Thursday 19 June 2014

How To Create Beautiful Documents Without Any

Every once in a while you need to create a beautiful flyer, invitation or brochure. This can be really tricky, especially if you are not a graphic designer. Most of the companies spend hundreds of dollars to hire professional designers that design their business cards or posters. Even regular people need some beautiful wedding or birthday invitations sometimes.
The first time you come across such a problem, you do not even know where to begin. Designing such documents yourself sounds complicated. You have no idea what software to use, or how it should look like. Most of the people, even the ones who do not know anything about graphic design, have heard about the Photoshop software. It allows you to edit images. But is it really the best choice for designing a flyer or invitation?
You might think there should be an easier way to create this kind of documents. There should be a way that would allow creating beautiful documents even for people who do not have any graphic design knowledge. This is true. There are many powerful text editors that allow you not only to write text, but also add various graphic elements into your documents. The best and most well-known example of this is Microsoft Word.
However, if you are a Mac user, the better choice for you is Apple's Pages app. Just like Microsoft Word, Pages is powerful text editor, but it has a couple of advantages over Word. To begin with, it is much more user friendly, faster and cheaper.
Despite all of this, the most important advantage is templates that come with the app. Pages include loads of pre-designed templates for various documents, such as invitations, brochures, business cards, flyers, etc. So if you want to design a beautiful invitation, just select one of the invitation templates and add your own content into it. Every template has text boxes and sample images. Replacing the sample photos is as easy as drag and dropping the new image onto the image placeholder in the template. Adding text is as easy as typing it into the pre-designed text boxes.
The best part of this is that all the templates are created by professional designers. This means that even if you have no knowledge in the graphic design, you can still create professional documents with the couple of minutes of work. So the next time you will need a beautiful flyer or invitation, you know where to start.

By John Ethan Perry

Best Anti-Virus Software For Your Android And iPhone Device


The increasing popularity of different operating systems paves the way for more security threats out there especially in the internet as one becomes vulnerable to malware, identity theft and other advanced internet attacks. Many of us forego the thought of buying anti-virus software as this is expensive and more often than not, valid for only a year or if you are interested, you can extend the license up to several years but the cost goes up as well.
However, getting antivirus software can be your best defense especially if your knowledge about computer repairs is limited. Although the software can be expensive, knowing which one is the best will hopefully provide the best value for your money. Additionally, there is some excellent free anti-virus programs out there that can help cover most of our security needs and would be perfect for those not-so technology savvy people out there.
Anti-Virus for your Mobile Devices
Depending on the OS that you have on your mobile device, the best software should include anti-malware apps especially if your OS is Android. Although Android is impenetrable by viruses, malware can hamper the functionality of your mobile device. The popularity of the Android OS also makes it a favorite for hackers so do ensure that when you are installing software or apps, go directly to the official website such as Google PlayStore or if you have an iPhone, go check out iTunes.
If you want to install a security app for your Android device, consider checking the features of the apps. It is best to look for an app that thoroughly cleans, deletes malicious threats and offers real-time protection. Google's Android Device Manager works perfectly for Android users as well as CM Security, Malwarebytes, Avast, Sophos, Bitdefender and AVG. These antivirus are free though if you want added protection, you can also upgrade depending on what you need but for basic security, these are the best out there.
On the other side, if you are an Apple user, then be sure that you are well protected from viruses entering your iPhone especially if you do nothing but the basics like texting or calling. If you are opening emails and the likelihood of sending the said virus to other recipient is a real threat, then you can download some software that will help you scan your email's attachment. One of the best is the VirusBarrier but it is not a free app,. If you want a free one, do try Norton or McAfee.

  By Patrick Laurence

Tips and Tricks Make Excel a Fun Work

10 Excel Tips and Tricks which are dead useful:
  1. Automatically SUM () with Alt + =: Did you know you could add an entire row or column by simply clicking the first empty cell? Click, press ALT + '=' and simply add up the numbers in every above cell.

  2. Number Formatting Keyboard Shortcuts format: There is a true logic behind the keyboard shortcuts, which otherwise seem random to you. For example, to format a number as a currency you have to use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + 4. It may seem random to you, but SHIFT + 4 gives you a $ sign. So if you want to format a currency, you simply put CTRL + $. You can do the same with formatting a number as percent

  3. CTRL + ' to display formulas: While in the process of misbehaving troubleshooting numbers, have a go at the formulas first. See the formula used in the cell by simply hitting the two keys: Ctrl + ' (also called the acute accent key) which is the furthest to left on the row with number keys. It is tilde (~) when you press shift.

  4. Go directly to the Start and End of Column Keyboard: Sometimes, data sets are bottomless pits. You could scroll till the end of eternity or use the shortcut CTRL + down arrow to jump down the last filled cell or vice-versa.

  5. Repeat the same formula for multiple cells: Typing the same formula for all cells, No! First you need to create the formula in the first cell, and then take the cursor to the right lower corner of the cell. See the cursor turning into plus? Now simply double click to copy the formula and drag it on the rest of cells in the column. Bingo, problem solved!

  6. Delete/Add columns keyboard shortcut: It takes you all day to manage columns and rows in your spreadsheet. Here's how you save a little time: Press CTRL + minus and it will delete the column you have placed your cursor on and CHTRL + Shift will add a new column.

  7. Adjusting width of column(s): There's a way to get rid of those useless #### entries. Simply click on the column header and move it on to the right side. Double click when the cursor becomes a plus sign and your work is done.

  8. Copying a number or date pattern: This one is damn easy! Enter the information in two rows to establish the pattern. Highlight those and drag your cursor down to the number till which you want your cells to fill up respectively. This will work with numbers, dates and months.

  9. Tab between worksheets: So cross-checking different worksheets every time means you have to touch the mouse and all that. Why don't you simply enter CTRL + PGDN and if you want to go reverse type CTRL + PGUP.

  10. Double clicking format painter: With a simple mouse click, you can now duplicate a format in other cells with only a click. Many excel users use it by double clicking on the format painter to copy the format into multiple cells. Yay!
So these were some amazing excel tips that are deemed to come extremely handy in times when you need to save even an itsy amount of time. It is always easier when you make your data easier to manage.

By Patrick Kee