A. Yes, there is. The trick is to first group the worksheets in which you want to enter the common data. Then you even can add formulas and formats at the same time and get three solutions for the price of one.

When you group worksheets, what you do in one sheet is automatically copied to all the others in the group. You can group two or more consecutive (for example, January, February, March) or nonconsecutive worksheets (January, March, 2001).

Let’s do the consecutive sheets first. Click on the tab of the first worksheet, and while holding down the Shift key, click on the tab of the last sheet in the group. That will group all the sheets between the first and last sheet tab.
To group nonconsecutive sheets (such as January, February, April), click on the tab of the first worksheet, hold down the Ctrl button and click on any of the sheets you want included in the group. The worksheets you select will appear in white, as shown below.

Now any data, formula or formatting that you enter or apply in one worksheet will appear simultaneously in the others.

A. Microsoft is routinely criticized for writing bloated software code and for designing files that just seem to grow fat as they age. Here are two solutions that often work, but don’t be surprised if they fail.

After removing excess data from a file or deleting the macros, reopen the file and save it, using File, Save As, under a different name. If the file has shrunk, delete the fat, old file and rename the slimmed-down one with the original name. If that doesn’t work, try this: Copy each individual worksheet to a new workbook.

If you have the problem in Word, check to see whether there are any graphics in the document. Some graphics, because of their formatting, are just naturally fat. It’s not hard to change their formatting to one that’s much leaner. Instead of just copying a graphic into a document with Paste (Ctrl+V), use the toolbar’s Insert command (Insert, Picture, From File). That way, Word automatically converts any graphic to the JPEG format, which provides good resolution without bloat.

If those methods fail, I’m sorry to say your only recourse may be to write a letter of complaint to Microsoft. Enough complaints might produce some remedial action.

However, I failed to suggest the obvious and most simple solution for not only changing all the gridlines in a worksheet to one color, but also setting them to many different colors. Thankfully, one alert reader called it to my attention. Michael A. Berson, CPA, CFO of Sidney Fetner Associates, New York, says you can produce variously colored gridlines (see screenshot below) within one worksheet by using the Format Cells command.

To do that, highlight the cell or cells to which you wish to add color. Right-click in that highlighted space, left-click on Format Cells and click on the Border tab. Select your color from the drop-down menu and then either choose the type of border from the array of choices or click on any of the corner symbols or the word Text in the center box. When you’re satisfied with the color and arrangement, click on OK.

A. That can be an irritating problem, especially when the left-behind drivers try to launch missing applications. Microsoft wrote a utility, RegClean, that does the job for operating systems before XP; unfortunately, Microsoft no longer supports it. If you have an older operating system just type RegClean into a search engine and you’ll find many URLs from which to download it for free.

If you are running XP, the solution is a little more complicated. Begin with the conventional application-removal method, using Windows’ own Add or Remove Programs menu. To access that, click on Start, Settings, Control Panel and then on Add or Remove Programs. Scroll down the list of programs until you find your target. Click on it and the following screen will appear:

Click on Remove, and theoretically at least, all the application’s files will be cleared off your hard drive. If you later discover that some files remain, you will have to take more drastic action—that is, go into the Registry and pluck them out.

I can imagine that you’re shaking your head and saying, “No way am I going there.” While it’s true that going into the Registry, which controls the computer’s operating system, is a little scary for the novice, if you proceed carefully and follow instructions to the letter it can be very useful. Here are the steps:

Click on Start, Run and in the space after Open: type regedit.

Scroll down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and click on the plus (+) sign to its left.

That will unfold many more items. Scroll down to Software and click on the plus sign to its left. That, in turn, will unfold yet more items. Scroll down to Microsoft. Again click on the plus sign to its left, and following the same procedure, click on Windows and then CurrentVersion and finally on Uninstall, where every program on your computer is listed.

Many of the listings are in code; don’t even think about touching them. Go to your target application and right-click on it. That evokes a small menu which includes the option to Delete. Right-click on it and then close the Registry Editor by clicking on the big X in the upper right-hand corner.

DISPLAY MULTIPLE EXCEL WORKSHEET TABS
Q. Some of my Excel spreadsheets contain many worksheets—up to 36 in some cases. But not all the worksheet tabs show at the bottom of the screen. Is there some way to make more tabs visible, such as displaying multiple rows?

A. Multiple rows would be a good idea, but unfortunately Microsoft hasn’t come up with that solution. There are three things you can do. The first is to slide the divider bar, which is on the bottom of the screen between the tabs and the horizontal scroll bar, all the way to the right; that opens up a bit more space for the tabs.

The second option is to shorten the names on the tabs; that will allow more to show at the bottom of the screen. Notice in the screenshot above how little space the number 2 takes compared with Sheet11. But of course, no matter how short you make a tab name, you still can’t fit 36 in the space at the bottom of the screen.

The third option is to change how the tabs are displayed. Right-clicking on the controls to the left of the tabs produces a vertical list of all the worksheets in the spreadsheet (see screenshot at below).

If the sheet you want still is not visible, click on More Sheets at the bottom of the list. That launches the Activate dialog box (see below). Click on any of the sheet names to call it to the screen. By the way, Excel can handle as many as 255 worksheets per spreadsheet.

A. While your colleagues have a point, I also understand your concern. Microsoft insists that its remote examination in no way compromises customers’ security, that all it looks at are the steps (keyboard and mouse commands) that preceded the crash—not your data. So there’s no question that by volunteering to let Microsoft examine the crash data you are indeed contributing to its future stability.

If you do agree to the investigation, the critical precrash data are automatically e-mailed to Microsoft. It takes no further action on your part and the whole process takes less than a minute.

You can stop Windows from inviting you to share the crash information in the first place, however. Here are the steps to take: Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, the Advanced tab and Error Reporting (at the bottom of the screen), which launches the Error Reporting screen. Another way to get to that screen: Open My Computer, right-click on Properties, click on Advanced tab and Error Reporting.

The Error Reporting screen offers you several choices: If you opt to Enable error reporting, you can have it monitor either your Windows operating system, Programs or both. Or you can Disable error reporting but still check on But notify me when critical errors occur.

Print Preview: Press Ctrl+Alt+I or Ctrl+F2 to toggle between print view and regular view.

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