Perform quick sorts in Word without using a table

By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on July 1, 2010

Microsoft Word

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Perform quick sorts in Word without using a table

Sorting in Excel is common and easy. It's not quite as common in Word, but the need does arise. For instance, you might want to sort a list of names, countries, companies, and so on. Sorting a simple list is easy, almost as easy as in Excel. Let's look at two sorting tasks, starting with the easiest.
Easy
I often see people use tables to sort, but that's (almost always) more work than is necessary. The simple list below is easily sorted, without converting the text into a table first, as long as each item in the sort is its own paragraph. Simply put, you can have only one sort item per line.

To sort this simple list of names, by first name (because that's the name that occurs first on each line), do the following:

1. Select the list.
2. From the Table menu, choose Sort. In Word 2007, click Sort in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.
3. From the Sort By dropdown, choose Paragraphs.
4. From the Type dropdown, choose Text. (To sort numbers and dates, choose the appropriate data type from the Type dropdown.)
5. Click OK.

That's all there is to it! Now, that really was easy, wasn't it?
A little more work, but just barely
Now, what if you want to sort the list by last names? It's certainly doable, and without too much more work. In truth, the work isn't in the actual steps you must perform, but in just knowing what to do!
Sorting by the last name is just as easy as sorting by the first--you just select a different setting, as follows:

1. Select the list.
2. From the Table menu, choose Sort. In Word 2007, click Sort in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.
3. From the Sort By dropdown, choose Word2. This is where things can get a bit dicey. The items in your list must be uniform, say two words (names) per line, separated by a space character. If the list isn't uniform in this way, the sort probably won't work.
4. From the Type dropdown, choose Text.
5. Click OK.

This time, Word sorted the whole list by the second word in each line. Word doesn't care about the context of the list items--Word only cares about each word's position. In addition, you can use a Tab character to separate words, instead of a space, and the sort will still work. In this case, Word uses the term field instead of word (in step 3).

Where's the Chart Wizard in Office 2007?

By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on July 1, 2010

Microsoft Office

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Where's the Chart Wizard in Office 2007?

Office 2007 has been out for a while, but I'm still finding commands and features that I seldom use. For instance, recently I found the Chart Wizard in Access 2007. Actually, I wasn't looking for it, but when I saw its new home, I knew it was a logical move. Finding the wizard in Access baited my curiosity--I put my task aside to find the Chart Wizard in all of the Office 2007 applications.
Excel
In Excel 2003, the Chart Wizard is in plain site on the Standard toolbar. Select a range of data, click the button and Excel produces an embedded chart.
Starting with 2007, Excel no longer provides a Chart Wizard. Instead, the basic chart types are in the Charts group on the Insert tab. Simply click any chart type and follow the step-by-step instructions for completing the chart. To alter an existing chart, first, select the chart and then use the tools on the context-sensitive Design tab.
Word
Word's Chart Wizard hasn't really moved. In Word 2003, you choose Picture from the Insert menu and then choose Chart to launch Microsoft Graph. The Chart Wizard hasn't really moved in Word 2007 (or 2010). You'll find it on the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group.
If Excel 2007 is installed, Word has access to Excel's advanced charting capabilities. If Excel 2007 isn't installed, Word launches Microsoft Graph.
There's also a tool for organizational charts. Choose Picture from the Insert menu and then select Organizational Chart. Word will display a chart template and the Organizational Chart toolbar. In Word 2007 and 2010, this charting feature is harder to find. It's in SmartArt, which is in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab. After launching SmartArt, choose Hierarchy in the left pane.
Access
To add a chart to a form a report in Access 2003, you choose Chart Wizard from the New Form or New Report dialog box, respectively. Now, the Chart Wizard is in the Controls group on the Design tab. To add a chart, open a form or report in Design view and click the Chart Wizard. This move makes perfect sense to me.
PowerPoint
Like Excel 2003, PowerPoint 2003's Chart Wizard is on the Standard toolbar. Clicking the tool launches Microsoft Graph. Fortunately, the wizard's easy to find in PowerPoint 2007 and 2010. It's in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab.
Like Word 2007, if Excel 2007 is installed, the Chart Wizard has access to Excel's advanced charting capabilities. Without Excel 2007, the chart launches Microsoft Graph.

Control the size of Excel's sheet tabs via a scrollbar setting

By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on July 1, 2010

Microsoft Excel

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Control the size of Excel's sheet tabs via a scrollbar setting

Using Windows Display settings, you can customize the Office user interface. It's a simple task and easily undone if you don't like results. I don't use it much, but there is one setting that a few users like--increasing the size of the Scrollbar item enlarges Excel's sheet tabs.
This setting might not make sense at first, but underneath the hood, Excel's sheet tabs are really a scrollbar. As you might expect, this setting also increases the size of all scrollbars so this setting is useful only if you don't mind larger scroll bars all the way around.
To increase the size of Excel's sheet tabs, adjust the Windows Display (Windows XP) setting as follows:

1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Control Panel.
2. Double-click Display.
3. Click the Appearance tab.
4. Click Advanced.
5. From the Item dropdown list, select Scrollbar.
   
6. Increase the setting of the Size option—the following shot shows the setting doubled from the default setting of 20 to 40.
   
7. Click OK twice. It will take a few seconds for Windows to update your system.
   

Just remember that this setting will reach out and touch everything, even Windows Explorer and dialog boxes. (I don't suggest changing these settings if you share your computer with other people--at least not without consulting everyone concerned first.)
What's interesting is the number of interface objects you can control--there are 18. You might spend a little time experimenting; a small change here and there might be useful. I suggest that you note the original setting, just in case you decide to return to the default settings.

How to Sync Google Calendar and Outlook

By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on July 8, 2010

Microsoft Office

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How to Sync Google Calendar and Outlook

One of my clients uses Google Calendar and I've learned to like the calendar app, but I still use Outlook almost exclusively for everything else. Switching between the two calendars was a nuisance. Entering appointments twice was a nuisance.
Fortunately, that's all behind me because Google Calendar Sync automatically coordinates both Outlook and Google Calendar:

• If you enter an appointment in Outlook, it will appear in your Google calendar.
• If you edit that same appointment in Google Calendar, the sync app will update the same appointment in Outlook.
• Delete an appointment in either app and Google Calendar Sync deletes it in the other.

... and so on. You get the picture. What you do in one, the tool pushes to the other.
Fortunately, setting things up is almost as easy as running the tool to keep Google Calendar and Outlook coordinated:

1. On the system that's running Outlook, download and install Google Calendar Sync. Just click the link and then click Save. (I shouldn't have to say this, but do not download anything from the Internet if you aren't running virus protection software.)
2. Enter the Email address you use with your Google Calendar account.
3. Enter the password for that account.
4. For full synchronization, select 2-way in the Sync options. Click the option that best reflects your needs. Later, you can change your settings by double-clicking the Google Calendar Sync system icon in the Windows tray.
5. Set the interval for automatic synchronization in the Sync every x minutes option. The default is 120 and you might find that adequate--I didn't.
6. Click Save. It'll take a minute or two to download and install the app. If you have more than one Outlook profile, Outlook will prompt you to choose one.
7. When the installation is done, click the Close button. (It doesn't stay on top, so it's easy to miss this step.) Google Calendar Sync will run automatically as soon as you install it.

After installing the sync tool, you'll see a new icon in your tray. (This is the icon you double-click to change your settings.) Right-click this icon to sync your calendars manually. Otherwise, the tool will sync your calendars according to the interval setting you entered during the installation process. During this time, the icon displays two opposing arrows that move up and down.

Once you get the hang of it, you'll forget its even running. Speaking only for myself, it runs well and as expected--no surprises. My one complaint is that my Outlook calendar wouldn't display existing items from my Google calendar; it does pick up new items added since installing the tool.
Note: I wanted to mention that the tool, as of June 11, 2010, does not work with Windows 7. I know, because I was asked about it on Twitter recently.

Save time with quick auto-filtering in Excel 2003

 By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on July 8, 2010

Microsoft Excel

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Save time with quick auto-filtering in Excel 2003

Excel's AutoFilter feature lets you view records that match specific criteria. All your data's still there, but Excel hides all rows that don't match the chosen criteria. You're probably already familiar with the feature and agree with me that it's easy to use.
The only complaint I have with the feature is the list--Excel creates a unique list of values and you choose the filtering criteria from that list. If the column contains lots of unique values, the list is a bit unwieldy--it just isn't as convenient as it can be.
A more convenient filtering solution makes use of what's already available:

• You add a set of filtering buttons to any toolbar—probably the one you use most. If you're creating a custom application, you might create a custom toolbar just for filtering.
• To use the buttons, you select your criteria right in the sheet and click a filtering button.
• To view all your data, click another filtering button.

First, let's add those buttons to a toolbar, as follows:

1. Make sure the toolbar you're going to add the buttons to is visible.
2. Choose Customize from the Tools menu.
3. Click the Commands tab.
4. In the Categories list, select Data to update the Commands list.
5. From the Commands list, drag the AutoFilter command to a toolbar.
   
6. From the Commands list, drag the Show All command to the same toolbar--you'll want them right next to each other.
7. Click Close to close the Customize dialog box.

Now you’re all set. To use the new toolbar buttons, just select a value and click AutoFilter (the button to the right of the Help button in the above toolbar). For example, in the sheet below, I selected A5 and clicked the AutoFilter button. Excel responded by displaying only those records that contain the same value, AT6-02, in column A. To remove the filter, click Show All. (This feature works similar to the Filter By Selection feature in Access.)


Adding these buttons helps avoid perusing a long list of criteria values. When lists are short, having the buttons available really doesn't save you any time or aggravation, unless you're building a custom filtering toolbar for a template. Or, you might just prefer this method--I think filtering by selection is less prone to mistakes than the list selection method.
You can't easily customize 2007's ribbon, but you can add these buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Modify Word's Close All icon image

By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on July 8, 2010

Microsoft Word

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Modify Word's Close All icon image

Most users add a few of their favorite commands to a toolbar for quick access. The addition of a few extra buttons isn't distracting or confusing. But, I ran into a situation recently that got the better of me...for just a minute. The Close and Close All commands use the same icon.
If you want both, you must remember which position represents which command, or change one of the icons. I chose the latter.
First, the good news: You don't need to be an expert to add a command to a toolbar. The steps are easy (in Word 2003 and earlier):

1. Click the dropdown arrow that appears at the right end of any open toolbar, choose Add or Remove Buttons, and then click Customize. Or, right-click the background of any toolbar and choose Customize. Or, choose Customize from the Tools menu.
2. Click the Commands tab in the resulting Customize dialog box. With this dialog open, the toolbars and menu bar, and all their menus and buttons are in Edit mode.
3. From the Categories list, select the appropriate menu. In this case, click File (the default).
4. Doing so updates the items in the Commands list to the right. Drag and drop the appropriate command from this list to a toolbar. To recreate my problem, drag Close and Close All to a toolbar.

I told you it was simple, but my situation was complicated by the two look-alike icons with different tasks.

Now, you might be able to remember that Close is on the left and Close All is on the right, but I don't trust myself that much. If you support users, you don't have much of a choice. In the end, I chose to edit the image of the Close All icon.
To modify an icon, the Customize dialog box must be open (in Edit mode); you can leave it open when you add the Close and Close All commands to a toolbar. If you closed the dialog box after adding the icons, you must open it again. Then, with the Customize dialog box open, click the Close All button on your toolbar and then click Modify Selection. At this point, you have at least three simple ways to distinguish Close All from Close.

Display text
The simplest solution is to display text instead of the icon. After clicking Modify Selection, choose the Text Only (Always) item on the resulting submenu. You can display the icon for one and text for the other, or display text for both. Either way, you'll have no trouble telling them apart.

Change the color
If displaying the icon text isn't an option, the next best solution is to change the color of one. After clicking Modify Selection, choose Edit Button Image. Click a colored square in the Colors section and then start clicking those tiny squares that make up the actual icon image. This is a tedious process, but don't worry about making a mistake. You can click Cancel at any time and start over. Click as many or as few of the squares as you like to get the look you want. Then, click OK when you're done.


This method is only marginally better than leaving both icons alone, as you still have to remember which color represents which command.
Add a clue
For myself, I'd probably use the Text option above. It's simple and gets the job done. That won't always work for users or custom templates. Sometimes company conventions limit your options. If you must use icon images, you need to distinguish one image from the other. The best solution I came up with was to add an A to the Close All icon.
This solution takes a bit more work, but only a little. After clicking Modify Select, choose Edit Button Image. This time, click a color and then click the appropriate squares to draw an A on the folder icon. When you're satisfied, click OK.


The icons are still similar, but the A on the Close All icon clearly identifies the difference between the two.
You can add Close and Close All to the Quick Access Toolbar in Word 2007, but it isn't easy to modify a button's image.

DNS querying with dig

By Vincent Danen, TechRepublic on June 28, 2010
 
For a system administrator, having ready access to all kinds of information for troubleshooting or configuration of computers and networks is important. When diagnosing connectivity issues, or setting up a new Web site or server, being able to accurately get information from DNS can be critical; DNS provides a lot of information that can really help in this regard.
On Linux, the best tool for this job is dig, part of the BIND collection of utilities. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS and Fedora, dig is part of the bind-utils package; you don't need to actually have the BIND DNS server installed to make use of the utilities.
The dig command-line tool is used to query DNS name servers for information. It can be the default DNS server as defined for your system, or it can be any other DNS server you specify, including the root name servers. A typical invocation of dig would be as follows:

http://bit.ly/9SAyDh

Dig is quite verbose, so there is a lot of information here, and not all of it is useful. The important bits are the A records pointing to google.com, and the server that was queried (in this case 192.168.250.12). The information can be trimmed by specifying certain flags:

http://bit.ly/9SAyDh

Knowing the A record, or authoritative IP address, is very useful information. But so is knowing what DNS server is authoritative for that domain name, or knowing which mail servers accept mail for that domain. This can be done by telling dig to get the NS or MX records; if you want all of them, use the ANY option:

$ dig MX google.com +short

200 google.com.s9a2.psmtp.com.

300 google.com.s9b1.psmtp.com.

400 google.com.s9b2.psmtp.com.

100 google.com.s9a1.psmtp.com.

The +short option is very useful to just provide the answers; in this case, we have the names of the MX records with their priority.
Want to do a reverse lookup? This can be done with the -x option and specifying an IP address instead of a domain name:

$ dig -x 74.125.148.13 +short

s9b1.psmtp.com.

And if you want to see the results from a different DNS server, use the @ prefix with the DNS server to use:

$ dig @ns.isp.com google.com

There is also the TXT record for domains that can be useful, especially if you wan to look up SPF (Sender Policy Framework, an email validation system) information. For instance:

http://bit.ly/9SAyDh

The dig utility is very handy, especially when used with troubleshooting. It has a lot of options and a lot of different things it can do; take a look at the output of dig -h for an idea of the many options available.
Vincent Danen works on the Red Hat Security Response Team and lives in Canada. He has been writing about and developing on Linux for over 10 years.

The truth about copier hard drives: Tips for securing your data

By Michael Kassner, TechRepublic on June 29, 2010

I recently read an article by Bill Detwiler, Head Technology Editor for TechRepublic. It was an interesting piece about a CBS News report by chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian titled: "Digital Photocopiers Loaded with Secrets". The CBS article also had the following tag line: "Your office copy machine might digitally store thousands of documents that get passed on at resale". What immediately caught my eye was the word might. Well, do they store information or not?
According to the video and John Juntunen of Digital Copier Security:
"Nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains one of these, a hard drive. Like the one in your personal computer; it stores an image of every document scanned, copied, or emailed by the machine."
My multi-function peripherals (MFPs)
I am responsible for several networked Multi-Function Peripherals (MFP). So, I started doing my homework and, needless to say, it was harder than I thought to get to the bottom of this. It was time to bring in the experts. I called Marco, the company we lease our MFPs from, to see if I could learn anything. I talked to Dale Evens, Marco's veteran DS service manager.
Evens explained that the brands of MFPs they sell or lease do not store images by default. He pointed me to a Konica Minolta document (PDF) where Kevin Kern, Senior VP of Marketing for Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, responds to the CBS News broadcast:
"A recent CBS News broadcast raised the issue of security of hard drive data in digital multifunction products. Konica Minolta would like to assure you that we are a leader in the area of MFP security. Our MFPs can ensure documents that are copied, scanned, faxed or otherwise transmitted do not remain stored on the hard drive or in DRAM memory as a standard feature".
Data security kits
In my research, I noticed that several other MFP brands had similar statements. But, they still offer an optional data security kit that provides the following services:

• Encrypts all data prior to being stored in DRAM
• Encrypts all data stored on the hard drive
• DRAM is cleared after copy, scan, and print use
• Runs automatically without user initiation
• Provides overwriting routines to make deleted data irretrievable

Why would you need data security kits if no digitized data is retained?
Sensitive information
I asked Mr. Evens about this. He mentioned that businesses typically enter sensitive information into the MFP's address book. Names, email addresses, and fax numbers are some examples. Also, MFPs have the ability to create document servers where employees can save printed, scanned, or copied documents.
Other concerns
I asked Mr. Evens if there were any other concerns that we should be aware of. He provided some interesting insight that I would like to share:

• Physical access: Think about who has access to the copier; employees, customers, and service technicians (genuine and imposters). If sensitive information is stored, it needs to be protected.
• Network access: Mr. Evens mentioned that most MFPs use proprietary operating systems, which makes them fairly immune to exploitation. But, it is a good idea to check the National Vulnerability Database for any problems with your specific brand of MFP.
• Web-based configuration: Most MFPs have a web interface for configuration and access to the address book. It is usually pass-word protected. Make sure it's not the default password.
• Public MFPs: Mr. Evens advises against using any public MFP or copy services like FedEx Office if the document to be printed or copied contains sensitive information. It is impossible to know how the MFP is configured and whether it is saving a copy of each digitized document.

Best practices for securing MFPs
One thing became clear as I looked at what the various MFP manufacturers considered appropriate security. MFP physical and digital security should be folded into the company's IT security policy. To that end, let's look at what manufacturers consider important:

• Meet industry certification: When deciding what brand and model to lease or buy, make sure the device meets industry security standards. Two prominent certifications are ISO 15408 Level 3 Certification and IEEE-2600-2008.
• Ease-of-use versus security: Company management must decide what access controls to use if any. Access controls typically consist of user authentication, account codes, and password protection.
• Data security kits: As mentioned in the CBS News video, MFP distributors need to inform customers about data security packages and their importance. If there are any security concerns, using a data security kit will address them.
• End-of-Life considerations: When buying or signing a lease for MFPs, determine what should happen to the hard drive at end-of-life. Typical options are; destroy the hard drive, keep it on-site, or have the MFP distributor scrub the hard drive using an approved process.

Final thoughts
Whether a particular MFP saves every digitized document or not appears to depend on the brand and how it is configured. It took some effort, but I found out the MFPs I'm responsible for do not retain images by default. That's good; now I am going to make sure management understands what information is readily available on the MFPs and how to protect it.
A special thanks to Marco's Dave Evens for answering my questions.
Michael Kassner has been involved with with IT for over 30 years. Currently a systems administrator for an international corporation and security consultant with MKassner Net.

Determine the site ID with IIS

By Rick Vanover, TechRepublic on June 29, 2010
 
Windows Server administrators, whenever you have to renew a certificate, doesn't it seem that you always learn something along the way? Whenever a Windows Server 2003 system has a certificate renewed, especially a self-signed certificate, we have to go through major hoops to determine the site identifier (site ID) of the specific Web site for IIS.
The site ID is the identifier of the Web site on the IIS engine. Simply put, the built-in site (Default Site) has a site ID of 1, yet a subsequent site ID may not be 2; this makes it quite a bit more difficult to intervene when the site ID number matters, especially if the server has more than one Web site running.
For Windows Server 2003 systems, the easiest way to determine the site ID is to look at the logging configuration. Most log files would look like either of these examples:
W3SVC1: Indicates the default site identifier of 1
W3SVC385401: Indicates a site identifier of 385401
For Windows Server 2008, you don't have to dig through the logging configuration to determine the site ID. For sites other than the Default Site, if you right-click and select the Advanced Settings option, you will see the site ID displayed. Figure A shows this for a server with an additional Web site configured in IIS.
Figure A

Click the image to enlarge.
This situation comes up very rarely and is irritating because server admins don't usually spend much time in this area.
An important note regarding certificates for IIS 7 on Windows Server 2008: The tools are installed by default to easily manage and create certificates. In the case of self-signed certificates, you have to download the IIS 6 Resource Kit to run the SelfSSL.exe tool. Figure B shows the area of IIS where the server (not each site) has certificate configuration, including self-signed certificates.
Figure B

Click the image to enlarge.
Site IDs come up most frequently when self-signed certificates are renewed, so it makes sense to determine when to stand up your own internal certificate authority; this can include Active Directory Certificate Services or OpenSSL.
Rick Vanover is an IT Infrastructure Manager for Alliance Data in Columbus, Ohio. Rick has years of IT experience and focuses on virtualization, Windows-based server administration, and system hardware.

7 key ideas for managing distributed teams

By Rick Freedman, TechRepublic on June 30, 2010

There's no shortage of advice on managing distributed teams, much of it focusing on the importance of communication and on the use of the array of available technical tools, such as WebEx, Skype, SharePoint, to aid in that process. Every distributed team must use some combination of these technologies to stay in contact and to make sure that the entire team is working from the same playbook.
Teams that use these tools to communicate frequently and to overcome the obstacles of time and distance to stay on track and manage project progress and issues remove some of the risk from the distributed, or virtual, team model.
However, my experience teaches me that while these tools and practices are facilitators for good team interactions the real success factor is human: It's the element of trust.
Charles Handy's seven key ideas
The importance of trust in the success of virtual teams was noted as far back as 1995, when these trends were just beginning, in a famous Harvard Business Review article by Charles Handy titled "Trust and the Virtual Organization".
Handy's article was one of the first explorations of the human factors associated with the migration toward distributed teams, and it laid out a foundation of concepts that project managers must consider when managing global teams. As he noted, all managers manage people they aren't in daily contact with, from networks of salespeople to external vendors, and so the skills required for virtual team management are actually core management requirements.
Handy sets forth a set of seven key ideas, and these ideas are as pertinent to today’s project managers as they were to the general management audience to whom they were originally addressed.
1. Trust is not blind.
There's no substitute for simple interaction and observation to build trust, so project managers should use every opportunity to interact, either in person or using the communication tools we outlined, and simply get to know their teams and demonstrate their trustworthiness.
Trust is earned in every interaction, and every opportunity a project manager uses to demonstrate that he's a "stand-up guy (or gal)", willing to use some personal capital to protect and defend the team, earns a kernel of trust that can be taken forward in the relationship.
2. Trust needs boundaries.
Trust team members to deliver their commitments in their own style and manner illustrates that you trust them, and they are likely to reciprocate. This concept of self-directness fits in nicely with some of the key ideas of agile development.
3. Trust demands learning.
Project managers earn trust by continuously educating their teams about the project objectives, the strategy, their teammates, and the overall progress of the effort. Project managers also earn trust by trusting their teams to grasp the strategic context of the engagement, not just their individual tasks.
4. Trust is tough.
Trust also means accountability. Nothing corrodes trust in the team more than the observation that other team members aren't performing as expected and are seeing no consequences for that lapse.
5. Trust needs bonding.
The team must feel that it's on a journey together toward a clear and defined goal, and that goal must be reiterated and reinforced consistently. Again, this fits in closely with the envisioning exercises that are an integral element of the agile approach.
6. Trust needs touch.
The best virtual teams I've experienced make extraordinary efforts to meet as frequently as possible. I've seen distributed teams, working in an agile framework, that met daily using remote communication tools, even though they were scattered around the globe and had to bridge huge time differences.
By alternating times to accommodate (and inconvenience) team members equally and by remaining in touch even in times of high stress and time pressure, teams stay connected and keep the spirit of teamwork healthy.
7. Trust requires leaders.
Teams, virtual or not, look for and expect leadership. The ability to help the team keep its "eyes on the prize" to facilitate the team through conflict and pressure, and to remain true to the guiding vision while business and technical circumstances evolve, is the sign of a true leader, and it becomes even more critical when the team is distributed.
In a 2003 study of global IT teams performed by Dr. Niki Panteli of the University of Bath, United Kingdom, the key differences between high-performing distributed teams and those that did not perform successfully were explored.
According to the results of this study, high-performers shared these characteristics:

• Awareness of shared goals
• Time given to build shared goals
• Early and open debate of goals
• Primacy of team-based goals over individual goals
• PMs or leaders as facilitators
• Focus on win-win outcomes
• Face-to-face communication where possible
• Use of computer-mediated communication to enable regular team communication
• Social interaction where possible

These findings reinforce the commonsense ideas that Handy outlined in his original article.
Summary
By building a set of common goals, allowing the team to debate and participate in the setting and achievement of those goals, building human interaction into the effort, and acting as a win-win facilitator, project managers can apply these lessons to their virtual team assignments and increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Rick Freedman is the author of three books on IT consulting, including "The IT Consultant". Rick is the founder and principal consultant for Consulting Strategies Inc. He trains and coaches agile teams worldwide, and provides project management and IT strategic consulting for Fortune 500 companies and IT services firms.

NTFS allocation unit sizes for large volumes

By Rick Vanover, TechRepublic on July 1, 2010

All Windows Server administrators have done this: quickly format an NTFS volume and select the default allocation unit size without giving it much thought. It turns out the unit size is quite important when it comes to the layout and practicality of the drive. I do this for non-boot volumes.
I'm not a fan of putting everything on the C:\ drive, but in turn, I prefer to create different drive letters for programs or data on a server.
Let's start with the format task for a new drive on a Windows Server, which is the point where administrators can make a decision about allocation unit size. Figure A shows the allocation unit menu.
Figure A

When it comes to formatting larger NTFS volumes, you'll find that the default allocation unit size increases from the default 4 KB when you cross the 16 TB thresholds. A single NTFS volume of 16 TB is quite large, but there are use cases for drives this large. The issue is that the minimum allocation unit goes from 4K to 8K when the NTFS volume exceeds 16 TB.
There is another threshold at the 32 TB level and more as the file system scales up. This TechNet article explains the scaling points of NTFS for large volumes.
Windows is adaptive in the size of the volume and displaying the available allocation unit sizes for a volume based on its size. Consider this example with a single drive that was initially 13 TB and then expanded to 19 TB. Once the drive passed to being larger than 16 TB, the 8K allocation unit is the smallest option (Figure B).
Figure B

The allocation unit is very important, as it represents the smallest unit of consumption on disk. For example, if you have a small text file that is 1,350 bytes, it will consume a full allocation unit of 8K on disk. Larger files that span multiple allocation units will have the remainder available, but smaller files can quickly consume disk space on large volumes; this is the difference between the Size and the Size On Disk display options in Windows Explorer. This example is shown in Figure C.
Figure C

Click the image to enlarge.
When it comes to venturing into larger volumes, NTFS will do better with larger files rather than a large number of small files.
Rick Vanover is an IT infrastructure manager for Alliance Data in Columbus, Ohio. He has years of IT experience and focuses on virtualization, Windows-based server administration and system hardware.

Quickly fill blank cells in Excel

By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on June 10, 2010

Microsoft Excel

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Quickly fill blank cells in Excel

I received a refusing e-mail from a user not too long ago--they're new to Office 2007 and Access wasn't displaying the name of their database anymore.
One of the first things you should do when importing foreign data into Excel or upon receiving a legacy workbook is to check for blank cells and fill them in, where appropriate. Of course, some cells are blank on purpose and should remain that way. But blanks can be troublesome, if not downright destructive.
The sheet below is a good example of foreign data that as is, doesn't lend itself perfectly to a spreadsheet. In a report, repeating the company name from record to record might be distracting to the reader. Whereas in a sheet, a simple sort by a field other than the company name field would quickly orphan data--there's no way to attach a record to its company.

My best advice is to fill these types of blanks right away. You might consider typing the entries, but there's a quicker way:

1. First, select the range that contains blanks you need to fill. Don't select the column header cell--just the range that contains actual data. Using the example sheet above, the range is A2:A11.
2. Select Go To from the Edit menu or press [Ctrl]+G and then click the Special button. In Excel 2007, choose Go To Special from the Find and Select dropdown list in the Editing group on the Home tab.
3. Select Blanks.

4. When you click OK, Excel will select all the blank cells in A2:A11.

5. In the first selected blank cell (A3) enter an equal sign and point to the cell above. The cell is already selected, you don't have to actually click A3.

6. Press [Ctrl]+[Enter] and Excel will copy the respective formula to all blank cells in the selected range.

7. At this point, the range contains literal values (the original values) and formulas that repeat those literal values. To maintain order, replace the formulas with their results (the repeated literal values). Select the range (A2:A11) and choose Copy from the Edit menu. In Excel 2007, click Copy in the Clipboard group on the Home tab.
8. Select Paste Special from the Edit menu. Then, select Values and click OK. In Excel 2007, choose Paste Values from the Paste drop-down list in the Clipboard group on the home tab. You just replaced the formulas with literal values.

If the range contains formulas before the process, be careful: You don't want to overwrite those formulas, just the formulas you added to fill the blank cells. This technique won't work with every sheet that contains blank cells. In this case, this quick technique repeats existing data.

Microsoft Office

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Reset Spelling and Grammar check

Inserting a comment lets you add a bit of information off to the side. In Word, comments are great for reviewing and editing. Many of us use Excel comments to store additional information about a value. When you add a comment, the comment displays a header. Word displays the user's initials; Excel displays the user's name. PowerPoint displays both.

If you use comments, but you don't like the default heading, change it. The thing to remember is this: Office uses the setting in all of its applications. In other words, don't make the change I'm about to show you in any Office application if you depend on this setting in another application.
At first, this option seems trivial. If you can't use it without affecting other applications, what good is it? Here's the good news. You can change this setting temporarily and insert comments that require a different heading. When you're done, reset the setting. Each comment will store the header text used when you created the comment.
That means you can use this feature to customize all you comments, if you want to go to the trouble of changing and resetting every time. Your needs will dictate this simple technique's worth.
Excel comments
By default, Excel stores the user name value in comments. If that's not adequate, you can change it as follows:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Change the User Name setting.

4. Click OK. The next time you insert a comment, the heading text will reflect your change.

Word comments
By default, Word displays initials. You can change this setting as follows:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.
2. Click the User Information tab.
3. Change the Initials setting.
4. Click OK.

Similarly to Excel, Word will save a custom header with the comment. Word does limit this setting to just nine characters.
PowerPoint comments
PowerPoint displays both the user name and initials, which adds a bit of flexibility. You'll find this setting also on the General tab:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Change the Name and/or Initials setting.
4. Click OK.

Office 2007
If you're using Office 2007, you'll find this option in the same place in all three applications:

1. Click the Office button.
2. Click the app Options button.
3. Choose Popular in the left pane.
4. Update the option in the Personalize Your Copy Of Microsoft Office section.
5. Click OK.

Microsoft Word

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Use Word's AutoSum to perform simple calculations

Word can add! Seriously, if you're using Word and you need a few basic calculations, you don't have to insert an Excel sheet. You can use a Word table and let Word do the calculating. The feature's limited, but it's perfectly capable of the basics. (AutoSum seems to be absent from Word 2007, but you can still insert formulas.)
First, Word uses table cell coordinates to determine the values it evaluates. Notice that the table below has an empty column to the right and an empty row at the bottom. That's where we'll perform calculations on the existing values.

Simply click in a cell to the right or below a contiguous row or column and click the AutoSum button on the Tables And Borders toolbar. (To display this toolbar, choose Toolbars from the View menu,and check Tables And Borders.) For example, to sum the units sold in the north by all representatives, click the blank cell just below those values (and to the right of the Total row’s heading cell) and click AutoSum. As you can see, the total number of units for the north is 66. AutoSum automatically summed all of the values above the current cell. (It will stop at an empty cell.)

To total the units sold by Harkins (all four regions), click inside the empty cell at the far right of the Harkins row, just under Total, and click AutoSum. This time, AutoSum determined that the values were to the left.

But what happens when AutoSum encounters values to the left and above? To find out, select the empty cell at the far right of the Smith column (just below the current cell) and click AutoSum. This time, it sums the value(s) above; that's the default.

When this happens, you must tell the current formula to evaluate the values to the left instead. To do so, press [Alt]+[F9] to display codes. As you can see below, the actual formula reference is ABOVE. Simply highlight the ABOVE reference and replace it with LEFT.


Next, press [Alt]+[F9] to hide the codes and then press [F9] to recalculate. Now, the formula sums the values to the left.

If you know about AutoSum's default, you can use the Formula command on the Table menu as follows (in Word 2007, Formula is in the Data group on the Layout tab):

1. Select the cell in question. In this case, select the empty cell to the far right of the Nichols row.
2. Choose Formula from the Table menu.
3. In the resulting dialog box, Word will display the default formula, which references the values above.

4. Change ABOVE to LEFT, and click OK.

You can also use the Formula command when you want to specify individual values. That's because Word assigns an identifying value to each cell in the table. Every cell has two identifiers, a row identifier (a number) and a column identifier (a letter). For example, the first cell in the top-left corner is A1. The next cell to the right is B1. The cell just below A1 is A2, and so on. When evaluating individual values, separate them using a comma as follows:
=SUM(B2, C4,...)
In addition, you can substitute the default formula with a variety of functions. Simply delete all of the default formula, except for the equal sign, and then choose a function from the Paste Function drop-down list.
This flexible but somewhat limited feature has a lot to offer. However, you must remember to recalculate the file each time you change a value in the table. Word will not update formulas automatically. Simply select the entire table and press [F9] and Word will reevaluate all the formulas in the table. Or highlight an individual cell and press [F9] to recalculate a single formula.

A Find and Replace trick for inserting new text

By Susan Harkins , TechRepublic on June 17, 2010

Microsoft Word

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A Find and Replace trick for inserting new text

You can't use Word (or any Office application) too long without learning a few Find and Replace tricks. This feature really works hard to help you overcome tedious editing tasks. What you might not know is that you can use this feature to insert text.
For example, if you wanted to add a newly acquired title to your name, you could search for every occurrence of your name and add the title manually. You might use Find and Replace to search for your name, using the full replacement string as follows: John Doe, MCSE. Both methods will work, but there's a simpler way: Use the ^& code in the Replace With value.
The ^& code tells Find and Replace to add the text in the Find What entry to the replacement text. In our simple name example, you'd use the following settings:
Find What: John Doe
Replace With: ^&, MCSE
In such a simple example, it hardly seems to matter, but your task won't always be this simple. You might need to insert text both before and after an existing string or the existing string might be long and unfamiliar, opening the door for typos, which can be hard to troubleshoot in a Find and Replace task.
Using ^& to represent the Find What string is an easy way to insert text and keep the Find What string intact.

Microsoft Excel

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Use formulas to find multi-column duplicates in Excel

Finding duplicate values in the same column is easy; you can sort or apply a filter depending on the circumstances. Finding duplicates that span multiple columns is a tad more difficult. A sort can work, but then you have to find the duplicate values. So while it's better than no solution at all, it's not a good solution. You probably want a solution that kind of screams out at you Here I am! I'm a duplicate!
Let's take a quick look at a simple example. The sheet below contains a column of dates and a column of initials. A few dates are repeated and a few initial sets are repeated; they represent duplicates within those columns. However, we're interested in records that repeat the same date and the same initials. That's what I mean by a multi-column duplicate.
It's fairly easy to spot the duplicates, rows 8 and 9, in such a simple sheet, but what if you had hundreds or thousands of rows to check?

An AutoFilter will work, but it's a vulnerable solution. In this case, there are five distinct dates. That means a user has to review at least five sets of records to find duplicates. Even then, you have to trust your user to actually spot them. It's not a good solution, especially if you have lots of data.
You might try an advanced filter or even conditional formatting, but both would require so much hoop-jumping that I'm not sure the end result would be worth the fuss, when compared to the easy-to-implement solution that follows:

• Concatenate the columns you're checking.
• Use CountIf() to count the number of combined values.

Let's enhance the sheet above to see how this works:

1. In cell C2 enter the formula =A2&B2. (You can combine more columns.)
2. Copy the formula to C3:C9. Excel uses each date's serial value, but that won't interfere with the technique. However, if your values contain times, it might, depending on how the time values were entered.

3. In cell D2 enter the following formula:=IF(COUNTIF($C$2:C2,C2)>1, "Here I am! I'm a duplicate!","Original")
   
4. Copy the formula to D3:D9. At this point, finding multi-column duplicates is as easy as sorting by column D (although this example doesn't require any sorting).

The IfCount() function counts the number of times the concatenated values occur within the extending range. If the count is greater than 1, the formula returns the string "Here I am! I'm a duplicate!"; when the count isn't greater than 1, the formula returns the string "Original". Only the first occurrence will be identified as Original.
This technique easily adapts to include additional columns. Simply add each column to the concatenating formula (column C in this example). Of course, there are other ways to identify multi-column duplicates in Excel.

Microsoft Outlook

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Send a message to several people without revealing their identities to one another

When you send an e-mail message to the same group of people, frequently, you probably create a distribution list. Then, you specify the list instead of all the individual addresses. A list is more efficient than specifying each recipient for each message.
A list has a second benefit: It protects the identity of each recipient.
Now, if you happen to be sending just one message to several people but you want to protect their identities, you might create a distribution list, but doing so would be overkill. You don't need a list at all.
If you want to send a message to more than one person while protecting the identify of each recipient, send the message to yourself and enter the real recipients in the Bcc control. Bcc stands for blind carbon copy--it's a throwback to the stone age... I mean... an earlier time when people still used typewriters and carbon paper to send letters. Any recipient entered via the Bcc control will have complete anonymity--no other recipient will see any other names or addresses.
Bcc is a quick and easy alternative to creating a distribution list when you'll never use the list again.
Can't find the Bcc control?
If the Bcc box isn't visible in Outlook 2007, click the Message Options tab and click Show Bcc in the Fields group.

A quick way to add items to 2007's Quick Access Toolbar

Microsoft Office

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A quick way to add items to 2007's Quick Access Toolbar

If an Office 2007 or 2010 command that you use a lot is buried under too many groups and tabs, add that command to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). It's one of the features users learn to appreciate right away.
Fortunately, there's more than one way to add items to the QAT. Choosing More Commands from the QAT dropdown list is probably the most intuitive. This route displays a list of commands and an interface for adding commands to the QAT. It's easy, but finding the right command can be troublesome--there are so many!
I think the quickest method for adding a command to the QAT is actually the least known:

1. Right-click a group's title bar.
2. Choose the Add To Quick Access Toolbar option. Doing so adds the entire group to the QAT.

Use this same technique to add an individual command or option to the QAT. Simply right-click the individual tool, option, or command instead of clicking a group's title bar.

Microsoft Word

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Finding Overtype in Word 2007

Love it or hate it, Overtype mode was easy to use and it didn't take long for people to catch on. By default, Word's in insert or normal mode. That means that what you type pushes text to the right (or left, depending on your language setting). Overtype mode let you replace existing text. Simply press [Insert] to enable Overtype mode and start typing.
If you suddenly start replacing text, a quick glance at the Status bar reveals what's wrong--the OVR indicator is turned on because you pressed [Insert] when you (probably) hadn't meant to. You see, in earlier versions, you press [Insert] to toggle Overtype mode. It's easy to use when you need it--that's why people love it. It's also easy to inadvertently enable it--that's why people hate it.
That's all changed in Word 2007. By default, the [Insert] key does not toggle Overtype mode. That change is probably confusing to people who are use to that routine. You can still use [Insert], but you have to flag a setting, as follows:

1. Click the Office button.
2. Click the Word Options button.
3. Choose Advanced in the left pane.
4. In the Editing Options section, check the Use The Insert Key To Control Overtype Mode option.
5. Click OK.

If you want to work in Overtype mode solely, check the Use Overtype Mode (step 4). I'm still uncertain as to why Word uses this particular hierarchy. Usually, a sub option is available only if the main option is checked, but not so with these two.
Perhaps it's best to just forget the old ways. Don't even bother with [Insert]. Instead, right-click the Status bar and check Overtype. Doing so displays the Overtype/Insert indicator. Then, simply click the indicator to switch between the two modes. It's definitely a change for the better... if you can find it!

Microsoft Excel

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Two built-in features for reducing data entry in Excel

Excel comes with a variety of tools that reduce data entry tasks. Most of you probably know about the AutoComplete feature, but do your users? This feature starts working as soon as you enter data that closely matches a previous entry. In this case, previous entry means an existing value in a contiguous single-column range. In addition, closely means uniquely repeated characters.
For example, if you enter the character H in cell A7 (see below), AutoComplete will do nothing, as there's more than one existing value that begins with H. If you enter HR6, AutoComplete kicks in and suggests HR6-12 because there's only one value that matches your input.
Once AutoComplete makes a suggestion, you can press [Enter] to accept it or continue typing another value. (To disable AutoComplete, choose Options from the Tools menu, uncheck the Enable AutoComplete For Cell Values option, and click OK.)

That feature's great, but there's more. When entering data in a contiguous single-column range, Excel can automatically create a pick list of unique values. All your users have to do is display the pick list by pressing [Alt]+Down Arrow or right-clicking the cell and choosing Pick From Drop-down List. Simply select a value from the resulting pick list. This feature is even more efficient than AutoComplete, as there's no need to type even a single character.

Neither feature will keep a user from entering an invalid data, but reducing data input is the first step to reducing errors. In addition, your users will appreciate the respite!