Simple Ways to Increase Productivity:

Internet Explorer - Easy Way to Scroll Through Web Pages
An easy way to scroll through web pages is with the spacebar. The spacebar will scroll down a page; Shift+spacebar will scroll up a page.

Windows - Getting Screen Shots
If you need to get a screen shot, and you do not have a screen capture program, try this: Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard. Start up a graphics editor and paste it in. Alt+Print Screen will capture only the active window.

Windows Explorer and Desktop - Adding Send To the Recycle Bin
Add a shortcut to the Recycle Bin in your Send To folder (usually found at C:\Windows\Send To). That way you can just right click on a file you want to delete, and send it to the Recycle Bin without having to confirm each time.

MS Office - Opening Multiple Windows in Outlook
If you want to have multiple windows open in Outlook (for example your Inbox and Calendar), Simply right-click on the new item and select Open in New Window This makes it a lot easier to cut and paste between Outlook applications.

MS Office - Selecting Columns in Word
Selections in MS Word are usually lines or paragraphs. To make a selection for a column across lines or blocks just press Alt key while you select your text. You will see that the selection does not select all of the line. It just selects the block or the area that had the mouse over it. Try it!

Windows - Stopping Applications from Starting Automatically at Startup
With Windows 98 and ME, you can run MSCONFIG. Click on the Startup tab to remove apps that are starting automatically from the registry. You can also search through the AUTOEXEC.BAT and WIN.INI files as well. Use with care!

MS Office - Recovering Damaged Text Files with Word 2000 or 97
Here's a handy tip to recover a corrupt or damaged text file through MS Word. It doesn't have to start out a Word file either. This can be used to recover any file that contains text. Here's how you do it: Open Word; click File | Open and click the file you wish to recover to select it. Down near the bottom of the page on the "Files of type" section, choose "Recover text from any file" Click "Open".

Windows Explorer - Moving Up and Down Directory Levels
To go one directory deeper, use the RIGHT Arrow. To back out one directory level, use the LEFT Arrow

Windows Explorer - Automatically Adjusting Right-Panel Column Widths
The column widths in the right hand panel of the Explorer might not be the correct sizes to display all the file information. To automatically adjust all the columns at once to show all the information, Click somewhere on the right-hand panel, then simply press Ctrl+ (Ctrl and the plus key). The Name, Size, Type and Modified columns will automatically adjust themselves to display all their information.

Internet Explorer - Moving Backward or Forward with a Wheel Mouse
You can rapidly go Backward or Forward in your IE Browser by holding down the Shift key while moving the mouse wheel. This saves moving your mouse up and clicking on the Back or Forward buttons. Most people already know the keyboard shortcuts by holding down the Alt key and hitting the left and right cursor keys to effect the same thing.

Windows - Minimising All Windows
Three methods.
1. Click on the Show Desktop icon (if you have one).
2. If you have a Windows keyboard (one with two Windows keys - most modern ones are), you can accomplish the same thing by pressing Windows+M.
3. Press Ctrl+Esc to bring up the Start Menu, then Alt+M.
This can be handy if you've a mass of applications running in full screen... or

Windows - Fast Access to the Desktop
To get an Explorer view of the Desktop, press Ctrl+Esc or click the Start button, press R to go to Run (note: If you are using a Windows keyboard, you can get to this point by pressing Windows+R), then type in a full stop (period).

Internet Explorer - Opening Links in a New Window
Hold down Shift and point with the mouse on a link. A new browser window opens automatically with the new page. This is useful for web sites that disable your right mouse button (like this one!)

Advanced Tips:

Windows - Shortcut to System Properties
Three methods.
1. To access the System Properties screen quickly, simply hold down the Alt key while double clicking on the My Computer icon.
2. Alternatively, right click on the My Computer icon and select Properties... or
3. While holding the Windows key, press the Pause (or Break) key. This will open up the System Properties box.
From here you can easily get to the Device Manager.

MS Office - Enabling Outlook 2000 Mail Logging
Normally Outlook 2000 does not log Internet, SMTP, and POP sessions. To turn on this feature:

• Start Regedit
• Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Office \9.0 \Outlook \Options \Mail
• Create a new DWORD
• Give it a name of Logging
• Give it a value of 1

After this, 3 files will be created in the C:\Windows\Temp\Outlook Logging directory.
InetXP.txt logs the Internet session; Pop3log.txt logs mail-retrieval activity; and Smtplog.txt logs mail-sending activity.
Note: Outlook Express can log sessions, too, but fortunately, it's easier to turn on the feature. Go to Tools-Options-Maintenance and select the logging you require by checking the tick boxes. The files produced are called *.log and are stored where your mail folders are kept.

Windows ME - Installing Windows ME Without a Previous OS
You can install an upgrade version of Windows ME without having a previous operating system actually installed. You just need to have a previous version's CD available. Try copying the ME source files to the hard drive and installing from there. When you are prompted for a previous operating system, simply insert your Windows 95/98 CD and browse to the directory where the source files are located. You can then continue installing on a clean system without having to install a previous version.

Windows 95, 98, ME - Deleting the TEMP Directory at Bootup
Normally your TEMP directory can fill with .tmp files, files left over from installs etc. An easy way to delete it each time you boot is to add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (assuming C: is your Windows drive):
@C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DelTree /Y C:\WINDOWS\Temp\

Windows 98, ME, 2000 - Using More Than One Modem at a Time
If you have two phone lines in your home and want to use them both to dial out, you can use MultiLink, which will effectively double your connection speed.

• Create a dial-up connection like your normally would
• Right click on the icon and select Properties
• Click on the Multilink tab
• Click on Use additional devices
• Click on Add
• Click on the other modem you would like to use
• If your ISP allows, you can use the same phone number, otherwise enter an additional phone number to dial

You should now connect with both modems. You can confirm this by opening up your dial up connection in the System Tray after you connect.

MS Office - Setting Excel 2000 High-Contrast Cell Selection
If you want to increase the contrast in selected cells:

• Start Regedit
• Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Office \9.0 \Excel \Options
• Add a DWORD value called Options6
• Give it a value of 16 (Hex)

Now when you select cells, they will be white on black.

Windows - Opening a DOS Window to either the Drive or Directory in Explorer
Add or Edit the following Registry Keys:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \Directory \shell \opennew
  Default Value="Dos Prompt in that Directory"
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \Directory \shell \opennew \command
  Default Value="command.com /k cd %1"
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \Drive \shell \opennew
  Default Value="Dos Prompt in that Drive"
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \Drive \shell \opennew \command
  Default Value="command.com /k cd %1"

These will allow you to right click on either the drive or the directory and the option of starting the DOS prompt there will pop up.

Windows 95, 98, ME - Changing the Colours of the Blue Screen of Death
You can change the normal colours of the background and text when you get a Blue Screen of Death. Edit the SYSTEM.INI file in the Windows directory. In the [386Enh] section add the entries: MessageTextColor=X
MessageBackColor=X
Where X is replace by the number for each of the following colours:

Then reboot. Purely cosmetic, but voilà, now you can have a Red Screen of Death!