Speed Things Up On Your Side of the Keyboard
April 6, 2008 – 5:55 am
You don’t need to buy a new computer in order to speed up your computing tasks. You may be able to increase your productivity by learning to use your computer more efficiently. For instance, most newer computer keyboards have a Windows key located between the Ctrl and Alt keys on the bottom row of the keyboard. The Windows key can help you speed up your computing tasks – for example:
To minimize all applications: Press Windows + D
To restore the applications again: Press Windows + Shift + M
To open a Windows Explorer window: Press Windows + E
To lock down your system: Press Windows + L
You can also use some key commands to speed up your browsing in Firefox by automatically completing your URL addresses. Just type the web address minus the www. and .com. Then hit Control + Enter on a Windows computer or Command + Return on a Mac to complete the URL.
For .net addresses hit Shift + Enter in Windows and Shift + Return on a Mac.
For .org addresses hit Control + Shift + Enter in Windows and Control + Shift + Return on a Mac.
Finally, wouldn’t it be nice to have more than one default home page for your browser. If you use Firefox, you can set multiple websites to open when you open the browser or hit the Home button in your navigation toolbar. To set up multiple home pages:
Click on Tools>>Main>>Type each website in the Home Page box, one after the other but separated by the vertical bar “|” (Shift + \).
When you push the Home button, all of your pages will be opened in separate tabs. If you precede the entire address with a vertical bar “|”, Firefox will open the web pages using a new tab and won’t use the current open tab.