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Windows Tips

Make reading the web easier than ever – Video Tip

Although we now have 19″ and larger monitors on most new desktop computers, the text seems to shrink. Why is that? It has to do with screen resolution (how much information can be displayed). Screen resolutions on today’s monitors are up to 3X that of monitors we used just 6-8 years ago. We can see a lot more information, but often the text is too small to view for some computer users.

Never fear. Using this week’s tip, you can easily and quickly enlarge the text of any web page using only your keyboard and mouse. This tip will work with any web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc) and any operating system (Windows, Ubuntu, Mac OS X).

All you need is a mouse with a scroll wheel and your keyboard. This tip can be performed without the mouse as well, but I’ll touch on that later. First, when you are reading a web site, particularly news web sites and blog type sites like mine, look for an indication of a printer friendly page. Often designated as Printer Friendly, Print this article, or simply Print, clicking this link brings up a version of the article you are reading that is much less busy and cleaner than how the article presents on the web page itself. This alone may make enough difference for readability.

However, you can quickly increase the size of the text you are reading by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and spinning your mouse scroll wheel away from your body (towards the computer monitor). Amazing, no? Holding down the Ctrl key and spinning towards your body (away from the monitor) will shrink the text again.

The same result can be achieved by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the “+” or “-” keys as well. I think the mouse method is a little more intuitive and elegant.

Watch the short video below to see this tip in action and see the web as never before!

Windows Update? Yes, you should…

When Windows XP was released nearly two years ago, it was hailed as a ‘self-healing’ operating system (via the Windows Update system). Two years later, it has, in my humble opinion, held its own as a stable, fast operating system. However, Microsoft remains a large target for the tech degenerates of the world to launch assaults upon. And when these ingrates go after Microsoft, they unfortunately take many of us along for the ride.

That’s my soap box for the week. Where this all relates to this week’s tip of the week lies in the updates that are made available for Windows that help thwart these attacks. These updates arrive on our computers through the Windows Update program. You should see a little globe pop up near your system clock when updates are available. Don’t just ignore the little globe, click on it and install the updates that have been presented.

Print Anything You See on Your Screen – Video Tip

Many times a computer user may need the ability to print what they see on the screen, but can’t access a Print command.  Using the underutilized Print Screen button on the keyboard can rectify this situation.

The Print Screen button is usually located just to the right of your F keys and above the Insert, Home, Delete key section.  

Use Alt+Tab or Command(Apple)+Tab to quickly change applications – Video Tip

Thanks to long time listener and web visitor, Daniel, for suggesting this week’s tip. I have been using this technique for more than ten years, but in order to learn it, you really must see it in action. Thus, it was a natural for our Video Tips, which are now almost 18 months old!

For Ubuntu and Windows users, you can quickly switch between open programs by pushing Alt+Tab on your keyboard. Macintosh users have a key called the “Command” key on their keyboards. By holding down the Command+Tab key, Mac users can switch between their open programs.

Why use the keyboard instead of your mouse? Time. I didn’t run any official tests, but I’m willing to bet that it takes at least three times longer to look at your task bar or dock (how many of you know what that is?), hunt for the application you need to switch to, then click on that program than it does to use the Alt+Tab or Command(Apple key)+Tab technique.

I know this doesn’t make much sense reading it, so click the play button on the video below and watch it in action! I show the Windows technique first, Ubuntu second, and end with the Macintosh tip. All told it’s about 2.5 minutes…2.5 minutes that WILL change your computing life. Pass this tip on to ALL of your computer buddies.