Lock Windows XP

If your computer uses Windows XP and if it's password protected and if you want to lock your computer, just press Window key + L. You'll need to re-enter the password to log in again.

Word

Picture this: you’re working on a big document and you’re making some adjustments just on page 17, but you forgot something you needed on page one. So, what do you do? You end up scrolling all the way back up to the first page. Once you find what you needed, you have to go all the way back down to page 17. Here’s a quick way to solve that conundrum. Simply hold down the Shift key and press F5. The cursor will automatically jump to the exact place where the cursor was before you moved it. Now, even better. You’re still on page 17 and you save and close the document. When you re-open it, the cursor will be at the very top of the first page. Press Shift+F5 again and you’ll immediately jump right back to where you were on page 17.

Here's what you do when you want to just snag a picture fast

drag & drop it to the desktop . Just left-click the picture, keep your mouse button down, then plop it onto your desktop. So easy. Of course, if your browser is maximized and you can't see your desktop this isn't going to work.

Select All

To select it all, use Ctrl + A. This keyboard shortcut will do the exact same thing. Just click once on the page you want to copy, press Ctrl and A at the same time and poof, it's done!

Internet Explorer

Use the End key. Hit it once and you'll be whisked away to the bottom of any Web page, any document, any file, etc. Also, if you're working with some shorter text, the End key sometimes takes you the end of a line, which is also helpful and a much faster way of doing things.

Filter Keys

To change the way Windows handles any repeated keystrokes on your keyboard, you'll need to use the FilterKeys feature. To get there, go to Start, Control Panel and click on the Accessibility Options link. Click Accessibility Options again and then go under the Keyboard tab. In the middle, you will see the FilterKeys area. Checkmark the box that says "Use FilterKeys" to activate it. You can then click on the Settings button to add your own preferences to it.

Want to send an entire webpage as an e-mail attachment?

If you use Ms Outlook, first, enable HTML mail: Select Tools, Options, Mail Format, choose HTML in the 'Compose in this message format' list, and click OK. Then, Browse to the page in Internet Explorer and select File, Send, Page by E-mail.

MS Word

The Work menu in MsWord is a menu that stores links to documents that you choose. It can be used to store links to whatever files you choose, regardless of how long it's been since you've actually used the file.

Web browsers often save files you download in to their default directories without prompting you for information

If this happens to you, or if you just forget where you downloaded a particular file to, try using "Find Files or Folders..." option from your "Start Menu." Rather than looking for a name, look for any file that was saved ("Date Modified" tab) within the amount of time it took you to complete the download.

To create a shortcut that will open your default e-mail program starting a new e-mail

right click on an open area of the desktop; Select New/ Shortcut; for the Command Line, enter mailto: for the title enter something like New E-Mail. When you click on this your default e-mail program should start with a new e-mail form.

Navigation Tips

You can make the cursor move faster. If you hold an arrow key down (try the left arrow key or the right arrow key first), the cursor will keep moving quickly.Now, if you hold the Ctrl key down on your keyboard and then 'hit' the right arrow key or the left arrow key, the cursor will jump to the next word (or sentence, etc.) instead of the next letter. Each time you hit the arrow key once, with the Ctrl key held down, it will jump to the next space

Formatting

Ever feel overwhelmed by all the formatting you've applied to your MS Word document? Want to strip the text of all the special formatting and start completely over so you can create consistent formatting throughout the document? Here's how to start afresh this New Year: First, open the Task Pane to Styles and Formatting if it's not already displayed. (Format menu, Styles and Formatting choice). Now, select the entire document (Ctrl + A). With the text selected, choose Clear Formatting from the Task Pane.

Explorer Tips

To quickly have Explorer expand all subfolders for a selected drive or folder, simply press the asterisk (*) key on the numeric keypad.

Spell Check

Spell check in Excel has a host of different options: If you have the formula bar selected, start the spell check (Tools menu, Spelling choice or F7). Excel will only check the contents of the formula bar, leaving the rest of the worksheet untouched. If spell check is started with a range of cells selected, only the cells in the selected range will be checked. To check an entire worksheet, select any cell and start the spell check. Finally, to check multiple worksheets, first select the sheet tabs for all of the worksheets. (Use the Shift key or Ctrl key with the mouse to select all the sheets). Now, start the spell check.

If you need to get a screen shot, and you do not have a screen capture program, try this

Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard.- Start up a graphics editor (like Ms Paint) and paste it in.

Have trouble editing hyperlinks with the mouse in your MS Excel worksheets?

The easiest way is: click and hold the mouse button down on the cell with the link. After a couple of seconds, you'll notice the cursor change into a plus sign and then you're free to release the mouse button. You'll find that the cell has been selected without activating the link. Then use the F2 key or the Formula bar to edit the text.

Find Files

If you need to find a file, click on the taskbar, an Explorer folder, or the desktop, and tap the F3 key. The "Find Files/Folders" dialog will instantly appear.

Programs

Go to Start/Run and you'll see a box. If a program is in the Window's folder or System32, you can launch it by typing in the name.

Notepad anyone? Type in "notepad". Explorer? Type in "explorer". How about Paint? That's a little trickier: type in "MSpaint". And for calculator, type in "calc". For an on-screen keyboard type "osk".

MS Excel

In Ms Excel, to break up a long cell entry into separate lines, position the cursor where you want a new line to start and press Alt+Enter.
Excel will expand the row to accommodate wrapping lines of text. Press Enter to complete the entry.

Navigation

You may know that pressing ALT-TAB switches between the current and last-used program or file, and holding it down lets you switch to any running program or file. Another useful method you can use is using ALT-ESCAPE.