Power User: Don't search for text with all the wrong tools
Whether you regularly dig through more than 15,000 documents you've authored or delve into years of records created by others, using Microsoft Office search tools is nothing short of torture.
Power User: Prime-time wireless for small offices? Not quite
The latest technology always sounds enticing. Take wireless networking, for example. The ads make it sound as if you merely plug in a wireless PC Card and you're on the air, sharing files, printers, Internet links and even some applications.
Power User: In '04: better XP, WiFi; more spam
Look for a major upgrade to the Microsoft Windows XP operating system this year.As more agencies head toward XP migration, Microsoft Corp. is beta- testing XP Service Pack 2 with recompiled code that Microsoft hopes will eliminate a lot of buffer overrun vulnerabilities as well as other flaws that keep security patchers busy.
For managers, the most important tool for accessibility can be understanding
It's not something I write about a lot, but I am disabled myself, which probably explains my decades-long interest in this field. If your hands or back don't hurt when you sit down to a computer, it's difficult to really understand the need for accessible hardware.
User friendly
There are tens of millions of disabled workers and potential workers in the United States and tens of millions more who could benefit from being able to communicate or learn more easily using computers.
Power User: Sometimes getting ahead means learning to make do
One year ago in this space, I wrote about the trouble I was having with an upgrade to Microsoft Windows XP Pro. I could no longer use a perfectly good Lexmark printer because it would take more trouble to make it compatible with XP Pro than simply buying a new Lexmark X5150 combo printer, fax and flat-bed scanner.
Power User: Command line tools rule when an OS is under attack
No power user worthy of the name should ignore the command line tools that still underlie Microsoft Windows' graphical interface.
Power User: It's all security, all the time
Want to get a six- to 12-hour jump on new network security threats? Monitor Microsoft Corp.'s security bulletins directly.
Power User: Linux: a comer or a goner?
PC prices are still falling, and Microsoft Windows might not remain the dominant operating system forever. Did you know a PC running low-end Lindows, SuSE, Mandrake or some other Linux OS sells at several sources online for as little as $200, without monitor?
HP's Pavilion ze5300 matches power with price
At less than $1,900, you might think that the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion ze5300 hardly belongs in a guide to power-user notebook PCs, but think again.
Power users take note
Power-user notebook PCs are the Hummers of mobile computing. Most of them are fast, powerful'and heavy. In fact, many of them are so heavy that you might wish they had wheels, just like their gas-guzzling counterparts.
Power User: You can find anything'almost'with these search tools
As computer power grows, the needs and wants of users expand exponentially.
Speech recognition
For 20 years developers have been promising that someday we would communicate with our computers so effortlessly through speech that the keyboard would become a secondary input device.
A checklist for staying on schedule
Project management software helps you see when your team is going off schedule. Getting back on track is the true measure of your management skills. Here's how:
Elements of success
Whether you're installing a network, moving an office or constructing a space station, any big project involves diverse, interdependent tasks that often can't be completed until others are finished or at least reach a milestone.
Power User: How to find the needle in the haystack
Limiting hits to certain file extensions is a great way to shorten search time. For example, Google.com can search for 10 specific file extensions besides HTML: Adobe Portable Document Format, Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPro, MacWrite, Microsoft Excel PowerPoint and Word, Microsoft Works and Write, Rich Text Format and text. Whether you're looking for .pdf, .doc, .xls or some other documented extension, give it a try.
Power User: Power User meets the nemesis at hacker meeting
I was pleased to be invited to speak last month at the SummerCon 2003 hacker convention in Pittsburgh, within IEEE 802.11 networking distance of both Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon universities.
Power User: Peer-to-peer networking doesn't keep out spam
Spam volume is doubling every six months, but weaning people from e-mail would be difficult because it's so useful. Instant messaging isn't an alternative because the popular IM programs are full of security holes.
The client
For decades users received their network services via dedicated terminals. Now, nearly every desktop PC comes with a network port, and network clients often are standard desktop PCs that replaced the ASCII terminals.
Power User: Big screen makes Tablet PC an on-the-go asset
I enthused about the early personal digital assistants, even boasting about writing a couple of GCN articles on my Handspring Visor.
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