I have Excel in Office 2000, XP Pro, on an old Dell .  And I'm lazy!  I
want, if possible, to be able to convert  the figures in a row of cells that
have been generated by an embedded formula to change to fixed values.

Detail: My "Investment Record" spreadsheet has columns:  Stock name; number
of shares;  date purchased; cost.   Then a  pair of columns for each month:
that month's stock price (which I enter manually) and the current value of
the investment (which has embedded formula: "number of shares" column times
"stock price")  This works fine until there is a stock split, or I buy or
sell shares.  If I change the number of shares, all the prior months values
change - which I don't want to happen.  So I have to type in the value
numbers for each prior month, overriding the formula.  A pain!  I would like
to select all the prior months and then, with a few clicks or keystrokes,
replace the embedded formula in those months with the numeric values that
the formula had generated. If this involves creating a Macro, I need some
detailed info - I know naught of Macros!

Other desires (Christmas IS coming):

1.  I would like to add a column titled "Annualized change" that would be a
function of the following columns: "Cost"; "Date Purchased"; "Current Value"
using the value in, and the date of,  the last column in which a value has
been  entered. (I'd probably have to forget adjusting for changes in the
number of shares)   Doable?

2.  I am the only user of my computer, which is at home.  And I'm very lazy
When I boot I would like to skip clicking on to my "Identity" - I'd like it
to boot directly to my Desktop...

3.  ...and when it boots I would also like to have several programs - maybe
Real, OE, Firefox - load automatically.  They are now in my bottom tray, on
the left.

4.  And, finally, if the PC is idle for 5? minutes, I have to hit a key,
which first brings up my desktop, then asks me to click my identity to bring
it back to life.  I'd like to have the screen and programs to remain as-is.
(If I'm inactive for an extended time I turn off my monitor).

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           - Jim Harris,  Philadelphia

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