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TipTechTip #72 - When Your Computer Is Frozen Solid  Tip

Every once in a while, Windows wanders off somewhere to sit under a tree. You're left looking at a computer that does nothing. None of the computer's lights blink. Panicked clicks don't do anything. Pressing every key on the keyboard doesn't do anything, or worse yet, the computer starts to beep at every key press.

When nothing on-screen moves (except sometimes the mouse pointer), the computer is frozen up solid. Try the following approaches, in the following order, to correct the problem:
  • Press Esc twice. This action usually doesn't work but give it a shot anyway.

    Press Ctrl, Alt, and Delete all at the same time. If you're lucky, the Task Manager appears with the message that you discovered an unresponsive application. The Task Manager lists the names of currently running programs, including the one that's not responding. Click the name of the program that's causing the mess and then click the End Process button. You lose any unsaved work in that program, but you should be used to that. If that still doesn't do the trick, click the Task Manager's Shut Down menu and choose Restart.

    If the preceding approaches don't work, push the computer's reset button. When the Turn Off Computer box appears, choose Restart.

    If not even the reset button works (and some computers don't even have reset buttons anymore), turn the computer off by pushing its power button. (If that merely brings up the Turn Off the Computer menu, choose Restart, and your computer should restart.)

    When nothing else works, if you press in the computer's off button long enough, it will eventually stop resisting and turn off.

 

TipTechTip #71 Repeating Heading Rows in Word TablesTip

In a Word table, the heading (or header) row is the first row in the table -- the one that usually describes what each column contains.

To make the header row  repeat at the top of each new page, click to put the cursor in the header row (or select the header rows if you have more than one) and choose "Table" in the top menu bar, then click "Heading Rows Repeat".

TipTechTip #70 Saving Multiple Word DocumentsTip

To save a multitude of Word documents all at one time, you can switch to each window and click "File" > "Save" command. Or you can be sneaky and do the following.

Press and hold the Shift key ...

Choose "File" and "Save All"

Normally, you choose the "Save" item. But if you press the Shift key before choosing the File menu, it magically becomes the "Save All" menu item.
There is no prompting (unless the documents hasn't been saved yet), and no wait-and-see. Everything is just saved to disk as fast as your computer can handle it.

 

TipTechTip #69 Sending PowerPoint Handouts to WordTip

You can share the content of your PowerPoint presentation by printing your outline and all your notes and handouts.
  1. 1. Open a presentation in PowerPoint.

    2. Choose File, Send To, Microsoft Office Word.

    3. In the Send To Microsoft Office Word dialog box, select the desired page layout for your presentation:

    Handouts: Choose either Blank Lines Next to Slides or Blank Lines Below Slides.

    Notes: Choose Notes Next to Slides or Notes Below Slides.

    Outline: Choose Outline only.

    If you choose Handouts or Notes, specify whether you want to add the slides to Word as embedded files (paste) or linked files (paste link). Note that if you link the files, when you update them in PowerPoint they will also be updated in Word.

    4. Click OK. Your chosen presentation information will appear as a new document in Word.

    5. Edit, format, and print the information as desired.

Tip

TechTip #68 - Removing Previously Typed
Words from Online Drop-Down Lists

Tip

As soon as you begin to type something online -- a Web site address in Internet Explorer, for instance, or a name into an online form -- Windows XP often races in to help. It sends down a little box, listing items you've typed previously.

A quick point and click lets you retrieve a word or phrase from Windows XP's handy AutoComplete list, sparing you the effort of typing it in yet again.

Some people, however, don't like Windows XP looking over their shoulder as they type. And it's especially annoying when Windows XP keeps listing your typographical errors.

To delete a word or phrase from most AutoComplete drop-down lists, press the down-arrow key to highlight the entry and then press the Delete key. Unfortunately, this trick doesn't delete individual Web addresses you type into Internet Explorer. You must delete Internet Explorer's History to remove those.

To make Internet Explorer stop listing your previous entries, follow these steps:

1.  Open Internet Explorer and choose Internet Options from the Tools menu.

2.  Click the Content tab and click the AutoComplete button. The AutoComplete Settings dialog box opens.

3.  Click to remove check marks from Web Addresses, Forms, User Names and Passwords on Forms, and Prompt Me to Save Passwords.

4.  Click the Clear Forms button and the Clear Passwords button and then click OK. Those two final buttons delete previously stored AutoComplete entries.

It's convenient for Internet Explorer to store the passwords you use for your Web site. But that makes it convenient for anybody who sits at your computer to log on to password-protected sites. Even if you enjoy AutoComplete, consider removing the check mark from the User Names and Passwords on Forms box in Step 3.

TipTechTip #67 - Converting PowerPoint to WordTip

 

Converting PowerPoint presentations to Microsoft Word documents is easy, and here are a few reasons to do so.

=      To combine the presentation with more detailed content from elsewhere and create a report.

=      To send a presentation-in-review document to your boss so that she can send it to her boss.

=      To create training materials in Word from existing PowerPoint content.

To make the conversion happen, follow these steps:

1.     Open your PowerPoint presentation and choose File, Send To, Microsoft (Office) Word.

2.     Select a page layout.

3.     If what you need isn't available, just choose the one closest to what you require; you can edit the layout later in Word.

4.     Select either the Paste or Paste Link option. The Paste option creates thumbnails of the slides inside Word; the Paste Link option creates links to the actual slides. The Paste and Paste Link options are grayed out if you choose the Outline Only option.

5.     Click OK and PowerPoint fires up Word.

6.     Word shows you a nicely formatted document that contains the slides or the outline.

7.     In Word, Choose File, Save if everything looks okey-dokey.

 

TipTechTip #66 - Discovering the Character Map Tip

Windows's Character Map lets you add weird foreign characters, such as �, [sterling], or even �, into your document.

Character Map makes it so easy to give your documents that extra shine � la belle �toile. To get there, click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Character Map and follow these steps to put a foreign character in your work:

1. Make sure that the current font — the name for the style of the characters on the page — shows in the Font box. If the current font is not showing, click the down arrow and click the font when it appears in the drop-down list.

2. Scan the Character Map box until you see the symbol you're after; then pounce on that character with a double-click. The symbol appears in the Characters to Copy box.

3. Click Copy to send the character to the Clipboard.

4. Click the Close button to close the Character Map.

5. Click in the document where you want the new symbol or character to appear.

6. Press Ctrl+V, and the new character pops right in there. (Give it a second. Sometimes it's slow.)

The symbols in the Character Map box are easier to see if you hold down the mouse button and move the pointer over them.

When working with foreign words, keep the Character Map handy as an icon, ready for consultation.

For some fun symbols, switch to the Wingdings font. It's full of little doodads to spice up your work.

You can grab several characters at a time by double-clicking each of them and then copying them into your work as a chunk. You don't have to keep returning to the Character Map for each one.

 

TipTechTip #65 - Shut it Down Tip

 
ALT and F4 at the same time will close 90% of all windows and programs.

 

TipTechTip #64 - Format a Tri-Fold Pamphlet in Word Tip


In Microsoft Word 2003, you can easily create a tri-fold pamphlet or brochure. It's really just a regular sheet of paper turned long-ways (landscape) and folded twice.

To turn a document long-ways, follow these steps:

1. Choose File, Page Setup.

2. Select the Landscape option from the Orientation area.
Make sure that the Whole Document menu option is selected in the Apply To drop-down list.

3. Click OK.

To make the three columns for the brochure, follow these steps:

1. Choose Format, Columns.

2. Select Three from the Presets list. Make sure that the Whole Document menu option is selected in the Apply To drop-down list.

3. Click OK.

TipTech Tip #63 - Printing Internet Explorer FavoritesTip

To print out the Web pages listed under Internet Explorer's Favorites menu, follow these steps:
  1. 1. Click on the Start button, point to Programs, and then click on Internet Explorer.
     
  2. 2. On Internet Explorer's File menu, choose Import and Export.

3. In the Import/Export Wizard, click on Next.

4. Click on Export Favorites and then click on Next.

5. Click on Favorites -- the topmost folder -- and click on Next.

6. Click on Export to a File or Address, type C:\MY DOCUMENTS\BOOKMARK.HTM in the Export to a File or Address box, and then click on Next.

7. Click on Finish and then click on OK.

8. Quit Internet Explorer.

9. Open the My Documents folder on your desktop and open your newly created BOOKMARK.HTM file. (It opens in Internet Explorer.)

10. On Internet Explorer's File menu, choose Print. Click in the little check box marked Print table of links and click on OK.

 

TipTech Tip #62 - Selecting TextTip

Simply use the arrow keys to navigate to where you want to go in the document.  Press and hold the Shift key down and use the arrows keys to highlight the text you want.  Then you can apply formatting to the text, copy it, type over it or delete it.

TipTech Tip #61 - Modifying Page Numbers in Word Tip

When you tell Word to include page numbers in your headers or footers, Word starts numbering from page 1 and displays Arabic numerals such as 1, 3, and 49. If you want to number your pages differently (for example, numbering them as i, ii, iii, or a, b, c), or if you want Word to make 39 the first page number in your document, you have to use the Page Number Format button on the Header and Footer toolbar.

To use the Page Number Format button, follow these steps:
  • Choose View, Header and Footer.
  • The Header and Footer toolbar appears.
  • Highlight the page numbers that appear in your Header (or Footer) text box.
  • The page number appears shaded gray. If page numbers do not appear in your Header (or Footer) text box, click the Insert Page Number button on the Header and Footer toolbar, and then highlight the number that appears.
  • Click the Format Page Number icon on the Header and Footer toolbar.
  • The Page Number Format dialog box appears, offering ways to change the way Word displays numbers or starts numbering in your header or footer.
  • Click in the Number Format list box and choose a page numbering style (such as 1, 2, 3 or i, ii, iii).
  • In the Page Numbering group, click one of the following radio buttons:

    *Continue from Previous Section: Numbers pages sequentially.
    *Start At: Lets you define the starting page number as a number other than 1.
    Click OK.

TipTech Tip #60 - Shortcut Keys in Windows XP Tip

Turning Back On the Shortcut Keys in Windows XP
Older versions of Windows had underlined letters in their menus. Instead of clicking the mouse on menu items, you could press Alt and the underlined letter to activate that menu item — a shortcut key, if you will. Although Windows XP leaves them out, here's how to turn them back on: Right-click the Desktop, choose Properties, and click the Appearance tab. Click the Effects button and remove the check mark from the line, Hide Underlined Letters for Keyboard Navigation Until I Press The Alt Key. The underlines all appear, ready for shortcuts.

TipTech Tip #59 - Changing the Volume in Windows XP Tip

Here's how to put the volume control back where it belongs — right next to the little clock in the bottom right corner of the screen:

Click the Start button, open the Control Panel, and click the Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices icon.

Click the Sounds and Audio Devices icon and select the Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar check box.

A little speaker then appears next to your clock.
Click OK to close the window.

Now, if you need to turn the sound up or down in a hurry, click the little speaker by your clock. A sliding volume control appears, letting you turn the sound up or down by sliding the control up or down. Or, to turn the sound off completely, click the Mute box. Whew!

TipTech Tip #58 - Keyboard Shortcuts for Internet Explorer Tip

Ctrl + H - Open the History Window
Ctrl + R - Reload the page
Alt + Left Arrow or Alt + Backspace  - Back (Previous Page)
Alt + Right Arrow - Forward (Next Page)
Esc - Stop
Alt + Home - Home page
End - Go to the bottom of the page
Home - Go to the top of the page
Ctrl + N - New Window opens
Ctrl + W - Closes window
Up arrow - Go up one line
Down arrow - Go down one line
F11 - Full screen (toggle)
Ctrl + F - Find on page
Ctrl + D - Add page to Favorites
Ctrl + P - Print current page
Ctrl + B - Organize Favorites
Ctrl + I - Open Favorites Window
Alt + D - Select text in address bar
Ctrl + F5 - Force Reload (N
ot from cache)

TipTech Tip #57 - Closing All Word Documents  Tip

How to save or close multiple documents at the same time in Word
  • Hold down the Shift key while clicking the File menu option. This will bring up two hidden options in the File menu: Save All and Close All.
  • Select the option for the task you want to perform.

When you select Close All, Word will ask you if you want to Save your changes. Choose this option if you want to save all your work and close out of Word quickly.

TipTech Tip #56 - Quickly Change Letter Case Tip
Problem: Students often don't realize Caps Lock is on until they have typed several lines; they also forget to capitalize titles and proper nouns.

Problem: Correcting capitalization errors can take valuable teacher time and frustrate students.

Solution: Use Shift F3 to switch between Title Case, Upper Case, and Lower Case.

TipTech Tip #55 - Windows XP User Accounts Tip
Windows XP enables an entire family or small office share a single computer. Because everybody has a user account, Windows keeps track of everybody's settings. In fact, the same computer acts like five different computers for a family of five.

Best yet, the computer keeps track of everybody's programs while different people use the computer.

Switching users is fast and easy. While holding down the Windows key (it's usually between your keyboard's Ctrl and Alt keys), press the letter L. Wham! The Welcome screen pops up, letting another person use the computer for a while.

After you finish using the computer, hold down the Windows key and press the letter L. Wham! The Welcome screen pops up again, letting a different user log on

TipTech Tip #54 - Synonyms Made Easy Tip
A handy way to get some quirky and commonly used synonyms for any word in your Microsoft Word 2000 document is to right-click on the word and choose Synonym from the pop-up menu. Included among the list is even an antonym. Shift+F7 Thesaurus command does the same thing. In MS Word 2002, you can use Shift+F7 or Click Tools / Language / Thesaurus.
TipTech Tip #53 - Show PPT with class Tip
Have you ever attended a presentation where the speaker fumbled through PowerPoint, trying to get the presentation started? The speaker starts PowerPoint, searches for the file (often wandering through several folders), opens the file, and finally starts the slide show. Talk about looking like an amateur! There's a much easier way.

Place your PowerPoint slide in an easy-to-remember, easy-to-find folder. Then from within any file manager (Windows Explorer for example), right-click on the file name (the one with the .PPT file extension) and choose Show (the command should be near the top ).

Windows launches PowerPoint and opens the presentation to the first slide in Slide Show mode. Using this technique you'll certainly make a better first impression.

TipTech Tip #52 - Adding PPT slides Tip
Have you ever wanted to add a slide from one PowerPoint Presentation into another? With PowerPoint, you can do this easily. To insert slides from another presentation do the following:

1. Open the presentation that you would like to insert slides to.
2. Move to the slide before the place where you would like to place the inserted slide.
3. Click the “Insert” menu and select “Slides from Files” from the menu that appears.
4. Click the “Browse…” button.
5. Navigate to the presentation that has the slide you want to insert. Click it, and click the “Open” button.
6. From the display of slides, click the slide you would like to insert.
7. Click “Insert”.
8. Select more slides to insert and click the “Insert” button, or click the “Close” button.

Tip: You can click the “Insert All” button to insert all the slides from the presentation.
TipTech Tip #51 - Script Debugging - BeGone!! Tip
It can drive you mad ... you're surfing away when you get a message saying there's an error on the web page and what Script Debugger do you want to use. Here's how to get rid of it.
Mostly these web page bugs won't affect your use of the page, it might but usually they don't. The intrusive 'script debugging' errors are a nuisance. That nuisance is made worse by many of these bugs generated by pop-up web ads. Sometimes the same message comes up again and again for the same web page (one for each separate error)

To stop the script debugging dialog in Internet Explorer:

In Internet Explorer choose Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
Near the top of the long list is the Browsing section.
In that section are two items:
Disable Script Debugging - should be ON
Display a notification about every script error - should be OFF
Click OK to finish.

It's that simple!
TipTech Tip #50 - Printing Envelopes in a Jiffy Tip
Whenever you need an envelope, for any reason, you can have Word whip one up for you. Just follow these steps:
  • Choose Tools, Letters and Mailings, Envelopes and Labels.
  • In the Envelopes and Labels dialog box, type the address you want on the envelope.
    If you want to format the address, type it in the document first. Format it, select it, and then choose Tool, Letters and Mailings, Envelopes and Labels. Beware, though! Too much text may not fit on the envelope.
  • Click the Print button. Your printer may beep or otherwise prompt you to insert the envelope, or it may just print it right then and there.
TipTech Tip #49 - Selecting Parts of a Table Tip
Before you can fool with cells, rows, or columns in Word 2000, you have to select them:
  • Cells: To select a cell, click in it. You can select several cells at once by dragging the cursor over them.
  • Rows: Place the cursor in the left margin and click to select one row, or click and drag to select several rows. You can also select rows by placing the cursor in the row you want to select and then choosing the Table, Select, Row command. To select several rows, select cells in the rows and then choose the Table, Select, Row command.
  • Columns: To select a column, move the cursor to the top of the column. When the cursor changes into a fat down-pointing arrow, click once. You can click and drag to select several columns. The other way to select a column is to click anywhere in the column and choose Table, Select, Column. To select several columns with this command, select cells in the columns before giving the Select command.
  • A table: To select a table, click in the table and choose Table, Select, Table; hold down the Alt key and double-click; or press Alt+5 (the 5 on the numeric keypad, not the one on the keyboard).
TipTech Tip #48 - Save to a Floppy
Let's say you have a document on your hard drive that you want to share with your co-worker and you want to quickly put it on a floppy to give her. Here's the quickest way to put a file or folder on a floppy:
- Right click on the Start button and choose Explore.
- Now navigate to the document where ever you have it saved and right click on it
- Select "Send To" from the menu and choose "3 1/2" floppy (A)"
Tech Tip #47 - Printing Outlook Calendars Tip
Have you ever hesitated to print your Outlook calendar because you don't want your private appointments to show? Well, Outlook 2000 and up, enables you to print your calendar without printing the titles of your private appointments. The times will show on your calendar, but instead of the title, such as "Doctors Appointment", only the words "Private Appointment" will print. Of course, for this feature to work, the "Private" check box must be selected in the lower right hand corner of the appointment window. To print your calendar without printing the titles of your private appointments, first open your Calendar folder in Outlook. Then chose "File/ Print." In the Print Range panel, select "Hide Details of Private Appointments." Then click "OK" to print.
TipTech Tip #46 - Resetting the Working Folder Tip
When you save a file using a Microsoft Office Product, the computer will automatically store it in the "My Documents" folder on your C drive unless you tell it to do otherwise. The default folder, in this case the "My Documents" folder, is also referred to as the working folder. Suppose you save 90% of your files in a folder called "Teacher Docs" and you want that to become the working folder. You can change the default for different programs by first choosing "Tools" on your menu bar, and then selecting "Options." Then ...
- for Microsoft Word: Choose the "File Locations" tab, click "Modify" and then specify the new path and folder name for your default working folder. Be sure to specify the drive.
- for Microsoft Excel: Choose the General tab and specify the new path and folder name in the "Default file location" box which is the third from the bottom. Again be sure to specify the drive.
TipTech Tip #45 - Windows Calculators Tip
Have you ever been needed calculators for all students and not had enough? Well if you have access to a computer lab every student can have his own. Click "Start" then go to "Programs" then "Accessories" then "Calculator". More than likely the standard calculator will appear. If you need a Scientific Calculator click "View and then select "Scientific" ... voila, Scientific calculators for every student. The nice thing about using the Windows calculator is that if your students don't know what a button does, they can right click on it and then left click on "What's This" and the computer will explain that button.
TipTech Tip #44 - Closing All Windows Tip
An easy way to close all open windows in the latest versions of Microsoft Office is to hold down the Shift key and select "Close All" from the File menu. Holding the Shift key also reveals "Save All" in the File menu of both programs.
TipTech Tip #43 - Details, Details, Details Tip
Windows offers you several options for viewing folders and files: Large icons, Small icons, List, Details, etc. To experiment with these go to My Computer or Windows Explorer and click the View menu, then click one of the listed options. These same options are available in most all of your application programs, such as MS Word, PowerPoint. The Details option is especially useful because it provides the file name, file size, file type, and the last date the file was modified. Such information can be useful when you are trying to track down a lost file or find the latest version of the file you want to open. A common frustration when you use the Details view is that only some of the file information is displayed. Don't fret- the size of the columns can be easily adjusted. To adjust the width of the Name, Size, Type, and Modified columns in Windows Explorer's Details view, position your mouse cursor over the column border. When the mouse pointer turns into a double headed arrow, just drag the pointer to enlarge or shrink the column. To quickly set the optimal column width, when the mouse pointer turns into a double-headed arrow, double click the column border. When you do, the column width will be set to a size large enough, or small enough, to display all the data in the column.
TipTech Tip #42 - URL Shortcuts Tip
You can type a word in the Internet Address bar and press CTRL+ENTER to automatically add http://www. and .com on either side of the word.
TipTech Tip #41 - Text Size on the Internet Tip
To make the text on Web pages larger or smaller, click the View menu, and then click Text Size. Press F5 to refresh the screen.
TipTech Tip #40 - Synonyms Made Easy Tip
A synonym is a word that carries the same or similar meaning to another -- for example, "giant" and "big" are synonyms. Word provides you with an instant Thesaurus for finding synonyms as you write. To use this easy tool, just highlight the word you need a synonym for and press Shift + F7. Or right-click on the word in your document and choose Synonym from the pop-up menu.
TipTech Tip #39 - Filing with Outlook Express Tip
To save a message in Outlook Express, you stick it in a folder. You start out with folders named Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Drafts, and Deleted Items. To make a new folder, choose File, Folder, New from the menu and give the folder a name. (Make one called Personal, just to give it a try.) The new folder appears on the list of folders on the left side of the Outlook Express window. Move messages into a folder by clicking a message header and dragging it over to the folder name or choosing Edit, Move To Folder from the menu. You can see the list of message headers for any folder by clicking the folder name. If you have a lot of messages to file, you can even create folders within folders, to keep things organized.

You can save the text of a message in a text file by clicking the message and choosing File, Save As from the menu, clicking in the Save As Type box and choosing Text Files (*.txt), typing a filename, and clicking the Save button.
TipTech Tip #38 - Starting New Pages Tip
You can choose two ways to start a new page in Word -- the horribly-wrong-yet-obvious way and the impressively neat way:
Horribly wrong: Keep pressing the Enter key until you see the row of dots that denotes the start of a new page. Yes, this technique works. But it's horribly wrong.
Impressively neat: Press Ctrl+Enter. Voila! New page.
Pressing Ctrl+Enter inserts a hard page break into your document, demanding that Word begin a new page On That Very Spot. This is the preferred way to start a new page.
TipTech Tip #37 - Minimizing All Windows Tip
Do you want to shrink all your open windows into buttons, and in a hurry? Click the blank area of your taskbar with your right mouse button and choose Minimize All windows from the pop-up window. Slurp! Windows sucks all the open windows off the screen, tidying things up quickly.
TipTech Tip #36 - MS Internet Explorer History Tip
How often do you use the Microsoft Internet Explorer History folder? If you do use it at all, how often do you look beyond the current day? If the answer to either of these questions is "very seldom," then you can save some disk space by setting the number of days to zero. To do this, choose Tools / Internet Options. When the dialog box opens, set "Days to keep pages in History" to zero. Click OK to close the dialog box and save your selection.
TipTech Tip #35 - Scrolling in MS Internet Explorer Tip
Although there are a number of ways to scroll through a Web page in Microsoft Internet Explorer (Page Down, Page Up, use the mouse, etc.), one of the easiest is to simply press the Spacebar. Pressing the Spacebar scrolls down a page. If you need to scroll up a page, press Shift + Spacebar.
TipTech Tip #34 - Getting Rid of Personalized Menus Tip
Note: This tip works in Windows 2000, but it may work in other versions of Windows with little alteration. Give it a try! Are you tired of seeing only a partial list of your Favorites in the Start menu? Do you want to be able to see all of your programs in the Start menu without having to click on the little double chevron at the bottom of the menu? Never fear; relief is here!

Obviously, Microsoft thought this feature, called Personalized Menus, would be helpful to the user for accessing recently used items. And it does! However, it hides the stuff you don't use all that often, and if you suddenly need to use that item for an important project, you may not be able to find it.

To get rid of these annoying little chevrons in Windows 2000, just click the Start button and choose Settings, Taskbar and Start Menu. In the Properties dialog box that appears, just uncheck the option Use Personal Menus.

However, that takes care of only Windows. You still may find those pesky chevrons in your Office applications. Why? Well, you'd think Microsoft Windows and Office developers would get on the same page on this, but for some reason, this feature is not called Personalized Menus in Office. It's something else entirely -- and there's a different process for saying bye-bye to the chevrons. In any Office app, just choose Tools, Customize, and uncheck the item for Menus Show Recently Used Commands First.
TipTech Tip #33 - Address AutoComplete Tip
To help eliminate errors in typing and speed up the tedious process of typing in URLs in your Web browser, Windows employs a feature called AutoComplete. This nifty feature looks at whatever few characters of the URL address you type in the Address bar and, based on them, attempts to match them to one of the complete addresses that are stored in the Address bar drop-down list. To visit any one of the pages listed in the Address bar drop-down list, click that name in the drop-down list. Internet Explorer then enters the complete URL address of the Web site you clicked in the Address bar and automatically displays the page.
TipTech Tip #32 - Cleaning Out The System Tray Tip
The System Tray is the area in the bottom right hand corner of your taskbar where you will see the time. Many times when you install programs on your computer a shortcut icon will be put in the System Tray and you don't want or need it. In fact, if this gets overloaded it will slow down the performance of your computer. In Windows 98, to clean out the System Tray, click Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / System Information / Tools / System Configuration / Startup Tab. Now choose the things you want to delete.
TipTech Tip #31 - Selecting Different Parts of a Table Tip

Before you can fool with cells, rows, or columns in Word , you have to select them:

Cells: To select a cell, click in it. You can select several cells at once by dragging the cursor over them.

Rows: Place the cursor in the left margin and click to select one row, or click and drag to select several rows. You can also select rows by placing the cursor in the row you want to select and then choosing the Table, Select, Row command. To select several rows, select cells in the rows and then choose the Table, Select, Row command.

Columns: To select a column, move the cursor to the top of the column. When the cursor changes into a fat down-pointing arrow, click once. You can click and drag to select several columns. The other way to select a column is to click anywhere in the column and choose Table, Select, Column. To select several columns with this command, select cells in the columns before giving the Select command.

A table: To select a table, click in the table and choose Table, Select, Table; hold down the Alt key and double-click; or press Alt+5 (the 5 on the numeric keypad, not the one on the keyboard).

TipTech Tip #30 - Adding Drop Caps Tip
A drop cap is the first letter of a report, chapter, or story that appears in a larger and more interesting font than the other characters. Here's how to add a drop cap to your document:
1.Select the first character of the first word at the start of your text.
2.Choose Format, Drop Cap.
3.Select a drop cap style.
4.Click OK.
5.Click the mouse in your text (not on the drop cap) and continue editing
TipTech Tip #29 - Right Click w/ the KeyboardTip
Did you know that you can "right-click" an item without ever lifting your fingers off the keyboard? With that item (folder, file, whatever) selected, hold down the Shift key and press F10. Use your keyboard's up and down arrow keys to select the command you want, then press Enter.
TipTech Tip #28 - Delete Start Menu ItemsTip
Is there an item in your Start menu you'd like to delete? There are a number of ways to go about it. If you have IE 4.x installed (or had it installed and then upgraded to a later version of IE), deletions are a snap. Click Start, navigate your way to that item, right-click it, and select Delete.

If you never had IE 4.x installed, you have two options. Right-click the Start button and select Open. Navigate your way to the item you'd like to remove, right-click it, and select Delete. Or, right-click a blank area of the Taskbar, select Properties, then click the Start Menu Programs tab. Click the Remove button, locate the Start menu item you want to delete, click Remove, click Close, then click OK.

TipTech Tip #27 - Minimize/Close a WindowTip
Want to send an open window to the Taskbar without using the mouse? Press Alt-Spacebar to display the context menu of the currently active window, then press N for Minimize. So, for the quick version, press Alt-Spacebar-N.

You can use a similar technique to close an open window. Press Alt-Spacebar, then press C for Close. It's easier on the wrists than
Alt-F4. And easier is better.

TipTech Tip #27 - Pointer Chooser Tip
That arrow you have for a mouse pointer -- the graphic cursor that
moves around on-screen as you move your mouse around on the
desktop -- isn't stuck in just that one shape. You can choose
another pointer:

1. Choose Start, Settings, Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Mouse Properties dialog box.
3. In the dialog box, click the Pointers tab.
4. Choose any of the named cursors from the list. You see an example of the shape beside the name.
5. Click Open.

TipTech Tip #26 - Pans and ThumbsTip
To be truly hip to your Windows tech talk, you ought to know two scrolling terms:

Pan: When you use the scroll bars to move from one part of a window to another, you're panning up, down, right, or left.

Thumb: The little box that sits in the middle of the scroll bar that you can drag to quickly pan from one part of the window to another is the thumb; it's large for a document that almost fits in the window and proportionally smaller for a document that is much larger than the window.

TipTech Tip #25-Restarting w/o RebootingTip
Shutting down doesn't have to mean you're sorry -- sorry to go
through the long power-up, memory-test, starting-Windows process. That takes so long because it includes both restarting
Windows software and rebooting your computer's hardware. You have the option, though, of restarting without rebooting.

1. Click Start and choose Shut Down.
2. Choose the Restart button in the dialog box.
3. Hold down the Shift key, click OK, and keep holding the Shift key until you see the "Restarting Windows " message.

 TipTech Tip #24 - Take IE OfflineTip
You can have Internet Explorer automatically download pages for offline examination.
1. Browse to the page.
2. Open Favorites, Add to Favorites.
3. Click Make available offline.
4. Click the Customize button and then work through the Wizard. You decide how many pages of the site you want, choose when to download them, and enter any login and password needed.
TipTech Tip #22 - Sentence Case ShortcutTip
If you'd like to change the case of a sentence quickly, try this: Select the sentence and press Shift-F3. The first time you press Shift-F3, the sentence will turn to all caps. The next time you press the combination, the sentence will turn to all lowercase. When you press Shift-F3 once more, the sentence will display standard capitalization (it begins with a cap and other letters are in lowercase).
TipTech Tip #21Tip
Blank Lines in Numbered Lists or Bulleted Lists 
When you choose to use bullets or numbering in a Word document, a new bullet or number appears when you press Enter. But what if you want to insert a blank line between two bulleted or numbered lines? The first reaction is to simply press Enter to stop the bullets or numbering. This is unnecessary--all you have to do is press Shift-Enter. This inserts the blank. Now, to get to the next bulleted or numbered line, press Enter.
TipTech Tip #20 - Creating Doc. Templates Tip
Do you spend a lot of time in Word creating custom documents, like envelopes or memos? If so, you may want to try creating document templates. Start a new document in Word and format it just the way you want it. Only include information that will never change -- for example, if you're creating an envelope template, just include your name, return address, and anything else you want to appear on every envelope. Click on the File menu in Word and choose Save As. Enter a name for the template and use the drop-down menu next to "Save As Type" to choose Document Template (*.dot). From now on, your template will appear in the list of document types you see when you create a new Word document.
Tip Tech Tip #19 - Your E John Hancock Tip
Have you ever received mail from someone that always has a small one-line or two-line message, quote, or Web address attached to the bottom of the message? It's called a signature. It can be a means of expression, or a simple tag line indicating your e-mail addresses or home page. If you use your e-mail for work, it can include a work phone or fax number. You can create a signature file and automatically attach it to every e-mail you send using Netscape Messenger.

First open Windows NotePad, WordPad, or any simple text program. Write your signature exactly as you want it to appear at the bottom of your e-mail. Now save it in your Netscape user folder (usually Program Files/Netscape/users/your name) as signature.txt. To change your preferences to include the signature, go to Edit, Preferences and click the plus sign (+) next to Mail And Newsgroups. Select Identity and click the Choose button. Locate your signature.txt file in your user folder and click Open. Every time you start a new message, your signature appears at the bottom. If you choose not to have a signature for a particular message, simply delete it from the end of the message.  

Tip Tech Tip #18 - Smart Cut and Paste Tip
When you use cut and paste in a Word document, Word takes care of adding the correct spacing--that is, if you have the Smart Cut And Paste option selected.

Run Word and choose Tools, Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the Edit tab. Now, select the Use Smart Cut And Paste check box and click OK to close the dialog box and record your new setting.

With Smart Cut And Paste enabled, you can paste a word right next to another and Word adds a space for you. Also, if you insert a word before a period, Word makes sure there's no space between the end of the pasted word and the period.

Tip Tech Tip #17 - Page Numbers Your WayTip
With Word, you can format page numbers in several ways:

1, Page 1, -1-, I, i.

Here's how:
1. Choose Insert + Page Numbers.
2. In the Page Numbers dialog box, click the Format button.
3. In the Page Number Format dialog box, use the drop-down menu to choose the style you want.
4. Click OK.

Tip Tech Tip #16-Address those Thank-YousTip
Had a great time over the holidays? Got lots of gifts and attended lots of parties? Maybe you should write some thank you notes. Word can fill in delivery and return addresses automatically on your envelopes, making the task a little easier:

1. Choose Tools + Envelopes and Labels (no surprise there, eh?).
2. In the Envelopes and Labels dialog box, type your delivery address and return address in the appropriate text boxes.
3. Click Print.
4. When Word asks whether you want this new return address to be your default return address, answer Yes.

Now for each new envelope, you just type the delivery address.

Tip Tech Tip #15 -Hard Drive Space ProgramTip
How much of your hard drive have you used up--that is, how much is occupied with documents and programs and other files? Knowing is important so that you can judge whether you have room enough for new programs and documents and because a hard drive that's approaching full can slow down all your computing work. To check your hard drive space:

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. Right-click your hard drive icon.
3. Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

The chart that appears tells you how big your drive was to start and how much of that space is still free.

Tip Tech Tip #14 - Highlighting Text Tip
To highlight a word, double-click it; to highlight a line, click once to its left (in the left margin); and to highlight a paragraph, double-click to its left (again, in the margin). Now let's look at some bigger selections.

To highlight a large area of text, click once at the beginning of the text, hold down Shift, and then click at the end of the text;or, while holding down Shift, use the cursor keys to expand the selection.

To highlight an entire document, place the cursor at the very beginning of the document and press Ctrl-Shift-End; or, with your cursor anywhere, press Ctrl-A.

Tip Tech Tip #13 - Keeping "Alt Tabs" Tip
You PROBABLY know that you can switch among open Windows applications by pressing Ctrl + Tab. And you DEFINITELY know that you can switch among applications by clicking the appropriate buttons on the taskbar. But now suppose you want the best of BOTH: You want to use the keyboard to switch among applications, but you want to SEE all the applications you're switching among, the way the taskbar lets you. Try this:
1. Hold down the Alt key.
2. Press Tab once. The task switch panel appears.
3. Press Tab until the application task you want to switch to is selected. (A description of the selected task appears below the icons.)
4. When the appropriate task is selected, release all the keys.  
Tip Tech Tip #12 - Start with a Folder Tip
Yes, the Windows Start menu is a fine and fast way to get to your Windows programs. But it can be just as fine a way to get to certain oft-used folders, too--if you just drag those folders to the Start menu, as follows:
1. In Windows Explorer or any Folder window, find the folder you'd like to have on your Start menu.
2. Drag the folder to the Start button. Next time you'd like to open that folder: Click Start then Select the folder from the Start menu.
HINT: The Start menu is a GREAT place for your My Documents folder.
Tip Tech Tip #11 - Tables Front and Center Tip
By default, Word aligns tables with your left margin. For the most part, that looks just fine. But sometimes you can get your table a little more
attention if you center it on the page. Here's how:

1. Position your cursor anywhere within the table.
2. Choose Table + Select Table.
3. Press Ctrl + E.

Word centers the table between the left and right margins. Note that it does NOT center the table text within the table's cells--because that's not what we wanted it to do.

Tip Tech Tip #10 - Scan Disk and Defrag Tip
For your health and well-being as well as that of your computer you should establish a routine of running Scan Disk and Defrag on your computer regularly. Once every week or two is usually a good rule. But if you are having small problems with your computer operations run these two utilities daily for a week. There are a few things you must do before running Scan Disk...

1. Shut down all programs that are running.
2. Turn off your screen saver.
3. Turn off or close the Office Shortcut Bar and/or the Corel DAD bar (down near the clock in the right hand corner of your screen).

Now you are ready to run Scan Disk... you should always run ScanDisk first followed by Defrag. It will take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete these utilities, so make sure your computer is not going to be needed during that time.

1. Click on "Start" - "Programs" - "Accessories" - "System Tools" - "Scan Disk."
2. Make sure Drive C: is highlighted
3. Make sure "Thorough" and "Automatically Fix Errors" are both checked.
4. Click "Start"
5. Click "OK" and "Finish" when completed.

1. Click on "Start" - "Programs" - "Accessories" - "System Tools" - "Disk Defragmenter".
2.When asked "Which drive do you want to Defrag?" Highlight Drive C: 
3. Click "OK" and if you are asked do you want to continue make sure you click "Yes"
4. Click "OK" and "Finish" when completed.

TipTech Tip #8 - Smiles Tip
Want to add a little personality to your Windows 95 documents? One of the easiest ways is to use the Wingdings font included in the operating system. Instead of letters, the Wingdings font has PICTURES, which you can "type" into your text the same way you type letters. For example, suppose you'd like to add a "smiley face" at the end of a line of text. You only have to do the following:

1. Position the cursor where you'd like the smiley face to appear.
2. Switch to the Wingdings font ( how you do this varies by application.
3. Press Shift + J.

smile   smile  smile

Following are some other useful Wingding characters and their corresponding keystrokes. Experiment with Wingdings to find other possibilities.
 To Get... In Wingdings type...
 Smiley face Shift + J
 Serious face Shift + K 
 Sad face Shift + L 
 Peace sign Shift + A 
 A-OK Shift + B
 Thumbs up Shift + C
Thumbs down  Shift + D
Skull & crossbones  Shift + N

TipTech Tip #7 - Printer Pointers Tip
Suppose that you buy a new printer but keep the old one around just in case. Should you delete the printer driver from your system to free up hard disk space for something else?

My advice is NO, DON'T DELETE THE DRIVER. That way, should you need or want to use your old printer again, you can just attach it to the printer cable, select it from the Print dialog box, and print--- without reinstalling the printer driver. This convenience is well worth the small amount of disk space most printer drivers require. 

 TipTech Tip #6 - "Blind Mice"Tip
Here's a great technique for quietly assigning computer access with your students. Collect "dead mice" from a computer store and snip the cord to about six inches. Students then use the "Blind Mouse" to indicate computer access. They lay it on the desk of the next student in line to indicate that it is his turn. If you have more than one computer in your classroom, have the students name the mouse after the computer that he lives with. Some students may even get creative and decorate the Blind Mice in art class.

animated mouse and computer

Tip Tech Tip #5 - Minimizing Windows in a flashTip
 Do you want to get to the desktop in a flash? Hold down the Windows Key ( next to the Ctrl and Alt key on most keyboards) and press M. This immediately minimizes all windows you have open and brings you to the desktop.
Tip Tech Tip #3 - Clean Your MouseTip
  • If you still have a mouse that has a mouseball then it will need to be cleaned regularly. To do that follow these steps:
  • Turn your mouse over and loosen the ring holding the mouse ball in place.
  • Take the ring off and remove the mouse ball. Use Windex, alcohol, or a cleaning solution of one drop of dish washing liquid to a quart of water, and clean the ball.
  • Use your fingernail, or the tip of a Bic Pen cap, and easily scrap the "gook" off of the hard plastic rollers inside the mouse itself.
  • Blow out the loosened dirt and replace the ball and retaining ring.
  • HAPPY CLICKING !

computer mouse with hand
 TipTech Tip #2 - Keyboard ShortcutsTip
      • Control A - highlights or selects the entire document so
        that you can change things easily.
      • Control C - copy
      • Control X - cut
      • Control V - paste
      • Control L - Left-aligned text
      • Control E - Centered text
      • Control J - Fully justified text
      • Control U - Underline
      • Control B - Bold
      • Control S - Save
      • Control P - Print
      • Control N - New File
      • Control F12 - Open a file
      • Control 2 - Double space
      • Control 1 - Single Space
      • Control End - takes you to the very last space of a document
      • Control Home - takes you to the very first space of a document
      • Control + Click on the Sentence - This selects or highlights and entire sentence.
      • Alt + F4 = Exit
      • Control R - Right-aligned text
         
            Computer Keyboard
TipTech Tips #1 - Clear Your HistoryTip

The History list is a file, and therefore it begins to take up space as it grows larger. This is particularly true if you set a fairly long expiration time. It makes sense to clear the list every now and again. To do this, open Internet Explorer and click "Tools / Internet Options /  Click Clear History in the History section and you're all set. Before you do this, however, make sure that you make note of any sites that are important (like ones that you have forgotten to bookmark).

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 This page was last updated on Sunday, June 17, 2024.