WOW thank you so much for the kind words. Even if I/we do hear it often (we dont, btw), it is always gratifying to hear it again.

For many of us here, helping people like yourself, is the main reason we keep coming back. We look forward to seeing you come back again soon.

The best way to learn excel, is to use excel - ID a problem, and see what you can do to overcome it. a few things to always remember/keep in mind...
1. Never be afraid to experiment!! The worst that can happen is you need to reload the file, the best that can happen is you learn something new.
2. Dont be afraid to ask for help here, even if you think the question is silly. We all had to start somewhere, and we have many many newbies on here. At least, we will hold your hand and guide you, at most, we will probably do it for you.

Yes, you can remove that helper - sometimes they can be a great help though.
COUNTIFS syntax is pretty much the same as COUNTIF, except you can add many more criteria/tests