Windows Tips and Tricks
Dave and Helen Damouth www.damouth.org
Minor edits: 23 June, 2005
This document makes no attempt at completeness. It is simply a list of little things which make life easier for a novice Windows user. I've noticed in watching other users that these things often aren't used or understood. If you try a couple of these tricks and find they make your life easier, perhaps it will give you the incentive to buy (and read) a beginner's book on how to use Windows. You don't have to read it cover-to-cover all at once. Just browse a chapter occasionally when you have a little spare time. You'll find many little things (and a few big ones) which will make Windows simpler, faster, more powerful, and less frustrating. I've been using Windows almost since the dark ages, and I'm still occasionally finding a new and valuable trick.
I can't recommend a specific book on this topic. There are dozens on the shelves in larger bookstores - Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc. One way to start is to browse several such books. They are available in your local public library, and the bookstores also offer comfortable surroundings where you can sit and browse for hours. My technique for selecting a book is to pick a topic about which I already know quite a bit, and to browse the chapter about that topic in each of several books. Other times, I'll go to the library or bookstore for some help after I've spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to do some new thing at home. Some books will explain in a way that seems clear, obvious, convincing. Other books will make it sound hard - even something I already know will require me to read a paragraph several times before I finally understand what they are trying to say. When you find a book that explains one topic in a way that's clear to you, buy it! The other topics will probably also be equally clear. It's not that one book is necessarily "better" than the other. Rather, it is a matter of matching the author's style to your own learning mode, and the book that is best for you may not be best for someone else.
Windows often offers many different ways to accomplish the same simple task. Just because you've learned one way doesn't mean that it is the best or most convenient way for your particular style of use. Be willing to try alternatives. Be sitting in front of the computer while you browse your "Windows for Dummies" book, and try their way even when you already know a "better" way. You may be surprised.
Effective use of mouse buttons: By "mouse", I mean any of the common pointing devices. If you are using a laptop with a touchpad or with that little cursor-positioning stick in the middle of the keyboard, all of what follows is the same. (However, any time you are working at your own desk, with a flat surface where a mouse can be used, I strongly recommend that you plug in a real mouse - you'll find it significant faster and more convenient than the other pointing devices. Make sure you buy a quality mouse. The cheapest ones generally have stiff cords and buttons that are so stiff that they make the double-click motion difficult. Check the feel of the buttons and the flexibility of the cord before buying
Everyone knows that when editing text you set an insertion point for typing by moving the cursor to that point and clicking the left mouse button. "Click" means press and release the button without moving the position of the cursor. It really doesn't have to be quick, you can hold the button down as long as you like, as long as you don't move the position of the mouse.
But do you also know about "painting" with the mouse? If you want to select several characters at once, or even a whole phrase, position the cursor just in front of the first character, push down the left button, and hold it down while moving the cursor to the end of the string of text, then release the button. (Moving the cursor with the left button depressed is called "painting" - for reasons which will be obvious when you try it.) You can do this starting at either end of the string of text, and only the starting point needs to be visible on the screen. If the ending point is off-screen, most text editors will automatically scroll when you move the cursor to the edge of the screen with the left button depressed (try it - now!).
For selecting really big chunks of text (several pages), you may find it faster to position the cursor at the beginning of the text to be selected by clicking, then click multiple times in the window's scroll bar to page up or down until the desired end point is on-screen, then move the cursor to the desired end point and do a shift-click (hold down the shift key while doing a left-button-click) to select everything between the previous cursor position and the current position.
Double-Clicking: You'll already know that you double-left-click on an icon or on a program name (or document name) in a menu, to start the program or open the document. But there are other less-well-known reasons for double-clicking. In text editors, double-clicking generally "extends" the selection. Clicking once positions the cursor. Clicking twice selects the entire word nearest the cursor. In Microsoft Word, triple-clicking selects the entire paragraph. This behavior is not as standard as other mouse actions - it depends somewhat on which text-editing software you are using.
My finger won't double-click fast enough! Some people complain that double-clicking is difficult. Older people who aren't into piano playing or banjo-picking may find that their fingers just don't move fast enough. This is easy to fix: Open the Control Panel and then double-click on the mouse icon. A window appears that will let you adjust many aspects of mouse behavior, but exactly how this window is organized depends on what brand of mouse and which version of Windows you are using, so you may have look through the various tabs to locate the setting for double-click speed. In Windows XP, with an Intel Mouse, you click the "Activities" tab. This will show you a slider which you can adjust from very slow to very fast, and a button to test your own comfortable double-click speed. Some mouse software also puts a little mouse symbol in the right-hand corner of the task bar (the bar that pops up at the bottom of your screen). If your machine has this, just double click on it instead of going through the Control Panel. "speed" or "basics" tab. Different brands of mouse software may install slightly different versions of this mouse-customization software, but they should all have some way of changing the double-click speed. While you are in this mouse window, look over the other options as well. The mouse behavior can be changed is several ways, and you should experiment to find the behavior you like best.
So what's that other mouse button for? Try it, now! When you right-button click, a menu appears. What's in this menu is up to the designer of the particular software you are using, and it will change depending on what functions of that software you are currently using. The intent is to provide a selection of the commands you are most likely to need at the moment. For example, if you are using a text editor, the available right-button commands will probably include "cut" "paste", and "font properties", and a few other things. Using "cut" and "paste" from this menu is much faster than going to the "Edit" menu at the top of the screen, but is usually not as fast as using the shortcut keys described below (for those things for which a shortcut key exists, and assuming you've memorized the shortcut key). Some mice have additional buttons, or a wheel. The uses are non-standard, and you'll need to read your own user manuals (or poke around the mouse window mentioned above, or browse the on-line help documents) to find out what extra neat features are available with these additional controls.
One of the first things you should do when trying new software, or even just exploring new places in familiar software, is to right-button click - you'll find this to be quick and easy access to all sorts of neat and useful stuff.
Keyboard Shortcuts: The "cut-and-paste" metaphor is ubiquitous in Windows text editing. But the typical beginner's method of selecting "cut", "copy" or "paste" from the pull-down Edit menu at the top of the screen is very slow and clumsy. There is a much better (faster and easier) way, using "shortcut" keys: Windows offers shortcuts for most of the common functions, and you should memorize the shortcuts for the few edit functions you use most often.
Next time you visit the Edit menu (in almost any text-editing software), notice that there are two columns - each function is followed by a shortcut key. For example, after the "Copy" command, you'll see "Ctrl+C". This means hold down the "Control" key (which is near the lower left-hand corner of the keyboard and is labeled Ctrl on most keyboards) and simultaneously hit the "C" key. Similarly, "Cut" is Ctrl+X, "Paste" is Ctrl+V, etc. If you're like most people, you're reaching for a pencil to write these things down. Stop! A reminder for each of these shortcuts is always right there at the top of your screen in the Edit menu, available instantly. These shortcut keys are a Windows standard. You'll find that the same shortcuts willl be available in your EMail software as in your favorite word processing software.
Note that the common shortcuts are all chosen so that they can be done with two fingers of the left hand, while the right hand simultaneously manipulates the mouse or other pointing device. It doesn't matter whether you are left-or right-handed - always use the mouse with the right hand. (I'm left-handed and learned this the hard way - it is not practical to use the mouse with the left hand). As you use the shortcuts, your left hand will learn to fall automatically into the right position. For me, with a slight shift of hand position, my little finger goes to the CTrl key, and my index finger is then convenient to the "C" key. In this position, the other commonly used shortcut keys are also convenient - "V", "X", "D", etc. (Note that the names of these command keys are customarily shown as capital letters, but you don't actually use the shift key as though you were typing a capital letter).
So: to move a word from one place to another:
move the cursor to be over the word to be moved;
double-click the left mouse button (which selects the entire
word);
type Ctrl+X;
move the cursor to the place to which you want to move the word;
type Ctrl+V;
That's it! It's far faster to do it than to read the above. "Copy" and "Delete" have similar shortcuts. So do "Bold", "Italic", "Select the whole Document" and a whole bunch of other common actions.
Renaming an icon on the desktop: If you click once on any desktop icon to select it, then move the cursor down to the name area, just under the little picture and click again, the name will be opened for editing. You can change this name to anything you like. In most cases, these icons are "Shortcuts". Changing the name that appears on the screen will have absolutely no effect on anything else in your computer, so you can choose the name simply as a convenient memory device for you. When you manually create a shortcut by right-click dragging an application to the desktop (or elsewhere), the default name is "Shortcut to XXX" where XXX is the actual name of the executable program. This generally isn't what you would like to see - feel free to change it.