E-tip #13

Nov/Dec 2005 Article 2 Volume 12

Clackity Clack
Computer short-cuts continued...

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Short cuts are great for saving time in our daily routines as we sit at our computers. Some of them can also make our piggy banks a little richer. What can we glean from short cuts? Alleviating a measure of our stress we encounter on a daily basis. Which is motivation enough to give these short cuts a try?

Windows/Internet Explorer:

• Alphabetizing the Programs list under our start button. This makes things easier to find in a long list of program names.
  
  
  1. Click the start button
     
  2. Open the All Programs list
     
  3. Hover your mouse over the list and right click
     
  4. Scroll to Sort by Name and left click
  
  It's that easy and you can do the exact same thing when you are in your Favorites list which is located on the Internet Explorer tool bar.
  
  

Outlook Express:

• Using spell check in Outlook Express when typing emails. There are pros and cons to using this feature. Some say that the spell check adds extra time to sending out an email. Personally I find it extremely helpful because when typing fast there tends to be a few more spelling errors than I would like in the email. [Can you read this? misspelled email] This is an option that can be a permanent* email setting or used just when needed. Here is the permanent setting until you decide to reset the option.
  
  
  1. Click on Tools
     
  2. Scroll to Options
     
  3. Click on Spelling tab
     
  4. The first 2 boxes under Settings are checked if you would like to have the spelling checked with every email sent.
     
  5. The next set of check boxes is choices you can decide on. [see diagram - 1]
  
  

Printer Options:

• A document is too wide to print. To remedy this situation select Landscape in the printer window. The default is the Portrait setting. You can see the difference on the way the paper is used for printing when selecting one of the two options, the image changes position.
  
  
  1. Click on File
     
  2. Scroll to Print
     
  3. Click on the button Printing Preferences/Properties [see diagram - 2]
     
  4. Select the Landscape button and click OK
     
  5. Then click Print in the Print window
     
  
  
  
• Setting the printer to print using only the black ink cartridge. Most printers now days have 2 ink cartridges, black and color. The colored ink is usually more expensive right? The way to get around this is to reset your default setting and then use just the black ink.
  
  
  1. Click File
     
  2. Scroll to Print
     
  3. Click on Preferences/Properties
     
  4. Click on Paper Quality tab
  5. Select Black & White under the Color heading
  6. Click OK
  7. Then in the Print window click Apply/OK
  
  
• Choosing to print in the Draft mode under Quality Settings. A good idea is to complete the prior tip and also refer to [diagram - 3]. The default settings for a printer are not always the most cost effective way to print basic information off the Internet. Why not add a few more pennies to our piggy banks, it makes us happy.
  
  
  1. Follow steps 1-4 in the previous tip
     
  2. Select Draft under Quality Settings
     
  3. Click OK
     
  4. Then in the Print window click Apply/OK
     

It's funny but sometimes we miss some of the simplest benefits in our programs because of not knowing that they exist. Oh the joy of making our day just a little bit easier! That is the basis of this e-tip. You can put these short cuts to the test in just a few short minutes and leave your cares behind...

Copyright © Lora Rozkowski. Lora is a website designer, author and owner of two Christian businesses. For more information send an email to: Roz@rozdesignz.com Reprinted with permission. Take a look at Roz's portfolio.

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Please let me know if I can answer any questions or help you further.

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