Online tip: Websites you visit regularly may feature in your Favourites list or even on the Links toolbar but for those who prefer to use their keyboard whenever possible you can also assign a shortcut to specific addresses.First, add the relevant page to your Favourites list — Favourites/Add To Favourites. Then click Favourites/Organize Favourites and locate the newly-added web page link. Right-click it and then on the menu which appears, left-click Properties and then the Web Document tab (if it isn’t already selected). Left-click once in the Shortcut Key box and press any letter on your keyboard — M, for example. You’ll see that Windows automatically assigns the shortcut key Ctrl-Alt-M. OK your way out, close the Favourites dialogue box and try your new shortcut by navigating away from the site you’ve just added and then pressing Ctrl-Alt-M — it should take you back to that original site.
To paste just the chart from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet into your PowerPoint slide but without pasting in the entire worksheet, right-click the chart itself and left-click Copy on the menu which pops up. Move to your PowerPoint slide, left-click once at the point where you want to insert the chart and hit Ctrl-V on your keyboard, or left-click Edit/Paste, or right-click at the insertion point and left-click Paste on the menu, which pops up.
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You may already be familiar with the Thumbnail view of folders for looking at those filled with pictures, but it can also work for folders with documents in them. Right-click the relevant folder and left-click Properties/General (tab), then tick the check box that says Enable Thumbnail View. OK your way out and double-click the folder to open it. Now, when you click the View menu, you should see the Thumbnail option — select it by left-clicking and the first page of each document will replace that document’s icon. However, rendering these icons is hard work for your computer and it can take a while to show a document full of them, so it’s probably best to use it only when you really need it, rather than setting it as the default for all folders.
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If you use the Run command on your Windows Start menu a lot, you don’t need to retype those commands you repeat regularly. Either click on the downwards-pointing arrow to the right of the dialogue box, or just start typing the command and it will appear. Hit the down arrow on your keyboard, select the appropriate one, hit Enter and it will run.
Chris Ward
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Questions from readers are welcome, but Chris Ward regrets that personal replies are not always possible.