Rid Yourself of Digital Media Annoyances -- Sometimes those little quirks in your favorite digital media toys can take all the fun out of playing. Preston Gralla offers a baker's dozen fixes to MP3, iTunes, and QuickTime annoyances, so you can get back to the fun. Preston is the author of Internet Annoyances.
Building the Perfect Budget PC, Part 2 -- You really can build a powerhouse system without breaking the bank. In the first part of this two-part article, Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson detailed their component selections. In this second installment, they show how to assemble the parts and actually build the system. Robert and Barbara are the authors of Building the Perfect PC.
Building the Perfect Budget PC, Part
1 -- The myth persists that you can't save money
building your own PC, particularly a budget system. In fact, it's easy
to match the price of a mass-market commercial system with a homebuilt
system that uses higher-quality components. In this first part of a
two-part article, Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson
show you which components to buy. Robert and Barbara are the authors of
Building the
Perfect PC.
Securing
Windows Server 2003: IP Security -- Many nefarious
individuals are foiled by strong authentication and secure data
storage, but plenty of attackers won't be deterred by them. With IPSec,
you can implement an additional security measure on your network that
will make it difficult for even the most determined attackers. Chapter
8 of Securing Windows Server 2003 explains IPSec in depth.
Understanding the technology's strengths and pitfalls will help you
make the right decision and provide exactly the right level of
security. If you like this chapter, read the whole book (and up to nine
others) on Safari with a free trial subscription.
DHCP and DNS Security
--
In this excerpt, Mike Danseglio explores the core network services of
DHCP and DNS. These services are essential to most IP networks today in
that they respectively provide automatic addressing and name
resolution. However, their security considerations and safe operations
are often neglected. Mike shows you how these services work, how
they're vulnerable to attack, and how to protect them against attacks
when possible. Mike is the author of Securing
Windows Server 2003.
Working with Roaming User Profiles -- If you have a highly mobile local user base and are constantly fielding concerns about personalized settings and desktop customizations that don't travel with your users, then this article is for you. Jonathan Hassell explains how roaming user profiles can save you time and energy. Jonathan is the author of Learning Windows Server 2003.
Getting Real-Time Data from the Web in
Excel -- Did you know that you can use Excel for
more than just storing and organizing static data? In this article,
Matthew MacDonald shows you how to use Excel as a tool to handle
up-to-the-minute information like sales figures, stock prices, and
currency exchange rates. Take Excel to the next level from static to
dynamic. Matthew is the author of Excel: The Missing
Manual.
Security Centers and Firewalls --
With the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Microsoft's latest
and most reliable corporate desktop operating system now provides
better protection against viruses, worms, and malicious hackers. This
book excerpt describes how to use SP2's Security Center, along with
everything you need to know about choosing and using a firewall.
Knowledge is power; learn to protect your system with Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition.
NTFS Performance Hacks--A great way to improve the performance of your XP machine is to tweak the NTFS file system. In certain scenarios, simple changes can make a big difference, because hard disks are often a primary bottleneck in today's machines. Mitch Tulloch shows you how to make the most of NTFS and boost your system's performance.
Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.
Disk Cleanup Hacks -- No
matter how much space you have on your hard disk, it's never enough. In
this WindowsDevCenter.com article, Mitch Tulloch shows you how
to use, automate, and hack the Disk Cleanup tool to de-junk the hard
drive on your Windows XP machine. Mitch is the author of Windows Server
Hacks.
Fix Hot Spot Annoyances--Using a Wi-Fi hot spot is a great way to stay connected when you're away from home or the office, but beware: you may be vulnerable to snoopers, email glitches, and a flaky connection. Preston Gralla offers insight and fixes for all of these hot spot woes. Preston is the author of Internet Annoyances.
How To Start Hacking Your PC
-- Do you want to get under the hood of your PC and start
hacking? Jim Aspinwall literally wrote the book on it. In this first
part of a two-part article, he teaches you everything you need to know
to get started. Jim is the author of PC Hacks.
Customizing the Windows Just-in-Time Setup
-- Just-in-time setup is a great way to create multiple
user profiles on machines, but there are gotchas you have to watch out
for along the way. Learn what to look for and how to solve problems,
from Mitch Tulloch, author of Windows Server
Hacks.
Building Simple Lists Using Strings in VBA
-- Sometimes string hacking in VBA is a quick and
convenient way to solve a problem. In this article, Andrew Savikas
shows you how to use strings for simple lists. Andrew is the author of
Word
Hacks
Top Ten Excel Annoyances --
Curt Frye writes, "The river of Excel annoyances runs deep and
treacherous, populated by numerous species of sharp-toothed predators
ready to chew up your data." In this article, Curt offers fixes for ten
of the most common annoyances, giving you the paddle you need to stay
afloat in the currents of your favorite spreadsheet. Curt is the author
of Excel Annoyances.
A New Approach: Excel 2003 DevNotebook
-- Dan Mabbutt writes in this review that O'Reilly's book
on programming in Excel 2003 is "a 'how to' book written by an author
who really knows 'how to'." Further, he says it's a "forward-looking
and compact read into the future of programming with Microsoft
technologies." If you're working in Excel, breathe in the "light and
refreshing" format of Excel 2003
Programming: A Developer's Notebook.
Network Installation of Windows Printers from
Samba -- The combination of Samba and CUPS makes
network printing on a mixed Linux/Windows LAN easier than ever. You can
share Linux printers with Windows clients, and Windows printers with
Linux clients. Carla Schroder shows how to set up and maintain this
reliable printer server. Carla is the author of Linux
Cookbook.
Create a Letterhead Using OpenOffice.org Writer -- Stop wasting your money paying a print
shop for letterheads. Jean Hollis Weber shows you how you can use
OpenOffice.org Writer to create letterheads at no cost. Jean is the
author of OpenOffice.org Writer: The Free Alternative to Microsoft Word.
Cooking with Access -- Here are
four recipes that offer practical solutions to common problems Access
users face. Learn how to perform a mail merge from Access to Word,
create a web front end to an Access table, build an object inventory,
and export columns to an HTML table. It's all from Access Cookbook,
2nd Edition.
