

Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista

2011-02-20T23:56:00.000-08:00

Part I: Networking Hardware for Windows Vista
1 Understanding Ethernet Networking
2 Understanding Wireless Networking
3 Configuring Your Router
4 Putting Your Network Together

Part II: Managing and Using Your Network
5 Working with Vista’s Basic Network Tools and Tasks
6 Managing Network Connections
7 Managing Wireless Network Connections
8 Accessing and Sharing Network Resources
9 Setting up Vista as a Digital Media Hub
10 Taking Advantage of Your Network
11 Work with Network Files Offline
12 Collaborating with Windows Meeting Space

Part III: Securing Your Network
13 Securing Windows Vista
14 Implementing Network Security
15 Implementing Wireless Security

Part IV: Advanced Networking with Windows Vista
16 Making Remote Network Connections
17 Monitoring Your Network
18 Troubleshooting Network Problems
19 Setting up a Website
20 Setting up an FTP Site
Glossary of Network Terms
Index

to Download
http://www.ziddu.com/download/13881205/NetworkingwithMicrosoftWindowsVista.pdf.html

Excel Formulae 2010

2011-02-19T23:09:00.000-08:00

This is not a book for beginning Excel users. If you have absolutely no experience with Excel, this is probably not the best book for you unless you’re one of a rare breed who can learn a new software product almost instantaneously. To get the most out of this book, you should have some background using Excel. Specifically, I assume that you need this book.

Part I: Basic Information

Chapter 1: Excel in a Nutshell

Chapter 2: Basic Facts about Formulas

Chapter 3: Working with Names

Part II: Using Functions in Your Formulas

Chapter 4: Introducing Worksheet Functions

Chapter 5: Manipulating Text

Chapter 6: Working with Dates and Times

Chapter 7: Counting and Summing Techniques

Chapter 8: Using Lookup Functions

Chapter 9: Tables and Worksheet Databases

Chapter 10: Miscellaneous Calculations

Part III: Financial Formulas

Chapter 11: Borrowing and Investing Formulas

Chapter 12: Discounting and Depreciation Formulas

Chapter 13: Financial Schedules

Part IV: Array Formulas

Chapter 14: Introducing Arrays

Chapter 15: Performing Magic with Array Formulas

Part V: Miscellaneous Formula Techniques

Chapter 16: Intentional Circular References

Chapter 17: Charting Techniques

Chapter 18: Pivot Tables .

Chapter 19: Conditional Formatting and Data Validation

Chapter 20: Creating Megaformulas

Chapter 21: Tools and Methods for Debugging Formulas

Part VI: Developing Custom Worksheet Functions

Chapter 22: Introducing VBA

Chapter 23: Function Procedure Basics

Chapter 24: VBA Programming Concepts

Chapter 25: VBA Custom Function Examples

to download
http://www.ziddu.com/download/13881301/ExcelFormulas2010.pdf.html

WIRELESS Security Know it all

2011-02-19T00:35:00.000-08:00

What is it that makes a wireless medium so unique? What are the problems of operating in the wireless medium and how are they overcome? What are the different types of wireless networks in use today? How does each one of them work and how do they differ from each other? The aim of this chapter is to answer these questions so as to establish a context in which wireless security can be studied in the following chapters.

Chapter 1: Wireless Fundamentals
Chapter 2: Wireless Network Logical Architecture
Chapter 3: Wireless Network Physical Architecture
Chapter 4: Radio Communication Basics
Chapter 5: Infrared Communication Basics
Chapter 6: Wireless LAN Standards
Chapter 7: Wireless Sensor Networks

Chapter 8: Attacks and Risks
Chapter 9: Security Defined
Chapter 10: Standardizing Security
Chapter 11: Secure Sockets Layer
Chapter 12: Cryptography
Chapter 13: Managing Access
Chapter 14: Security and the Law
Chapter 15: Intrusion Process
Chapter 16: Security Policy
Chapter 17: Security in Traditional Wireless Networks
Chapter 18: Wireless LAN Security
Chapter 19: Security in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks
Chapter 20: Implementing Basic Wireless Security
Chapter 21: Implementing Advanced Wireless Security
Chapter 22: Home Network Security
Chapter 23: Wireless Embedded System Security
Chapter 24: RFID Security

To Download "Wireless Security know it all 2011"
http://www.ziddu.com/download/13869468/WirelesSecurityknowitall2011.pdf.html

The Facebook marketing book 2011

2011-02-18T04:36:00.000-08:00

This book presents general information about technology and services that are constantly changing, and therefore it may contain errors and/or information that, while accurate when it was written, is no longer accurate by the time you read it. Some of the activities discussed in this book, such as advertising, fund raising, and corporate communications, may be subject to legal restrictions.

1. Introduction to Social Networking
2. Facebook Profile Basics
3. Facebook Page Basics
4. Facebook Group Basics
5. Facebook Events
6. Facebook Application Basics
7. Customizing Your Facebook Page
8. Developing a Facebook Content Strategy
9. Cross-Promoting Content on Facebook
10. Facebook Page Management
11. Advertising on Facebook
12. Analytics and ROI

to download "The Facebook Marketing Book 2011"
http://www.ziddu.com/download/13859313/TheFacebookmarketingbook.pdf.html

Facebook Page Optimization Tips

2011-02-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Optimizing your Page begins with setup and continues throughout your Facebook marketing strategy.

Pick a descriptive Page name and URL.

Choose a good Page name (usually your brand name or tagline) and encourage 25 people to like the Page quickly in order to secure your vanity URL. This URL will be in the form of Fac***ok.com/

YourPageName, so choose something easy to remember and closely tied to your brand.

Fill out the Info section completely.
Make sure you take your time and choose the right category for your Page. The category you choose affects what and how much you can add to the Info tab. Fill out the Info section completely, and use a lot of keywords. Also add all of your related websites, including your blog, online store, and Twitter page

Use the About box.
One of the most undervalued and overlooked features of a Facebook Page is that little box on the left, below the Page’s picture. Prominently displayed on the Wall tab, this box is a great place to add keywords to quickly signal what your Page is about to both users and search engines. Plus, you can add a clickable link. Just be careful not to exceed the box’s 250-character limit. These tips will help you optimize your Page during setup. To keep it up to date, ranking highly, and
attracting new members, however, you also need an ongoing content strategy.

The tips below will help you start your Page on the right path and enable you to better optimize later through content and design.

Facebook Page Optimization

2011-02-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

To maximize your return on investment (ROI) on Facebook, you want to make sure you are getting and keeping Page members (formerly called fans). This requires applying some basic search engine optimization (SEO) skills and including keywords in your content, for both Facebook and overall organic searches, so your Page can be found through the site and on the Internet at large.

Organic Search
Facebook Pages are indexed by search engines. Facebook even has deals with Google and Bing to pull its social content for a feature called
real-time search. Your Page will be visible in search results, provided you have optimized it correctly, and can even be viewed by people who do not have a Facebook account.

Facebook Search
Facebook’s internal site search is notoriously picky, but it is getting better. As you might imagine, ranking well in an internal Facebook search is even more important (Figure 3-10). Someone searching for your brand directly within Facebook knows what she wants and is almost certain to click Like when she reaches your Page.
When optimizing your Facebook Page, focus primarily on keywords and content; Facebook adds the
nofollow attribute to links, making it difficult to pass on any link power. A good, keyword-rich content strategy should be at the heart of your Page optimization plan, as it will help new users find you and keep old ones coming back. Of course, also include all the important links to your site so that people who like you on Facebook can easily navigate to your website.

facebook Page Applications

2011-02-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

A Facebook Page usually comes preloaded with several Facebook-developed applications, including Photos, Links, Notes, Discussions, Videos, and Events. Many of these existed on the site even before the introduction of Pages or applications, and so it is easy to forget that they are, in fact, Facebookdeveloped apps.

Custom Applications

Facebook allows developers to create all kinds of custom apps. Depending on your size, budget, and strategy, you might want to develop your own custom applications for Page member use or simply to take full control of tab customization and design. Readily available, free applications can help you get up and running quickly or add more content, but they provide little control. If something breaks, you must wait for the developer to fix it, and you usually have very little say in how content is displayed on your Page tabs. Using FBML is one option, but for landing tabs or promotions, it is best to design your own applications.

Custom User Applications

Some applications are designed for user interaction and may be only tangentially related to your brand. For example, Coke Zero’s Facial Profiler doppelganger app allowed users to find their online twins. Based on the idea that Coke Zero tastes the same as regular Coke, this popular app was fun but didn’t really connect the application to the brand. What it did do was allow Coke to advertise to a captive audience.

Zappos, on the other hand, created an application that allows users to share their favorite products from the online retailer with their Facebook friends. Marshalls uses a custom application to ask Page members to unlock their “shopportunity” for a chance to win a shopping spree, while TripAdvisor allows users to display all the cities they have visited. Fashion, technology, and travel play well on Facebook as applications, but get creative and you can create an application that is both fun and relevant in any industry.

Custom Tab Applications

With a custom application, you can create tabs that not only display content any way you want, but also include such interactive elements as polls and quizzes, video players, games, and email capture forms. A custom app like this is ideal when designing a landing tab for a Facebook promotion. Although you can also use Static FBML to create custom tabs, it does not provide the full level of customization that an application built to your specifications can offer.

The functionality of these apps is pretty self-explanatory: each allows you to upload or post the content they are named for. Thus, they provide the basic structure of a Page and the Page members’ interactions with content. Your Facebook Page marketing strategy should go far beyond these basic applications, however.

Facebook Page Tabs

2011-02-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

Much like a Facebook Profile, a Page has three main tabs: Wall, Info, and Photos. Using an application such as FBML, you can create and add custom tabs as well.

Wall

The Wall tab is the standard landing page for your Facebook Page. This is where people can post public messages to you or comment on posts, just like for a blog. You can update your status from this tab and view older status updates. Any applications you have authorized to post to your Wall, such as RSS feeds, will also appear here. Page members can like or comment on any of the posts on your Wall as well.

Info

The Info tab displays all of your company or brand information, such as a mission statement or website. The information available on this tab is dependent upon the category you have chosen for your Page. This tab can also help you increase your presence in Facebook searches, so be thorough.

Photos

The Photos tab has long been a Facebook staple, but it can be a stumbling block for Page admins. For some brands, it is hard to come up with images that people will want to view on Facebook. Product shots don’t work on this site; you need to make people want to click through albums. There is a lot to look at on Facebook, so get creative with ways to use your product or have fun with your brand.

Creating and Customizing a Facebook Page

2011-02-11T05:24:00.000-08:00

Once you’ve chosen a Page name and category, it’s time to begin customizing your Page and pulling in or creating content. You don’t need to publish your Page right away, so you can keep it hidden while you play around with designs and applications.

Because there are so many options for customization, from Facebook apps to custom applications that you can design yourself it’s helpful to create a wireframe or basic design of your Page layout before you begin. You should also develop a content strategy and posting schedule that includes automated feeds from external sites, like an RSS feed from your blog or Twitter page, as well as manual updates and responses you post to the Page in real time.

By searching the Application Directory on Facebook, you can find many free applications with which to begin customizing your Facebook Page. The official Facebook Page about Pages

Static FBML, Notes, and Social RSS are three great, free apps to get you started. With these you can quickly customize the look of your Page and start bringing in outside content and adding to your Page’s tab structure. Keep in mind, though, that a long-term Facebook Page strategy usually benefits from a custom application or more extensive customization with Facebook Markup Language (FBML).

Static FBML

Use Static FBML to create custom boxes or tabs using FBML (similar to HTML). Although doing so requires some coding ability, it’s worth the effort. This application will allow you to design a custom landing tab that tells users what you offer and why they should like the Page.

Notes

An official Facebook application, Notes allows you to pull in a blog feed and automatically post to your Wall. This helps you keep a steady stream of content from your website without always having to log in to Facebook. You can also post a manual note, which provides more formatting capabilities than a standard status update.

Social RSS

Social RSS is another good RSS feed app that you can use to create a full tab display of your blog or Twitter feed. If you are a frequent blogger, this app (or one like it) is a necessity. Social RSS enables you to display your blog in its own tab just as it looks on your site, as opposed to displaying a snippet on your Wall.

also offers many tips and resources for Facebook Page administrators, who are more commonly called admins.

Types of Facebook Pages

2011-02-11T05:07:00.000-08:00

Facebook separates Pages into 17 categories and many subcategories, of which the four most common are:-

Brands

Services

People

Stuff

The Facebook Page setup process will guide you through choosing the right one for your needs. It’s best not to get too hung up on the label you choose for the Page; few people will ever see it anyway. It is displayed next to your name and the number of connections on the search Page, but generally users will already know what you do and are simply trying to find your Page. Once they click Like for your Page, your chosen category is of little or no consequence to them. Your choice of category does matter to the setup and display of your information, however. Different categories ask different types of questions and display different amounts of information. Click around and try a few categories during setup; you can’t change your category or Page name once you have created the Page, so take some time in the beginning to make sure the category and information display are what you want.

Facebook Profile Interactions

2011-02-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

There are many ways that a user can interact with your brand on Facebook, from a Page to a custombranded Application or ad. However, user-to-user interaction is actually a little more limited, despite the categorization of Facebook as a social network.

friend another user and wait for approval before they can talk or interact in any meaningful way. Once that connection has been established, users can use Facebook Chat as well as Facebook’s private messaging system (which works much like email). However, the favorite means of communication for frequent Facebook users is Wall posting.

Facebook friendships are two-way connections; that is, a user must request to

Facebook is a site founded on connections but is increasingly moving toward more open channels of communication. Heavy Facebook users feed into this change by making many chats completely public. Wall-to-Wall postings often read like email or IM exchanges, and the comments for status updates, link posts, or photo uploads often run well past a simple note. In addition, the more people post or comment, the more other people join in; they want to see what and why everyone is commenting on a particular photo or article and join in the fun.

Summary

As you can tell, a lot goes into a Facebook Profile. What information you show and how much time you spend updating and maintaining it is up to you and will largely depend on your goals for and use of the Profile. But the Profile is where it all begins and is a major part of every user’s Facebook experience, so it’s vital that you thoroughly understand how Profiles work, look, and relate to one another.

No matter what kind of brand, product, or service you are marketing, you need a firm understanding of your target. On Facebook, this means getting back to basics and working from the beginning: the Facebook Profile.

According to Facebook, there are currently over 500 million active users on the site, at least half of whom log in every day. That means 500 million Profiles that you can use to get data about your target audience. In fact, this is Facebook’s biggest selling point: the site actively (some say aggressively) encourages users to fill their Profiles with the type of information marketers are always trying to find—all for free.

Facebook Privacy Settings

2011-02-11T04:38:00.000-08:00

Along with the ability to add and share all this information online, Facebook also created ways to keep some sections of a Profile more private than others. Some people put up barriers that reflect real life, only accepting friends they personally know. The easiest way to share what you want with whom you want, however, is to use Facebook’s built-in privacy settings and friend lists.

As discussed in the previous section, privacy settings allow you to control who can see your contact information. They also allow you to control who can see your personal information, including your birthday, favorite quotes, interests, education and work info, and relationship status. You can also determine who is allowed to post on your wall, tag you in photos or videos, or view your Profile in both Facebook and public search results. Photo album settings are determined on a case-by-case basis, so you can make some albums available to all friends, and others just a select group of people. You can also control what you share with outside websites, as well as what your friends can share about you.

Privacy settings also allow you to see which applications are running on your Profile, adjust app settings, and block or remove old apps you no longer use or want. For marketers, the more open a person keeps his privacy settings, the more data you can collect or use for targeting.

Friend lists and groups

To make adjusting privacy settings easier, you can segment your friends into handy groups or lists and fine-tune your settings in bulk. For example, you might create a list for work colleagues and allow them full access to your personal information, but restrict some photo albums. Just keep in mind that a friend’s settings are determined by the most restrictive list they belong to. So, if you have a close friend whom you also work with, and you want him to view the most open settings for your Profile, you won’t want to lump him in with other work colleagues.

You can also create exceptions to settings to keep only a few people (a former boyfriend or girlfriend, perhaps) from seeing certain parts of your Profile. Just choose Customize from the Privacy Settings menu and select the items you want to hide from certain friends. Then type the friend’s name and click Save Settings to keep that piece of information private. Or, if you really don’t want to be bothered by someone or to let a person find you at all, you can add her to your block list. Simply scroll to the bottom of her Profile’s left navigation column and click Report/Block.

Setting Up a Facebook Profile

2011-02-11T04:33:00.000-08:00

Besides the fact that you need at least a bare-bones Profile to set up any marketing efforts on Facebook, you can also use your Profile as a sort of sandbox for trying out different Facebook applications and features. Creating your own Profile will help you understand Profiles from a user perspective.

Bio and Quotations

The next section of a Facebook Profile requires a bit more thought. Users have adapted the Bio and Favorite Quotations sections for various purposes. Some users take a straightforward approach, giving a few brief sentences about themselves followed by song lyrics or movie quotes.

Others use that space for inside jokes, while yet another group treats it as space for a résumé. How someone chooses to fill in these open-ended boxes reveals a lot: language, grammar, and depth of information tell a story outside of the words themselves. Generally, the more a user shares, the more active she is on the site. This makes active, openly sharing users good potential brand ambassadors

Basic Information

A user must provide a name, birth date, and email address to sign up for the site; almost every other piece of information is optional or can be hidden. Profile basics include the information that requires very little thought to fill out: gender, birth date, hometown, and the like. Although compulsory, the birthday and gender fields may be hidden from public viewing.

You need to know what users see, do, like, and dislike on the site in order to know what works (and what doesn’t) in the world of Facebook marketing.

Working with Excel Fundamentals

2011-02-09T04:05:00.000-08:00

Before you can write any formulas or crunch any numbers, you have to know where the data goes. And how to find it again. We wouldn’t want your data to get lost! Knowing how worksheets store your data and present it is critical to

your analysis efforts.

Understanding workbooks and worksheets

workbook is the same as a file. Excel opens and closes workbooks, just as a word processor program opens and closes documents. Click the Microsoft Office button, found at the upper left of your Excel screen, to view the selections found under the File menu in earlier versions of Excel. Figure 1-1 shows the new look for accessing basic functions such as opening, saving, printing, and closing your Excel files (not to mention a number of other nifty functions to boot!). Excel 2010 (and Excel 2007) files have the .xlsx extension. Older version Excel files have the .xls extension. When Excel starts up, it displays a blank workbook ready for use. If at any time you need another new workbook, click the Microsoft Office button and click on New. You will be presented with a plateful of templates, including a blank workbook. That’s the baby you want, so give it a click to select it and then click the Create button. A new workbook will open. When you have more than one workbook open, you pick the one you want to work on by selecting it in the Windows Taskbar. A worksheet is where your data actually goes. A workbook contains at least one worksheet.

What Is Ethernet?

2011-02-08T22:43:00.000-08:00

When networking geeks gather, they often talk about network architecture, which (to give you a definition that would be about a tenth as long as the one you’d get from a networking geek) refers to the hardware components that encompass a network, how those components connect together, and the methods those components use to sendanother. In other words (to give you an even shorter definition), the network architecture is the overall design of the network.

Networking geeks also seem overly fond of inventing new networking architectures, so the computing world has seen its share of designs, from Token Ring to ArcNet to FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface, if you must know). Fortunately, you don’t need to know a thing about any of these architectures. That’s because, in recent years, one networking architecture has come to dominate most of computing, and is in fact universal in the small home and office networks that I talk about in this book. That architecture is called ethernet, and it’s the subject of this chapter. Ethernet technology exists in what network mavens call the physical layer and the data link layer of the networking model. The physical layer deals with the technical specifications of networking hardware, and the data link layer deals with the basic transfer of data from one part of the network to another.
data from one part of the network to

Excel Data-entry tips

2011-02-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

The following list of data-entry tips can help those moving up to Excel from another spreadsheet:-

You may find it helpful to select a range of cells before entering data. If you do so, you can use the Tab key or Enter key to move only within the selected cells.

To enter the same data in all cells within a range, select the range, enter the information into the active cell, and then press Ctrl+Enter.

To copy the contents of the active cell to all other cells in a selected range, press F2 and then press Ctrl+Enter.

To fill a range with increments of a single value, press Ctrl while you drag the fill handle at the lower-right corner of the cell.

To create a custom AutoFill list, select the Edit Custom Lists button on the Popular tab of the Excel Options dialog box.

To copy a cell without incrementing, drag the fill handle at the lower-right corner of the selection; or, press Ctrl+D to copy down or Ctrl+R to copy to the right.

To make text easier to read, you can enter line breaks in a cell. To enter a line break, press Alt+Enter. Line breaks cause a cell’s contents to wrap within the cell.

To enter a fraction, type 0, a space, and then the fraction (using a slash). Excel formats the cell using the Fraction number format.

To automatically format a cell with the currency format, type your currency symbol before the value.

To enter a value in percent format, type a percent sign after the value. You can also include your local thousand separator symbol to separate thousands (for example,123,434).

To set up a cell or range so that it accepts entries only of a certain type (or within a certain value range), choose the Data➜Data Tools➜Data Validation command.

To insert the current date, press Ctrl+; (semicolon). To enter the current time into a cell, press Ctrl+Shift+;.

To enter data without pressing the arrow keys, enable the After Pressing Enter, Move Selection option on the Advanced tab of the Excel Options dialog box (which you access from the Office➜Excel Options command). You can also choose the direction that you want to go.

How big is a Excel 2010 worksheet?

2011-02-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

It’s interesting to stop and think about the actual size of a worksheet. Do the arithmetic (16,384 ×1,048,576), and you’ll see that a worksheet has 17,179,869,184 cells. Remember that this is in just one worksheet. A single workbook can hold more than one worksheet.

If you’re using a 1600 x 1200 video mode with the default row heights and column widths, you can see 24 columns and 49 rows (or 1,176 cells) at a time — which is about .0000068 percent of the entire worksheet. In other words, more than 14.6 million screens of information reside within a single worksheet.

If you entered a single digit into each cell at the relatively rapid clip of one cell per second, it would take you over 500 years, nonstop, to fill up a worksheet. To print the results of your efforts would require more than 36 million sheets of paper — a stack about 12,000 feet high (that’s ten Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other).

The Workings of Workbooks

2011-02-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

The Workings of Workbooks

The core document of Excel is a workbook. Everything that you do in Excel takes place in a workbook. Beginning with Excel 2007, workbook “files” are actually compressed folders. You may be familiar with compressed folders if you’ve ever used a file with a

.zip extension. Inside the compressed folders are a number of files that hold all the information about your workbook, including charts, macros, formatting, and the data in its cells. An Excel workbook can hold any number of sheets (limited only by memory). The four types of sheets are :-

Worksheets

Chart sheets

MS Excel 4.0 macro sheets (obsolete, but still supported)

You can open or create as many workbooks as you want (each in its own window), but only one

workbook is the active workbook at any given time. Similarly, only one sheet in a workbook is the

active sheet. To activate a different sheet, click its corresponding tab at the bottom of the window,

or press Ctrl+PgUp (for the previous sheet) or Ctrl+PgDn (for the next sheet). To change a

sheet’s name, double-click its Sheet tab and type the new text for the name. Right-clicking a tab

brings up a shortcut menu with some additional sheet-manipulation options.

You can also hide the window that contains a workbook by using the View

A hidden workbook window remains open but not visible. Use the View

command to make the window visible again. A single workbook can display in multiple windows

(choose View

area of the same sheet.MS Excel 5.0 dialog sheets (obsolete, but still supported)➜Window➜Hide command.➜Window➜Unhide➜Window➜New Window). Each window can display a different sheet or a different

The Difference Between facebook Page and Profile

2011-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

The easiest way to determine what warrants a Page versus a Profile is to compare the verbs Facebookfriend versus like (previously fan). You friend the people you work with, wentlike these things; that is what you would say in real life, and the uses to interact on the site: to school with, or met at a party. You can’t actually friend your favorite TV show, college mascot, or flavor of soda. But you can absolutely action you take on the site. The top Facebook Pages exemplify the types of things that you would like, not friend.

That college mascot raises an interesting question. You can’t really friend the chicken that danced at

football games (although you could friend the guy inside the costume); however, a mascot might have a

distinct personality, with favorite quotes, books, and movies, just like the questions asked by a personal

Profile. And of course movie stars, authors, and politicians have all the same favorites as the guy sitting

next to you on the bus, yet they require a Page as well—at least for their public persona.

Facebook Page Basics

2011-02-07T23:56:00.001-08:00

A Facebook Page is key to most social media marketing strategies and will more than likely be the central

point for most of your efforts and promotions. Twitter is great for quick updates, but to get the full story, users usually need to click elsewhere. A Facebook Page allows you to provide both in one place,

while also offering full customization and a variety of interactions.

Many brands use Facebook tabs in lieu of landing pages on their actual websites, because tabs have

more built-in social functionality, are easy to update, and are especially helpful for running contests and

promotions. But even if you foresee offering giveaways through tabs, you should still invest some serious

setup time in Page customization.

Build your Page for success the first time around by populating it with lots of optimized content and

developing a content strategy to keep it fresh. You can spend as much or as little time as you can afford

updating and maintaining the Page, and your time input will vary as your goals and use of the Page

fluctuate. If you fill out the Page completely and make it interesting and engaging early on, however, it’s

easier to take some time off later.

Facebook Profiles for Business

2011-02-07T23:55:00.001-08:00

Facebook’s original intention was to be a social network for college students, and at one time it required an .edu email address for registration. Later, it expanded to grant membership to high school students, and finally to people of all ages. However, keeping true to its origins as a service geared to connecting individuals, Facebook has always maintained certain rules for brands and businesses.

One rule many marketers find frustrating is Facebook’s strong distinction between the types of users

and how it applies that distinction to Profiles. If you represent a brand or entity other than an individual

user, Facebook’s Terms of Service state that you must set up a Facebook Page to represent that brand,

business, or public persona, whatever it may be. This includes politicians, sports figures, and other

celebrities; even as individuals, they need a Page for their very recognizable self. These Pages offer

different choices that are specific to companies, such as business hours, and leave out more personal

details, such as hobbies and interests.

Still, Facebook Profiles are the building blocks of the site itself, and you’ll need to set one up before

you can do anything else on the site, including creating a Page of any kind Profiles, and

the people they represent, are linked back to every action on Facebook so that someone can be held

accountable for each interaction and piece of content that appears on the site.

What Is a Facebook Profile?

2011-02-07T23:54:00.001-08:00

A Facebook Profile is the way individual users represent themselves on the site . Typically it contains information about the user’s interests, hobbies, school and work affiliations, and photos. It is also connected to any Facebook Pages he likes, from a favorite football team to a preferred brand of soda, as well as all the other Facebook users he identifies as friends.

Many users are quite open with their Profile information, and Facebook strongly encourages this.

Because the site is free, Facebook’s big moneymaking opportunity comes from charging marketers for

the right to use the personal data its users share; the more data users freely provide, the more potential

revenue for the site. Some users have expressed concern over privacy issues, particularly regarding

Facebook’s increasingly open view of “public” information on their site. Expanded privacy settings

have allowed many users to customize their information as “for friends only,” but most users, especially

younger generations, are happy to share every detail of their lives. They understand and appreciate that

this means a more personalized site experience and enjoy connecting with the brands they know and love.

Who Uses Facebook?

2011-02-07T23:52:00.000-08:00

Originally a network for select college students, Facebook first expanded into high schools, then larger networks, collecting students and colleagues across the country and, eventually, the world. Now you can not only identify your romantic partner and growing circle of friends, but also your parents and

siblings. Your mom is on Facebook. Your sister is, and your daughter as well. Your college roommate,

your first crush, and the former best friend you haven’t spoken to in years. Your grandparents may even

be tagging you in family photos you forgot existed. Seventy percent of Facebook users live outside

the United States. The fastest growing segment of users? Women 55 to 65 years old. Depending on

how you measure it, Facebook either has already surpassed Google in traffic levels or is about to. The

Facebook Application platform alone has been used by over one million developers to build more than

500,000 active applications.

Try to pinpoint the “average” user, and you’ll find most users are anything but average. Typically, a

Facebook user has 130 friends, is connected to 80 Pages, Groups, and Events, and has created 90

pieces of content. Where else could you find someone who talks to over 100 people a day? And that’s

not even accounting for “super users” or influencers who often have thousands of friends.

Media Access Control in Wireless Networks

2011-02-07T23:50:00.000-08:00

The collision detection part of CSMA/CD is only possible if the PHY layer transceiverCSMA/CA is used, where the CA standscollision avoidance .

enables the device to listen to the medium while transmitting. This is possible on a wired

network, where invalid voltages resulting from collisions can be detected, but is not

possible for a radio transceiver since the transmitted signal would overload any attempt to

receive at the same time. In wireless networks such as 802.11, where collision detection

is not possible, a variant of CSMA/CD known as

for

Apart from the fact that collisions are not detected by the transmitting device, CSMA/CA

has some similarities with CSMA/CD. Devices sense the medium before transmitting and

wait if the medium is busy. The duration fi eld in each transmitted frame (see preceding

Table 2.6 ) enables a waiting device to predict how long the medium will be busy.

Once the medium is sensed as being idle, waiting devices compute a random time period,

called the contention period, and attempt to transmit after the contention period has

expired. This is a similar mechanism to the back off in CSMA/CD, except that here it

is designed to avoid collisions between stations that are waiting for the end of another

station’s transmitted frame rather than being a mechanism to recover after a detected

collision.

The OSI Network Model

2011-02-07T23:48:00.002-08:00

The Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model was developed by the International

Standards Organization (ISO) to provide a guideline for the development of standards

for interconnecting computing devices. The OSI model is a framework for developing

these standards rather than a standard itself—the task of networking is too complex to

be handled by a single standard.

The OSI model breaks down device to device connection, or more correctly

application to application connection, into seven so-called layers of logically related tasks

(see Table 2.1 ). An example will show how these layers combine to achieve a task such as

sending and receiving an e-mail between two computers on separate local area networks

(LANs) that are connected via the Internet.

Wireless Network Logical Architecture

2011-02-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

The logical architecture of a network refers to the structure of standards and protocols

that enable connections to be established between physical devices, or nodes, and which

control the routing and fl ow of data between these nodes.

Since logical connections operate over physical links, the logical and physical

architectures rely on each other, but the two also have a high degree of independence,

as the physical confi guration of a network can be changed without changing its logical

architecture, and the same physical network can in many cases support different sets of

standards and protocols.

The logical architecture of wireless networks will be described in this chapter with

reference to the OSI model.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

2011-02-07T23:46:00.001-08:00

WLANs that adhere to the WiFi standard have a built-in security mechanism called

WEP, an encryption protocol. When WLAN equipment is bought, WEP encryption is

often turned off by default. In order to be effective, this security mechanism should be

turned on. Originally, WEP encryption used a 40-bit or 64-bit encryption key and later

a 128-bit key to increase security. All access devices must, however, be set to use the

same encryption key in order to communicate. Using encryption will slow down the data

transfer rate by up to 30 percent because it takes up some of the available bandwidth.

Security for WLANs

2011-02-07T23:45:00.001-08:00

Security for WLANs
The IEEE has issued a new security standard for incorporation into 802.11a, 802.11b,
and any new 802.11 standards that are approved for use, such as 802.11g.
These enhancements, known as 802.11i, replace wired equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption
with a new, more secure security encryption protocol called temporal key integrity
protocol (TKIP), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and 802.1
802.11i was incorporated into the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard. While waiting for this
standard to be completed, the Wi-Fi Alliance created an interim standard called Wi-Fi
protected access (WPA), to allow the introduction of secure wireless products prior to
fi nalization of 802.11i.
Anyone with a compatible wireless device can detect the presence of a WLAN. If
appropriate security mechanisms are put in place, this does not mean that the data can be
accessed, however. The WLAN should be confi gured so that anyone trying to access the
WLAN has at least the same access restrictions as they would if they sat down at a wired
network workstation. All of the following suggestions are practical steps that can be put
in place to improve WLAN security. A combination of methods can be selected to meet
company needsx authentication.

Bluetooth and Wireless Personal Area Networks

2011-02-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

Bluetooth-enabled devices allow creation of point-to-point or multipoint wireless

personal area networks (WPANs) or “ piconets ” on an ad hoc or as-needed basis.

Bluetooth is intended to provide a fl exible network topology, low energy consumption,

robust data capacity, and high-quality voice transmission. Bluetooth is a low-cost radio

solution that can provide links between devices at distances of up to 10 meters. Bluetooth

has access speeds of 1 Mbps, considerably slower than the various 802.11 standards;

however, the Bluetooth chips required to connect to the WLAN are considerably cheaper

and have lower power requirements. Bluetooth technology is embedded in a wide

range of devices. The Bluetooth wireless transport specifi cation is meant to be used

for bridging mobile computing devices, fi xed telecom, tethered LAN computing, and

consumer equipment together using low-cost, miniaturized RF components. Transport

of both data and voice is supported in Bluetooth. Originally, Bluetooth was envisioned

as a methodology to connect cellular or PCS telephones to other devices without

wires. Examples of these other applications include USB “ dongles, ” peripheral device

connections, and PDA extensions.

Bluetooth, as a WPAN, should not be confused with a WLAN because it is not intended

to do the same job. Bluetooth is primarily used as a wireless replacement for a cable to

connect a handheld, mobile phone, MP3 player, printer, or digital camera to a PC or to

each other, assuming the various devices are confi gured to share data. The Bluetooth

standard is relatively complex; therefore, it is not always easy to determine if any two

devices will communicate. Any device should be successfully tested before a purchase

is made. Bluetooth is an open specifi cation made available to Bluetooth SIG members

on a royalty-free basis. More than 2,000 companies worldwide have declared interest

in Bluetooth-enabled devices (for more information about the Bluetooth SIG,

see http://www.bluetooth.org).

According to a

(August 11, 2003), Ollie Whitehouse, a researcher based in the United Kingdom and

employed by the computer security company @Stake, created an eavesdropping tool

to demonstrate just how vulnerable Bluetooth-enabled devices such as laptops, mobile

phones, and handheld computers are to someone attempting to pilfer data from them.

Whitehouse claimed his “ Red Fang ” program can be used in any setting where it is

common to see users with mobile devices, such as while riding airplanes or trains or

sitting in coffee shops. The Red Fang system can be used to scan these devices and

determine if they are unprotected. Whitehouse sees his program as being similar to those

used for “ war-driving ” activities (where people seek out poorly secured 802.11 wireless

networks.) Ollie claims many people do not even know Bluetooth wireless technology

is installed on their mobile devices, let alone the fact that the corresponding Bluetooth

security settings are often turned off by default.

A report issued by research fi rm Gartner in September 2002 indicated that many people

do not activate Bluetooth security features, and this inaction potentially exposes their

devices to exploitation by hackers. Red Fang was unveiled in August 2003 at the Defcon

computer security conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bruce Potter, a security expert

with U.S. think tank the Shmoo Group, improved the tool by making it more user

friendly, according to Knight in his aforementioned article, which went on to state that

“ Potter expects Bluetooth security to become a growing concern, considering the high

penetration of Bluetooth-enabled devices and the lack of knowledge about Bluetooth

security in corporate security departments. ”New Scientist article about Bluetooth gadgetry written by Will Knight

Current WLAN Standards

2011-02-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b specifi cation is
802.11a operates in the 5-GHz waveband. Because they operate in different frequencies,
802.11b and 802.11a are incompatible. This means organizations that have already
deployed 802.11b networks, but want the faster speeds available through 802.11a, will
either have to build a new WLAN alongside the existing one or purchase hardware
that allows for both types of wireless cards to coexist. Several manufacturers currently
provide, or are planning to release, dual-mode access points, which can hold both 802.11a
and 802.11b cards. The power output of 802.11a is restricted, and the range tapers off
more quickly than in 802.11b.
At present, 802.11a experiences few of the signal interference and congestion problems
occasionally experienced by 802.11b users, although this may change now that license
restrictions on the 5-GHz frequency band have been lifted and use increases. We can
expect to see an increase in dual-platform access points to ensure compatibility between
equipment.
IEEE 802.11b
This type of equipment is most common for establishing a WLAN in business. Not all
802.11b equipment is compatible, so the Wi-Fi compatibility mark has been developed.
A Wi-Fi mark indicates compatibility between 802.11b products from different
manufacturers. 802.11b equipment that is not Wi-Fi branded should be treated with
caution. The 802.11b standard operates in the 2.4-GHz spectrum and has a nominal data
transfer rate of 11 Mbps; however, in practice, the data transmission rate is approximately
4 to 7 Mbps, around one-tenth the speed of a current wired LAN. This is still adequate for
accessing most data or applications, including Internet access, but would be insuffi cient
for multimedia applications or for instances when a large number of simultaneous users
want to access data in a single WLAN. Some manufacturers are producing 802.11b
solutions with additional functionality that offers throughput at 22 Mbps speed. It is
unclear if this type of equipment will be compatible across vendors.

IEEE 802.11a

the most common standard for WLANs. 802.11a has recently been cleared to operate

without a license in the 5-GHz frequency range. Several other standards are still under

development, including 802.11g, 802.11h, and Ultra Wideband (UWB).

Advantages and Disadvantages of WLANs

2011-02-07T22:42:00.000-08:00

WLANs have advantages and disadvantages when compared with wired LANs.

A WLAN will make it simple to add or move workstations and to install access

points to provide connectivity in areas where it is diffi cult to lay cable. Temporary or

semipermanent buildings that are in range of an access point can be wirelessly connected

to a LAN to give these buildings connectivity. Where computer labs are used in schools,

the computers (laptops) could be put on a mobile cart and wheeled from classroom to

classroom, provided they are in range of access points.

Wired network points would be

needed for each of the access points. A WLAN has some specifi c advantages:

WLANs also have some disadvantages:

It is easier to add or move workstations.

It is easier to provide connectivity in areas where it is diffi cult to lay cable.

walls and ceilings.

Installation is fast and easy, and it can eliminate the need to pull cable through

Access to the network can be from anywhere within range of an access point.

Although the initial investment required for WLAN hardware can be similar to

a directional antenna can be used to avoid digging trenches under roads to

connect the sites.

When a facility is located on more than one site (such as on two sides of a road),

WLAN can avoid the need to drill holes in walls.

frequent moves and changes.

In historic buildings where traditional cabling would compromise the façade, a Long-term cost benefi ts can be found in dynamic environments requiring

each computer will decrease accordingly.

As the number of computers using the network increases, the data transfer rate to

points.

As standards change, it may be necessary to replace wireless cards and/or access

be more effective on a wired LAN.

Lower wireless bandwidth means some applications such as video streaming will

Security is more diffi cult to guarantee and requires confi guration.

distance determined by the standard used and buildings and other obstacles

between the access point and the user.

A wired LAN is most likely to be required to provide a backbone to the WLAN;

a WLAN should be a supplement to a wired LAN and not a complete solution.

few moves and changes.Long-term cost benefi ts are harder to achieve in static environments that require

Devices will only operate at a limited distance from an access point, with the

the cost of wired LAN hardware, installation expenses can be signifi cantly lower.

Portable or semipermanent buildings can be connected using a WLAN.

How WLANs Work?

2011-02-07T22:38:00.000-08:00

In a typical WLAN, a transmitter/receiver (transceiver) device, called an access point,
is normally physically connected to the wired network using standard cabling. At a
minimum, the access point receives, buffers, and transmits data between the WLAN and
the wired network infrastructure, using radio frequencies to transmit data to each user.
A single access point can support a small group of users, normally within a range of up
to 100 meters depending on the local environment.
To access a WLAN via the access point, users need a computer with a wireless
network interface card (NIC) either built in or installed. A wireless NIC can be inserted
into the PCMCIA slot of a computer, laptop, or handheld device. Wireless NIC cards can
also be installed into the PCI expansion slot of a desktop computer. In either case,
the necessary software drivers should also be installed. It is also possible to create a
peer-to-peer network—joining two or more computers together simply by installing a
wireless NIC in each machine. Equally, it is possible for one of the computers in the
peer-to-peer network to be joined to a LAN and to provide Internet access for the other
computers in the network.

How WLANs Work

Wireless Local Area Networks

2011-02-07T22:36:00.000-08:00

In 1997, the IEEE ratifi ed the 802.11 WLAN standards, establishing a global standard

for implementing and deploying WLANs. The throughput for 802.11 is 2 Mbps, which

was well below the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet counterpart. Late in 1999, the IEEE ratifi ed

the 802.11b standard extension, which raised the throughput to 11 Mbps, making this

extension more comparable to the wired equivalent. The 802.11b standard also supports

the 2-Mbps data rate and operates on the 2.4-GHz band in radio frequency for high-speed

data communications.

WLANs are typically found within a small client node-dense locale (e.g., a campus or

offi ce building), or anywhere a traditional network cannot be deployed for logistical

reasons. Benefi ts include user mobility in the coverage area, speed and simplicity of

physical setup, and scalability. Being a military spinoff, WLANs also provide security

features such as encryption, frequency hopping, and fi rewalls. Some of these features

are intrinsic to the protocol, making some aspects of WLANs at least as secure as

wired networks and usually more so. The drawbacks are high initial cost (mostly

hardware), limited range, possibility of mutual interference, and the need to securityenable

clients.

Wireless Networking Basics

2011-02-07T22:35:00.000-08:00

Organizations are adopting wireless networking technologies to address networking

requirements in ever-increasing numbers. The phenomenal rate of change in wireless

standards and technology complicates the decision of how to implement or update

the technology. In this section, we delve into the inner workings of the wireless LAN

(WLAN) environment of today.

We start by concentrating on the specifi c topic areas

related to wireless networking technology. We explain how LANs and WLANs work,

coexist, and interoperate. We discuss the varying wireless standards that exist today and

look at some future standards. Mobile workforces drive the need for strong understanding

of the issues surrounding mobile security, and we cover those issues in fairly extensive

detail. Because mobile security requires encryption to work, we cover the various

encryption standards in use today and explain the strengths and weaknesses of each. At

the end of this chapter, you should have a fundamental grasp of the essentials of wireless

networking. Now, let’s begin by taking a look at WLANs.

Introducing Home Networking

2011-02-07T22:03:00.001-08:00

Introducing Home Networking

In a modern home, it is no longer unusual for family members to own multiple computers

and network devices. In most houses, you can find at least a desktop computer, which

is generally used for more performance-intensive tasks such as gaming or professional

work of any kind. Parents bring home their work laptops or notebooks, which they use to

connect to their business network and do a bit of work outside the office, when needed.

Children also have their own systems, usually a mobile computer that they can easily take

to school or university. All of these computers probably have different operating systems,

depending on the year when they were purchased and the preference of each person.

Some family members might be Windows users, while others might prefer the Mac computers

from Apple. Some people who are very fond of free software might use the latest

version of Ubuntu Linux. In addition to computers, a family may own other devices such

as printers, scanners, consoles, mobile phones with network connectivity via Bluetooth

wireless, and so on.

With the help of a router and a few network cables, you can create your own home

network and connect all these computers and devices together. The list of advantages for

doing so is very long and includes:

• The possibility to easily exchange data between all computers and devices.

• Sharing devices between all the computers on the home network. For example, you

can share the home's printer or an external hard disk drive that everyone can use to

back up their most important data, and so on.

• Media streaming between computers.

• Paying for only one Internet connection and sharing it with all the computers and

devices on your network.

• Wireless access to the network and the Internet throughout your entire house.

• Playing multiplayer games via your home network.

This book covers all you need to know about setting up your home network and taking

advantage of all its capabilities. Included in the book are chapters about setting up and

using the networking features in Windows 7, making different operating systems work

together on the network, and streaming your media over the network and the Internet.

It also covers sharing devices in the network, the tools and features you need to use to

keep your network secure, and setting up parental controls for your children. Last but not

least, it also provides guidance on how to troubleshoot network and Internet problems

by yourself.

What’s new in Excel 2010?

2011-02-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

Here’s a quick summary of what’s new, relative to Excel 2007:

●

you create much larger workbooks.

64-bit version: If your hardware supports it, you can install the 64-bit version, which lets
●
Sparkline charts: Create small, in-cell charts to summarize a range of data graphically.
●
Pivot table Slicers: A new way to filter and display data in pivot tables.
●
reports.
Pivot table formatting options: You have more control over the appearance of pivot table
●
tabs. Clicking it displays
on your workbook. This view essentially replaces the traditional File and Print menus plus quite a bit more.
File tab: The File tab replaces the Office button, which is located to the left of the otherBackstage View, a screen that lets you perform various operations
●
them in draft mode for improved performance.
Draft mode for charts: If you use many highly formatted charts, you can choose to display
●
solid color, and the bars provide a more accurate display.
Conditional formatting enhancements: Data bar conditional formatting can display in a
●
of numeric accuracy. The old versions of these functions are still available and have been
relegated to a new function category called
Function enhancements: Many of Excel’s statistical functions have been improved in termsCompatibility.
●
graphic images inserted into a workbook.
Image editing enhancements: You have much more control over the appearance of
●
(with preview).
Paste preview: When you copy a range, the Paste command displays various options
●
Ribbon customization: End users can customize the Ribbon by adding new tabs and groups.
●
Equation editor: Create and display (noncalculating) mathematical equations.
●
load a bit faster.
Faster processing: Microsoft made some improvements to the calculation engine, and files
●
are opened in Protected View mode. Workbooks can be designated as “trusted,”
and they don’t need to reside in special trusted folders.
New security features: Workbooks downloaded from the Internet or from e-mail attachments
●
Updated Solver: Excel 2010 includes a new version of the Solver add-in.
●
performed directly using VBA macro commands.Enhancements to VBA: Many operations that used to require old XLM macros can now be

The History of Excel

2011-02-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

You probably weren’t expecting a history lesson when you bought this book, but you may find

this information interesting. At the very least, this section provides fodder for the next office

trivia match.

Spreadsheets comprise a huge business, but most of us tend to take this software for granted. In

the pre-spreadsheet days, people relied on clumsy mainframes or calculators and spent hours

doing what now takes minutes.

It started with VisiCalc

Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston conjured up VisiCalc, the world’s first electronic spreadsheet,

back in the late 1970s when personal computers were unheard of in the office environment. They

wrote VisiCalc for the Apple II computer, an interesting machine that seems like a toy by today’s

standards. VisiCalc caught on quickly, and many forward-looking companies purchased the

Apple II for the sole purpose of developing their budgets with VisiCalc. Consequently, VisiCalc is

often credited for much of Apple II’s initial success.

Then came Lotus

When the IBM PC arrived on the scene in 1982, thus legitimizing personal computers, VisiCorp

wasted no time porting VisiCalc to this new hardware environment. Envious of VisiCalc’s success,

a small group of computer enthusiasts at a start-up company in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

refined the spreadsheet concept. Headed by Mitch Kapor and Jonathan Sachs, the company

designed a new product and launched the software industry’s first full-fledged marketing blitz.

Released in January 1983, Lotus Development Corporation’s 1-2-3 proved an instant success.

Despite its $495 price tag (yes, people really paid that much for a single program), it quickly outsold

VisiCalc and rocketed to the top of the sales charts, where it remained for many years.

Microsoft enters the picture

Most people don’t realize that Microsoft’s experience with spreadsheets extends back to the early

1980s. In 1982, Microsoft released its first spreadsheet — MultiPlan. Designed for computers running

the CP/M operating system, the product was subsequently ported to several other platforms,

including Apple II, Apple III, XENIX, and MS-DOS. MultiPlan essentially ignored existing

software UI standards. Difficult to learn and use, it never earned much of a following in the United

States. Not surprisingly, Lotus 1-2-3 pretty much left MultiPlan in the dust.

Excel partly evolved from MultiPlan, and first surfaced in 1985 on the Macintosh. Like all Mac

applications, Excel was a graphics-based program (unlike the character-based MultiPlan). In

November 1987, Microsoft released the first version of Excel for Windows (labeled Excel 2 to correspond

with the Macintosh version). Excel didn’t catch on right away, but as Windows gained

popularity, so did Excel. Lotus eventually released a Windows version of Lotus 1-2-3, and Excel

Excel versions

Excel 2010 is actually Excel 14 in disguise. You may think that this name represents the 14th version

of Excel. Think again. Microsoft may be a successful company, but its version-naming techniques

can prove quite confusing. As you’ll see, Excel 2010 actually represents the 11th Windows

version of Excel. In the following sections, I briefly describe the major Windows versions of Excel.

Excel 2

The original version of Excel for Windows, Excel 2 first appeared in late 1987. It was labeled

Version 2 to correspond to the Macintosh version (the original Excel). Because Windows wasn’t

in widespread use at the time, this version included a

version with just enough features to run Excel and nothing else. This version appears quite crude

by today’s standards,

runtime version of Windows — a specialExcel 3
At the end of 1990, Microsoft released Excel 3 for Windows. This version offered a significant
improvement in both appearance and features. It included toolbars, drawing capabilities, worksheet
outlining, add-in support, 3-D charts, workgroup editing, and lots more.
Excel 4
Excel 4 hit the streets in the spring of 1992. This version made quite an impact on the marketplace
as Windows increased in popularity. It boasted lots of new features and usability enhancements
that made it easier for beginners to get up to speed quickly.
Excel 5
In early 1994, Excel 5 appeared on the scene. This version introduced tons of new features,
including multisheet workbooks and the new Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro language.
Like its predecessor, Excel 5 took top honors in just about every spreadsheet comparison
published in the trade magazines.
Excel 95
Excel 95 (also known as Excel 7) shipped in the summer of 1995. On the surface, it resembled
Excel 5 (this version included only a few major new features). However, Excel 95 proved to be
significant because it presented the first version to use more advanced 32-bit code. Excel 95 and
Excel 5 use the same file format.
Excel 97
Excel 97 (also known as Excel 8) probably offered the most significant upgrade ever. The toolbars
and menus took on a great new look, online help moved a dramatic step forward, and the
number of rows available in a worksheet quadrupled. And if you’re a macro developer, you may
have noticed that Excel’s programming environment (VBA) moved up several notches on the
scale. Excel 97 also introduced a new file format.
Excel 2000
Excel 2000 (also known as Excel 9) was released in June of 1999. Excel 2000 offered several
minor enhancements, but the most significant advancement was the ability to use HTML as an
alternative file format. Excel 2000 still supported the standard binary file format, of course, which
is compatible with Excel 97.
Excel 2002
Excel 2002 (also known as Excel 10 or Excel XP) was released in June of 2001 and is part of
Microsoft Office XP. This version offered several new features, most of which are fairly minor and
were designed to appeal to novice users. Perhaps the most significant new feature was the capability
to save your work when Excel crashes and also recover corrupt workbook files that you
may have abandoned long ago. Excel 2002 also added background formula error checking and a
new formula-debugging tool.
Excel 2003
Excel 2003 (also known as Excel 11) was released in the fall of 2003. This version had very few
new features. Perhaps the most significant new feature was the ability to import and export XML
Excel 2007
Excel 2007 (also known as Excel 12) was released in early 2007. Its official name is Microsoft Office
Excel 2007. This release represented the most significant change since Excel 97, including a change
to Excel’s default file format. The new format was XML based although a binary format is still available.
Another major change was the Ribbon, a new type of UI that replaced the Excel menu and
toolbar system. In addition to these two major changes, Microsoft enhanced the List concept introduced
in Excel 2003 (a List is now known as a Table), improved the look of charts, significantly
increased the number of rows and columns, and added some new worksheet functions.
files and map the data to specific cells in a worksheet. It also introduced the concept of the List, a
specially designated range of cells. Both of these features would prove to be precursors to future
enhancements.

had additional competition from Quattro Pro — originally a DOS program developed by Borland

International, then sold to Novell, and then sold again to Corel (its current owner).

Facebook Profile Tabs information

2011-02-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

A Facebook Profile has three main tabs: Wall, Info, and Photos Other applications (or

can add more, but these are the basics that every Profile starts with.

apps)
Wall
The Wall tab is the standard landing Page for your Facebook Profile. This is where people can post
public messages to you or comment on posts (much like a blog). You can update your status from this
tab and view older status updates. Any applications you have authorized to post to your Wall will also
appear here, such as an RSS feed or tweets from Twitter.
Info
The Info tab is where all of your personal information—likes, interests, workplace, hometown, email
address, and so on—is displayed. Unlike the Wall, there is not much opportunity for interaction between
users here. While this tab is arguably the most beneficial and rich in information for Facebook marketers,
it is probably the least interesting to the average user.
Photos
The Photos tab has long been a Facebook staple. This tab houses every photo you have uploaded
or
been tagged in. Each tag creates a link back to that user’s Profile. Note that only people, and therefore
Profiles, can be tagged in a photo, not brands or Pages.