BYPASS THE RECYCLE BIN

If you're so sure you don't want a file you're about to delete that you actually don't want to even place it in the bin, but actually prefer to delete forever immediately, then hold down the shift while deleting it and it'll be gone forever, as in, you wont be able to get it back without advanced tools.

DESKTOP TIP: TILE TWO WINDOWS SIDE BY SIDE

Instant Relay Chat windows, like MSN Messenger, can quickly make a desktop look very busy and unorganized. But with any two windows, you can tile them side by side on screen to see the contents of both windows at the same time.  With the first window visible and active, hold down the Ctrl key while right clicking on the task bar button of the second window, then let go of the Ctrl key and choose "Tile Vertically" from the menu with a left mouse click.

DESKTOP TIP: CLOSE SEVERAL WINDOWS AT ONCE

If you've got several windows open of a particular type and want to close them all at once, then hold down the Ctrl key while left mouse clicking on each button in the taskbar and once you have each of the windows' buttons highlighted, let go of the Ctrl key and then right mouse click on the last button and choose "Close Group" from the menu with a left mouse click.

INTERNET EXPLORER: CTRL+ENTER FILLS IT IN FOR YOU

If you have a .com address that you want to visit, a speedy way of getting to it is to type just the word (before the .com of the web address) in the Address field of any web browser, typically Internet Explorer, then press Ctrl+Enter. You should find the http:// and the www. are filled in for you and the page loads. Try it by just typing in waynealton or Microsoft in the address field and then Ctrl+Enter.

INTERNET EXPLORER: AUTO COMPLETE

Does the auto complete function prove more problematic than useful to you, i.e., confuse you when you're typing in a field on the internet, and Internet Explorer will remember previously typed text but it's never what you want? Well, you can reset this, by going to the Tools menu in an Internet Explorer window, then Internet Options, from the Content tab, look for Auto Complete and click on the button "Clear Forms".

INTERNET EXPLORER: FULL SCREEN

Pressing the function key F11 on your keyboard whilst in an Internet Explorer screen will enlarge the browsing area of the web page you're viewing.  It gets rid of the menu, title, status and toolbars from the screen leaving you with as much viewing area as possible and reduces the scrolling down. Pressing F11 again will restore all menus back.

INTERNET EXPLORER: NEW WINDOW

Do you ever need a new Internet Explorer window but don't want to close down the one you have open in front of you.  Well, Ctrl+N will launch another Internet Explorer window with identical browser contents and from there you can link elsewhere, or go to another website in the new window leaving the previous in its own window and in tact.

INTERNET EXPLORER: QUICK TABS, TABS AND FAVOURITES

Since the launch of the new Internet Explorer 7, there have been some massive changes to the way in which we can navigate around browsing the internet and the use of Internet Explorer. Quick Tabs is a screen showing you all of the web pages you have open, assuming you've created a new tab and opened another web page leaving the previous page open. Ctrl+Q is the keyboard shortcut for launching the Quick Tabs screen.  From there, you can arrow around using the cursor keys and then press enter on the highlighted thumbnail to go to that web page.

Moving from one tab to another is achieved by pressing the Ctrl key and a single number. For example if you have three tabs at the top of your Internet Explorer window, pressing Ctrl+3 will bring to the front, the third web page you have in your tabs. Likewise, Ctrl+2, the second web page window will come to the front.

Closing a tab but leaving the others open is done by using the Ctrl+F4 command on the web page window that is open and at the front.

Open a new tab and the default page appears albeit a blank page or your home page (subject to your settings).  This is accomplished by pressing Ctrl+T.  A new tab is opened in the same Internet Explorer application and with the default home page or a blank page (depending on your settings).

Adding a page to your favourites - Ctrl+D will open a dialog inviting you to add the page you are looking at to your favourites.  The dialog box will enable you to create a link for you to be able to launch the web site from your Favourites menu. If you rename it to something shorter, i.e. http://news.bbc.co.uk/ to BBC NEWS and then use the pull down menu under Create in... you'll see it appear in your Links set of web page shortcuts in every Internet Explorer application.

Open the Favourites list - Alt+C will open the navigation pane on the left containing your Favourites. From here you can arrow down and/or right to the highlighted page you want to go to, and then press enter.

MEDIA PLAYER TIP: TWO OF THE SAME ARTIST MERGER

If you're like me, and enjoy keeping your music collection on the PC as well a shelf, i.e., copied all of your CD collection to the PC, then you may have found in Windows Media Player's Media Library list that you have two listings for the same artists, perhaps spelt slightly different. I get this condition quite a lot and you'll notice it with something like "The OJays" and "The O' Jays".  Well, if you left click and drag the one you don't want over the name of the one you want to keep, they will migrate, with a confirmation yes or no button so you can't go wrong. Fab!

MEDIA PLAYER CONFLICT: TWEAK MP AND THE REPEAT FUNCTION

I came across this one as an error. If you've downloaded the Microsoft TweakMP Power Toy Plug-in for Windows Media Player 9 Series then you must make sure that the Repeat function is never enabled.  I did it, playing a play list, and when it tried to fade in to the second track, the repeat function cut it and the whole of Media Player shut down! But the Tweak MP is a must for loads of features like cross fading from one track to another for a non-stop music effect, CD burning, full screen effects, and easy to navigate queuing commands.

NO TO ALL

Ever had that really annoying Confirm File dialog box that has a Yes button, and a Yes To All. It has a No button but doesn't have a No To All - well hold down the shift key and left mouse click on No, and it should perform a No To All function.

START MENU: PINNING YOUR MOST USED STUFF TO IT

Did you know that you can have items in the top of the Start Menu forever... they wont go or get removed based most/least often used history lists.  The calculator is a good example of an application that you use more than once and it can be very tiring to mouse click your way through, Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then on to Calculator.  Well go through that motion once more but instead of left mouse clicking when you get to Calculator, do a right mouse click for the option menu and choose "Pin To Start Menu." This will add a shortcut to the Calculator at the top left most position (unless you've already put some there in which case it will add itself to the existing pinned items list) to the Start Menu.  Give it a go! I've done it with Notepad, Paint and Microsoft Money.

SCREEN DUMP

Ever needed to show somebody across the Internet, your desktop, or maybe a certain message that appears or a particular layout in a program? Well, the Print Screen button is seldom, if ever, used and pressing this button will create an image of whatever is on the entire desktop. It stores it in the Windows clipboard and a program like Paint, will paste this image for editing or saving.

VOLUME ICON IN THE SYSTEM TRAY

What happened to my Volume speaker next to the clock? To get it back, go to the Sounds And Audio Devices and check the option "Place volume in the taskbar."

WINDOWS EXPLORER: FORCE A COPY, MOVE OR A SHORTCUT

If you only want to take a copy of a file from one folder on your hard disk to another folder, when you left click and drag it elsewhere, it will by default, move it and not copy it. However, if you hold down the Ctrl key and then drag it to it another folder, it will copy it and not move it.  Likewise, if you're copying a file from one media to another (i.e. from a floppy disk to your hard disk) it will by default, copy it.  However, if you want to forcibly move it instead of copying it, then hold down the Shift key when you drag it elsewhere.  And so finally, on the odd occasion when you want to create a shortcut of a file, holding down the left Alt key and dragging it elsewhere will create a shortcut of the dragged file.

WINDOWS EXPLORER: THUMBNAIL TIP

If you use thumbnails to view folders as well as files, and you find it handy to locate a folder of music say, by it's thumbnail picture, you can create a thumbnail picture for a folder that doesn't have any image. For example, if you have a folder of music files and it's folder thumbnail has no image, get the image you want, call it "FOLDER.JPG" and place it in that folder.  Explorer will use that image as it's Folder's Thumbnail... fab aye?

WINDOWS EXPLORER: THUMBNAIL VIEW WITHOUT FILE NAMES (WINDOWS XP)

Holding the shift key down when changing the view to thumbnails will hide the file names that usually appear each thumbnail.  Repeating the process will bring the file names back.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: CUT, COPY AND PASTE

Still available ever since the days of Windows 3.1 are the keys for cut, copy and paste... yes, even before Ctrl+X,C and V!  Ctrl+Insert will copy almost anything  highlighted or selected to the windows clipboard, Ctrl+Delete will cut and Shift+Insert will paste.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: EXITING ANY WINDOW

The left hand Alt key and the function key F4 will close the current active window in you're in.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: FORMAT PAINTER

Do you ever get really annoyed that you have to use the same text format elsewhere in a document, and the task of highlighting it and then choosing font, size, colour and type each time can be very time consuming?  So use the Format Painter.  Ctrl+Shift+C will copy the format of highlighted text and Ctrl+Shift+V will paste that format to highlighted text.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: GO STRAIGHT TO THE MENU BAR

Almost every window has a menu bar, i.e. the File Edit View and normally ends with Help. To get there with the keyboard, simply press the F10 function key.  The first, normally File, is highlighted. To move around with the keyboard, use the arrow keys (also known as the cursor keys) and then use the down arrow to see the pull down menu for the highlighted menu.  Have a go now.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: MINIMIZE OR MAXIMIZE THE CURRENTLY ACTIVE WINDOW

Reaching for the mouse to left click on the minimize or maximize can be just another task, but done effortlessly with keyboard, you'll think you're working quicker and anyone watching will gasp at the speed at which you perform Windows commands.  So, try minimizing a window with the keyboard by pressing keys, and you don't need to do them all together. Pressing the left Alt key, then spacebar, and then N, will minimize a window.  Like, Left Alt, spacebar and then X will maximize a window.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: MOVING AROUND A DOCUMENT WITH THE KEYBOARD

Each time we refer to the arrow keys, they are between the qwerty A-Z letter keys and the numeral keypad to the right. They're in an upside down T shape.

These keyboard shortcuts will definitely speed up all of your document creating tasks and you'll wonder how you ever managed without them. This section is all about getting the flashing cursor, sometimes known as an I-Beam (pronounced eye beam) to move around the screen.  Also, when it comes to highlighting, it's a good thing to imagine you're widening the I-Beam (cursor) and stretching it over text... imagine it and you'll see... but first, here's some quick ones to get you started:

MOVING

To move the cursor one letter to the right, press the right arrow key, one left to the left, press the left arrow key.  That was a bit too simple, wasn't it? So,

To move the cursor one word to the right, press the Ctrl+arrow right key, one word to the left, press the Ctrl+left arrow.  Moving one more and subsequent words is done pressing the relative arrow key and just keeping the Ctrl key held down. Now some really quick ones.

Pressing the End key will send the cursor to the end of the line it's sitting on.  Pressing the Home key will send it to the beginning of the line. To go to the end of the document, i.e. last page, last character typed, press the Ctrl+End, and therefore, Ctrl+Home will... come on, keep up... will go to the very beginning of the document.

Ctrl+arrow up will position the cursor at the start of the previous paragraph.  Ctrl+arrow down will position the cursor at the start of the next paragraph.

HIGHLIGHTING (or SELECTING)

Right - there's a quick lesson in moving the cursor about with the keyboard.  Now, let's jumped in to Advance and go mad! Remembering those key sequences, i.e. Ctrl+right arrow moves the cursor one word at a time, well, the Shift key is your high-lighter.  So, pressing the Shift+Ctrl+arrow right keys, will highlight one word at a time to the right. Likewise, Ctrl+Shift+left arrow keys will highlight one word at a time to the left. And with that in mind, using your end and home keys will do the same job, pressing Shift+Home will highlight from where the cursor is flashing to the beginning of the line it's on. And, Shift+End will highlight to the end of the line.

And so, just as we couldn't get any flashier, Ctrl+Shift arrow up will highlight all of the last paragraph but from the cursor position and Ctrl+Shift+arrow down will highlight all of the paragraph down, from where the cursor is flashing. More?  OK... but don't get brain overload!

Ctrl+Shift+Home will highlight to the top of the document from where the cursor is flashing, Ctrl+Shift+End will highlight to the end of the document from where the cursor is flashing.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: SAVE AND SAVE AS...

Left mouse clicking on File menu and then Save As... or Save is straight forward but isn't Ctrl+S even better.  And to understand the two easily: if you've created a document or spreadsheet etc, then you could use the Save or Save As... command (Ctrl+S).  The only thing to remember is that if you're making changes to a document with a name, then Ctrl+S or File, Save will overwrite the previous saved document with that name. It's good practice to do lots of Ctrl+S during creating a document.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: SHOW DESKTOP

For Windows XP, you'll have seen the icon for Show Desktop. Left mouse clicking on this icon minimizes all active windows on the desktop to the taskbar and leaves you with just the desktop.  The Windows key on the keyboard and 'D' does exactly the same job.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: START MENU

For those that don't have a Windows keyboard, Ctrl+Esc will launch the Start Menu, the equivalent to left mouse clicking on the Start Menu.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: SEARCH WINDOW LAUNCHER SHORTCUT

It's funny but Windows XP sees it as finding rather than searching and so the Windows key + F will launch a search window... or a find window... mmm!

WITH THE KEYBOARD: TASK MANAGER       

The Task Manager is launched usually with Ctrl+Alt+Del keys pressed together. Ctrl+Shift+Esc does the same job.

WITH THE KEYBOARD: TOGGLING (SWITCHING) BETWEEN TWO OPEN WINDOWS

Probably the most useful of all keyboard shortcuts is the switching between two opened windows. Alt+Tab brings to screen a dialog showing icons of the windows that are currently open. Keeping the left Alt key held down,  each press of the Tab key moves a highlighter over each of the icons, let go of both Alt and Tab when the desired icon is the window you wish to switch to.  It's an excellent shortcut for when you don't want to reach for the mouse and click on the other window, hidden by another window (or its button in the Taskbar).

WITH THE KEYBOARD: WINDOWS EXPLORER LAUNCH SHORTCUT

If you have a Windows keyboard, holding down the Windows keys (the left one is positioned between the Ctrl and the Alt key), and 'E' will launch a Windows Explorer screen.