Issue #30 April 15, 2003

1. Followup on Remote Purchase

Some subscribers have asked whether I have purchased the new remote control that I mentioned a few issues ago. Indeed I did purchase the RemotePoint Navigator and I am very pleased with it. In fact, I was at a conference just after I got it and the closing keynote speaker ended up using my remote because his new one wouldn’t work reliably. I did run into one issue that I thought I should share here for others to be aware of. Depending on where your USB port is located on your computer, you may get interference with the remote from nearby parts. The USB port I plugged my remote into is right beside the power supply and the power supply caused minor interference. I switched to the other USB port, but switching my mouse to the USB port beside the power supply caused display problems. I solved the problems by purchasing a small USB hub which allows me to plug both the mouse and the remote into the hub, which is then plugged into the USB port away from the power supply. If you run into this problem with a USB remote, try the USB hub solution.

2. Outlook 2000 Statutory holidays link

If you use Outlook 2000, one of the nice features of the Calendar is that you can automatically add the statutory holidays by clicking on the Tools menu item, selecting Options and clicking on the Calendar Options button. There is an Add Holidays button on that dialog box. The problem is that the list of holidays ran out at the end of 2002 – the holidays for this year are not included! Fortunately, the Woody’s Office Watch newsletter I mentioned last issue pointed me to the file on Microsoft’s site that has the holidays for this and future years. Here is the link: http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/outlhol.aspx Follow the instructions on that page to install the updated file and then you can add the holidays using the regular method described above.

3. Useful Resource – Distributing PowerPoint presentations

Recently I came across a good article on different ways to distribute your PowerPoint presentation. Many times we want to take a presentation we created and make it available to colleagues, associates or even clients. There are a number of ways to do this and this article from Presentations magazine gives a good summary of the options. Here is the link to the article: http://www.presentations.com/presentations/technology/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1849449