The Microsoft Excel Formula & Functions Guide covers the ESSENTIAL formulas and functions for day to day use.

PART 1:

The 81 page guide starts off by explaining what formulas and functions are, then moves onto dealing with typical errors you may encounter and how to remedy them. Then finally shows you how to confidently use 20 of the most essential formulas! (For example SUM, IF, SIGN, SUMIF, AVERAGE, FLOOR and COUNT to name a few)

PART 2:

The 51 page guide picks up the pace and takes you through more advanced formulas and functions that every Microsoft Excel power user NEEDS to know!

One major highlight is the training on how to use “nested IF statements” - you won’t find training like this elsewhere very easily!!!

More here:

http://www.marctalkstech.com/excel-formula-function-guide.html

Kind Regards

Marc Liron - Microsoft MVP

Windows Update is a service provided by Microsoft for users of Microsoft Windows which provides updates for the operating system and its installed components.

On the 3rd July 2008 Microsoft announced that it has a update to its Windows Update infrastructure and has a planned gradual rollout, for later this month, of its Windows Update client.

This new Windows Update client rollout will occur automatically to any system configured to either: receive updates “automatically” or “notify” customers that new updates are available for download.

As you may already know Windows Update is designed to help consumers keep their systems up-to-date and to ensure ongoing service and reliability and smooth operation of its software. Microsoft frequently updates and enhances the Windows Update client to maintain and improve its quality of service.

The update to the Windows Update client, due late July 2008, will NOT make any changes to the way Windows Update looks or feels on the Windows PC.

It is solely aimed at improving:

#1 - The length of time it takes Windows Update to scan for updates
#2 - The speed in which signature updates will be delivered

This Windows Update Client Applies To:

• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Starter
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition
• Windows Vista Business 64-bit Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

The following material may be of further assistance:

Additional Recourses:

Information for network administrators about how to obtain the latest Windows Update Agent:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;946928

Windows Update FAQ:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/default.mspx

Microsoft Update Product Team Blog:

http://blogs.technet.com/mu/

I hope this information was useful!

Kind Regards

Marc Liron - Microsoft MVP

Source: www.updatexp.com

Billionaire Bill Gates’ retirement from Microsoft today will mark the end of an amazing era for the software giant, Microsoft.

It will also push current CEO Steve Ballmer, into the spotlight in what is proably the most challenging period in the Seattle based company’s history.

“Microsoft has to think about some radical changes within the organisation to not just fix the online business, but start innovating in some of the other ones,” said Sid Parakh, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen.

At a May 2008 gathering of chief executive officers at Microsoft’s headquarters, Gates outlined how he hoped to translate the work once done within the singular confines of his brain into the sort of group projects that could be managed with the company’s own collaboration software.

“We’ve created a thing we called quests, where we divided our types of customers down, and we got the best thinkers on these things, both the very practical people who are with the customers, the engineers who write the code, and the researchers who may be more unbound in terms of their timeframe and imagination, and put them together,” Gates said.

So What Now?

Microsoft said two years ago that Gates, who started the company with high school friend Paul Allen in 1975, would end his day-to-day role to spend more time on the charitable foundation he runs with his wife, Melinda French Gates.

Gates will remain chairman, coming in one day a week to work on projects with Craig Mundie and Ray Ozzie, who inherit his software strategy responsibilities.

“I don’t ever see Bill stepping 100 percent away from Microsoft,” said Scott Di Valerio, a former vice president who resigned in October. “He’s part of the core of Microsoft, and I think Microsoft is part of Bill’s overall core.”

So, what now for Microsoft? Clearly, the new team has to get a firm grip on the company’s web 2.0 aspirations if it’s going to remain relevant in the Google age.

Expect to see serious investment in cloud computing, and even the introduction of a free, browser-based version of Office that will compete directly with Google’s offering.

…new days ahead!

Regards

Marc Liron - Microsoft MVP