Q. The folder that holds my temporary files just keeps growing. Is there a way to clean it out automatically ?

A. Yes, there is. But first a little advisory for those who don’t know about temporary files and aren’t aware that it’s a good idea to clean them out regularly. When you open a file in Windows, the system automatically stores it in a special “temp” folder (c:\windows\temp); Windows encodes the file with a name that ends in .tmp. Then, when you close the file, the temp file usually is erased. But, for technical reasons, Windows sometimes holds onto the file. Over time, the temp folder can get quite large (see exhibit 1, below). It’s a good idea to empty it. However, then you have the nuisance of locating the folder in the Windows directory and cleaning it out. And if you try to delete a temp file created during a current work session rather than an earlier one, Windows often will stop you. So the best time to empty a temp folder is after you fire up your computer but before you open any files.

Here’s a safe way to have your computer automatically do the job each time you boot up: Go to Start, Run and then type sysedit in the command line and press OK. A bunch of tiled files will appear, as shown in exhibit 2, below. The top file probably will be autoexec.bat . If it’s not on top, click on the Xs in the topmost files until you get to autoexec.bat. It may be empty; don’t worry about that. Type in the following two lines:

deltree /y c:\windows\temp

md c:\windows\temp

That command instructs the computer to delete the entire temp folder and create a new, empty one each time you boot up .

Q. Sometimes I need to work with whole numbers—no rounding up or down. How can I do that ?

A. It’s not well known, but Excel provides such a function—the INT Worksheet Function—which does just that. It takes a single argument and returns the integer value of that argument. For instance, consider the following:

=INT(19.47)

Using this formula, Excel returns a value of 19. INT always returns the next lower whole number, or integer.

Q. When I’m working in Word, I have to change letters from uppercase to lowercase. Is there a way to do that without highlighting the letter, going into the toolbar, clicking on the change case icon and then going through the various menu items?

A. There is. It’s a keyboard shortcut. First highlight the letter and then press Shift+F3. By pressing F3, you can toggle between uppercase and lowercase.

Q. I like to use Microsoft Outlook’s calendar feature, but I wish it was a bit more customizable. The toolbar gives me only three calendar views: a full month, a week or a single day. Unfortunately, because the date boxes are so small, the full-month view doesn’t let me see all of my daily appointments. And the week view, which is better, sometimes won’t let me see combinations of days that cross between two weeks, say, such as from Friday to Tuesday. Is there a way to customize which days appear on-screen ?

A. Yes, there is. It’s an unpublished feature of Outlook, and it’s really neat. Here’s how to customize the view to a wide assortment of days: Go to the first day you want to view and then click Alt + the number of days beyond that first day you want to see. So if you want to view four days, say, press Alt+4 (see exhibit 3, below). The shortcut can provide you with a maximum of 10 days. To view 10 days, press Alt+0 (note it’s 0, not 10; the feature can only handle single digits) .

Q. When I click on a toolbar icon, only the most recently used menu commands drop down, leaving the others hidden—unless I click again on the double arrows at the bottom of the drop-down menu. Some users consider this a convenience, but I hate it. It means I’ve got to provide an extra click—a wasted motion. Is there a way to get the full menu to appear when I click once on a toolbar icon?

A. True, many users find it a convenience to hide the less-used commands, because it provides a less- cluttered screen. But if you want to eliminate that option, it’s easy to do. Just click on Tools, Customize, Options, and then uncheck the box titled Menus show recently used commands first (see exhibit 4, below). If you have Microsoft Office Suite and you eliminate the most recently used option in one application, it will remove it in the other Office applications, too.

While we’re on the subject of toolbars, if you want to clean up your toolbar and remove any unused command icons, you can do it without a multistep customization process. Just hold down the Alt key as you click on a tool icon and drag it off the toolbar. However, if you want to put it back, you’ve got to go through the full process: Click on Tools, Customize, Commands and then drag the icon back into the toolbar .

Q. How can I view two Excel worksheets in the same file side by side?

A. Open the first file. Click on Window, New Window and then View, Arrange and Tiled .

You also can view two worksheets in the same file the same way (see exhibit 5, below) .

Q. The new word processing programs with grammar and spell-checking features have been very helpful, but there’s a problem that my Word spell check can’t solve. I hope you can. When I type quickly sometimes I key in “your” for “you’re,” “manger” for “manager” or “widow” for “window.” The spell check fails to catch those errors because these are real words, although not the words I want. Can you help?

A. You’re not alone on this. There is a way although it’s a little complicated because Microsoft doesn’t include a simple solution in the AutoCorrect function—the logical place for it.

The trick is to get Word to flag (with the wiggly red underscore) the troublesome words so you can take a second look at them. To do that we must trick Word into ignoring its dictionary just for those words you tend to type incorrectly by creating an “exclude” dictionary. You may be surprised to learn that such a dictionary sometimes exists in Word. Unfortunately, not only does Microsoft give it a totally unrecognizable name, but you cannot edit the file in the Word format and, worse, there is no hint of any of this in the Help file.

In Word 97, the exclude file is called Mssp2_en.exc, and, unless you’ve customized the application, you’ll find it either under C:\Windows\Msapps\Proof or C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof .

In Word 2000, it’s called Mssp3en. exc and you’ll find it, if at all, either at C:\Windows\Applications Data\Microsoft\Proof or, if you’re using the multiuser feature, it’ll be under C:\Windows\Profiles\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof .

If you can’t find it in those folders, do a search by clicking on Start, Find, Files or Folder , and search for Mssp*.exc . Note that it’s exc, not exe (the file name may or may not have the underscore, so search for it both ways).

If you have such a file, open it in Word, add the words you wish and be sure to save the file in text—not in Word—by clicking on File, Save as and then choosing the text option.

If you don’t have such a file, you can create it: Open a Word document, type in the words you want to flag as misspellings (once with an initial capital and once in lowercase, so both instances are included). Be sure to perform a carriage return after each word. Then save the file in C:\Windows\Profiles\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof or in the folder where the Proof folder is situated. And then save the file in text format with this file name:

C:\Windows\Profiles\UserName\ApplicationData\Microsoft\Proof\Mssp3en.exc.

Before the exclude feature will work, you must close Word and restart it.