Create Global Hotkeys

This tip might be my favorite, but its also quite complicated. Let’s say that you are transcribing an audio recording. Every few seconds, you need to press pause, so you can type what you just heard. Then you need to type, go back, and press play. A lot of time can be wasted bringing your mouse back and forth from Windows Media Player (WMP) to Microsoft Word. There are a few well known suggestions. For example, simply download and use Winamp (see PC TIP, “Windows Media Player Alternatives”) instead of WMP. With that player, you can customize global hotkeys for play and pause. But if you prefer sticking with WMP, there is finally a solution that is relatively quick, albeit complex.

First, download and install AutoHotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com/download/). You will now be creating a script which will basically have the same function as a global hotkey. So, open a folder, like My Documents, where you want to keep the script. Right-click inside the folder, select New, and then select AutoHotkey Scipt. Rename the file to WMP.ahk (Don’t forget the “.ahk” because it will not create that automatically, unlike “.doc”). Then right-click WMP.ahk and select Edit Script. Erase the words that are currently in the file once it opens. Then paste the following text into the file:

^space::PostMessage, 0x111, 18808, 0, ,Windows Media Player ; Play/Pause Track

Close the file. Now, just double-click WMP.ahk and you should see a new icon in the System Tray. That means that the script is running. Open up WMP and minimize it, so it is visible on the Taskbar, but it is not in “mini-player mode.” Then, whenever you want to press pause and play without switching to WMP, just type Ctrl-Space (that is, hold down the Ctrl button and Space bar at the same time. Press them again, and WMP will resume playing, etc.). To exit the script, right click its tray icon, and select Exit.

Check out http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Tutorial.htm to learn other ways for using this fine tool.

Receive and Send Faxes From Your PC without a fax machine:

For incoming faxes, you can use eFax (http://www.efax.com). The service will give you gives me a free fax number with an area code that's somewhere in Ohio. Faxes can be delivered to your inbox as an e-mail attachments. There's no charge; there's no limit on the number of incoming faxes; and you will only get occasional spam from eFax pitching upgrades.

To fax documents from your PC, you can use Fax1 (http://www.fax1.com). You pay a paltry 12 cents per page, and you get a dollar in credit to try the service. Fax1 can be used for incoming faxes, but it charges $9 per month for that service, while eFax receives faxes for free.

Open Multiple Bookmarks at Once in Firefox:

If you would like to open a number of bookmarks at once, without setting them as multiple home pages, try this: Take the group of bookmarks you want to open at once, and store them in one folder on the Bookmarks toolbar. Right-click the folder and select “Open In Tabs.”

Conversely, to save all of your open tabs at once, just click on the BOOKMARK menu and select BOOKMARK THIS PAGE. Though the window that pops up will prompt you for a name for the single bookmark, just pretend it’s asking you for a folder name. Type that in, select the Bookmarks folder for a location, and make sure you click “Bookmark all tabs in a folder.” A new folder will appear in your Bookmarks menu containing all the tabs currently open in your browser.

Some Great Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts

• Find Text: /
• Insert “www” and “.com” around entry: Ctrl-Enter
• Use entire screen for viewing page: F11
• Increase text size: Ctrl-Plus
• Decrease text size: Ctrl-Minus
• Restore text size to 100%: Ctrl-0
• Cycle to next tab: Ctrl-Tab (or, Ctrl-PageDown)
• Cycle to previous tab: Ctrl-Shift-Tab (or, Ctrl-PageUp)
• Set focus to address field: Ctrl-L
There are many more, but these are the more useful ones.

Why AREN’T you hibernating?!

Hibernation saves the current state of your system to disk, so the system can completely power down but be restored to the same state when restarted. Best of all, the battery doesn’t drain in this state. To enable hibernation, launch POWER OPTIONS from the CONTROL PANEL, click on the HIBERNATE tab, and check the box labeled ENABLE HIBERNATION. Then, when you have need to shut down, but want a bunch of open programs to still be open when you reboot, click START, TURN OFF COMPUTER, hold down the SHIFT key (so “Standby” will turn into “Hibernate”) and click HIBERNATE.

Create your own keyboard shortcuts:

For this tip, we will use MS PAINT to represent any program you wish to open with a keyboard shortcut. Right-click PAINT’s icon, and select PROPERTIES. Click the SHORTCUT tab and place the cursor in the SHORTCUT KEY box, that currently says “None.” While pressing down CTRL, type any letter, like “P” (for Paint), and you will see that in the SHORTCUT KEY box, it now says CTRL-ALT-P. Now, whenever you type CTRL-ALT-P, Paint will open automatically.

Another great tool that is buried in START, ALL PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES is Calculator, which I have set up to open up with CTRL-ALT-C.

And if you don’t like the CTRL-ALT combo, try CTRL-SHIFT instead!

Workaround For Rebooting To Safe Mode In XP:

Sometimes the common method for rebooting to Safe Mode are impossible, like if you have a USB keyboard. (The common method is restarting and pressing F8, or some other key, at the right moment.) To configure XP so its next restart will enter Safe Mode, launch the System Configuration Utility (START, RUN, msconfig), click the BOOT.INI tab and check the box titled /SAFEBOOT. Don’t touch the other settings. When you reboot, XP will restart in Safe Mode and will keep doing so until you uncheck that box.

Retrieve Data when Windows Won’t Even Boot Up In Safe Mode:

If your hard drive crashes and Windows won’t even boot up in Safe Mode, you are NOT out of luck. Remove the hard drive from your pc carefully and install it in an external drive enclosure, which should cost around $30. Then connect that enclosure to a USB 2.0 port on a working OC. It will appear as a removable drive in MY COMPUTER, allowing you to peruse the drive and copy any files that haven’t been damaged. If your drive isn’t readable at all, you can pay a few hundred dollars to a data recovery firm, like Ontrack (www.ontrack.com), which will use specialized hardware to find any readable data on your drive.

Transfer Files From One Notebook On Your Network To Another:

If you have two laptops on one network and want to transfer files between them, click START, CONTROL PANEL, NETWORK CONNECTIONS, right-click on the network icon, and select PROPERTIES. Check the box beside ‘File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.’ Open MY COMPUTER, right-click on the SHARED DOCUMENTS folder, select the SHARING AND SECURITY tab from the popup menu, and click the checkbox beside “Share this folder on the network.” On the other PC, open MU COMPUTER and select TOOLS/MAP NETWORK DRIVE. Enter a network drive letter and the network path of that shared folder (i.e. \\Tim\SharedDocs), click the “Reconnect at logon checkbox,” and press FINISH. A network drive icon will appear in MY COMPUTER.

Free Remote Access:

If you forgot a file at home, my best advice is to go home and get it. While you are there, download and install LogMeIn Free remote access service (www.logmein.com). With LogMeIn, anyone can access their home home or office PC from any other Internet-connected computer. This free service displays a full real-time image of your home or office PC’s screen on your notebook. You can open files, run applications, access your e-mail, and otherwise control your remote PC as if you were sitting right in front of it. The next time you forget a file, you’ll have access to it from anywhere.

Undelete!

If you have ever accidentally pressed shift-delete, or emptied the recycle bin, when you wished you had not, you know how upsetting that can be. Most people don’t realize, however, that when you delete a file, you’re not actually erasing it; you’re only erasing the pointer that Windows uses to assign it a spot on the hard drive. As long as a new file hasn’t already been saved over it, a utility like Recover Lost Data ($39.99, www.stompsoft.com) can get it back. Before spending your money, though, try this excellent and free utility: Restoration @ http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html.

Get rid of the annoying Acrobat:

Most PC users will agree that Acrobat is annoying. PDF files viewed over the internet usually lock up your browser, and PDF files on your desktop take forever to load and close. Try this free alternative: FOXIT READER: www.foxitsoftware.com

Disposable Email Addresses:

Need a temporary email address to give to some annoying web site that insists on you registering? Well, simply make up anything and then add the suffix “@mailinator.com”. For example, bob@mailinator.com. Then go to the Mailinator website and collect any email to that account. It's free and you don't even need a password to get your temporary mail. All mail is deleted after a few hours. Check it out at http://www.mailinator.com .

Easily Get Rid of Formatting or Style:

If you need to dump a bunch of formatting, say, bold or italics, highlight the bothersome text, press Ctrl-Space, and you're back to plain vanilla. It's just as easy to get rid of the underlying Style with Ctrl-Shift-N anywhere in the troublesome paragraph.

Send Free Text Messages to Cell Phones via Email:

Sending text messages via email is not new, but until now you needed to know the right domain, carrier, etc… Now, just enter the ten-digit phone number followed by @teleflip.com into the "To:" box of an email message. It should look like this "5161234567@teleflip.com

Save Space by Deleting Word’s Old Recovered Files:

Click START, SEARCH, choose ALL FILES AND FOLDERS, enter “~*.tmp” in the box labeled ALL OR PART OF A FILE NAME, select LOCAL HEARD (C) under LOOK IN, and click SEARCH. Then delete those old temp files.

Screenshots Made Easy:

There are plenty of programs out there that you can use to capture screen shots. To grab your entire screen with just Windows, tap the Print Screen key. Then use Ctrl-V to paste it into an e-mail message, Windows Paint, Word, or any other application. The Paint applet, however, is best if you want to save the image as a file. But what if you just need the active window? Hold down the Alt key when you hit Print Screen

Password-Protect a Document in Microsoft Word:

You can password-protect a document in Word so that only authorized users can open or modify its contents. Note that a skilled hacker may be able to break the encryption, but password protection may work in some cases. To enable this feature:

1. Open the document you want to protect.
2. Click Tools, then click Options, and select the Security tab.
3. Next to "Password to open" type in the password necessary to view the document.
4. Next to "Password to modify" type in the password necessary to make changes to the document.
5. The above two choices are mutually exclusive.
a. So, for example, if you only want to prevent users from editing your document, but don’t mind them reading it, ignore step 3 and follow step 4.
b. And, if you decide to create a password to modify your document only, realize that another user will still be able to edit and save your document under a different file name.
6. I can not stress this point enough: REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD!
7. Click OK to save your changes

Hide the Office Clipboard: Hide the Office Clipboard:

In Microsoft Word, whenever you copy multiple items to the Clipboard, an Office Clipboard appears to the right of your current document. This Clipboard lets you copy and paste text using one of the last several items copied to the Clipboard. While many people find this feature useful in that they can copy several items to the Clipboard for later pasting use, others find this pane annoying in how it automatically pops up, potentially hiding part of the current Word document. To prevent the Office Clipboard from automatically popping up:

1. If the Clipboard is not already onscreen, click Edit, then click Office Clipboard, and then click on the Options button at the bottom of the pop-up window.
2. Uncheck “Show Office Clipboard Automatically,” uncheck “Show Office Clipboard Icon on Taskbar,” and uncheck “Show Status Near Taskbar When Copying”.
3. Click the "X" on the top-right of the Office Clipboard pane to close

Stop Requiring CTRL-Click to Visit a Hyperlink in Microsoft Word:

Whenever you want to visit a hyperlink using Microsoft Word, you cannot just click on the hyperlink. Instead, you must hold down the CTRL key while clicking the hyperlink.

This is for your protection. Microsoft Word keeps you from accidentally visiting web sites that you don't want to visit linked in documents, plus it keeps you from editing a document and accidentally jumping around to a different section.

However, you may want to disable this setting so just clicking on a hyperlink views its destination without requiring the CTRL key.

1. Click Tools, then Options, and then select the Edit tab.
2. Uncheck "Use CTRL + Click to follow hyperlink."
3. Click OK to save your changes.

Faster Website Address Typing:

Instead of typing “http://www.anysite.com” you can just type “anysite”, then press ctrl+Enter, and it automatically puts in the “http://www.” and the “.com”. Of course, in Firefox, many websites don’t need the “www” or “.com” – for example, simply typing “yahoo”, and then pressing enter, will immediately bring up www.yahoo.com.

Delete Stubborn Files:

Sometimes you may find that a certain file you are trying to delete will not delete and will cause a Windows error message. Try these suggestions:
1. First, restart the pc, and try again.
2. If that doesn’t work, try deleting the folder the file is in, after relocating any other important files in that folder.
3. If that doesn’t work, download and install WhoLockMe, a tool that shows which Windows process is locking the file, in order to see if it is a virus/spyware/etc. It then helps you delete it. WhoLockMe can be downloaded @ find.pcworld.com/47728

Make all menus in the Menu Bar in Microsoft Word XP expand by default:

1. Open Word, click Tools, click Customize, click Options, and under "Personalized Menus and Toolbars", check “Always Show Full Menus” and click Close.

Customize the default location for “Save As…” in Microsoft Word XP:

If you do not store your files in “My Documents,” you may want to change the default settings for “Save As…” which currently defaults to “My Documents.”

1. Open Word, click Tools, click Options, select the File Locations tab, highlight Documents, click Modify, select the new desired default location (such as Desktop) from the drop-down box, and click OK.

2. Click OK

Defining a Network Printer

I find it useful to define, on my office PC, a network printer for big print jobs and jobs that I want to be printed duplex. Here is an illustration of how to define a network printer.
Click Start, Printers and Faxes, Add Printer., Next.

Select “A network printer,” Next.

Select “Connect to this printer” and enter the name of the printer -- in this case, \\UNIPRINT\RW135, the printer in the Rawl 135 computer lab. Next.


No, Next


Finish

Manage Internet Explorer Add-Ons

Tools, Manage Add-ons and get a window like this:


Displayed will be all add-ons currently loaded in IE, sorted into those that are disabled and those that are enabled. To research what a particular add-on is, Google its name or the name of the file. I was suspicious of the “53707962-….” add-on from Safer Networking. I scrolled to the right and found the file name, “SDHelper.dll” and searched Google for that. I learned that it is part of Spybot Search and Destroy, probably the part that immunizes IE, so I left it enabled.
I was also suspicious of the add-on “Research” with no publisher name and no file name. Turns out that it is added to IE when you install MS Office. To see it in action, click View, Explorer Bar, Research. It allows you to search a variety of online reference books and research sites.
If you want to disable or enable an add-on, just click on its name and select the “Enable” or “Disable” Setting.
To see ALL of the Add-ons that have been used by IE, whether or not they are currently loaded, change the “Show” to “Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer”:


Those that I found suspicious include”
• acpController.dll – part of IBM’s “Access IBM”
• ICSScanner Class – part of Zone Alarm

Ten PC Ten PC Tips For Communicating With A Diverse Audience

by

Simma Lieberman

Word Count: 450

By learning to speak to a diverse audience, you can broaden your client base transfer the learning to more people. We need to be more "PC". Were not talking "political correctness", were talking "Positively Conscious", of who is in our audience and understanding how to make people feel included. The more people feel included, the more they will listen to you, use your information and come back for more. If you offend people they will shut down and you will lose them.

1) Use words that include rather than exclude. While some women don't mind being called ladies, in a professional setting the word women is more appropriate. Be "positively conscious" of pronouns when discussing hypothetical cases. I have been inn workshops where the facilitator spoke as though all managers were "he" and all administrative support were "she". Metaphors are very effective. Remember to mix them. Don't use only sports metaphors. Have a balance. In Europe when they think of football they think of soccer. Be aware that people have different abilities. Instead of telling everyone to stand, you might say everyone who is able please stand, and have a way for others to participate in the exercise.

2) Learn the demographics of the audience before your presentation, and prepare.

3) Do not assume everyone shares your religious beliefs.

4) Look at everyone in the audience and smile at them. Speakers can have a tendency to visually relate to people who look more like them. Assume everyone wants to be valued.

5) Do not use humor that puts down any particular group. If you are not sure, get feedback from others.

6) Examine your assumptions about people who are different than you. Be open to letting go of those assumptions.

7) Do not be afraid to ask for the correct pronunciation of someone's name.

8) If someone has an accent and you can't understand them, ask them to repeat what they said slowly, because what they are saying is important to you.

9) Use methodology in your presentations to accommodate different learning styles. Visual Auditory Kinesthetic

10) Be comfortable with silence. In some cultures that can mean respect and attention. Be comfortable with direct interaction. In some cultures that can mean respect and attention. Be comfortable with saying, "I don't know."

Simma Lieberman is a trainer, speaker, consultant and coach with over 20 years of experience helping organizations and businesses meet the demands of modern workplaces. She is known for her ability to help people break down assumptions, build dialogues, and create healthy working relationships. For additional information, contact FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email Susie@FrogPond.com; http://www.FrogPond.com

Ten PC Ten PC Tips For Communicating With A Diverse Audience by Simma Lieberman Word Count: 450