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2.  Tech Tip Weekly:  Entering Formulas Manually in MS Excel

 

Manually entering an MS Excel formula is easy, if you follow these steps.

 

1.  Move the cell pointer (by clicking the cell or navigating with the arrow keys) to the cell that you want to hold the formula.

2.  Type an equal sign (=) to signal the fact that the cell contains a formula.

3.  Type the formula and press Enter.

 

As you type, the characters appear in the cell, as well as in the Formula Bar.  You can use all the normal editing keys (Delete, Backspace, direction keys, and so on) in entering a formula.

 

As you enter a formula, MS Excel shows each cell reference in the formula in a different color.  If the reference cells are visible on the worksheet, you see a border around each cell in the same color as the cell reference in the formula.  This feature makes it easier to identify the references of the cells that you're typing in your formulas.

 

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3.  Focus on Fraud:  Pretexting Is Now Illegal

 

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), pretexting is the practice of obtaining personal information under false pretenses.  It is the act of creating a scenario wherein the actor pretends to be another to solicit private information about someone from the holder of such information.  The actor essentially establishes a rapport with the holder of information by inferring that he/she is the person whose information is being sought.

 

President Bush signed a bill last month making a controversial practice known as "pretexting", a federal offense.

 

The law specifically forbids the act of misrepresentation, impersonation or deception in order to obtain personal information, for example telephone numbers.  Just six months ago, pretexting fell into a gray area of the law.

 

The issue gained national attention when Hewlett-Packard filed a document with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  The computer maker said its investigators had used tactics to find out which members of its board were leaking private company information to the media, which ended up as news reports.  The scandal led to testimony before Congress and the resignation of several board members and HP employees.

 

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