We all have our good days and bad days with Excel. But with these 40 keyboard shortcuts, you can be assured that your session with Excel will all mean business.

Here are 40 of the most awesome Excel keyboard shortcuts to enable you to sail through all your regular and reptetive tasks like an Excel Spreadhseet Ninja.

For your convenience, I have divided them into 5 broad sections viz. – Selection, Switching, Creation, Formatting and Formula.

So here it is: 40 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Selection

1. Ctrl+* – Select current region.
2. Ctrl+Home – Goes to the first cell of the sheet
3. Ctrl+End – Goes to the last active cell of the sheet
4. Ctrl+Spacebar – Select entire column
5. Shift+Spacebar – Select entire row
6. Shift+Up/Down Arrow – Select adjacent column
7. Shift+Left/Right Arrow – Select adjacent row
8. Ctril +Up Arrow – Select first active cell in a column
9. Ctrl + Down Arrow – Select last active cell in a column
10. Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow - Selecting all rows from a particular cell to the beginning of the row
11. Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow - Selecting all rows from a particular cell to the end of the row
12. Ctrl+Shift+Home – Select all cells from active cell to the first active cell in the sheet
13. Ctrl+Shift+End – Select all cells from active cell to the last active cell in the sheet

Switching

14. Ctrl+Page Up – Switch between sheets in the same worksheet from left to right
15. Ctrl+Page Down – Switch between sheets in the same worksheet from right to left
16. Ctrl+Tab – Switch between worksheets
17. Alt+F11 – Open VBA Editor

Creation

18. Shift+ F11 – Creates New sheet
19. Ctrl+F3 – Define name for a cell
20. F3 – Paste name for a cell
21. Ctrl+; – Pastes Current date in the active cell
22. Ctrl+Shift+; – Pastes Current time in the active cell
23. Alt+F1 – Creates a chart using the active region
24. Alt+F2 -Displays the Save as dialog box

Formatting

25. Ctrl+1 – Format cells
26. Ctrl+2, Ctrl+B – Bold
27. Ctrl+3, Ctrl+i – Italics
28. Ctrl+4, Ctrl+U – Underline
29. Ctrl+5 – Strikethrough
30. Ctrl+9 – Hides selected rows
31. Ctrl+0 – Hides selected columns
32. Ctrl+D – Copy formatting of top most cell
33. Ctrl+G / F5 – Go to box
34. Ctrl+K – Hyperlink
36. Ctrl+L -Create List
37. Ctrl+R – Fill Right / Copy content and formats of leftmost cell in a selection

Formula:

38. =+FunctionName+Ctrl+A – Inserts new function
39. Ctrl+Shift+Enter – Array formula
40. Shift+F3 – Opens Formula Dialogue Box

Fell free to share this post using the buttons below. Or just proudly show off your Spreadhseet Ninja skills on your own.

Although PayPal is the most popular platform that allows people to complete different online payments, some individuals are continuously looking for some other alternatives that give them the chance to benefit from better services. The reasons behind this action are due to various issues, such as availability, terms and conditions, restrictions and so on. If you are one of these individuals, you most probably want to find out the best PayPal alternatives. In order to help you with this issue, the following list present the top available options that come along with a succinct description of their activities.

Google Checkout

Google Checkout seems to be the best possible alternative to PayPal. Recommended for all users, this option allows anyone to benefit from a series of services, which are similar to those of PayPal. Therefore, the first thing that you should know about Google Checkout is that it allows its users to complete different online transactions. If you open a Google Checkout account, you can make payments to those individuals or businesses that accept Google Checkout. There are a few important pros of this service, including the fact that it is 100% free. Additionally, the signup process is not only free but also very fast and really convenient. Google Checkout also provides a great customer service, which gets back to its customers within 24 hours. The most important drawbacks relate to the fact that it is not available on eBay, it does not provide phone support and most of its services are quite limited for the moment.

Moneybookers

Having about 3.5 million users, this service is also recommended to different individuals. A truly great thing about this service is that the number of its users shows a continuous growth, which tells us that this service will become a very strong competitor for PayPal. Similar to PayPal, this service also allows its users to send or receive money via an e-mail address. As well, the service is present on eBay, so that you can easily close different deals. The pros that relate to this service highlight a few important considerations, such as the fact that the service is available around the world; the signup process is free for all users; its interface is user-friendly; and the platform can be used for different person-to-person, person-to-business, business-to-business and even auction transactions.

AlertPay

This is another important PayPal alternative, which represents an ideal solution for those people who intend to collect payments for their businesses. Additionally, it also allows people to send money via e-mail addresses. Thus, if you want to make any online payments, send or receive money, AlertPay can definitely support all these activities. This service also comes along with some great pros, which include free signups, low fees, fast and easy withdrawing process, and strong seller and buyer protection. Its cons highlight the fact that the platform is not yet available on eBay and the customer service via phone has some truly high fees.

In conclusion, if you are searching for the best PayPal alternatives, it is important to know that the aforementioned options are a real pleasure to use. Therefore, anyone who intends to open some new accounts for completing various online transactions should definitely consider these great PayPal alternatives.

[This is a guest article by author: Srikar Srinivasula, who blogs at - GadgetDust.com ]

All of us whose work involves staring at a monitor for 6 out of 8 working hours in a day, are also aware that most organisations have PCs with Internet Explorer as the default browser. If you are unfortunate, this could well be something like the dreadful IE6. For us who love the flexibility, stability and customability of Firefox/Chrome on our home PC, settling for a stone-age browser like the IE6 is just very unsettling. After all, the sole purpose for IE over its life time is to download the other browsers. So you have decided which browser you want. But it is not always fully allowed to install them on your work PCs. There’s always that nanny IT dude restricting your admin rights on your work PC. But there’s always a sneaky way to dodge these.

Option 1: C:\Temp , or D:\Temp:

Most of the times, IT admin guys restrict you from installing files in the default applications folder, such as C:\Program Files etc. Installing it in a folder where write access is provided is an easy work around. Most importantly, it works like a charm.

Option 2: Portable Browsers:

There are lots of browsers available in the portable format. i.e. they can be installed on a removable storage device such as a USB stick. You can find more on this in this article.

Option 3: Convince/Bribe the IT dude or make friends with him:

Chances are, your USB drives are also disabled from use, since the organisation you work for is worried about data security etc. Hence, the next best option is to make friends with the IT dudes. This always works, provided you don’t get caught on ethical grounds. And possibly, IT dudes are well aware of the superiority of Chrome/Firefox over IE.

Those are the three options that I could think of. If you do have any other ideas/ options that could serve as a work around this problem, drop us a comment. Cheerio!

[Image Courtesy: Reddit]

The new Android 2.1, more popularly known as the Android Eclair, is now available to be downloaded on the Samsung Galaxy Portal on T-mobile UK. The catch is, this upgrade is not available over-the-air (OTA), but has to be initiated by the user using Samsung’s mobile PC suite – Samsung PC Studio.

This is ridiculous, since the Android is a modified version of the Linux kernel, and at its core, is Open Source. However, for the upgrade itself, it has to be connected to a Windows PC. More on that later. For now, let’s focus on the upgrading progress. And this process took me a good 4 hours to complete, until I found the easy and shortcut way to do it. Trust me, follow this process and the upgrade is done within 15 minutes flat!

What I did wrong before:

• Installed Samsung PC Studio which was on the CD that came along with my phone.[ This is version 1.4. etc, which is an old one ]
• Connected my phone via USB cable, and opened up Samsung PCS, and hit the Upgrade button.
• It goes to download the latest install, and then on to Step 3, which is actual upgrade on the phone, and then it goes on for ages, whilst the phone keeps flashing the Samsung logo.

Here’s the right way to do it.

• Install the latest version, just to be very sure. Go to Samsung Mobile UK website, and select Samsung Galaxy Portal-> Software, and download the 1.5 version of Samsung PC Studio.
• Once installed { i.e. after uninstalling the previous version and installing this one } , connect your Samsung Galaxy Portal using the USB Cable. Mount your SD card.

• Open Samsung PC Studio, and now it should detect your phone as GTi5700, and also should show – Firmware version on your phone, and the Upgrade Firmware version.
• Hit the upgrade. First it will download the BinaryUpdate file which is the new firmware that will be eventually loaded onto your phone. Once downloaded, it will go on to Step 3 – Upgrading the firmware on the phone.
• It will ask if you have backed up your data – i.e. contacts, SMS etc. ( I hope you have. This upgrade wipes all of it clean. Data on Memory Card is untouched ). Say yes, to that, and now it will start upgrading. PC Studio will ask you not to disconnect your phone from the PC. The phone will flash a Samsung Logo whilst in this process.
• A lot of people have complained about this process taking ages to complete. I personally experienced this 4 times, when the process did not progress at all for more than an hour.
• I found this shortcut on T-Mobile’s forum, and hence, thought to give it a go. When the Samsung logo is flashing, open the back case, and remove the battery.
• PC Studio will alert you of a critical fault in your cell, and advise you to reboot your cell in recovery mode.
• To do this, press these buttons simultaneously – Volume Down + Camera + Power. When you press these buttons, the home screen will show a Blue SIM logo and a Downloading status bar.
• In the recovery mode itself, hit Next on Samsung PC Studio, and it should go back to Step 1 and Step 2 – but it gets completed pretty soon. On to Step 3 of upgrading, this time around, the progress bar on PC Studio actually shows progress, and the process takes only about a minute to be 100%, and simultaneously, the Download bar on your phone also shows the progress.
• Once this is done, PC Studio goes to finish, and advises you to download Kies, as the new Android firmware is not supported by PC Studio. Ignore it.
• Your phone reboots on its own, and now has Android 2.1. Voila!
• All you need to do now is associate your Google account as you did the first time.

The entire upgrade process took around 15 minutes for me. I know it is quite sad that when the whole world of Android phones has been busy flashing off their Froyos, the Samsung Galaxy Portal has been struggling to get the Eclair. But still, it is much better than the 1.5 Cupcake. More on that later.
Do let me know if you face any problems in this upgrade.

In the past couple of months of working on Excel and VBA Macros, I have been exposed to a few challenges which in the course of time, I have overcome. So, I thought I would share them with my beloved readers. This section: Excel Tips aims at sharing the small tips and tricks that I have come across which makes life easier for anyone working with Excel or VBA Macros. Cheers!

Keyboard shortcuts are like the secret tools of every power Excel user. If we use too much of Excel in our day-to-day work, these handy Keyboard shortcuts on Excell cell selection will save a lot of time, and also save you from dragging the mouse into frustration land.

So here, we go.

Selecting entire Column (vertical ) : – Ctrl + Spacebar

Selecting entire Row (horizontal ) : – Shift + Spacebar

Selecting all rows & columns : – Ctrl + A

Selecting first active cell  : Ctrl + Home

Selecting last active cell : Ctrl + End

Selecting all columns from a particular cell to the beginning of the column: Ctrl + Shift + Left

Selecting all columns from a particular cell to the end of the column: Ctrl + Shift + Right

Selecting all rows from a particular cell to the beginning of the row : Ctrl + Shift + Up

Selecting all rows from a particular cell to the end of the row : Ctrl + Shift + Down

Selecting first active cell in a row: Ctrl + Left

Selecting last active cell in a row: Ctrl + Right

Selecting first active cell in a column: Ctrl + Up

Selecting last active cell in a column: Ctrl + Down

Do let us know if these simple tips helped you out, and leave your comments. Cheerio and happy exceling.

Yes, we have done quite a few YouTube downloading how-tos in the past. Some of them still work, some don’t. The one which continues to work is the ever-updating awesome tool – KeepVid.com. But remember the good ol’ days of the javascript bookmarklet which used to make life so much easier. Well, the bookmarklet is back again.

And it’s called – PwnYouTube. Go drag and drop it on your bookmarks bar just as I did.

PwnYouTube Bookmarklet

Now when you visit a YouTube video, on the page, when you hit the bookmarklet, the menu option appears on top of the screen. Its on a yellow background, so I don’t think you’ll miss it. For your convenience, it looks like this.

Right click, and save as shown. Voila! Easy peasy!

Else, there is another alternative. Just append ‘pwn’ before the youtube video URL.

e.g. To download video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM, enter

http://www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

You’ll be redirected to deturl.com, and there, you’ll find options to download it from SaveVid, YouDDL and KeepVid.

So there you go, happy downloading YouTube videos.

We all love the Thesis WordPress theme, and its multi-functional layout which can be highly customised. And we also love the Facebook Like button, which is in a way Facebook’s answer to the Tweetmeme button. So, why not I show you how to incorporate the Facebook Like button in Thesis WordPress button.

To do this, all you need to do is to go to your custom_functions.php file and open it in an editor. You can have a backup just in case things don’t go according to plan. Now, once you have it opened in an editor [ or in your dashboard editor ], add the following code.

You can customise the layout of the Facebook like button by changing what I have inserted in the

We all love to share YouTube videos don’t we. Especially with the ever growing number of excellent videos on the world’s biggest video database, we always find something or the other which we would rate as amusing or simply a must-watch. But for some impatient ones like me, we always tend to be really excited about the stuff we share. And we want to share a specific portion of a YouTube video. We often even use YouTube videos for referencing – like a particular portion from a video would help an opinion etc etc. You get it. But how do we achieve it. Well, the usual drill was to mention, please refer the video from 2 mins and 40 seconds onwards blah blah! But not anymore. Techkeyla is here to the rescue. Enter – TubeChop. Not only can you edit YouTube videos, but also share it, embed it, and prove your awesomeness.

So how do you actually do it?

Glad you asked. Just go to TubeChop. The text bar on the site, asks for the YouTube video URL. Just paste your desired URL . For our tutorial, we are using this supercute LOLcat video. Once you paste and hit enter, it will ask you to select the start and end points of the video.

Just drag and seek the start and end position bars as required. Easy peasy!!

Once done, hit the Chop It button.  The next page gives you the link, as well as the Embed Code. Howzzat!
The only weakness of this tool is that it does not work with videos which have disabled embedding.

And because you have been so attentive, you get to see this really cute and home-edited version of LOLCATS. Enjoy and happy edited sharing. Cheerio!