When you open an Access 2003 database (.mdb file) that you or a colleague created, there's a good chance you'll get a security warning, telling you the file might not be safe:
While this is designed to protect you from malicious software (viruses, trojans, spyware, etc.) from untrustworthy sources, there is little chance you wrote a virus to infect yourself. Fortunately, you can inoculate yourself from this bit of overprotection, using a digital certificate. (You can also eliminate the warning by setting macro security to Low, but that isn't a good idea.)
Digital certificates are made for commercial software developers. For example, you can create an inventory manager that runs in Access and sell it online. Web sites like
www.tucows.com and
www.shareware.com have hundreds of database applications written by small companies and individuals. These developers all have to purchase yearly digital certificates from a "trust authority," such as
Verisign,
Thawte or
DigiCert. These trust authorities make sure you are who you claim to be and that you have legitimate contact information, so you can't write viruses under an assumed name and distribute them to customers who think they're buying legitimate software. As for who is certifying the certifiers, I cannot say.
Fortunately, you don't have to buy a certificate to open your own database! Microsoft Office comes with something called a
self-sign certificate. It lets you certify yourself on your own computer. To use it, open Windows Explorer (
+
E), go to
c:\program files\microsoft office\office11 and double-click
selfcert.exe. Type the name for the certificate (your own name should be fine), then press
Enter. If you don't see selfcert.exe, you'll have to install it from your Office 2003 CD. (Note to would-be virus writers: if you try to use your self-sign certificate on another computer, it won't work.)
Now open your Access database and click
Open in the security warning one last time. Go to the Visual Basic editor (
Alt +
F11), then select
Tools/Digital Signature. Click
Choose, and you'll see the certificate you just created. Click
OK twice. then exit the VB editor (
Alt +
F4).
Close your database and immediately re-open it (
Alt +
F,
1). The database will open immediately without the security warning. Keep in mind that even though you need to create the certificate only once, you'll need to install it in the VB editor in each of your databases.
To define a range as a list:
If you don't see the toolbar, right-click a toolbar, then select List.
If you click outside the list, the toolbar disappears; click inside the list to see it again.
Now that you defined a list, here are some things you can do with it:
POSTED BY Bob Flisser, co-author, www.nerdybooks.com AT 3:45 PM 0 comments
If you have a PowerPoint 2002 or 2003 presentation that you want to show to multiple people who are geographically dispersed, there are a few ways of doing it:Choice #3 is the easiest, fastest and least expensive option. In PowerPoint, just select File/Save as Web Page, create a new folder (Alt + 5), then click Save. (For advanced options, click the Publish button in the Save As dialog box.)
After saving the presentation, upload the files and any subfolders it creates to your Web site, give out the Web address, and you're done. PowerPoint will create a navigation screen on the left side of the browser and will put the presentation in the main part of the window. Each member of the audience can view the presentation on their own. The only requirement is that they use Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher, which is on about 98% of all PCs.
POSTED BY Bob Flisser, co-author, www.nerdybooks.com AT 11:33 AM 0 comments