Beginning Windows 8 Application Development – XAML Edition

Book Description
Beginning Windows 8 Application Development – XAML Edition introduces you to the Windows 8 modern app design paradigm and the new Windows 8 programming model developed around this paradigm.  You’ll learn to build rich, immersive applications designed to run on the many devices that will be powered by Windows 8.

With the introduction of Windows 8, once again Microsoft has re-envisioned the way that PCs and devices will be used and applications will be built in a world that has become far more connected.  The Windows 8 modern UI style is far more than a programming model and Beginning Windows 8 Application Development – XAML Edition takes you beyond the syntax of any development language.  We examine the factors such as UX (User Experience), social integration, and maintaining data and settings across multiple devices.

Gives an early start to building next-generation connected applications
Introduces new programming libraries available in Windows 8
Explores Windows 8 app design concepts
What you’ll learn
Beginning Windows 8 Application Development - XAML Edition will enable you to:

Apply Windows 8 modern UI style design guidelines to build effective user interfaces
Consume services to bring data into your application
Effectively use application tiles and notifications
Use the cloud to share data and application settings across multiple devices
Integrate with Windows by exposing your application’s data to Windows Search and Share menus
Who this book is for
Beginning Windows 8 Application Development – XAML Edition is for the novice programmer with a basic understanding of .NET development who is interested in learning how to build the next generation of applications designed to run on Windows 8.  Readers who already have an understanding of C# will get the most out of the book and is also an excellent choice for more experienced developers who are not sure where to start learning about programming for Windows 8.

Table of Contents

Welcome to a Touch-Based World
The Metro Design Language
Designing Windows 8 Applications for Metro
Metro Application Types
XAML Controls in the Visual Studio Toolbox – The Common Controls
XAML Controls in the Visual Studio Toolbox – Other Controls
Building the User Interface
Data Binding
Introducing MVVM
Starting the ViewModel – Data
Inversion of Control
The Role of Service Agents
Asynchronous Programming Model
Mocking the ViewModel’s Behavior
Connecting to Data in the Cloud
Completing the Service Agents
Interacting with Windows Search
Notification and Tiles
Sensors, Devices and the Location API
Windows Marketplace and Deploying Your Metro App
Book Details
Paperback: 328 pages
Publisher: Apress (October 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1430245662
ISBN-13: 978-1430245667

Free Download link1:

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Dot Net, E books, Ebooks, Windows, windows 8,

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.NET Test Automation Recipes

Book Description
If you develop, test, or manage .NET software, you will find .NET Test Automation Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach very useful. The book presents practical techniques for writing lightweight software test automation in a .NET environment and covers API testing thoroughly. It also discusses lightweight, custom Windows application user interface automation and teaches you low-level web application user interface automation. Additional material covers SQL stored procedure testing techniques.

The examples in this book have been successfully used in seminars and teaching environments where they have proven highly effective for students who are learning intermediate-level .NET programming. You’ll come away from the book knowing how to write production-quality combination and permutation methods.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. API Testing
Chapter 2. Reflection-Based UI Testing
Chapter 3. Windows-Based UI Testing
Chapter 4. Test Harness Design Patterns
Chapter 5. Request-Response Testing
Chapter 6. Script-Based Web UI Testing
Chapter 7. Low-Level Web UI Testing
Chapter 8. Web Services Testing
Chapter 9. SQL Stored Procedure Testing
Chapter 10. Combinations and Permutations
Chapter 11. ADO.NET Testing
Chapter 12. XML Testing

Book Details
Paperback: 404 pages
Publisher: Apress (October 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1430250771
ISBN-13: 978-1430250777

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.net, E books, Ebooks, Windows,

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create applications for Windows 8

Book Description

Learn to use exciting new development tools and create applications for Windows 8

If you’re a beginning developer, there’s no better place to get up to speed on the Windows 8 SDK than this Wrox guide. A team of Microsoft experts provides a complete course in Windows 8 programming, helping you take full advantage of the innovative new SDK. Written in an easy-to-read style, this book is packed with reusable examples that showcase the endless possibilities of the Windows SDK and also introduces the new Windows 8 app store.

It explains how to set up the development environment and covers user interface design, using special effects and graphics, working with C# and C++, and much more.

• Provides a complete introduction to the Windows SDK and Windows 8, starting with setting up the development environment and building your first application
• Covers user interface design, touch- and event-driven design elements, leveraging windows-based services, and offline application development with HTML 5
• Explores creating C# applications for the Windows 8 system, XNA 4 and Silverlight 5 considerations, and the role of C++
• Shows how to debug, certify and deploy your applications
• Introduces the new Windows 8 app store and offers advice on marketing your apps

Beginning Windows 8 Application Development is perfect for anyone who’s ready to get started developing apps for the exciting new Windows 8 OS.

From the Back Cover
Start developing and selling the coolest apps using the latest Windows® SDK

If you’re a beginning developer, there’s no better place to get up to speed on the Windows 8 SDK than this guide. A team of Microsoft experts walks you through the new, easy-to-understand, and inexpensive process for creating, deploying, marketing, and selling your own applications. They detail the ways in which the new Microsoft operating system now caters to Windows 8 style applications, and they highlight the exciting possibilities that Windows 8 style apps provide for traditional PCs, as well as a variety of newer devices. You’ll quickly discover how to build your app from start to finish with the help of comprehensive samples and expert tips so that, in no time, you’ll be taking full advantage of the SDK.

Beginning Windows 8 Application Development:

• Introduces you to the tools required to develop Windows 8 style applications
• Familiarizes you with standards, templates, and developer tools
• Discusses how HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript® can be used to develop desktop applications with Windows Runtime
• Explains how to leverage the tablet form factor and build location-aware apps
• Explores deploying applications to the Windows Store, while providing an overview of the app certification and publishing processs

Table of Contents
Part I: Introduction to Windows 8 Application Development
Chapter 1. A Brief History of Windows Application Development
Chapter 2. Using Windows 8
Chapter 3. Windows 8 Architecture from a Developer’s Point of View
Chapter 4. Getting to Know Your Development Environment

Part II: Creating Windows 8 Applications
Chapter 5. Principles of Modern Windows Application Development
Chapter 6. Creating Windows 8 Style Applications with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript
Chapter 7. Using XAML to Create Windows 8 Style User Interfaces
Chapter 8. Working with XAML Controls
Chapter 9. Building Windows 8 Style Applications
Chapter 10. Creating Multi-Page Applications
Chapter 11. Building Connected Applications
Chapter 12. Leveraging Tablet Features

Part III: Advancing to Professional Windows 8 Development
Chapter 13. Creating Windows 8 Style Applications with C++
Chapter 14. Advanced Programming Concepts
Chapter 15. Testing and Debugging Windows 8 Applications
Chapter 16. Introducing the Windows Store

Part IV: Appendices
appendix A. Answers to Exercises
Appendix B. Useful Links

Book Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Wrox (October 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118012682
• ISBN-13: 978-1118012680

• File Size: 38.3 MiB

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E books, Ebooks, Windows,

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Hello! HTML5 & CSS3 2012 free download

Book Description

Hello! HTML5 & CSS3 is written for the web designer or developer who wants a fast, example-oriented introduction to the new HTML and CSSfeatures. This snappy, user-friendly, and fun guide will get you started right away.

Whether you’re building web pages, mobile apps, or desktop apps, you need to learn HTML5 and CSS3. So why wait? Hello! HTML5 &CSS3 is a smart, snappy, and fun way to get started now.

In this example-rich guide to HTML5 and CSS3, you’ll start with a user-friendly introduction to HTML5 markup and then take a quick tour through forms, graphics, drag-and-drop, multimedia, and more. Next, you’ll explore CSS3, including new features like drop shadows, borders, colors, gradients, and backgrounds. Every step of the way, you’ll find hands-on examples, both large and small, to help you learn by doing.

What’s inside

• Easy-to-follow intro to HTML5 and CSS3
• Fully illustrated and loaded with examples
• Designed for low-stress learning
• No prior experience needed!
• Don’t worry, you aren’t alone! The cast of characters from User Friendly is learning HTML5 and CSS3 along with you as you read.

Table of Contents
Part 1: Learning HTML5
Chapter 1. Introducing HTML5 markup
Chapter 2. HTML5 forms
Chapter 3. Dynamic graphics
Chapter 4. Audio and video
Chapter 5. Browser-based APIs
Chapter 6. Network and location APIs

Part 2: Learning CSS3
Chapter 7. New CSS language features
Chapter 8. Layout with CSS3
Chapter 9. Motion and color
Chapter 10. Borders and backgrounds with CSS3
Chapter 11. Text and fonts

Appendix A. A history of web standards
Appendix B. HTML basics
Appendix C. CSS basics
Appendix D. JavaScript

Book Details

• Paperback: 325 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications (October 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935182897
• ISBN-13: 978-1935182894

• File Size: 16.3 MiB

Free Download click here  

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E books, Ebooks, Windows,

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Windows Server 2012 File Share Deduplication in action!

A great new feature in Windows Server 2012 is data deduplication. Data deduplication uses sub-file variable-size chunking and compression, which together deliver optimization ratios of 2:1 for general file servers and up to 20:1 for Hyper-V virtualization data. Microsoft has some great articles on dedupe, such as this one and a list of Powershell cmdlets here.

Major features include:

• Scale and performance. Windows Server 2012 data deduplication is highly scalable, resource efficient, and nonintrusive. It can run on dozens of large volumes of primary data simultaneously without affecting other workloads on the server. Low impact on the server workloads is maintained by throttling of CPU and memory resources consumed.

• Reliability and data integrity. Windows Server 2012 leverages checksum, consistency, and identity validation to ensure data integrity. And, for all metadata and the most frequently referenced data, Windows Server 2012 data deduplication maintains redundancy to ensure that the data is recoverable in the event of data corruption.

• Bandwidth efficiency in conjunction with BranchCache. Through integration with BranchCache, the same optimization techniques are applied to data transferred over the WAN to a branch office. The result is faster file download times and reduced bandwidth consumption.

• Optimization management with familiar tools. Windows Server 2012 has optimization functionality built into Server Manager and PowerShell. Default settings can provide savings immediately or fine-tune the settings to see more gains. Easily use PowerShell cmdlets to kick off an optimization job or schedule one to run in the future. Turning on the Data Deduplication feature and enabling deduplication on selected volumes can also be accomplished using an unattended .xml file that calls a PowerShell script and can be used with Sysprep to deploy deduplication when a system first boots.
  

Data deduplication involves finding and removing duplication within data without compromising its fidelity or integrity. The goal is to store more data in less space by segmenting files into small (32KB to 128 KB) variable-sized chunks, identifying duplicate chunks, and maintaining a single copy of each chunk. Redundant copies of the chunk are replaced by a reference to the single copy, the chunks are organized into container files, and the containers are compressed for further space optimization.

According to Microsoft's blog article here, real-world performance impact is very minimal. Optimization rate for a single job runs about 100GB/Hr. Multiple volumes can be processed in parallel.

Let's see how easy it is to configure data deduplication, and what kind of space savings we see. As a test I have the original 3.6GB ISO image of Windows Server 2012, and I have a modified version of the ISO that has additional files and software shoved inside. So 99% of the content is the same, but as you can see from the file sizes they are different. This file share is being shared from my file share cluster, created via my blog article here.

Now let's configure data deduplication and see what kind of savings we see.

1. First we need to locate the volume on the file share cluster that is hosting my data. After locating the volume, just right click on it and select Configure Data Deduplication.

2. A wizard opens up where you can configure various parameters, such as minimum file age (which can be set to 0 to ignore age limits), configure file type exclusions, and setup the all important dedupe schedule.

3. The scheduler has several options, and lets you configure dual schedules. Perhaps one schedule for week days, and another schedule for the weekend.

4. After configuring the dedupe schedule, I came back to the system a day later (to let the scheduler kick in and my minimum file age of 1), and viola! 54% dedupe rate and saved 4.26GB.

 

 

You can do whole volume backups, restores, and even restore the volume to a different server and the dedupe database is preserved and the volume is automatically recognized and accessible. There are also APIs backup software can use to do even more intelligent backup/restore operations as well. A great space saving feature, that is fully compatible with VMs, vMotion, sDRS, etc. 

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Windows,

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New VMware View Clients for multiple Platforms

A few days ago VMware released updated View clients for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux and Android. According to the release notes the following enhancements were made to the clients. You can download the updated clients here.

What's New in View Client for Windows 5.2

• Windows 8 support - View Client for Windows 5.2 and View Client with Local Mode 5.2 run on Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise client systems in Desktop mode.
• URI (Uniform resource identifier) support - Simplify the process of logging in to a View desktop for end users by creating a Web or email link they can click to launch View Client and connect to a desktop with specific configuration options. For example, you can create a link that prompts an end user for a password only, and then opens a particular desktop in full screen mode using the PCoIP display protocol.

What's New in View Client for Linux

• Ubuntu 12.04 improvements
• New USB redirection configuration - The USB component is available only with the version of View Client for Linux provided by third-party vendors. With View Client 1.6, administrators can use a configuration file on the client system to specify which USB devices can be redirected to a View desktop. Configuration refinements include filtering mechanisms for including and excluding a device by, for example, vendor ID or product ID.
• URI (Uniform resource identifier) support - Simplify the process of logging in to a View desktop for end users by creating a Web or email link they can click to launch View Client and connect to a desktop with specific configuration options. For example, you can create a link that prompts an end user for a password only, and then opens a particular desktop in full screen mode using the PCoIP display protocol.

VMware View Client for Android 1.6.x includes the following new features:

• Support for Jelly Bean
- View Client for Android now supports the Android 4.1 operating system.
• Support for Android phones - Android phones from Samsung, and Android 4.0 and later phones are now supported.
• Support for Android tablets from VMware Ready partners, including Samsung and Fujitsu - Also supported are the Amazon Kindle Fire and Android 3.x/4.x based tablets.
  
  View Client 1.6.1 includes improved support for the latest Amazon Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD.
• RSA soft token integration - Now there is no need to leave View Client to support RSA authentication. You can import an RSA software token directly into View Client. Then you need enter only your RSA PIN into View Client when RSA authentication is required. No need for an RSA hardware token or RSA software token utility.
• Multitasking improvements - View Client 1.6 suspends data transmission when you switch to another app. Data transmission resumes when you switch back to View Client.
• Home screen shortcuts - You can create a View desktop shortcut for your Android Home screen. Use this shortcut to log in directly instead of tapping the View Client icon.
• URI (Uniform resource identifier) support - Simplify the process of logging in to a View desktop for end users by creating a Web or email link they can click to launch View Client and connect to a desktop with specific configuration options. For example, you can create a link that prompts an end user for a password only, and then opens a particular desktop in full screen mode.
• Client-side caching - The PCoIP client-side image cache stores image content in memory to avoid retransmission, providing significant reduction of bandwidth usage. Note that View Agent and View Connection Server must be version 5.0 or later.

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Windows,

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Download Links for HP ESXi Custom ISO Images

Today while trying to download the latest HP customized VMware ESXi Installation I found a download page that I previously wasn't aware of. It's a one stop shop for HP ESXi 4.x, 5.0 and 5.1 customized ISO images. The 5.x links point directly to VMware download locations, so you don't have to go through the HP registration process to get the ISO images. They also have links to the offline bundles and the VIBs depot. A great one stop resource for HP ProLiant customers. Check out the page here.

The latest vSphere 5.x images were released in Sept 2012, so if you are using older installation media, pop over to the site and download the latest. If you want to build a custom HP-ized install media with the latest security patches and bug fixes,The post is slightly dated with the driver links, but the concept is the same and you can download the latest drivers yourself to make a replica of the Sept 2012 HP version.

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Windows,

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Inject vSphere Drivers into Windows Server 2012 ISO Image

A while back I wrote a blog article on injecting the VMware PVSCSI and VMXNET3 drivers into a Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 image. . But given those are now legacy operating systems, I'm refreshing the procedures for Windows Server 2012 (they'd work on Windows 8 too).

One of the performance optimizations that I always include in our Windows VM templates is the VMware paravirtual SCSI driver. This is a high performance mass storage driver that is optimized for virtual environments and gives you the best disk I/O performance. Unfortunately Microsoft does not include it out of the box on any OS install disk. Plus, I like to include the VMXNET3 driver, so that the VM can use the high performance virtual NIC that VMware provides, without first having to install VMware tools.

The process below injects the required drivers into the Windows Server 2012 installation boot files, and the actual Window Server operating system, for a fully VMware aware image. Unlike Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, there is no separate Windows Recovery Environment WIM to modify.

1. Download the Windows 8 ADK (Assessment and Deployment Kit) from here. Never mind that it says Windows 8, as it will work with Windows Server 2012 since they are the same code base.

2. Start the installation process and after a long download select the two options below (Deployment Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)). WinPE is optional, but in case you need it in the future, I'd install it anyway.



3. Mount the Windows Server 2012 ISO. Navigate to the Sources directory and copy boot.wim and install.wim to your computer, say on the D:\ drive.

4. VMware provides both 32-bit and 64-bit PVSCSI/VMXNET3 drivers, and you must use the right one depending on what CPU architecture you are injecting the drivers into. Since Windows Server 2012 is 64-bit only, find a 64-bit VM for this exercise and go into the C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi folder.

Copy those files to D:\Boot Drivers\64-bit\. Do the same for the VMXNET3 drivers, putting them in the same folder. The result should look something like this:

If you need the 32-bit drivers for Windows 8, then find a 32-bit VM running on vSphere and do the same copy process, but put those drivers into a \Boot Drivers\32-bit\ folder. To verify the supported architecture of the drivers, open the pvscsi.inf file and scroll down to the [Manufacturer] section. If you see NTamd64, you have 64-bit drivers. If you see NTx86, you have 32-bit drivers. The 64-bit pvscsi.sys file is also larger than the 32-bit version.

5. Create a folder on the D:\ drive called Mount.

6. To modify the boot.wim file type the following commands in the Deployment Tools Command prompt:

dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:D:\boot.wim /Index:2 /MountDir:D:\mount
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\pvscsi.inf"
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\vmxnet3ndis6.inf"
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:d:\mount /commit

7. Depending on your Windows Server 2012 ISO image, it may have varying amounts of images included. The VL ISO I have contains four indexes, or images. You can list the indexes with the following command:

dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:d:\install.wim

9. Just to be safe, I want to modify all of the images just in case down the road I want to use another image, such as Windows Server Core.

dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:D:\install.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:D:\mount
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\pvscsi.inf"
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\vmxnet3ndis6.inf"
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:d:\mount /commit

dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:D:\install.wim /Index:2 /MountDir:D:\mount
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\pvscsi.inf"
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\vmxnet3ndis6.inf"
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:d:\mount /commit

dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:D:\install.wim /Index:3 /MountDir:D:\mount
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\pvscsi.inf"
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\vmxnet3ndis6.inf"
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:d:\mount /commit

dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:D:\install.wim /Index:4 /MountDir:D:\mount
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\pvscsi.inf"
dism /image:D:\mount /Add-Driver "/driver:d:\boot drivers\64-Bit\vmxnet3ndis6.inf"
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:d:\mount /commit

13. Create a backup of your OS ISO file, and then use your favorite ISO editing tool (such as UltraISO) and replace the boot.wim and install.wim files in the Sources directory. Now you can use the new ISO image to create a VM which uses the pvscsi controller for the boot drive and the VMXNET3 NIC driver.

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Windows,

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Free Windows Server 2012 eBook

O'Reilly Media has released a free eBook version of their "Introducing Windows Server 2012" book. I quickly flipped through the beta version, and found it quite informative. There are so many new features, literally hundreds, in Windows Server 2012 that this is a must read for anyone going to use the new operating system. You can find the Microsoft blog post and download link here. They are offering it in PDF, ePub and MOBI formats for your viewing pleasure.

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Windows,

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Joli Ballew - Microsoft Official Academic Course 70-272 (CD)

Joli Ballew - Microsoft Official Academic Course 70-272 (CD)
Publisher: Microsoft Press | ISBN: 0735620768 | 383 pages | 2005 | PDF | 57 MB

For the user's convenience, this CD includes third-party software and links to third-party Web sites. Please note that these products and the products available at the linked Web sites are not under the control of Microsoft Corporation and Microsoft is therefore not responsible for their content, nor should their inclusion on this CD be construed as an endorsement of the product or the site. Please check third-party Web sites for the latest version of their software.

Download:
Link_1
Or
Link_2
.

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Engineering, Windows,

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John Walkenbach's Favorite Excel 2010 Tips and Tricks

John Walkenbach's Favorite Excel 2010 Tips and Tricks (Mr. Spreadsheet's Bookshelf)
Wiley | 2010-07-13 | ISBN: 0470475374 | 504 pages | PDF | 6 MB

Build robust Excel 2010 apps quickly and efficiently Known as "Mr. Spreadsheet," John Walkenbach's name is synonymous with excellence in computer books that explain the complexities of various topics. With this collection of favorite Excel tips and tricks, you get a unique look at ways to make Excel 2010 more efficient than you ever imagined.

Packed with easy-to-understand advice regarding all aspects of Excel, this book shares improved ways of speeding up application development with Excel and maximizing the power of Excel to create robust applications.

* Addresses the extensive changes to the 2010 version of Excel and shares tricks and shortcuts for making your Excel experience as successful and efficient as possible
* Reveals ways to deal with function arguments, create "impossible" charts, and tame the Ribbon bar
* Discusses absolute vs. relative references, change data entry orientation, and sort more than three columns
* Demonstrates ways to enter fake data for testing purposes

With John Walkenbach's Favorite Excel 2010 Tips and Tricks, you'll get a jump start on mastering the extensive changes to the 2010 version of Excel.

Download:
Link_1
.

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E books, Windows,

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