Additional Avery label templates - Inevitably new label formats appear between Word releases. If yours is not shown, and you can't find a ruler to make your own label template, then try here.

Cindy Meister - The mail merge guru. If mail merge is a problem, start here. Cindy has also investigated the issues relating to the changes introduced to mail merge in Office XP. If you are having problems with Office XP merges, these tips will help.

Controlling the printer from Word vba - Jonathan West (Word MVP) has produced an excellent article on controlling printers using vba.

Convert documents to PDF format - Word documents are not readily transportable between platforms, because the layout is heavily influenced by the dictates of the current printer driver. Conversion to Adobe PDF format is the usual ploy to ensure that documents display correctly. Unfortunately Adobe Acrobat is not a cheap option, so try this handy on-line converter or this free software from http://www.pdf995.com/

CrossEyes - Word Perfect users feel naked without the reveal code option when they transfer to Word. Word does not use codes as such, but this third party add-in does provide far more information about formatting, should it be required.

Diskeeper - As you use your hard drive, adding and deleting files, the filing system will eventually cause fragmentation of those files so that the hard drive has to work harder and harder to recover them. This gradually slows down the disc access, and for some applications, e.g. video related applications can make working difficult or impossible. De-fragmentation software has been available for some time and a rudimentary version is included with Windows, but the latest version of Diskeeper simply sits in the background, using minimal resources and keeps your files in one piece. It only runs when the system is idle and so its impact on performance is negligible - simply install it and forget it.

Greg Maxey - Friend and fellow MVP Greg has taken me to task for not including his site in my favourites list - well here it is. You'll find some useful Word tips not covered elsewhere.

How to Insert Outlook Addresses into Word - Exactly what it says on the tin.

How to put calculated dates in Word documents - Another one of my earlier tips is also posted on Charles Kenyon's Word related web site - here Charles explains the background to the issues involved. See also Yet more date calculations  - listed separately below.

Lost That Word Password? -  You may think twice about giving your credit card details to someone who hacks software for a living, but this is one site you may consider - definitely at your own risk! Bear in mind that passwords in recent versions of Word are hard to crack and that the brute force methods that may have to be used can take an age to complete. Don't be fooled by the speed at which the trial of this tool will find a four digit password - but nevertheless this one should get there .... eventually .... and in the case of an irreplaceable manuscript must be worth a try.

Microsoft Word MVP site - An invaluable resource for Word users.

Patrick Schmid - Word 2007 Ribbon Customizer  Fellow MVP Patrick was quick off the mark to produce a first class ribbon editor for Word 2007. He also hosts an excellent blog resource for Word 2007 users.

Problems with HP printers and Word 2002 and/or Windows XP - Don't rely on HP admitting it, but it has had some problems with its printer drivers. You'll find a set of beta drivers at this link that may resolve the issues.

Suzanne S. Barnhill - Word MVP Suzanne has put together a collection of some of her most recent tips.

The Zjooj - Amongst other useful things on this unusually named web site, is a handy tool for setting the Word Places Bar in Word 2000. See also my own web page on editing the registry to achieve the same ends.

Use Google GMail to filter spam - If you frequent the web and especially newsgroup forums and use your real e-mail address in a web page or forum, it will only be a matter of time before you start to receive loads of e-mail inviting you to enlarge your penis, surgically enhance your breasts, buy drugs that you didn't know you needed and a raft of other nonsense. This takes up your time and bandwidth, but all is not lost. Thanks to a suggestion by fellow MVP Juan T. Llibre you can overcome the problem by using Google Gmail either as a your main POP e-mail account or as a means of washing the e-mail sent to your existing account. In order to do this, the only requirement is that your existing e-mail account must offer the facility to automatically re-direct mail to another address.

Yet more date calculations -  Calculated date fields for use in Word documents are extremely complicated. Here 'Macropod' in an article for www.wopr.com, has done all the work, in an impressive display of the use of  field calculations. With a companion article on Word Field Maths also available from the same location.

Allen Reny - Another vinyl restoration enthusiast offers his approach to the task of transcribing vinyl recordings to CD..

CDR FAQ - This FAQ, contains more than you ever wanted to know about CDR and is usually updated about once a month. If you are looking at a version that is more than two or three months old, it may be an out-of-date copy.

CDRCue Sheet Editor - Used in conjunction with Exact Audio Copy or CDWAV, or on its own, this takes all the hard work out of editing audio cue sheets.

CDWAV - A tool for recording from the sound card and for splitting long WAV files into separate tracks.

dbPowerAmp - Integrates with Windows Explorer to provide right click conversion between the widest range of audio formats.

Exact Audio Copy - Arguably the best CD audio tool you can get.

Exact Audio Copy FAQ - Not everyone finds Exact Audio Copy easy to get along with. Here you will find the help missing from the application.

LAME - LAME Ain't an Mp3 Encoder says the web site - but it is and it's probably the best.

Monkeys Audio - The mp3 audio format will produce small file sizes, but at the cost of sound quality. Monkeys Audio provides a compressed audio format that does not destroy any part of the signal. It will integrate with dbPowerAmp, Exact Audio Copy and Winamp etc.

Wave Repair - Clive Backham's powerful editing tool for repairing WAV files.

Access Microsoft's news server directly with Outlook Express.  - For newsgroup beginners.

Belarc Advisor - Whilst looking for a simple utility that would report the software licence number for Word, I came across this magical system reporting utility that tells me far more about what is installed on my PC than I ever thought that I needed to know. This utility is outstanding - whether you want to know the CD key for Windows; or what software you have installed , and where; or which of the umpteen Windows hotfixes you have installed, and what they do; even down to the time you last logged on, this utility will tell you all of it and far far more. It's also free to download, so there's no excuse for not grabbing it while you can.

Easy Recovery Pro - Lost that important file? Hard disc crashed? You need software that will allow you to access the hard drive directly. This one from Ontrack is one of the best.

GhostTyperXML - Word users will already be familiar with the concept of autocorrect to insert text into documents. This useful application takes that concept a step further to allow standard texts to be inserted into any application. For example,  find it invaluable for entering hard to remember web links into newsgroup posts.

Mailwasher - Spam is the bane of the internet user's life, and if you use your real address in newsgroups you will be inundated with the stuff. This excellent application will help keep it in check. I wouldn't go on line without it.

Older Versions of Software - Software writers update constantly, but not everyone wants all the new bells and whistles, especially when, as in the case of (say) Winamp (2.81), Nero (5580), Real Player (8) or ACDSee (2.4) these older versions may work better than those that replace them. Find these old versions and loads more on this useful site.

Paphos Eating Out - A guide to restaurants in my home town, prepared by one of my neighbours.

Simple Sudoku - The game that has taken the world by storm. Now you can download the software to play on you PC or print puzzles to play when the PC is not available.

SnagIt - SnagIt is a superb and fully configurable Screen Capture utility (and much more) from Techsmith, used to produce the more recent screen shots and to enhance the older ones displayed on this site. Try the 30 day demo.

Startup Monitor - Check-up on those installations, legitimate or otherwise that add the requirement to run at start-up time. This tiny application will prevent those nasty surprises.

Submit your site to Google - No good creating that site if no-one can find it. Submit your site to the Google search engine.

The Google Newsgroup Archive - If you don't know the Google search engine - where have you been? This is the best way to search newsgroup archives.