If you ever need to count the number of words you're writing -- perhaps you're writing a magazine article or a personal ad -- here's a handy feature in Word 2003 you'll like:

Right-click any toolbar and select Word Count. You'll get a little toolbar, probably floating on the screen. If no text is selected and you click the Recount button, it will show you how many words are in the entire document. If you select some text, then click the Recount button, it will show you how many words are selected.

Click the drop-down list that shows you the number of words, and it will show you the number of characters (with and without spaces), lines, pages and paragraphs. If you use this feature a lot, drag the toolbar by its small title bar onto the toolbar area at the top or bottom of the screen, and it will become docked there permanently (or until you hide it with another right-click).

Older versions of Word also do word counts, but the feature is more slick in 2003.