Prevent mammoth numerical errors by forcing SQL Server to treat values as decimals

What's 2 divided by 3? Anyone for 0 as the answer? Unfortunately, that's what you may get if you're not fully aware of how SQL Server treats numbers in queries.

Split your screen using only the keyboard (Word 2000/2002/2003/2004/2007)

In Microsoft Word, you can split your Word document window by selecting Window | Split from the menu bar (In Word 2007, go to the View tab and click the Split button in the Window group) or by double-clicking on the rectangle above Word's vertical scrollbar. But there is a way to split the document window without leaving the comfort of your keyboard! Here's how: Press [Alt][Ctrl]S ([command][option]S on the Mac) to create a movable horizontal line. Use the up and down arrow keys to move the line, and press [Enter] when you've got it in the right place (not available on the Mac). The screen splits, and you can continue editing your document. To remove the split, press [Alt][Shift]C ([command][option]S on the Mac).

Create recurring appointments in your Microsoft Outlook calendar (2000/2002/2003/2007)

When you know a certain appointment will regularly happen again, you don't have to manually enter that appointment on each date. Let Outlook do it for you. Open the appointment form and enter all the details such as a subject and the time and date. Then, click the Recurrence button. (In Outlook 2007, go to the Appointment tab and click the Recurrence button in the Options group.) In the resulting dialog box, select one of the options in the Recurrence Pattern panel such as Weekly or Monthly. Depending on the pattern you select, the options for the pattern change. For example, if you select Weekly, you can set how many weeks between recurrences and on which day the appointment should recur. If you know the end date of the appointment schedule, you can set a range of recurrence instead. Select the options you need and click OK. Outlook enters new appointments on the appropriate days in your calendar.

Use the Navigator palette for precise movements (CS/CS2/CS3/CS4/CS5)

When you need to edit fine detail in Adobe Photoshop, it's helpful to magnify the area with the Zoom tool. Doing so, however, makes it difficult to know where you are in the image. You could expend time and energy scrolling around, trying to find a particular image area, but there's a better way. At a time like this, you need the Navigator panel. To show this panel, choose Window > Navigator. A thumbnail of the entire image appears in the palette and a border (red, by default) frames the area in which you're working. To quickly move to another area in your image, simply click and drag the frame to the image area in the Navigator panel.

Browse for audio files on FindSounds.com

Most Web users are experts at searching for information on the Web and some even know how to use specialized sites for searching images, but did you know you could also search for sounds? Using the free search service at www.findsounds.com, you can find sound files for almost anything you can think of, from animal noises to musical instrument samples. You can search by sound type, file format, sound quality, or file size, so you have plenty of ways to customize a search and find the perfect sound. Take note that this isn’t a file-sharing site for finding MP3 files of the latest chart toppers, but it’s a place to find sound effects for your next Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or multimedia project.

Protect your Web servers with URLScan

Looking for a way to protect your Web servers from unauthorized access? Microsoft has a utility called URLScan that can be used to filter out suspicious requests such as those that are very long or use an alternate character set. You can download this utility by going to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/cc242650.aspx. Before you use this utility, though, keep in mind that you’ll need to have installed the latest Service Pack and any subsequent hotfixes on your server. You can make sure that your server has the latest updates by going to the Windows Update site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

Remove a sender from your Outlook junk e-mail list (2003/2007)

Sometimes senders that we legitimately want to receive e-mail from get banished to our Junk E-mail folder. Here's an easy way to put a sender back on your safe list. Click on the Mail icon in the Navigation Pane, and then click on the Junk E-mail folder in the All Mail Folders List. Next, in the Message list, click on a message from the sender that you want to deem as safe. Then, choose Actions | Junk E-mail | Add Sender To Safe Senders List. Future messages from this sender should now remain out of the Junk
E-mail folder.