More Monitor = More Job Productivity & Satisfaction

The NEC commissioned University of Utah study shows increased productivity, job satisfaction and an incredible return on investment. It is not surprising that a monitor manufacturer would recommend larger and multiple monitor arrangements, but what do users think? There are two trends. The first is for smaller, lighter, mobile devices for on-the-go professionals and the second is for more screen real estate for the stationary worker.

On-the-go professionals need access from anywhere, anytime so they can stay connected. The screen sizes of mobile devices are definitely trending up, but in general they are still much, much smaller than desktop monitors. Most mobile users don't need multiple windows. They can switch between applications or use tools to work more efficiently. Mobile devices are great for staying connected and having information at your fingertips. They are not efficient for programming that requires in-depth analysis or complicated tasks. Many types of IT systems do not allow access or control from a mobile device because of the chance of errors and security concerns.

Stationary users benefit from larger or dual monitors depending on the work they do on the computer. If a user has two or more applications that they cut-and-paste between, dual monitors are a great for increased productivity and error reduction. You don't have to stop with a dual arrangement. Triple and quad monitors are used in many situations, like control monitoring, that give the user needed information at a glance without having to switch between windows. But size does become a diminishing return and if the monitor is too big it can be a productivity drain. The NEC report shows single 26 inch and dual 20 inch as the upper limit.

Desk space is important. With flat panel monitors, desk space is not a problem as with CRTs. Usually you can comfortably place two monitors or a larger monitor on a desk without obscuring view. If you want to be accessible to your customers, co-workers and employees, don't sit with your back to the door or with a monitor hiding your face.

There is a good bit of research on monitors and productivity that you can use. Read the NEC Study or do some Internet research for more suggestions on how to be more productive with your computer monitors. Make a list of what tasks cause you and your staff the most irritation and solve them first.

If you have suggestions or comments, please contact me at: mary@lansystems.com.

For more technical notes and information go to: www.lansystems.com/technotes.html

Twitter Prank

Twitter users were hit yesterday with tweets and sometimes offending pop-ups that originated from exploiting a programming flaw. Twitter defines this as a prank rather than an attack or a hack. They also have assured Twitter members that no personal account information was compromised. But this does raise the point of what defines a malicious attack, prank or just a mistake.

In the 1960's, Cap'n Crunch cereal put thousands of toy whistles in their boxes. Children all over delighted in the whistle design, color and sound. There are many reports of children excitedly calling friends and grandparents to tell them about the wonderful whistle. But when they would blow the whistle into the phone, they would get disconnected. The connection between the whistle and the phone disconnect was discovered and exploited.

The whistle emitted a precise 2600 Hertz tone, the same frequency used by AT&T to tell the switching equipment that the trunk was ready for a long distance call. Lots of free long distance calls were made by exploiting this feature. AT&T has long since fixed the flaw, but in the 1970's one of the exploiters was charged and convicted of toll fraud.

Mistakes, like programming flaws, can be innocently uncovered like children blowing their Cap'n Crunch whistle into the phone. Those innocently uncovered flaws can be turned into pranks where some amount of disruption, like disconnected phones or pop-up windows or worms, can occur. But when malicious disruption or fraud evolves from the original mistake, it becomes a serious legal issue. What will happen with the Twitter "prank" - we will just have to wait and see.

For more technical notes and information go to: www.lansystems.com/technotes.html

Comments? - email me at: mary@lansystems.com.

Microsoft Office 2010: The best new features in PowerPoint

For anyone that has ever presented to a group, you know it is essential to be well prepared and have the right props. For many, PowerPoint is the prop of choice.

Creating your presentation in PowerPoint allows you to gather all your thoughts and ideas in one tool. You have many slide choices and can move, cut, paste and organize to create a coherent flow of information without leaving the program. Adding graphics, diagrams, video and sound is easier than ever. With just a little time investment, PowerPoint will make you look like a presentation guru!

When creating the perfect presentation, be sure not make your slides too busy or add too much glitz. If you want to use sound and video, make sure to add at a place in your presentation where it will complement your message. Video can be a great introduction or it can be used to clarify your points. Don’t use sound or video in parts of your presentation where you need the attention of the audience. Don’t let text dominate your presentation. Use pictures and graphics liberally as people remember points made through visuals much better than they remember words.

Create interesting presentations

Use built in video power tools - Create extraordinary presentations by embedding video that was created using tools that give a professional multimedia experience. You can fade, add formatting effects, bookmark scenes, and trim your videos with ease. Sharing is easy because the embedded video is part of the PowerPoint presentation. You only have to share one file.

Picture editing made easy - Use new and improved picture editing tools—including versatile artistic effects and advanced correction, color, and cropping tools—to fine-tune every picture in your presentation to look its absolute best.

Built in graphic effects - You don’t have to be a design expert to create professional-looking graphics. Use dozens of additional SmartArt® layouts to create organization charts, lists, and picture diagrams. Transform words into impressive visuals that better illustrate your ideas. Create diagrams as easily as typing a bulleted list or convert text and images to a diagram in just a few clicks. All the tools you need to create stunning graphics are built into PowerPoint.

3-D transitions and improved animations -PowerPoint 2010 offers new, dynamic slide transitions and animation effects that look similar to graphics you’d see on TV. Easily access, preview, apply, customize, and replace animations. You can also use the new Animation Painter to easily copy animations from one object to another.

Quick and easy presentation management

Microsoft Office Backstage view – This is the tool palette you see when you select File. This is where you manage your files and the data about them — creating, saving, inspecting for hidden metadata or personal information, and setting options. In short, it is everything that you do to a file that you don’t do in the file.

Compress video and audio - Select File and then Info to compress video and audio in your presentation. This reduces the file size and can increase playback performance. Select the quality option from the drop-down choices.

Customize the Ribbon – Use customizations to personalize the ribbon the way that you want it. For example, you can create custom tabs and custom groups to contain your frequently used commands. Note:Ribbon customization is specific to the Microsoft Office program you are working in at the time. Ribbon customization does not apply across the Office programs.

Work together from anywhere

Live broadcast - Broadcast your slide show to people in other locations, whether or not they have PowerPoint installed. Create a video of your presentation—including your transitions, animations, narration, and timings—to share with virtually anyone, any time after your live broadcast.

Microsoft PowerPoint Web App is an online companion to Microsoft PowerPoint which enables you to extend your PowerPoint experience to the browser. View a high fidelity version of your presentations, make light edits, or view your presentation slide show. Use the familiar PowerPoint interface and some of the same formatting and editing tools, from almost any computer with a Web browser.

Microsoft PowerPoint Mobile 2010 enables you to do light editing for your presentations and is especially designed for easy use on your Windows phone. You can even run your slide show right on your phone.

For more technical notes and information go to: www.lansystems.com/technotes.html

If you have any questions or need help with the instructions, email me at: mary@lansystems.com.

Microsoft Office 2010: The best new features in Access

If you have never used a relational database because you felt it was just too complicated, give a look at Access. Access 2010 has simplified database functions and added ready-to-go templates to get you started. Information stored in spreadsheets and documents can be easier to understand and less time consuming to manage in a relational database model. Not only can you save time, but you can make your data more meaningful and perform more meaningful analysis. And if you are using a product that uses Access to store your data, you will be able to better understand the tables, reports and relationships.


Fast, easy database creation

Ready-to-go Templates - Use the available templates to create a marketing list or sales pipeline without being a database expert. The templates are designed to give you the structure you need to get started and let you expand as you become more familiar with using Access.

Use modular components - These prebuild components allow you to build the most common tasks into your database. Go to Create – Application Parts after making your selection, the wizard will guide you through the setup and make your choices obvious. There are on-demand help videos that explain how to use Access. The videos are surprisingly easy to follow with clear language and demos that take you through the screens step-by-step.

Forms and reports with realistic, targeted analysis

Conditional formatting - Use data bars to manage your rules and create professional reports that are understandable and informative. Rather than trying to “crowbar” your data into available formats, you can customize the presentation and make your data mean more to organization. Stay focused at your sales and marketing meetings by using reports that everyone will recognize and appreciate.

Office themes - Choose themes with fonts, colors and designs that match your other Microsoft Office products that demonstrate consistency and branding.

Backstage – The Microsoft Office Backstage view replaces the traditional file menu with an ergonomic approach that uses In and Out features for efficiency. The improved Ribbon lets you access your favorite commands quickly and create custom tabs to personalize the way you work.

Developer quality without writing code

Expression Builder - Enhanced functionality with IntelliSense to greatly simplify formula and expression building. With these intuitive tools you will spend less time troubleshooting relationship errors and more time building a valuable database.

Macro Designer - Add basic logic to your database, quickly and easily even if you are not familiar with databases. If you’re an experienced Access user, you’ll find the enhancements allow you to use the complex logic move efficiently than ever. Extend your database application with increased performance and confidence.

Work from anywhere

Online – Post your database online and then access, view, and edit them from the Web. Users without an Access client can open Web forms and reports via a browser and their changes are automatically synchronized.

For organizations of all types and sizes, Access 2010 allows you to be more productive, flexible and cost-effective. You can combine tasks in Access that previously required several programs and labor intensive analysis to make better decisions for your business.

For more technical notes and information go to: www.lansystems.com/technotes.html

If you have any questions or need help with the instructions, email me at: mary@lansystems.com.

A non-technical post: My tomato garden

Usually, I write about computer and engineering topics but today it's all about my tomato garden.

I'm not a great gardener, but I have good luck with tomatoes. For years, Early Girl, Big Boy, Beefsteak and Parks Whoppers (my favorite) have given us tomato sandwiches, tomato pies and ratatouille. It's not just a tomato garden but has eggplant, maybe some squash and cucumbers.

Even though Georgia has been droughty for several years, my tomatoes have been well watered and have flourished. We like big tomatoes where one slice gives you the perfect sandwich and cucumbers fresh off the vine. Over the years, the tomatoes have become tastier and tastier. We don’t buy those tasteless, hot house grown tomatoes and even at a restaurant the tomatoes are disappointing.

My husband is from South Georgia and insists that you have to put your tomatoes in on Good Friday for the best crop. This year I was late in planting, over a month late, so I bought some 3 and 5 gallon tomatoes to make up for my tardiness. Some of the plants even had little tomatoes on them. I carefully planted and tended them knowing I was going to have the best harvest ever.

This year my garden had big problems. Most of my tomato plants drooped away or dried up. Those little tomatoes already on the vine died and even my Parks Whoppers have only average size fruit. We had a few red tomatoes early and I taught my granddaughter to pick them, but when we ran out of red ones, she started picking the green. Any other year, she would have had loads of tomatoes to pick and wash. But not this year.

Usually, I start with seedlings, so I don't know if the problems this year are the larger plants or the weather. It is disappointing especially now that we are at the peak of the season and it doesn't look like a bumper crop. But it's not all bad - haven't had many bugs this year!

My tomato troubles this year, made me realize that there is more skill and technology to tomato farming than I thought. I am looking for advice and am going to find some blogs for tomato growers.

For technical notes and information go to: www.lansystems.com/technotes.html

If you have suggestions or advice, email me at: mary@lansystems.com.

August 2010 Puzzle - This month a Riddle

This thing all things devours
Birds, beasts, trees, flower,
Gnaws iron, bites steel,
Grinds hard stones to meal,
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down!

What is this thing?

On a scale of effortless to diabolical, this rates special literary knowledge!


Send your answer to puzzle@lansystems.com. All correct answers will be entered in our monthly drawing.

Or visit:  http://www.lansystems.com/Monthly_puzzle.html

Microsoft Office 2010 - The best new features in Excel

Excel is arguably the most under-utilized Microsoft Office product when it comes to advanced features. Ask people what features they most like in Excel and they usually describe the spreadsheet and graphing tools. But that is just a very small part of the capabilities built into Excel. From tools for statistical, engineering and financial functions, to pivot tables, to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming, you can use Excel for simple to complex data analysis and display with easy to read graphs and charts.

If you haven't used the advanced tools in Excel, start by trying the new features to get the most from your software investment. Analyze your data to discover patterns or trends, then display with graphs and charts that illuminate the best course of action. With a little practice, you will improve your ability to study large data sets and make the most informed decisions.

Make fast, effective comparisons

Sparklines - Use sparklines to graphically display data in a single cell. You can display data in line, column or win/loss format to highlight trends. On the Insert tab, choose the type of Sparkline and your data range. Customize your sparklines for optimum effect by selecting the sparkline and choosing the Design tab.

Slicer - Slicers are filtering components that allow you to slice-and-dice your data without having to open drop down lists. Slicers make it easier to segment and filter data in PivotTables for high powered business intelligence.

Step up your analysis

Search Filter - Use the new Search Filter to quickly and easily narrow your search in tables, PivotTable, and PivotChart views. You can instantly sort through a million or more items.

PowerPivot (formerly called Project "Gemini") Add-In - Groundbreaking technology that allows you streamlined integration of data from multiple sources and lightning-fast manipulation of large data sets with up to millions of rows. Effortlessly publish and share analysis through Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and have other users enjoy the same Slicer and fast-query capabilities when working on their Excel Services report.

Backstage - The Microsoft Office Backstage view replaces the traditional file menu with an ergonomic approach that uses In and Out features for efficiency. The improved Ribbon lets you access your favorite commands quickly and create custom tabs to personalize the way you work.

Jazz up your data presentations

Conditional Formatting - Excel 2010 adds sophistication to conditional formatting. Give your document a professional look by adding eye-catching formats. You have more choices and control over styles and icons, improved data bars, and the ability to highlight specific items in a few clicks. You can also display data bars for negative values and use color for effect.

Work from anywhere

Online - Post your spreadsheets online and work on them from virtually anywhere from the Web or your Windows Mobile-based Smartphone. With Excel 2010, you can take advantage of a best-in-class spreadsheet experience across multiple locations and devices.

Excel Web App - Extend your Office experience to the Web, and view and edit your spreadsheets through the Excel Web App when you’re away.

Excel Mobile 2010 - Stay up-to-the-minute and communicate on-demand by using a mobile version of Excel specifically suited to your Smartphone.

For other interesting features and functions, try Goal Seek to give you a what-if analysis to test your scenarios, experiment with linear regression to understand relationships in your data or just play with the new formatting tools. But once you uncover the "hidden" features in Excel, you will be enthusiastically hooked.

For more technical notes and information go to: www.lansystems.com/technotes.html

If you have any questions or need help with the instructions, email me at: mary@lansystems.com.