Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
March 8, 2009
Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.
Volume 4, Number 39 — Sunday, March 8, 2009
IN THIS ON-LINE ISSUE:
1. Email Images Not Showing Up
2. The Lighter Side of Technology
3. Another Way to Convert FAT32 External Drives to NTFS
4. Excel Tricks
5. HowTo: Using Notepad++ With Excel
6. My Computer Security Software Recommendations
7. Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends
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Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter. Its articles are not in the email issue — and the email articles aren't in the online issue — subscribe to my email newsletter so you can read both.
1. Email Images Not Showing Up
Reader Jack wrote to ask about an occasional problem, in which email images are not diaplayed in some of the emails he receives:
Infrequently, I'll receive an email like this one I have forwarded to you that contains pictures, but they show up on my monitor as boxes with little "x's" in the upper LH corner.
Is there any way to view them or should I delete and move on?
Also, why does the text in the message slop over the side and the entire line is not visible at one time?
Thanks, jnc
Often, it means either they forwarded the email and their email program did not attach the embedded files, or they linked to files on their computer without actually embedding the files in the email.
However, sometimes, the problem is actually your email program. Some users have reported success in being able to see the images by clicking on the Forward button in their email program. It doesn't work all the time, but it's worth a try...
Regarding text going off to the side, email programs usually have FAKE word-wrap that happens when the email is sent. Instead of the email program of the receiver/reader handling the word-wrap task, the sending email program puts a carriage return in the last blank space before the 72nd character. it looks like word wrap, but the carriage returns are now hard coded in the email.
2. The Lighter Side of Technology
This week's technology cartoon at Terry's Computer Tips!
There are two types of hard drives — those that have failed and those that haven't failed yet. Keep them backed up.
I make image backups of may hard drive to other hard drives and to external drives — with the recovery image files that I make, I can restore the entire hard drive partition or individual files and folders.
3. Another Way to Convert FAT32 External Drives to NTFS
Reader David Volente wrote in response to my email newsleter article last week about reformatting an external drive:
Hi Terry. Ref. mail article about converting from FAT to NTFS. I have an identical drive to Ed's and only found out by accident that it was pre-formatted to FAT (why?) when I realised that a search program I installed called "Everything", which I can highly recommend, ( http://www.voidtools.com/) wasn't indexing that drive, as it only works with NTFS. There is an easy way to convert without having to re-format and lose data, although it's obviously best to back-up to be on the safe side! Go to the Command Prompt and type: C:\> CONVERT C: /fs:ntfs Where C: is the drive letter you want to convert and hit "enter". Worked fine for me, with no loss of data or anything else nasty happening! It's worth mentioning that you can't go back to FAT without a format but why would you want to?
Thanks for the tip, David. That's an easy way to make the one-way format conversion from FAT32 to NTFS.
Regarding the pre-formatting to FAT32, the manufacturers do that so they can sell the drives as Mac-compatible, too. Of course, they're Linux-compatible with FAT32, but manufacturers typically do not include any special software for use with Linux. Those manufacturers that build in a one-touch type of automatic backup have to make assumptions about hard drive partition(s) on the computer to which the drive is connnected.
NTFS has a big advantage, for some users, over FAT32. For most computer users, there are the security and other attributes that Windows manages at the operating system level. But, if you work with large files, e.g. digital videos from your own video camera, video editing and home theater PC's quickly run into file size limitations.
The maximum size for an individual file in FAT32 is 3.2 GB. I used to think that would be impossibly large, kind of like Bill Gates' often quoted memory comment "640K ought to be enough for anyone." However, my home theater PC's default recording rate is 2 GB per hour so it goes through hard drive space quickly. When the file hits 3.2 GB on FAT32, the software automatically closes the first file and creates a second file for the rest of the show. With NTFS, it is one big file — for most people, limited to the size of the hard drive.
Tech Tip
Of course, Windows allows you to combine multiple physical hard drives into one huge "logical drive." In my opinion, this is extremely dangerous, as any failure of any of the hard drives would result in data loss on ALL those drives.
4. Excel Tricks
In my weekly email newsletter this week, I wrote about some Excel tricks that I was using in a spreadsheet.
One formula that I showed was a long Excel formula that I had formatted for more readibility.
The full cell formula (which did a lot of concatenation) that I used was
=IF(ISBLANK(C15),
D15&E15&$F$5&F15&$H$5&RIGHT(H15,LEN(H15)-1)&$I$5&I15&$J$5&J15&$K$5&K15&$L$5,
D15&E15&$F$4&F15&$H$4&RIGHT(H15,LEN(H15)-1)&$I$4&I15&$J$4&J15&$K$4&K15&$L$4)
Tech Tip
What's the Concatenate function? It's similar to addition of numbers, but instead, it allows you to combine multiple text values into a single cell.
Let's look at it in an example:
Cell A1 has the text string "This is" as its value
Cell B1 has the value "a test."
You can combine them in Cell C1 (or any other cell) using the following formula:
=Concatenate(A1;" ";B1)
to get the result "This is a test."
You can also use the shorter and easier concatenation operator like this to get the same result:
=A1&" "&B1
If you use Excel much, you know that as you type in the formula, Excel puts into one long, hard-to-read line. But, guess what? Excel stores and displays my formula with the carriage returns, which makes it immensely easier to understand.
I've even got spreadsheets where I use the maximum number of nested IF statements (which is 7) — and tricking Excel into displaying the formula this way helps ME write the formulas without getting confused.
But, how can you make Excel a cell formula formatted like that?
There are two tools that you need to do the editing: Excel (I used Excel 2003) and a text-processor (not a Word Processor, you don't want the formatting it would do).
Notepad will work, but there's a free open-source program that will work much better, called Notepad++.
Continued in article 5...
5. HowTo: Using Notepad++ With Excel
Excel lets you type a formula directly into a cell. Or, you can select a cell and then type the formula in Excel's edit box. However, it's much easier to create a complicated formula for Excel by doing it in another program and then doing a copy-and-paste to put it into Excel.
Notepad works perfectly from the text manipulation point of view. But, Notepad++ is designed as a programmer's editor (and it's free, too!).
For an Excel formula, Notepad++ helps us write our formulas by allowing us to insert carriage returns so we can follow our logic as we try to create it, and by color-coding the parentheses pairs, similar to the way Excel does.
(click on the image for a larger version)
Another cool feature helps keep you on track as you are creating your formula — as you type a parentesis, the matching one highlights, too. By breaking the different test conditions of an IF statement into multiple lines, you can see if you've skipped a step.
(click on the image for a larger version)
As we finish he formula, we can see that the parentheses match. The red box in the tab (you can have multiple tabs with multiple files being edited) shows you that this work has not been saved yet.
(click on the image for a larger version)
Our last step in Notepad++ is to select the formula that we've created, so we can copy it to paste into Excel.
After highlightig the formula to select it, copy it by Control-C or using he Edit > Copy function on Notepad++'s menu bar.
(click on the image for a larger version)
Now, the fun part starts — with pasting the formula into Excel.
The obvious place to paste the formula is directly into the cell in which we want the formula to generate its answer. We can see the effect of pasting the formula into cell G4 by looking at cells G4, G5 and G6. As we can see, by pasting it that way, Excel broke the formula into three lines. The first has only an IF test. Excel made an automatic correction and added a closing parenthesis, and gave us a result of 0. Cells G5 and G6 show the text that was in the other two parts of the formula.
By selecting cell G10 and then pasting the formula directly in the formula edit box at the top of the spreadsheet, we'll get what we want...
(click on the image for a larger version)
In this last image, I've selected cell G10. We see that we have a readable formula in the formula edit box — and we have an answer in cell G10. I never filled in anything in the four cells being tested, so we see that IF test results that tell us that A4 matched A5 and B4 matched B5.
(click on the image for a larger version)
6. My Computer Security Software Recommendations
I review my security software recommendations and update them, for each weekly newsletter issue, if I think they need to change.
My Philosophy: Many people want to pick their most economical solution and prefer an all-in-one anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall solution. In concept, that's a great idea. In actual practice, this type of package is not likely to be the best in all the protection categories you need. Other people want to pick the best of each type program. I'm one of the these folks.
My choice of software that I am willing to recommend is driven by my search for software for me to use. I only recommend programs that I like and that I use. I will sometimes suggest alternatives to my recommendations, but I clearly note if I no longer use them.
UPDATE: I like the thought of not "having all my eggs in one basket." I also have requests occasionally from readers and subscribers who either want an alternative, so they can make a choice themselves, or want to use a suite. I stopped using the major brands years ago for one reason or another — I've just installed Panda Internet Security 2009 on my desktop for testing. Look for a review in the near future. Meanwhile, I've found a special limited-time sale price if you use this link: Buy Panda Internet Security 2009 for $51.97. Save $27.98!
Anti-Virus
I'm often asked about several other popular anti-virus or anti-virus combination packages. Yes, I realize that they are not in my recommendation list. "Enough said..."
For the last five years, until very recently, my personal choice has been ESET's small, fast NOD32 anti-virus program, which offers a FREE 30-day evaluation license. I consider NOD32 one of the best in anti-virus protection. Unlike some of its competitors, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, and includes program updates in the multiple-year license.
Tech Tip
Many antivirus programs will offer you an anti-virus signature subscription renewal when your subscription renews. I strongly recommend against this option — buy the full program or make sure you get program updates with the subscription renewal.
Vendors routinely improve the capabilities and speed of the programs, too. If you update only the signatures, you miss any program improvements.
Now, I've changed from my long-time programs NOD32 (antivirus) and CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's new VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.
I've found that VIPRE puts even less load on my computer than the speedy combination of NOD32 and CounterSpy. I've also been impressed with the way its "deep scan" has found and eliminated risks that were stored in zip files, which is one of the latest malware email tricks.
Read more about anti-virus programs on my web site.
Related articles:
- Anti-Virus Programs and Online Scanners
- Free Online Antivirus Scan
- NOD32 Anti-Virus Review - A Look at NOD32
- VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Review
Firewall Software
While the Windows XP firewall is much better than no firewall at all, don't count on the Windows XP firewall to meet your needs. You need a two-way firewall, which the Windows XP firewall is not!. Microsoft woke up and supplied a two-way firewall with Windows Vista.
The Windows XP firewall does not control outbound communications originating from your computer — and you should want to have control if adware/trojans/spyware or even commercial products want to talk to the Internet. Whether they are calling home or spewing spam, you want to be able to control your computer.
Do you want Windows Media Player to call home every time you play something? It does! Do you use the Search function in Windows Explorer to find things on your hard drive? Did you know that every time you search, Windows Explorer talks to Microsoft?
I didn't know that when I ran ZoneAlarm, but the Sunbelt Personal Firewall flags that to me, and I can stop it or allow it to happen. Many other programs try to call home when you run them, too.
I recommend my choice for a firewall program, which is Sunbelt Personal Firewall.
You can try the full-featured "paid version" of Sunbelt Personal Firewall free for 30 days — after that, you can register it or, if you're using it on a home non-business computer, you can let it revert to the free, lesser-function license.
Sunbelt Personal Firewall is regularly $19.95 (with discounts for multiple computers and/or multiple years!) for a non-expiring license for the program and includes one year of their updates subscription.
Related articles:
Anti-Spyware / Anti-Adware Software
CounterSpy, from Sunbelt Software, has received many kudos from the computer press for its always-running and periodic full system scans. It has been my personal choice for my PC's and my family's PC's.
Sunbelt's CounterSpy v2.5, both improved CounterSpy's performance against malware and reduced its impact on system resources and responsiveness when its scanning.
Sunbelt continues to release updated program versions — the current version is v3.1. Nicely, they do NOT install the updated programs automatically. You have to use the Update process in the program, which means that you'll know that something significant has changed.
Now, I've changed from my long-time programs NOD32 (antivirus) and CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's new VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.
I've found that VIPRE puts even less load on my computer than the speedy combination of NOD32 and CounterSpy. My computer seems to have much more pep and power than it had previously. I've also been impressed with the way its "deep scan" has found and eliminated risks that were stored in zip files, which is one of the latest malware email tricks.
Related articles:
Anti-spam Software
In today's Internet world, the question is not "if" you will get spam, but "how much will you get?"
I use and now I recommend POPFile as my first choice for handling spam. POPFile sits on your computer, between your email program and your ISP mailbox, and handles emial as it downloads.
POPFile uses a different approach to handle spam than some other programs do — it does nothing to reduce spam. It is designed as an email classification tool — you train it to recognize spam and any other type of email that you want to classify. These classifications can help you sort your emails into appropriate folders in your email program.
Sunbelt Software, who makes the anti-spyware program CounterSpy (which I use and recommend) and the firewall that I use and recommend (Sunbelt Personal Firewall) also has a well-regarded, award-winning anti-spam program called iHateSpam for Outlook and Outlook Express. Since I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express for email, I haven't tried iHateSpam.
Mailwasher Pro would be my first choice to handle spam before it ever gets into your computer's Inbox. Mailwasher Pro uses on-line Realtime Black Lists mail servers sending spam recently, "training" by you of what you think is spam, and your own "friends" and "blacklist" lists. Note: I found that PopFile generally meets my needs and stopped using Mailwasher Pro, even though PopFile works AFTER the emails have been downloaded. If I used a dialup connection, I would be more interested in Mailwasher Pro.
Mailwasher Pro can even bounce spam messages, as if your email address was not valid, although the usefulness and appropriateness of this is questionable. There is a free version called "Mailwasher," but it omits the functions that I consider critical for this purpose -- such as safely previewing the emails safely before they ever get to your email inbox.
Related articles:
Cable/DSL Router
If you have a cable modem or a DSL modem, you need to have another layer of inexpensive protection between you and the Internet. A cable/DSL router isolates your computer from direct connection to the Internet. Your computer can easily request your email, web pages, etc. through the router. The responses come back to the router and are smoothly routed to your computer. But, someone on the Internet side of the router can not initiate a connection to your computer — they can only respond to your request.
Even if you only have one computer to connect to your cable or DSL modem, I recommend that you purchase and use a cable/DSL router because of the protection it can give you against attempts to attack through some flaws in Windows itself.
A router isolates your local network, whether it is only one computer or several, from the Internet by actually making it a separate network. The router gets the "public" IP address and handles all your outbound communications and the responses to them. But, it blocks computers on the Internet side from being able to initiate communications with your computer! This will prevent you from falling prey to many worms that try to attack security holes in Windows itself.
For a wireless router, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G
If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR41
Tech Tip
By the way, if you get tempted by the new "802.11n" routers, please pay close attention. So far, the 802.11n specification has not been approved and finalized.
If you buy one, you may be locked into a specific vendor's implementation of a draft of a standard that never got approved. I recommend choosing 802.11g for now.
See these related articles:
7. Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends
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Volume 4, Number 39 — Sunday, March 8, 2009
Copyright © 2009 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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