This update contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance.

For detailed information about this update, visit
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119963.

Note that this is a huge update: 150+ megabytes! Be sure you have a fast connection and enough time to complete the download before beginning the update.

This update to Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac is part of Microsoft’s ongoing effort to provide the latest product updates to customers. To receive future Microsoft product updates, you must install this update.

For additional assistance, or to obtain a downloadable version of this update, visit http://www.microsoft.com/mac.

Flying M Productions has a limited number of copies of Microsoft Office Excel 2007 for Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide and Creating Spreadsheets and Charts with Microsoft Office Excel 2007 for WIndows: Visual QuickProject Guide for sale at $10.99 and $8.49 respectively — that’s 50% off retail price. This offer is good for books shipped to U.S. address only. (Sorry, but they’re not willing to deal with overseas shipping because of the extensive customs paperwork involved.)

To order a book, click the appropriate Buy Now button below. All payment is via PayPal, which accepts payment via all major credit cards or bank account transfer. Books are shipped out within 48 hours of order receipt.

When Flying M Productions runs out of copies, this offer will end, so don’t delay if you want to take advantage of it.

There is no easier or more convenient way to follow a blog-based Web site’s content than to subscribe to its RSS feed. Today’s Web browsers and other applications make it easy. For example, RSS feed reading capabilities are built into Safari and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard’s Mail application. Firefox’s Live Bookmarks display new content from your favorite feeds. And there are numerous RSS feed reader applications — NetNewsWire and endo come to mind — that help you manage as many feeds as you have time to follow.

This site Includes both a full-site feed and category feeds. You can subscribe by clicking the RSS icon that appears in the header (for the entire site’s feed) or beside the name of a category under a blog post’s title (for a category feed). Or just use the links listed below.

Through the magic of FeedBurner, I can also offer e-mail subscriptions to site content. Subscriptions are guaranteed to be spam-free, and I don’t give or sell your e-mail address to anyone. Best of all, its easy to unsubscribe from any feed — each e-mail message includes an unsubscribe link that really does work. You’ll find forms for subscribing to topical feeds in the sidebar (when I get around to adding them; sorry!) or you can click the appropriate link below. Just remember to look for and respond to the confirmation e-mail you’ll get from FeedBurner. Your subscription won’t be turned on until you confirm that you want it. (This prevents unwanted subscriptions.)

All Content

Subscribing to this feed will get you all articles, downloads, and other material that appears on this site. I expect to average 5 to 10 posts per week, so it shouldn’t be too overwhelming to get it all. Keep in mind that if you subscribe to this feed, you probably won’t want to subscribe to any of the others listed below; doing so will get duplicate content.

Feed address:http://feeds.feedburner.com/MariasGuides

E-Mail Subscription Link:Subscribe to Maria’s Guides by Email

Mac OS Topics

This includes articles, downloads, and other content related to Mac OS and my Mac OS books.

Feed address:http://feeds.feedburner.com/macosquickstart

E-mail Subscription Link:Subscribe to Maria’s Guides | Mac OS Books by Email

WordPress Topics

This includes articles, downloads, and other content related to WordPress and the WordPress books I co-author with Miraz Jordan.

Feed address:http://feeds.feedburner.com/wordpressquickstart

E-mail Subscription Link:Subscribe to Maria’s Guides | WordPress Books by Email

And if you’re serious about blogging, you might also want to subscribe to blogging-related content on my personal site, An Eclectic Mind: http://feeds.feedburner.com/mariaonblogging

Excel Topics

This includes articles, downloads, and other content related to Excel and my Excel books for Mac OS and Windows.

Feed address:http://feeds.feedburner.com/MariasGuidesExcelBooks

E-Mail Subscription Link:Subscribe to Maria’s Guides | Excel Books by Email.

Word Topics

This includes articles, downloads, and other content related to Word and my Word books for Mac OS and Windows.

Feed address:http://feeds.feedburner.com/MariasGuidesWordBooks

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If you have any questions about subscribing to content, please use the Comments link or form below to ask them.

I built my first Web site back in the mid 1990s. It was a simple site, created in HTML, that provided information about me and my books.

A [Very] Brief History of my Web Site(s)

The Internet was young back then — at least as far as the masses were concerned. Few people surfed. In fact, the whole idea of going online was so new and radical back then that my first book proposal, which was about telecommunications on a Mac, was turned down because publishers felt that there wouldn’t be enough people interested in it.

Anyway, as things heated up, I soon saw the benefits of putting more information on the Web. And then, in 2003, I discovered blogging. Surely my personal blog should be separate from what I write to support my books and articles, right? So I spun off a new site, LangerBooks.com, and published plain HTML Web pages with book promotional and support information.

Meanwhile, I fell in love with the whole blogging interface. There was no question in my mind: a blog was a perfect tool for presenting new content while automatically archiving old content. So I got LangerBooks.com into a blog format, with a separate blog for each title.

Back in those days (2003-2004), it wasn’t easy for me. I’d decided to blog with a program called iBlog that had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, its author wasn’t willing or able to keep up with technology. His software generated static HTML documents for each page of a blog. The more you wrote, the more cumbersome the whole blog updating process became. And, as those of you who read this blog regularly know, I can write an awful lot.

So in January 2005, I made the jump to WordPress. It was a big jump indeed, since I knew absolutely nothing about PHP or MySQL and very little about CSS. (What made it even bigger was that I was hosting my own blog on my own server.) I learned what I needed to know. One of the best things about WordPress is that you don’t need to know much to build a really professional looking site.

Around the same time, I decided that I didn’t want to maintain separate blogs for my books. So I brought all the books back under MariaLanger.com and came up with some creative ways to keep Book Support topics separate from the rest of the site. Creative, yes. Effective, perhaps.

One Blog to Rule them All?

Of course, the whole time I was doing this, I was reading from “pro bloggers” about how important it is to keep your blog on just one topic. These guys were blogging to make money, I argued to myself. They weren’t in it because of a need to blog or a desire to provide additional information to book readers. So I pretty much ignored them.

But their advice was eating away at my brain in the back of my mind. After much thought, I realized that having too many widespread topics in my blog was preventing the blog from being more popular. For example, people interested in my flying and lifestyle posts — which, according to a poll on my site, is about 30% of the site’s visitors — were probably bored silly with my Mac OS and Excel and WordPress posts. And people interested in getting book support (16% of visitors) weren’t interested in wading through the other content to get the bits of information that could help them. This was preventing me from getting more site subscribers and regular readers.

So about two weeks ago, I decided to make the split.

Drumroll, Please

The question of how I did it is something I can discuss as a WordPress-related post. Let’s just say that I’ve done the basic work and have enough content in the new blog to open it to the public.

So here’s the formal announcement:

Support for my books and articles can now be found at the Maria’s Guides Web site: http://www.mariasguides.com/.

If you’re reading this post there, you’ve already found it. Otherwise, if you’re interested in articles, tips, and downloads related to my books about Mac OS, Excel, Word, and WordPress, please go check it out.

And yes, occasionally there will be cross posts, like this one. But I’ll try to keep that to a minimum.

Why Maria’s Guides?

A few years back, I made a false start on a line of eBooks. I abandoned the project, primarily because I got busy with other things that were more interesting (and lucrative). I’m thinking of revisiting the idea with shorter eBooks covering a wider range of topics. Maria’s Guides was the working title of the series and I own the domain name, so why not?

Want to see some sample pages from my Excel Visual QuickProject? Here are a few links.

• Front Matter (including complete Table of Contents)
• Excerpt from Chapter 3

Just a quick note to pass along some info I got in e-mail from Peachpit Press, one of my publishers.

Over the last several months, you’ve been talking and now it’s our chance to show you that we’ve been listening. You told us you wanted better and faster searches for our books and content. You said you wanted more videos, better access to our authors, and more ways to get involved. After listening to everything you had to say, we’re proud to introduce the newly redesigned Peachpit.com.

They’ve added features to the site, including online video tutorials, access to blogs, and online reference guides. But the news that might interest you most is that they’re also offering a 40% discount on all books purchased on the site:

To thank you for your feedback and to celebrate our new site we would like to offer you a 40% discount on your purchases. Just order before September 15 and enter coupon code PPT-NEWSITE-EM01 during checkout!

Sounds like a good deal to me. I hope you’ll take advantage of it, perhaps to buy one or more of my books?

This update fixes a vulnerability that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code. For more information about this update, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article (KB940763).

System requirements

Before you install this update, make sure that the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.6 Update is installed on your computer. To verify that you have installed this update, select the Microsoft Component Plugin file in the Microsoft Office 2004/Office folder on your hard disk, and then on the File menu, click Get Info.

Additionally, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Operating system: Mac OS X 10.2.8 (Jaguar) or a later version of Mac OS

Note:To verify that your computer meets these minimum requirements, on the Apple menu, click About This Mac.

More information

If you have technical questions or problems downloading or using this update, visit the Microsoft Support page at www.microsoft.com/mac/support to learn about the support options that are available to you.

Site visitor Jamie left the following comment on my recent post, “Random Number Generator for Excel“:

maria dont spose u know how to split a four digit number like 2365 into 4 different numbers 2 3 6 5 in all different cells in excel without having to do it manually just wandering please tell me if you know a way thanks

I had an idea of how to do this with the MID function, which is a text function. I just didn’t know if I had to convert the starting number to text before extracting the digits.

So I whipped up the attached worksheet and popped in the formulas. The answer: no, you don’t need to convert the number to text first.

The MID function has 3 arguments:

• text is the text you want to extract characters from. For this example, it’s the four-digit number.
• start_num is the number of the first character in the string you want to extract. For this example, it’s the digit number (1 though 4).
• num_chars is the number of characters you want to extract. For this example, it’s 1.

You can examine the formulas in the spreadsheet for yourself to learn more. Download it here.

Hope this helps, Jamie!

This update fixes a vulnerability that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code. This update also addresses an issue with using public folders in Entourage, and it contains the latest postal code information for Japanese addresses.

System requirements

Before you install this update, make sure that the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.5 Update is installed on your computer. To verify that you have installed this update, select the Microsoft Component Plugin file in the Microsoft Office 2004/Office folder on your hard disk, and then on the File menu, click Get Info.

Additionally, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

Operating system: Mac OS X 10.2.8 (Jaguar) or a later version of Mac OS

Note: To verify that your computer meets these minimum requirements, on the Apple menu, click About This Mac.

Improvements for Excel 2004

• Security is improved. This update fixes vulnerabilities in Excel 2004 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.

Improvements for Entourage 2004

• Microsoft Exchange public folder data loss issue is fixed. This update fixes an issue that causes data loss when public folder users who have a permission level of “Editor” or greater use Entourage to empty the cache for all public folders on the server running Exchange Server.
• Japanese postal code dictionary is updated. The Japanese postal code dictionary is updated with the latest information as of May 2007.

More information

If you have technical questions or problems downloading or using this update, visit the Microsoft Support page at www.microsoft.com/mac/support to learn about the support options that are available to you.

I just happened to visit a Web site that used another Web site to generate random numbers for contest giveaways. To me, an Excel user, that seemed like a silly place to go to get a random number when you could easily generate one on the fly within Excel.

So I whipped up a tiny Excel spreadsheet to do the job. You just put the minimum value in one box and the maximum value in the other and Excel generates a random number between the two for you. To generate additional random numbers in the range, just press Command-= (on a Mac) or Control-= in Windows. The worksheet is protected so you can’t accidentally delete the formula that does the magic.

Although I created the worksheet in Excel 2004 for Mac OS, it can be opened in Excel 2003 and Excel 2007 for Windows, too.

Want a copy? Download it here.

Just a quick note to let Excel 2007 users out there know that Informit has published an excerpt from my Excel 2007 Visual QuickStart Guide on its Web site. The piece is titled “Working with Excel Files.” Access to the site is free.

I’m pretty sure the book is out, but I haven’t had an author copy in my hot little hands yet.

I think my recent article about using WordPress with Google sitemaps will be online there next week. Stay tuned for more info.

This update contains several improvements to enhance security and stability, including fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code. In addition, this update includes all the improvements released in all previous Office 2004 updates.

System requirements

To install this update, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

Operating system: Mac OS X 10.2.8 (Jaguar) or a later version of Mac OS

Improvements for all Office 2004 applications

• Security is improved
  This update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2004 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.
• Performance is improved when dragging objects to application windows
  This update fixes an issue that causes an increase in utilization of system resources when you drag a file or object to an Office application window.

Improvements for Word 2004

• Version numbers display correctly
  This update fixes an issue that prevents Word from displaying its complete version number in the About Word dialog (for example, 11.3.5).

Improvements for Excel 2004

• Reliability is improved
  This update fixes one issue that, when you open Excel, causes the application to unexpectedly open workbooks or other files.

Improvements for PowerPoint 2004

• Stability is improved
  This update fixes an issue that causes PowerPoint to quit unexpectedly when opening presentations.

Improvements for Entourage 2004

• Performance is improved
  This update fixes an issue that caused Entourage to stop responding for several minutes during ordinary use.

More information

If you have technical questions or problems downloading or using this update, visit the Microsoft Support page at www.microsoft.com/mac/support to learn about the support options that are available to you.

I put the finishing touches on Microsoft Office Excel 2007: Visual QuickStart Guide. It’s my 68th book (I just counted) and right now, I feel as if I wrote them all yesterday.

Okay, so not that tired.

I had some trouble with this book. First, there was the beta software situation. Not only did I have to work with the Office 2007 beta, but I had to run it on the Vista beta. Double Microsoft Windows betas for a person who usually works on a Mac! You can imagine my concern.

But everything went pretty smoothly with that and I’ve been using release versions since January, so I know everything in the book is based on the final software.

Motivation slowed me down a bit in the middle of the project. I think I really need an editor cracking a whip over my head to get me to work at my old pace. These days, I’d rather fly than write about Excel. (Can you imagine?) The thing that snapped me out of it was money. If I don’t make milestones, my publisher does not send checks. Although Flying M Air is now paying all of its own bills — thank heaven; you should see some of those bills! — it’s not paying my bills. If I don’t write, I don’t eat. And since I like to eat, I became motivated.

Of course, the killer was my February hard disk crash and the two weeks it took me to get everything back to normal here. What a productivity killer! But it taught me a new valuable lesson about backups — you think I would have learned the last two times — and my old dual G5 is still running, now with a new hard disk to go with last year’s new motherboard. Sheesh. (Now you know why I bought AppleCare for my MacBook Pro.)

I churned through the last few chapters relatively quickly, anxious to meet deadlines tied to promotional opportunities. (I’m not sure of those promos really exist or if my editor has learned to tell me about fantasy promos to get me to work faster. I wouldn’t blame her if she made it up.) I had first pass files done last week and spent the past few days finalizing files based on edits. Today, after fooling around a bit — I’m the queen of procrastination — I laid out the index, created an ad for the book’s companion Web site, and turned it all in. The e-mail message I sent to my editor said:

I think I’m done. Can you ask them to send that final check? (Still waiting for the last one, too.)

The book weighs in at 360 pages, which is about the same as the last edition. It’s got the new VQS cover design. It lists for $21.99, but you can buy it from Amazon.com for $14.95 right now, which is 32% off. (Not a bad deal.) It should be in stores by April 20 or thereabouts.

Meanwhile, life goes on.

Tomorrow, I have to take my helicopter in to the avionics shop in Mesa to see if they can figure out why my radio isn’t working right. I have a meeting with a marketing guy down there at 10 AM. Then a tour of Phoenix for a man and his daughter at 2. Somewhere in between, I’ll have lunch with Mike, who has been away for the past few days. Then a flight home.

Friday I get started on my next book. Those of you who know me should know what that is.

My Visual QuickStart Guide books for Excel — from the edition for Excel 95 for Windows through the edition for Excel X for Macintosh — have always included an Excel function reference. In an effort to make pages available for other content, however, we’ve cut that appendix from the Excel 2007 edition of the book. I don’t feel badly about the cut, since this information is readily available in Excel Help and on the Web.

Here’s how you can find a function reference for your version of Excel and print it for your own hard-copy reference guide.

In Excel 2007 for Windows

1. Click the Help button in the upper-right corner of the Excel window to display the Excel Help window.
2. Enter function list in the search box and press Enter.
3. Among the search results that appear, you should see an item titled “List of worksheet functions (by category).” Click its link.
   
4. A help document titled “List of worksheet functions (by category) appears in the help window. It includes a complete list with brief descriptions of all Excel 2007 functions. You can read through this document and click links within it to learn more about specific functions.
   
5. To print the reference sheet, click the Print button in the Excel Help window’s toolbar. Use the Print dialog that appears to set printing options and click the Print button.

Note that you may need a connection to the Internet to access the Function List from within Excel Help. And remember that you can always resize the Excel Help window to better read what’s inside it.

Get this Information Online

This reference information is also available online for some versions of Excel. Click this one of these links:

• Excel 2007 List of Worksheet Functions (by category) - Microsoft has added dozens of new functions to Excel 2007.
• Excel 2003 List of Worksheet functions (by category) - These functions also apply to Excel 2000 (for Windows), Excel 2001 (for Macintosh), Excel 2002 (for Windows), Excel X (for Macintosh), and Excel 2004 (for Macintosh).

These pages contain clickable links to details about specific functions. They can also be printed from within your Web browser; use the Print command.