Head off hibernation problems before they arise

If your computer suffers from errors when you bring it out of hibernation, you should take some proactive steps for every hibernation session.

Before and during hibernation/standby:

• Never change major hardware configurations. For example, don’t dock a laptop that was undocked when it entered standby, and never attach USB devices during this time.
  
  
• Always close applications that don’t work well with power saving modes before forcing hibernation or standby. CD and DVD burning applications and backup utilities are common culprits of computer instability after resuming.

Switch the email you're composing back to a document (Word 2000/2002/2003/2007)

Word is a great email-editing tool, and it's easy to use as well. You can simply click the E-mail button on the Standard toolbar to convert your document to an email and continue composing. However, if you decide you'd prefer to save your work as a document rather than as an email, how do you convert the email message into a Word document? All you need to do is click the E-mail button again. The email header information goes away, and you're left with the Word document you want.

In Office 2007, you can switch back and forth between an email and a Word document too. But you need to add the Send To Mail Recipient button to your Quick Access Toolbar. To do so, click on the Quick Access Toolbar's down arrow and choose More Commands from the dropdown list. Select All Commands from the Choose Commands From dropdown list. Scroll down until you find Send To Mail Recipient and select it. Click the Add button to move the command to the list box on the right. Click OK and you'll find the Send To Mail Recipient button on your Quick Access Toolbar. When you click the button, your document becomes an email. Click it again to toggle back to a Word document.

Create a shape on a new layer (Photoshop CS/CS2/CS3/CS4)

Photoshop automatically fills a shape layer, which you can make with any Shape, Line, or Pen tool, with the foreground color. You can also apply a gradient or pattern via layer styles. To create a shape layer, select one of the Shape tools, and be sure to click the Create New Shape Layer button on the tool Options bar. Photoshop stores the shape outline as a vector mask that appears in the Paths panel.

Easily undo multiple actions in Excel (2000/2001/2002/2003/2007)

If you're a longtime keyboard jockey, you probably instinctively use the [Ctrl]Z shortcut when you want to undo a change you've made. However, if you need to backtrack through many steps, you may not recall exactly how many steps you need to undo. Chances are you'll backtrack too far and then wind up redoing more steps than you had planned. The next time you find yourself in this situation, use the dropdown arrows on Excel's Undo and Redo buttons. These provide you with a running list of your recent actions so you can easily undo or repeat exactly the steps you want. (In Excel 2007, the Undo and Redo buttons still have a dropdown arrow. But you'll need to look for these buttons on your Quick Access Toolbar.)

Showing the current date and time in a worksheet cell (Excel 2000/2001/2002/2003/2007)

Sometimes there's an advantage to storing the current date or time in a worksheet cell. For instance, the worksheet's layout may lend itself to showing the date inline with the data, as opposed to in the header section. Or, your worksheet may use date-based formulas that process data according to the current date and time. Regardless of the reason, it's easy to create cells that display the current date and time.

To show the current day, just enter the following formula in a cell:
=TODAY()


To show the current date and time together, enter the formula:
=NOW()

You can change how the date and time appear by changing the cell's number format. For instance, you can format the NOW function result so that only the time portion is shown. To change the formatting, select the cell and choose Format | Cells from the menu bar. Then, click on the Number tab and select a format type from the Date or Time categories.

TIP: Eliminate vanishing pencil lines while drawing (Illustrator CS/CS2/CS3/CS4)

If you’ve ever created an illustration with the Pencil tool you’ve most likely noticed every time you draw a path next to an already selected path, the original line disappears as soon as you draw the next line. Why? Because the Pencil tool defaults to path-editing mode. This means that when you draw a line near a selected previous line, Illustrator assumes you want to edit the previous line, so it deletes the line and replaces it with the new line. Annoying, right? Don’t worry—you can change this behavior.

To do so:

1. Double-click on the Pencil tool to open the Pencil Tool Preferences dialog box.
2. Deselect the Edit Selected Paths check box or reduce the pixel distance using the slider at the bottom and click OK.

Today's Tip: Open a flat version of a layered file (Photoshop CS/CS2/CS3/CS4)

When you want to open a layered file as a flat composite instead, hold down [shift][option] ([Shift][Alt] in Windows) as you open the selected file. Photoshop displays an Adobe Photoshop dialog box that asks, "Read the composite data instead?" Just click OK and your file appears as a flattened version of the layered file.

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UPDATED: FAMILIARISATION TRAINING SESSION FOR 3D GAME BUILIDING PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ON THIS FRIDAY (8 MAY).

Since you guys will be leaving early on that day and you have a long weekend to study for the exam, you are adviced to prioritise your studies first and not practise your gaming during the long weekend.

Mr Danny Loh will meet you guys there.

If there are any problems, please contact Miss Nur via hp. Thanks.