Excel Tip: Display Last Saved By Date & User

I found this handy tip to date stamp an MS Excel file's last-saved time (and person). (Yes, files do get time-stamped when saved, but if they are ever sent via email, that date-stamp can get over-written when saved off the server to a local hard drive. This little macro stamps the date right into the worksheet.)

Originally found here:

Here's how it's done: Right-click on worksheet tab, select "View Code". Copy and paste this code into the ThisWorkbook module (It features an Excel document icon on it.) It will automatically run when you save the file.

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeSave(ByVal SaveAsUI As Boolean, Cancel As Boolean)

Sheets('Sheet1').Range('A1').Value = ThisWorkbook.BuiltinDocumentProperties('Last Save Time')

Sheets('Sheet1').Range('A2').Value = ThisWorkbook.BuiltinDocumentProperties('Author')

End Sub

Drop me a comment if you find this useful!

Getting rid of unwanted double scrollbars

Here's a neat tip for CSS that helps get rid of double-scrollbars in IE and works for Firefox, as well:

html {height: 100%;}
body {min-height: 101%;}

Maybe someone will find this useful.

Pimp out your .htaccess file

Well, not really. I just thought it sounded funny and dorky. Still, this looks like a cool site worthy of a blog post and a bit more perusing, should I ever get any spare time.

The Jackol's Den

Command-line reference A-Z

Why learn about this stuff on a black screen w/ white letters? I'm sure I'll refer to this post often.

Command-line reference A-Z

The Right Way To Install Windows XP

Here's a great site offering a very nice detailed study on the right way to install Windows XP. This one goes in my Tech Sites list!

Windows Tip: Give a folder its very own drive letter

This tip comes with some great comments on different techniques for getting folders to mount as drive letters.

Best Tech Resources Online

I decided to put together a list of the Best Tech Resources on the Web circa early 2008. Troubleshooting boards, drivers, tips, news, etc.

This list will expand and grow through time. Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated as I am sure others could add some good resources. Thanks.

[ Troubleshooting ]
TechRepublic
Experts Exchange
Tech Support Forum
Macintouch - Mac issues & discussion

Tech Podcast Collection

Here's a list of cool tech podcasts adapted from Oculture.com:

• Adobe Creative Suite Video PodcastiTunes Feed Web Site
  Terry White teaches you how to unlock the power of Creative Suite with visual examples. Emphasis gets placed on inDesign and Photoshop.


• Amanda Congdon on ABCNews.com iTunes Feed Web Site
  A technology program that is much promoted by ABC.


• Ask the Techies iTunes Feed Web Site
  A weekly tech video podcast explaining the latest in cool technology from iPods to Photoshop.


• CBC: Search Engine iTunes Feed Web Site
  Search Engine is your open source to all the surprising and significant ways the Internet is transforming our world. Each week host Jesse Brown looks at politics and culture through the lens of the Net.


• CNET: Buzz Out Loud iTunes Feed Web Site
  BuzzOut Loud is CNET’s “podcast of indeterminate length,” featuring Tom, Molly, and producer Veronica’s entertaining, sometimes caustic, and always skeptical take on technology news.


• CNET: Crave iTunes Feed Web Site
  Crave covers the “coolest, sexiest digital gadgetry that you must have.”


• CNET: Gadgettes iTunes Feed Web Site
  Kelly Morrison and Molly Wood give you the latest on hot gadgets, pop-culture tech, and shopping advice–and answer your gadget questions, to boot.


• C-Span - The Communicators iTunes Feed Web Site
  “The Communicators” is C-SPAN’s new weekly series featuring a half-hour interview with the people who shape our digital future.


• David Pogue on Gadgets iTunes Feed Blog
  In this New York Times podcast, David Pogue reviews the latest personal technology gadgets.


• Diggnation (Small Quick Time Small) iTunes Feed Web Site


• Diggnation (mp3) iTunes Feed
  A weekly web culture podcast that focuses on the tops stories on Digg. Hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht.


• Digital Media Insider iTunes Feed Web Site
  Explores the future of video, audio and photography to help you get more creative with technology.


• dl.tv Ipod iTunes Feed Web Site
  Presented by Ziff Davis Media. The show brings you a mix of product reviews, news, tech help, and more. Hosted by Industry Expert Patrick Norton.


• Engadget iTunes Feed Web Site
  A podcast from the people who brought you the top-flight technology blog.


• Future Tense iTunes Feed Web Site
  Future Tense is a daily program that chronicles the social impact of computers, the Internet, and technology in general. Future Tense is produced by American Public Media.


• GeekBrief.TV Video Podcast iTunes Feed Web Site
  Featuring Cali Lewis, this is a “fast, fun and flirty” podcast that explores news about tech toys and tools. Generally very well reviewed by users.


• Geek Speak Feed Web Site
  A computer news and talk radio show coming out of California.


• I, Cringely, The Pulpit iTunes Feed Web Site
  This is an always insightful podcast from Robert X. Cringely, who wrote the Notes From the Field column in InfoWorld. He is also the author of the best-selling book Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can’t Get a Date.


• In Digital (Small Quicktime) iTunes Feed Web Site
  A popular podcast focusing on the latest gadgets and high tech products.


• KFI Tech Guy iTunes Feed Web Site
  Leo LaPorte explores the world of technology, computers and the internet on his twice-weekly, three hour Los Angeles talk show.


• NPR: Technology iTunes Feed Web Site
  Perspectives on digital culture, research news, the tech industry and more.


• NPR: Xeni Tech iTunes Feed Web Site
  Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing blogger, explores the intersection of technology and culture.


• Open Source Conversations iTunes Feed Web Site
  Gigavox’s look at things open source.


• O’Reilly Web 2.0 Summit iTunes Feed Web Site
  Podcasts of the Web 2.0 conference held in San Francisco from November 7 - 9.


• Photoshop TV iTunes Feed Web Site
  A very popular podcast focusing on the ins and outs of Photoshop.


• Podtech News iTunes Feed Web Site


• PRI’s The World: Technology iTunes Feed Web Site
  The latest news in global technology.


• Slashdot Review iTunes Feed Web Site
  Tech News Highlights from Slashdot, Digg and Reddit.


• Tech Nation iTunes Feed Web Site
  Dr. Moira Gunn is the host of Public Radio’s Tech Nation, where she has conducted over 2,000 interviews with space pioneers and cyber-novelists, venture capitalists and genetics researchers, teachers and technophobes.


• The Digital Photography Show iTunes Feed Web Site
  Scott Sherman and Michael Stein bring you the latest news on digital cameras, tips and tricks to improve your image-making, and interviews with famous photographers, authors, and bloggers in the field of digital photography.


• The MacCast (Enhanced) iTunes Feed Web Site
  An enhanced podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks.


• The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab iTunes Feed Web Site
  Dave Hamilton and John Braun offer an informative, entertaining look at things of interest to Mac geeks. Well reviewed by users.


• TWIT.TV - General - iTunes Feed Web Site
  You can find specific TWIT programs below. However, because they offer so many individual podcasts, we have offered this general entry point to their collection.


• TWIT.TV - Inside the Net iTunes Feed Web Site
  Amber MacArthur and Leo LaPorte take a look at what’s new, what’s cool, what’s useful on the Internet right now.


• TWIT.TV - MacBreak Weekly iTunes Feed Web Site
  Get the latest Mac news and views from the top journalists covering Apple today.


• TWIT.TV - Security Now iTunes Feed Web Site
  Steve Gibson and Leo LaPorte discuss weekly important issues of personal computer security.


• TWIT.TV - This Week in Tech iTunes Feed Web Site
  Your first podcast of the week is the last word in tech. Join Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, John C. Dvorak, and other tech luminaries in a roundtable discussion of the latest trends in digital technology. Released every Sunday at midnight Pacific.


• TWIT.TV - Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott iTunes Feed Web Site
  A weekly look at all things Microsoft including Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Xbox from the foremost Windows expert in the world, Paul Thurrott of the Super Site for Windows.


• Wired News iTunes Feed Web Site
  Commentary from Wired News commentators.

Flash Website Flowchart

Should I make an all-flash site? This handy flowchart should help you decide what would work best for your situation. (From thegooglecache.com.)

Posting from your email

You can post from your email account to your Blogger blog if you know the secret address. You can add character formatting in your email and it should post correctly as well. Attach a graphic to your email and it also posts! (If forwarding email to your blog, just make sure it's ok w/ whoever sent the mail to you and don't forget to edit the subject.) Pretty cool, huh?
For more info go here. (By the way, Blogger is not the only blog engine that lets you do this.)

Microsoft Virtual Labs

Microsoft Virtual Labs give you great hand-on training by letting you login to a remote computer equipped with the tools you need to try out software before you buy it. It's a great way to get up-to-speed on new technologies. (Something us IT junkies are constantly doing.) Try out Vista, Office 2007, Exchange, SQL Server 2005, Windows Server 2003, SMS 2003 and more at this site. There's also a lot of Developers' Apps to try out! Cool stuff!!

By the way, another great Microsoft resource is the TechNet Library.

Wireless Networks Tab Missing

It's always frustrating when you're on Windows XP and it just isn't performing the way you're used to. One missing tab can screw up your whole morning. For today's handy little tidbit, TRENDNET KnowledgeBase

Spy Journal Excel Tips

Spy Journal Excel Tips is a great Excel tip blog written by an Aussie with a real passion for all things Excel. It features an extensive list of other Excel tip sites broken down into RSS and non-RSS feed sites. There's an incredible amount of info here and in the associated blogs! Interesting reading on Excel 2007 and the stuff it brings to the table.

Fix: USB flash drives won't get assigned a letter in Win XP

I've run into this problem recently at work, where users have numerous network drives mapped to their computer. The flash drives are recognized by the computer, but fail to show up in the drive list under My Computer.

The solution I've found is (with the USB flash drive inserted into a USB port) to use "Manage" under the My Computer "Preferences" right-click menu and then click the Manage Drives icon to bring up the computer drives. Right click on the band that relates to the USB drive and pull down to where it lets you assign a new letter. Try to assign a letter you're not going to need later on.

That's pretty much it. I'm not sure why some drives have this problem and some don't. I have noticed that the drives that have run into problems are formatted with the FAT file system, so this could have something to do with this issue. I hope this is helpful to someone out there. Comments would be appreciated, too.

Fix Disappearing SendTo "Compressed (Zipped) Folder" in XP

For those who have always relied on WinZip, there's a little-documented feature of Windows XP that lets you unzip and zip folders of files very easily. Just right-click a folder and go to SendTo > Compressed (Zipped) Folder to create a zip archive of the selected folder. If you double-click the icon, it will open seamlessly. To add a password, just open the archive window and go to File > Add a Password...

One problem I've seen is that for some reason, this icon in the SendTo folder has a tendency to disappear. Here's the solution. Type:

rundll32 zipfldr.dll,RegisterSendto into the Run window and run it. The icon will re-appear under SendTo! By the way, it's also a good idea if you first choose Compressed (Zipped) Folders as your default app for opening .zip files. Right-click and go to Open with... to choose this.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

Damn Print Job Be Gone!

Here's a cool solution for the notorious Print Job that will Not Delete. The original link:
Gizmos Grabowski: TIP: Can't Delete Print Jobs:
1. On the taskbar, click Start, and then click Run.
2. Enter the following:
net stop spooler (and hit enter)
3. Delete all files in the following folder:
C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers
4. Once the spool files are deleted, start the spooler again:
net start spooler

You can also find some useful suggestions in the comments below.