Shortcuts and Time Savers
From time to time we like to provide our readers with tips and tricksthat help them speed through the workday. You know, those brilliant little keyboard manipulations that not onlysave you time, but also provide some of those interesting "secret" keystrokes and shortcuts.
If you know of safe and effective shortcuts, tips and tricks, pleasepass them along. We'll include the best ones in an upcoming article.
Keyboard Shortcuts
If you hold down the SHIFT key when you insert a CD-ROM, the AutoPlayfeature will be disabled. This is advantageous when upgrading an application such as Diskeeper, which requiresthat the original CD-ROM be inserted. If the original CD-ROM starts automatically, you may accidentally reinstallthe original instead of the upgrade.
If you hold down the SHIFT key when logging on, any program that isin the Startup folder will not start automatically. This is useful when you are troubleshooting, or at any othertime when you do not want to wait for any automatic program startups.
Holding down the ALT key and then pressing the TAB key will display a list of the icons for your open applications, with a square boxaround one of them. Pressing the TAB key again, while still holding down ALT , will move the box to the next icon. Holdingdown SHIFT while you press the TAB key moves the box in the other direction. When you release the ALT key, the application represented by the iconcurrently in the box will become the current (top) window. If the application is minimized, it will be expanded.
Pressing ALT+ESC will bring up the next application, and ALT+SHIFT+ESC brings up the previous one. If you only have a few applications active, this canbe faster than using ALT+TAB . However, if the application is minimized, it will not be expanded automatically.
PRINT SCREEN willmove a snapshot of the entire screen to the Clipboard; ALT+PRINTSCREEN will save only the active window. After capturing the snapshot,open Paint (or your favorite graphics editing program) and paste the snapshot into a new file. Use "File/SaveAs..." to save the image. This tool can be invaluable when communicating a problem to Tech Support, as itshows the exact error message.
In Windows NT Explorer and in Microsoft Outlook, if you select a folderthen press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad ( NUMLOCK can be on or off), the entire tree of sub-folders under theselected folder will be expanded. Pressing the MINUSKEY (-) on the keypad will collapse the tree again. However, ifyou now click on the "+" symbol by the folder name, the entire tree will appear again. To go back tothe default of not expanding the whole tree, you must either click each "-" symbol individually, or exitWindows NT Explorer or Microsoft Outlook.
You can open the Start menu by pressing CTRL+ESC ; CTRL+SHIFT+ESC will open the TaskManager.
If you print many documents, try drag-and-drop printing. Select ControlPanel / Printers, then click and hold the printer you usually use and drag it to the desktop. Now you can draga file from Windows NT Explorer (or Microsoft Outlook or any similar file list) and drop it on the printer icon.If its a printable file, it will print.
Your Interface
There are many ways to set up the interface between you and your computer.Each has advantages and disadvantages, so the only advice we can give is to try different things and use what suitsyou. Some of us make shortcuts to all of our commonly used programs and drag them to the desktop, then use theMicrosoft Office suite Desktop toolbar. We keep it Always on Top and Auto Fit into Title Bar area .The applications we want to keep open, such as Microsoft Outlook, are accessible from the taskbar. The rest weaccess from the Microsoft Office Toolbar and close when we are finished.
Pat Bloodwell, one of our fellow Tech Support Reps, uses a completelydifferent system. Here's his description:
"When you establish a shortcut you can modify it to make it moreuseful:
- Set the shortcut to open the program how you like it. Highlight and right-clickthe shortcut. Click Properties , select the Shortcut tab and pull down the menu in the Run field.Here you will find Minimized , Normal window and Maximized . I prefer my programs to open Maximized and set the pull-down menu to that selection; the default is Normal window .
- Hot Key. Within the same shortcut tab, you will see a field called ShortcutKey . Select that and type in any key you like. This will cause the shortcut to be called when ever you select: CTRL+ALT + the key you selected- an instant hot key! Be aware that if you use that same key again in another shortcut, it no longer will pointto the previous one; one key per shortcut.
"Who uses the desktop anyway? Since I open all of my programsmaximized, I dont see the desktop after my first login; that is, desktop shortcuts dont do me any good. I put themin my start menu like this:
- Create a shortcut to any program you will use by selecting the .exe file in WindowsNT Explorer, right clicking and selecting Create Shortcut .
- Highlight the shortcut, right click and select Cut .
- Right click the Start button and select Open .
- Right click anywhere in the window and select Paste .
"Voilà , you have loaded your shortcut into thestart menu!
"You may want to set the Taskbar Properties to Showsmall icons in Start menu if you have a lot of shortcuts in there:
- Right click on an unused area of the taskbar (usually at the bottom of the screen).
- Select Properties .
- Enable the Show small icons in Start menu option.
One final note: As you may know, you can create a shortcut to anything:a directory, a program, a bitmap picture of your daughter, even an Internet location; so have fun and work smarter!"
This article was mainly about ways to save time when doing routinework on your computer. Being a frequently overlooked area, however, these tips can save you a significant amountof time during the course of a day.
If you have any comments about this article orany requests for new technical articles e-mail
Executive Software Europe
