If your machine hasn't been updated in a while with the latest Microsoft updates, and virus definitions ... this may be a good time for you to take some time to do so. Every week, hundreds of new viruses are being created and causing PC's everywhere to buckle, particularly when it comes to Microsoft products.

The latest virus getting a lot of press is called the "Zero-day Microsoft PowerPoint" trojan virus. After you've updated your machine(s), check out these links to get more information about it:

http://tailrank.com/posts/562949953823303/Microsoft_PowerPoint_0-day_Vulnerability_FAQ
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/37089.html

Hey, be careful out there!

Toolbar buttons in desktop applications (including Microsoft Office) are a great thing; couldn't imagine life without them. But there are still some cases where keyboard shortcuts are better for me. For example, I still use Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V to cut, copy, and paste respectfully (it's a habit I never got out of.) And why would I go to the Edit menu and click "Select All" when I can just do a Ctrl+A and I'm done - you know what I'm saying?

There are also keyboard shortcuts that you should know about when you run a slide show with a PowerPoint presentation. Why? Two reasons: 1) Because they'll make your presentation more interactive, thus increasing the effectiveness of it; 2) Because there's no toolbar buttons available in Slide Show mode. Here are two that I use a lot:

Slide Number + ENTER
When the audience has a question, sometimes it's helpful to go back (or forward) to specific slide that assists you in answering it. To do that, just type the slide number and press Enter. Obviously, this works best when you know the slide number; otherwise, you can always use the Backspace key to go backward in your presentation until you spot the one you need.

B or W
If you've presented a slide and you're not quite ready to move on to the next one, it's important to draw the attention back on you - otherwise they'll keep getting distracted by your beautiful presentation. Pressing the letter "B" makes the screen go black, and the letter "W" makes it go white. I normally go with a black screen, but sometimes white it better based on the room you're in. When you're ready to move on, just press any key.

For more keyboard shortcuts to use in your slide show, check out this post from Brainy Betty.

Those of you that have ever been involved in project management should be very familiar with Gantt charts. If not, I think it'd be good for you to learn what they are. GanttChart.com states that it's a "graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time." Gantt charts are incredible useful for graphing project schedules because you're able to glean a lot of information from them in a short amount of time. GanttChart.com has a lot of useful resources on Gantt charts, including the history of them and some examples.

Most project management application (like Microsoft Project) come with the ability to create Gantt charts easier from one click after you've mapped out your project schedule. However, when you add all of the other bells and whistles needed to do complete project management, this software is very expensive; and if you don't need the other features, why spend thousands of dollars just to generate Gantt charts?

This is where Microsoft Excel comes in. Jon Peltier has written an article demonstrates two methods for creating Gantt charts: Worksheet Formatting and Stacked Bar Charts. Worksheet Formatting method involves shading the appropriate cells to show when tasks are assigned to be done. You can either shade the cells yourself, or use conditional formatting to do the work for you. The Stacked Bar chart method, however, will give you a chart that is more professional-looking and versatile to do other things with.

For even more information, check out Jon Peltier's web page that lists other links on creating Gantt Chart using Microsoft Excel. This page also lists other tools that you can use to create them for FREE.

For quite a long time, Brainy Betty has provided great resources for Microsoft Powerpoint, including free templates, backgrounds and other graphics. She now has a Blogger site where she posts tutorials, articles, and even vlogs.

Here's a vlog that contains a video that demonstrates how easy it is to create your wedding monogram in Microsoft Powerpoint. This post serves as an example of the diversity of tasks that can be done in Microsoft Office. Even though I just celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary last week, I tried it out and able create this one in about 5 minutes! What do you think?

When businesses (especially small businesses) market their products and services, tri-fold brochures are and will remain a popular choice. They are for easy to give and to receive, effective in organizing your content into small, precise chunks of content, and they're inexpensive to create (particularly if you can make them yourself.) In a previous post about tri-fold brochures, I referenced an article that I found a long time ago that details how to create one in Microsoft Word when desktop publishing software (like Adobe Pagemaker or Microsoft Publisher) is not available.

This week, I found another article on tri-fold brochures, only this time it gives pointers on how to properly design it. It also references a sample tri-fold brochure template that you can download, along with several other links to get more help on them. Though this article focuses on "educational" brochures, the suggestions given can still be applied on all types of brochures.