Copyright Issues

I understand that when someone creates something, they own it and the copyright for it. Of course, if someone were to take that item and use it, they would be violating the copyright. But who would know?

Truth is nobody would know unless they came across the item and knew it was theirs or belonged to someone else they knew. When that is discovered, the original owner must be able to provide the proof that they do hold the copyright.

There are a couple of ways to copyright something. You can apply to the government for a copyright and it will be officially registered with the US Copyright Office. Another approach is to mail a copy to yourself and not to open the package. Tell the post office what you are doing and they will seal all the edges and hand stamp each seal. If you have to take someone to court about violating your copyright, you can produce the sealed package as proof you own it.

The real message here is for you to make sure you are not violating someone else's copyright. It is a principle I speak often of when teaching Web Development classes. If you create it, you own it. If you Google it and copy/paste you are probably stealing it. Want to use a picture in your work, grab your digital camera and take it yourself. Do not grab it off the Web.

If you really like the work someone else has done, contact them and ask permission to use it. In most cases, they will grant permission. Sometimes they ask that you give them credit for it by including a link to their site or their email address. Do not just use their image and hope you do not get caught.

Of course, you can purchase thousands of royalty free images on CD's over on the Web and in your local office supply stores. These can be used without worrying about the copyright because when you bought the package you received a license to use the items that came with it. Make sure that license allows you to use it publically and not just on documents you print out. It will usually not allow you to use the items for sale to others.

A few weeks ago, I received a lawyer's letter telling me I had violated the copyright on an image used on one of my Web sites. This was a simple graphic I had added in 1999—10 years ago. The letter said I needed to prove I had a license to use the image or be prepared to be sued for up to $25,000!

I had no idea where I found that image. I could not believe that I found it on the Web and copy/pasted it into my site. This was against all I had been teaching for years. However, I could not remember anything about the image. Well, I removed it from my site and copies of it from my computers.

This was good, but they still wanted payment for its use. We negotiated down to a reasonable figure and were just wrapping things up when, in my work of cleaning out for our move, I came across a CD of royalty free images I had purchase in 1996.

You guessed it; the image was on that CD. I was able to prove I had a license to use it and did not have to pay any penalty.

So remember, if you use someone else's item like an image or picture, get permission in some form and SAVE IT where you can find it later. Ten years down the road you may be challenged and have to pay a huge penalty for not keeping good records.

I suggest keeping your documentation right in the folder you have the work (Web page, document, etc). If it comes from a CD, scan the license into a PDF and keep it in the folder. If it was an email giving you permission, save the email in the folder.

Be careful as there are people out their searching the Web for unauthorized usage of their work with the intent to collect large sums of money for your failure to abide by the copyright laws or being lax in keeping good records of your work.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Over the years I have accumulated a number of shortcuts I find useful in my everyday dealings with the commputer. This list is not in any particular order. I suggest reading it one at a time and trying them out. Start to use them a little at a time and you will be surprised how your productivity improves. These simple keyboard clicks save me time as I use applications daily.

Please let me know of others you may use. I always like to add to my toolbox.

Win+D - Minimizes all open windows so you can see the desktop. A second tap restores them

Win+E - Opens Windows File Mamanger

Win+F - Launches Windows search

Win+L - locks they keyboard and can only be unlocked with your windows password.

Win+Pause - Opens the System Properties

Win+R - Opens the Run dialog box

Win+Pause - Opens System Properties

Win+U+U - to shut down

Win+U+R - to restart

Alt+F4 - Closes the active window/application

Ctrl+Alt+Del - Opens the Task Manager

Ctrl+F - accesses the Find feature in the currently-running program

Ctrl+Shift-F9 - Removes hyperlinks in MS-Word (great for cleaning up pasted web pages)

Shift+Alt+D in Word pastes the current date in the default format

Ctrl+; in Excel pastes the current date

Shift+Ctrl+C in MS-Word copies the format (same as format painter)

Shift+Ctrl+V in MS-Word copies the saved format

Ctrl+1, 2, and 5 in MS-Word changes the spacing to single, double, or space and a half

Shift+F3 in MS-Word toggle the case from UPPER, to lower, to Sentance case

F4 in MS-Excel toggle $ in a cell reference

Alt+= in MS-Excel is AutoSum

Alt+F9 in MS-Excel to reveal the hidden programming behind the text

Ctrl+X, C, and V are used in most programs to Cut, Copy, and Paste to the Windows clipboard

Ctrl+H in Word opens Find and Replace

Ctrl+N in Windows Explorer 7 and earlier opens a duplicate window

Ctrl+S opens the Save dialog in most programs

Shift+Ctrl+S opens the SaveAs dialog in some programs

Ctrl+O opens the Open dialog in most programs

Ctrl+Z is undo in most programs

Ctrl+Y is redo in most programs

Ctrl+P opens the print dialog in most programs

Ctrl+A selects all items in most programs

F5 restores the current window

F2 opens the rename function for the selected item

F1 opens the Help function in most programs

PrtScrn causes the picture of the desktop screen to be saved in the Windows clipboard

Alt+PrtScrn causes the picture of the active window to be saved in the Windows clipboard

Ctrl+L, E, R, and J in MS-Word for aligning Left, Center, Right, and Justified

=rand(p,s) in MS-Word generates random text (p=# paragraphs, s=# sentances)

Add a Calendar to the Desktop

I cannot count how many times I have double-clicked the clock in the system tray to get a date from the calendar. Of course you have to be very careful not to click OK and change the system date or all your new and modified files end up with the wrong dates.

Well, I finally did something about it. Check out www.rwevans.com/calendar. It opens a small browser window with an easy to use calendar. Nothing fancy. All it does is allow you easy access to the calendar so you can find that date you need to find. Drag it to a location on your desktop or minimize it to the task bar where it is ready at any time to use.

I Lost Send To Compressed!

All of a sudden the right-click > sent to compressed option was gone! Along with it was missing the ability to double-click a compressed file to extract the files.

I had no idea what caused the removal of this ability from my Windows XP machine, but it was a problem. I used to use PKZip and it was great, but it takes extra steps to decompress and compress files and folders. XP is great; right-click and you are good to go. But, no more.

I Googled every combination of words I could come up with and found a few suggestions. Here is the simple solution if it happens to you, or to me again.

First, locate a computer that has the right-click working. Then, from the Run dialog box (Win+R) type at the run line type this %userprofile% \sendto, and then click OK

Copy the Compressed (zipped) Folder file to a flash drive, diskette, or CD. Or somehow get it over to your desktop.

On your desktop, at the run line type this regsvr32 zipfldr.dll, and then click OK

At the run line type this %userprofile% \sendto, and then click OK

Next, drag the file from your desktop to this folder

Now right-click > send to should have the compressed folder selection

Instant Virus Check

Wonder if there is a virus lurking around in your machine right now? If you have an Internet connection, try out http://www.nanoscan.com/. This is especially useful when you are away from your own machine or even using your notebook at one of the local WiFi available restaurants or coffee houses. It work very quickly--try it out.

Getting Rid of U3

Not to be confused with R2D2, U3 is an application that is piggybacked on the SanDisk Cruzer USB Flash drives. The Cruzer flash drives are a nice size and I like the slider to expose the connection. Those darn caps seem to always get lost or do not stay on after a while. However, I am not thrilled with the included U3 and extra software that comes with it. It takes too much time to mount the drive, I do not want the extra software, and I want all the gigs I paid for.

This procedure will remove U3

1. Open your browser to:

http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1415

2. Download the application

3. Plug in the flash drive and wait for the U3 launch pad to load.

4. Run the application choosing one of the two options. Both options remove U3 and format the drive. (Yes ) keeps all your data (takes about 1 hr/gb) or (No) destroys all data on the drive (takes about 10 sec)

You now have a full sized USB flash drive without the U3 application

Converting Formulas to Values in Excel

Ever need to convert cells containing a formula to its value?

Sure, you can select the cell, copy it to the clipboard, paste it back to the same cell, click the Paste Options button, click Paste Special, and then click Values. The cell contains the value instead of the formula.

There is a better way. Simply select the cell to be converted, press F2, and then F9.

IE7 and the Scroll Wheel

I just discovered a neat feature in IE7. Click a link with the scroll wheel instead of the left or right mouse button and the page opens in a new tab. Use with links off a Web page, the Links bar in IE7, and the Favorites links. This saves a number of clicks. To close the tab, click the tab with the scroll mouse.

Remove the Hyperlink

How many times have you copy and pasted from a Web page into a Word document and been frustrated with all the links that carried over? Sure, you can pull down the Paste Option button’s arrow and select Keep Text Only, but this removes all the formatting as well. You may want to keep the fonts and colors, but just not the links.

One at a time, you might right-click each link and select Remove Hyperlink. A longer method is to click Insert > Links > Hyperlink, and then on the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click Remove Hyperlink.

There is a better way.

Click the hyperlinked word(s) and press Shift+Ctrl+F9. The hyperlink is removed. To do all at once, Ctrl+A to select the entire document, then Shift+Ctrl+F9 and all hyperlinks in the document are removed.

Closing Multiple Excel 2007 Workbooks

I often end up with many open workbooks. To close them one at a time takes a number of clicks by right-clicking and selecting close for each one. If I had made any changes to a workbook, a dialog box opens and I have to decide to save or the workbook, or not. There is a better way.

http://www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/webct_files/Closing%20Multiple%20Workbooks.mht

What Happened to About?

Finding the version of current applications is not as easy as it used to be. Since the early version of Windows, every application has had a menu option for Help. Clicking Help dropped down a list which included at the bottom an About selection. Click it and you were given a window listing the company who wrote the application and its version number.

With Office 2007, this has changed. No longer is there a Help menu option to click or an About selection. But there still is an About screen.

Click the Office Button, then in the lower right of the status bar, click Word Options (or Excel Options, or PowerPoint Options). In the left pane, click Resources. Locate and click the About button.

OR: Office > Word Options > Resources > About

The familiar About window displays with the current version of the application. Notice the System Information button? Clicking it will display details about the hardware you are using.

Excel AutoFormat

Office 2003 had a neat feature allowing you to take a generic worksheet and apply formatting (color and style) by selecting from a list of premade sets. This is not available by default in Office 2007. However, it can be added to the quick access toolbar with a few clicks.

To see how go to:
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/webct_files/excel%20autoformat.mht

AutoFill

Every so often I have a worksheet with many rows and I need to copy a formula from one row all the way down to the last row. Using the Fill Handle I drag the formula down to the last cell in the row. When there are hundreds of rows involved this can take a long time. What I did not know about until recently is the double-click option. Double-click the fill handle and Excel copies the entry all the way down through the last active cell in the row.

Need to create a column with sequence numbers from 1 to the whatever? Enter a 1 in the first cell and a 2 in the second cell, select both cells, and then double-click the fill handle. Excel completes the sequence all the way down through the last cell in the series.

Excel 2007 Tip

One of the features of Word I have liked is having each Word document open in a new application window. Then when closing one document, they do not all attempt to close. This was a problem in prior versions and I was guilty more than once of closing a file I had not yet saved by accident. With Office 2003 the problem was solved by opening new application windows for each document.

Excel did not make that change until the 2007 version. It even added another feature when closing that works better than Word 2007. Press Alt+F4 at any open workbook and all open workbooks attempt to close—you get the do you want to save window for each file. If you just close a single workbook, non of the other workbooks are affected. Word does not have the Alt+F4 feature and pressing that combination just closes the active document.

IE7 Shortcut Tips

It is nice to discover that some of the old shortcuts still work with the new browser. Alt-D move you to the address bar with the current address selected. Just type the new address and hit Enter to change it—or type the domain name, then Ctrl+Enter to have IE7 add the prefix of "http://www." and the suffix of ".com" automatically.

If you are editing the existing URL in the address bar, Alt+D to select it and switch to it, then Ctrl+arrow (left or right) to move to the beginning of a section. To move to and select a section, use Shift+Ctrl+arrow.

Ctrl+N still opens a new incident of the same page in a new browser window. It does not open it in another tab. When you are through with the page, simply close the browser and the original browser with all your tabs is still available.

An Excel Range Tip

This formula does not look correct =COUNTA(A:A), but it is. By entering a range with column letters without row numbers, Excel assumes you are referring to all the active cells in the column listed. And it works the same for rows. =SUM(15:15) will add up all cells in row 15.

=SUM(A:B) would add up all the cells in both column A and B.

Cute, but is it useful? Yes, in a worksheet of email addresses I use for one of my emailings, I need to know how many are on the list. At the top of the worksheet I created a formula containing =COUNTA(A:A)-1 to count the number of emails in the list. I subtracted 1 to exclude counting the row containing the column heading.

Internet Explorer 7 Tips

By now you have probably installed Internet Explorer 7 and experienced the Microsoft version of Tabbed Browsing. To be honest, I was not unhappy with IE6. It did what I needed and I frequently used Ctrl+N to open a new instance of the current window so I would not loose my place when browsing. The taskbar would fill up pretty quickly, but I was used to it. (This still works with IE7)

 

Enter IE7 with tabs--very nice. The taskbar is now clean with only one IE task open. Quick tabs (Ctrl+Q) lets me see miniature windows of the contents of each tab. And there is plenty of help on the Microsoft site. Of course most of us will just figure out how to use it on our own—perhaps this is a geek thing.

 

I have done some exploring and here are some shortcuts I have found useful to me:

 

Ctrl+Click will open a favorite item or an item on your link bar in a new tab and gives it focus.

 

When clicking a link on an open Web page, there are three options:

• Click opens the link on top of the existing page (unless the link is set by the Webmaster to open on a new page)
• Shift+Click opens the link in a new instance of the browser
• Ctrl+Click opens the link in a new tab but the current window keeps focus
• Shift+Ctrl+Click opens the link in a new tab and gives it focus

 

When typing an address into the address bar, there are some additional options:

• Type and hit Enter, the new site opens in the tab currently having focus
• Type and then Alt+Enter, the new sites opens in a new tab with focus
• Type the domain name without the .com, then Ctrl+Alt+Enter and IE7 adds the http://www to the left and .com to the right, then opens the site in a new tab with focus
• Ctrl+Enter adds the rest of the .com, but opens in the tab currently having focus (just like it did in IE6)

 

To close a tab:

• Click the X on the tab (visible if the tab has focus)
• Right-click the tab and select Close
• Middle_click the tab (the middle button is the scroll wheel)

 

For a lot more information on tabbed browsing, see the FAQ page at Microsoft at http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/b37c030b-bdc5-488e-aeca-3e64b739736e1033.mspx

 

Speeding up Windows
The search tool in Windows XP is a great way to look for a file when you forgot where you put it, or what you called it. To make those searches move at the fastest pace possible, Windows XP defaults the "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching" option on the General tab of the Disk Properties dialog box.

My hard disk seemed to always run and run, even when I was not actively doing anything. I would check the Task Manager and find the CPU usage at 100% and then just wait or restart the system. I opened the Disk Properties dialog box (Start > My Computer, right-click Drive C:, and then choose Properties). On the General tab, I unchecked the Allow Indexing… option, and clicked OK. The process took a few minutes to complete—it had to update all files on the drive.

What a difference this little change made. No more was the CPU usage at 100%. The search stills works great, even though it might be a little slower.

Smaller Word Files
Ever wonder why Word files are so large? And why they grow at an unusual rate as you make changes to the document? It has to do with the Fast Save feature--on by default.

In Word, choose Tools > Options > Save and uncheck Allow fast saves.

You probably will not notice the difference in time it takes to save the document, and the size of the document will be smaller. Fast save stores information about the last fifteen modifications you have made to the document resulting in larger file sizes. Turn it off and this old information is not recorded.

Speak to Me
When writing a document, paper, or a novel, the next step is to proof read it. I find errors in things I proofread and then published. Heck, when I read published novels I even find errors. No matter how many times I read something over, I seem to always miss something. I wrote it and my brain knows what I meant to say, so as I read it over, I miss some of the mistakes. A method that has been working for me is to read it out loud to my wife. As I do, mistakes I missed the first time pop out at me and I fix them as I read.

There is another way. Let the computer do the reading and you listen. A feature in Microsoft Word 2003 allows the computer to read any text selected in the document out loud. The voice is a little robotic, but very understandable. Simply select the text (Ctrl+A to select all) and then press Win+S (Win is the Windows key on the keyboard--usually a flag to the left of the spacebar).