Time- and Money-Saving Tips...
Do you use Microsoft Word? How about some shortcuts for changing the text? (These shortcuts work in most other word processing programs as well.)
To make something stand out on the page, highlight (select) the words, then press CTRL+B to make that text bold. Use CTRL+I to italicize, CTRL+U to underline. If your text selection is already bold, underlined, or italicized, using CTRL+B (or CTRL+U or CTRL+I) will remove those attributes.
Another great shortcut is to use CTRL+Home and CTRL+End to go to the beginning and/or end of the document.
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goes to beginning of document.
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goes to end of document.
When you want to highlight a word, just double-click your mouse on that word. Want to highlight a paragraph? Triple-click on any area of the paragraph.
Another quick and easy word processing tip: to open a document that you have recently used, select File, then scroll down to the bottom of the list where you will see the last several documents that you viewed. Click on the document of your choice to open it quickly and easily.
High quality ink jet printers are getting to be less expensive all the time. Ink cartridges, however, can cost you more than the printer itself over the course of a year or two.
Printing in draft mode can save ink; consequently, your ink jet cartridges will last much longer.
Click on Start, then Settings, then Printer.
Right-click on your printer and choose Properties.
Find the tab with the Quality or Preferences Settings and change the default printing settings.
As an added bonus, draft printing is up to twice as fast as standard quality and for most uses draft quality prints are more than adequate. On some printers, draft mode called "Quick Print".
Save even more and print even faster by setting 'Grayscale' as default. When you want to make the occasional high-quality colour print, simply override the default settings for that one printing job.
MY! WHAT A CLUTTERED DESKTOP YOU HAVE!
Since I work with numerous files and programs, my Windows desktop is nearly covered with different icons and shortcuts.
A question I sometimes hear is, "How can you find anything on that desktop?"
Here's a great little trick: while at the Windows desktop, press the key corresponding to the first letter of the name of the shortcut or icon that you are looking for.
For example, you want to find the Internet Explorer icon, press the letter I. If there are other icons or shortcuts that start with the letter I, just press the I key again and the computer will go to each "I" icon in alphabetical order.
ADD MEMORY FOR AN ECONOMICAL PERFORMANCE BOOST
If your computer reminds you that resources are low and its performance is sluggish, you might benefit from a memory upgrade. Adding more memory is one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to improve your computer's performance.
Computer memory prices fluctuate rather like the commodities market. Right now, prices are at their all-time low.
If your computer has less than 256 MB of memory, adding more memory is probably the most cost-effective way to increase speed.
Adding memory to your machine is not a particularly difficult job but if you don't feel comfortable opening up 'the box', computer shops can generally add memory for you while you wait and at very reasonable rates.
First, assess what you already have. Right-click on My Computer.
You will see the System Properties screen which tells you just how much memory you have installed.
Before upgrading a very old computer, decide whether you want to invest money into the system or if this might be the time to purchase a new computer, also at all-time low prices.
Relatively new computers will generally benefit from some additional memory. If you have less than 128 MB of memory, taking the computer up to 128 MB or 256 MB should show you a noticeable improvement. Although the improvement from 128 MB to 256 MB is generally not as obvious, it is a worthwhile investment.
