Q. When putting together a report, I use dummy text to test how a certain font or layout fits on a page. For years I’ve been creating the type and saving it from one report to the other. I heard there’s a way to get Word to create dummy text for me.

A. I had never heard of that, but I did a little research, and lo and behold, there is a very neat way to do it. Here’s how:

Type =rand(10,12) and Word fills the screen with 10 paragraphs of this type:

You can set how many paragraphs you want to display (by adjusting the first number in the formula) and the number of sentences in each paragraph (by resetting the second number).

Q. When I work in Word, small yellow boxes often pop up next to my cursor to identify what I’m pointing at. I guess many users find those pop-ups helpful, but they distract me. Can I suppress them?

A. They’re called ScreenTips , and as with many Windows functions, they delight some users with their helpfulness and annoy others by their intrusiveness. Here’s what a ScreenTip looks like when a cursor is pointing at, say, the Strikethrough icon (ABC with a line through it) in the toolbar.

To suppress all ScreenTips , click on Tools, Options and the View tab, bringing up this screen:

Under the Show category, uncheck the ScreenTips box (in the first column) to program Word to halt the pop-ups and then click on OK .

While you’re in that screen, take note of all the other Word customizing default options.

 Q. I understand that from time to time Microsoft sends, via e-mail, updates and bug fixes for its operating system. How do I find out about them?

A. Windows XP has an automatic update feature. To engage it click on Start , Control Panel , System , the Automatic Updates tab, and this screen will appear:

Place a check next to the paragraph that begins “Keep my computer up to date….”

You then have three options under Settings . If you click on the third option— Automatically download the updates, and install them on the schedule that I specify —the dimmed text in the boxes that contain the words Every day and the time become accessible so you now can make your selections.

My preference is to check the second option: Download the updates automatically and notify me when they are ready to be installed. That way, while the updates automatically download, you can choose when, or whether, you want the installation to proceed. There may be times when you purposely do not want to install an upgrade, and this gives you the option to block it. Once you’ve made your choice, click on Apply and OK .

Q. When I give a PowerPoint presentation, there are times I want to pause and expand on a point I’m making without my last screenshot distracting my audience’s attention. How can I do that?

A. There are several ways. To display a blank black slide, either hit the B key or the period key. To display a blank white slide, hit either W or the comma key.

Q. I get a lot of spam—that is, uninvited and unwanted e-mail—much of which are advertisements. Some of the ads contain a link to click on to stop future mail from that sender. Is it safe to accept that invitation?

A. Frankly I’m not sure. I’ve read conflicting recommendations on the subject from so-called experts. For a while I clicked on those invitations to stop future mail from that address and soon began to wonder whether that action actually confirmed my e-mail address for that vendor and thus inadvertently invited more spam. However, I never kept a tally of the outcome so I don’t know whether my suspicion was valid. For now, at least, I no longer respond to spam-removal invitations. If I learn more about this, I will pass it on, or if any reader has better information, let me know and I will share it.

By the way, there are many efforts—using new technology and proposed spam-prohibition legislation—to stop such uninvited ads, but so far, none has been very effective. Check with your Internet service provider to see what spam-stopping tools it has. Also, the next edition of Microsoft’s Outlook has a more effective spam-blocking tool.

Q. Thanks to you, I now know how to add and remove items in my toolbar, but how do I do the same thing to my drop-down menus?

A. That’s a good question. Editing your drop-down menus makes them more efficient since they’ll include only functions you regularly use.

Begin by going through the same steps to add or subtract functions from the toolbar—that is, click on Tools , Customize and Commands . Now, before you select what you want to add or remove, click on the toolbar you want to edit. For example, let’s say you want to add the icon for the command Organization Chart in the Insert menu. While the Customize screen is engaged, click on Insert in the toolbar and that menu will drop down. Now drag the Organization Chart icon to the place in the Insert drop-down menu you want it to appear. Or drag out of the down-down menu icons you want to remove. When you’ve finished, click on Close .

This customizing technique works not only in Excel, but in all Microsoft applications.

In the July 2003 Tech Q&A (page 84), we told you how to combine data from two Excel cells into one and how to separate data into two cells. Nancy Locke, a CPA from Jacksonville, Florida, suggests another way to split a name in one cell and put it into two. Begin by copying the name (or a list of names) and paste it into Notepad, which is a word processor that comes as a free Windows accessory. (To launch Notepad click on Start , All Programs , Accessories and Notepad .) Then save the Notepad file and close it. Now open the Notepad file in Excel; however, to be able to see it, you will have to change Files of type from this:

to this:

Now click on Open . Since the file is stored as text (.txt), Excel will automatically open its Text Import Wizard and step you through the process of importing information. The wizard can handle not just one column, but many columns at one time. The technique works with data separated by commas or tabs ( Delimited ) and names separated by spaces ( Fixed width ).

To customize the imported data under Fixed width , adjust the arrow that separates the names.

And the result is the name is split—one in each cell.