Quick Five

I have seen a lot of tips that others assumed every computer user knew – but, if it was new to me or someone else here in the office, then it may be new to you. I’m sure that I can find enough quick tips to fill a book, and maybe one day I will. Here is a quick five that I discovered this week and there will be much more to follow in the weeks to come.

 

1. You can double-click a word to highlight it in any document, e-mail or Web page, or triple-click a word to highlight the entire paragraph.

2. You can tap the Space bar to scroll down on a Web page one screenful. Add the Shift key to scroll back up.

3. You can switch from one open program to the next by pressing Alt+Tab (Windows) or Command-Tab (Mac).

4. Just putting something into the Trash or the Recycle Bin doesn’t actually delete it. You then have to *empty* the Trash or Recycle Bin. (Once a year, I hear about somebody whose hard drive is full, despite having practically no files. It’s because over the years, they’ve put 79 gigabytes’ worth of stuff in the Recycle Bin and never emptied it.)

5. You can hide all windows, revealing only what’s on the computer desktop, with one keystroke: Windows key+D in Windows, F11 on Macs (or, on recent Mac laptops, Command+F3; Command is the key with the cloverleaf logo). That’s great when you want examine or delete something you’ve just downloaded to the desktop, for example. Press the keystroke again to return to what you were doing.

 

I would love to hear some feed back as to what you think of the tips. Are they helping? What are some things that would help make your day a little smoother? Do you know a tip that someone else may enjoy?