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Save OpenOffice Files in Microsoft Office Formats

4/21/2008 09:15:00 AM
First open openoffice.org, then,

Tools / Options... / LoadSave - General

Under "Default File Format", change the "document Type" and "always save as" settings.

See also: Configure, Change or Set OpenOffice.org to Default Save Files in Microsoft Office Formats for more detailed information.

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Make your own Google Toolbar Buttons

4/09/2008 09:10:00 AM
I'm using an older version of Google Toolbar. For some reason, I don't like the Version 5.0 toolbar. In this example, we tested it on MS IE 7.0, but I think the same will work on Firefox (not sure about Opera or any of the Linux browsers).

Here's an example to make a Google toolbar button that links to a page that I like on Yahoo Finance's site. The example generally follows the instructions on the Getting Started with the Google Toolbar API website.

The button that I'm creating will link to Yahoo Finance 'Today's Market'. (It's an old school Yahoo design, back when Yahoo was in it's prime).

First, I created a button as instructed on Google's Toolbar API site. It's basically a XML file that I named yahoo-finance.xml. It's here: http://www.kentahrens.net/google-buttons/yahoo-finance.xml if you'd like to look at the file.

Lastly, we can Link to the custom button on our website. You can create a special link that will enable people to install your custom button in their Google Toolbar just by clicking on it. For example, you could create a link on your website and call it "Add a Yahoo Finance Today's Market" button to my Google Toolbar" and link it to this URL:http://toolbar.google.com/buttons/add?url=http://www..com/yahoo-finance.xml

Here's my example: Add a Yahoo Finance Today's Market button to my Google Toolbar.

Please see Getting Started with the Google Toolbar API for better and more indepth instructions! Also, if you're wondering how to make icons for the toolbar, the trick is to convert your graphics file to base64 -- it's relatively easy to do using this base64 encoder/decoder site.

Problems of a Linux Newbie

3/25/2008 11:19:00 AM
I attempted to switch from Microsoft Vista to Linux the other day. I don't know anything about Linux other than the fact that, about a year or so ago, I "easily" loaded a version (Xandros) onto a PC that was formerly occupied by Microsoft XP. Last year, the setup went smoothly, the new OS recognized the sound card, video, NIC and other hardware. In less than an hour I was on the internet, listening to music and printing stuff on my printer.

This year, on a different PC, the story was not so nice. Xandros Linux seemed to load nicely, but I can't get the "network" to, umm network. It doesn't seem that the OS recognizes the NIC and I can't find any NIC drivers that work with my NIC and Linux.

The PC is a relatively new Dell XPS 210 with the NIC integrated onto the motherboard. Dell has "Windows" drivers, but if they are compatible with Linux, I have no idea how to make them congrue.

I chatted with a tech from Dell and searched the net for hours using the Google searchgod, but am now banging my head against the wall.

I don't understant how trinity could learn to fly a helicopter in a few seconds and I can't find a NIC driver (if that is my problem) after hours searching. If Linux is going to take over the world, there's got to be a better way to help rtards like me.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Update: This is incredible. Less than 5 hours after I (an obscure nobody) posts a cry for help to an unknown bulletin board, someone from the linux community replies with great suggestions about how to and where to go for help.

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To use a USB drive as the backup drive for Microsoft OneCare

12/04/2007 10:48:00 AM

Problem: To use a USB drive as the backup drive for “One Care”, it must be in NTFS format. Most USB drives come in Fat32 format, so you must make some changes. However, you can't simply "Format" the USB drive because the default format options are FAT and FAT32. In order to format the USB drive as NTFS, you must first make the following changes:

  1. Open Windows Explorer
  2. Highlight USB Drive
  3. Right Click "Properties"
  4. Click on "Hardware" tab
  5. Highlight the name of USB drive below if more than one drive is listed
  6. Click "Properties" button, then "Policies" tab.
  7. Click the radio button that says "Optimize for Performance"
  8. OK

The USB drive can now be formated as a NTFS drive and used with Windows OneCare backup.

  1. Open Windows Explorer
  2. find and highlight the USB drive
  3. Right Click "Format"
  4. select NTFS option.

After the format is complete, it will appear as one of the options in the Windows OneCare backup settings.

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Browser Keyboard Shortcuts

12/04/2007 10:40:00 AM
(Firefox Shorts - here ) IE keyboard Shortcuts
  • Ctrl-D - Adds current page to the Favorites list with no further prompts.
  • Alt-D - Selects the URL in the Address bar.
  • Ctrl-Left Arrow or Ctrl-Right Arrow - In the Address bar, moves the cursor to the nearest dot, forward slash, or paired forward slash.
  • Ctrl-Enter - In the Address bar, adds www. to the front and .com to the end of text you've typed and loads the URL.
  • Escape - Stops downloading a page.
  • Alt-Home - Jumps to your Home Page.
  • Ctrl-F5 - Refreshes the current page unconditionally (even if the time stamp for your locally stored version and the Web version are the same).
  • Ctrl-W - Closes the current Internet Explorer window (useful when a site opens a new window).
  • Ctrl-A - Selects all content on the current page or frame. Backspace or Alt-Left Arrow - Jumps to the previous page you viewed.
  • Alt-Right Arrow - Jumps to the next page (after having viewed a previous page).
  • Ctrl-Home - Jumps to the top of the current page.
  • Ctrl-End - Jumps to the bottom of the current page.

Source: PC World - Essential IE Shortcuts

Alt-G - If you have Google Toolbar install, Ctrl-G will jump focus to search box on the Google Toolbar

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Firefox (& Yahoo) shortcuts

12/04/2007 08:08:00 AM

How to make 'print only selected sheets' the DEFAULT print setting in openoffice calc

12/04/2007 08:00:00 AM

By default, the print settings in OpenOffice Calc will print every page in an entire workbook. You can change the print settings to only print one page (the currently viewed page/worksheet) as follows:

  1. Tools
  2. Options...
  3. +OpenOffice.org Calc
  4. Print
  5. Select "Print only selected Sheets" checkbox

See: Plan-B How to make 'print only selected sheets' the DEFAULT print setting in openoffice calc.

See also: Printing Only the Sheets and Pages You Want, in OpenOffice.org Calc

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