Q. I tried entering just general numbers in my column. I have windows XP. Does that make a difference.

The operating system that you are using does not make a difference in the format of the type of numbers that you enter into Excel. When you enter a general number and it is not showing up the way that you would like for it to show, this could be any number of reasons.

A cell may display ##### when it contains data that has a number format that is wider than the column width. To increase the width of the column, point to Column on the Format menu, and then click AutoFit Selection.

In Microsoft Excel, the appearance of a number in a cell is separate from the number that is stored in the cell. When a number that you enter is rounded, in most circumstances, only the display of the number is rounded. Calculations use the actual number stored in the cell, not the number as it is displayed. You can change the display of numbers on the Number page of the Format Cells dialog box (Format menu, Cells command).