What Is Astigmatism?

Astigmatism is a common eye condition that's easily corrected by eyeglasses, contact lenses or
surgery.
Astigmatism is characterized by an irregular curvature of the cornea. This type of disorder is
also known as a refractive error. Astigmatism occurs in nearly everybody to some degree.
For significant curvature, treatment is required.
A person's eye is naturally spherical in shape. Under normal circumstances, when light enters
the eye, it refracts evenly, creating a clear view of the object. However, the eye of a person
with astigmatism is shaped more like a football or the back of a spoon. For this person,
when light enters the eye it is refracted more in one direction than the other, allowing only
part of the object to be in focus at one time. Objects at any distance can appear blurry and
wavy.
What Causes Astigmatism?
Astigmatism can be hereditary and is often present at birth. It can
also result from pressure from the eyelids on the cornea,
incorrect posture or an increased use of the eyes for close
work.
What Are the Symptoms of Astigmatism?
People with undetected astigmatism often experience headaches,
fatigue, eyestrain and blurred vision at all distances. While
these symptoms may not necessarily be the result of
astigmatism, you should schedule an eye exam if you are
experiencing one or more symptoms.
How Are Astigmatisms Diagnosed?
Your optometrist or ophthalmologist can diagnose astigmatism by a
thorough eye exam. Astigmatism may occur with other refractive errors such as myopia
(nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness). Unfortunately, astigmatism often goes
undetected in school-age children.
Because astigmatisms may increase slowly, you should visit your optometrist or
ophthalmologist for an eye exam once each year. Optometrists are trained
specifically to determine and improve visual acuity with the prescription of
eyeglasses or contact lenses. Ophthalmologists can provide total eye care, from
examinations and vision correction to the diagnosis and treatment of disease
through medication and surgery.

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How Are Astigmatisms Treated?
Almost all degrees of astigmatism can be corrected with properly prescribed eyeglasses or
contact lenses. For a person with only a slight degree of astigmatism, corrective lenses may not
be needed at all, as long as other conditions such as nearsightedness or farsightedness are not
present. If the astigmatism is moderate to high, however, corrective lenses are probably
needed.

• Corrective lenses (eyeglasses or contact lenses). For astigmatism, special corrective

lenses called toric lenses are prescribed. Toric lenses have greater light bending power
in one direction than the other. After performing various tests, your eye doctor will
determine the ideal toric lens prescription for your astigmatism.
• Refractive surgery. Another method for correcting astigmatism is by changing the shape
of the cornea through refractive or laser eye surgery. While there is more than one type
of refractive surgery, specific treatments are recommended on an individual basis.

Refractive surgeries require healthy eyes that are free from retinal problems, corneal scars and
any eye disease. As technology progresses, it is becoming more and more important that you
explore all options and possibilities before deciding which refractive surgery and treatment is
right for you.

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Overview of the Microsoft Word Interface
Microsoft Word is an application designed primarily for word processing. You can
also use it for mail merge, or to create tables. There are some new features in Word
2003 worth exploring, such as research for looking up information, a layout reading
format to see how your pages look, as well as a new help icon for easy access.
Word also has a clip art feature for creating graphics on pages, new tables, and
other features that can be used. Other tips that will be included in Intermediate
Word include: clip art, document style, tables and lists as well as tracking changes.

Starting Word 2003

The best way to start learning the new features of Word 2003 is by starting the
program. In the graphic below are some of the featured highlights that are being
indicated for you to look for in your new Word packet. One of the biggest changes
in Word 2003 is purely cosmetic - the look of a Word 2003 document is more three-
dimensional than in previous versions of Word.

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Steps to perform will appear in highlighted blue text throughout the handout.
Perform these steps in this document, or print out this packet and start your own
blank document.
To start Microsoft Word 2003:
1) Go to your Start menu
2) Then to Programs and look for Microsoft Office
3) A series of Microsoft Programs will appear. Select Microsoft Word 2003
to start.

Components of the Word Window & Feautures

Besides the usual PC window components (close box, title bar, scroll bars, etc.), a Word window
has other elements, as shown in the following figure.

Component Functionality or Purpose of the Component

Menu Bar Contains File,Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Table, Window and Help menus
Standard Contains icons for shortcuts to menu commands.
Toolbar

Formatting Tool Contains pop-up menus for style, font, and font size; icons for boldface, italic, and underline;
Bar alignment icons; number and bullet list icons; indention icons, the border icon, highlight, and font
color icons.
Ruler Ruler on which you can set tabs, paragraph alignment, and other formats.
Insertion Point Blinking vertical bar that indicates where text you type will be inserted. Don't confuse the insertion
point with the mouse I-beam. To move the insertion point, just click the mouse where you want the
point moved.
End-of-File Non-printing symbol that marks the end of the file. You cannot insert text after this mark.
Marker
Selection Bar Invisible narrow strip along the left edge of the window. Your mouse pointer changes to a right-
(Gutter) pointing arrow when it is in this area. It is used to select a line, a paragraph, or the entire document.
Split Handle Double-click to split the window in two (to view different portions of the same file). Double-click to
return to one window
Status Bar Displays page number, section number, and total number of pages, pointer position on page and
time of day.
Task Pane Displays and groups commonly used features for convenience.
Office Assistant An animated character that can provide help and suggestions. There are multiple characters to
choose from, and it is possible to turn the Office Assistant off.

The Disadvantages of Microsoft Word Software

By Chris Blank, eHow Contributor
updated: January 7, 2010

1. Microsoft Word is far and away the most popular word processing software, and has been since it over took
WordPerfect (now owned by Corel) in sales in the late 1990s. With the significant exception of the legal

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 community, Microsoft Word is dominant among home users and business users alike. However, the
software does have disadvantages, innate to itself and in relationship to WordPerfect.

Problematic Web Publishing

2. Microsoft Word has the capability to be used as a web publishing program. However, there are significant
drawbacks to using Word as opposed to a program designed for the job, such as Macromedia
Dreamweaver. Microsoft Word produces bloated code, with some code only supported by Internet Explorer
browsers. There is no provision for alternate text for users who block images or for users with limited
visibility. Image files for Microsoft Word are assigned generic names and may be duplicated on the web
page.

Lack of Backward Compatibility

3. With the release of Microsoft Office Suite 2007, including Microsoft Word 2007, users of older versions of
the software found themselves unable to open, let alone edit, documents received in the later version. The
default extension for Microsoft Word 2007 documents is .docx; the default extension for documents in
earlier versions of Microsoft Word is .doc. An extra step is necessary to save a version of Microsoft Word
2007 documents in a format compatible with older versions of word. Also, users of the newer version of the
software sometimes encounter formatting problems in opening documents created in older versions of
Word.

No Reveal Codes
4. The feature that WordPerfect users value more than nearly any other is the Reveal Codes function. This
function allows users to access the exact coding for each character of a WordPerfect document, similar to
the code view function with web content software. This allows for much easier editing, especially when
troublesome functioning is involved. With Microsoft Word it is sometimes impossible to determine the
exact source of coding problems, let alone eliminate them.

Disadvantages - The following issues might affect compatibility:

o Microsoft Access MDE/ADE/ACCDE files - Databases that have

had their source code removed (such as .mde, .ade, and .accde files)
cannot be moved between 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Office 2010. Such
databases that are created by using 32-bit Office (any version) can be used
only with 32-bit Office, and a database that is created on 64-bit Office can
be used only on 64-bit Office.

o ActiveX controls and COM Add-ins - ActiveX controls and add-

in (COM) DLLs (dynamic link libraries) that were written for 32-bit
Office will not work in a 64-bit process. As a result, Office 2010 64-bit
solutions that try to load 32-bit ActiveX controls or DLLs will not work.

In addition to controls that load into Office applications, there are also
Web-based solutions that use ActiveX controls in Microsoft Internet

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 Explorer. Office 2010 64-bit editions install Office 32-bit clientside
controls for supporting Web solutions in a browser. The workaround for
resolving these issues is to obtain 64-bit compatible controls and add-ins
or to install Office 2010 32-bit (WOW).

o Office Graphics (OArt) - For Excel integration, conversion of

OLE, form controls, and ActiveX to CompatE2os in Excel 2010, some
controls are not available in 64-bit Office 2010. An example is the
Microsoft Date and Time Picker Control 6.0 (SP4), which is accessed on
the Excel 2010 Developer tab, by clicking Insert, and selecting More
Controls under ActiveX Controls section.

Graphics rendering. There are differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit
Graphics Device Interface (GDI) that might have performance
implications because of the lack of MMX support on 64-bit. Intel's MMX
technology is an extension of the Intel architecture (IA) instruction set.
The technology uses a single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) technique
to speed up multimedia and communications software by processing data
elements in parallel.

o Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) - VBA code that uses the
Declare statement to access the Windows application programming
interface (API) or other DLL entry points will see differences between 32-
bit and 64-bit versions. The Declare statement must be updated with the
PtrSafe attribute after inputs and outputs to the API have been reviewed
and updated. Declare statements will not work in 64-bit VBA without the
PtrSafe attribute. New data types are added to 64-bit Office 2010 VBA:
LongLong and LongPtr.

General Feature Deprecations - The following section lists feature deprecations:

o Microsoft Access - The Replication Conflict Viewer is removed

from both the 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2010. This
functionality can still be implemented by using a documented custom
function, ReplicationConflictFunction. For information, see the Access
2007 Developer Reference.
o Publisher - The Microsoft Works database converter (wdbimp.dll)
is removed from both 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2010. This
converter was previously used in the Mail Merge functionality to connect
to a data source created in Microsoft Works.
o Word - Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) and all its
components are deprecated for both 32-bit and 64-bit Office 2010. The
legacy Equation Editor is not supported on 64-bit Office 2010, but is
supported for 32-bit Office 2010 installations (WOW64). WLL (Word
Add-in libraries) WLL files are deprecated for both 32-bit and 64-bit

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 Office 2010. A WLL is an add-in for Microsoft Word that you can build
with any compiler that supports building DLLs.

ADVANTAGES OF MICROSOFT WORD

Advantages - Running Office 2010 64-bit provides the following advantages:

Microsoft Word is the word processing component of the Microsoft Office Suite, and is one of
the most extensively used computer applications.
Its advantages include:

• It allows easy and near-instant textual input.

• There is a large variety of formatting options, including a variety of colour choices, the
ability to change font-weight (bold/regular), underlining, etc.
• Images can be 'drag-and-dropped' into the application, inserted manually, or imported
from the word-art galleries.
• Lists can be easily created and formatted.
• Content is displayed using the standard HTML formatting, allowing great compatability
and creating a standardised, easy-to-control layout.
• Compatible with a large number of standard document formats.
• Extensive help documentation.
• Self-explanitory dialogue boxes and menu options.
• increased office efficiency
• improved human resource utilization
o Ability to utilize additional memory.
o Excel 2010 can load much larger workbooks. Excel 2010 made updates to use 64-
bit memory addressing to break out of the 2-GB addressable memory boundary
that limits 32-bit applications.
o Microsoft Project 2010 provides improved capacity, especially when you are
dealing with many subprojects to a large project.
o Enhanced default security protections through Hardware Data Execution
Prevention (DEP).

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