TAME THE WORD MONSTER
Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used word processors today. With it you can create just about any kind of document such as outlines and complex legal documents along with a myriad of formatting options and styles. But this complex sophistication comes with a bit of baggage. All those options come with a higher learning curve and a degree of frustration when things happen in Word that you don't intend.
Examples include the automatic formatting of text. Let's say you need to begin a sentence with a number. Word may interpret this to mean that you want to begin a new paragraph or outline and it will indent the entire sentence. Or you paste in a sentence and Word automatically changes the point size and font into something different than the surrounding text. Whatever the change Word may make, it may not be what you intended and you may spend a great deal of time trying to figure out why the unexpected happened and undoing what Word just did. Many find themselves spending more time trying to reign-in Word into doing what they mean than the time spent in actually writing the document.
If you find yourself constantly trying to tame the Word monster, check out a product called CrossEyes from Levit & James, Inc. According to the company, one of the most common forms of Word misinterpretation is due to the invisible embedded formatting commands within the text you are composing. CrossEyes lets you see those invisible formatting commands so that you can instantly see and understand the reason behind Word's formatting. Once you know why Word did what it did, you can identify and correct the formatting errors quickly and easily.
CrossEyes displays a window pane directly beneath the Word document area. As you type you can see the invisible embedded formatting commands appear. If an error occurs, either click in the CrossEyes window or the Word document and the cursor will be placed in the corresponding position. Once visible, the formatting codes are fairly easy to interpret. Just make the correction and the text will format correctly.
CrossEyes will prove to be invaluable when applied to documents created by someone else. You will instantly see what was done so you can make any changes or additions without any mysterious format changes occurring. If you use Word, you should own this program.
CrossEyes is a Windows program available for downloading as a free trial from www.levitjames.com and can be purchased for $49.99.
Hack Up Your TiVo
If you own a TiVo, then you probably know the many joys of owning a personal video recorder (PVR). What you may not know is that the TiVo has many hidden features and abilities not described in the manual such as replaying the opening video that only plays the first time you use the device. "Hacking TiVo" by Jeff Keegan is a book that reveals how to get those hidden abilities out of your PVR. Plus Keegan shows you how to employ special "hacks" that give the TiVo additional abilities such as Caller-ID that displays the number of the person calling you on the screen, adding an ability to display Closed Captioning, preventing software upgrades sent out by TiVo, reading email, getting camcorder footage into the TiVo and lots more.
But if you're a bit squeamish about actually opening up the TiVo, fear not. The first two parts of the book let you modify your TiVo without having to physically open the box itself. However, if you are one that likes to tinker underneath the hood, Hacking TiVo is just for you. If you're ready to open it up, one of the most important abilities you will learn is how to increase the hard drive capacity of your unit by adding another hard drive.
Keegan is highly enthusiastic about all of this and it's certainly reflected in his writing. If you're ready to take your TiVo to the next level, I highly recommend this book.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Hacking TiVo sells for $29.99. It is available from Amazon.com. You can also check out the author's web site at:
www.keegan.org/jeff/tivo/tivobook.html |
