In this issue...
- Passwords - how to make them strong
- Troubleshoot - how not to print blank pages
- Word Whiz Workshop
Contact Information
Vee Smith
My Super VA
40 Birkdale Gardens
South Oxhey
WD19 7AW
020 8421 6842
vs@mysuperva.co.uk
www.mysuperva.co.uk
Past issues
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Hi
I had great feedback last month from my first newsletter, so here's February's issue which I hope will be just as useful. This month, passwords - can't avoid having them, so how do you make them secure and memorable? Also, my tip of the month - ever get a blank page printing after your document? Here's why and how to prevent it. And finally, how to streamline creating professional looking documents in MS Word - details of an IT workshop "How to be a Word Whiz" I'm running in April.
Have a fab Feb!
Vee Smith
My Super VA
VA and Business Services
'helping busy professionals make effective use of their time'
020 8421 6842 (tel)
0771 240 0861 (mob)
0871 528 9390 (fax)
vs@mysuperva.co.uk (email)
www.mysuperva.com (web)
www.workingmumpreneur.typepad.com (blog)
40 Birkdale Gardens, Watford WD19 7AW, UK
Smart Password Practice
You can't use the internet these days without encountering passwords. Broadband connection, wireless router, email accounts, online banking, shopping websites, community websites, newsletters, your own website, the list goes on. There's been so much in the press about online theft and identity fraud and a lot of advice about keeping safe from identity fraud by having different passwords for your online banking to that you use for other "less important" community websites and shopping sites. If a hacker gets a weak password from one site, they'll have access to other sites if the same word is used.
Passwords that can be easily guessed or cracked with special computer programs are called weak. Weak passwords are common words, like the name of your spouse or pet or words that can be found in a dictionary. So how do you create a password that is both strong and memorable?
Strong passwords ideally have 4 elements: numbers, upper and lower case letters and some symbols. Blend them together to make a code that is easy to remember but difficult to crack.
For example, the word 'Password' could be transformed into 'P@ssw0rD' or 'P455w0rD'.
Another technique is to use a phrase or song lyric to generate a password. So the chorus of Nena's hit "99 red balloons, floating in the summer sky" becomes 99Rb,Fitss. This is a difficult password to crack but easy to remember if it's your favourite song.
Top Tips for Password Security
- Never use a name or single word as an important password
- Don't use a spouse's name as they are easy to find out
- Use a mixture of upper, lower case, numbers and symbols
- For valuable sites like online banking, store passwords in your head
- Never allow a public computer to remember your passwords
Printing Blank Pages
Ever get a blank page printing after your Word document? Here's what's happening:
Every key stroke is recorded by Word, including tabs, spaces and line changes. "Enter" is recorded as a line change. So when you get a blank page it's probably because there's some extra line changes. All you need to do is delete the superfluous line changes.
How do you see them?
- Click the "Show All" icon on the toolbar with ¶ on it.
- Document fills with all the non-printing characters, including · (indicates spaces), → (indicates tabs) and ¶ (indicates line changes) .
- Scroll down to the end of the page
- Delete all the extra line changes or ¶.
- The number of pages should decrease by 1, or alternatively hit print preview to check.
- Click ¶ again and the non-printing characters gets 'switched off' and the page looks "clean" again.
How to be a Word Whiz Workshop
How to save time using MS Word
Tips and Tricks you won’t find in the Help Files
Do you make these time-consuming mistakes?
- Copy and paste text from other documents
- Delete contents of previous letters to create new letters because it’s got your logo etc.
- Accidentally lose documents because you’ve overwritten them
- End up with different fonts/sizes spacing in same document or
- Spend ages changing all the fonts and line spacing throughout the document
In conjunction with The Athena Network, I shall be sharing my secrets in the "How to be a Word Whiz" workshop and in 3 hours you’ll know how to:-
- Use the AutoText tool to insert any text or image, without the need for locating and opening any other documents to copy and paste from
- Create easy to use Templates for letterheads and invoices without the need to open any other previous documents or risk accidentally deleting or overwriting them
- Use Styles to create a consistent look and feel in your documents
- Easily change the fonts and line spacing in the whole document using Styles
Date: Friday 25th April 2008
Time: 10am to 1pm
Venue: The Ethorpe Hotel
Address: Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross, Bucks SL9 8HX
Cost: £75 including refreshments and workbook
To book a place or to find out more information, reply to this email or call me on 020 8421 6842.
Until next month....
Vee
www.mysuperva.co.uk
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