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Windows Tips

Re-name your files and folders the easy way – Video Tip

Renaming files and folders can be a tricky task with the mouse. However, using your keyboard, renaming your files or folders is simple!

1. Click ONE time on the file or folder that you want to rename
2. Press the F2 key on your keyboard
3. Type the new name (remember that you can use up to 255 characters…but no slashes)
4. Press Enter on your keyboard

There you have four easy steps to organizing your files. Also, remember that you can perform this same function from within the OPEN or SAVE dialog boxes in many programs.

The only time that you cannot use this techniques is when the file is open.

Don’t add any extra mouse clicks or keyboard strokes to this tip and you should find instant success with this technique.

To rename multiple files at the same time, try this:

1. Select the files to be renamed
2. RIGHT Click on any ONE of the files
3. Type the new name for the file
4. Press Enter on your keyboard

The computer then renames the file you RIGHT clicked on and proceeds to rename all of the other selected files with the same name followed by a number in parenthesis.

Watch the video below to see this tip demonstrated.

Print Folder Contents

The ability to print out the contents of a folder (directory) on your computer does not exist in Windows.

“Why would I need to print out a list of what is in my folders?”, you ask. A couple of reasons actually; 1) it can serve as a quick glance reference to your computer’s contents and 2) you might want to print a copy of file names that you backed up.

Thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of programmers everywhere, you can print out those folders’ contents. One such program is called Folder Print 3. It is a FREE utility that you can download and install to satisfy this need.

Desktop Shortcuts Make Computing Easier – Video Tip

Learning to make Windows work for you instead of you working for it can yield many more happy and productive hours using your computer. One highly under utilized feature of Windows is the shortcut icon. Learning to use and manage shortcuts will give you a huge advantage with your computer.

Give Windows Vista a needed boost – Video Tip

Windows Vista is going away or improving so I will do my best to help Vista users make the best of a marginal situation. Lack of speed and responsiveness remains one of the biggest detriments to Vista.

I believe that one visiblible flaw with Vista’s speed is the over abundance of visual affects that require a great deal of resources. Disabling these unnecesary and sometimes irritating features will yield a little extra speed from Vista. Here’s how:

1. Click the Windows Orb (old Start button)
2. Type: SystemPropertiesPerformance (no spaces…type it as shown
3. Press Enter on your keyboard
4. Uncheck the features and affects you don’t need
5. Click Apply and OK

Watch the short video below to learn how to put this Vista tweak into practice:

Track multiple time zones in Vista – Video Tip

Windows Vista has few redeeming qualities, in my humble opinion. Some users, however, may have the need to track multiple time zones for work or personal use. I use this tip to track the time in Arizona where my brother lives. Because they don’t follow daylight savings time, I am forever confused about what time it is for him when I call.

Watch the short video below to learn how to quickly track up to three time zones if you are a Windows Vista user.

Quick access to today’s date – Video Tip

Many times when sitting in front of a computer screen, I need to know the date. I don’t tend to keep the date in my permanent memory, so I rely on calendars to remind me. With a Windows computer (from Windows 95 through Vista), you can quickly access the current date by hovering your mouse, don’t click, just hover on the time in your system tray.

Watch my quick 40 second tip demonstrating this extremely useful, but often forgotten tip.

Make your computer easier to read – Video Tip

Setting up a new flat panel monitor can be a mixed blessing. While the new screens are small, sharp and beautiful, they are also high resolution. This means that everything that used to fit in one inch on your screen now fits in a fraction of an inch as more dots are crammed closer together. This makes the image sharper, but the text size and all other objects on the screen much smaller.

Here are a few tips that can help make  the fonts, icons and text much larger and easier to read.

Windows Vista’s Open and Save Dialog Box – Video Tip

Vista Dialog Box

Windows Vista has brought us many changes…some good, many not so good. One change that takes some getting used to is the new open/save dialog box. It takes a little getting used to, but with some practice and tips in my video tip below, you will be in harmony with Gates' new monster. In the video, I include how to create shortcuts to your most used folders, explain the new Vista file hierarchy, and demonstrate how to effectively utilize the new dialog boxes you encounter when opening and saving files.

Windows Vista Integrated Search – Video Tip

As you know, I am not thrilled will Windows Vista. However, one feature I did find helpful since Day 1 is the integrated search. Vista constantly indexes your hard drive…probably one reason it feels slower than XP. Indexing means that Windows looks through all user generated files like word processing documents, email, spreadsheets and other user files. It then analyzes the file names and the content of these documents and stores that information in massive index files. Think of it as a "Google" for your own computer. Using the integrated search, you can type in a few characters and get instant results of matching documents or programs on your computer.

I'm torn about this feature because I feel that it makes the user a little lazy in really understanding where the data actually is stored, but the speed of the search is undeniable.

I mentioned that the Vista integrated search is sort of like a Google for your machine. Well, if you are a Windows XP user, you can get this same functionality with a tool from Google called Google Desktop or from Yahoo using the Yahoo Desktop .

Watch the video below for a short demonstration of how this tool works in Vista.

How to use System Restore

system restoreI don't know how we missed posting this tip, but somehow we did so now I'm rectifying the situation.

One of the best features of Windows XP (and now Vista) is the ability to undo many problems that we may cause ourself or the system causes through updates or other unknown situations. It is called System Restore and it allows you to roll back your system to a previous time when all was blissful without losing any valuable data like email, pictures, and other documents.