Q. I work for a large organization, use Outlook and sometimes wonder whether people have requested automatic receipts when I open their e-mails as a way of checking up on me. Is there any way for me to find out whether I’m being monitored? Between e-mail and cookies, it’s easy to get paranoid about the Internet—wondering whether someone is checking your e-mails and tracking your surfing habits.

A. I sympathize with you. The Internet, and especially e-mail, is an open playground for snoops—however legal or illegal it is. The wisest course of action when using your employer’s Internet connection and e-mail system is not to post messages or surf Web sites that you wouldn’t want your mother to see.

Q. I just upgraded my computer’s operating system to the new Microsoft XP, and I’m delighted with the way it works—it’s really stable and it’s much faster than Windows 2000. However, I do have a problem, but I’m not sure I can totally blame Microsoft for it. One of my favorite fix-it, antivirus, cleanup and firewall protector utilities—a recommendation I got from this column—is Norton SystemWorks. After I got XP up and running, I learned that my current Norton won’t work with it, so I bought the latest version, Norton SystemWorks 2002. I went to load it, figuring the new version would automatically replace the old one. No such luck. Early in the attempted installation, a notice popped up telling me I had to remove the old Norton.

That was easier said than done. When my efforts to remove all traces of it failed, I went to Norton’s Web site and after a long, frustrating search discovered that I needed a special tool for the job. Why Norton didn’t warn me ahead of time is beyond me. In any case, the tool seemed to work—that is, it did apparently remove the old Norton. But that did not solve my problem—it left hidden files that can’t be removed in my operating system and that stops me from installing the new version. Norton tech support couldn’t help except to say I’ll probably have to do a clean install of XP. I’d like to avoid doing that. Any ideas?

Q. Every now and then I make a temporary change in Word’s default—adding a new icon to my toolbar, for example. When I close Word and then open it the next time, I discover that my intended temporary change has become permanent and I have to go back and remove it. Is there a way to get Word to stop second-guessing me?

A. There is. But I should add that Word is not second-guessing you. You just failed to give it the right instructions.

Let me explain: Anytime you make a configuration change in Word—adding an icon to your toolbar or changing the default font or tab stops—those changes are stored in a template called Normal.dot . This template governs the format of all new documents.

Word is automatically defaulted to save any changes in Normal.dot —unless you tell it otherwise. And by “otherwise” I mean you can change the automatic Word default so it will ask you when you’re closing Word after making a change whether to save the revised Normal.dot . Obviously, you have not yet set that default to where Word asks you that question.

To do that, take these steps: Open Tools, Options and click on the Save tab. Be sure there is a check in the box next to Prompt to save Normal template and click on OK.

Q. Each week I need to pass along several Excel worksheets to others in my company, asking them to fill in information. But since some of them are not very savvy in using electronic spreadsheets, they sometimes accidentally enter the data in the wrong cells. Do you have a simple, low-tech way of addressing this problem?

A. Here’s an easy, low-tech solution that uses a visual approach and is easy to set up. Assume you want your coworkers to put the data into cell B3; format the area this way:

As you can see, I’ve surrounded the target cell with cells that contain crosshatching and I’ve colored the intended cell a bright yellow. That should direct them right to the cell in which data should be added.

A fast way to perform this formatting arrangement is to hold down the Ctrl key and highlight the three cells you want to add the crosshatching to, select Format cells and click on the Patterns tab. Select the pattern you like and click on OK . Then highlight the target cell and follow the same steps, except choose a bright color instead.

Q. Is there a way to get rid of the sheet tabs on the bottom of my Excel window? I’m looking for ways to provide more vertical space on my worksheet.

A. Yes, you can eliminate the sheet tabs from the screen. If your goal is to provide more vertical space, however, there is something else you can do in addition. But first, here’s how to remove the sheet tabs from view—recognize, however, that the underlying sheet tabs are still there; they’re just hidden. Click on Tools, Options and go to the View tag. Under Window options , uncheck the Sheet tabs box and click on OK and the tabs will be hidden.

To bring them back, go through the same process and check the Sheet tabs box.

The other thing you can do to increase the work space is to convert to a full screen view, a step that will hide the toolbars. To do that click on View and then Full Screen , and the top of the screen will look like this:

To reverse the process click on Full Screen again and the toolbars will return to this:

Q. I have a spreadsheet file that contains a bunch of worksheets. The problem is they are out of order. Is there some easy way to change the lineup of the tabs without going through the hassle of creating new tabs and then copying the contents?

A. There’s no need to create new tabs or copy anything. Here’s how to customize their order: Say you want to move the February tab to come after January, which, of course, is where it belongs. Just grab the February tab with the mouse and drag it to between January and March.

Q. Word has a convenient tool under Tools called Track Changes . I remember in the old days we called that function red lining and it kept track of every change made in a document and then let us choose whether we wanted to keep the changes. I wish we could do that in Excel.

A. You can. In fact, it works the same way and you’ll find it in the same place in Excel—under Tools .

When you edit a cell in the Track Changes mode, Excel outlines the cell in blue and puts a blue triangle in the upper-left corner. And when you position the mouse pointer over the edited cell, Excel displays a comment indicating what change was made.

To launch Track Changes , click on Tools and then Track Changes . That brings up this menu:

When you’re ready to determine which changes to finally accept, click on Track Changes and on Accept or Reject Changes and you will be offered this menu:

After you’re done Excel still shows edited cells with the blue border and tracking changes indicator. The only way to get rid of them is to turn off Track Changes by going back into it through the Tools menu and unchecking the box.

Be aware that Excel is keeping track of only the last edit made. If you want a complete history of changes, you must instruct Excel to keep a complete tracking history on a separate revisions worksheet. To do that place a check in the box List changes on a new sheet.

In the September 2001 Tech Q&A column, we suggested a way in Excel to get rid of the dreaded #DIV/0 when you try to divide a number by 0. We suggested using the IF(). So, if you divide B2 by C2, the formula would look like this:

=IF(C2=0,“Please enter a divisor other than 0”,B2/C2)

This is what it would look like in Excel—with and without the IF formula:

Another way to solve the problem is to use the ISERROR function in an IF statement:

=IF(ISERROR(B2/C2),"",B2/C2)

The two quote marks with nothing between them will return a blank cell, which could be replaced with a 0 if you wish.

This solution has another advantage: It’s not likely to cause an error if that cell is summed in a formula.

(Submitted by Ryan R. Blazei, CPA, of Virchow, Krause & Co., LLP, Appleton, Wisconsin.)