I didn’t like it with Windows 7. They did it right with Windows 8 and not they are ruining Windows 10.  That’s right – I said Windows 8 was the way.

Product versions.  There was a plethora of them in Win7 and it was hard to keep them straight. I like the limited set of OS choices in Win 8-8.1-10.  It was easy and it worked.

Now MS has announced a new SKU for Win 10 – Win 10 Pro for Workstations.  It offers some great tools

ReFS for more resilient file systems
Support for server class CPUs

These are all features the Pro SKU could use – why sell them separately…

This is pretty cool.  Natively Windows 10 supports creating a hotstpot. The only limitation is your hardware

From an elevated command prompt type: NETSH WLAN show drivers

If it says that Hosted Network Supported: Yes you are able to setup a hotspot. Otherwise you will have to buy an external hardware network connection

Now type this: NETSH WLAN set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Your_SSID key=Your_Passphrase

This actually creates the hotspot.  Change Your SSID to the name you want and change Your_Passphrase to the passphrase you want to use

Open network connections and you will see the connection listed.

Last step is to select the sharing option on the connection and allow other network users to connect through this network connection

How to back up your EFS encryption key

1. Plug in an external device
2. Go to EFS icon in the system tray.
3. Click Back up now
4. Click Next.
5. Select the checkbox beside the Password.
6. Type your new password in the Password field.
7. Confirm the password
8. Click Next the Browse.
9. Go to  the external drive
10. Name the file
11. Click Save then Next then Finish
12. Click Finish. 

     

    Happy Nerdings!

You want protection right!? This day in age it is required. Here is a quick way to encrypt your files

1. First you have to launch File Explorer
2. Right-click the file/folder in question
3. Then click Properties.
4. Click Advanced.
5. Click the checkbox to Encrypt contents.
6. Click OK. then Apply

Happy Nerdings!

They save themselves right!?  Just don’t power off and they will be there.  But what if they aren’t there one day

%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe

mark this down somewhere important.

%userprofile% is your user profile – usually c:/users/”your name”

Navigate there in Windows 10

In older versions it is here

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Sticky Notes\StickyNotes.snt

Happy nerdings!

Okay,  This is where the magic happens: The Indirect formula

So now we have a list, we know how to name ranges but we need the list to look at the contents of other cells to populate itself.  The way we do this with the Indirect formula

So you will need to have all the lists written already and have given them unique names for this formula to work

How I do it is pretty simple

First, I create a simple list in the first column.  Just a regular data validation list – nothing fancy but this serves as the basis for the rest of the lists.  The entries in this list are the named ranges for your other lists so basically it is a drop down list with the names of the other named ranges

Second you need to use the formula =indirect(a1) in the second (b) column.  The second column has a formula that basically says to look at the list in the first column and return that as the named list. Not working!?  This was causing me some headaches until I realised that you have to =indirect(a1) as a data validation as well.  So the end result of cell b1 is a list with =indirect(a1) as the source

Drag down and/or drag across and the lists will start populating themselves.  The real key here is to make sure that the entries in a list are also the same names as the named ranges.

Happy Nerdings!

This is the continuation of my previous post. In it I described how to make lists in Excel.

Here we are going to look at Named Ranges

So taking what we built last time (that column of data) and then using the Define Name option allows for some wizardry

First you need the list

Second you need to select the list and (including a blank space) right click and select “Define Name”. Give the list a name. Now you can use this as the source for the list

Third is to go back into data validation and create the list but this time in the source field you will be entering this

old: A1:a5

New: =”list name” (which is the name of the list you created – so if you gave the list a name like ThisIsMyCoolList then the source field will read as =ThisIsMyCoolList

Next post – Indirect formula

Happy Nerdings!

Hi,

Its happened again.  I got lost in Excel world.  I spent way to much time there but came out with another gem.  The “indirect” list

So here is the deal: I wanted to have lists that populate people based on a group choice

It takes about 3 pieces of knowledge to make this work

First, you need to know how to make lists

Second, you need to know how to name ranges

Third, and coolest, is the “Indirect” function

Over my next 3 posts I will talk about these

In this post we will look at creating lists. This is done in a few steps

Start by creating a source list.  This is where Excel will look when you tell it to create the list. It is just a list of the names/numbers you want to use.

Next you have to select the cell where you want the list to be (this can be copied to other locations later

Next you need to create the list function in Excel.  On the data tab (in Excel 2016) you will see the option for “Data Validation”.  Click the Data Validation and in the new window under validation criteria select: “List”.  Now point the “Source” to the list you created previously (pro tip: also include a blank cell so you can have that as a choice if needed). And voila!  You got a nice little list that you can copy around your spreadsheet universe 😉

Happy nerdings 🙂

How to tell when 2 machines use the same IP

Starting with the machine name do a PING

That will give you the IP

Then do an NSLOOKUP on the IP

It will give you the other computer name

Map the C: drive from command prompt (like this: net use x: \\(other computer name)\c$

Look through the users folder and you should find who owns the machine.

Not so bad, eh!?

As with all products these days there is more than one way to skin a cat. A terrible metaphor I know especially since I love cats and dogs and all 4 legged animals.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is always more than one way to do things in this era of integration.

So here is the common way:

1. Simply right-click the email in question and select “junk”
2. then block sender

But what if you don’t have the email?  If you know the address but don’t have the email anymore:

1. Onthe On
2. On the “Home” tab, in the “Delete” section, click on “Junk”
3. Click on “Junk Mail Options”
4. Click on “Blocked Senders” tab
5. Click “Add”
6. Add the senders email address
7. Click OK

There are lots of other interesting things in this window

On the Options tab there is the default methods to handle junk – this can be reviewed and you can change the way Outlook handles Junk email

You can also block countries if you wish. You do this on the International tab.

On the same tab you  can also block character sets so you can block emails written in certain languages if you need to.

Very cool

Happy postings 🙂