Items filtered by date: December 2015

Usually I develope my projects locally on my pc. Needless to say that you sometimes have to send an email from your script to external mail to check if everything is fine. So you need to configure your system in a way that your local apache webserver is able to send mail to external addresses.
I always use XAMPP for Windows because it contains everything you need for developing PHP applications as well as all the stuff for sending mails: fake sendmail und Mercury Mail Transport System. I reference to XAMPP 1.6.5 (for Windows) and Mercury 4.5 here. Mercury is already pre-configured in XAMPP - all settings that I don't explicitly address stay as they are

I'm writing this because I'm not a mail professional and read a lot of tutorials and none of them really worked. So I extracted what I needed and put it all together. An important assumption for this tutorial is that you have your own SMTP server, for example the one that your webspace hoster provides.

So let's get started:

1. start Mercury (using the XAMPP Controlpanel) and then open the admin panel.
2. first of all we disable the HTTP server of Mercury so that it doesn't conflict with the apache:
   1. "Configuration" -> "Protocol modules"
   2. disable the check "MercuryB HTTP web server"
   3. I also disabled "Mercury IMAP4rev1 server" because I won't need that one
   4. leave the window opened, we'll need it immediatly
3. to be able to send external mail we have to disable "MercuryE SMTP end-to-end delivery client" in the same dialog and enable "MercuryC SMTP relaying client". Click "OK" and restart Mercury!
4. now let's configure Mercury in general:
   1. "Configuration" -> "Mercury core module", tab "General"
   2. we want to send from localhost, therefore we check if "localhost" is the value of "internet name for this system" and adjust that if not
   3. all other settings stay the same as they are already configured, but we'll have a look to the checkboxes beneath:
   4. disable all but "Send copies of all errors to postmaster"
   5. check under the tab "Local domains" if the entry "localhost (local host or server) localhost (internet name)" is there, if not, add it
   6. click "OK" and leave the dialog
5. next we focus on the MercuryS SMTP Server for outgoing emails:
   1. "Configuration" -> "MercuryS SMTP Server"
   2. choose the tab "General" and add a wonderful name for your SMTP server under "Announce myself as", simply fill in any name, I've chosen "CS SMTP".
   3. under "Listen on TCP/IP port" fill in "25", that's the SMTP port
   4. add "127.0.0.1" to "IP interface to use", that's the local IP of your pc. With the IP of the pc within the network (192.168.0.X) it doesn't work (at least for me)
   5. now we limit the access to the server so that only our local machine can access it:
      1. under "Connection Control" click on "Add restriction" and add the IP range from "127.0.0.1" till "127.0.0.1" (it's that simple, isn't it?)...
      2. and select "Allow connections"...
      3. and leave all checkboxes deselected
   6. with a click on "OK" we quit the dialog and we're looking forward to the next one
6. now let's configure the MercuryP POP3 Server:
   1. "Configuration"-> "MercuryP POP3 Server", select the tab "General"
   2. "Listen on TCP port" -> "110" and "IP interface to use" -> "127.0.0.1"
   3. choose the tab "Connection control" and proceed as already written under 5.5 (see above)
   4. that's it already, leave the dialog by clicking "OK"
7. now we have the important one "MercuryC SMTP Client"
   1. "Configuration" -> "MercuryC SMTP Client"
   2. to send mail to external addresses we need to have an external SMTP server. If you're renting webspace somewhere and have mail included then you normally have access to a SMTP server. My webspace is hosted at HostEurope and I'll use the SMTP of my domain. Without such an external server the whole thing won't work because domain names won't be resolved among other things. I've chosen this path because I didn't feel like configuring around the whole day.
   3. enter the address of your SMTP under "Smart host name", for example "mail.meinedomain.com"
   4. depending on the way you access the server fill the values under "Connection port/type":
      1. for a "normal" SMTP that would probably be port 25 and "Normal (no SSL encryption)"
      2. I access my SMTP via SSL, that would be port 465 and "SSL encryption using direct connection"
      3. if you have other parameters simply try around a little
   5. we finally fill in the "Login username" and the "Password" that normally is supplied by your webhost and we've nearly finished...
8. let's check the Mercury users that are normally pre-configured:
   1. "Configuration"-> "Manage local users"
   2. there should be at least the users "Admin" and "postmaster", both with administrative rights. If not you have to add them.
9. now we finished with Mercury, but we still need to configure PHP for sending mail with our scripts:
   1. we search and open the appropriate php.ini, using XAMPP you find it under "xampp/php/php.ini" in newer version and under "xampp/apache/bin/php.ini" in older versions
   2. we search for "[mail function]"...
   3. and we add/adjust the following:
      1. "SMTP = localhost"
      2. "smtp_port = 25"
      3. "sendmail_from = postmaster@localhost"
   4. save the php.ini and restart the Apache
10. now everything should work! But we'll test it first:
    1. within Mercury choose "File" -> "Send mail message" and send an email for testing purposes, I've chosen to send it to my googlemail account
    2. if the windows in Mercury are at sixes and sevens, choose "Window" -> "Tile" enjoy the view
    3. within the window "Mercury Core Prozess" we'll see our test mail at first:
       1. "13:38:41 JOB XXXXXX: from postmaster@localhost (local) To: XXX@googlemail.com (non-local) (JOB XXXXXX) -OK"
    4. the mail was received in Mercury and processed, after some seconds the window "Mercury SMTP client (relay version)" should show some actions:
       1. "05 Jan 2008 13:39, Servicing job XXXXXX ...OK"
       2. if you see this message, everything went fine and the mail was sent!
       3. if you don't get the message you have to find out why, possible reasons could be:
          1. wrong connection values for the SMTP server
          2. SMTP server doesn't allow relaying (from your host)
    5. now we'll test the whole thing from a PHP script and we'll write a wonderful one-liner into a PHP file:
       1. "mail('xxx@googlemail.com', 'Mercury test mail', 'If you can read this, everything was fine!');"
       2. call the PHP file within your browser, a command window should pop up shortly (or maybe not), it's from the fake sendmail of XAMPP, and focus back on Mercury:
          1. the produre is the same as above only that the SMTP server receives the mail from php before everything else happens
          2. you can watch this in the window "Mercury SMTP Server" and should see something like this: Mercury SMTP

I hope that worked for you, if not, feel free to leave a comment but as I already said, I'm not a professional but I'll help you as far as I can!

EDIT:
If you get the error message "SMTP server response: 553 We do not relay non-local mail, sorry." while sending from PHP go to Mercury under MercuryS -> Connection Control -> "Uncheck Do not Permit SMTP relaying to non-local mail" an check this option. Should fix the problem. Thanks to ron!

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These are other links and tutorials that is used for research. These might help when setting up Mecury Mail

• How To: Setup Mercury Mail on an XAMPP Package - This video is in my video library
• Setting up Mercury SMTP for XAMPP
• Configure XAMPP Mercury Mail
• Configure Mercury mail transport system for external mail sending
• Configure Mercury mail transport system for external mail
• Using Mercury mail to send mails - forum thread
• Mercury mail - forum thread

There have been loads of times when updates are ready but i want the computer / laptop off and ready to move asap (to go home from work and take my laptop with me). was so annoying having to wait for windows to update when i didn’t want to.

I have found a way to shutdown windows 7 without being forced to install the updates…

Run regedit (search in start menu)

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
if the keys “WindowsUpdate” and “AU” aren’t there just add them (right click > New > Key)
right click > New > DWORD
name it “NoAUAsDefaultShutdownOption” double click it and enter value 1.

the “shutdown” button will never be changed by Windows Update from your default action to “shutdown and install updates”.
If updates are ready to be installed “shutdown and install updates” is instead displayed in the [>] menu to the side of the shutdown button

On my system it happend almost as soon as the registry value was added, but you may need to reboot before the change is applied.

Also important is “NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers”, also a DWORD in the same location with value 1. This stops Windows from rebooting automatically if a user is logged in or you leave it working overnight for example.

If you need to open a windows registry hive from an old/external/slave hard drive that has a windows installation on it.

I recently had a machine go down at work, wanted to get the user’s email up and running asap so i attached their hard dirve to my laptop using a usb to SATA adapter and exported their outlook account settings, which are stored in the registry and imported them into a new pc.
See my article: how to backup outlook 2007 account settings.

1. Open REGEDIT
2. single click to hightlight the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch.
3. in the menu click FILE and choose LOAD HIVE
4. browse to the location of the old registry hive.

where “x:\” is the drive of the slave/external hard drive…

“user” is located in x:\docs and Settings\user\NTUSER.DAT
make sure you open upper case “NTUSER.DAT” and not “ntuser.dat” if it exists.

other registry hives are located at x:\windows\system32\config

if you’re not sure or unclear on any of this, please comment and ask.

On the pc, logged in as the user you want to backup settings for…

1. Start > Run > type ‘regedit’
2. Locate the following path in your ‘Registry Editor’
3. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Outlook

Now right click on the key “outlook” and select option: “Export” and save the .reg file to your desired location. You can run (double click) the same file on the new pc /installation at the same time as restoring your outlook pst. This will restore your old outlook profile with all your email accounts settings and rules. You will need to enter your password as Password is not stored in the .reg file for security reasons.

if you are unable to log in, for example cant boot windows or other failure you can access the registry by removing the system hard drive and connecting it to another computer.
Here’s how: how to access registry on another hard drive. If you use this method, before importing you will need to manually edit the .reg file using find/replace to change all lines with “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/hivename” to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER/”

after hours of fiddling i discovered that vodafone will not allow unencyrpted emails to be sent over their mobile network. This is certainly true for their dongles, port 25 might still work for contract phones. Receiving might still be working normally.

this message might appear:

Task 'abc@xyz.com - Sending' reported error (0x800CCC67) : ' The server responded: 421 cannot connect to server'

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The only problem I can find that would match these symptoms, is that you're trying to connect un-authenticated - as I believe our network will intercept connections made over Port 25 and re-direct you to the now defunct send.vodafone.net server. It's possible this is still happening.

Double-check that Authentication is enabled, SSL is enabled, and that it's using Port number 465.

NB: should be secure and possibly authenticated in both directions
add other smtp servers here

ToolbarStudio IDE

Exhaustive List of Available Features The options for your custom toolbars are unlimited Besttoolbars offers the features and functionality your business needs to create a custom toolbar your customers will use over and over again. You can select from a multitude of already-developed features or ask Besttoolbars to create a feature for you. Besttoolbars features include: Advanced Search Features Last search Combined search Multiple search switching Clear search history Highlight and search Word find feature Search word highlighting Drag-and-drop search Context search Context menu Open search results in : -a new window/tab/modal window Post data to your server Auto-suggest search Custom Style Auto-suggest * Rival search Tabbed search* Default Search Engine for IE7/Firefox* Live Events and Content Management RSS news reader News ticker with a banner Weather Completely Dynamic Toolbar Webpage modification Dynamic menu /Dynamic XML Ajax/ XMLHttpRequest Integration with .php,.asp,etc. Dynamic update External application launch URL Macro Substitutions Make Money with Your Toolbar Monetization through Search Engines Yahoo, MIVA* Monetization through affiliate links or using 3rd party paid programs * Layered Technology/Software Integration new! Content clipping/tagging Layered technology Gadgets/Widgets * Visual and Branding Elements Branding/Your logo Buttons, images and banners Animated .gif , jpg, png support Easy customization XP look and feel Custom toolbar skin Chevron URL redirection Multiple configurations Zoom in / Zoom out Enable Image/Flash Hot icons / rollover effect RTL support (Arabic) new! Favicon / Toolbar Icon on the IE Calendar/ Date Picker* Additional visual elements Security and Privacy Clear Cookies Clear IE history Clear Recycle Bin Clear Clipboard Clear Cache Pop-up blocker Encrypt toolbar's XML Prohibit sites to access toolbar Eset Online Virus Scanner Surfing and Navigation Aids Current URL Site ranking new! Set user homepage Site activation Catcher DNS error Web filter Panic button Anti-ads plug in Screenshot / web save URL shortcuts Auto-fill Up one level Login Manager/Auto-Login Users Customization Options page in HTML Options page in a modal window Change Toolbar Skin Create Bookmarks Run Any Program from your PC Interaction between toolbar /program * Music Radio new! MP3 player Communication (E-mail, SMS, Alerts) E-mail checker Tell-a-Friend Toolbar Alerting new! SMS sending* Click to SMS new! Chat* Browser and Bars Support Internet Explorer 6.0/7.0/8.0 Mozilla/Firefox 1.5+/ 2.0 + Firefox 3.0 Netscape 8.0 Safari* Side Bar* Status Bar* Https:// support Multilingual Support Right-To-Left direction Unicode Multilingual Toolbar Support Webmaster Tools W3C CSS/Markup Validation Whois Ping Trace Route Toolbar Controls Text Label Button Menu/Menu Items Space / Separator (Fixed/Moving) Search Box/ Drop-Down List Checkbox/Radio Button Edit / Password Box Mini Webpages - Banner/Bubble Dynamic XML/Custom XML Custom Javascript Simple Client-side Installation Automatic toolbar upgrade Automatic installation Uninstall feature Distribute additional files Unique toolbar id for each toolbar Toolbar Installers and Statistics ToolbarStudio visual interface EXE installer Web/ActiveX installer Toolbar Signing (.cab/.exe/.xpi) Toolbar Automatic/Manual Updates Toolbar Statistics new! Unlimited Extensibility and Features Software Development Kit (SDK) Javascript API Other plug-ins available Custom Toolbar Building * Available by request.

when you cannot connect to a device (not windows based) and you have entered the wrong password you will need to delete it using the following method. This is also useful when the password at the remote end is changed.

Also known as stored passwords, saved passwords

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Method 1:

• Click Start, Run and type Control keymgr.dll
• Remove the entries from the list

Method 2:

• Type Control Userpasswords2 in RUN box
• click Advanced
• Manage Passwords

Method 3:

• From Control Panel, select your User Account
• click Manage your network passwords

Remove Passwords as needed.
This is the microsoft knowledge base article

I'm having trouble installing the lastest version of Windows Live Essentials on Windows Vista.

Previously I had an older version of the pack, installed on 2009: Windows Live Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery and Live Movie editor were installed. I attempted to upgrade and got the 0x80190194 WaitforCatalog Error.

Unistalled the previous version as instructed on this forum: Removed all programs from Control Panel, deleted the Live folder, restarted, updated, etc etc etc.. Still having the same error.

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Clear the fields of the Proxy settings on IE. I wasn't using it, but despite being deactivated I still had some values there, which I deleted.

System File Checker is a utility in Microsoft Windows that allows users to scan for and restore corruptions in Windows system files. This utility is available on Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, although in the Windows NT family of operating systems, it scans files using Windows File Protection.

In Windows Vista, System File Checker is integrated with Windows Resource Protection which protects registry keys and folders too besides critical system files. Under Windows Vista, using Sfc.exe, specific folder paths can be checked, including the Windows folder and the boot folder.

Windows File Protection worked by registering for notification of file changes in Winlogon. If any changes were detected to a protected system file, the modified file was restored from a cached copy located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache. In Windows Vista, Windows Resource Protection works by setting discretionary access control lists (DACLs) and access control lists (ACLs) defined for protected resources. Permission for full access to modify WRP-protected resources is restricted to the processes using the Windows Modules Installer service (TrustedInstaller.exe). Administrators no longer have full rights to system files.

 

If it finds a problem, it will attempt to replace the problematic files from the DLL Cache (%WinDir%\System32\Dllcache\). If the file is not in the DLL Cache or the DLL Cache is corrupted, the user will be prompted to insert the Windows installation media or provide the network installation path. In Windows Vista and onwards, files are protected using Access control lists (ACLs), however the above command has not changed.

System File Checker in Windows Vista and later Windows operating systems can scan specific individual files. Also, scans can be performed against an offline Windows installation folder to replace corrupt files, in case the Windows installation is not bootable. For performing offline scans, System File Checker must be run from another working installation of Windows Vista or a later operating system or from the Windows setup DVD which gives access to the Windows Recovery Environment.

 

Here's the list of the different SFC scanning options:

 

sfc /scannow : Scans all protected system files immediately.

sfc /scanonce : Scans all protected system files once.

sfc /scanboot : Scans all protected system files every time the computer is restarted.

sfc /revert : Returns the scan to its default operation.

sfc /purgecache : Purges the Windows File Protection file cache and scans all protected system files immediately.

sfc /cachesize=x : Sets the size, in MB, of the Windows File Protection file cache.

sfc /? : Displays help at the command prompt.

 

 

How to use scannow sfc:
The main reason for using this utility is when you suspect there may be a problem with a Windows XP system file.

 

Perhaps you get a dialog box appear informing you of a problem with a .dll file, or your program will just not load! It is therefore worth checking to see if there are any corrupt system files using sfc scannow.

 

To do this go to the Run box on the Start Menu and type in:

sfc /scannow

 

This command will immediately initiate the Windows File Protection service to scan all protected files and verify their integrity, replacing any files with which it finds a problem.

The following should appear to give an indication of how long the process is taking.

 

In an ideal world that would be the end of the story... Any corrupt, missing or incorrect files would be replaced by this process.

However, things can go wrong and the following guide should help!

The #1 complaint with sfc scannow is the following dialog box appearing:


Why does this happen?
Well, in your computer's registry, are several settings that are checked when you run scannow sfc.

As mentioned earlier in this article, the Windows File Protection service constantly monitors for any changes to the main system files. Well Windows XP keeps a cache (copy) of these essential files at the following location:

C:WINDOWS\System32\Dllcache (assuming C: is your system root which it probably is.)

NB - The dll cache folder is extremely important so Windows XP hides it from you! To view it go to: My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > "uncheck" Hide protected operating system files.

If that's the case on your computer then there is normally no need for the original XP CD to be inserted as your computer has a "copy" it can get hold of in this cache...

But, if the Dll cache folder, or part of it, has become corrupted for some reason then you will be prompted for the XP CD - so your computer can get a clean copy!

Having said that not ALL installations of Windows XP have ALL the system files cached into this folder! You may only have around 50MB of files in this folder under Windows XP depending on the quota settings in the registry. (Under Windows 2003 Server the default is 300MB of system files!)

Annoying, YES!

Is there a workaround YES!

As well as having a cache of all the system files on your PC, I like to have the I386 folder from the XP CD installed on the computer as well. After doing this I then modify the registry to tell it the source path for these files... Why? Well not only does this prevent 99% of request for the the XP CD with Windows File Protection. But the I386 folder also contains many other files that are sometimes needed by the operating system and this stops those requests for the XP CD too!

NB - With today's large hard drives you are not going to notice this 475 MB folder on your computer, but older systems may not have the space for this...

Step 1
You will need to get your XP CD and locate the folder called:

I386

This is a major folder and should be one of the first you see, now copy this onto your hard drive into the system root. For most of you that is going to be C:\ so you should end up with a folder that looks like: C:\I386

Step 2
Now you will need to tell your computer you now have the files on your PC. We do this is the registry (type regedit in the Run box on the start menu) by navigating to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

You will see various entries here on the right hand side. The one we want is called:

SourcePath

It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, and that is why it is asking for the XP CD. All we need to do is change it to:

C:\

Simply double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up allowing you to make the change.

Now restart your computer and try sfc scannow again!

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Other Problems with sfc scannow...

#1
Has the CD Drive's drive letter changed (perhaps by the addition of another hard drive, partition, or removable drive) since Windows XP was first installed?

If so, simply edit the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\SourcePath

to reflect the changed drive letter.

After you restart the computer, WFP and sfc /scannow uses the new source path instead of prompting for the Windows XP installation CD-ROM

#2
Has the registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\SourcePath got an incorrect entry? The SourcePath entry does NOT include the path location till the I386 folder. It completes one folder ahead to reach the I386 folder.

Example:

If the I386 directory is at C:\I386, the SourcePath value would be C:\

#3
If the problem persists and you have the correct path for your I386 folder then the I386 folder is corrupted. To solve this problem copy I386 folder from the CD-ROM to your system restart the system and then perform sfc /scannow again.

#4
You do not have an XP retail CD with an I386 folder on it. If you have a restore CD from your PC manufacturer then you may have to explore the CD to find the folder.

#5
You still keep being prompted for the XP CD yet you have done all in this article! There is another setting in the registry that may be causing the problem. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SourcePath

Make sure the entry here is the same path to the I386 folder as used above.

#6
Systems administrators can enforce security policies that may include changes to the Windows File Protection settings. You will need to speak with your network administrator about this, but it is important to bear in mind when Windows starts up, the Windows File Protection service synchronizes (copies) the WFP settings from the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Windows File Protection

to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Therefore, if any of the following values are present in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Windows File Protection key, they will take precedence over the same values under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon key.

This will not effect sfc scannow so much, but WILL make an impact if any of the other sfc.exe "switches" have been used! (More about these at the end of this article.)

#7
When you run scannow at logon you do not get a progress bar... This can easily be remedied by adding a new DWORD: SFCShowProgress to the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

the values available are: 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled

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What about Windows Updates.....
You may be asking yourself how does sfc.exe know how to check for updated Windows system files? Well during OS upgrades, service pack installations etc.. the dllcache folder should be updated with these new files.

As an example the recent Windows XP Hotfix - KB828035 updated the system file wkssvc.dll A new version of the file was placed in C:\WINDOWS\system32 and a copy in the cache: C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache A copy of the old system file is archived in: C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB828035$

There is another location the Windows File protection service uses and that is the I386 folder in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles When you install a service pack, like SP1. Any new system drivers are cached in this location too.

If you have odd problems with running sfc scannow and nothing else in the article has resolved it, then take a look at the entry in:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\ServicePackSourcePath

This should be pointing to the location C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles (assuming C:\ is the boot drive.)

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For those of you who are familiar with sfc.exe under Windows 2000 professional. It is worth noting that the following two options are NOT available under Windows XP.

These are:

sfc /cancel - In Windows 2000, this command immediately cancels all pending scans of protected system files. This option has no effect in Windows XP.

sfc /quiet - In Windows 2000 this sets Windows File Protection to replace any incorrect system files detected with the appropriate version from the dll cache without any user notification. This option has no effect in Windows XP.

Unlike Access, Excel does not have an autonumbering feature that increments a number each time you add a new row. With Excel 2003 and 2007, you can use the Row function to add your own autonumbering to a data list.

For example, say you are creating a list of all of your company’s products and their prices. Follow these steps to add your own autonumbering for the list:

1. In A1, enter this formula:
   =TEXT(Row(A1),"000-000")
2. Enter the name of the first product in B1.
3. Enter the price of the first product in C1.
4. Copy cell A1 to A2.
5. Enter the name of the second product in B2.
6. Enter the price of the second product in C2.
7. Select A1:C2.
8. Go to Data | List and select Create List. (In Excel 2007, press [Ctrl]T, then click OK.)

Now when you type the name of the next product in B3 and press [Tab], Excel will automatically fill in the next number for you.