60+ of the Best Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts

60+ of the Best Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts

for Computer Users

1. Arrange your icons by: type, name, size, auto arrange, and arrange by grid. All of these options can be found in any folder and on the desktop by right-clicking and choosing “arrange icons by”…

2. Add symbols in Word by using the Character Map. To access the Character Map, either choose InsertàSymbol in Microsoft Word or, in Windows, simply go to the Start button and click Run. Type charmap into the blank. Then, copy and paste the symbol you want into almost any program.

3. Use your Links Bar in Internet Explorer (or any Windows folder) to quickly bring up favorite Web sites or files on your computer with a single-click button. To enable the Links Bar, right-click on the toolbar in Internet Explorer or any folder and check-mark the word “Links.” Then, uncheck “Lock the Toolbars” (in Windows XP). Drag the word Links down below your Address Bar, and proceed to drag any Web site onto this bar. The same goes for any file that you want to access. Drag them onto this bar to create a “one-click link” button on the toolbar. Look for the little black vertical line before dropping things onto the Links Bar.

4. To open any program so that it is automatically maximized or minimized, create a shortcut to the program (or file). Then, right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties. Next to the word “Run,” click the drop-down arrow and switch “Normal Window” to Maximized and click OK. The same method can also be used to open a program minimized. If you choose “maximized,” the next time you click on this shortcut, it will open up in full screen, maximized.

5. Minimize all windows with one keyboard shortcut. Press the Windows Logo button and the D key (Windows+D) to send all of your open windows to the taskbar, leaving only the desktop. This is the same as clicking the “Show Desktop” icon on the taskbar/QuickLaunch bar.

6. In Internet Explorer, there is a keyboard shortcut for Back and Forward. This way you don’t have to keep clicking the toolbar button every time you want to return to a Web page. Use your Backspace key to go back, and your Enter key to go forward.

7. There are keyboard shortcuts for undo and redo. In Word, PowerPoint and Excel, as well as many non-Microsoft programs, use Ctrl + Z to undo, and Ctrl + Y to redo.

8. To quickly find out how much RAM (memory) you have in any version of Windows, as well as exactly which version of Windows is on your computer, use this keyboard combination: Windows Logo and the Pause/Break keys pressed at the same time. This brings up the “System Properties,” which you can also get to by right-clicking on “My Computer.”

9. To find out a lot of other information about your system, such as your processor speed, your sound and video drivers, what version of DirectX you have, and a test of your hardward, go to StartàRun. Type in dxdiag, and you will see a ton of info. about your system.

10. The Microsoft Configuration Utility is the best way to speed up how fast your computer boots up and reduce the number of programs that load when your computer starts up. Go to StartàRun. Type in msconfig, and choose “Selective Startup.” Then, click on the Startup tab. Take a good look at the command name and the location, and un-check anything that doesn’t appear to be necessary. Leave Anti-Virus program info. checked, and un-check “Load Power Profile,” “Microsoft Office,” “QTTask”, and other programs that run anyway when you click on them. You don’t need them loading by themselves.

11. Get rid of pop-up ads and conveniently add a Google shortcut to your Internet Explorer toolbar by downloading and installing the Google Toolbar. This is a great Web search tool, as well as a terrific pop-up blocker. Go to google.com and type “Google Toolbar” into the search field. Then, download & install it. You won’t regret it.

12. The quickest way to adjust your screen display size, screen saver, icon sizes and your desktop wallpaper is by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing Properties. Now, all of the display properties are there at your fingertips.

13. PowerPoint is a good presentation tool, but you can also convert your presentations to .JPG pictures. Just open any slideshow from PowerPoint and go to FileàSave As and, next to “Save As Type,” choose “JPEG File Interchange Format (JPG)” which is long for “make a picture from your slide.” You can choose to convert the current slide or the entire slideshow into pictures.

*This can also be done in Print Shop by choosing FileàExport As and changing the “save as type” option to a picture format. This saves your PrintShop project as a picture.

14. Three tremendously important keyboard shortcuts found in Windows:

F1=Help F2=Rename F3=Find Files or Folders

15. Another great “Find” shortcut is Ctrl + F. Using this keyboard shortcut in Internet Explorer, Word or Excel allows you to search the current page or document for a specific word or phrase. After it highlights the correct word you’re looking for, press the Enter key to “Find Next.”

16. When you want to delete something in Windows, are you tired of it asking you if you are sure you want to delete it? Right-click on the Recycle Bin and un-check “Display delete confirmation dialog box.” But, only do this if you’re sure (haha).

17. To quickly close your open windows, use this keyboard shortcut: Alt + F4. Any open window that is selected will immediately close. When you run out of windows to close, it will ask if you want to shut down your computer. Press the Enter key to shut down.

18. Another seldom-used keyboard shortcut is the “Task Manager” which allows you to toggle between open files or between two different programs within seconds. To see how it works, press the Alt + Tab keys at the same time and then let go. It jumps back and forth between programs you have open. Very convenient.

19. The keyboard shortcut for Print is Ctrl + P. This brings up the Print dialog box. In most programs, you can bypass the Print dialog box by pressing the Print button at the top on the toolbar.

20. Two Office XP annoyances can be fixed quickly. First, to turn the Task Pane off (the split-screen window at the right in every Office XP application), you can un-check the little box in the bottom right corner that says “Show at startup.” You can also toggle the Task Pane on and off by going to ViewàTask Pane. However, the Task Pane option is hidden by default in the annoying half-menu, which started with Office 2000. If you always want to show full menus, go to ToolsàCustomize and check the box that says “Always show full menus.”

21. Another Office XP annoyance has to do with toolbars. By default, only the buttons you use most on your toolbar are displayed. What if you want more toolbar buttons? Go to ToolsàCustomize and click the Options tab. Check the box that says “Show Standard & Formatting toolbars on two rows.” This gives you more room for buttons. To add more toolbars, right-click on any toolbar and check the name of the additional toolbars you want added.

22. Now for some Word 2002 tips: How many of you are sick of the big square box that pops up by default when you try to add a text box or ClipArt/Picture? You can turn this off by going to ToolsàOptions and click the General tab. Un-check the box that says “Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes.” While you’re there, get rid of another annoyance, Click the Edit tab and change the Insert/Paste pictures as option. Change it from “In line with text” to “Square.” Now, when you insert a picture or ClipArt image, you can move the picture more easily, and not have to immediately go into Text Wrap mode to move objects around. This is a much better default setting if you insert a lot of images.

23. What if you could expand any Web page’s size and quickly get rid of all toolbars in Internet Explorer with the click of one key. Well, there is a full-screen mode in Internet Explorer. Go to a good Web site that you want to see more of, and press the F11 key on the top of your keyboard. Press it again to bring back your toolbars.

24. Desktop Shortcuts are a good idea if you use certain programs & files repeatedly. For example, if you use Microsoft Word a lot, you can create a shortcut to it by going to StartàProgramsàMicrosoft Word. Before you open the program, right-click on the Microsoft Word icon and choose Send ToàDesktop (create shortcut). This creates a shortcut to Microsoft Word on the desktop. If it says “shortcut to Microsoft Word,” you can get rid of the words “shortcut to” by right-clicking on the icon and deleting those words from its title.

25. Maybe you already knew tip #24, and you’re ready for something more advanced. Let’s take it a step further. Let’s make a keyboard hotkey to Word. Right-click on the Microsoft Word icon, and choose Properties. Next to where it says “Shortcut key,” click your mouse cursor in that box and press the Ctrl and Alt keys on your keyboard and then add a third key, such as the W key (which will stand for Word). You should now see Ctrl + Alt + W in the “shortcut key” box. Click OK and now try it out. Press Ctrl + Alt + W, and Microsoft Word should open from now on. You can do this with any desktop shortcut.

26. The quickest way to send an Email attachment in Groupwise 6, 6.5, Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express is to right-click on the attachment you want to send, and choose Send ToàGroupwise Recipient (or Mail Recipient in Outlook Express). This opens your Email and attaches the file automatically to the message. Just put in the Email address of who you want to send it to, and press Send.

27. When you connect a Laptop computer to an LCD Projector, it’s pretty easy to get a picture on a movie screen, but your laptop monitor is often left blank. However, a quick keyboard shortcut will allow you to view both the screen display on the laptop as well as the movie screen. On most laptops, the shortcut is Fn + F5. Look for the little monitor icon on one of the function keys at the top of your laptop keyboard. This tells you which key to use in combination with the Fn key.

28. You can change your SchoolWorld (Zangle) password more easily than you might think. Zangle has a new icon now. Look for the blue Z, double-click and log in with your old password. Then, before selecting anything, immediately click FileàChange Password.

29. To change your Groupwise Email password, the best way is to do it online. Go to www.port-huron.k12.mi.us and click the “Email (staff only)” button. Log in with your current password. You will see three buttons at the very top of the screen. Click on the middle button (called the “Options” button) and it will bring up a “Change your password” screen.

30. To change your Novell and Windows passwords at the same time, the best way is to do the following: In Windows 98, go to StartàSettingsàControl PanelàPasswords and select “Change Windows Password” and leave the Novell Netware box checked. Click OK and then type in your old password once and your new password twice. It will ask if you want your Windows and Novell passwords to match. Say yes, and you won’t get the Windows password box popping up each time you log in to Novell.

*In Windows XP, you can change your Novell password by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and clicking the “Change Password” button.

31. Here are some great Microsoft Word tips that will make your life easier.

A. To insert filler text (to demonstrate Word formatting), when you type =rand(4,5) and press Enter, you get:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

B. To quickly add a Table to your Word document, start with a plus sign, then type minus signs until you reach the desired width of your table cell. Then, type another plus sign and press enter. Continue to do this until you have all the cells you want.

C. To save all of your open documents at once, hold down the Shift key and open the File menu. The File menu will give you two new options: Save All and Close All.

32. More Microsoft Word tips: Add line separators to your documents. Here are the best of the best. If you want to separate portions of a document with fancy horizontal lines, use one of these methods:

1. To create a thin continuous line, type three hyphens and press Enter (---).
2. To create a thicker, bolder line, use underscores (___).
3. To create a dotted line, use asterisks (***).
4. To create a double line, use equal signs (===).
5. To create a wavy line, use tildes (~~~).
6. To create a triple fat line, use pound signs (###).



33. Add an Excel calculator. Usually, you calculate numbers when you use Excel, so it only makes sense to add a calculator to the Excel toolbar. Here's how:

1. Choose View, Toolbars, Customize.
2. Click on the Commands tab.
3. In the Categories list, choose Tools.
4. In the Commands list, choose Custom (you'll see a little gray calculator icon next to it).
5. Drag the calculator icon to the toolbar, letting it drop wherever you'd like it to reside.



34. Most computer users know that you can move horizontally to the right in any form or table by pressing the Tab key. However, did you know you can move horizontally to the left by pressing Shift + Tab on your keyboard? Try it in Excel and it works great.

35. We love Google, and it is amazing how much information you can find in one place. Here is how to use the Google Phonebook (remember to use lowercase letters):

phonebook=searches the entire phonebook

rphonebook=searches residential listings only

bphonebook=searches business listings only

Type the following information into the Google search blank:

rphonebook: smith, port huron, 48060

This brings up a listing of every Smith in the city of Port Huron. To be more specific, add a first name before the last name. Other options include dropping the Zip code and adding an Area Code instead. City & state are optional. You can also type in a person’s phone number to get their Address and directions to his/her house by clicking on the Yahoo Maps or MapQuest links.

36. One Web site tip is all it takes to get more reference material than you would find in an entire library—for FREE. Go to www.refdesk.com and you will find a mind-boggling amount of Web links & tools to satisfy every research need you might have, from a built-in Google & AllTheWeb link to Dictionaries, Thesauri, Quotations, Weather, Newspapers, etc. Refdesk is the best one-stop Web reference tool there is.

37. Google Images is one of the best places to find full-color pictures on the Web. Go to www.google.com and click on Images. Then, type in exactly what picture(s) you want to find. Pay close attention to the file name, file extension (JPG, GIF, BMP) and the pixel size (example: 800 x 600 pixels will be a huge picture. 200 x 196 will be much smaller and lower quality). Then, click on the picture to bring up the Web site it came from. Click again on the picture at the top to blow it up to its largest size. See if the picture is copyrighted before you use it, or get permission to use it (from that particular Web site’s creator). Then, either right-click and choose “Save Picture As” to save it to your computer, or right-click on the actual picture and choose Copy. Then, go into your document, right-click & choose Paste. It pastes the original full-color picture into your document.

38. When doing a “Google Images” search, you may end up with some pictures that are not kid-friendly. To filter out your search results prior to searching, tweak the settings a bit. After you click on “Images” in Google, click on the Preferences link on the right side of Google. Next to “SafeSearch Filtering,” choose either to “Use moderate filtering (Filter explicit images only - default behavior)” or “Use strict filtering (Filter both explicit text and explicit images).” This gives you some control over what images appear when you search Google. In the Preferences, you can also control things like how many results are displayed per page.

39. One more Google tip. A filetype search restricts your search results to files ending in what ever extension you want, such as .doc, .jpg, .pdf, .txt, .xls, .ppt, etc. This is helpful if you know that you want only one particular type of document. An example:

A search for Photoshop filetype: ppt will bring up results that only have to do with learning the Photoshop program, but the results will only be PowerPoint documents.

40. Using the Send To command, you can control which options appear when you right-click an icon and choose “Send To.” SendTo is actually a Windows folder. So, you can copy and paste items into this folder. First you have to find the folder though. In Windows 98, it is inside the Windows folder. Look for the folder called SendTo. In Windows XP, go to the C drive, and double-click on “Documents & Settings.” Choose the user’s name that you want, and inside that user’s folder will be a SendTo folder.

41. You can control Word formatting simply with your keyboard keys. Here are some examples. Double-click on a word you want to highlight in bold. Press Ctrl + B to make it bold. Press Ctrl + B again to bring it back to plain text. To highlight several more words in bold, use your Shift and your arrow keys. Shift à highlights text to the right. Shift ß highlights text to the left. Ctrl + U will underline the text. Ctrl + I will put the text in italics.

42. The QuickLaunch toolbar is an under-appreciated toolbar on the Windows taskbar. To show this toolbar, right-click on your taskbar and choose ToolbarsàQuickLaunch. This toolbar is for single-click button shortcuts, very similar to the Links Bar in Tip #3. Similarly, you can drag any shortcut from your desktop to the QuickLaunch toolbar, and open it with a single click. It’s also a great way to eliminate excessive icons from your desktop area. Just drag shortcuts to this toolbar and delete them from the desktop, but remember to first drag the vertical line on the QuickLaunch toolbar to the right. The farther you drag that vertical line, the more room you will have for shortcut buttons. If you need more room on the taskbar, drag the taskbar up and you will have a double taskbar with plenty of room for open applications and QuickLaunch buttons.

43. Part 1: Application Toolbars: To add or remove a toolbar button, such as removing some of the unnecessary toolbar buttons on Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, go to ToolsàCustomize and click on the Commands tab. Then, go up to the particular program’s toolbar and drag a button off of it and let go. The button will disappear. You can also choose a button from the “Commands” list and drag it onto the toolbar.

Part 2: Internet Explorer & Folder Toolbars: To customize exactly which buttons are displayed on your folder or Internet Explorer toolbars, use this method. Right-click on any toolbar button and choose Customize. You will see a split-screen with “Available Toolbar Buttons” and “Current Toolbar Buttons.” Select the buttons you want from the left and click the Add button to add them to your toolbar. Then, click the “Move Up” or “Move Down” buttons to position them right where you want them. Next to Text Options, choose “Show Text Labels.” This will allow you to see text under each toolbar button. Next to “icon options” you can choose either small or large icons.

44. Windows CleanUp! This tool is so good that we demand that you download it immediately and use it at home. Go to www.google.com and type in “Windows CleanUp!” and it should bring up the “Windows CleanUp! Utility Home Page.” Click on this link and scroll down the page to find the download link for the CleanUp! file. Download it and install the file. After it is installed, go to StartàPrograms and create a shortcut to “CleanUp!” on your desktop. Run the file weekly to clean up your computer, getting rid of Internet cookies, history, temporary Internet files, Windows temp files, and much more. The program is extremely quick but thorough and has options where you can customize exactly what it cleans up each time. Best of all, this program is free.

45. Right-dragging is a good way to move files from folder to folder. People love to drag icons to move them from place to place, but sometimes this results in a shortcut being moved instead of the actual file. To make sure you are moving or copying your files correctly, right-drag instead of left-dragging. When you right-drag an icon into a folder, it gives you these options: Move Here, Copy Here or Create Shortcut Here. Take your pick and never worry about whether you copied the original file, or a shortcut instead.

46. Cut, copy & paste all have keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl+X=Cut Ctrl+C=Copy and Ctrl+V=Paste.

47. You can add icons to your Start Menu (just above the Start button) by right-clicking on the Start button and choosing Explore. This opens Windows Explorer. Copy any shortcut you want from the desktop or from the Programs folder and paste it into the “Start Menu” folder. This is the folder that comes up first by default when you open Windows Explorer.

*By the way, right-click the Start button and choose Explore any time you want to quickly open Windows Explorer. If you haven’t used it, it’s a great way to navigate through your folders.

48. There is a “Thumbnail” view for pictures in Windows Me, 2000 and XP listed under View, but not in Windows 95 or 98. However, you can add this view to Windows 98 by right-clicking on any folder that has pictures inside and choosing Properties. Put a check-mark in the little box that says “Enable Thumbnail View.” Click OK and then re-open the folder. Go to ViewàThumbnails and you will see all of your little thumbnail pictures.

49. View your pictures as a SlideShow in Windows XP by going into a folder such as “My Pictures.” To the left, under “Picture Tasks,” choose “View as a slide show.”

50. You can make a “screen shot” of your current computer screen and save it as a Word document, PowerPoint slide or a Picture. Press the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard and then open up Microsoft Word and choose EditàPaste. The screen shot will be pasted into Word, where you can save it. You can do the same in PowerPoint, but if you want to save it as a picture file instead, go to StartàProgramsàAccessories and find the Paint program. Here you can save the screen shot as a picture. The PrintScreen button gives you the entire screen, but the Alt + PrintScreen shortcut gives you only the top window or the top dialog box. This is great for showing how to do something in a software application or in Windows.

If 50 Tips Just Weren’t Enough, Here Are Some More!!!

51. To record your voice as a Wave file, you will need a microphone plugged into the red microphone jack in the back of your computer. Then, use the free Windows “Sound Recorder” program to record your voice. Go to StartàProgramsàAccessoriesàEntertainmentàSound Recorder. As you talk into the microphone, press the red (record) button. It gives you up to 60 seconds to record. When you’re done, click the Stop button. To save your file, go to FileàSave As, give it a name and save it to your hard drive. You can now go into the folder where you saved it and play back the sound file you just created.

Troubleshooting Microphones:

If you do not see moving sound waves when you click the red button on the Sound Recorder, you will need to do the following:

1. Double-click the yellow (Windows 98) or black (Windows XP) speaker icon in the bottom right-corner of your taskbar. It should bring up Master Volume controls. Click OptionsàProperties. Click to put a dot next to “Recording.” Then, put a check-mark in the box next to Microphone. Click OK. You can then drag the volume lever to change the recording volume on your microphone.

*Make sure your computer speakers are turned all the way down before you record, or you will get feedback. To turn them down, use the buttons on your monitor and/or drag the volume lever on your Master Volume control (again, remember to double-click the yellow or black speaker icon next to the clock for volume).

52. This tip will cost you $29.99, and it’s the only tip here that you will have to pay for, but it’s worth it. QuickTime Pro is an upgrade for QuickTime users, and it will allow you to edit video, as well as audio clips. Just some of the great features of this program are the ability it gives you to cut and paste pieces of one sound or video clip into another, as well as the ability to save any QuickTime movie from the Web, create slide shows, import/export media, play movies in full-screen, create and play back CD-quality audio and DVD-quality video, prepare movies for streaming over the Web, and that’s just the beginning. This versatile tool is a must for any multimedia enthusiast.

53. Use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to touch up photos. Both Word and PowerPoint come with simple photo editing tools. They are found on the “Picture toolbar.” Just right-click on any toolbar and choose “Picture.” This brings up the Picture toolbar. With this toolbar you can lighten, brighten, crop, insert, rotate and flip pictures with one click. Click on the Cropping tool and then push in on each corner handle (in the image/graphic) to reduce the size of the graphic, or pull out on the image's corner handle to enlarge its size. You can also add arrows to your image by going down to the AutoShapes button on the drawing toolbar. To bring up the Drawing toolbar, go to the View menu and choose Toolbars>>Drawing. To lighten or brighten a photo, click on the yellow Sun icons. The arrows pointing up or down will brighten or lighten your image.

54. Using the Format Painter is very helpful. It is found on your Word, Excel and PowerPoint toolbar. Here’s how it works:

1. Highlight some text in a document that has the formatting you’d like copied. (example below)

2. Click on the Format Painter button in your toolbar at the top.

3. Single-click the format painter if you want to copy the formatting from this location to only one word. If you want to copy the formatting to several words or locations in a document, then double-click the format painter.

4. Your cursor changes into a small paint brush.

5. Position the paint brush over the word or words from which you would like to change the formatting.

6. The text that you clicked with your paint brush (format painter) transforms into the text you had highlighted earlier. In other words, it clones the formatting from one location to another.

55. Free Anti-Virus software is just one link away. Actually, there are two good ones that we recommend. Go to http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php for AVG’s Free Edition or go directly to http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1016.html for Avast Home Edition, and click on US (next to English). The only downfall of these two free Anti-Virus programs is that you won’t get their technical support pros to help you. With free Anti-Virus programs, you’re on your own, but they do work quite well.

56. If you use Microsoft Access at all, you know that it is the Office program that is the least backward compatible between different versions. This can be a problem if you create a database in Access 2000 or higher, and you want someone to view it on Access 97. However, this tip shows you how to convert backward from Access 2002 to Access 97. Go to ToolsàDatabase UtilitiesàConvert DatabaseàTo Access 97 File Format, or just see the screen shot below.


57. Now for some PowerPoint tips. The best way to insert a Microsoft Word document directly into a PowerPoint slide (and retain the exact formatting and graphics from the Word document) is to follow these steps exactly: Insert a new slide into your presentation. Then, go to InsertàObject. Click “Create from File” and then click the “Browse” button. Locate the Word document that you want to insert into PowerPoint and double-click the name of that document. Then, click OK. The Word document’s text and graphics will be inserted directly into PowerPoint as a picture. You can now move or re-size the picture in the slide.

58. The next PowerPoint tip involves the recording of sound. It is easy to record your own voice directly into PowerPoint to provide narration providing that you have a microphone and it is plugged into the red hole in the back of your computer. Once the mic

is plugged in, the way to record sound is to open your presentation and then go to the Slide Show menu and choose “Record Narration.” See the screen shot below for the options. You can set your microphone level here. Then, click OK. Your slideshow will open in full-screen and you can talk over the slides as it plays. Speak directly into the microphone and click your mouse to advance the slides. When you are done, click on the last slide and it will ask if you want to Save your narration with the slides. Click Save and your narration sound will be added to each slide. Play back the slideshow and hear your voice included in the presentation.

59. One final PowerPoint tip. There are software programs that will trim a song file (such as a WAV or MP3). Some examples of programs that do this are MP3 Trim and WAV Trim (which are both free), as well as QuickTime Pro and other WAV editing software. You can find them at www.download.com or www.hotfiles.com. Just search for "Wav Trim", "WAV edit" or "MP3 Trim". These software tools will allow you to shorten a song to just the right length, so that it fits into your slideshow. To make the song play throughout your entire slideshow (and not stop after one slide), here are the steps. This technique is called “Music Looping.” Here are the steps to Looping Music in PowerPoint:

1. Keep in mind that the song must be the correct length of your slideshow. For instance, if the slideshow runs 3 minutes and 5 seconds, your song needs to be that length, too. Otherwise, the song will be cut off when the slideshow ends.

2. Now, in PowerPoint, go to InsertàSound from File.

3. Go to Slide ShowàCustom AnimationàAnimate Media 1.

4. Then go to the "Play Settings" tab. Choose "While Playing...Continue Slide Show"

5. Next, below choose "Stop Playing: After (important: indicate exactly how many slides you want this song to play through). ex: "Stop playing after 60 slides." Then the song will play all the way through the slide show, or until you tell it what slide to stop on.

6. Click the "More Options" button. Click "Loop until stop." This will allow the slideshow to loop and also play the song as it loops each time. If this loop doesn't work, or if the slideshow stops, go to the SlideShow menu and choose "Set Up Show" and put a check in "Loop continuously until 'Esc.'"

60. There is no need to type in the long www.website.com address for any www.com site. All you need is a simple keyboard shortcut. For example, www.amazon.com can be inserted into your Web browser address bar by typing Amazon and then pressing Ctrl + Enter on your keyboard. The www and .com will automatically be inserted. Then press the Enter key and you’re at Amazon. This works with any site that begins with www. and ends with .com

61. Tired of sending Email messages where the list of recipients is longer than the actual message? Three words: Blind Carbon Copy. Tell your friends about it. When you address a message to multiple people, there is no need for them to see the names of everyone who will receive it. Simply insert the addresses of the recipients into the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) box instead of the To box. You can type your own name into the To box. The rest will be in the BCC. This eliminates the long list of recipients when people receive your email message.

62. If you copy and paste pictures into Word and PowerPoint, the file size of these documents will be huge. However, there is a way to compress these images. Unfortunately, this trick only works in Word 2002 & 2003 and PowerPoint 2002 & 2003.

•In Word or PowerPoint, Go to View > Toolbars > Picture.

•On the Picture toolbar, choose the “Compress Pictures” button

-Choose “All pictures in document.”

•Choose either “Web/Screen” or “Print” in the Change resolution section.

•Leave the options checked.

•Click on the OK button.

•Now you should notice a significant decrease in your file size.


63. Would you like to Print Row and Column Headings or Labels on Every Page in Excel?

Row headings are the row numbers to the left of the worksheet; column headings are the letters or numbers that appear at the top of the columns on a worksheet.

1. Click the worksheet.

2. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Sheet tab.

3. Do one of the following:

* To print row and column headings:



Select the Row and column headings check box, and click Print. Print row and column labels on every page

* To print column labels on every page:



Under Print titles in the Rows to repeat at top box, enter the rows that contain the column labels, and then click Print.

* To print row labels on every page, under Print titles in the Columns to repeat at left box, enter the columns that contain the row labels, and then click Print.





64. Advanced Word Tip. Have you ever had trouble positioning an AutoShape directly on top of some text? Maybe you're trying to draw a circle around a letter or number. It is difficult to position the circle directly over the number pefectly, unless you use this keyboard shortcut:

1. Select the shape, and then press Ctrl+Alt on your keyboard while you drag the shape. You will see a tiny +

2. Drag the plus sign and the shape will move wherever you want it to go.

3. Let go of the mouse, and drop the shape exactly where you want it.

4. Also, if you drag the shape and do not let go of the mouse, you can duplicate or copy the shape as many times as you wish.

This is a quick way to make multiple copies of the same shape to be used in an art project.

65. Pop-up blockers are very helpful, but sometimes you may want to turn the blocker off. For example, maybe you want to open a PDF document or a Java applet that will need to "pop up" in order for you to see it. Use a keyboard shortcut to turn it off temporarily. While you click the Web link, hold down the Ctrl key. This turns off most pop-up blockers just long enough to open the document. If you are using the Google Toolbar, for example, you can click on the toolbar where it says "Site Popups Allowed." This will allow popups just for that particular Web site.

66. Some Web sites have files for you to download. But what if you just cannot get the file to save on your computer? What if you cannot save it to a convenient location, such as your Desktop? What if it won't save at all? All of these problems can be resolved by right-clicking the link to the file. For example, the Web page might say "click here to download song (or document)." Right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As." Then, direct the file to a convenient location on your computer, such as the Desktop or My Documents. Then, you can easily save the document or song or video directly to your computer where you can find it afterward. This works particularly well for video clips, song files and large documents.

67. How about a list of the best Internet Explorer shortcuts (for advanced Web surfers)?


Using the Address Bar
Press this To do this
ALT+D Select the text in the Address bar
F4 Display the Address bar history
CTRL+LEFT ARROW When in the Address bar, move the cursor left to the next logical break (. or /)
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW When in the Address bar, move the cursor right to the next logical break (. or /)
CTRL+ENTER Add "www." to the beginning and ".com" to the end of the text typed in the Address bar
UP ARROW Move forward through the list of AutoComplete matches
DOWN ARROW Move back through the list of AutoComplete matches


Working with Favorites
Press this To do this
CTRL+D Add the current page to your favorites
CTRL+B Open the Organize Favorites dialog box
ALT+UP ARROW Move selected item up in the Favorites list in the Organize Favorites dialog box
ALT+DOWN ARROW Move selected item down in the Favorites list in the Organize Favorites dialog box