So, you started playing with the Google Maps API but need some way of finding out the specific latitude and longitude of various locations so you can stick those neat placepins in. US users have various web-based tools available for this, but what if you live in the UK or Ireland?

There are 3 useful sites I know of for this.

1. http://www.travelgis.com/geocode/Default.aspx
This free site claims to geocode 24 countries.

2. www.streetmap.co.uk
Put in the postcode and search. When the map appears, scroll down to the small text offering to convert the coordinates and click.

3. www.infosports.com/m/map.htm
Use this if the site the above site doesn't do it (eg. Irish postcodes). It's slightly more erratic a method because you need to scroll and zoom to the right spot then click on the map.

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ps. If you haven't experimented with making your own Google Maps yet, here's a handy introduction.

The hosts file on a PC offers a way to stop your browser opening certain websites. This is useful if you want to block known dodgy sites or reduce the amount of advertising you see.

You basically tell the hosts file that a certain named domain can be found at the address 127.0.0.1 - which happens to be the address of your own PC.

There are so many dodgy sites to block however that you can't keep on top of this yourself. What you need is a predefined Hosts file.

The file at http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm is well regarded.

Read the notes on the same page regarding slowdown solutions and networks before implementing this.

If you use one of the Windows high contrast display settings and have a problem with Word documents or Email created in Word appearing blank, this may be due to the font having the same colour as the background.

Unfortunately you have to fix this on a document by document basis.

To fix..
Open the message > Edit > Select All > Format > Font > change Font color to Automatic > OK

Possible solutions:

1. A missing toolbar may have been accidentally hidden. Right-click a toolbar and pick the hidden one.

2. In Word 2000 (and over) try start > run > winword.exe /a

3. Delete the registry key to reset values to default

DISCLAIMER: as always, registry editing has the potential to damage your PC. I take no responsibility for problems caused by following this path. If you do try this, make sure you back up your registry first, and make a note of the values within the key you want to reset before deleting it.

For Word 97 the key is...
\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Data\Toolbars

For Word 2000 the key is...
\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Data\Toolbars

For Word 2002 the key is...
\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Data\Toolbars

Deleting these will reset toolbars to factory defaults once Word is restarted.

If your toolbars are ok but other settings are corrupt, do as above but delete the 'Settings' key in ...Word\Data\ instead.

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/537/
Useful if you need to stop users slyly changing the proxy settings.

Got a box of unidentified cables? These drawings might be a start...

Connector diagrams

Scsi connectors

http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/links.htm#team

http://www.techadvice.com/nt40/R/RoamingProfiles.htm

How to set up autoarchive and how to retrieve archived email

http://www.blazenetme.net/~jeremiah/cp/OE.htm

Create a new Excel document. Save it as 'personal.xls' in the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\XLstart (or wherever your XLstart folder is located - do a search if neccessary).

Open the file (or with the file still open) go Window > Hide. Then File > Close (if prompted to save, click Yes).

This file will open every time you run Excel, but will be hidden. Any macros in it will be available to all workbooks. To add a macro, first choose Window > Unhide. Once the macro has been added, save it and Window > Hide it again.

Remote Access Trojans:

Pest Patrol - About RATS

Microsoft - Danger: Remote Access Trojans

Closing ports without using a firewall

Norton Internet Security uses some less than foolproof methods to try and block adverts. They also put at risk the funding of many small sites by doing this.

http://digitalimagesdesign.com/norton.htm

Don't know about you but I don't have any problem with the traditional 120x60 tile. It's the fullscreen, pop-up-in-front-and-take-over-your-browser adverts that need to be stamped on.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php

Instant Messenger Security

Windows Security Checklist part 8

(BBEdit being an excellent text editor for the Mac)

http://logidac.com/abuseEmail/grep/grepsearch.html