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  • #2189769

    ISO Nexus

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    by jodygilbert ·

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    • #3059686

      Policy to allow IT pros access to sensitive data

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      One of the best things that happens in the discussion
      threads is that people discover that someone has invented the particular wheel
      they need. Best case, the wheel gets shared among those who need it, and maybe it gets
      customized or enhanced–but no reinventing is needed.

      For example: When a
      member asked if anyone had a data access policy
      , Chris Snell stepped up and
      offered to share the one he created. The thread, which wound its way through assorted
      suggestions and some skepticism that a policy could ever be effective at
      protecting sensitive data, soon became peppered with “Could I get a copy
      please” and “I want a copy too.” Taking the hint, we worked with
      Chris to publish the policy, and over the last three weeks, more
      than 5,000 IT pros have downloaded it.

      If that sounds like a wheel you could use, check it out.

    • #3116800

      Office 12 prerelease sneaks out ahead of the beta

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Yikes, November. Good time for an end-of-the-year resolution: more
      diligent blogging. Yessiree, I popped the clutch on this blog and I
      think I’ve got it rolling again.

      I’m having one of those spells where you know the universe hates
      you, or at least, its machinery does: I have a failing main circuit
      breaker, so my power keeps cutting off on this chilly morning. My phone
      lines are out, thanks to some careless excavation up the road. (And
      yes, I use a dial-up modem because that’s the price of living out in
      the wilderness.) So I’m battery-driven and offline as I write this,
      although if you’re reading it, the situation must have improved. I even
      have a leaking water supply valve, but so far that doesn’t seem to be
      affecting my ability to use a computer or connect to the Internet. Give
      it time though.

      And speaking of leaks (great, great segue): Microsoft’s Office team
      has apparently sprung a leak of its own. A prerelease version of Office
      12 has surfaced, although it’s reportedly so shaky that it’s probably a
      good idea to observe it from a distance rather than compromise your
      system by attempting to run it. The latest issue of Office Watch
      reports that the version is available on ‘various ‘underground’ but
      commonly used Internet services like warez sites and peer-to-peer
      sharing services.’ That issue offers an excellent overview of what’s
      discernable so far from this early release. Check the OW archives for a helpful series of articles previewing Office 12 features, too.

      Other resources of note:

    • #3197585

      Pigs aloft

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      TechRepublic contributor Shannon Kalvar recently pointed me
      to RFC 1925, which many of you no doubt already know about. Nestled between RFC 1924
      (A Compact Representation of IPv6 Addresses) and RFC 1926 (An Experimental
      Encapsulation of IP Datagrams on Top of ATM) lies this list of “The 12
      Networking Truths,” which seem to be right on the
      money. It’s hard to pick a favorite, since so many resonate so strongly (ohmigod, I said “resonate”), but
      consider, for instance, number 3:

      • “With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However,
        this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going
        to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly
        overhead.”

      Or number 6:

      • “It is easier to move a problem around (for example, by
        moving the problem to a different part of the overall network architecture)
        than it is to solve it.

      But I guess if I had to embroider one of these precepts and
      hang it in my cube, it would be number 11:

      • “Every old idea will be proposed again with a different
        name and a different presentation, regardless of whether it works.”

      Yeah, buddy.

      Shannon also provided his 10
      New Year’s resolutions for IT managers
      , which has some
      excellent reminders about what we should be focusing on as we head into 2006.

    • #3198791

      Single-use shovels

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      We had our first Winter Storm WARNING (!!!) of the season a
      couple of weeks ago and as predictions escalated (1 to 3 inches, no wait: 4 to
      6 inches…), the stores were overrun with frantic folks stocking up on pork
      rinds and snow shovels. The local TV stations could run the same archival
      B-roll year after year (and for all I know, they do): jammed-up parking lots,
      store-length lines, triumphant consumers bearing away the last shovel on the
      shelf. But here’s the puzzling thing: What did all these people do with last
      year’s shovel? Please, if you have a theory, clue me in.

      Anyway, here comes the awesome segue. I don’t know where I
      come up with them, I really don’t. But let’s talk for a minute about Word’s AutoText
      feature. (Bear with me.) AutoText is like the shovel you can REUSE the next
      time it snows, and the time after that, and maybe even for something other than
      snow. AutoText lets you create and store text and graphics so that you can
      insert it in a document with a few keystrokes. But as practical as this feature
      is, many users have never learned to take advantage of it. So I created a short picture
      tutorial
      that steps through the process of creating and using AutoText entries.
      It’s worth sharing with your Word users, especially the chronic shovel buyers.

      • #3196445

        Single-use shovels

        by cutehobbes ·

        In reply to Single-use shovels

        ..haha ..that was funny …talk about the environmental implications of
        not re using the shovel ..so much loss of resources 😀

    • #3197926

      Best downloads of 2005

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Well, nobody’s asked. And nobody’s going to. But I decided
      to put together a list anyway. According to my by-no-means statistically accurate
      reckoning, I published around 225 downloads since joining the Content Team at
      the end of February. There were a few article compilations, some revamped
      resources, problem/solution guides, templates and checklists, sample chapters, presentations,
      workbooks, a smattering of tools. And lists of 10 things.
      Lots of them.

      The All
      Downloads
      link has come in handy for my retrospective meandering, offering
      a chronological list of everything in the downloads library (going all the way
      back to a Word 97
      newsletter template
      I created in 1999 for the “Training Republic”
      component of the brand new TechRepublic.com site. Pretty slick, too.)

      But back to this year. I traipsed along through the list of
      all the stuff I’ve published and found myself going, “Great download?
      sleeper, sleeper, dog, semi-dog, great, great, great, decent? great!” It’s
      a little scary that I could conjure an instant assessment of all these pieces
      of content, impressions that were in some cases validated by the response of
      TechRepublic members. Other downloads, though, were embraced or shunned
      according to some algorithm I have yet to puzzle out.

      Taken as a whole, the year’s collection of downloads was
      strong. I’m pleased with about 95 percent of them, and even the ones I wish had
      turned out better were pretty well received. My favorites, though, seemed to be
      member favorites too. These items won my vote based on cleverness,
      practicality, and/or presentation. I’m listing just a few of them here. Ten, in
      fact, since this is the Year of the Decimal. And before I forget? MANY thanks
      to the contributors who came through for me over and over again during the
      year.

      Happy New Year, everyone!

    • #3196477

      Calendar people

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Like to-do lists, calendars help provide the illusion of
      organization and control over tasks and commitments. But not just any calendar
      will do. At least it’s my theory that if you don’t care about the style and
      layout of the calendaring software or calendar format you use to track events,
      you probably don’t need a calendar at all. Maybe it’s a matter of taste or
      aesthetics, maybe it’s a touch of OCD. But if you’re a calendar sort of person,
      you have some decent options heading into the new year.

      Word has always been deficient in offering useful built-in calendar
      templates–heavy on ugly design elements and light on functionality. So I built
      this little bare-bones
      template
      that automatically inserts the dates for you depending on the
      number of days you specify. There’s room for entering your appointments and
      activities. And not much else. It’s plain but practical. (You can stick a
      little clipart in there, if you feel the urge. Snowflake for January, whatever.)

      Then you have the slicker choices, courtesy of Microsoft
      Office Online. These are prefab
      calendars
      for various applications and purposes. Sixty-four of them,
      altogether. There are a bunch of academic calendars in Visio, Excel, Publisher,
      and Word format. Calendars by the month, year, and multiyear. Portrait,
      landscape, five days, seven. A variety of incredibly ugly PowerPoint calendars,
      including some misguided stripes and a sort of Madras plaid. Lunar calendars
      for different time zones (who knew the moon operated that way), photo
      calendars, postcard calendars. And even a basic 12-month
      calendar in Word
      without a single scrap of art deco design nonsense on it.
      If your taste runs that way.

      Happy calendaring!

      • #3094913

        Calendar people

        by nees ·

        In reply to Calendar people

        Thanks. I enjoyed reading this entertaining and informative article.

        More like this.

        Enjoy your day.

    • #3081324

      Worst cliches of ’05

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      In his New Year’s
      resolutions for net admins
      , contributor Rick Vanover cites three phrases
      that he’d like to see go away in 2006:

      • What can we do to
        move forward?
      • We don?t have the
        bandwidth for?

      • There needs to be
        some accountability…

      His dislike of these phrases seems to stem largely from the
      situations in which they’re typically used (accountability, for instance, being
      demanded at the beginning of a project but mysteriously waning in importance when
      things go awry and it’s really needed).

      I have a list of buzzwords and cliches that I’d like to see
      disappear, too–but for the sole reason that they’re INANE. Well, that and
      they’re so damn threadbare from overuse. Maybe if we all put our minds to it,
      we can stamp out some of these gems in the next year or so. If you have your
      own choice phrases to add to the list, by all means share them.

      • Spin some cycles on
      • Pick the
        low-hanging fruit
      • Lean into
      • Get some traction
      • Put some resources
        against
      • Synergize
      • Gain buy-in
      • Drill down on
      • #3082921

        Worst cliches of ’05

        by jmgarvin ·

        In reply to Worst cliches of ’05

        I hate:

        • We need to get the baseline
        • Tweek the settings
        • Network/server consolodation methodologies/schema
      • #3083332

        Worst cliches of ’05

        by dc guy ·

        In reply to Worst cliches of ’05

        At times like this I realize how fortunate I am. I never hear anyone use these terms, with the exception of the occasional salesperson.

        “Synergize” particularly galls me, since it’s not even a word. It’s not automatically evil to invent words of course, because that’s how language evolves and adapts. But the very concept of synergy implies the application of a good deal of thought and planning in order to optimize the interplay of resources in any individual situation. A speaker who casually tosses out the make-believe word “synergize” assumes this can be achieved merely by turning the crank on a standardized process.

        Many of these words and phrases merely elicit a groan from me, “Oh well, not everyone is as eloquent as Winston Churchill.” But I would run away from a manager who believes in “synergizing”!

      • #3083720

        Worst cliches of ’05

        by smorty71 ·

        In reply to Worst cliches of ’05

        Gee, Jody. Why do all of those sound so familiar?

      • #3094910

        Worst cliches of ’05

        by nees ·

        In reply to Worst cliches of ’05

        Hahaha–and add my personal favorite, “Putting out fires.”

        Thanks for an irritating while amusing article.

        Irritating for obvious reasons of wanting never to hear or read the phrases.

        Amusing because it’s all so true.

        I can identify with that.

        Enjoy your day.

    • #3082348

      Project-to-PowerPoint add-in: Not too shabby

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      I was just sifting through some of Microsoft’s
      business-focused add-ins available in its Downloads
      Center
      . Not a bad place to poke around from time to time. What caught my
      eye today is this little Project-to-PowerPoint add-in (official unwieldy name: The
      Project
      Report Presentation Add-in for Microsoft Office Project 2003
      ).

      Once you install the add-in, you can open a project and
      click Create Report Presentation on the Project Report Presentation toolbar.
      Specify the tasks and fields you want to include and the tool will build a new
      presentation with a tasks summary table that shows the status of project tasks
      (e.g., Start, Finish, % Complete). You can get about eight tasks on a slide, but
      if you need to include more, the tool will create an additional slide and
      summary table to accommodate them. Along with the task summary, the
      presentation consists of slides for the title, introduction, agenda, overview,
      outstanding risks and issues, budget, schedule and scope, acceptance review,
      and next steps.

      If you spend a lot of time reporting on project issues,
      conducting meetings to communicate project objectives or changes with
      stakeholders, and/or debriefing management and staff on project status and
      what’s needed for successful completion, you should definitely check out this unassuming
      little tool. As far as I can tell, it does exactly what it’s designed to do, offering
      the potential for saving you tons of legwork.

      The presentation design could be improved — there’s
      a sort of anemic putty-colored background, along with those dopey, ghosted-out
      clip art effects and stylized geometric distractions. But that’s a small
      concern. If you don’t like the looks of the presentation, just go to Format |
      Slide Design and choose something you like better.

    • #3082735

      Top Ten Frenzy

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Part of the year-end retrospective reflex seems to involve
      ranking everything conceivable that occurred or existed in 2005. We’ve done it
      at TR: You can see all our top ten lists, which
      include such things as the hottest downloads and discussions of the year.

      I came across another interesting collection of top ten
      items, a couple of which are IT-related, thereby giving me a pretext for including
      the collection here.

      Alternet’s Tai Moses put together The Ten Best Top-Ten Lists. There
      are things like the top ten baby names (Emma, Aidan), worst jobs in science
      (manure inspector, volcanologist), and most-wanted fugitives (their resumes are
      pretty good: “Donald Eugene Webb, who is considered a career criminal and
      master of assumed identities, specializes in the burglary of jewelry stores. He
      is reportedly allergic to penicillin, a lover of dogs, a flashy dresser and a
      big tipper.”). The list also includes Merriam-Webster Online’s 10 most
      looked-up words, interesting because it appears to be disaster-driven. It
      includes refugee, tsunami, pandemic,
      and levee. And oh yeah, inept.

      Also included are Top 10 Most Commonly Encountered
      Hoaxes and Chain Letters
      (Elf Bowling? still??) and the Top 10 List of Strangest and
      Funniest Data Disasters
      . The latter is based on reports shared by Ontrack Data
      Recovery, and of course the message is that recovery is possible if you use its
      services. Nevertheless, I found it slightly mollifying to compare my humdrum
      catastrophic hard drive crash (see my list of top ten personal disasters? nah,
      I’m not going there) with things like dogs eating memory sticks and a laptop computer
      full of dead cockroaches.

      • #3095269

        Top Ten Frenzy

        by nees ·

        In reply to Top Ten Frenzy

        I loved this article and enjoyed reading the various Top-Ten Lists.

        Thanks. Keep me coming back with  more like this.

        Enjoy your day.

      • #3095268

        Top Ten Frenzy

        by nees ·

        In reply to Top Ten Frenzy

        I loved this article and enjoyed reading the various Top-Ten Lists.

        Thanks. Keep me coming back with  more like this.

        Enjoy your day.

    • #3097411

      Workstation pretzel

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      No, no — this isn’t a snack entry. And if it were, believe
      me, pretzels would be near the bottom of my list, between Funyuns and rice cakes, maybe. It’s about ergonomics and the
      lack thereof. I just realized I’m sitting in this crappy old chair all twisted
      and contorted to work around my overloaded desk and breaking every rule of how
      to arrange a work environment and how to sit properly and align yourself correctly. (This
      is my home workstation, btw — my sumptuous TechRepublic cube is well appointed
      with all the best posture-promoting accoutrements.) But here at home, my laptop
      has been nudged to the brink of my desk by my creaky old Gateway, a cheap photo
      printer, books, notebooks, dishes, a dog toy I had to confiscate (from the
      cat). A good candidate for our messy workspace
      photo gallery
      , as it happens.

      This is how I’ve been operating for several years now, and I
      think it’s possibly starting to take its toll. So I decided to revisit Becky
      Roberts’ download “Eight
      cost-free steps to improve workstation ergonomics,”

      which talks about
      simple changes she’s made to help her users work more comfortably. And
      then I
      popped over to OSHA and discovered some great resources there, too.
      Among other
      things, I read about the hazards of poorly designed workstations. As I
      suspected, I’m embracing every one of them, and I feel a little worse
      for reading
      about it because of course I have ALL the symptoms: numbness in the
      hands; reduced grip strength; reduced range of motion in the shoulder,
      neck, or back; dry, itchy, or
      sore eyes; loss of color in affected regions; weakness (presumably they
      mean physical
      weakness; I guess I can’t blame my character flaws on this chair.
      hmmmm…).

      Anyway, OSHA offers some useful info and a
      couple of pretty slick checklists, which I’d recommend to anyone who’s trying
      to change their pretzel ways and head off the resulting debilitating effects.
      The evaluation
      checklist
      runs through items for identifying workstation problems; the purchasing
      guide checklist
      offers criteria for selecting the healthiest components
      (not just monitors and keyboards, but telephones, lighting, pointing devices,
      and document holders).

    • #3107388

      Catharsis and snarkosis: A support tech’s best friend?

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Every so often I think it’s a good idea, in fact an
      excellent idea, to publish a piece of content that gives IT folks a chance to
      go (more or less) YEAH!! And another thing?! That’s why
      you’ll find the occasional pet-peevish item on the site, such as:

      The latest entry in this field, “Top 10 signs
      you’re getting burned out on your support tech job,”
      has already
      elicited some choice commentary in the
      associated discussion
      , and I have every hope that more will be forthcoming.

      In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say I’ve never
      worked as a support tech (although I’ve done a fine job on the flip side, dancing
      close to, if not beyond, the user idiocy encountered by the beleaguered techs
      posting to the discussion). But let’s face it: Any profession where you’re
      providing a service is bound to entail an aggravation overhead — often a really
      big one. Ten-plus years of tending bar and waiting tables during my misspent
      youth, and I STILL have bad dreams featuring the obtuse, the deliberately
      moronic, and the despicably narcissistic and self-involved. In general, I have to say (to myself, at least) that’s the real
      world, get over it? BUT: Enjoy the solidarity that comes from sharing those
      soul-cleansing comments with your peers. Bring on the snark.

    • #3272466

      Gimme my e-mail? and I don’t mean in a MINUTE

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      I came across a productivity tip the other day, which–on
      the face of it–sounds entirely reasonable. The suggestion is that instead of
      getting sidetracked all day long by the arrival of one e-mail message after
      another, you configure your mail client so that it delivers mail on a
      restricted schedule. Like every hour or two.

      I can certainly see where that would cut down on interruptions
      and the temptation to slide into work avoidance mode. But after giving the idea
      some serious consideration, for maybe a full three seconds, I rejected it. And
      here’s why: I would go INSANE thinking about all those potentially critical or at
      least critically amusing e-mails washing up in some cyber holding tank waiting
      for Outlook to open the sluiceway and allow them to pour into my mailbox. Not
      that I ever get that kind of e-mail. That’s not the point. I wouldn’t know WHAT
      was waiting for me, is the point. I have to check e-mail when I’m on vacation,
      that’s how et up with curiosity I am. So no delayed or consolidated e-mail
      delivery for me. I’d be stabbing at the [F9] key for a manual send/receive all
      day long like a psychotic, pellet-craving lab rat.

      Assuming you’re in the same boat I am, and I know at least
      some of you are (because you answer my e-mail when YOU’RE on vacation), what can
      we do to keep from becoming derailed by our e-mail? I think maybe the only real
      choice is to embrace derailment as a working style and learn to function
      productively even as we go jouncing and skidding across the multitasking
      landscape.

      To further choke the life out of the train metaphor (although our
      journey began on a boat), it’s like hopping from track to track to track:  working on Project A while answering a couple
      of smart-ass e-mails, responding to a serious managerial imperative, gathering
      data and writing a report while working on Project B, investigating a customer
      problem, reading a series of e-mails from the person sitting four feet behind
      you. Hop hop hop.

      Not that it hurts to fine-tune your e-mail handling skills.
      (Here it is, finally: my raison d’blog.) As long as you’re
      going to be wallowing in e-mail day in and day out, you might as well shoot for
      some degree of efficiency and organization. I found just the system, too. It
      calls for you to:

      • Set Up a Simple and Effective E-mail Reference System
      • Schedule Uninterrupted Time to Process and Organize E-Mail
      • Process One Item At a Time, Starting at the Top

      • Use the “Four D’s for Decision Making” Model

      (That last one is my favorite part. The four Ds are Delete
      it; Do it; Delegate it; Defer it. There are some excellent options there!)

      This system is described in “4 Ways
      to Take Control of Your E-mail Inbox.”
      It’s one of those productivity
      articles describing practices that sound great and would probably work if it
      weren’t for the fact that you have to actually adopt them. The advice is
      practical and specific, though, and I might give it a try.

      If you have some other suggestions, please pass them along.
      Or send me an e-mail. Odds are, I’ll have it read before it comes to a complete
      stop in my inbox.

    • #3087542

      Office 007: From Redmond with Love

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      For awhile there, Microsoft’s highly covert operations
      surrounding Office “12” seemed to suggest something a little revolutionary
      was afoot. You couldn’t turn around without smacking into an NDA, and a leaked
      (albeit flakey) early beta added a hint of espionage.

      But now, we’re being fed details, the rumble of hype is
      growing louder, and the mystique is fading. Microsoft has divulged the
      bundling/pricing structure, the official name, and details of the 2,709
      individual applications that will make up the 482 packages of the new Office
      system. This blog
      post by Jason Hiner
      offers a great breakdown of the Office 2007 components
      (okay, not quite 2,709 of them), packaging, and pricing. And I don’t mention
      this because Jason’s my boss. No really.

      So just now, I went ahead and registered for beta 2, after
      having been denied entrance to the ultra secret society of beta 1 testers. I
      feel a little silly doing it, as though I’m flipping a light switch that’s not
      wired to anything. But what the hell. I’ve got that Microsoft Passport, might
      as well use it.

      I also feel a tiny bubble of dread surfacing somewhere.
      Maybe because I’m an Office luddite, resisting and despising many of the
      features that arrived with the XP and 2003. (For example, the implementation of
      Word’s document reviewing features–something many writers and editors live and
      die by–took such a thrashing in XP, you have to wonder whether the design
      changes were driven by some kind of high stakes Rube Goldberg side bet.)

      And I’m not reassured by the carefully dispensed,
      meticulously spun scraps of information about Office 2007’s new features, enhancements,
      and radically rejiggered UI. If the goal is to surface all that functionality
      that most users don’t know about, I’m really not going to like it. Because I DO
      know about the functionality, and I’ve built and customized and tinkered my way
      around Office so it’s like a comfortable, nicely broken-in chair. The last
      thing I want is for Microsoft to give me an entirely NEW chair–one that, by
      early accounts–will be nearly impossible to break in.

      But I’m going to reserve judgment, or try to. Maybe I really
      will find myself working more efficiently, staying organized, and more easily
      collaborating and sharing information using the security-enhanced 2007
      Microsoft Office system.

      Meanwhile, I’ve been checking out Office 2007 product team blogs
      here and there to try to find more facts and less hyperbole. Or at least a more
      honest, in-the-trenches grade of hyperbole. I just started in on a collection
      of 2007
      Office dev team interview videos
      . Also I’ve found some fairly interesting
      blogs on this MSDN
      Office 12 blogger list
      .

      And you know, I’m sure I’ll have my hands on beta 2 before
      too long. Then we’ll see.

    • #3084811

      How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      What began as a forum
      for exchanging outrageous tales of user goofiness
      wound up as “10
      classic clueless-user stories”
      (in both article and download format),
      showcasing a few of the more bizarre accounts.

      Now I’d like to force-morph the discussion into a look at
      the other side of the coin: IT pro foibles and blunders.

      In the clueless-user
      discussion thread
      , member peterl@… said, “Wonder
      if there ever was a collection of dumb acts *by* IT people when they deal with end
      users. Like asking incredibly dumb business questions or making assumptions
      that make absolutely no business sense.” And info@… pointed out,
      “There are just as many clueless acts by technical
      people that cost companies millions. Like the tech who decided to make
      “one small change.” A change that sent three thousand people home for
      the day. Or in a regional bank where the IT dept didn’t understand or believe
      the business priority of a problem which resulted in over ten thousand term
      deposits being voided.”

      Maybe our mistakes aren’t quite that
      colossal–or if we’re lucky, they just wind up as near-misses. Like the time I
      installed an Outlook 2003 beta on a production machine to do some testing and
      almost caused a catastrophic enterprise-wide Exchange meltdown. KaBOOOM.

      Just as users can bumble along in a
      way that dumbfounds the IT staff, so can the IT staff stray into their own Clueless
      Territory–and we can all learn a little from hearing about those mistakes. They
      might even make us feel a little better about ourselves.

      Got a good tale to tell on yourself?
      Share it here or join
      the discussion
      . Let’s hear your worst.

      • #3084445

        How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        by zclayton2 ·

        In reply to How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        We had been running with a mix of WinDoze 2000 and (then) new XP installs.  My 2000 system hung on a virus scan update and the tech came over and said, “Well we’ve been going to migrate everyone over to XP anyway, why don’t I do yours now?”  (Everyone is now nodding their heads and groaning, right?)   She hand me the install disks and tells me to go ahead.  I asked if I needed to back up and she said, “No, it will just put in a new system on C:”.  I was still using Me and 98 at home so I had no idea what was about to happen.  I had a partitioned drive, C: and D: and all my data was on D:.  At the point when I realized it was going to reformat I stopped everything and yelled for help.  No help.  She said go ahead it would only format C: and D: would be fine.    Not.  XP wiped my partition and all my data.  My backup from 3 months ago helped, but I had just finished a major update on our field sampling SOP’s and lost those and all recent correspondance on the revision rational.  Turns out I wasn’t the first she had done this to – I was just the first to squawk loudly enough to get attention.  She was transfered to a remote site about a month later and although those people were warned, she still managed to hork several systems out there also.  

        She wan’t fired.  Why?  Because I work for a state government and about the only way you can get fired is to falsify your time card or “go postal”.  Unfortunately, some stereotypes are true.

        Hmm – that reminds me, It’s probably time for a backup.

         

         

         

         

         

      • #3084385

        How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        by james.fraser ·

        In reply to How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

         

        Server rack filled with servers in the server room of a certain large financial institution, one server needs a reboot. Power buttons are the kind like the top of a ball point pen. Click in once to turn on and hold in, click again to press in, and the switch will pop out to turn off. (I think this was an IBM design, maybe their lower end boxes that were glorified desktop pc’s.) Some tech realized he had pressed the button on the wrong server (immediately above the one he was going for, I think) while pressing the button. The server was still on, but as soon as he let go, it was going to turn off.

        It ended with with the server shutting down and a brief interruption in the ticker information to some traders.

        Moral of the story, Don’t ever get into a conversation while doing maintenance in a live server rack. Not that I was there for this…

      • #3084358

        How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        by dryflies ·

        In reply to How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        At a large manufacturing facility in Oregon,  one of the manufacturing machines ran off two NT4.0 PCs.  to communicate, there was a private lan between them and each also had a connection to the company manufacturing network.  The whole thing was 10baseT.  Fast ethernet came out and the technicians realised that they could get an increase in output (more widgets) if they put fast ethernet nics in the machines and used a switch, getting rid of the private LAN. So far so good. 

        The manufacturing technician made the change, and then the IT tech came to hook the whole thing up to the LAN.  When the IT tech hooked the machines up to the switch, there were a couple of extra LAN cables coming out of the wiring cabinet so he hooked them to the switch as well.  It was one of the switches with autosensing ports and the two extra cable ends were of the same cable that was too mired in the spaghetti of wires to remove.  The LAN went down for 6 hours while they tried to figure out what happened.

      • #3266869

        How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        by rclark2 ·

        In reply to How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        This happened several years ago but is a classic, so here goes. I am a systems analyst so get called at all hours for all types of support issues, both hardware and software. Because we pride ourselves in supporting our after hours techs, we never know who will call and what the call will be.

        One night I got a call from our IBM service rep who will remain nameless. He had been called by our after hours support tech because one of the terminals was dead. He had talked to the tech, ran diagnostics, replaced the power supply, back plane, and distribution bus on the terminal. After about two hours work, he called me and said he would have to replace the box because he couldn’t find anything wrong but it was still dead.

        Although he was a very smart cookie, and had been a field representative for 20+ years, my first question to him was “Is it plugged in?” Dead silence on the phone. Then “Thanks. The universal power cord was loose in the socket. Goodnight.”

        No, I don’t have ESP or anything like that. Just customers and I didn’t think about who was on the other end of the line when I asked the question. Turns out even we “Techs” have blind spots.

      • #3267475

        How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        by nrdickens ·

        In reply to How about a few classic clueless-TECH stories?

        During a network segregation project I managed to create a new local DNS zone that was the same as the zone provided by the company we were segregating from.  However, it only contained a third of the entries we actually needed and that included none of the production links.  All I can say is there is nothing like ‘effective change control’, and this change contained nothing like effective change control

    • #3267249

      Fish gotta swim, crumbs gotta fly

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      If you’ve read my confessional “10
      improvement goals for the less-than-perfect user,”
      you know that I
      could never lose my laptop. It would be too easy to track it down by following
      the trail of crumbs leading back to it. What else is there to do when you’re
      sitting at a computer, knocking out a riveting blog entry, but snack, after
      all?

      I’m not talking about spilling benzene-laden soft drinks on
      the keyboard. I’m careful. Fastidious, even, for a desktop snacker. Still, the
      average workday is likely to release a few parts-per-billion of snack debris
      into the atmosphere, and prevailing winds sometimes carry them toward my
      keyboard. It’s a natural phenomenon. I accept that.

      But that doesn’t mean I’m hell-bent on dropping, say, a
      pudding cup on my function keys. (Talk about living on the edge.) And because I
      recognize the importance of snacking responsibly, I was especially pleased to
      come across Becky Roberts’ guidelines on “The worst
      foods to eat over a keyboard (and the best ways to clean up the mess).”

      I might be reaching here, but judging by the items on her list of problematic
      snacks (her Jell-O trumps my Spaghetti-Os, I’m pretty sure), she appears to be an
      inveterate keyboard snacker herself. Unlike me, however, she also seems to be a
      proactive one. Her article includes some helpful hints on keyboard cleanup,
      along with links to some how-to resources.

      So the next time your imaginary maitre d’ (like you don’t have
      one; c’mon…) offers you a cozy seat with a view of your ThinkPad, just
      remember to choose your snacks wisely. If it’s on Becky’s list, you could be
      asking for trouble.

    • #3287673

      Internet closed for spring cleaning: Web-crawling robots roll up their sleeves

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Finally, finally, spring has arrived. For me that means it’s
      time to tune up the tractor, degunk the garden tools, and vacuum dead bugs out
      of the window sills to make room for new ones. Seems like a lot of work, but I realized
      how trifling these tasks are after reading about this REAL spring cleaning
      effort:

      —————————————-

      From:
      Department of Homeland Security
      Date: March
      29, 2006 8:48:17 AM MST
      To: All US
      Medical Facilities
      Subject: World
      Wide Web cleanup

      It
      is
      necessary to inform all internet dependent facilities that the internet
      will be
      shut down for cleaning for twenty-four hours from midnight on March 31
      through the early hours of April 2. This cleaning is necessary to
      clear out the “electronic flotsam and jetsam” that has accumulated in
      the network. Dead email and inactive ftp, www, and gopher sites will be
      purged.
      The cleaning will be done by five very powerful Japanese-built
      multi-lingual
      Internet-crawling robots (Toshiba ML-2274) situated around the
      world. During this period, users are warned to disconnect all devices
      from the internet. If electronic files will be needed during that
      period of time, it is
      advised that back-up systems be used, without attempting to access
      them through the Internet. Although the general public has not been
      informed of
      this shutdown to avoid a general panic, it has been deemed necessary to
      inform
      public medical and emergency facilities that may have become internet
      dependent. This message may be passed on to any facility or person that
      you
      believe may be affected by this short shutdown.

      Thank you for
      your cooperation in this matter.

      U.S. Assistant
      Secretary for Homeland Security Randy Beardsworth

      —————————————-

      I don’t know about you, but I can really tell the difference
      — my Internet connection has never been so swift and nimble, unencumbered as
      it is now by defunct gopher site debris.

      You can read about the history of this memo, whose origins
      actually predate the Internet, at http://www.snopes.com/holidays/aprilfools/cleaning.asp.
      I went poking around Snopes on a quest for amusing hoaxes after checking out
      Deb Shinder’s recent article and download “10
      Internet threats your users can ignore,” which detail a variety of popular
      scams and phony warnings.

      Whenever I read about such pranks, I think, “Who but
      the most incredibly mindless or profoundly nontechnical user would fall for
      this???” Well, all sorts of folks, apparently — including the mindful and
      tech-savvy. One member posted to the article
      discussion thread
      to observe: “It’s funny just how many people fall
      for this stuff. I have friends — seemingly intelligent people — that will
      send me forwards about how Bill Gates will send me $2 for every person this
      gets forwarded to. I ask them if they really think they’re going to get a check
      and they say ‘probably not but who knows?'”

      Just goes to show. There’s a cybersucker born every minute?
      and two to phish him.

    • #3286719

      Staying away from windows (not Windows)

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Had one of those nights where storms swoop in around 3 AM, head-butt
      the house for a couple of hours, and leave you wondering what kind of shape
      you’ll find things in when it gets light. Minor damage as it turns out, but
      it’s easy to get spooked with an already off-the-charts tornado season
      underway.

      So while the wind and hail were indiscriminately chewing up roof
      shingles and fragile new leaves, I tried to stop thinking about unseen funnel
      clouds and replaced that worry with another one: How likely is it that an
      individual–say, one who does a lot of work at home–might lose all their equipment
      and their data, both ongoing and archived, to a blown-off roof, a fire, a
      flood?

      We talk about disaster preparedness on the enterprise level,
      although evidence suggests that not everyone has much of a system in place. But
      how do you build your own personal DR plan? What offsite facility to you use to
      store backups? How do you equip yourself to cope with an emergency evacuation
      — and how much stuff will you be able to rescue? It’s tempting to think that
      home is that safe place where you can work if something (heaven forbid) ever
      happens to your main office building. But of course that’s a happy delusion: Risk
      is risk.

      I’m casting a wider net to try to pull in some suggestions
      on strategies for developing a “home continuity plan.” You can check this
      discussion thread
      to see what members have offered. Meanwhile, if all of
      this has stirred up that old worry about the insufficient DR plan that’s never
      really been tested in your organization (or the one that remains to be drafted,
      much less implemented and tested), here are some good resources to get you
      moving in the right direction:

      Disaster
      Recovery Plan: Manager’s checklists

      Disaster
      recovery plan update checklist

      A
      disaster recovery e-book

    • #3162397

      Shortcut shortcuts

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      I’m feeling number-oriented today; maybe it’s just a lingering
      trace of Kentucky Derby fever. Anyway, I found myself suddenly curious about the
      number of times our various shortcut lists have been downloaded. By my reckoning,
      these collections–published on TechRepublic over the past year– have been
      downloaded roughly 451,050 times. All told, these documents comprise a hefty ~1,000
      shortcuts (discounting the universal ones like [Ctrl]C, which appear on more
      than one list).

      Who doesn’t love a cheat sheet? Key information the very
      instant you need it, no thinking or remembering required.

      Microsoft
      Word 2003 keyboard shortcuts

      34
      timesaving mouse tricks for Word users

      85
      keyboard shortcuts for moving faster in Microsoft Excel

      70+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Microsoft Access

      50+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Microsoft PowerPoint

      80+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Microsoft Outlook

      50+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Microsoft Outlook Express

      50+
      keyboard shortcuts for moving faster in Windows XP

      100+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in TextPad

      90+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0 for Windows

      70+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Mozilla Firefox

      30+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Microsoft Internet Explorer

      Keyboard
      shortcuts for Lotus Notes users

      70+
      Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Apple Mac OS X

      • #3152297

        Shortcut shortcuts

        by leee ·

        In reply to Shortcut shortcuts

        An instant classic – this should go in an official TR library. Thanks.

    • #3153525

      What does it take to excel in IT?

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      A recurring theme on TR surrounds the issue of professional
      capabilities. At the most basic level, the question that IT pros and hiring
      managers are asking is this:  “What
      makes a good support tech?” (Or net admin or project manager, etc.) We’ve
      taken a few stabs at nailing down the skills and attributes that seem to spell
      success for a variety of tech job functions:

      Twelve
      qualities of successful support techs

      Eleven
      qualities of successful IT managers

      10
      things you should know about being a great IT manager

      10
      things you should know about developing soft skills to advance your IT career

      Master
      these 10 processes to sharpen your project management skills

      Ten
      skills that can help you land an IT manager job

      10
      New Year’s resolutions for IT managers

      Now, CIO Jeff Relkin has put together a broad view of
      fundamental competencies that distinguish the effective, well-rounded IT
      pro–the one who isn’t just putting in time on the job but who is actively building
      a career, growing in the profession, expanding his or her skill set, and adding
      value to the organization.

      If you’ve been feeling a little complacent or have lost your
      professional momentum–or you just need some insight into what skills to focus
      on as you head down the IT career path–there are some great recommendations on
      Jeff’s list.

    • #3160503

      Dumb is in the eye of the beholder

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      I just published Deb Shinder’s list of “10 dumb things
      users do that can mess up their computers,”
      and not surprisingly, it
      has sparked a fairly edgy discussion
      that touches on users’ intractability or inability to learn basic practices
      and develop a little tech self-reliance. Also included in this mix is the
      failure of many organizations to allocate even the scantest of funds toward end
      user training, with the implicit suggestion that employees should already know
      what they need to know; after all, that’s why they were hired.

      These are serious issues and clearly dominate the thinking
      of a lot of IT pros out there. But the message I was hoping members would take
      away from Deb’s list is that it doesn’t really matter why users do dumb things. Maybe they’re just completely
      nontechnical. Maybe they’re butt-headed nitwits who delight in making support
      techs dance to whatever misguided tune they choose to call. Maybe they’re
      earnestly trying to pick up knowledge but nobody ever explained to them that
      their trusted friends’ e-mail addresses might get spoofed.

      The fact is, mistakes are going to happen, and when they do,
      IT is going to have to clean up the mess. So it only makes sense that we should
      take every preemptive measure we can to avert those messes in the first place. It’s
      self-preservation. And user education has to be the easiest first step toward preventing
      problems, even if we just provide info like the simple steps in this list. I
      know, I know; users may not get it. Hell, most of them probably won’t even
      bother to read it. But some of them will. At least we can say we made the
      effort.

      Not trying to help users understand the consequences of
      their actions… now that’s a dumb thing.

      • #3169184

        Dumb is in the eye of the beholder

        by imalguy ·

        In reply to Dumb is in the eye of the beholder

        I work for an Oil company and we have a folder called Helpdesk Tips and Tricks on each PC we deploy.We have the general topics like “How to change your password”, “Creatng PST files”etc. It maybe helps 15 % of the people we assist. The remainer do not even know there is such a folder or if we mention it they will not read the documents in the folder. Most want their hand held or do it for them.

      • #3279399

        Dumb is in the eye of the beholder

        by retired77777 ·

        In reply to Dumb is in the eye of the beholder

        Insert comment text here A little more user friendly installing instructions would help especially for older people. older me

    • #3155197

      Talk me down: It’s only a misplaced apostrophe!

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      One bonehead grammatical error too many (I think it was
      “you’re” for “your”) sent me over the edge, and I was compelled
      to publish “10
      grammar mistakes that make you look stupid.”

      And now I’ve become addicted to its discussion
      thread
      , which has taken off in about 50 directions.

      There’s something for everyone there. A forum for expressing
      your own peeves or ranting against someone else’s. Lessons in linguistics and
      cultural history. A little badinage between proponents of the Queen’s (or
      King’s) English and that lazy Americanized version. The overzealous, the
      anti-zealous, the l33t busters, the “let’s break all the rules” camp,
      the “language is going to hell” doomsayers.

      A couple of times, I’ve been forced to drag down a dusty
      copy of Chicago Style Manual or Words into Type to check on something I
      sort of remembered as a rule that various publishers insisted I adhere to. To
      which they insisted I adhere. Mostly, I’ve been vindicated. Although, as one
      member pointed out to me, “grammar” is a noun not an adjective, so
      the title of my article is incorrect (and yeah, makes me look stupid!).

      Anyway, I stand by the list of 10 things as mainstream
      mistakes that are commonly regarded as red flags signaling careless or ignorant
      usage. But of course, it doesn’t stop there.

      I also understand that our language is evolving, there are a
      million regional/cultural differences, there are plenty of good reasons to
      break the rules, and many editorial conventions are based merely on someone’s
      preference or whim somewhere up the line.

      I’m a big advocate of what I think of as “business
      casual” writing. Solid writing, but relaxed enough to let the
      writer’s voice come through. I don’t run my contributors’ articles through some
      grammatical grinder so that it’s neatly packaged according to stringent rules
      but homogenized and devoid of flavor. (No really? I don’t!)

      It comes down to two things for me, whether I’m writing or
      editing: Is the information expressed clearly, concisely, and logically? And is
      it free of glaring mistakes that could confuse or distract the reader?

      Anything beyond that is a bonus: a clever lead; a subtle,
      ingenious subtext; a compelling story; humor (done well); the
      refreshing absence of worn-out pop culture references, cliches, and statements
      of the obvious.

      I think good writing is better than correct writing. But the editor
      in me wants both.

    • #3271028

      Reuben the Podcast Dog

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      Last week, I called into our TechRepublic recording studio
      to participate in a roundtable discussion on first
      impressions of Office 2007 Beta 2
      . I’ve just barely dipped a toe in this
      beta, but I can tell it’s going to be fun to splash around. I don’t know about
      actually USING it, however; I’m already feeling a little cantankerous at the
      prospect of the software trying to spoon-feed me prefab document elements and deciding
      what options I need while limiting my power to push things around.

      For those who haven’t sampled the beta for themselves, we’ve
      put together a ton of photo gallery images that show, among other things,
      Office 2007’s option-packed “ribbon,” which is supposed to rescue users
      from the confounding dilemma of deciding which menu to haul open in search of a
      way to achieve a task. I continue to be struck by the irony that Microsoft has
      decided to combat the problem of feature overkill by ADDING MORE FEATURES. Of course,
      the design changes are supposed to turn feature-bloat into feature-rich. Anyone
      buying that?

      Beta 2 photo galleries:

      Along with the gallery images, you might want to check out
      the podcast to hear a few opinions on what the drastic UI changes may mean for
      users, what the pricing/licensing structure may mean for organizations, and how
      the new version is likely to be received.

      If you listen carefully, you’ll also hear my dog Reuben
      offering his thoughts (squirrel, truck, kibble).

    • #3168039

      Should you try to rehabilitate your boss?

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      I’ve had a ton of managers over the past 20 years in the
      tech publishing biz. Like, lemme see:  22
      of ’em, give or take. It’s just that kind of industry, restless and volatile
      and lousy with reorgs. I was even a manager myself for a brief, soul-sucking,
      wholly unrewarding year or so. Definitely not the color of my parachute. Color
      of my noose, maybe.

      Given those kind of numbers, it’s not surprising that I’ve
      also had one or two fabulous and inspiring managers and one or two astoundingly
      deficient ones (who have mercifully drifted away to ply their ineffectiveness
      elsewhere). So I was keen on publishing Becky Roberts’ “10 ways to train
      your boss to give you the support you need
      ,” a kind of proactive
      antidote to the career-crippling fallout generated by bad managers.

      Even if you have the best boss in the world, there’s some
      work to be done–on both sides of the equation–to make sure your manager can
      help you do your job. And when managers are just not that sharp? or savvy? or
      committed (or okay, if they’re incompetent, driven mad by insecurity, disingenuous,
      spiteful, officious, and? STOP me), it becomes tremendously important to take
      steps to steer them in the right direction. Even if the only thing you can do
      is try to stay on their radar.

      In bad situations, I’ve maintained a tradition of suffering
      in silence (except for copious bitching to peers), always assuming I was stuck
      with whatever supervisory hand I’d been dealt. And that’s a pretty reasonable approach
      for, say, a five-year-old. But for anyone aspiring to be a mature, responsible,
      professional employee–a cog, maybe, but a damn fine cog–certain challenges
      need to be squarely met. And I’d say looking for ways to help your boss be a
      better boss falls into that category.

      • #3168361

        Should you try to rehabilitate your boss?

        by vaspersthegrate ·

        In reply to Should you try to rehabilitate your boss?

        For an even more comprehensive view of bosses and how to deal with them, refer to the funny, smart, well-written book How To Work For a Jerk: Your Success is the Best Revenge by Robert M. Hochheiser (Vintage, 1987).

    • #3207205

      Word user since nineteen hundred and twenty-seven

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      I had a good time putting together “10 obscure Word
      tricks that can expedite common chores
      ” (and its PDF
      cousin
      ), mostly because I was anticipating some ego-boosting feedback. (Yeah,
      I’m all about the external validation. It’s pretty sad, really.)

      There’s nothing exotic or wildly innovative about the
      tricks–just plain old underused or poorly documented features. But it’s the
      kind of thing that gets people to say, “I’ve been using Word for 79 years
      and thought I knew it inside and out? but I never realized you could make a
      vertical text selection!”

      It’s also the kind of thing where you get people to say,
      “Good tips, but you went overboard with that last one. Just create a
      desktop shortcut for the template.” As member Antonio Rodulfo pointed out:

      Trick #10 is a little trickier than needed. For Word to
      create a new document based on a template already existing either in your
      system or on a local area network server repository, you only need Windows
      Explorer to navigate to that template folder, wherever it may be, press [Alt] and
      click-and-drag the template file to your desktop. Windows will show the little
      arrow marking a direct access icon both along the process and upon leaving the
      file icon in your desktop… and you’re there!

      It’s an old story: I couldn’t see the shortcut for the startup
      switches.

      Thanks, Antonio. I’ve been using Word for 79 years, but I
      forgot about that straightforward and highly practical solution.

      If you have a favorite Word trick of your own, please share
      it in the
      discussion thread
      .

    • #3227846

      How do you do? How do I???

      by jodygilbert ·

      In reply to ISO Nexus

      One of the tenets of online content production suggests that
      the way you present information is as important as the
      quality of the information itself. This applies to how it looks (legible fonts,
      nice use of white space, nothing overshadowed by ads or graphics) as well as
      how it’s packaged–its form factor, as we like to say (over and over) these
      days.

      So naturally, the TechRepublic editors are always looking
      for the best ways to present particular types of information: glossaries, cheat
      sheets, tutorials, “10 things you should know about?” lists. And
      we’ve recently started publishing a new type of content, which, in a fit of
      unparalleled creative brilliance, we dubbed “How do I??”

      You may have seen a few of these already:

      (You can view the entire growing collection by clicking
      this tag search link
      .)

      The formula is pretty simple: Take a problem or a procedure
      and work through it step by step until you reach a solution or produce the
      desired results. The tricky thing here is scope.

      Just how granular should the focus be in order to be truly
      useful? I’m thinking, for example, that something like “How do I? Create a
      Web page?” or “How do I? Use Microsoft Visio?” or “How do I?
      Make lots of money and have fun working in IT?” might be a little
      sweeping. On the other hand, I’m wary of getting too particularized. So, for
      instance, I’d steer clear of:

      • How do I? Adjust the brightness on my monitor when I’m using
        two Philips 100-watt Longlife incandescent light bulbs in a room with a
        south-facing Andersen Tilt-Wash Double-Hung window and partially closed
        Venetian blinds (color: Mocha Frost) on a day that’s 83 percent overcast with nimbostratus
        clouds whose bases lie at 7,100 feet?
      • How do I? Extricate Gerber Tender Harvest Non-Bioengineered Pureed
        Corn ‘n Peas from my MATSHITA UJDA755yDVD/CDRW DVD/CD-ROM drive, from my
        Microsoft Natural PS/2 keyboard, and from the internal components that got a
        little soggy, including the Texas Instruments PCI-4520 Cardbus Controller and
        the Intel(R) 82801DMB Ultra ATA Storage Controller -24CA?
      • How do I? teach Microsoft Word to know what text I want to
        enter when I type the beginning of the AutoText entry “thisthatthesethosethem,”
        which sometimes should autocomplete the word “this” and sometimes
        “that” and sometimes “these” and sometimes
        “those” and sometimes “them”?

      Nope, you probably won’t be seeing that stuff in the content
      lineup anytime soon.

      Achieving the right balance between macro and micro is
      sometimes tough, but I’m confident that we can do it. We could use a little
      help, though. What “How do I??” topics would you like to see us
      cover? How narrowly focused do you think they should be?

      • #3204099

        How do you do? How do I???

        by kiltie ·

        In reply to How do you do? How do I???

        A suggestion:

        One very useful “How Do I…..” article would be about how to use TR.

         

        How do I find all the TR sections (17+?) atm there seem to be only several links listed. It may be there, but obscured by TMI, if so, should it be made more prominent?

        How do I submit suggestions for a future article?

        How do I submit an article myself? Is there a protocol, set of standards, template, is it subject to permissions, editorial review, peer review etc? I once found a link, but got a PNF error, now I can’t find any links at all.

        How do I get a response from TR? (for example, I submitted a query re profile, got an automated reply saying I should get a response in 24 hours, 10 days later, still nothing)

        Where is the section for suggestions for improving TR? I have seen references to one, but (again) cannot find the link easily.

         

        Hope this helps

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