OVER 2 YOU, 138 (15/07/03)

CURRENCY EXCHANGE

I use Windows XP and in Excel spreadsheets I have to work with three different currencies on a daily basis. Is there a way of changing the order in which the currencies appear in the drop-down box when formatting cells?  I am tired of scrolling through them all.

Anne Parkinson, via email

My suggestion would to format three different cells in the currencies of her choice. Then she could use "Format Painter" in the cells required. The standard cell could be saved on a separate sheet within the main file itself, or as a new file. She also would then have no reason to restrict herself to just three currencies.
Andrew J Southwell, Ossett, West Yorkshire,

Anne can record 3 macros that she can attach to Shortcut Keys or her own smart icons if she prefers. In Excel XP she needs to:

1. Go to Tools->Macro->Record New Macro...
2. In the dialog that pops up she can select a Shortcut Key and also she should opt to "Store macro in" "Personal Macro Workbook"
3. Set a cell to the desired currency
4. Go to Tools->Macro->Stop Recording
5. Repeat 1-4 for the other two currencies

She will end up with something much more efficient than having to bring up the format dialog and make a selection. Lotus 123 wins hands down on this with its properties box and Frequently used formats.
Paul Lautman, Southsea, Hants

A £ icon is already available on the format tool bar - just add two custom macro buttons for the currencies you want
Justin Hulford

BATTERY CHARGERS

At the last count I had at least a dozen gadgets powered by re-chargeable batteries, some with mains adaptors the others use AA and C type rechargeable batteries. I’m beginning to loose track of it all; does anyone know of a ‘universal’ charger that can cope with all of the different voltages, battery types and connections?

Peter Fellows, via email

Peter Fellows may be interested in ‘The Ultimate Battery Analyzer’, which is - and I quote from the website - a professional battery analyzer that uses the versatility and power of your PC. It can test all your radio, video, cellular, and medical rechargeable batteries......and will Analyze, Recondition, Charge and Cycle your batteries.

No good, of course, if you don't have a computer, but it's entirely believable that it is 'the ultimate' in battery chargers. See www.vencon.com. It's a Canadian company, but they distribute in Europe and the website has enough technical information on batteries to send you back to carbide and water! 

Mr. K.G. Acland, Sunninghill, Berks

Can I suggest your correspondent contacts Budget Batteries at: www.budgetbatteries.co.uk who may have just the battery charger he is looking for. Very interesting and informative site too!

Geoff Hill Geoff Hill

I have a charger manufactured by Saitek called an "Eco Charger" which is possibly just what Mr Fellows is looking for. Details can be found on the following website:

http://www.dxmarket.com/

saitek/products/900.html

Ken Billis

Maplin Electronics (www.maplin.co.uk) supply a whole range of chargers and item FR55K is described as a NiCd/NiMh Universal charger. I have one of these and it charges AAA, AA, PP3, C and D-sized batteries. If by any chance he has an odd-sized battery then Maplin do a range of chargers that can do the job.
Martin Sisson, via email

You used to be able to buy an excellent universal battery charger from the Innovations catalogue. It charged all types of batteries - both rechargeable and ordinary and you could even mix types to charge - there were 4 slots.  I have one, which I have had for a good number of years but was damaged by a leaky battery. When I asked Innovations, they said it had been discontinued. Mine struggles on, but unreliably, and I would dearly love to know if they can still be bought?

David Addis

I don't know of a single all-battery unit but I have two, a Saft Mazda CX4 Multi, which will charge RX6, RX14 or RX20 (two or four at a time), RX22 (two at a time) or even a single RX22 and a pair of RX6, RX14 or RX20 simultaneously. My other charger (for calculators, mobile phones etc) is made by Micromark with output voltage switchable over the range 3.0, 4.5, 6.0, 7.5, 9.0, or 12V DC (300mA maximum). It also allows reversal of polarity.
Richard Johns

CHOIRWARE

Can anyone suggest software or a spreadsheet solution to help allocate rooms? We have a youth choir of 50 who visit other choirs (or host them). We always seek to place them in pairs in home stays. They are invited to list up to four friends with whom they'd like to share, in order of preference. There must be an easier way than named pieces of paper on the floor! Occasionally we want to allocate rooms of three so if it could cope with that, so much the better.

Phil Dunford, via email

This is a typical "Operations Research" problem and a solution can be easily found using the Solver-Tool in MS Excel.
Thore Kroll, via email

SMALL BUSINESS SOFTWARE

I run a small business and I’m looking for a program that records client names and addresses, logs orders, reports when a customer last placed an order and flags up an entry if there is no repeat business within a certain time frame. Can anyone recommend suitable software?
Monty Portman, via email

I had exactly the same problem and spent many hours on the Internet searching for a suitable and affordable Customer Information Management System. I run a small cleaning business and have just purchased a package called ServiceTRAK from EASDG in the US. It holds Customer records, quote and order information, invoicing, scheduling - and it also comes with an integrated (basic) accounts package. It also features a "Date last work done" field, which automatically prompts you to contact your customers again - either by phone or using the mail-merge facility.  Although it is American, it works fine for UK businesses.  It also costs much less than any comparable product that I found during my research.  EASDG have been very accommodating in making changes to the software to "Anglicise" it - and the more users they get over here, the more changes they are likely to make.  You can download a trial version from www.easdg.com.  Highly recommended!

Simon Holloway

CAN YOU HELP?

Since I can’t afford to pay BT for a distinctive phone number I was wondering if I could make my existing number more memorable by concocting a word from the number/letter associations on a telephone keypad (i.e. 2 = ABC, 3 = DEF and so on), so my first name Dave, would be represented as 3283. To save me the effort of churning through the permutations with pen and paper I wonder if anyone has devised a program that will let me enter my phone number and generate a list of words or phrases?

Dave D., via email

For sailing races, and maybe other events, finishers are awarded points in ascending order. In a series of races, not all entrants take part in all races, so I need to compare the list of finishers with the list of entrants, so that those who did not start or finish are awarded maximum marks. Is there a way in Excel, or other spreadsheet, to compare the two lists of
entrants and finishers so that these can be identified. Boat sail numbers do not follow any sequence.
Stephen Green, via email

Does anyone know how to convert or transfer an Access database to Excel?

Derek Jones, via email