Got an Excel file that seems to bring your system to it's knees? Try this

You open a specific spreadsheet and everything seems to slow to a crawl.  Opening the file, moving around within the spreadsheet, selecting cells, and pretty much everything else is unbelievably slow.  Your entire system will end up slowing to a crawl.  What doesn't make sense is that the spreadsheet itself does not have that much in it.  If you look at the file size it's also artifically large. 
 
In all cases I have found that the culprit is a value of some sort in a cell that is  w a y  down into the spreadsheet.  Like line number 1053498 or something ridiculous like that.  To find out if your spreadsheet has this issue, open the file and then type CTRL-END.  Does it put you way the hell down on line 50 million?  Yep, you need to fix it.  I have no idea why this happens but here is how to fix it.
 
I usually fix this by going to where you think the last cell in the worksheet actually should be, then type CTRL-SHIFT-END.  This selects all of the cells from that point down to where Excel currently thinks the "end" of the worksheet is.  Now you can delete these cells or "clear contents" also works I believe.  Save the sheet with a new file name.
 
To test to make sure that the fix worked, type CTRL-END and see if it takes you to the lower right of your working area.  If it takes you to the end of the world again (like line 59730219) then it's not fixed.  Try it again.
If you have succeeded then that spreadsheet will now hum along nicely and no longer bog your system to a crawl.  The file size will also probably fall drastically.  The last spreadsheet I did this to went from more than 5 MB to 100K. 

KEN

Posted via email from ken5m1th

Someone elses Facebook profile information syncing to his #DroidX contact record

This is a weird one that I am helping my son to troubleshoot. This is what's happening. 

We have setup his DroidX to connect with Facebook (providing his Facebook login and password) which also lets you synchronize your Facebook contacts with your Google/DroidX contacts. As you know, with a Google account you always have a record for yourself that typically starts with 'me' in the name. We allowed this sync to occur.  All appeared to be fine.

This is where it gets weird.  We then opened up the 'me' contact that represents his own contact information we found not only his own contact info but also someone elses phone number, email address, and date of birth as additional contact details in the same record. 

I think I have discovered what appears to be happening.  The other person (who's contact information is being erroneously added to my sons contact record, has the same name as my son.  Yea, it's a very common name so it happens.  He is also a 'friend' with this person on Facebook, therefore he has access to the contact information in this other persons profile.  Apparently the functionality that synchronizes the Facebook contacts is picking up that other 'like-named' person and assuming it's my sons profile info.  It's combining that with his real profile info on his DroidX phone.

I can think of some interesting tricks to do with this.... like getting specific profile data pushed out to someone else's address book without them knowing it.  Hmmm.... working on testing a few ideas now. 

KEN

Posted via email from ken5m1th

No more forgetting to take AC adapter with me - here's what I did.

As I sat down at Starbucks the other day planning to get some work done, I turned on my computer and got the dreaded "battery is critically low" message.  Yeah, I forgot to plug it in to charge again.  Not only that but I had left the AC adapter at the office.  I decided to fix this.

I "mounted" an AC adapter to the outside of my computer bag.  I used one of the thin Dell AC adapters so it doesn't add bulk to the bag.  The bag has one of those straps on the back to hook it over the handle on larger rolling luggage.  This is a perfect place to attach the adapter using it's cord strap and a few nylon tie wraps.  One wire runs into the compartment where the PC is and the other end (AC plug) can be pulled out and plugged in.

It works well and mounting the adapter like this doesn't take up precious storage space inside the bag.  Something else I realized is that this keeps the adapter away from the notebook, especially the screen.  So if the bag gets squished I'm not going to end up putting pressure on the notebook screen.  When I put the computer in the bag I instinctively plug the power cord into the notebook.  It helps if the power jack on your notebook is on the top or bottom edge.  Whenever the bag is near an outlet I plug it in.  When I am using the notebook I just take it out of the bag, leaving the power cord attached - unless I need ultimate mobility. 

Posted via email from ken5m1th

You are looking at the owner of the last #DroidX available in this market

My oldest holding his new pride and joy.

Posted via email from ken5m1th