Word timesaving tips: Random text, quick definitions, formatting tricks and more

Word timesaving tips: Random text, quick definitions, formatting tricks and more

Make it easier to format and read long documents (and shorter ones) with these tips. Microsoft Word has many, many tricks up its sleeve. The seven here will help you through some common snags in complex documents.

Quickly change Line Spacing

You can change the line spacing on a single paragraph, page, or the entire document in two easy keystrokes. Place your cursor anywhere on the target paragraphs, then press:

Ctrl+1 to change the line spacing to single spaced.
Ctrl+2 to change the line spacing to double spaced.
Ctrl+5 to change the line spacing to 1.5 (or one and a half spaced).

Note: You must use the numbers above the alphabet keys. This shortcut does not recognize the numeric keypad.

Rand command

1. To generate random text for tutorials (like this one), graphic designs and other projects, place your cursor at the beginning of a new paragraph and type =Rand(2,3) then press Enter. The first number determines the number of paragraphs, and the second number determines the number of sentences in each paragraph. For example, the following two paragraphs were generated using the =Rand(2,3) command.
Video provides a powerful way to help you prove your point. When you click Online Video, you can paste in the embed code for the video you want to add. You can also type a keyword to search online for the video that best fits your document.
To make your document look professionally produced, Word provides header, footer, cover page, and text box designs that complement each other. For example, you can add a matching cover page, header, and sidebar. Click Insert and then choose the elements you want from the different galleries.

2. You can also insert the random text in Latin; for example, =Lorem(2,2) looks like the text below:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa.
Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim.

Quick definitions

You need synonyms to avoid repetition in your writing, but synonyms can easily stray from the precise definition. The Define feature defines words for you in just two clicks.

1. Place your cursor on any word in your document and right-click once.

2. In the drop-down menu that appears, click Define.

3. A panel on the right opens and displays the selected word with its definition.

If the panel fails to open, then you have not yet selected a dictionary app from the Office Apps Store. From the Insert tab, click the Store button. Choose Reference under Category on the Apps for Office screen. Browse through the Reference apps and select a dictionary, such as Merriam-Webster. The screen for the selected app appears. Click the Trust It button and Microsoft downloads the app to your hard drive. Now, when you right-click a word, then click Define, the Merriam-Webster dictionary appears onscreen in the right panel with the definition of the selected word.

Expand/Collapse paragraphs

Expanding and collapsing paragraphs make it easier to browse through long documents. For example, it’s easier to skim a document if all the text below the headers is collapsed. It’s also easier to read onscreen documents if the paragraphs that you’ve already read are collapsed. For extremely long documents, especially technical documents and reference materials, collapsed paragraphs are less intimidating for your readers and colleagues.
To set up this feature, you create headings that define sections of paragraphs that can be expanded or collapsed.

1. Type a few paragraphs (or use the =Rand command to create some random text). Enter a header over the first two paragraphs, then select it, and choose Heading1 from the Styles group under the Home tab.

2. Enter a few more paragraphs, add another header, then choose Heading1 again. Place your cursor on the first heading. Notice that a solid triangle appears. This symbol means this paragraph is collapsible.

3. Right-click on the first header, select Expand/Collapse > Collapse Heading and the paragraph disappears. Notice the triangle is now clear, which means there are collapsed paragraphs beneath this header.

4-5. Any subheadings (such as Heading 2, 3, 4, etc.) under Heading One will also collapse when the main Heading1 collapses.

Quick Underlines

When you want to run a line across the page, you don't need to press and hold the hyphen or asterisk key and then add or subtract characters until you fill the line. Instead, type a sentence, press Enter, then do one of the following procedures:

Press the hyphen/dash (-) key three times, then press Enter to draw a .75 point underline.

Press the underscore ( _ ) key three times, then press Enter to draw a 1.5 point underline.

Press the tilde (~) key three times, then press Enter to draw a zigzag underline.

Press the asterisk/star (*) key three times, then press Enter to draw a dotted underline.

Press the equal (=) key three times, then press Enter to draw a double underline.

Easy tricks to rearrange lists

If you have a numbered or bulleted list of items and suddenly decide that number 2 should be number 5 and number 4 should be number 2, most people just cut and paste the listed items until they are rearranged in the proper order. For a short list, no problem. But if you’re working with a long list, this can be a real headache.

1. Position your cursor anywhere on the phrase,

2. Press Alt+Shift and hold, then press the up/down arrows to move the phrase up or down on the list.

3. Now all you have to do is renumber the list.

4. Bullet lists are easier because you don’t have to reorder the numbers once the list is reorganized.

Vertical Selection feature

The Vertical Selection feature is a handy tool for making quick changes to a vertical column of characters—for example, adding or removing an attribute such as bold or italics, changing the color, font, and/or size of the numbers, bullets, or text.

You can delete the selected vertical text without also deleting the rest of the text beside it. For example, you can delete the numbers in a list, but not the list.

1. Press the Alt key, then click on the first character in the list or paragraph and drag the highlight down and over through the characters you want to modify, then make the changes.
Note, however, that you cannot sort the vertical characters separately from the adjacent text. You cannot change the design of a bullet through the Insert > Symbol menu, but you can change it through the Font menu or the Bullet menu (with some limitations).

For example, if you select Home > Paragraph > Bullet Library > Define New Bullet > Symbol, then select a “symbol” bullet from the list, only the first item in the list is affected.

2. If, however, you choose a bullet from the font option (Home > Paragraph > Bullet Library > Define New Bullet > Font)...

3-4. ...or select a picture from the Picture option (Home > Paragraph > Bullet Library > Define New Bullet > Picture), the new bullet displays on all the listed items.

5-6. You can also select the Numbering Library, and choose a nice number format for your list such as all lowercase letters or roman numerals.

JD Sartain/pcworld

Don't Drop the Potato

Many people fear that potatoes will make them fat or cause other health problems. Are potatoes really such villains? Are they any better or worse than bread, rice, or other starchy grains?

A half-baked myth
Potatoes have a bad reputation, in part, because they have a high glycemic index (GI), meaning that their carbohydrates are quickly broken down into sugar, causing blood sugar and insulin levels to rise rapidly. This, in turn, increases fat storage and the risk of obesity and diabetes—at least in theory.

A few studies have implicated potatoes in weight gain and diabetes. For instance, a 2009 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found a link between potato consumption and waist circumference in women (but not men). Earlier data from the Nurses’ Health Study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2006, linked potato intake and the risk of type 2 diabetes in obese women—especially when potatoes were eaten in place of whole grains.

But there are plenty of caveats to consider before you drop the potato. For one, not all studies support the idea that high-GI diets—let alone potatoes, in particular—have such adverse effects. Several have found no relationship between high-GI diets and body fat or diabetes. In any case, the GI of potatoes and other foods depends on many factors, including how they’re cooked and what they’re eaten with. And not all varieties have such a high GI. Russet potatoes do, for example, but red potatoes rank moderately.

Moreover, it’s hard to separate the effects of potatoes from those of other foods in a typical Western diet. That is, the undesirable associations seen in some studies could be due to the meat, refined grains, sugars and trans fats (as in French fries) in a “meat and potatoes” diet, rather than the potatoes. People also vary in their responses to carbohydrates, and some research suggests that potatoes may be more problematic in overweight and/or sedentary people, who are more likely to have insulin resistance.

Good for weight loss?
On the flip side, some research suggests that potatoes may help with weight control. They rate high in satiety, meaning they help fill you up, so you may eat less. Potatoes also contain proteinase inhibitors, which may suppress appetite. And preliminary experimental work suggests that potato extracts may improve insulin sensitivity and decrease diabetes risk due to their polyphenols. There’s even a weight-loss supplement that contains a potato extract, which is claimed to act as an appetite suppressant, though there’s no evidence it works. More research is needed, certainly, to confirm any weight-loss potential of potato extracts.

Fully baked facts
In actuality, potatoes are relatively low in calories—just 130 to 140 in a medium plain baked potato (5 ounces after cooking). That’s more per ounce than non-starchy vegetables, but fewer than the calories in bread and rice. The problem is that potatoes are often prepared and served with lots of high-calorie ingredients. A 5-ounce potato with two tablespoons of butter and three tablespoons of sour cream has 415 calories and 30 grams of fat. A 5-ounce portion of hash browns, cooked in oil or butter, has 375 calories, while 5 ounces of fast-food French fries has 435 calories. Ounce for ounce, potato chips have more than five times as many calories as a plain potato.

Potatoes are also a good source of fiber (leave the skin on), potassium (more than bananas), and vitamin C, and they provide some protein, iron, B vitamins (notably folate), and magnesium, along with other potentially beneficial plant compounds. The more colorful the potato, the higher the antioxidants.

There’s plenty of room for potatoes in a healthy diet that’s rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains. Eat them in moderation and go easy on the oil, cheese and cream when preparing them. By the way, sweet potatoes are technically unrelated to potatoes, but are a nutritious vegetable that provides lots of beta carotene and other carotenoids. You’d do well serving them up in place of white potatoes on occasion.

How to delete Windows File Explorer Address Bar History

How to delete Windows File Explorer Address Bar History

Every Windows user might have observed, whenever he clicks on the ‘down’ arrow or start typing something in the address bar field of File Explorer, a history of all previous locations and URLs appears before him. This could raise privacy or security concerns for some. All the URLs can be deleted by removing them via Registry Editor. In this post, we will see how you can remove or delete Windows File Explorer address bar auto-suggest history items from the drop-down menu.

Delete File Explorer Address Bar History

Press Windows + R to bring up the Run dialog box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
Next, in the windows that opens, navigate to the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedPaths

Once there, select the TypedPaths entry from the list of options available.
In the right-side panel, you will see url1, url2, etc corresponding to various URLs or paths. Right-click on the one you want to delete and select Delete.
This way, you can delete one, more or all of the items.
Related tips:

If you wish to delete all address bar history, in Windows 10 you can right-click on the Explorer bar and select Delete history.

To delete all File Explorer History in Windows 10, open Folder Options or File Explorer Options as it is now called, and under the General tab, under Privacy, click on the Clear File Explorer history button.

And, well, then there are always those several free junk file cleaners that let you achieve all this and more with the click of a button.

Measuring Body Weight: Beyond BMI

The body mass index is the standard method for evaluating body weight according to height. A “normal” BMI range is between 18.5 and 25. Between 25 and 30 is considered overweight, and above 30, obese (over 40 is considered extreme obesity). Below 18.5 is underweight, which can be as bad for health as obesity, especially in people over 65. To compute your BMI, you divide your weight (in kilograms) by your height (in meters) squared. Another way to do it: Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 705; divide the result by your height (in inches); then divide again by your height. This government website will compute your BMI for you.

Bear in mind that BMI, weight tables, and other indices serve only as approximate guides to evaluating weight. The cutoffs between weight categories are somewhat arbitrary. And some experts believe that the cutoffs for the normal range may be too low. Indeed, some studies suggest that BMIs in the overweight range (but not obesity) are not unhealthy and may even be the “sweet spot” on the weight spectrum in terms of longevity, particularly after age 65.

Moreover, the BMI doesn’t make allowance for some factors that affect body fatness and health. For instance, it doesn’t take into consideration how muscular you are, whether you are large- or small-boned, or whether you have lost height with age.

Perhaps most important, the BMI doesn’t gauge where your body fat is stored, which affects your health risks. If your body is apple-shaped (weight primarily around the waist), you’re at greater risk for various chronic problems, notably cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer, than if you are pear-shaped (fattest in the hips, buttocks, and thighs). It’s possible to have a normal BMI and carry too much weight around the waist and thus still be at elevated risk.

Several factors, notably gender, influence fat distribution. Men store most excess fat in the midsection, while women tend to accumulate it lower on the body. Still, women can gain abdominal fat, too, particularly after menopause (largely because of hormonal changes). Heredity and activity level also affect body shape.
While most fat in the hips and thighs is stored just under the skin (subcutaneous fat), more fat in the midsection is stored in and around the liver and other organs (visceral fat). These fat cells deep in the abdominal area are more “metabolically active” than subcutaneous fat. That is, they release certain fatty acids, hormones, and pro-inflammatory compounds, which are believed to account for some of the adverse health effects. Visceral fat increases estrogen production, for instance, which may partly explain the increase in breast cancer risk in some postmenopausal women. And by inducing chronic inflammation in the body, excess visceral fat may further boost cardiovascular risk.

To determine if you carry too much abdominal fat, measure your waist circumference: 40 inches or more indicates high risk for men, 35 inches for women, though risk starts to rise before those cutoffs.

The Power of Hope

Every few years I write about the placebo effect in this space because it’s such a crucial—and potentially confusing—player in health and wellness. The word placebo pops up just about every month in the Wellness Letter. It turns up a dozen times here in our article about reflexology.

How much do acupuncture’s apparent benefits derive from the placebo effect? That’s a key question about most complementary and alternative therapies—but also about much of mainstream medicine. Researchers and doctors have a love/hate relationship with the placebo effect. While we want to encourage it, we don’t want the benefits of our treatments to derive solely from the placebo effect. But does it really matter? And what is this mysterious phenomenon?

The placebo effect occurs when belief in a remedy or in the power of a trusted and caring practitioner actually helps the remedy work and triggers an improvement in symptoms and health. A placebo (Latin for “I will please”) is a “fake” or simulated treatment, such as a dummy pill or sham procedure, administered to someone who is unaware that it’s not a “real” treatment. As far back as ancient times it was known that the hope and expectation people experience when treated—even with a placebo—can play a large role in recovery. When it comes to pain and many other phenomena, the mind and body work together.
That makes it hard to tell to what extent beneficial results come from a treatment itself or from the patient’s positive expectations. But it’s essential to know whether the apparent efficacy of a treatment such as acupuncture is due solely to the placebo effect. The only way to find out is to test treatments against a placebo in controlled clinical trials, in which neither the researchers nor the patients know who is getting the treatment and who is getting the placebo. Even with a drug or procedure that’s more effective than a placebo, a patient’s hope and expectation that it will help can add to its effectiveness.

It’s estimated that anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of people given a placebo show some improvement for a variety of symptoms or conditions. This effect is more likely to occur when people believe that someone is trying to help them and thus expect relief, and especially if the someone is an optimistic practitioner in a therapeutic setting.

Placebos have a bad reputation because they involve deception. If I prescribe sugar pills for patients with migraines, they may have less pain for a while, but I have deceived them. Doctors are obliged to try to cure the ailment, not merely make patients feel better temporarily. But often we do both, and sometimes the latter is the best we can do. Some patients may not care if they are secretly given a placebo, so long as it helps. However, others would lose trust in their doctors if they found out. And without trust, even proven treatments may work less well.

But things are not always black or white—placebo or effective treatment. For instance, even after reading dozens of studies and reviews about acupuncture, I’m not sure how beneficial it is beyond its strong placebo effect. Still, when I was in practice I sometimes advised acupuncture and I would still do so today—at least for patients with conditions such as back or neck pain that isn’t alleviated by conventional treatment, or nausea caused by chemotherapy.

The trick is to harness the placebo effect as an ally in healing—for treatments that are of proven efficacy as well as for those of uncertain efficacy.

How to Exercise in the Car

Americans average almost an hour commuting every day, according to the latest statistics. Imagine how fit we'd be if we spent that much time exercising. You can't work in a cardio routine behind the wheel, of course. But a few simple exercises can ease stress and tone muscles when you're stopped at a light or stuck in a traffic jam:

Fist pushes
For this strengthening exercise, make fists with both hands and place them together in front of your chest, elbows out. Push your fists together. Count to five. Relax. Repeat.

Hand pulls
 For another strengthening move, curl the fingers of both hands and then hook them together in front of your chest. Keeping your fingers locked, exert pressure as if to pull your hands apart
.
Neck stretches
 Relax your shoulders. Then gently tilt your head toward your left shoulder. Hold the stretch. Then repeat on the other side.

Chest stretches
 Raise both arms with your palms facing forward until your forearms are horizontal. Push your elbows back to stretch your chest and shoulder blades.

So that we can easily do exercise even while we are driving to have fitness, have health for me.

How to reset Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 when things are broken

How to reset Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 when things are broken

In Windows 10, Microsoft is introducing many new features to make users more productive, such as a new Start menu, Cortana, new universal apps, Settings, which is the central place to configure the operating system, ultimately designed to replace Control Panel, and much more. The software giant is also introducing Microsoft Edge, the new default web browser built for the future web and to replace Internet Explorer (which it's still present for compatibility purposes).
Microsoft Edge is a completely new web browser with a minimal design that focus on web content, and like Chrome and Firefox, the software maker plans to match and surpass the features available from its competitors with extensions, web notes, tab preview, Cortana, and more.
While the web browser works quite alright without major problems, it's still in the early days. Some users may run into some issues, such as sudden crashes, slow performance, or simply it won't launch.
If you were running Chrome or Firefox, and you're having similar issues, you should try to uninstall and reinstall the web browser to try to resolve the problem. However, like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge is part of Windows 10. It's nearly impossible to uninstall the app, and even if you could, you might run into different issues.

If you are having problems with the new web browser, you can try resetting the instance of Microsoft Edge in your account to try to fix the issue you're having.
Of course, we would only recommend you do this as a last resort process, where you have tried everything else and nothing worked.

Warning: Using this guide might cause you lose your favorites, history, and settings. Before, you move forward, it's recommended that you perform a full backup or create a system restore point in case something goes wrong and to need to restore your last good known state of Windows 10.

Fixing Microsoft Edge

1- If you're running Microsoft Edge, close it.

2- Open File Explorer and type the following path into the address: 

C:\Users\UseYourUsername\AppData\Local\Packages and hit Enter. (Remember to replace "UseYourUsername" with your user account name.)

3- Select and try to delete the Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe folder as you would with any other folder. If you get a "Folder Access Denied" prompt, simply click Continue. Also, there might be some content that you won't be able to delete. If this is the case, in the dialog box, select to skip the files.

You should be able to delete most of the content inside the folder, but if you can't right-click Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe, select Properties, remove the check from the Read-only option, and click Apply and OK.

4- Once you've tried deleting all the content, go inside the Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe folder and try deleting the remaining folders by selecting all the folders, right-clicking them, selecting Delete, and clicking Yes to confirm the deletion. You may notice that you can't delete AC folder, but that's alright.

5- Restart your computer.

6- Now, were going to re-register Microsoft Edge in your account. Open the Start menu, search for Windows PowerShell, right-click it from the result, and select Run as administrator.

7- Type the following command and hit Enter:
cd C:\Users\UseYourUsername. (Remember to replace "UseYourUsername" with your user account name.)

Then, type the following command exactly and hit Enter:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}

If the process was completed successfully, you would see a message similar to this one:

That's all there is to it. If you want to be cautious, restart your computer one more time, and then you should be able to run Microsoft Edge again and hopefully without any issues.

Decaf: A Healthy Choice?

Most people who drink decaffeinated coffee do so because it doesn’t make them jittery or keep them awake. But some believe it’s better for them than regular coffee—even though coffee has been cleared of nearly all health charges, and may actually be beneficial. Is decaf somehow healthier than regular coffee? Or does the decaffeination process itself represent a health risk? On the other hand, many Americans are drinking tea because they’ve heard how healthy it is. If they drink decaf tea, they may wonder, do they get the health benefits? Here are answers to these and other questions.

How much caffeine does decaf contain?

It must have at least 97 percent of the caffeine removed. That leaves about 5 milligrams, compared to the 100 to 150 milligrams in 6 ounces of brewed coffee. Tea starts with much less caffeine, so most decaf tea has even less caffeine than decaf coffee.

How is coffee or tea decaffeinated?

There are three methods to extract the caffeine: using organic chemical solvents (methylene chloride or ethyl acetate), carbon dioxide or the water method (also known as the Swiss Water method). Since ethyl acetate is derived from fruit, coffee de-caffeinated via this solvent is sometimes described as "natural" decaf. Some coffee or tea processors use different methods for their various products.

Is one type of decaf preferable?

No. Over the years there have been worries about decaf processed with methylene chloride because studies had found that this chemical caused cancer when inhaled by lab animals (which is why it was banned in hair sprays). But there was no carcinogenic effect when the animals drank the chemical. In any case, the residue in decaf is virtually nil, and there’s no evidence of any danger for humans drinking decaf. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the compound for use in decaffeination. Many companies, including Starbucks, use methylene chloride because consumers tend to prefer the taste compared to, say, water-filtered decaf, which usually tastes blander.

Does regular coffee pose any health risks?

Coffee has been blamed for causing many ailments, but in nearly every instance it has been declared not guilty, as we have reported over the years. It was linked to heart disease and pancreatic cancer—but then exonerated. Some researchers still worry that coffee drinking may promote hypertension; most studies, however, have found no such effect. A few studies have suggested that large quantities of coffee (regular or decaf) can boost blood cholesterol slightly, but most research has found no increase in cholesterol or cardiovascular risk. One exception: drinking five or more cups of unfiltered coffee, brewed in a French press (a pot with a plunger), raises cholesterol.
Caffeine actually has potential benefits. Besides boosting alertness, it has an analgesic effect, which is why it is added to some pain relievers. Several studies also suggest it helps prevent Parkinson’s disease. A review of 18 studies, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggested that high intakes of regular and decaf coffee, along with tea, may reduce the risks of Type 2 diabetes. And there’s evidence suggesting it may help against gallstones and dental cavities.

What about decaf—does it pose any risks?

Though decaf has been less studied than regular coffee, it too has been the focus of several health scares that have so far not panned out. For instance, a study of women in Iowa found that those drinking four or more cups a day of decaf had an elevated risk of rheumatoid arthritis, but another study, from Harvard, found no such link.
Decaf can, however, have some of the same effects on the body as regular coffee. It too can cause heartburn or irritate stomach ulcers in susceptible people. And oddly enough, even without the caffeine, it too can stimulate the nervous system and briefly boost blood pressure in those unaccustomed to coffee, according to Swiss researchers. But coffee, decaf or regular, does not cause hypertension.

Is decaffeinated tea as healthful as regular?
No one knows. The studies suggesting health benefits have looked at people who drink a lot of regular tea, not decaf. The benefits apparently come from antioxidant compounds called flavonoids. Decaf tea generally contains less of these, though flavonoid content varies widely among teas, so it is hard to predict. The levels also depend on how the tea was processed. Moreover, not all types of flavonoids are lower in decaf tea, and it’s not known which ones are most important. A few studies suggest that decaffeinated teas do have potential anti-cancer effects. For instance, one study found that smokers who drank four cups of decaffeinated green tea daily for four months had significantly reduced DNA damage, as shown by urine tests. Another study gauged the total antioxidant capacity of various teas and found that some decafs rank higher than some regular teas.
On the horizon: Researchers are now working on breeding coffee plants that will have up to 98 percent less caffeine. But making these plants commercially viable looks like it will take years.

The Perks of Mall Walking

The CDC is encouraging people, especially older people, to go to the mall—not to shop, but to walk, beside walking in the nature. Here are some of the benefits of mall walking, plus how to navigate a few potential downsides.

Why walk?

Brisk walking has been linked to many health benefits, including a reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. Like other phys­ical activities, it may enhance mood, help you sleep better, improve or at least help preserve cognitive functioning, increase energy, and have bone benefits. Walking requires no spe­cial equipment and can be done by people of all ages and fitness levels, including those with arthritis or other physical limitations, since it doesn’t put excessive stress on joints. You should aim, the CDC recommends, for at least 150 minutes of brisk walking (or other moderate-intensity exercise) a week.

Why walk at the mall?

Many neighborhoods don’t score high in “walk­ability.” On the other hand, as the CDC points out, indoor malls are pedestrian friendly in a number of ways:

• They’re climate-controlled. It doesn’t rain or snow in malls, and they are air-conditioned for those hot and humid days when you can’t exercise outside.
• They’re safe and well lit. There’s no need to worry about traffic or tripping over sidewalk cracks. Security guards and cam­eras, as well as the presence of other people, make them safer than many neighborhoods.
• They’re free and provide lots of amenities: benches for resting, water foun­tains for hydrating, restrooms for pit stops, and medical equipment (including defibrillators) for emergencies.
• Their level surfaces are good for nov­ice walkers, while multi-level malls provide lots of stair-climbing opportunities.
• Some malls have organized walking programs led by fitness professionals; others have informal ones where walkers can get flyers or maps of walking routes or follow signs with mile markers. One loop of the mall may cover a distance of anywhere from a quarter mile to more than a mile.

Disadvantages of mall walking

• They can be crowded, meaning you might be doing a lot of dodging. Try to plan your walks for less-busy times, such as early morning (some malls open at 8 a.m. or earlier to accommodate walkers).
• They can tempt you to eat more, since food is readily available. Don’t reward yourself for exercising by snacking more.
• They don’t provide the same “natu­ral” setting as a park or a beach, for exam­ple. Walking in nature (“green exercise”) has been shown to be especially restor­ative, helping reduce stress and lowering heart rate and blood pressure, more so than city walking. If possible, seek out malls that are airy and open, with ample natural light, potted plants, trees, and other landscaping that helps mimic the great outdoors.

For more information on mall walking programs and for other walking resources to have health for me, fitness, exercise

How to configure the System Restore feature in Windows 10

How to configure the System Restore feature in Windows 10

We can safely customize many features and options in Windows without having to worry about if the next time you boot your computer will start correctly. Then there are those times when you need to modify the operating system in such a way that if you don't do it correctly, you might end up with serious problems. These problems could include not being able to boot, system stability problems, and many other issues.

This reason is why we always recommend you to protect your computer by doing a full backup of your system (or we tell you the risks involved doing a particular change). However, for years Microsoft's operating system has come with the System Restore feature, which can also help you fix your computer when things go wrong. System Restore allows you to revert the state of your computer to a previous point in time to undo changes that might have harmed your computer. These changes in the system files and settings, registry, and on installed applications. It's just like a time machine.

When enabled and configured correctly, Windows generates restore points when you install a new app, device driver, or Windows update, but, of course, you can always create a restore point manually. For example, when you want to change some of the Registry settings or install a big application.

This feature is like a backup, but not exactly, as going back in time with this feature won't affect your documents or settings prior the creation of a particular restore point. However, it will remove apps, drivers, system updates, and registry changes after the restore point was made.

Configuring System Restore hasn't been a difficult task to accomplish, but it's been a feature somewhat hidden from most users, even in Windows 10. Today we're going to go through the steps you need to follow to enable, create, and restore a system restore point in your computer.

Enable System Restore

1- Go to the Start menu, or click the search box and type Create a restore point and hit Enter to open the legacy "System Protection" settings page to configure the feature.

2- While in "System Properties" under the "System Protection" tab, make sure to check your Windows drive (typically C) has Protection turned On.

3- If Protection it's turned Off the Create button won't be available. The next step is to select the drive you have installed Windows (system) and click on the Configure button.

4- Once inside of "Restore Settings" make sure to select "Turn on system protection" to enable the feature.

Note: System Restore can only be enabled per supported drive, no per computer. If you have additional drives, you may not be able to configure them.

Under "Disk Space Usage," you can adjust the maximum storage space dedicated to storing restore points. By default, Windows only uses a small percentage of the total available storage of a particular drive, and as the reserved space fills up, older restore points will get deleted to make room for future ones.

You will also notice the a Delete button that will erase all the current saved restore points. You may want to use this option when you need to create a manual restore point, and you can't allocate more space.

5- After configuring your preferences, click Apply and then OK. Now, you'll see that under the system drive now has Protection turned On.

Create System Restore Point

Now that you have enabled Restore Point in your system, the operating system will create a restore point automatically every time a significant change happens. However, sometimes you might want to create a system restore point manually before modifying anything that you might think could cause a problem.

To configure a restore point manually, simply click the Create button, and type a description to help you identify the restore point (e.g., System Restore Point before installing X app). Then click the Create button to complete the process. (Restore points creation are fast, it shouldn't take longer than a minute.)

Using System Restore

If at any point in time, you run into issues, before using a backup or the "Reset this PC" feature in Windows 10, you can use a system restore point, which will be quicker and easier.

To undo unwanted system changes to fix your computer by going back to a previous point in time do the following:

1- Go to the Start menu, or click the search box and type Create a restore point and hit Enter to open the legacy "System Protection" settings page to configure the feature.
2- Click the System Restore button and click Next.

3- You will be shown all the available restore point available with date, description, and more importantly, you'll also see the type, which specifies if it was created manually or by the system.

As you select a restore point, you can click the "Scan for affected programs" to view the applications installed since the last restore point, which will be deleted during the restore process. Then click Cancel to go back to the wizard.

Then click Next and then Finish to begin the restore process.

Once the process complete, you will back to that point in time your system was working correctly.

Extra

Thus far, we have seen how to use a restore point when things go wrong in your system, but only when you can still operate the PC and OS. However, there will be a time when you have created a manual restore point, but your computer won't boot because a certain specific error after you have modified Windows.

In these cases, you use the system advanced options during boot to access the "System Restore". Simply, try to boot your computer three times to trigger the automatic repair environment in Windows 10, and then:

1. Click on Advanced startup.
2. Click on Troubleshoot, Advanced options, System Restore.
3. System Restore will load, and you can use the previous steps from Using System Restore to restore your system.

Alternatively, you can use a bootable installation media of Windows 10 to start your system and then:

1. Click Next, and click Repair your computer.
2. Click on Troubleshoot, Advanced options, System Restore.
3. System Restore will load, and you can use the previous steps from Using System Restore to restore your system.

That's all there is to it.

Wrapping things up

For years, System Restore has been a well-known feature, and it also comes as part of Windows 10. Like in previous versions, it's easy to use, but it could be somewhat difficult to find for regular users. As such, today we remind you of the feature for those times when you're eager to test a new configuration, but you don't know if it will work.

Keep in mind that this feature is not a replacement for a full backup or reset functionality. If your computer's hard drive fails, you won't be able to restore the previous version of the operating system, and you are likely to lose all your files. Also, the reset functionality built-in Windows 10 will only help when you need to reset all of your settings, apps, and operating system to the factory defaults.

Power of Napping

As if we needed another reason to enjoy a midday snooze, a growing body of research suggests that napping helps improve memory. Think of a nap as a quick reboot for your brain, triggering a neurochemical process that helps you remember things and learn new tasks.
Several recent studies, here and abroad, have linked midday naps to improvements in cognitive function. Researchers from the University of Düsseldorf in Germany, for instance, reported that short naps—some as little as six minutes—significantly improved memory.

That’s not all: Most adults find that a nap improves their concentration and makes them more alert. French researchers, writing in the journal Sleep, found that nappers, especially younger ones, did better on a nighttime driving test than non-nappers.

Improve your napability

Some of history’s most creative people understood the benefits of a midday nap. Johannes Brahms and Napoleon reportedly savored their siestas, and Winston Churchill claimed that napping allowed him “to press a day and a half’s work into one.”

Why this need to snooze only hours after waking from a nighttime slumber? Sleep researchers have learned that the urge to nap in the afternoon is nearly universal. It is driven largely by our internal biorhythms, which control wakefulness, temperature and other processes.

While it’s normal to feel some fatigue during the course of the day, talk to your doctor if you experience excessive daytime sleepiness. Chronic tiredness and a frequent need to sleep may be signs of depression, sleep apnea, medication side effects or other health problems.

For most of us, naps are safe, enjoyable and beneficial. Here are some tips for a restful nap:

• Short naps are better than long ones. Some people feel refreshed after just 10 minutes. Long naps can interfere with your nighttime sleep and cause post-nap grogginess.
• Don’t nap close to your bedtime. Napping too late in the day can affect your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep at night. If you have insomnia, daytime napping may worsen it.
• Napping is not for everyone. Some people find it hard to nap or feel worse after they do. If that’s you, find other healthy ways to counter the midday slump, such as a brisk walk or other form of exercise.

Sleep: Does Counting Sheep Work?

Q: Does counting sheep really help for insomnia?

A: Not usually. Many people with insomnia say they’re unable to turn off worrisome or emotionally arousing thoughts at night. The harder they try, the worse it gets. This often morphs into anxiety about not being able to sleep, which only worsens matters. One traditional remedy is distracting yourself in some way. But counting sheep is too boring to keep distressful thoughts away.
A better alternative is cognitive refocusing treatment. It involves doing personally engaging yet non-arousing mental tasks (such as reciting lyrics from favorite songs or plots from books) while trying to fall asleep and when waking up during the night.
For instance, researchers from Syracuse University in New York have found this strategy to be more effective than standard sleep advice. It tends to be more effective than counting sheep because it uses personalized scripts that are more appealing and easier to focus on, to have health for me

Walking in Nature

A few months ago I went on my annual backpacking trip in California’s magnificent Sierra Nevada mountains. I usually go with a friend for five or six days, and we do pretty well, considering that we’re now grandfathers.

Though the trips are strenuous, I always come home recharged, physically and mentally. I get a lot out of exercising regularly year-round, at the gym or running in my neighborhood, but I get so much more out of this annual trek. It’s not just exercise, or a vacation or quality time with a friend. What makes it especially restorative is being out in nature.

This nature stuff may sound touchy-feely (very “Berkeley”) but there’s real science behind it. Lately, researchers have been looking at what happens to our brains and bodies when we’re walking in a forest, in the mountains or by the sea. The study of such “green exercise” usually falls under the umbrella of environmental psychology (or ecopsychology). The Japanese, in particular, have been studying what they call “forest bathing” (Shinrin-yoku)—that is, spending time in nature for therapeutic effects.

Studies have found, for instance, that people do better on tests involving memory or attention after trekking through the woods than after walking in a city. People have increased vitality (that is, physical and mental energy) and a greater sense of well-being after walking through a tree-lined river path than after walking indoors. Other studies have even found that patients in hospitals tend to recover more quickly when they can see trees from their windows.

The proposed benefits of walking in nature include giving the brain a respite from the multitasking of everyday life. If you enjoy hiking, you know that you become more aware of your surroundings—the sounds, smells, colors. Time slows down. Somehow this refreshes the brain and makes thinking clearer. Japanese researchers have found that walking through forests can help reduce stress, lower blood pressure and heart rate and improve various aspects of immune function for anywhere from a few hours to a few days afterwards—while walking in a city does not. They suggest that various airborne chemicals emitted from plants may play a role.

All it takes is five to 20 minutes in nature to boost mood and energy levels somewhat, some research has found, though longer forays produce greater benefits. Other studies indicate that there’s a “third-day effect”—a special stage of relaxation and mindfulness that occurs after a couple days of hiking. I consistently experience that on my trips. Being out of the range of cell phones and email helps.
Not everyone enjoys hiking or can do it, of course. Other activities—by the shore or even in a city park—may be your thing. Find what kind of environmentalist you are, and enjoy.

Exercise: It’s Never Too Late

You’ve undoubtedly heard it many times: Exercise improves the health and well-being of people of all ages. Yet there have been very few large, long clinical trials on exercise in older people.

Sure, many observational studies have linked exercise with better health in people over 65, though that doesn’t prove causation. It may simply be that healthy older folks are more likely to exercise. Moreover, countless small, short intervention studies have shown that exercise can improve specific parameters of healthy aging—such as muscle strength, aerobic capacity, or blood pressure levels—in people in their seventies or eighties. But these don’t present the big picture. That’s why researchers have been excited about the impressive clinical trial on the benefits of exercise for sedentary older people that was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The multicenter study involved 1,635 people ages 70 to 89 who were largely sedentaryand borderline-frail. That is, at the start they scored low on a standard assessment of physical functioning but were still able to walk a quarter mile in 15 minutes. Half were assigned an exercise program involving supervised group walking on a track (about 150 minutes a week), plus strength, flexibility, and balance training done at home (30 minutes a week). The other half, the control group, simply attended weekly (then monthly) health education classes, where they did brief upper-body stretches.

Over the course of 2.6 years, on average, the exercisers were 18 percent less likely to experience “major mobility disability”—defined as no longer being able to do that quarter-mile walk—than the control group. And they were 28 percent less likely to experience persistent disability. Those improvements, while not that large, are “clinically relevant,” according to the authors. There were no statistically significant differences in rates of heart attacks, strokes, or other serious adverse events, however.

One strength of the study was that it focused on that large swathe of vulnerable older people on the verge of frailty—with diminished physical abilities, but still able to get around. Another plus is that the exercise was mostly walking and simple home-based workouts. Most of it was done in groups, so the social interaction may also have contributed to the benefits.

How to sift spreadsheet data using AND, OR, NOT, and XOR in excel

Excel Boolean logic: How to sift spreadsheet data using AND, OR, NOT, and XOR

Excel logical functions make it easy to find the data you want, especially in huge spreadsheets.

In Excel, Boolean logic (a fancy name for a simple condition that’s either true or false) is one way to sift specific data or results from a large spreadsheet. Granted, there are other ways to search a spreadsheet, including Lookup functions and pivot tables. The reason to bone up on Boolean logic is because it's a method you can use in other applications, like search engines and databases.

Boolean operators, which Excel calls logical functions, include AND, OR, NOT, and a new function called XOR. These operators are used between search terms to narrow, expand, or exclude your results in databases, spreadsheets, search engines, or any situation where you’re seeking specific information. We'll walk you through all four.

Boolean basics

The simplest definition for each operator is this:

AND – returns TRUE if all conditions specified are true
Example: =AND (100<200, 200>100) TRUE because both conditions are true
OR – returns TRUE if at least one of the specified conditions is true
Example: =OR(100<200, 100>300) TRUE because one of the conditions is true
NOT – returns true if condition specified is NOT met (reverse logic)
Example: =NOT(100>500) TRUE because 100 is NOT greater than 500
XOR – also called Exclusive OR, returns true if either argument (but not both) is true
Examples: =XOR(1+1=2, 2-1=2) returns TRUE because one condition is true and one is false
=XOR(1+1=2, 2-1=1) returns FALSE because both conditions are true
=XOR(5+1=2, 5-1=2) returns FALSE because both conditions are false
A few more things to note:

• When you're searching for a range of results via Boolean operators, you define the range by what it's more than or less than. 
• Excel 2013 allows a maximum of 255 arguments in a single logical function, but only if the formula does not exceed 8,192 characters. 

Boolean operators may start out looking simple. When combined with other functions, however, such as IF statements, you can create some complex formulas that produce very powerful results.

Boolean AND, IF-AND

When you're trying to find something that meets multiple criteria, AND is your operator. For example: One of the actors in George’s play broke his leg, so George needs another actor, immediately, with very specific skills and appearance. In order to fit the costumes, the new guy must be 68 to 69 inches tall, must weigh between 180 and 200 pounds, and must be aged between 30 and 50. 

If George’s list of actors contained only 50 to 100 names, he could scan the list and locate a replacement himself. But the Guild Actors database contains 20,000 records, so he needs a faster way to narrow the search. 

For this query, you can use one of the following three formulas. All three formulas work and all are similar, except the AND statement only returns True or False. The IF statements allow custom responses such as “Match” or “Qualified.” 

Copy the database and formulas shown in figure 02 and experiment with the results.
A. AND statement using AND Boolean operators (with three conditions): returns true or false. 

=AND(AND(C6>67,C6<70),AND(D6>179,D6<201),AND(E6>29,E6<51)) = TRUE

B. IF/AND statement using AND Boolean operators (with three conditions): returns Yes or No because the IF statement says: If this, and this, and this is true, then answer Yes; else/otherwise, answer No. 

=IF(AND(AND(C8>67,C8<70),AND(D8>179,D8<201),AND(E8>29,E8<51)),”Yes”,”No”)

C. IF statement using AND Boolean operators (with three conditions): returns Yes or No.
In this case, if any of the AND statements are not met, the response will return False and the multiplication (asterisk) result will be 0 (False). This format often appears when your syntax has an error and Excel repairs it (after asking you if you would like assistance). 

=IF(AND(C10>67,C10<70)*AND(D10>179,D10<201)*AND(E10>29,E10<51),”YES”,”NO”)

Note: Notice how Excel color-codes the formulas to the matching cells, including the opening and closing parentheses, in an effort to help you understand the syntax of each condition in the formula.

Boolean OR, AND-OR

The first database search returned 1100 actors. George wants to narrow the results further, so he queries those 1100 results for two very specific skills: This actor must speak fluent Italian or French AND have a vocal range of tenor or bass. 

Use the following formula for this query:
=OR(OR(C9="Italian",C9="French"),AND(OR(D9="tenor",D9="base"))) = TRUE
Remember, for the answer to be true, the actor must speak Italian OR French AND sing tenor OR bass. 

Any incorrect information produces a FALSE response. 

Copy the database and formulas shown in figure 03 and experiment with the results. Once again, note how Excel color-codes the formulas to the matching cells, including the opening and closing parentheses, in an effort to help you understand the syntax of each condition in the formula.

Boolean NOT, NOT-OR

The easiest way to explain the NOT operator is to compare it to an Internet search. If you searched online for your old friend Jack Russell just by typing his name, you'd get hundreds of hits for dogs and puppies, too. With the NOT operator, you can search for “Jack Russell NOT dogs NOT puppies” to remove the canine variable. 

George needs some background performers to dance and play a variety of instruments—but not the piano, because pianists can't dance around, and not ballroom dancing, because he wants them to dance with their instruments, not with human partners. George queries the database again and specifies NOT piano AND NOT ballroom dancing. 

Remember, this is reverse logic, so NOT piano and NOT ballroom equals FALSE because he doesn’t want ballroom and he doesn’t want piano. Think of FALSE as “No, not this person.” Notice also that record 3 (Feyd-Rautha) says guitar and ballroom. Guitar is good, but ballroom is bad, so the response is FALSE because George doesn’t want ballroom (even though guitar is okay). Same situation for record 4 (Piter De Vries), piano, waltz. Since only one is acceptable and not both, both are rejected. 

Use the following formula for this query, then copy the database shown in figure 04 and experiment with the results. 

=NOT(OR(C5="piano", D5="ballroom"))

Meet XOR, also known as Exclusive OR Just when you thought you had Boolean logic in the bag, Excel 2013 introduced the new operator XOR, which means Exclusive OR. Think of it as a similar opposite of NOT: If one condition is true and one is false, XOR returns TRUE. If both conditions are true, or both conditions are false, XOR returns FALSE.
Use the following formula for this query and then copy the database shown in figure 05 and experiment with the results. 

=XOR(C5="piano", D5="ballroom")

Once you get comfortable with Boolean operators, you have a new skill for finding specific records in a sea of cells. Better yet, you can branch out to use Boolean logic to to refine Internet searches, database searches, and more.