We've found these tips are great stress reducers as well as making our computing experience much more enjoyable. You'll find step-by-step instructions for many of them at our "Handy How-To's" page. Enjoy!
Basic Computing:
Learn Windows, Windows, Windows! You can never know too much about this vast and sophisticated program. Get your foundation in Windows first, and it will make your computing life so much easier, since it's the vehicle that makes our programs work for us. Just as once we learn to drive a car, we can drive any car because they're all made the same (steering wheel, gas pedal, windshield wipers, etc.), once you learn Windows, every program is configured the same (title bar, menu bar, tool bar, scroll bar, dialog boxes, radio buttons, etc., etc.). #1 computing tip: Learn Windows!
Right-click! Put your right mouse button to use and get quick and handy shortcut menus for numerous tasks: formatting in a word processor; accessing programs and managing icons on the desktop, as well as folders in your file managers (My Documents, Windows Explorer, email program); cut/copy/paste selected text in word processors and copy from the net.
Clean up your desktop!
- Delete any program or shortcut icons not used frequently, or copy them to the Start button's pop-up menu by dragging them there, then delete the original from the desktop.
- Turn off the quick launch buttons on the task bar if you don't use them (right-click the task bar, go to "Toolbars" (shortcut menu) and click "Quick Launch" to un-check it (turn it off). It can be turned back on at will.
- Change the size of your desktop icons or titles under them: Right-click the background, click "Properties" in the shortcut menu, click the "Appearance" tab, click the "Item" drop-down arrow and select "Icon," then change the size from 32 (the default) to your preference (start with 25 and work from there). Then you can reduce or increase the font size (or change the font) below the "Icon" settings. Click "OK."
Trouble remembering birthdays or even appointments? Take advantage of some of the web's reminder services, such as "iping," where you type in the occasion and they'll telephone you at your specified time to jog your memory!
Save money by printing in economy mode. After clicking file/print, click the properties button in the printer dialog box and look for an economy, fast, or draft option (depending on your printer's software) and select it before printing.
Make your computer pay for itself:
- Email instead of writing letters, and take advantage of instant messaging and even teleconferencing or videoconferencing if you have the hardware and software.
- Register purchases online as nearly all warranted products have websites for registration.
- Save your time and money driving to a local facility. Most government and commerce sites provide online forms for filling out and submitting via email or downloading and printing when signatures are required.
- Send electronic greeting cards to friends and family, or create your own from a website or computer software. See our "Laudable Links" for ideas.
- If you're into taking photos, a digital camera will pay for itself in short order when you no longer have to buy film or get it processed.
Email and the Internet:
Compose your documents in word processors (including email) and format afterwards. This saves time and energy. After writing your document in basic text format, select text portions to be formatted (bold, underlined, italicized, etc.) and apply the enhancements.
Read, compose, and manage your email offline. You only need to be connected to the phone line when sending and receiving (and surfing the net, of course).
Always investigate any email warning before forwarding it on, to be sure it's not a hoax. Check our "Laudable Links" page for some suggested sites.
And always use the blind-carbon-copy feature when sending an email to a group of people, to avoid publishing others' email addresses without permission.
If you subscribe to mailing lists (i.e., "Joke-of-the-Day," etc.) you might do well to open one of the free email accounts available on the net (i.e. Yahoo, etc.) and have those subscriptions sent there to keep your primary email inbox uncluttered.
If text size is not comfortable for viewing when on the net or reading email, increase or decrease it through the View menu on the menu bar.
If text color and background are not comfortable for viewing when on the net or reading email, use the "Select All" option in the Edit menu (menu bar) for clarity.
