In a recent reader survey* the most popular articles on this blog are the ones which help with day-to-day technical problems. Here’s a rundown of a few more handy tips while they sit on the ol’ noggin:
- Many programs in Windows (Microsoft very much included) share consistent keyboard shortcut. A recent personal disovery is that Ctrl+Backspace can often be used to delete an entire word.
- Google Translate is ace. It’s really come far and I now rate it above Babelfish. With more languages than ever before, and with dictionary, text and website translations it really is a must-have for people who have reason to search foreign sites. For instance, it is with Google Translate that I found that the Dutch for cattle grid is wildrooster. And the world is a better place now I know that.
- Renaming a file? Click it and press F2.
- Deleting a file and want to bypass the Recycle Bin? Hold down Shift and press Delete.
- Browsing a website? To open a link in a new window hold down Shift when you click it. To open in a new tab, hold down Ctrl.
- To rapidly lock a computer, press Windows key +L.
- Onions release a chemical that reacts and turns to a mild sulphuric acid in the eyes (hence the stinging). To counter this, peel the onion underwater or keep your onions in the fridge.
- While Alt+TAB lets you go forwards through your list of open programs, Alt+SHIFT+Tab lets you go backwards. It’s all a bit cack-handed, but if like me you have loads of programs open it can be very useful at times.
- Alt+D in most web browsers selects the address bar so you can start typing a new web address.
- Lots of programs let you drag and drop things. For instance, in most web browsers you can select text then drag it to another window; to a textbox or to something like the address bar. You can also drag images (e.g. to the desktop or a local folder) and website links (to your Favourites folder; the address bar or the Home icon to set a new home page). Try it and see.
- In a web browser, the backspace button can normally be used to go Back a page (unless you’re in a textbox at the time). If that fails, try Alt + Left Arrow.
Okay, that’ll do for now.
* ie. Somebody left a comment.