Archive for the Category ◊ Shortcuts and Tricks ◊

Easily Switch Between Multiple Windows
Friday, March 25th, 2011 | Author:

When running multiple programs simultaneously it is often necessary to switch back and forth to reference information (example:  sending email and need to reference internet for flight information) and is time consuming to take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse.

 

There is an easy way to switch between multiple running programs in Windows which can be extremely useful.

1. Press and hold the “alt” button

2. Then press the “tab”

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3. If you only have two windows open it will automatically switch to the other open window.

4. If you have multiple windows open, you will see an image like the one below (only with the programs you have open):

5. While still holding the “alt” key down, you can press the “tab” button to scroll to the program you want to open, then release.

6. Repeat to switch back and forth.

 

I hope that makes it slightly easier to navigate multiple applications in Windows.  The more key combinations you know and the less time you have to take your hands off the keyboard, the better.

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Automatically delete browsing history in IE8 on Exit
Wednesday, December 08th, 2010 | Author:

If you are using Internet Explorer 8, which many of my clients do use, sometime you want to delete your browsing history on a daily basis.  Previous to Internet Explorer 8, you had to go into the settings and delete it manually.  Internet Explorer 8 makes life very easy browsing the web and managing copied cache history files. You can setup Internet Explorer 8 to automatically delete browsing history when you exit (or close) it.

How to Automatically delete browsing history in IE8

1. Open Internet Explorer browser.
2. Goto Tools > Internet Options.
3. Click to check option “Delete browsing history on exit”.
4. Then click Apply, OK.

Done!  Now each time you close Internet Explorer your cached history will be removed!

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Category: Maintenance, Shortcuts and Tricks  | Comments off
Make the Windows 7 Look Like Windows XP
Friday, October 29th, 2010 | Author:

The single most visible change in Windows 7 is the new “dock style” taskbar, which shows icons instead of buttons, with all application windows combined within a single button. I have had several clients ask, “How do I make it look like it used to (in Windows XP)?”

Personally I prefer the new Layout over the Windows XP look, but some people prefer using what they are familiar with.

This is what the taskbar (bottom bar with the start menu and open applications) looks like in Windows 7.

Windows 7 Taskbar

Changing the Windows 7 Taskbar to XP/Vista Style

To revert back to the older style, the first thing you’ll need to do is right-click on any open area of the taskbar and choose Properties from the menu.

Windows 7 Taskbar Properties Menu

From the Taskbar buttons drop-down menu, you’ll want to choose “Never combine”, which will make every window show up as a separate button on the taskbar, or you could choose “Combine when taskbar is full”, which does just like it says.

Windows 7 Taskbar Properties

Now you should see the buttons show up with text labels like you are probably used to… but in the Windows 7 style.

Windows 7 Taskbar Hover

If you chose the “Use small icons” checkbox in the properties screen, the taskbar will actually shrink down to look very similar to Vista.

Windows 7 Taskbar Hover Small

The only problem is that the “pinned” icons are still sitting on the taskbar, which isn’t the same as Vista or XP, but you can easily remove all of them by right-clicking and choosing “Unpin this program from taskbar”.

Windows 7 Un-Pin

And now the taskbar looks and works very similarly to Windows Vista:

Windows 7 Taskbar Unpinned

If you wanted to make it look like Windows XP, and replace the “Windows Orb” with the traditional “Start” button, you can choose the “Windows Classic” theme under the Desktop \ Personalize section.

Windows 7 Classic Theme Silliness

Pictured above is the “Windows Classic” theme selected with the other changes mentioned above.  Look familiar?

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Category: Shortcuts and Tricks, Windows 7  | Comments off
An easy way to re-size photos for emailing
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 | Author:

So you just returned from your trip and you want to share your photos with family and friends but your can only attached 2 or 3 photos to an email before the email is too large to send.  Now what?…. Picasa!

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Picasa is an application from Google Inc. that makes it easy to organize, edit, and share your photos.  There is a built in way to email photos and Picasa will automatically re-size the images to an “email friendly” size and then attach the photos to your email.  The amount of features built in to Picasa is astounding… but not overwhelming.  Picasa makes photo organization and editing simple… I promise.

Give it a try and you will not be disappointed!

Download:

Click Here to Download Picasa

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Category: General, Shortcuts and Tricks, Software  | Comments off
How do I take a screenshot?
Monday, August 23rd, 2010 | Author:

It can be helpful for many reasons (to send to a technician, to send something to a friend, make documentation, etc.) to be able to capture exactly what is on your screen at any given moment.  This image off your computer is called a “screenshot”.  The process of taking a screenshot is very simple and can be used to email, to past into Microsoft Word (and other applications), and many other reasons.

To capture an image of what is displayed on your computer monitor (screenshot) follow these steps:

1. On your keyboard: Press the “Prt Scr” button.  This button can usually be found to the right of “F12″.

*On some laptops you must use the “Fn” key and the “Prt Scr” button.

Now the image has been copied to your “clipboard”.  Meaning you can “paste” it into any application that allows copy/paste execution.

To practice: Open Microsoft Word and “paste” (“ctrl + v” , or edit—>paste).  You should see an image of what your screen looked like when you captured the image.

Once you feel comfortable copying the screen image and pasting into a blank document try it with other applications (Outlook, Etc.).

I hope this helps and if you have any questions feel free to contact one of our technicians.

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Microsoft Word Page Break Tip
Thursday, July 01st, 2010 | Author:

When using Microsoft Word there are many times where you need to skip to the next page, for references or other reasons.  Instead of pressing “Enter” many times to get to the next page there is a much easier way to enter a page break and skip to the top of the next page.

1. Press “Ctrl” and “Enter” to insert a page break and advance to the top of the next page.

I hope this easy shortcut helps your word processing!

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Category: Shortcuts and Tricks, Software  | One Comment
How to Print with a keyboard command
Monday, June 07th, 2010 | Author:

To save some time… as always it is faster to use keyboard commands instead of removing your hands from the keyboard and using the mouse.

If you need to print a document, webpage, pdf or any other item all you need to do is press “ctrl” and “p” buttons to initiate the print options (see image below).  This will save you several seconds instead of taking your hand off the keyboard to go to the mouse and going to “file” then “print”.

Example:
1. You are browsing the internet and want to print a page

2. Press “ctrl” and “p”

3. You press enter if you don’t need to change any options.

4.  You printed your document without even moving your hands from the keyboard :)

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Copy/Paste Shortcuts
Friday, May 14th, 2010 | Author:

Regardless of your computer experience, there is always a need to copy text from one application and paste into another.  I feel that most of my clients have the experience to highlight the text you want to copy and then they go up to the menu bar and select copy.

But there is an easier way to copy/paste so that you don’t have to take your hands off the keyboard.

1. Highlight the text, web address, picture, or any file that you want to copy and press “Ctrl” and “c” to copy the item.

2. Select the destination where you want to paste the copied item and press “Ctrl” and “v” to paste the item.

That is it!  This seems like a trivial item which will only save you a second or two, but it will simplify the way you copy/paste.  Enjoy.

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How To Select Multiple Files At Once
Friday, April 23rd, 2010 | Author:

So whether your burning files to a cd, copy/pasting, or any other task that you need to select multiple files it can be time consuming and tedious if you select one file at a time.  This should help for all sorts of tasks where you need to select multiple files and in the past have selected one at a time.

Their are several ways to select multiple files:

If continuous (file 1 – 100 for example):

1. Click on the first file, then hold the “Shift” key and click on the last file.  Every file in between will be selected.

If you want random files but not everything in between:

1. Click on the first file you want, then hold the “Ctrl” key and select the next file, then the next file, and so on.

If you want to select all the files within a folder:

1. Press and hold the “Ctrl” key, then press “A“, and all files will be selected.

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Resizing Programs in Windows 7
Thursday, April 15th, 2010 | Author:

So  if you have made the leap to Windows 7 you should of noticed that if you move a program to the right/left side of the screen, it will automatically re-size to 50% of the screen (see image below).  If not try it, it is something that makes multitasking much easier and Microsoft should of thought of this years ago!

If you drag a program to the top of the screen it will re-size “full screen”, left/right it will size to half the screen so you can have two programs open side by side.

But what you might not of known is that you can use the  computer repair durango + Arrow Keys to switch “Full Screen (up arrow)”, “Minimize (down arrow)”, 50% left (left arrow), and 50% (right arrow).

I hope that makes it easier for you to use and keep an eye out for more to come!

Windows 7 Shortcuts and Tricks

Windows 7 Resize Tool

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Category: Shortcuts and Tricks, Windows 7  | Leave a Comment
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