Click one of the
following titles to view or just scroll down to view the whole
list.
Control Panel as a menu instead of a new page.
Windows Media Player
in task bar.
Shut down and Restart
Icons on desktop.
Office 2003 menu expander.
Shut down windows quickly via
key presses.
Restore Show Windows
Desktop icon.
Quickly renaming
files and folders.
Upper and lower case
text changing without re-righting.
Rapid Renaming of files.
Make email web links more user friendly.
Getting program windows back that are
of the screen.
Setup a dialup network in case of
emergencies.
Windows Auto login.
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Control Panel as a menu instead of a new page. It can be a faff opening the Control Panel window in Windows XP
to access the tools within. Luckily all Control Panel options
can be displayed in the Start Menu. To achieve this open Control
Panel and in Category View click on Appearances and Themes link
followed by Taskbar and Start Menu link. When the dialogue box
appears select the Start Menu tab then click on the Customise
button. Now click the "Advanced" tab and in the "Start menu
items" list select the "Display as a menu" then click OK then
Apply. Now when you go into the Start menu and click on the
Control Panel a submenu appears with the Control Panel options
tools.
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Windows Media Player
in task bar. Windows Media Player is a player that we all use at some point
or other. To improve its usability add its control buttons to
the taskbar, so skipping tracks, altering volume or adjusting
playback is only ever a single click away. To achieve this
simply right click on a blank part of the taskbar and select
Toolbars and then Windows Media Player. Nothing will happen yet
but the next time you minimise Media Player it will minimise
into a small fully functioning control panel by your clock. Very
useful.
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Shut down and Restart
Icons on desktop. Rapid Restart & Shut
down. It is possible to create desktop shortcuts for Restart and
Shutdown so that by simply double clicking them will achieve the
desired. To create the Restart icon simply right click on an
empty part of the desktop and select New then Shortcut. In the
window presented type "shutdown -r -t 01" (without the quotes)
then click Next. Give the shortcut a name (Restart would be an
obvious one) and then click Finish. If you want a shutdown icon
repeat the process but put an "s" in place instead of the "r".
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Office 2003 menu expander. Office 2003 tries to keep the menus tidy by hiding options that
are not used very often. This can be frustrating if you are
trying to locate a particular command, so it can be beneficial
to turn off the personalised menus feature. If you decide to
just click on Tools, followed by Customize, move to the Options
Tabs. Tick the box labelled "Always show full menus" and then
Close. Now when a menu item is clicked no options are hidden
from view.
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Shut down windows quickly via
key presses. Shutting down Windows using the keyboard is easier than
you might think. Simply press the Windows key followed by the U
key. When the turn off menu appears press the U key again and
the machine will shut down. Easy as that.
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Restore Show Windows
Desktop icon.
If you have deleted the Show Desktop shortcut in the Quick
Launch Bar here is the way to make it return.
Copy and paste the following lines (in
red) into a Notepad file.
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop
Save the file to your Desktop as Show
Desktop.scf. Next left click on the file you just created and
drag it down to the Quick Launch bar and release.
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Quickly renaming
files and folders. Renaming files and folders can take time and effort. Especially
if you have a lot to do either double clicking slowly on the
file / folder or right clicking then rename. Simply by clicking
once on the file / folder and then pressing F2 does the same job
and saves you time and effort.
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Upper and lower case
text changing without re-righting. It can be frustrating to write a
line of text in Microsoft Word just to find that you have had
the Caps Lock on. This can be quickly rectified by highlighting
the offending text, holding down the Shift key and tap F3. This
cycles the highlighted text through a series of options. First
all the letters are capitals, then all lower case and then all
lower case apart from the first letter.
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Rapid Renaming of files. Ever had to rename a batch of
files, photo's with a name and sequence number (E.G. Photo (1),
Photo (2), Photo (3) etc....). You can rename each file
individually or you can use the following method. Highlight the
files in question. Now right click on the selection and select
"Rename" then type in the new name you want sequenced and press
enter. All the file names will now be changed and given an
incremental number.
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Make email web
links more user friendly. For the ones
among us who use Outlook or Outlook Express. At some point in
life you will send an email containing a web address. Its very
easy to copy and paste a link from Internet Explorer and paste
it into an email. The only problem is that web addresses can get
very, very long and can span multiple lines f an email causing
them to now be joined correctly. A way round this problem is to
copy and paste your address into Outlook or Outlook Express and
then highlight the link by left clicking and dragging over the
address. After you have done this simply type a more relevant
name. The link will still send the recipient to the same web
site but it will look a lot better and be more reliable for
longer named links.
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Getting program windows back that are
of the screen. From time
to time we all move the odd window off the screen so that we are
no longer able to see the active title bar and therefore are
unable to move it back into view and then close and reopen the
program or window. A way around this is to right click on the
offending window's tab in the task bar and click "Move" now by
using the arrow keys you can move the window around the screen
so that the active title bar is visible. Now by left clicking in
the window you take control of the window to do as you please.
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Setup a dialup network in case of
emergencies.
Connect4free.co.uk provides a fast and reliable dialup internet
connection completely free. There are no subscription fees and
there is no need to sign up. You only pay the phone costs for
the time you are online.
www.connect4free.co.uk
is also a useful backup if you have connection problems with
your ISP. Our dialup service uses an 0844 number, which is
cheaper than an 0845 number.
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