Technology Resources

 
Back to the Desktop!

Do you want to get to the desktop in a flash? Hold down the Windows Key ( next to the Ctrl and Alt key on most keyboards) and press M. This immediately minimizes all windows you have open and brings you to the desktop.

 Creating Doc. Templates

Do you spend a lot of time in Word creating custom documents, like envelopes or memos? If so, you may want to try creating document templates. Start a new document in Word and format it just the way you want it. Only include information that will never change -- for example, if you're creating an envelope template, just include your name, return address, and anything else you want to appear on every envelope. Click on the File menu in Word and choose Save As. Enter a name for the template and use the drop-down menu next to "Save As Type" to choose Document Template (*.dot). From now on, your template will appear in the list of document types you see when you create a new Word document.

Pesky XP Problem

I use the Draw feature in Word and hate that pesky drawing canvas. A poster on a teacher's board led me to the solution:

From tool >options > general > turn off the check: automatically create drawing canvas...
 

Change Letter Case

Students often don't realize Caps Lock is on until they have typed several lines; they also forget to capitalize titles and proper nouns.

Correcting capitalization errors can take valuable teacher time and frustrate students.

Use Shift F3 to switch between Title Case, Upper Case, and Lower Case.

 Synonyms Made Easy

A handy way to get some quirky and commonly used synonyms for any word in your Microsoft Word 2000 document is to right-click on the word and choose Synonym from the pop-up menu. Included among the list is even an antonym. Shift+F7 Thesaurus command does the same thing. In MS Word 2002, you can use Shift+F7 or Click Tools / Language / Thesaurus.

 Internet Explorer Shortcuts

Ctrl + H - Open the History Window
Ctrl + R - Reload the page
Alt + Left Arrow or Alt + Backspace  - Back (Previous Page)
Alt + Right Arrow - Forward (Next Page)
Esc - Stop
Alt + Home - Home page
End - Go to the bottom of the page
Home - Go to the top of the page
Ctrl + N - New Window opens
Ctrl + W - Closes window
Up arrow - Go up one line
Down arrow - Go down one line
F11 - Full screen (toggle)
Ctrl + F - Find on page
Ctrl + D - Add page to Favorites
Ctrl + P - Print current page
Ctrl + B - Organize Favorites
Ctrl + I - Open Favorites Window
Alt + D - Select text in address bar
Ctrl + F5 - Force Reload (Not from cache)

URL Shortcuts

You can type a word in the Internet Address bar and press CTRL+ENTER to automatically add http://www. and .com on either side of the word.

 Right Click with the Keyboard

Did you know that you can "right-click" an item without ever lifting your fingers off the keyboard? With that item (folder, file, whatever) selected, hold down the Shift key and press F10. Use your keyboard's up and down arrow keys to select the command you want, then press Enter.
 

 Script Debugging

It can drive you mad ... you're surfing away when you get a message saying there's an error on the web page and what Script Debugger do you want to use. Here's how to get rid of it.

Mostly these web page bugs won't effect your use of the page, it might but usually they don't. The intrusive 'script debugging' errors are a nuisance. That nuisance is made worse by many of these bugs generated by pop-up web ads. Sometimes the same message comes up again and again for the same web page (one for each separate error)

To stop the script debugging dialog in Internet Explorer:

In Internet Explorer choose Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
Near the top of the long list is the Browsing section.
In that section are two items:
Disable Script Debugging - should be ON
Display a notification about every script error - should be OFF
Click OK to finish.

It's that simple!