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The ASP.NET web development environment offers inexperienced and experienced web developers both speed and power. It is very easy to get a new website created through an ASP dot NET process. ASP dot NET web development works in that it helps to work to handle websites of all sizes. There are many features to check out in this web development option.

The ASP dot NET development program is a Microsoft created program that works for websites. It allows a user to add items to a site and edit them. The source code for the site can be edited as well to help with getting a site to look its best. This code will also be handled through a server. The server will take care of the code and then sent it in an HTML form to the client.

An important thing about ASP dot NET is its OOP or Object Oriented Programming feature. With this the HTML will be controlled. The program will know where things will be placed on a site. This separates the code from the HTML display. As a result of this it will be easy to handle a site.

An important part of this development option is that of its compatibility. ASP dot NET can work with many programming languages because of how it works on the Common Language Runtime system. This means that ASP dot NET programs can work with a number of dot NET languages. This part of versatility is important to check out.

Various programs can even be used to handle ASP dot NET processes. These are all programs that are easy to work with. The user can easy enter in, drag around and drop data as well as edit site code. Microsoft Visual Studio, CodeGear Delphi and Macromedia HomeSite are some of the most popular programs. SharpDevelop and some other open source options can work without cost too.

ASP dot NET web development is a great thing to see. It is an option that works to help with getting a website to be programmed with ease. It works to separate code and display and can work all types of programming languages and software options.

Need to learn Using ASP.NET to build websites? Macresource Computer Solutions offer ASP.NET training courses in London or anywhere in the UK?

Tips and Tutorials asp.net, computer-tips, computers, Microsoft security, web

The distinction between vectors and bitmaps is one that often confuses users new to computer graphics. Basically, bitmaps describe an image as a mosaic of tiny squares called pixels, each with its own colour value. Vector graphics, by contrast consist of independent elements or objects each with its own attributes. Photoshop, a key component of the Adobe CS4 is a bitmapped graphic environment, it does offer users a number of tools for creating and editing vector graphics. These tools are used to create vector paths which allow very precise selection of a given portion of an image.

Highlighting pixels in a bitmapped image can occasionally be a challenge. That’s why Adobe Photoshop offers so many ways of making selections. There are selection tools, modifier icons and keyboard shortcuts. Having selected the required pixels, you will want to ensure that you don’t have to repeat the laborious process of selection again. You have two methods of saving your selection: either as a vector path or a bitmapped alpha channel.

To save a selection as an alpha channel, use the Save Selection command, which is found in the Select menu. When you save a selection in this way, Photoshop creates an alpha channel, a special type of channel which can be viewed by going to the Channel window and clicking on its name. Alpha channels are just greyscale images which employ a kind of code to represent which parts of the image will be selected whenever the mask is used to make a selection. Basically, the darker the area, the weaker the selection will be; the lighter the area, the stronger the selection. White areas therefore indicate full selection and black areas, no selection at all.

The various degrees of of grey within an image represent different levels of selection, making alpha channels ideal for saving selections with soft edges. Paths on the other hand always have sharp edges. Paths are vector objects which can be modified with the use of a series of tools which are essentially imports from Adobe Illustrator.

To covert a selection into a path, choose Make Work Path from the Paths panel menu. An alert will prompt you to enter a number representing the tolerance setting that Photoshop should use in creating the vector path. The permitted range is from 0.5 to 10. Lower numbers lead to a very detailed trace resulting in shorter line segments and many points. Higher numbers will create a path with fewer anchor points. As a general rule, figures in the range 1 to 2 yield the best results.

Having created a workpath, you should always remember to save it, by choosing Save Path from the panel menu. Workpaths are temporary and will simply disappear when the file is closed.

With the use of the imported Adobe Illustrator vector-based editing tools, paths can be modified to very precisely correspond to edges around elements within the image. This makes them ideal for creating cut-outs of products and other subjects within photographs.

The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with an independent computer training company offering Adobe Photoshop training in London and all over the UK.

Tips and Tutorials adobe, computer-tips, computers, photoshop, Security software

Some Microsoft Excel 2007 formulas are very straightforward and you can just enter them into a cell without too much risk of making mistakes. However, there are also formulas, especially those that use functions you may not have used before, require a bit of thought. It is on these occasions that using Excel’s Insert Function wizard can really be of assistance. Wizards are an established feature found in all Office 2007 programs which you will often hear praised in Microsoft Excel 2007 training courses. They walk through a process allowing you to make a series of simple choices which, when completed lead to an often quite sophisticated result.

To use the Insert Function feature, click in the cell into which you want to insert the formula and click on the Insert Function button located to the left of the formula bar and labelled “fx”. The first step is to locate the function you want to use. Since Excel contains so many functions, they are divided into categories. Having chosen a category, when you click on the name of any function listed in that category, Excel displays a brief description of what the function does.

You will find this especially useful when you don’t actually know the name of the function that you need. For example, suppose you want to find a function which returns the first three characters of text in an adjacent cell, you would look under the Text category and, with a bit of investigation, you would locate the LEFT function. Similarly, if you want to find a function which returns the current date, you would look under the Date category, read Excel’s description of each of the likely candidates and you would soon located the TODAY function.

What if you can’t figure out which category would include the function you need? Simple; just enter a brief description of what the function needs to do in the box marked “Search for a function” and click on the button marked “Go”. Excel then returns a list of possibilities with a category label of “Recommended”. This list may contain functions from different categories.

You will also find this technique useful when you already know the function name and just want to find it quickly. Alternatively, you can select the All category to obtain an alphabetically list and either scroll down the list or start typing the name of the function to automatically scroll to it. If you know the function name, chances are you have used the function before; in which case, just check out the Recently Used category.

Having located the right function, either double-click its name or highlight the name and click the “OK” button. Excel will then guide you through process of building the function and supplying the necessary arguments.

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Like the rest of the Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft Excel 2007 contains no menus or toolbars. However, it does include a feature called the Office Button which bears a remarkable similarity to a menu as well as a Quick Access Toolbar which functions a lot like the toolbars found in previous releases of Microsoft Office. In this article, we’ll take a look at these two features and see how they work.

Excel’s Office Button

The Office Button is found in the top left of the Excel screen. When you click it, a menu appears which resembles menus found in most software programs and also in previous versions of Excel. The Office Button menu allows you to create, open, save and print documents. It also contains options for preparing documents for distribution, closing the currently active document and exiting Excel altogether.

The Office Button also contains a list of the recently opened files. Next to the name of each file is a pin icon. This icon is used to pin the associated document. Pinning a document means that it won’t disappear from the list of recently opened files. By contrast, unpinned documents will eventually disappear from the list as files are created and opened.

It is also here that you will find “Excel Options”. (This is equivalent to Tools-Options found in previous versions of Excel.) Excel Options are displayed as a column of categorised tabs on the left of the dialog. Just click on a tab to reveal options in that category. The Excel Options customise the way in which Excel works. Let’s look at a few examples…

Excel’s Developer Tab (which contains commands for working with macros) is not visible when Excel is first installed. To make Excel display it, choose “Excel Options” from the Office Button and, in the “Popular” category, switch on the option “Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon”. A second example… By default, each new document you create has three sheets. If you find this too many or too few, you can change the number of sheets which each new work will contain. Choose “Excel Options” from the Office Button and, in the “Popular” category, under the section headed “When Creating New Workbooks Include this Many Sheets”, simply enter your preferred number of sheets for each new workbook you create.

The Excel Quick Access Toolbar

The Excel Quick Access Toolbar is usually displayed in the top left of the screen, next to the Office Button. It functions in a similar way to the toolbars found in old versions of Microsoft Excel.

By default, the Quick Access Toolbar contains only three commands: saving the current workbook, undoing commands and redoing commands.

To the right of the three default commands is a menu which enables you to personalise the Quick Access Toolbar and determine which buttons are displayed and which commands remain hidden.

Each of the commands in the Quick Access Toolbar menu is a switch: if a command is active, when you select it, it will be removed: if a command is hidden, choosing it will make it visible.

Another method of customising the Quick Access Toolbar is to add your favourite options from the Excel Ribbon. Just right click on an option in any of the Tabs of the Ribbon. In the context menu which pops up, simply choose “Add To Quick Access Toolbar”.

If you find that you are using the Quick Access Toolbar a lot, you may find it convenient to move it below the Ribbon. Simply choose “Show Below The Ribbon” from the Quick Access Toolbar drop-down menu. You can also make the Quick Access Toolbar more accessible by minimising the ribbon. To do this, double-click on the name of any ribbon Tab or choose “Minimise the Ribbon” from the Quick Access Toolbar menu.
The author is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering Microsoft Excel 2007 training classes in London and on-site courses throughout the UK.

Tips and Tutorials adobe, computer-tips, computers, dreamweaver, web

Excel is perhaps the most widely used element within Microsoft Office 2007. Before you can manipulate a chart any way, you need to highlight or select the chart. To select an embedded MS Excel 2007 chart simply click once on its border. When a chart is highlighted, Excel does two things: it displays the data on which the chart is based and it displays the Chart Tools. Chart Tools consist of the Design, Layout and Format context sensitive tabs.

To select a stand-alone chart, simply click on the sheet tab. In a standalone chart, the chart occupies the entire sheet and normally the chart remains highlighted. However, it can be deselected if you click on the blank space outside the chart area. If the chart has become deselected, simply click on its border to reselect it; just as you would with an embedded chart.

The most basic type of manipulation one can do to an embedded chart is to reposition and resize the chart. To resize the chart, use one of the resize handles. These are positioned on the corners of the chart and in the middle of each side. Each resize handle consists of three dots. When using the middle handles, you can only change one dimension; either the width or the height. When you use the corner handles, you can change both dimensions. To resize proportionally, in other words to retain the aspect ratio, hold down the Shift key as you drag.

It is also possible to permanently lock the aspect ratio. Click on the Format tab and then click on the launch button. In the size section this displays the Size and Properties dialog box. Here you’ll find the option Lock Aspect Ratio. If this option is activated, whenever you use the corner handles to resize a chart, the aspect ratio is automatically preserved without having to use the Shift key.

To move a chart, position the cursor on the border of the chart but away from the resize handles. You will notice that when the cursor is over a resize handle it changes to an icon with two arrows. When you have the cursor over the border but away from the resize handles, the cursor changes to an icon with four arrows. At this point, simply click and hold and drag the chart to a new location.

Although Excel places a chart on a separate layer, it still associates it with the columns and rows over which it is place. This means that if you make adjustments to these rows and columns, the chart can move or be resized. For example, if we insert a column to the left of one of the columns over which the chart is placed, the chart becomes wider to accommodate the newly inserted column.

If this behaviour becomes a nuisance at any time, Excel allows you to deactivate it. Simply highlight the chart, click on the Format tab and then click on the launch button in the Size section. This time, click on the Properties tab and here you’ll find options for Object Positioning. If you choose the option Don’t Move or Size With Cells, this means that chart objects will become completely independent of the columns and rows on which they superimposed.
The author is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering Microsoft Excel training courses in London and on-site courses throughout the UK.

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An Easy Performance Enhancement

If you’re using the NTFS filing protocol on your system, instead of FAT32, you can get a bit more speed by disabling Windows® Indexing. The downside to this is that searching your drive for a specific file might take a moment or two longer, but everything else should run faster.

To disable this feature open My Computer and then right click on the drive you wish to reset – usually C-drive. Now click on Properties and then uncheck “Allow Indexing Service.” It will take Windows® a few moments to accomplish this task, based on your processor speed. If you have other hard drives, perform the same process for them. After this is done, it’s a good idea to empty the Recycle Bin and then Defragment your hard drive(s).

FREE Software

If you have a system and it does not have an office suite, such as Microsoft Office, and you don’t want to pay several hundred dollars to have one, try Open Office. This is a great alternative to other suites, and it’s free! Simply direct your browser to www.openoffice.org and follow the instructions for downloading and installation. Make no mistake, this free office suite is an extremely powerful set of software tools – easily a match for any competitor.

Internet Explorer (Microsoft’s Internet browser) is unarguably the standard in computers. This is why hackers develop so many malware applications to invade it. If you use a different browser, you have much less chance of an invasion by malicious software. There is a great alternative available, and it’s free. You can download a copy of Firefox at www.mozilla.org/products/firefox. You can even move your Internet Explorer settings into Firefox automatically – so you don’t lose your Favorites, etc.

Laptop Printer Fix

If you’re using a laptop that is running Windows® ME, and you’re having trouble printing through the USB, try this simple fix. Go to the website for the company that manufactures your printer. If you use a Hewlett-Packard, for example, go to www.HP.com and download the appropriate drivers and install them. ME has drivers that recognize the USB printer is present and attached, but not the drivers needed to make it print. Which drivers you download and install will be dependant on your printer. After installing new drivers, update the printer as necessary in the Control Panel.

Save $$$ When Shopping On-line

If you’re making a purchase on-line, and you know the item you want to buy, you can easily compare pricing all across the Internet. This can amount to a very substantial savings.

At this writing, I went to www.mysimon.com and typed in that I wanted to buy a printer: a Canon PIXMA iP4000. The service instantly checked the Internet and returned prices ranging from $62.00 up to $286.00. This kind of price spread is not at all unusual, especially for computers and electronics.

The My Simon website service only checks pricing, it does not provide a platform for purchasing anything, though it does link to such places. It also gives a rating for the sellers and other users’ input regarding their experiences with the company. You can order the results of the search for your product by price, so that you can quickly find the lowest price from the highest rated dealer.

Windows® XP Professional Only

A feature of Windows® XP Professional, that is not available in the Home Edition, is the ability to encrypt files. This encryption prevents others from opening the files in the folder you encrypt. To encrypt one or more a folders, follow these easy steps.

Click Start, then My Documents. Now locate the folder you wish to encrypt and right click on it and choose Properties.

On the General tab, click on Advanced. Put a tick mark in the box for Encrypt Contents to Secure Data. Click okay two times and the confirmation dialog box will appear allowing you to select the folder, the folder and all files, and/or the subfolders within it.

Now you’ll be able to place files in this folder (or folders) and since they’re encrypted, others will not be able to access them.

Internet Safety

You should never reveal your username or password to anyone who e-mails you and asks for it. This information is frequently asked for by an Internet scheme called “phishing.”

In a common phishing scam, you receive an e-mail that looks quite official. It usually appears to come from a bank or credit card company. A common title for these e-mails is “We need to verify your account information.” Another is “Please logon to your account and verify your settings.” If you do click where instructed, you’ll end up on a site that appears to be the real one. If you fill in the username and password for of your on-line banking account, you can expect serious problems within twenty-four hours.

If you believe that a company or business that you do on-line business with really does require your information, then simply contact them. This way, you will know where you are sending your information, and what it will be used for.

CD Burning Error Fix

Burning music, video, and data CDs has become quite popular over the past few years, and the evolution of the supporting technology has yielded hardware and software that is better than ever – and very reasonably priced. CDs offer a great place to store substantial amounts of data in a small, easily retained format. They also give us new control over aspects of our entertainment.

A relatively common error received during CD burning informs you that the CD cannot be burned, or that there was an error during burning. Of course, you could actually have a defective CD drive, but this is usually not the case.

If you receive a message indicating that your CD cannot be burned, go to the website of your CD drive manufacturer. Look for the list of CD types (manufacturers/numbers) that are compatible with your device. Most often, you’ll find that your CDs are not listed. The two types that seem to have the least difficulty being burned are manufactured by Sony and TDK. These cost a bit more, but they burn very reliably.

Along the same lines – H-P has introduced a new CD burner. This new burner requires the use of special CD blanks, but after you burn your data into the CD, you can flip it over and close the drive again. Then you can use the laser to burn a title for the CD directly onto the CD itself. It’s new technology, but perhaps it will catch on and we’ll see newer, better such devices in the near future.

To purchase great quality products, visit Electronics.

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The computer crashes for many reasons, varies from natural to mechanical fault. The computer can be crash due to following reasons. Some are physical while few are technical causes.

1- Hardware conflict Hardware may conflich with your Operating software or with other hardware.

2- Ram In many cases bad Ram also crash your system. The low Ram quality can be fatal for your system. Always choose the high configuration for Ram.

3- Bios Setting Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

4- Disk Drive After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze.

5- Infections Virus, malware, trojan, etc can be the major cause of your system crash. Try to install a trusted antivirus software package to protect your system.

6- Software The unauthenticated software can disturb your system configuration. The mal function of any software install on the system can be a system crash cause too.

7- Powersupply The faulty  power supply can also cause your system to behave abnormal.

8- Natural Disastours The thunderstorm, flood, lightening etc can crash your system.

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I have often heard about computer taking long time to start. Mostly the problem is heavy load on less rosources like small capacity ram or processor etc. Howevr the below  tips can be considered to overcome this problem.

Click “Start”, then “Run”.
In the “Open” field type “msconfig” and click “OK”.
The utility that opens will have “Tabs” at the top. Click the one that reads “Startup”.
You will see a list of all the programs that run when you start Windows. They will have check marks in the boxes to their left. We do not want them all to start.
Remove all the check marks (by clicking on them) except the ones beside “SystemTray” -  “ScanRegistry” – “LoadPowerProfile” and “Task Monitor.”  Also leave a check mark in anything that has the name of, or abbreviation of, your antivirus program or anything that looks like it might apply to “Norton” products.
Click “OK” at the bottom. You will be asked if you want to re-start your computer – do it. If, in the future, you notice things that you are used to loading when you boot up, but aren’t – and that you want to load – then go back and check their boxes

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The website developer have creative ideas. Sometimes they want to show some animation on smaller window so they resize the window fro visitor. Is this a good option? I have some reasons against this use as follow.

• It’s annoying – You may have never asked people who visit your or your client’s website but you should know that many people don’t like their browser window being resized without their consent.
• Increased screen resolution – Gone are those days when people used to have 640×480 or a maximum of 800×600 screen resolution. Computers have become a lot more cheaper now and that also includes monitor. Screen resolutions have increased and on an average over 90% of computers use anything over 1024×768 pixels resolution.
• It’s not your browser – It’s your visitor’s browser, not yours! Period! If you can not help it and must resize the browser window because you want to show them a very large drawing picture or a design of some mechanical instrument, first display a notice to let them know and only after they click on it you should change the browser window size. Makes sense?
• Resizing everything? – If you rely on a javascript to detect and adjust your site’s content according to screen resolution or size of browser’s window and if a visitor does not has javascript enabled [~5% don’t], you may not be able to do that. It may end up cluttering the layout. Don’t you think so?
• You’ll lose visitors – Visitors don’t like to see their browser window getting resized without any notice, they might end up closing your site and never want to come back again.

Browsers security browser, Browsers-security, computer-tips

The mouse behavior can change for no. of reasons. The mouse may respond slow or just start roaming on your computer screen and becomes out of your control. The reasons for these problems and solutions are as follow.

1- If you are using the roller ball mouse. The roller ball mouse contains a round ball inside the mouse which change the direction of the pointer through mouse. Try to open a mouse from back and clean it properly and carefully.

2- Hot or cold weather may affect your mouse behavior.  Just make sure the room temperature is ideal for the computer. For ideal temperature check your hardware manual. Different systems have different suggestions.

3- The mouse might be spoiled. Try to change the mouse and check the behavior. If it do the same as before then your old mouse is ok.

4- Your computer is overloaded with plenty of programs. Try to remove unnecessary programs and restart the computer. If the behavior change is due to extra programs then good to continue.
Note: Sometimes the keyboard also respond slow if there is malware, virus or spyware.

5-  This can be a potential cause of your mouse behavior. Try to run latest anti virus and  spyware. Heal or remove all the potential threats and see the result. Your mouse should be normal now.

All above step by step tips can get rid of mouse troubleshooting. If all the above tips does not goes well then your computer might be old and need upgrade or buy a new one.

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Are you a computer expert or just a beginner? the common computer mistakes can cost you heavily. The range of damage or loss is from low to severe. One should take extra ordinary effort to avoid the following mistakes.

1- Always unplug your computer and related devices in a stormy weather. If the electric storm hit your computer it can damage it. The loss may be from small modem to processor. Always unplug your computer if you are going for vacations or dont have intention to use for long. Use electric storm protector to be more safe.

2- Always register the new software you have purchased. If you will not register immediately and any other hacker can claim the ownership and reap the benefits which you are entitle. More important now a days the software companies release updates frequently. By registering your software your application will be upto date and safe.

3- Knowledge about your pc is important for you. Always keep the details of your vendor list and other documents so in future if you need any assistance then it will be easy for you to trace. Suppose you dont know about your computer hardware configuration and it needs some fix, ultimately you send it to technician to repair. The technician may steal your original parts and replace it with the cheaper quality.

4- Always close your operating system properly. Don,t just  switch it off from the plug. By shutting down properly the operating system and other software becomes safe otherwise mal functioning may occurs.

5-  Now a days antivirus and spyware is must for every computer. You can be a victim of hackers and they can steal your data easily. If you have important data stored then consider firewalls and other security software too.

6- Always backup your data. Make it habit to back up your important data. Try to put backup not in the same place where you are operating your current computer. In case of fire or any other disastour, atleast your data is safe at one place.

7- Always keep the casing close with screws. If not any of your kids or pets may have access to the inner circuits of the machine and may get electric shock or spoil the circuits.

8- Try to put your computer in a where there it cannot be affect by direct sunlight or rain water. If you are using the computer and there is direct sunlight on cpu then the cpu temperature will rise resulting in damage to any part of the system. The rain water can also effect if the water touches your mother board or other parts, the short circuit occurs which ultimately  spoil your device or whole computer.

Above mistakes are very common and any one can do from a single individual to a big organization.  By taking a small care one can avoid deadly and costly loss.

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