A. It could be any number of things. I would begin by running a full scan with an antivirus and repair utility software such as Norton Utilities. If that doesn’t help, I suggest you command Word to fix itself.

Beginning with Word 2000 Microsoft quietly added a macro command called FixMe that, as its name implies, conducts a full checkup of Word. If it finds something amiss, such as corrupted code, it instructs you to get out the original installation CD and run it. Then it instructs the computer to reload whatever is broken.

For some reason Microsoft hides FixMe under several layers of commands. You won’t even find it if you click on Word’s Help utility (F1). To run it, go to Word Tools and click on Macro and then on Macros. Then, on the bottom of the Macros screen, from the pull-down menu at Macros in, select Word commands and then cursor down until you locate FixMe. Click on it and then click on Run.

Then follow the screen instructions. Good luck.

To create one, name any unused worksheet Contents (by right-clicking on its tab and left-clicking on Rename.) If the tab is not in the leftmost position, use your left mouse button to drag the tab to that position.

Now place your cursor in any convenient cell of the Contents page and right-click. That generates a menu from which you should click on Hyperlink, evoking the Insert Hyperlink screen (see screenshot below). Highlight the Place in This Document box.

That will automatically list the names of all the tabs in this file under the heading Or select a place in this document. If you want this hyperlink to open the August tab, click on August and that name will appear next to Text to display. If you want the worksheet to open at a particular place, enter the cell location (such as R45) in the space next to Type the cell reference with the cell where you want the Revenue worksheet to open.

The hyperlink will appear on the first page of the Contents worksheet. When you click on it, you’ll immediately go to the August worksheet, cell R45.

A. The easiest way is with Conditional Formatting. Begin by highlighting the rows you want to format—presumably an entire worksheet—by clicking on the blank cell to the left of column A and above the 1.

Then click on Format, Conditional Formatting to open the function’s window. Under Condition 1, press the down arrow and select Formula Is and add this formula: =mod(row(),2)=1. If you want the shading to begin with the second row, rather than the first, substitute 0 for the 1.

To choose the color, click on the Format button and then on the Patterns tab to evoke this screen:

After you select the color, you’ll be returned to the Conditional Formatting screen. Finish by clicking on OK and your spreadsheet will look like this:

If you want to shade alternating columns instead of rows, use this formula: =mod(column(),2)=0.

A BETTER IDEA
In the March column a reader asked for an easy way to custom-format 24 worksheets. I suggested two ways: Use the Group command on all the worksheets, so any format action done to one will automatically affect the others, too, or create a template.

Marsha Troy, a CPA from Shawnee, Kan., suggests a third way—with Format Painter (). Here are the steps: Highlight the entire worksheet whose formatting you want to copy by clicking on the white cell to the left of column A and above row 1 (see screenshot) and then on the Format Painter.

Open a new worksheet and click on the cell to the left of A and above 1, and all the formatting will be duplicated.

STANLEY ZAROWIN, a former JofA senior editor, is now a contributing editor to the magazine. His e-mail address is zarowin@mindspring.com.