Windows Tips

This information was written for Windows XP but most apply to any Windows system. See some Windows 7 tips.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Show Desktop START+D
• Run Explorer START+E
• Find Files START+F
• Run box START+R
• System Properties START+PAUSE
• Utility Manager START+U
• Switch between running applications ALT+TAB
• CTRL+[mouse wheel] changes text size up/down on some browsers
• WinXP shutdown sequence allows you to request Hibernate shutdown by holding the SHIFT key while clicking Standby (where allowed).
• To create your very own shortcut, just right click on any program icon and select Properties. In the "Shortcut Key" box, type a key (by default you must type CTRL+ALT+[key] to activate whatever the icon is for.

Setting your own keyboard shortcuts!

It's easy to set your own keyboard shortcuts to start applications quickly without having to search for icons on your desktop or the START menu. Right click on any shortcut icon and select Properties. In the Properties window click in the shortcut window and type any unused key (see the Windows Help system for a list of keyboard shortcuts).

Changing Screen Resolution in Windows

You probably didn't know that when you first got your computer, it was likely set for a 640 x 480 display screen in 256 colour mode. Most people haven't changed it to a higher resolution and are missing out on all the thousands of colours as well as some really beautiful Web sites on the Internet.

Most Internet sites are optimized for an 800 x 600 display in either Hi Color or True Color. If you own a computer running Windows 95 with a 14 inch monitor, you should be running in either Hi Color (65,000 colours) or True Color (16.5 million colours) mode. The resolution and speed at which you can run these higher colours depends on the capabilities of the graphics board in your computer (check your manual).

If you have Windows 95/98 it is easy to change to these resolutions. [If you have Windows 3, you can also change the screen resolution in the Control Panel, but you should locate the instructions for salvaging your Windows Setup if it doesn't work! If you choose a resolution that your hardware cannot use, you must reset the display settings by running the Windows SETUP program from a DOS command prompt.]

1. Go to your START button, choose SETTINGS, choose CONTROL PANEL, then choose DISPLAY to bring up the Display Panel (or point your mouse to your desktop, click the right mouse button and choose PROPERTIES).
2. Choose the SETTINGS tab. Now look at your settings. If the color palette setting is set to 256 colours and the desktop is set to 640 x 480 you are not getting the most out of your display with a Web browser.
3. Choose the color palette setting and choose either Hi Color (all systems) or True Colour (Pentium 133+).
4. Now go to the Desktop Area setting, and slide it over to 800 x 600 with your mouse. It is recommended that you do not try a higher desktop resolution than this until you have read your monitor manual to see what maximum resolution it supports.
5. Choose a font size that you feel comfortable with (those with poor eyesight may wish to try out a larger font size).
6. Now click the OK button. You must re-boot your system before these changes will take effect.
7. When your desktop appears again, it will be in a higher resolution with more colours. You may wish to try both Hi Color and True Color to see which looks better (True Color may be slower).

Getting back to the Desktop

When you want to return to the desktop view with open windows on top, use the Windows key + M. Press the Windows key next to the CTRL key on a Windows keyboard at the same time as you press the "M" key to minimize ALL your open windows. If you are using Windows 98 you can create a shortcut in your START menu. Click the Windows key, then Run, then type C:\windows\Start Menu to open the Start Menu folder. Now create a new shortcut here - click File, then New, then Shortcut, and type this: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Show Desktop.scf. Now when you click on the Start button and select "Show Desktop" you can reach your desktop view quickly.

Mouse method: right click on the taskbar (bottom if visible) and select "Minimize all windows" from the pop-up menu.

Make all your Folders look the same

In The file manager (Exploring), select the View menu, then Folder options, then the View tab, then Like current Folder. Next time you run this program all folders will look like the current folder.

Exploring using detailed display

Click the Windows key and select Settings, then Folder Options. In the file manager (Exploring), you can select "Details" from the view menu to display file size, date created, file type, etc. To display files ordered by date, click on the date heading; click again for reverse date order; click on the name heading to order by file name. To quickly change a column width, point your mouse to any column heading border until the pointer turns into a cross. Double click on the heading divider to reset the width to the widest entry.

Fast access to your desktop icons from the Toolbar!

The power of Windows is that you can run many applications at once. To start an application located on your desktop can be made much faster than closing all your applications. Just add a new Toolbar to your Taskbar that points to everything on your desktop!

1. Right click on an empty space in your Taskbar and select Toolbars from the popup menu, then New Toolbar.
2. In the selection box, type the text below replacing LOGINNAME with your Windows login name in this text (or click on My Computer and navigate to its location):
   C:\Documents and Settings\LOGINNAME\Desktop
3. As soon as you select the location, Desktop appears in your Taskbar. To display and select from a list of Desktop applications, just click on the brackets to the right of Desktop.

You may need to create additional Toobars for "All Users" or "Administrator" depending on how you were logged in when applications were installed. To add these as Toolbars use this address:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop

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