excel

How to create a stacked bar chart in Excel

Dave Farquhar Office, Software , ,
How to create a stacked bar chart in Excel

My boss’ management is clamoring for metrics. They want to know, at a glance, what we’re doing and how far along we are. Sounds like a job for stacked bar charts in Excel to me. So here’s how to create a stacked bar chart in Excel.

Figuring out a way to track our progress was fairly easy. Figuring out how to make Excel display that chart in a meaningful fashion… Well, that took about five hours. I’ll try to make it easier for you than it was for me.
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Who still uses Wordperfect?

Dave Farquhar Software , , , , ,
Who still uses Wordperfect?

I had an odd question come up the other day: Who still uses Wordperfect? It’s a fair question. Wordperfect, as you may know, is still very much in production. Corel releases new versions every year or two. It’s the #2 word processor in the market, still. Someone is still using it, then.

Wordperfect is a software classic, especially the old version 5.1 that ran under DOS. For a time, Wordperfect 5.1 was one of the two most famous programs for IBM compatible PCs. The other was Lotus 1-2-3.

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Common security attacks and countermeasures

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , , , ,

As a security professional, I talk to a lot of people about common security attacks and countermeasures. I’m not always certain the people I’m talking to know what these things mean. I am almost certain they aren’t willing to ask.

I know it’s more complicated than it was when I took my Security+ exam a decade ago. The stakes are much higher now. The attacks I had to identify caused inconvenience, but someone conducting a successful smurf attack on your printer won’t get you in the headlines. Today’s attacks will.

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Convert a list of hostnames to a list of IP addresses

Dave Farquhar security, Windows , , , , , ,

I had a client with a huge list of hostnames that they needed to convert to IP addresses so they could scan them. That’s common. I used to have a Windows batch file to convert a list of hostnames to a list of IP addresses, so I dug it out of my archives. This uses ping but isn’t like a ping sweep; they knew the machine names but their tool needed IPs.

I used the file to resolve lists of machines so I could load them into a centralized logging or vulnerability management system. This client had the same need and nobody there had a similar tool. So I shared mine with them. And I present it here so I won’t lose it again, and if you need it, you can use it too.

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What does scroll lock do? Or scrlk?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing , , ,
What does scroll lock do? Or scrlk?

What’s the purpose of the scroll lock key? What does scroll lock do? With modern windowing operating systems we don’t need the scroll lock or scrlk key very often, but it solved a very real problem in the days of DOS.

The scrlk key is an abbreviation for scroll lock. Some keyboards abbreviate it even further. I one keyboard that just says “scr” on that key. However your keyboard abbreviates it, it’s almost always the key in between the print screen and pause keys.

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Splunk vs Loglogic: Battle of the logs

Dave Farquhar security , ,

If you need a centralized logging solution for your business, you’ll need to consider Splunk vs Loglogic. I have experience with both in corporate environments.

I guess you can say I spent a lot of time configuring and waiting on Loglogic. I spent a little time configuring Splunk and a lot of time turning the data inside it into knowledge.

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Find words in all caps in Word

Dave Farquhar Office, Software ,
Find words in all caps in Word

Sometimes it’s helpful to be able to find words in all caps in Word. Microsoft Word, that is. This helps you find all the acronyms so you can make sure you spelled them out or explained them properly.

Double-checking acronyms is especially important when writing government proposals, which require you to spell out acronyms on first usage. If you’ve never written a proposal, be glad, smile, and nod. Many acronyms make good index material, so this trick helps when you’re writing an index. Also, acronyms are frequently jargon, so making sure you explain them adequately is just part of good writing. Or, if you’re a fan of high quality typography, you might want to find them all so you can set them in small caps for improved aesthetics and readability.

Here’s how you do it.

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Get rid of trailing zeroes in Excel charts

Dave Farquhar Office, Software ,

I was making a chart in an Excel spreadsheet the other week and it insisted on adding trailing zeroes in the charts after the decimal point, even though all of my stats were whole numbers. Here’s the solution I finally found to get rid of trailing zeroes in Excel charts.

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The difference between a vulnerability scanner and a SIEM

Dave Farquhar security , , , ,

I heard an interesting question the other day: What’s the difference between a vulnerability scanner and a SIEM? Qualys and Nessus are examples of vulnerability scanners. Arcsight and Splunk are examples of SIEMs.

To a security practitioner, the tools couldn’t be much more different, but not everyone is a security practitioner.

On a basic, fundamental level, a vulnerability scanner deals in what’s missing in the environment and what could happen as a result of those things that are missing. A SIEM deals in what actually has happened and is happening.

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Dual screen Citrix, or dual monitor Citrix

Dave Farquhar Software , ,
Dual screen Citrix, or dual monitor Citrix

At my current and immediately previous job, we made heavy use of Citrix. Citrix makes remote access and administration really convenient. But you don’t get dual screen Citrix by default, and that’s a shame.

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