Shop Safely - How to Protect Yourself When Shopping Online

Online shopping offers many benefits that you won't find shopping in a brick and mortar store or by mail. The Internet is always open seven days a week and 24 hours a day. Internet-only deals and bargains can be numerous online. Shopping on the Internet is no less safe than shopping in a store or by mail. Keep the following tips in mind to help ensure that your online shopping experience is a safe one.

1. While Online Order Only On A Secure Server.

Use a secure browser and shop only at websites that offer encryption protection. A protected website will have one or more of these three features:

a) The small lock or key symbol at the bottom of your browser window;

b) An address that starts with https ("s" for "secure") instead of just http; and

c) A security warning box that pops up at the point of purchase.

Your browser should comply with industry security standards, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). These standards scramble the purchase information you send over the Internet, helping to secure your transaction.

2. Pay The Safest Way.

Use a credit card or Debit Card with a safe online shopping guarantee. Look for a card with specific guarantees, like 100% coverage for any losses due to fraud when shopping on the Internet. Many companies offer an online shopping guarantee that ensures you will not be held responsible for any unauthorized charges made online, and some cards may provide additional warranty, return and/or purchase protection benefits.

3. Protect Your Privacy.

Look for and read a website's privacy and security policy. Stay clear of a website that either doesn't have one or does not guarantee your personal information will not be sold. This policy should disclose what information is being collected on the Web site and how that information is being used.

4. Know Who You're Dealing With.

Research your merchant. Look at the ratings consumers give them and stay clear of websites that either aren't listed or receive poor marks. Shop with companies you know. Anyone can set up shop online under almost any name. If you're not familiar with a merchant, ask for a paper catalogue or brochure to get a better idea of their merchandise and services. Also, determine the company's refund and return policies before you place your order. These should be posted on the company's Web site.

5. Keep A Record.

Print out a copy of your order and confirmation number for your records. Reputable merchants will usually send you an email confirming your order. However a hard copy is always good to have in case your order is lost, deleted or not delivered as promised.

6. Guard Your Online Password.

Keep your password(s) private. Be creative when you establish a password, and never share your website passwords with anyone. Write them down and store them in a safe place. Avoid using a telephone number, birth date or a portion of your Social Security number. Instead, use a combination of numbers, letters and symbols. Do not use the same username and password at every website. Should your personal information be compromised, a thief won't get very far if you use different passwords and usernames on different websites.

7. Track Your Purchases.

Use only one credit card to shop with online. This helps keep track of your online purchases during the holidays, and will make it easier to spot purchases that are fraudulent. Look for a card that allows you to review transactions online as well -- you'll be more likely to notice a problem early on.

8. Keep Personal Information Private.

Don't enter more information at a merchant website than is absolutely necessary. There is usually no reason why you should have to supply information such as birth dates or Social Security numbers when making a purchase. Fill in only the bare essentials necessary to make your purchase. If you have children, teach them to check with you before giving out personal - or family - information online.

Clive Chansa writes for the Home Shopping Catalogues website at http://www.home-shopping-catalogues.org.uk/ and he's also a regular contributor to the Gift Ideas websites at: http://www.gift-ideas-uk.org.uk/

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Available Solutions For an Effective Search Inside Excel

Since the popularization of personal computers, Excel has become a very, if not the most popular, spreadsheet application to date. Excel has an array of functions and commands, which makes data storage and analysis very effective and powerful. This also makes it possible for a user to search inside Excel when faced with a multitude of data.

Every worksheet in one Excel file has a minimum of 16,777,216 million cells, depending on the version, where data can be stored. Each cell has the capacity to store 32,767 characters and the number of worksheets you can create in a file can go on and on for as long as a personal computer's memory can handle. If you encounter a file that has a multitude of data, Excel's search function simplifies your task by zeroing in on the cells, which store the characters you are looking for.

The Find and Replace function in the Edit tab allows a user to do a series of options on how to search for a text or number. Once the Find and Replace dialog box appears, the simplest task is to type the characters you are looking for within one worksheet and then clicking the Find All button. After Excel goes through all the cells, it presents all the cells where the text or number appears, whether independently or as part of a whole word or set of numbers. For instance, if you instruct Excel to locate the number 29, the search results will include cells with the number 11.29 or 229. The first cell where the word or number appears first is highlighted. The Find Next button allows the user to directly go to the next cell where the characters appear again. Searching in a specific block of cells is also possible by highlighting such, after which the Find and Replace function can then be executed.

Excel also allows its user to search through all worksheets within a file. The options button in the dialog box also allows a search to be more specific by selecting several conditions: by row and by column and in values, comments, or formulas. It can also go as far as looking for the cell, which contains only the exact word or number being located. This function, however, is limited to just one workbook.

The built-in search function of Excel is good enough for a user who seldom uses it or does not need to search through a large number of cells. Otherwise, the user would find that the search process is relatively slow and requires a lot of time clicking the Find Next button. Even a 10-second time requirement is considered long for users who literally have to search a particular data in a haystack of cells. As such, several programmers have developed different versions of search programs that speed up the search task. Add-ins require all Excel workbooks where data is suspected to be stored should be open. An add-in locates all the cells and reflects them in one window. Through add-ins, executing data changes or analysis becomes comprehensive. There are also different versions of external software that search through all Excel files without having to open them. This kind of software is more comprehensive and allows the extraction of relevant data for processing, analysis, and presentation.

Storing and processing data is essential in making sound and precise analytical outputs. For a user that needs to regularly search inside Excel in order to evaluate stored data, it is important to assess the available options that would make the job easier, more convenient, and highly efficient.

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