The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Hints and Tips George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au

Word Tips

Tip: In Word, to quickly select a paragraph just double-click in the left-hand margin.

Tip: To select the entire document in Word just press Ctrl+A. Selecting everything is useful if you want to cut and paste into another application, such as Internet mail or need to alter the Language for spelling checking purposes.

Tip: You can have almost any magnification you like in Word. Click on the Zoom control in the tool bar and enter you own percentage magnification, such as 123%.

Tip: If you are using a template that contains your name or address at the beginning of a document, or inserting a file with just that information, you should have a date field as well. This will ensure that whenever you print your letter, it will always have the current date on it.

Tip: For a quick way to toggle between open documents use the keyboard. When editing two or more Word documents simultaneously, your fingers are on the keyboard and thus it is relatively slow to use the mouse to switch documents. Keystroke toggle keys are Ctrl+F6 to go the next document window and Shift +CtrI+F6 (or Alt+F6) to go to the previous one.

Tip: In Word when you are in Print Preview mode, click on the Multiple Pages icon and drag the mouse down and across to select as many pages as you wish to preview on the screen.

Tip: You can use Word's AutoCorrect (from Tools) to save repetitive typing. For example, if you type Windows Internet Explorer often, create an entry, wie, that will automatically expand to read Windows Internet Explorer every time you type wie.

Tip: In Word, after you have loaded an existing document, you can go straight to where you left off last time by pressing Shift+FS.

Tip: If you write long e-mail letters, use your wordprocessor as it has timed backups, spell check, possibly grammar checking and many other useful extras. Also, you won't use up your online time. When finished, just cut and paste into the e-mail program.

Tip: When using auto numbering of paragraphs, users often find it tricky to create two or more paragraphs under the one point without the next number appearing and it is a messy business to fix this once it has happened. The answer is actually very simple: just press Shift+Enter. You will get a new paragraph without a new number. Press Enter and the new number will appear.

Tips For Absolute Beginners

I have found that many users do not read the manuals, in fact most don't and even relatively experienced users occasionally miss a very handy shortcut method.

When you are using Explorer, File Manager or any other Windows product to mark some files in a subdirectory or folder as Windows 95 refers to sub-directories, to copy, move or delete them, the following conventions apply to all Windows programs.

• Clicking once on a file marks it by highlighting it
• Clicking on another file, will mark it, and will de-select the first.
• By holding the Ctrl key when clicking, all the previously selected files remain selected.
• By holding the Shift key down when clicking, all files between the last highlighted file and the current file that is being selected will also be highlighted.
• Both Shift and Ctrl clicking can be used in the same session. An example of this use would be if you wanted to delete all but two or three files from a folder that contains very many files. This is achieved by:
  • click once to highlight the first of the files to be deleted.
  • scroll down to the last file.
  • hold the shift key down and click on the last file to mark the lot.
  • release the shift key and scroll until you see a file that you wish to keep then holding the Ctrl key, click on it. This will unmark just this file and leave the others marked.

• If these headings are not visible, but other headings are, then extend the Explorer window to the right.
• If no headings are visible below the line which reads: Contents of... then click on View and select and Details.

General Tips

Tip: Need to find a file containing a particular word or phrase because you forgot the file name? With Windows 95/98 this is not a problem. Under Find, select Advanced and in the box marked Containing Text just type in what you are seeking.

Tip: The Windows 95/98 registry files should be backed up at regular intervals. From the DOS box, when in your destination folder, type XCOPY C:\WINDOWS\*.DA? /H

Do you ever hit the CapsLock instead of the Shift key and continue typing? If you are using Windows 95 there is help.

You can modify Windows to make a sound when the Caps Lock button is hit. Do this by clicking on Start, Settings, Control Panel, Accessibility Options and click on the ToggleKeys check box. Now when you press CapsLock, it will make a sound and when you press it again, to turn it off, it will make a different sound.

Windows 95 Shortcuts for Natural Keyboards

Many users who use Windows 95/98 and have the Windows 95/98 keyboard (the one which has two keys marked with the Windows logo (WIN key)) do not make much use of the extra keys.

These keys can be used for shortcuts such as:

• Pressing the Windows key and E will launch Explorer
• WIN/F will launch the Find File program
• WIN/M will minimise all open programs
• Shift/WIN/M will undo the minimise all

So now you do not need to have extra shortcuts on the desktop for the Explorer for Find Files cluttering the desktop.

Screen Dumps From Windows

In DOS, when you press the Print Screen key the current screen gets printed. In Windows the "Print Screen" key copies an image into a buffer but does not print it. To print that information you must open up a suitable program, such as Word, Paint, Write etc and paste the image into that program by using Ctrl+V or selecting Edit, Paste.

Screen Dump of the Active Window

Often is it nice to do a screen dump of a small open window, but not of the entire desktop behind it. Just press Alt+ PrintScreen to copy the active window into the buffer. This can save a lot of time in cutting and pasting to extract the information from the full screen dump.

Removing the Windows 95 Password at Startup

Are you being asked to supply a password each time the computer starts to which you just hit Enter or Cancel and everything works and you would like to remove this annoying prompt?

This is not very difficult to remove. Right-click on the Network Neighbourhood and then click on Properties. Then select the Primary Network Logon, change it to Windows Logon and click OK. If you are asked to restart the computer say No.

Next open the Control Panel, click on Passwords, Change Windows Password, and type in the password you have been using in the Old Password box. Just press Enter if you have none. Leave the New Password and Confirm Password boxes blank and you will not be prompted again with the login screen after you re-start your computer.

Note that if you or anyone else in your family has set up user profiles, the above steps will not prevent Windows 95 from prompting you for a password. If several people are sharing a computer and have different tastes then each individual can have his or her wall-paper, icons, sounds etc by establishing individual profiles and have individual names and passwords. The data and programs are accessible to all.

Reprinted from the July 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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