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HOW-TO

How to
Refresh
Cell Data
After
Applying
Number
Formatting
in Excel
By Jack Busch
Last Updated on July 2
2021

of re-entering
thousands of
rows of data.

When entering numerical

data in Excel, it helps to
format it according to the
type of data. Formatting a
cell according to its data
type—e.g., percentage,
currency, date, or text—
helps drive consistency
and accuracy in displaying
and working with your
data. If you know from the
get-go what format your
data should be in, it’s
relatively simple to choose
a number format for the
entire column before
entering your data. Just
select a column and
choose a number format
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from the Number pane in

the Home ribbon:

However, things can

become troublesome
when trying to apply
number formatting to an
existing range of data. You
can update the format of a
cell, but sometimes it
won’t automatically refresh
with the new formatting.
This stubbornness usually
happens when choosing a
custom number format.
You can update it by
double-clicking the cell,
making no changes, and
then press Enter, but this
can be very tedious. This
process is particularly
troublesome when
importing significant
amounts of data.

If you find yourself in this

boat, try this trick:

Start with a range of pre-

entered data. In this
example, we’re using a
column that’s entered as
text. We want to give it
custom formatting so it
looks more like a time
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from a stopwatch. We
want to give it the format:
[h]:mm:ss

To do this, start by
selecting the column.

Then, click the drop-down

in the Number pane of the
Home ribbon. Choose
More number formats.
Or, if you want, choose
one of the presets.
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Choose Custom and type

in the format you want to
use for the numbers. Click
OK.

Notice nothing has

changed, even though it
shows “Custom” in the
Number Format drop-
down.
If you edit the cell and
press enter, the new
format takes effect. But
with hundreds of rows of
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data, this will take forever.

To speed things up, select

the column, go to the Data
ribbon, and click Text to
Columns.

Choose Delimited and

click Next.

Uncheck all the delimiters

and click Next.
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The number formatting of

all the cells will update.

This trick is a bit of a hack,

but it works. It takes all the
values from each row and
then re-enters them into
the cells automatically. For
this reason, this trick will
not work for cells that are
formulas. If you have
formulas, pressing F9
should recalculate the
sheet and update the
number format. But in my
experience, I haven’t had
this problem with
formulas.

144 COMMENTS

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 HOW-TO

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Stubborn
Viruses
with
Windows
Defender
Offline
Tool
By Brian Burgess

Last Updated on
July 25, 2019

system before
booting into the
OS.

Malicious software,
malware, viruses,
spyware…whatever you
call it, is getting more
sophisticated these days.
And for the best
protection, sometimes you
need to break out the big
guns. Most Antivirus
software will get of viruses
and other malware after
Windows has started. But
if you have a rootkit or
other malicious code that’s
attacking your system
before Windows even
starts, it’s hard to get rid
of. That’s why Microsoft
has released the Windows
Defender Offline Tool.
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Windows Defender
Offline Tool
First, download the 32 or
64-bit version of the
Windows Defender
Offline Tool to a
convenient location on
your computer. If you’re
not sure which version to
download, check out our
guide on how to tell if
you’re running 32 or 64-
bit Windows.

It’s a small executable file,

go ahead and launch it,
and you’ll get the following
screen to put it on a CD,
DVD, or USB flash drive.
You will need a flash drive
that is malware-free and
has at least 250MB of
space.

Note that if you want to

update the definitions to
run the tool later, you can
run the executable again.
It will update the
definitions provided you
have an Internet
connection.
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Set Up Windows
Defender Offline
Flash Drive
For this, I am going to use
a flash drive since most
modern computers allow
you to boot from a USB
flash drive from the BIOS.
Of course, you can use a
CD or DVD if you have
one laying around, and a
lot of times a computer’s
BIOS is set to boot from a
CD/DVD drive first
anyway.

Make sure you pick the

correct flash drive you
want to install it on.

Then you’ll get a message

letting you know the flash
drive will be formatted and
Windows Defender Offline
installed.
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Now, wait while your drive

is set up for you. The
amount of time it takes to
complete will vary.

Scanning with
Windows Defender
Offline
After it’s finished, insert
the USB drive you just
created on the computer
you want to scan. Restart
it or power it on and boot
from the USB drive.
Windows Defender Offline
will start and begin
scanning your system for
malware. The interface
looks just like Microsoft
Security Essentials or
Windows Defender in
Windows 8 which
includes MSE.
 3 COMMENTS

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HOW-TO

Use an
Xbox 36
Controll
with
Surface
RT
Games
By Brian Burgess
Last Updated on Ap
2013

touch and a
keyboard does
the job, but you
can use an Xbox
360 controller
too. And it’s easy
to set up.

While there are’t a whole

lot of awesome apps in
the Windows Store yet,
there’s definitely some
quality Xbox games.
Playing them via the touch
screen and / or keyboard
is alright, but you can also
use a controller too. And
playing them with a
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controller makes some of

the games a lot more fun
and easier to control.

Use an Xbox
Controller to Play
Games Surface RT
I’ve been able to use the
Xbox Console Wireless
Controller with games on
the Surface RT. To do that
though, you’ll need to pick
up a Xbox 360 wireless
gaming Receiver for
Windows.

You can also the Xbox

360 Controller for
Windows. While it’s wired,
I had one laying around,
and don’t have to deal
with connecting another
device first.
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And, it works just as you’d

expect. Plug it in to the
USB port and wait for
Windows RT to recognize
it. If you don’t see a
notification, you can find it
by going into PC Settings
and find it under Devices.

Or you can find it on the

desktop by hitting the
keyboard
shortcut Windows Key +
X select Control Panel
from the power user
menu, then click Devices
and Printers.

A lot of the Xbox games in

the Microsoft Store allow
you to adjust your
 controller settings for the
games.

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Have fun!

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