Refusing Online Help

One of the changes introduced in Excel 2003 was a greater reliance by the program on online help systems. When you choose to display Excel's Help system and then search for information on a topic, by default Excel 2003 also returns help topics from the Web, specifically from Microsoft's Web sites.

You can, if desired, configure Excel 2003 so that it won't access any online information. To make this change, follow these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the General tab is displayed.
3. Click Service Options. Excel displays the Service Options dialog box.
4. In the Category list, choose Online Content. (Click here to see a related figure.)
5. Using the controls at the right side of the dialog box, specify how you want Excel to access (or not access) online content.
6. Click OK to close the Service Options dialog box.
7. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.