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More Tips and Tricks
How to 'Lock' your PC
If you want to visit the loo or go for a coffee and you want 'lock' your computer so it can't be used in your absence, you can lock the computer using a key combination to prevent unathorised access, here's how.
Press the 'Windows Logo' key (see tip above) along with the letter 'L' to lock the computer instantly. Of course, this will only work if you have a password set on your user account already!
Adding an Internet Explorer Address Toolbar to the Bottom of the Screen
This little tip will allow you to type a web page address straight into the task bar at the bottom of your windows desktop, which will then start Internet Explorer and load the page.
1. Right-click on the blank area of the Windows toolbar (at the bottom of the screen) and then select Toolbars > Address. You now see an address text field docked at the bottom of your screen. You may need to drag the double dotted line symbol next to the word Address to make the field visible. If you can't do this, then your taskbar is 'locked', to unlock it, right-click again and un-tick the words 'Lock the taskbar'. The double lines should now be visible, and you can drag it to the left with your mouse cursor until the address bar is completely visible.
2. Click inside the text field of the Address toolbar (to get focus for typing).
3. Type a website address like www.google.co.uk, or whatever you want and press Enter on your keyboard. Internet Explorer will now open and display the page.
From now on, all you have to do is type in the URL (the www. bit) of the website you want directly into this box to go there!
Common Windows Shorcuts
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You will find the key combinations to access common Windows and application features, and also see how you can create your own shorcuts to access your favourite programmes.
There are so many shortcuts available to you, we have written a new page on this website that lists them all! To visit this page, please click here (new window). |
The keys most commonly required are highlighted by a colour:
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No Mouse!
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Did you know you can navigate your way through Windows and menus without using the mouse? In most programmes, you will notice that across the top of the File menu bar, certain letters are underlined (for example, File - Edit - View - and so on.) You can access the menu by pressing (and holding) the left-hand 'Alt' key followed by the respective underlined letter. For example, to view the 'File' menu, press and hold the left-hand 'Alt' key, along with the 'F' key on your keyboard. See what happens? The menu drops down as if the mouse cursor had been clicked on it.
Once you have dropped the menu down, you can use the 'up' and 'down' keys on your keyboard (from the set of four 'arrows' on the right-hand side of your keyboard), to highlight the different options in the menu. The menu options may also have underlined letters. Once the menu has been dropped down, pressing the underlined letter on its own will activate the menu option. |
Alphabetical Order
You know when you open up your list of installed programmes (in Windows XP) (Start - All Programs), they are more or less in the order of installation. You can put all the programme names in alphabetical order quickly and easily.
- Looking at your list of programmes, right-click on any one of the programme's name.
- A sub-menu will appear, select 'Sort by name' from the list and left-click this.
- As if by magic, all your programme names are now in alphabetical order!
Where's my Icons?
| When you do a full system recovery of your computer (in other words, put it back to factory settings, like the day you bought it), the default icon on your desktop is normally just the recycle bin.
If you want a programme shortcut on your desktop, the usual practice is to right-click on the name of the programme from you list contained in 'All programs', then 'Send to', followed by 'Desktop (create shortcut)'. This is very useful if you want (for example) Microsoft Word quick launch on your desktop. But what about 'My Documents', 'My Computer' and 'Internet Explorer'? The quick way to put them back on your desktop is like this:
To prevent this from happening, go back to the 'Customise Desktop' button and un-tick the box that says 'Run desktop cleanup wizard every 60 days', then click 'OK'. |
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New Programme Installed?
Every time you install a new programme and click the Start button to open the Start Menu you will see a balloon help message open that tells you a new programme has been installed - really? Thanks for telling me! To stop this from happening (I know, it can be really annoying!), do the following:
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Desktop Icons Too Small?
If you want the icons on your desktop to appear a bit bigger than the default sizes, do the following:
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All Capitals?
| If, like most computer users, you are not a touch-typist, you can sometimes write whole sentences in something like 'Word', and not realise you have accidentally hit the 'Caps Lock' key and all your words ARE WRITTEN IN CAPITALS! How frustrating is that!
Did you know that you can have a small 'beep' sound every time you hit the Caps Lock key? (and for that matter the Num Lock and the Scroll Lock keys as well). Here's how it's done, click:
Now click on the tick-box at the bottom that says Use ToggleKeys (see opposite), then click 'Settings' and click Use Shortcut (if it isn't already ticked). Now click OK and OK to close the windows. And now, every time you hit the Caps Lock key on your keyboard, you will here a 'beep' that will remind you that the Caps Lock is on! |
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