HelpScreen


Click to copy files Click to copy this months files to your hard disk.

Font Creator Program
This shareware program enables you to design and edit TrueType font files. A notable feature is its ability to auto-trace bitmap files, so you could draw characters on paper, scan them and build up a TrueType font. Home page www.high-logic.com.


 Click to install Click to install Font Creator.

Properties.xls
Excel has an under-used feature called custom properties in which you can store data that doesn't belong on a worksheet. This example file, written and tested with Excel 97, has some VBA code executed at start-up which stores the date the file was last opened and the next cell where data needs to be entered.

Here's a bunch of utilities for Office users. First off, enhanced font selectors for Word, Excel and PowerPoint 97:


 Click to copy files Click the icon on the left to install the Word 97 enhanced font dialog.


 Click to copy files Click the icon on the left to install the Excel 97 enhanced font dialog.


 Click to copy files Click the icon on the left to install the Powerpoint 97 enhanced font dialog.

Next up is the right-click thesaurus menu for Word 97 û see the magazine for details.


 Click to copy files Click the icon on the left to install the Word 97 thesaurus menu

All the above are free, courtesy of the folks at Woodys office watch who have an excellent free Office newsletter and some paid-for products such as books and Woody's Office Power Pack (WOPR). The Office 97 version of this is included here. It's for Word 97 and you need to be up to date on your Office Service Packs.


 Click to copy filesClick the icon on the left to install WOPR for Word 97

HDtach v2.61 Test your hard disk's performance. This is a free-to-use trial edition with a few rough edges and limitations (among which is that it doesn't work with NT) but it serves the purpose outlined in this month's Help Screen. Home page http://www.tcdlabs.com


Click to install Click the icon to the left to run HDtach v2.61.

FindFile for WordPro 97 Obtained from http://www.xpertss.com this is a tool to help you search for Word Pro documents based on their content. Written by Tink Long, it's free. Installation instructions are contained in the file FindFile.lwp.

GIF animations with PhotoDraw

We couldn't include the Microsoft tool mentioned in Help Screen û go online and get it from http://207.153.240.9/files/?/grapht/gifsetup.exe. The example PhotoDraw files are here, though.

Back article on Direct Memory Access
Click here to read the original Help Screen item on DMA and disks from the September issue.

Help on the Internet
Click here to read our list of useful Internet sites.

Contacting Help Screen
Got a problem, or a tip that will help other readers? Then send it to me at isharpe@futurenet.co.uk, or by terrestrial mail to the address in the magazine. I cannot answer queries personally, but you input could feature in a future Help Screen.