Create a contact directly from an email message (Outlook 2000/2002/2003/2007)

It's easy to create a new contact from an email message. Click on an email message, and then drag it to the Outlook Contacts folder in the Folder List (drag it to the Contacts icon in the Navigation Pane in 2003/2007). If you have multiple folders within the Contacts folder, just drag it to the specific folder where you'd like this Contact to reside.

When is an applet not an applet?

Not everything that looks like a Java applet is one. Some web pages for Microsoft Internet Explorer use Microsoft's ActiveX controls and plug-ins. Plug-ins for Firefox typically employ Mozilla's XUL dialect of XML, together with related technologies. In addition, some sites create applet-like functionality with Macromedia Flash or Shockwave.

Working with the Classic Start menu (Microsoft Windows XP)

If you're not a fan of the two-column Start menu in Windows XP, you can easily revert to the classic one-column version. Simply right-click on the taskbar and choose Properties. Select the Start Menu tab and then select the Classic Start Menu option button. If you click on the Customize button you can choose exactly which options you'd like to display on the one-column Start menu.

Get AutoShape flexibility with a clip art appearance (Microsoft PowerPoint 2000/2002/2003)

If you rely on AutoShapes in PowerPoint presentations for much of your creation process, you can get AutoShapes that look like clip art objects. To do so:

1. Select AutoShapes | More AutoShapes from the Drawing Toolbar. The More AutoShapes pane appears (in 2000, the More AutoShapes dialog box opens). 
2. Double-click on an AutoShape to insert it (in 2000, open a category first, then click the desired AutoShape and choose Insert Clip from the pop-up menu).

Build your own mathematical algorithms right in JavaScript

Naturally, you don't usually use client-side JavaScript to perform the kind of math required to send a probe up to Mars. (Just imagine the folks at NASA doing everything in Internet Explorer.) But if you do need to do a calculation that JavaScript's built-in math functionality can't handle, you may want to look at the following Web site: www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/koren/arith/simulator This companion site to Israel Koren's book "Computer Arithmetic Algorithms" contains some serious math - all in JavaScript!

Export an item from Adobe InDesign without the entire page coming along for the ride (CS/CS2/CS3/CS4)

When you need to distribute entire pages of an InDesign document for proofing, you can easily export them to EPS or PDF format. But what about when you want to save just a single page item? If you export the item to EPS or PDF format, the whole page comes with it. Instead, you can export just the selected object to a JPEG file. Simply select the object with the Selection tool and choose File > Export. In the resulting dialog box, name the file and choose a location in which to save it. Then, choose JPEG from the Format (Save As Type in Windows) pop-up menu. Finally, click OK.

Scroll through your documents hands-free (Win XP)

If you often have to use your mouse or keyboard to scroll though long documents looking for one particular section, then you know how tedious it can be to continuously move your document’s scroll bar up and down, or to page up and down using the keyboard’s arrow keys. However, if you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can page through documents automatically and hands-free. Here’s how to do it.

Restrict the number of elements in a document with XML XSD occurrence indicators

XML Schema Definition language provides mechanisms for specifying how many times each element may occur in a document. XSD accounts for all the same occurrence actions as DTDs, plus the ability to specify exact occurrence numbers or number ranges. For example, we’ll use a para element to illustrate the various methods for indicating occurrence in XSD:

Track a contact's activities (Outlook 2000/2002/2003)

Outlook is a powerful organizational and productivity tool, so why not let it help you whenever possible? You can track a contact's activities by linking items to that contact. This can be useful for such things as client billing purposes or just to find an email that you know you sent to a specific person. Some items, such as emails and meetings, are automatically linked to a contact without having to take any steps on your part.

Identify your SQL Server applications (SQL Server 2000)

With ADO and ADO.NET, you can specify a Microsoft SQL Server application name by including it as one of the properties in the SQL connection string, like this:

...;Application Name=MyDbApp;...

When you do, you get the benefit of being able to see this value clearly shown in SQL Profiler traces. You can even perform filtering in your trace to narrow the information you have to examine to only what's relevant to your own application.

Resolving memory issue when using filters (Photoshop CS/CS2/CS3/CS4)

Filters take up a lot of memory, especially when you apply them to large files. If you’ve found that Photoshop gets a bit choked up when you apply filters, there are a couple of ways to help things run more smoothly. First, try to apply the Purge command by choosing Edit > Purge > All. If that doesn’t help, try just applying the filter to a small selected portion of your image to preview the results before actually applying it to the entire image. Finally, as a last resort, try applying the filter to individual channels, rather than the composite channel.

All firewalls are not created equal (Windows)

Sure, you have a firewall, but is it giving you all the protection you need? Traditional packet filtering firewalls can only block traffic based on IP addresses and ports (at the Network and Transport layers of the OSI model). Savvy modern attackers can bring down your system or network by exploiting application layer protocols.

Force the browser to fill the screen with your new Web page

Typically, when the browser loads a new page, it only uses a portion of the screen's real estate. However, if your pages are so grand that no minimized window will ever do, you can use the window.resizeTo function to force the browser to load your pages within a full screen. The following code accomplishes this task:

<script for=window event=onload>

  window.resizeTo(screen.availWidth, screen.availHeight);

</script>

In this code, the properties screen.availWidth and screen.availHeight determine the maximum height and width for the client screen and passes the values to the window.resizeTo() function. The end result is a fully maximized page.

Insert a sheet based on a custom template (Excel 97/2000/v. X/2002/2003)

When you insert a worksheet using the Insert | Worksheet menu command, Microsoft Excel automatically bases the new sheet on the default template. However, you may not want to insert just a blank worksheet.

Miss the RUN command in Windows Vista? Add it back to your Start Menu easily

If you’re attached to the Run command, you may have been dissapointed when you noticed it’s missing from the Windows Vista Start Menu. While the Start Search command performs the same functions as the Run command, (allowing you to find and open files, folders, even web site urls quickly) you can get the Run command back into the Start menu if you want it.

Cut down email response time by including a default subject line (Word 2000/2002/v. X/2003)

When you include your email address in an electronic Word document, you can save yourself some email-sorting time by including a default subject line with the hyperlink to your email address.

Conditionally exclude portions of ASP.NET Web application code (.NET)

Those of you with roots in Visual Basic might have long envied its ability to exclude a section of code based on the value of a conditional compilation constant. Well, envy no more: A fantastic solution to this problem is available in ASP.NET. Here’s how it works.