Via Ron @ A Daily Dose of Excel

There is no built-in option to disable the MRU(”Most Recently Used”) file list in the Office button menu.

A few weeks ago Excel guru Jim Rech send me a test file to disable the MRU list in Excel 2007.
After a few test versions I upload the last version from Jim to my site.

Try this example file with XML to create a new tab on the ribbon and hide/disable a few controls
and the VBA code from Jim Rech to disable/hide the MRU list.

Part from the comments in the code from Jim:
Because there is apparently no way to disable the MRU list on the Office Menu directly
we clear it by setting Application.RecentFiles.Maximum to 0. Since this action clears
the MRU list in the registry we first backup its contents to the registry as well
as number of files the user is showing in it. We use the registry in case VB variables are cleared.

Download the example file from my site in the “Ribbon Tips section”
http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

Or the direct link
http://www.rondebruin.nl/files/Dictator-MRU-ListJR.zip

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=38C1A89B-A6D2-4F2A-A944-9236999AEE65&displaylang=en

• Backing up an Individual GPO
• Backing up the GPOs in a Domain
• Creating a Copy of a GPO
• Creating a New GPO
• Creating a Policy Environment Using an XML File
• Creating an XML File that Represents a Policy Environment
• Create Migration Table
• Deleting a GPO
• Grant Permissions for all GPOs in a Domain
• Importing a GPO
• Importing Multiple GPOs into a Domain
• Restoring a GPO
• Restoring All GPOs in a Domain
• Setting GPO Permissions
• Setting Permissions for all GPOs Linked to a Scope of Management
• Setting Permissions to Create GPOs
• Setting Policy-related Permissions on a SOM

There are also script samples that perform the following queries:

• Listing All GPOs in a Domain
• Listing Disabled GPOs
• Listing GPO Information
• Listing GPOs at a Backup Location
• Listing GPOs by Policy Extension
• Listing GPOs by Security Group
• Listing GPOs Orphaned in SYSVOL
• Listing GPOs With Duplicate Names
• Listing GPOs Without Security Filtering
• Listing SOM Information
• Listing SOMs With Links to GPOs in External Domains
• Listing Unlinked GPOs in a Domain
• Printing the SOM Policy Tree
• Generate Reports for all GPOs
• Generate Reports for a GPO

• ipconfig /flushdns
• nbtstat -R
• nbtstat -RR
• netsh int reset all
• netsh int ip reset
• netsh winsock reset

After I had finally and fully admitted my mistake, I looked back upon the path that had led me to my Awful Realization. And I saw that I had made a series of small concessions, minimal concessions, grudgingly conceding each millimeter of ground, realizing as little as possible of my mistake on each occasion, admitting failure only in small tolerable nibbles. I could have moved so much faster, I realized, if I had simply screamed "OOPS!"

And I thought: I must raise the level of my game.

There is a powerful advantage to admitting you have made a large mistake. It's painful. It can also change your whole life.

It is important to have the watershed moment, the moment of humbling realization. To acknowledge a fundamental problem, not divide it into palatable bite-size mistakes.

Do not indulge in drama and become proud of admitting errors. It is surely superior to get it right the first time. But if you do make an error, better by far to see it all at once. Even hedonically, it is better to take one large loss than many small ones. The alternative is stretching out the battle with yourself over years. The alternative is Enron.

Use numbers and bullets. People don't read online, they scan.

Give people a place to go. The web is incredibly efficient when it's a road, much less so when it's a dead end. The best meaning-building delivers the reader to a new place, in context.

Use pictures. Back to the scanning thing. Pictures, properly chosen, communicate quality as well as large amounts of information. I'm not talking about product shots (which are important) as much as pictures that tell a story. (thanks, Benji)

Have an opinion. Guides that bend over backwards to be fair rarely impart information. Context is built more quickly if people know where you stand and can plug that into their previous point of view. If you're giving meaning, you're also making an argument... one in favor of your point of view.

Don't be afraid to compare. Saying this is better than that helps me understand if I already have an understanding of that.

It's a brick wall, not a balloon. This is a hard one for many people. We try to build something quickly and get it totally complete all in one go. If we can't, we get frustrated and give up. But great blogs and lenses are built brick by brick, a little at a time. You learn what works and do it more. Here's a fine example.

It's okay to be long, if you're chunky. The great lesson of direct mail was that long letters always do better than short ones. That's because once you've sold me, I'll stop reading. But if I'm not sold and I get to the end, you lose. The web is infinitely expandable. So go ahead and tell your story.

1. Don’t schedule appointments. This will be a radical departure for many people, but it’s not a new idea and it’s worked for others. If someone requests an appointment, tell them that you don’t schedule appointments. Instead, ask them to call you a little before they’d like to meet to see if you can make it. If you’re free, take the meeting. I suggest keeping your meetings to a bare minimum if you want to get a lot of work done.

2. Know what you want to accomplish today. Have a short list of three things you’d really like to accomplish today. Your three most important things. You can have a short list of other small tasks you’d like to do in a batch (save them for later in the day), but the focus of your day should be the list of three important things. Let this list, and not your schedule, be the ruler of your day.

3. Focus on one thing at a time. To get your short list of three important tasks completed, you’ll need to focus on each one of those tasks in turn, and try to focus on them to completion. This will also be a radical departure for the multitasker in all of us. But single-tasking is not only more productive, it’s more relaxing as well.

4. Note tasks as they come up, to consider for later. As you’re working on your important tasks, and trying to focus, other ideas will come up, and other requests will come in. That’s normal, of course, but you can’t let those ideas and requests rule your life. Make a note of them on a sheet of paper or a small notebook (or wherever you write your list of 3 important tasks), and get back to the task you were working on. When you’re done with that task, you can take a look at your list to see what you should be working on next.

1. Spell-check
2. Respond in a timely fashion
3. Make sure your email is relevant
4. Be concise yet complete
5. Sign your email
6. Make your emails personal
7. Keep it clean
8. The better you know someone, the less you need to worry

1. You start writing, stop half way and hit delete
2. You often feel like you are your own worst critic
3. You never feel like you’ve done the best you could
4. You second-guess your ideas, even when you know better
5. Other copywriters make you feel inadequate
6. There’s always something more to learn
7. Writing would be so much more enjoyable if you could just relax

1. Unpredictable flow of work
2. Fast-paced work under tight deadlines
3. A scope of responsibility that amounts to more than one job
4. Work-related events outside regular work hours
5. Availability to clients 24/7
6. Responsibility for profit and loss
7. Responsibility for mentoring and recruiting
8. Large amount of travel
9. Large number of direct reports
10. Physical presence at workplace at least 10 hours a day

• Unpredictability (cited by 91%)
• A fast pace with tight deadlines (86%)
• Work-related events outside of business hours (66%)
• 24/7 client deamdsn (61%)

• You report to the CFO now, not to the CEO -- If this is the case then the organization probably views IT as a cost-center, not an strategic piece of the company.
  
• You've gone as high as you can go -- If you are unable to move 'up' or 'over' in your company, it may be time to move 'out'.
  
• Your company is on the block -- Three things can happen here (downsizing, being asked to leave, or being replaced by the acquiring company) none of which are good for your career.
  
• You're a turnaround CIO in maintenance mode -- You're in a position to innovate but the company does not want to invest in technology-driven innovation.
  
• You hate your new boss -- You've tried your best and two are just not going to be able to work happily and effectively together.
  
• Your industry is failing -- While you may gain perspective and character by staying, it's much more fun to work in a growth industry.
  

• Step 1: Register for Second Shot on the Microsoft site and receive an exam voucher number.
• Step 2: Using the voucher number, schedule and pay for your initial exam via Prometrics's web site, call center or test center locations. (You must have the voucher number available prior to registering.)
• Step 3: Take your exam.
• Step 4: If you fail, register for your free retake exam via Prometric's web site, call center or test center locations using the same voucher number.

Last week, Richard MacManus wrote that the core products of a web office suite, are email, calendar, word processing, spreadsheets and presentation. Google, which this year acquired two companies working on presentation apps, will soon offer a suite that has all of those components. By adding wiki support to Google Apps, the company will be extending their web office with a product that could only be delivered on the web (remember, Richard's web office definition said that an online office package must extend "the functionality of desktop office suites ... by using Web Native features.")