You may have the hottest hardware under the sun, but it's nothing if your system isn't running smoothly. After all, it's the little things that make life bearable, and given the undeniable nature of software to be annoying, you'll want to set it up exactly how you like.

To that end, we've taken a dive into the highly chlorinated pool of most commonly used software, and come out itching with some handy hints to make life a little easier. So come, wade with us, the water's fine...

Note that a number of these tips require administrator access to your machine, and you may not (and most likely should not) be able to do them at work!

Windows XP SP3
Note for the sake of this article, the Classic View is used for Control Panel.

001.

Turn off Personalized Menus Microsoft's Personalized Menus was an interesting idea — hide the commands you don't use often to create a more streamlined interface. Unfortunately all it did was annoy users as they couldn't find the menu entry they wanted. To turn them off if you're using the Classic Start menu: Right-click on the Start button and click on Properties Click Customize Scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Start menu options box and untick Use Personalized Menus and click OK You can also get rid of the evil things in Office 2003: Right-click on a toolbar and choose Customize Click the Options tab Check Always show full menus Click the Close button

002.

Stop Security Center from whinging Security Center, which was introduced with Service Pack 2 and is still very much present in Service Pack 3, likes to tell you all the time that your system is insecure, especially if you've got Automatic Updates turned off, or a firewall or antivirus running that it doesn't recognise. To silence its complaints: Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Security Center On the left-hand side of the application click the link that says Change the way Security Center alerts me Uncheck the item(s) causing you grief — either Firewall, Automatic Updates, Virus Protection — then click OK No, we're not as insecure as you think we are. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

003.

Customise your Start menu There's a number of options you can choose to make the Start menu a bit friendlier. For example, for faster access to Control Panel applications and your network details, you can expand their entries in the Start menu. Right-click on an empty space on the task bar, and then click on Properties Click on the Start Menu tab. Click the active Customize button If you're using the Classic Start Menu, select Expand Control Panel and Expand Network Connections If you're using the standard Start Menu, in the Control Panel section select Display as a menu. Network Connections sadly doesn't obey the same behaviour here, but you can do the next best thing and set it to link to the right place — under the Network Connections section, select Link to Network Connections folder Click OK, then OK again to effect the changes There's plenty of other options here, so feel free to prod around. An expanded Control Panel and Network Connections option should speed up your navigation. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

004.

Install TweakUI, enable tab completion No Windows XP user should be without TweakUI. Amongst its bundle of tweaks, it can set the autocomplete function properly for Command Prompt — meaning that you only have to type the first letter of the file or directory you want, then hit TAB and Command Prompt will fill in the rest. If it brings up the wrong answer, simply hit TAB again to cycle to the next, or press SHIFT + TAB to go backwards if you've gone too far. Download TweakUI and install it Run the program, then go to the Command Prompt section and set Filename completion and Directory completion to TAB, then click OK Tab completion makes Command Prompt work bearable. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

005.

Use proper search By default, Windows XP hides a bunch of files from the search engine. It also uses a plasticine-looking dog called the "Search Companion" that you'll want to get rid of post haste. Open Windows Explorer, and hit F3 to open the search panel Click the Change preferences link, and then the Without an animated screen character link Click Change preferences again, then click Change files and folders search behavior link and select the Advanced option, then click OK Expand the newly seen More advanced options section by clicking on it, and make sure Search system folders, Search hidden files and folders and Search subfolders is selected to get the best possible search results How the search engine should be. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

006.	No to all When moving files, Windows XP will give four options: Yes, Yes to All, No and Cancel. Sometimes though, you want a No to All — to enable this, just hold down SHIFT while clicking No. Where's the "No to All"? (Credit: CNET.com.au)

Windows Vista SP1

007.

Turn off User Account Control (UAC) The most annoying feature of Vista, UAC interrupts with a pop-up dialogue box, consistently asking if it's OK to run things. It serves two purposes, both to protect the user in case a malicious program is run, and to get programmers to write more secure code. Which is all very nice, but it completely gets in the way of day-to-day work. Here's how to turn off the annoying nuisance forever. Click the Windows button in the bottom left-hand corner. Click Control Panel. This step will change depending on whether you're using the Classic view for Control Panel or not. If you're using Classic View, double click User Accounts If you're using the default view, click on the green User Accounts and Family Safety link, then the green User Accounts link There should be a link here, Turn User Account Control on or off. Click it Click Continue in UAC for the last time Uncheck User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer, then click OK A notification will pop up — save any documents you have open, and choose Restart Now to reset your computer Never deal with UAC again! Die, die, die my darling. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

008.

Show multiple time zones in the system tray If you're an international traveller, or have family or business overseas, this one might come in handy, allowing you to display up to two extra clocks from the system tray. Click on the time, then click on the Change date and time settings... link Click on the Additional Clocks tab Check one of the boxes that says Show this clock Set the time zone and display name and click OK when done Now when you click on the time, a second or third clock is shown, with the display name used as a label above it World time is one click away. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

009.

Improve network performance By default, Vista SP1 has protections enabled which throttle back network performance while playing a media file. This is to ensure the CPU has enough available cycles to play back the media smoothly; however, it may lead to noticeable network performance deficits, particularly over gigabit. To turn it off: Click on the Windows button Type regedit and hit enter Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\ Double click the NetworkThrottlingIndex key, and enter FFFFFFFF as the Value data, making sure the Base is set to Hexadecimal Note that the entry supports values between 1 and 70, and the default is 10. If you enter a numeric value, make sure that the Base is set to Decimal rather than Hexadecimal. The higher the number, the more the throttling is weighted in favour of the network. You may wish to experiment to suit your particular network set-up/media playing needs.

010.

Control your audio Windows Vista supports per application volume control — meaning you can turn your Windows sounds right down, but Media Player right up, for example. Just right-click on the volume icon in the system tray, and click Open Volume Mixer for the extra level of configurability. Finally, we can control volume per application. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

011.

Better screenshot tool Unlike the ages old Printscreen button on the keyboard that takes a screenshot of your entire screen, there's a more complex tool hidden within the bowels of every version of Windows Vista except Home Basic. Known as the snipping tool, it was originally found in an add-on pack for XP Tablet Edition 2005, to make using a stylus easier. Now mouse users on Vista can reap the benefits too. Just open the Start menu, type snip and hit enter to load the tool. You can now specify whether you want to take a screenshot of a free-form area, a rectangular one, isolate a window or take a screenshot of the entire screen. After you've used the mouse to highlight the area you want, you can draw on the screenshot to add notes, and then save it as you would a normal file. You can create a keyboard shortcut to it in two ways. For the first, right-click on the application, choose Properties, select the Shortcut tab and in the Shortcut key field click, and enter any alphanumeric key. By default Windows assigns a CTRL + ALT in front of the shortcut, however, we've found this often doesn't work — try holding down SHIFT while pressing a key, to make the key combination CTRL + SHIFT + [whatever key you pressed]. You might create a shortcut here that will clash with existing ones, so be careful. By far the easier way is to simply CTRL + drag the Snipping Tool shortcut into your Quick Launch bar, effectively copying it there. Now you can access it by pressing + whatever number Quick Launch button it is (for example, if it was the first in the row, you'd press + 1). Better screenshots for all! (Credit: CNET.com.au)

Windows XP & Vista

012.

View all files in Windows Explorer By default, Windows Explorer hides a lot of files from the user. It's easy enough to turn them back on, and if you want to poke around your system it's the only way to fly. Open Windows Explorer. Go to the Tools menu, and select Folder Options.... Select the View tab, and under Hidden Files and Folders, select Show hidden files and folders. Beneath this, deselect Hide extensions for known file types. This means you should now be able to see whether a file is a .JPG or a .PNG for example. You can optionally deselect Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) under this, however most people won't need this, and unless you really want to see a Desktop.ini file in every folder, it's best to just leave it off. Make sure you can see all your files, not just the ones Microsoft wants you to see. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

013.

Turn on the Quick Launch bar So many don't even know it exists! The Quick Launch bar is a handy little toolbar into which you can drag application shortcuts that you regularly use. This way you can click once to launch them, rather than having to go through the Start menu. Right click on an empty spot on the taskbar, and mouse over Toolbars. Click Quick Launch. If the little handle doesn't appear for you to resize the Quick Launch bar (in case you need more room for your shortcuts), right click on an empty spot on the taskbar and make sure Lock the taskbar is unticked. If it's not, simply click on it to unlock the taskbar. You may choose to relock it once you're done resizing. You can delete icons from here by right clicking on them and choosing Delete; can reorder them by clicking on them and holding down the left mouse button, then dragging; or add new icons simply by dragging them from elsewhere in Windows. You can also drag icons from the Start menu — but make sure to hold down CTRL at the same time so it copies the shortcut rather than moves it. The Quick Launch bar gives you quick access to your applications. The vertical line the two arrows are pointing to is the handle, which by left clicking on and dragging you can adjust the size of the bar. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

014.

Keep your desktop icons in order Simple one this — right click on the desktop in an empty spot. In Windows XP, mouse over Arrange Icons By, and make sure Auto Arrange and Align to Grid are selected. By deault this orders all icons on the left hand side in alphabetic order, although you can also choose from Size, Type and Modified order. Or for the ultimate clean desktop, simply deselect Show Desktop Icons. In Windows Vista, it's a little different. Right click on the desktop in an empty space, and mouse over View. Here you have the same Auto Arrange, Align to Grid and Show Desktop Icons options, however gone are the arrange options, instead giving access to Large Icons, Medium Icons and Classic Icons. You can find the extra order options under the Sort By menu, below View. Get those desktop icons to do what you want. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

015.

Know your keyboard shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts can make using your PC a heck of a lot quicker. Listed below are some of the essentials — note that a plus symbol (+) indicates striking keys simultaneously. Universal shortcuts Opens Start menu. You can also use CTRL + ESC + R Open Run dialog + E Open Windows Explorer + D Show desktop + L Lock computer + PAUSE or BREAK Load system properties + B Make the system tray active. Use Enter to simulate a double click, or use the arrow keys to select the icons + TAB Windows XP: Cycle forward through applications in the taskbar Windows Vista: Cycle forward through Flip 3D + T cycles the taskbar forward in Vista + SHIFT + TAB Windows XP: Cycle backward through applications in the taskbar Windows Vista: Cycle backward through Flip 3D + SHIFT + T cycles the taskbar backward in Vista ALT + TAB Cycle forward in task switcher ALT + SHIFT + TAB Cycle backward in task switcher CTRL + ALT + DEL Bring up the Windows Security dialog, allowing you to log out, change password, lock the computer, shutdown or run the Task Manager CTRL + SHIFT + ESC Load the Task Manager PrintScreen Take a screenshot, and copy it to the clipboard. To retrieve it, you'll need to paste it into an imaging program like Paint and save it Windows Vista Only + any number Hotkeys for the appropriate entry in the QuickLaunch bar. For example, + 1 will execute the first shortcut, + 2 the second, and so on. File operations in Windows Explorer CTRL + C Copy the file CTRL + X Cut the file CTRL + V Paste the file. If you previously performed the copy shortcut, the file will be copied to the chosen location. If you previously performed the cut shortcut, the file will be moved to the chosen location CTRL + Z Undo the previous file operation Holding CTRL when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, force the file to copy to the new location Holding ALT when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, create a shortcut to the file in the new location Holding SHIFT when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, force the file to move to the new location ALT + ENTER or ALT + double left click on icons Load the properties dialog SHIFT + DEL Delete file immediately, without sending it to the Recycle Bin. SHIFT + arrow keys, or HOME/END Group select/deselect multiple sequential files CTRL + left click Select/deselect multiple specific files F2 Rename file F3 Open search Explorer bar F4 Go to address bar F5 Refresh contents Numpad * Expand entire selected folder tree CTRL+ A Select all files in current window or numpad + Expand current folder or numpad - Collapse current folder BACKSPACE Go up to parent folder Shortcuts with text CTRL + or Place the cursor at the beginning or the end of the current word. CTRL + END Send the cursor to the end of the document CTRL + HOME Send the cursor to the beginning of the document Double click Quick select the clicked word Triple click Quick select the clicked paragraph SHIFT + arrows, HOME, END, PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN Select text Navigation without a mouse SHIFT + F10 Same as right clicking a file TAB Navigate menu elements forward SHIFT + TAB Navigate menu elements backward ALT + F4 Close the current application ALT + SPACEBAR Display application system menu ALT + Underlined letter in menu Open that menu SPACEBAR If a checkbox or radio box is selected, activates this. If a button is selected, clicks it ENTER Click the default button (usually OK) ESC Equivalent to clicking the CANCEL button

016.

Turn on QuickEdit mode in Command Prompt If you use the Command Prompt a bit, this little tip can be invaluable, allowing you to select text by clicking and dragging with the left mouse button, copy it by right clicking when text is selected, and pasting using the right mouse button when nothing else is selected. Open Command Prompt (usually found in Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt) Click on the icon in the top left, and click Properties Check the box that says QuickEdit Mode, click OK A pop up will appear. Select Modify shortcut that started this window QuickEdit in action. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

017.

Auto-tile applications vertically or horizontally If you want to easily set up windows so they tile vertically or horizontally, hold down the CTRL key, click on the applications you want to tile in the task bar, and right click. If you're in Windows XP, you can choose Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically, in Vista it's known as Show Windows Stacked and Show Windows Side By Side. You can also Cascade selected applications in both, however you're not likely to find this useful. Sometimes you just need to show three things at once on screen. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

018.

Stop that annoying click sound Windows by default plays a "click" sound every time you click on a folder in Windows Explorer, or a link in Internet Explorer. It's superfluous and annoying, given the mouse already clicks for you. To turn it off in Windows XP: Click on the Start button Mouse over Settings and select Control Panel, then open Sounds and Audio Devices Click on the Sounds tab Under Program events, scroll down to Start Navigation Under Sounds at the bottom of the dialog, change the drop down box to (None). Click OK To turn it off in Vista: Click the Windows button, and click Control Panel If you're using the default view, click the green Hardware and Sound link, then under the Sound category, click the Change system sounds link. If you're using Classic View, just double click the Sounds icon. Click the Sounds tab Under Program, scroll down to Start Navigation Under Sounds at the bottom of the dialog, change the drop down box to (None) Click OK For the love of all things silence — stop clicking! (Credit: CNET.com.au)

019.	Maximise/restore window quickly To maximise or restore a window quickly, simply double click on the title bar.

020.	Expanded context menu To get extra options when right clicking on a file, hold down SHIFT first.

021.

Reduce crash recovery time If you're not a sysadmin, there's a good chance you're not going to use logging or even understand a kernel dump. With that in mind, we can turn both features off when a blue-screen or crash happens, so you can restart things quicker. In the Control Panel, open System. If you're using Vista, you have one more step: on the left hand side of the pane that opens, click the Advanced system settings link. Click the Advanced tab, and in the Startup and Recovery section click the Settings button. Deselect Write an event to the system log, Automatically restart and set Write debugging information to (None) Click OK, then OK again. Keeping crash time to a minimum. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

022.

Turn off security warning when running files Needless to say you do this one at your own risk. If you download an executable or file that's seen as a security risk, Internet Explorer tags it so the operating system asks for your confirmation before running. The behaviour also extends to running files off a network, and we've seen cases where it can continue asking this even after you've told it not to. Here's how to limit how much this not so lovely feature annoys: Click the Start button, then click Run — if you're using Vista, just click the Windows button Type gpedit.msc and hit enter The Group Policy editor has now loaded. On the left, expand User Configuration Expand Administrative Templates Expand Windows Components Click on Attachment Manager Double click Inclusion list for low file types, and set the radio button to Enabled. In the field that appears below, enter the filetypes causing you issues, separated by semicolons. For example: .exe;.doc;.ppt;.xls. Click OK when you're done Restart your machine for it to take effect If you'd prefer to leave the feature on, but just unblock one file: Right click the file and click on Properties Click on the Unblock button and click OK Yes. We're sure we want to run it. That's why we clicked on it, right? (Credit: CNET.com.au)

Microsoft Word

023.

Use Bookmarks Word's Bookmark feature lets you navigate quickly through lengthy documents. Simply go to a page you'd like to bookmark and, from the Insert menu, click Bookmark (in Word 2007, it's in the Links subsection). Name your Bookmark and click Add. To find your bookmark, hit CTRL + F, then click on the Go To tab. Select Bookmark from the menu on the left and enter the bookmark name to jump straight to it.

024.

Keep the right format Want to paste formatted text into Word without losing the original format? After copying the selected text, in Word 2003 click on the Edit menu and select Paste Special. In Word 2007 you'll need to have the Home menu activated, then click on the down arrow under the Paste button and choose Paste Special. You can choose among Formatted Text (RTF), Unformatted Text, HTML Format or Unformatted Unicode Text. Word 2007 also adds picture formats to the mix.

025.	Lose the wrong format To quickly remove the formatting from your document, highlight the relevant text, then press CTRL + SHIFT + N.

026.

Inserting automatic page numbers To insert page numbers automatically, first you need to enable headers and footers, then insert where you want the page number to go. You will need to be in Print Layout View first. It's the third page icon on the bottom left (see images below) in Word 2003, and in Word 2007 is the first icon on the bottom right, next to the zoom in and out controls In Word 2003: Click on the View menu, then select Header and Footer. Both will then become visible at the top and bottom of the page, and a toolbar will appear While you can use the autotext drop down menu on the new toolbar to insert a template, to set up things manually, simply click the icon of the page with a single hash in it to enter a dynamic page number In Word 2007: Click on the Insert menu, and then click the Header button and select what style you want. You can then use the Page Number button to insert a number where you like Double click outside the header or footer to return to the document. Similarly, simply double click a header or footer to return to editing it Remember you can be fancy with headers and footers, inserting graphics, text boxes and all sorts of things for a unique layout Switch into Print Layout View first. (Credit: CNET.com.au) Edit your headers and footers, and insert your automatic page numbers. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

027.

Footnotes An easy one this one: to insert a footnote in Word 2003, click where you want to insert it in your text, then go to the Insert menu, mouse over Reference, and click on Footnote. An options dialogue box will appear — when you have selected the settings you want, hit Insert and your footnote will be created. To do the same in Word 2007, click on the References menu, and then the Insert Footnote button. The footnote: great for references, or amusing annotations Pratchett-style. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

028.

Create a master document If you'd like to collate a whole bunch of smaller documents into one, easy to read document, you can create a Master Document. A Master Document doesn't merge files, rather it links to existing separate files, and makes it look like they're part of the one document. The advantage is, whenever you update one of the smaller files, because it's live-linked it will also update in the Master Document. Keep in mind that you'll want to create page numbers and so on in the header and footer of the Master Document, not the individual smaller documents, or managing your page numbers could become a private hell. Change to Outline View by clicking the fourth icon in the bottom left in Word 2003, or the fourth on the bottom right next to the zoom controls in Word 2007. The view will change, and the Outline toolbar will appear Type in a heading in the document to represent the file you want to import Select what you've typed, then in Word 2003, click the Insert Subdocument button and select the file you wish to link to. In Word 2007, you'll want to click the Show Document button, then the Insert button, and choose the file you want to link to The process is the same for all subsequent documents. Save the Master Document to a unique file name You can compress the Outline view to just the linked locations of the files by clicking the Collapse Subdocuments button You can view the entire live-merged document by making sure the Subdocuments are expanded (by hitting the same button as above), and then selecting any of the other page views You can edit the individual linked files by double clicking on the torn page icon next to the Subdocument, listed in the Outline view of the Master Document Master Documents can make working with huge documentation easier. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

029.

Stop correcting me Speed up spell-check by preventing Word from grammar-proofing your documents. To disable grammar check in Word 2003, go to Tools > Options, and click the Spelling & Grammar tab. Clear the check box labelled Check grammar as you type. If you want to disable the grammar check during the manual spell-check, then also clear the check box labelled Check grammar with spelling. When done, hit OK. To disable it in Word 2007, click on the Review menu, click the Spelling & Grammar button, and then hit the Options button. Deselect Mark grammar errors as you type and Check grammar with spelling, then click OK.

030.

Add a word count toolbar This feature is enabled by default in Word 2007 — only Word 2003 users may apply. You can count the words in a document with a single click by adding a word counter to your toolbar. Go to View > Toolbars and check Word Count. Drag onto your toolbar the small bar that pops up. Now you can just click Recount whenever you want to know your word count — extra stats are stored in the drop down menu. Always have word count on standby. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

031.

Stop Word 2007 using horrible spacing By default Word 2007 inserts a trailing space after every carriage return, and makes things a little more spread out. To return this to normal for every document: Click the Home menu, then click on the Line Spacing button (it's the fifth from the left in the Paragraph section) Select Line Spacing Options Under the Spacing section, set After to 0 pt, and set Line spacing to single Click the Default button, then click Yes. All new documents will now use proper spacing

032.

Make Word 2007 save to .doc by default Word 2007 uses a highly incompatible .docx file format for saving files, making it difficult to share with friends and colleagues who don't have the same version. To change this: Click the Office button in the top left Click the Word Options button On the left-hand side, select Save Change the Save files in this format drop down box to Word 97 - 2003 Document (*.doc) Click OK

Microsoft Excel

033.	Insert date and time To insert the current date in a cell, press CTRL + ;. To insert the time, press CTRL + SHIFT + ;.

034.	Colour your sheet tabs You can colour-code the tabs on your Excel spreadsheets for easier navigation. Click the tab you'd like to colour, then right click on it and choose Tab Color. Select the colour you want and click OK. Your tabs can be coloured however you like. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

035.

Hide your sheet You can hide Excel worksheets to reduce the number of sheets on your screen. In Excel 2003, just select the sheets you'd like to hide and select Format > Sheet > Hide. To restore them, go to Format > Sheet > Unhide. In Excel 2007, right click on the sheet tab you want to hide, and select Hide. To reveal it, right click on any sheet tab and choose Unhide.

036.	Clear formatting To clear the formatting in an Excel 2003 spreadsheet, highlight the cells you want changed and select Edit > Clear > Formats. In Excel 2007, highlight the cells you wish to reset, click the Home menu, then click Clear, then Clear Formats

037.

Sort things out You can rearrange the data in a spreadsheet any way you like by clicking the column(s) or row(s) you want and then clicking on the Data menu, and selecting Sort. In the Sort window, select the column you'd like to sort by and whether you want the data in ascending or descending order. Sort your data to prioritise your information. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

038.	All together now To select the entire spreadsheet in one shot, click the box in the top left corner that joins the columns and rows.

039.

Mathematics and formulas Excel supports a whole range of maths to calculate the data you need. The basics are easy enough to get a grip on: To start a formula, you need to enter = in a cell first Use the row and column addresses to perform operations You can use +, -, / (divide), * (multiply), ^ (power of) and brackets to separate the operations. So for example, typing =(A1+B1)/C2*D5^2 would take the value in A1, add it to the value in B1, then divide it by the value in C2 multiplied by the square of the value in D5. As you update entries in A1, B1, C2 and D5, the formula will also update to reflect this To simply add up values quickly, use the SUM command. For example, =SUM(A1:A6) would add up all the values in A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6 You can see the formula for cell B7 in the formula field (shown next to the fx). Here it's adding up all the values from B1 through B5, even though the numbers only start at B2. If any values were updated, or a number put into B1, the value in B7 would also change to reflect this. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

040.

The extend series function The best way to explain this function is a demonstration. Type out in a vertical column: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then select the entries as shown below (Credit: CNET.com.au) See the little dot at the bottom right-hand corner of the selection? Left click and drag that down a few cells, then release. Low and behold, Excel has figured out the number series and has added the extra values automatically (Credit: CNET.com.au) You can also do the same with formulas, and it will alter all the cells referenced in the formulas accordingly. In our example below, we have added one formula for the initial total: A2+B2. We then clicked and dragged down, and Excel has intelligently created all the other total formulas (Credit: CNET.com.au) (Credit: CNET.com.au)

041.

Make Excel 2007 save to .xls by default Excel 2007 uses a highly incompatible .xlsx file format for saving files, making it difficult to share with friends and colleagues who don't have the same version. To change this: Click the Office button in the top left Click the Excel Options button On the left-hand side, select Save Change the Save files in this format drop down box to Excel 97 - 2003 Workbook Click OK

Microsoft PowerPoint

042.

Use the Slide Master Rather than replicating the same thing on every page (say, a company logo), you can insert it once on the Slide Master, and it will become the default for all new slides. To access the Slide Master in PowerPoint 2003, go to View > Master > Slide Master. To return to the normal view, go to View > Normal. In PowerPoint 2007, select the View menu, then click the Slide Master button. Note that you'll only be able to select and edit Slide Master elements by being in the appropriate view mode.

043.	Quick add and delete slides If you've selected the slide view on the left-hand side, type Enter to insert a new slide, and backspace or delete to delete the currently selected slide.

044.	View slides out of order While viewing a slideshow, you can call up any slide out of order. Just type the number of the slide and hit Enter.

045.

Create a photo album You can use PowerPoint to create an impromptu photo album. In PowerPoint 2003, select Insert > Picture > New Photo Album. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Insert menu, followed by the Photo Album button. Under the Insert picture from heading, click File/Disk, select the pictures you want to include and hit Insert. Next, you can specify the look of the album you want under the Album Layout section. Finally, click Create.

046.

Secure your presentations Prevent others from modifying your PowerPoint file (or any Office file, for that matter) by enabling password protection. In PowerPoint 2003, select Tools > Options > Security, enter a password in the Password to modify box and hit OK. Enter the password again to confirm, and hit OK one more time, then save the document. For PowerPoint 2007, things are a bit different. Click the Office button, then go to Save As, then click the Tools button (next to the Save button) and click on General Options. Enter your password in the Password to modify box and click OK. Enter the password again to confirm, and hit OK one more time, then save the document.

047.

Make PowerPoint 2007 save to .ppt by default PowerPoint 2007 uses a highly incompatible .pptx file format for saving files, making it difficult to share with friends and colleagues who don't have the same version. To change this: Click the Office button in the top left Click the PowerPoint Options button On the left-hand side, select Save Change the Save files in this format drop down box to PowerPoint Presentation 97 - 2003 Click OK

Microsoft Outlook

048.	Improve Outlook 2003 search Since purchased and integrated into Outlook 2007 by Microsoft, Lookout is the best search tool one can use for Outlook 2003. Make it a point if you're still running the older software suite.

049.

Protect company secrets with SendShield Sometimes Microsoft Office documents get sent out with more information than is needed — tracked changes, author information, formulas in Excel — SendShield warns you of this when adding an attachment in Outlook, and can strip this information accordingly. Note that this is a paid for program, costing US$59.95 for the Standard version, and US$79.95 for the Professional version, which can convert to PDF on the fly. SendShield makes sure you don't send out sensitive information embedded in your Microsoft Office documents. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

050.	Save multiple attachments... To save multiple file attachments in an email message all at once, click File > Save Attachments, then in Outlook 2003 select Save All Attachments, or in Outlook 2007 just All Attachments.

051.

...but get rid of the large ones Free up your inbox by deleting messages with large attachments. Simply click on the Size column header to sort by size. Now you can delete emails with the largest attachments first and work your way down. If the Size column is missing, you can add it by right clicking on the column headers, selecting Field Chooser, find Size from the menu that pops up, and drag it to the toolbar. Order by size to find those large attachments. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

052.

Go stat crazy with Xobni Apart from including a search engine, Xobni supplies you with a whole bunch of extra information it harvests from your emails, from who responds the quickest, all the way down to showing networks between people. We deeply suspect this will appeal more to the marketers and managers among you, but some may find it useful. Xobni provides a wealth of information on who you email, who emails you and their habits. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

053.	Create multiple signatures You can specify a different signature based on whether you're sending a new message, a reply or a forward. Go to Tools > Options > Mail Format. Under Signatures, select the signature you want to use from the Signature for new messages drop-down menu.

054.	Colour incoming messages Colour-code incoming messages based on who they're from by highlighting a message from that individual, clicking Tools > Organize > Using Colors, and selecting a colour from the drop-down list.

055.	Schedule Appointments To turn an email message into an appointment, drag it over to your Calendar bar until it changes colour. This automatically opens an appointment window, in which you can set up the time and the place and set a reminder.

Mozilla Firefox 3

056.

Four different ways to open new tabs There are four ways you can open a new tab in Firefox, listed from slowest to quickest: Add a button to the toolbar This one requires a bit of set up first. Right-click anywhere on the toolbar and choose Customize. Click and drag the New Tab icon to somewhere on your toolbar. Click Done in the Customize Toolbar dialogue. Now simply clicking on the button will open a new tab Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + t Right-click on the tab bar and choose New Tab Double click anywhere on the tab bar where there isn't a tab (including in the small section above the tab) Firefox really wants you to open new tabs, with four different ways to do it. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

057.	Quick zoom Quick and simple — just hold down CTRL on your keyboard and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom the page in and out. If you don't have a scroll wheel, you can use CTRL + +, or CTRL + -.

058.

Open link in a new tab It's simple, but it's amazing how many people don't know this one. To always open a link in a new tab, click the middle mouse button on it (the middle mouse button is often used by pressing the scroll wheel down). You can also close tabs by middle clicking on them. If you don't have a middle mouse button, the same effect can be achieved by holding down CTRL on the keyboard and left clicking on the link.

059.

Navigating tabs There are a few ways you can navigate tabs using the keyboard in Firefox. CTRL + TAB will cycle the active tab from left to right, whereas CTRL + SHIFT + TAB will cycle the active tab from right to left. To quick access tabs, press CTRL + 1 to switch to the first tab, CTRL + 2 to switch to the second, and so on. CTRL + W will close the active tab.

060.

Maintain privacy First you'll want to set this one up — as this is a quick way to delete all the tracking Firefox does to maintain your privacy. Click on Tools and then Options Click the Privacy icon. There's a lot of options here — click the Settings button to begin with. This allows you to set what options are set by default when you clear your private data. When done, click OK. If you're particularly privacy conscious, you may also wish to check Always clear my private data when I close Firefox Now all you have to do is go to Tools and Clear Private Data, and a confirmation dialogue will appear. Or even quicker, use the keyboard shortcut of CTRL + SHIFT + DEL Cover your tracks. The new privacy modes in IE8, Firefox 3.1 and Google Chrome may eventually discard the need for this. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

061.

Increase simultaneous download limit Web browsers these days will only run a finite amount of concurrent downloads from the one server. It used to be two, but Firefox 3 has increased this to six. To increase this further in Firefox: In the browser address bar, type about:config and hit enter. Click the I'll be careful, I promise! button In the Filter field, enter network.http.m to limit the results Double click on network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server, and enter the amount of simultaneous downloads you'd like from the server Increase how many files you can download from the one server. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

062.

Use Internet Explorer within Firefox Sometimes you'll come across websites that still only work well in Internet Explorer. But you don't have to leave the comfort of Firefox — just install the IE Tab extension, and you will be able to create or open a link in a new tab that uses the Internet Explorer rendering engine. Note that this will only work in Windows! IE Tab lets Firefox use the Internet Explorer rendering engine. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

Internet Explorer 7
While there are Internet Explorer specific tips here, there are some tips that have been replicated from the Firefox section, as they still apply. We understand there's people out there using Internet Explorer that won't even look at the Firefox section (for shame!) so for those, keep on reading!

063.

Four different ways to open new tabs There are four ways you can open a new tab in Internet Explorer (pretty much identical to Firefox), listed from slowest to quickest: Click the New Tab button, found on the right-hand side of the last tab Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + t Right-click on the tab bar and choose New Tab Double click anywhere on the tab bar where there isn't a tab (including in the small section above the tab) Where have we seen these new tab options before? Oh, that's right, in Firefox. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

064.

Navigating tabs There are a few ways you can navigate tabs using the keyboard in Internet Explorer 7. CTRL + TAB will cycle the active tab from left to right, whereas CTRL + SHIFT + TAB will cycle the active tab from right to left. To quick access tabs, press CTRL + 1 to switch to the first tab, CTRL + 2 to switch to the second, and so on. CTRL + W will close the active tab.

065.

Open link in a new tab Exactly the same as Firefox — to always open a link in a new tab, click the middle mouse button on it (the middle mouse button is often used by pressing the scroll wheel down). You can also close tabs by middle clicking on them. If you don't have a middle mouse button, the same effect can be achieved by holding down CTRL on the keyboard and left clicking on the link.

066.	Quick zoom Once again, the same as Firefox — just hold down CTRL on your keyboard and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom the page in and out. If you don't have a scroll wheel, you can use CTRL + +, or CTRL + -.

067.	View thumbnails of all open tabs To view thumbnails of all open tabs, and to be able to click on that thumbnail to go to that tab, simply press CTRL + Q. Thumbnail view can be a useful way to find a specific tab when you've got many open. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

068.	Unhide the File menu By default, the File menu is hidden in Internet Explorer 7. Simply tap ALT to reveal it. To turn it on permanently: Tap ALT to reveal the menu Click on View, mouse over Toolbars and click on Menu bar

069.

Open new windows in a tab instead To force links that are set to open a new window into a new tab instead: Tap ALT to reveal the menu Click on Tools, and click Internet Options Under the Tabs section, click the Settings button In the When a pop-up is encountered section, check Always open pop-ups in a new tab Click OK twice to return to your browser

070.

Maintain privacy To cover your tracks with Internet Explorer: Tap ALT to reveal the File menu Click on Tools and then Delete Browsing History Delete whatever you feel is necessary Now all you have to do is go to Tools and Clear Private Data, and a confirmation dialogue will appear. Or even quicker, use the keyboard shortcut of CTRL + SHIFT + DEL Pick what history you want to delete from Internet Explorer 7. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

071.

Re-enable log-in/password URLs These URLs were disabled in Internet Explorer 7 to reduce phishing attempts, however, some users will be annoyed that they can't log in to certain sites using the user:password@domain.com style format. We must emphasise if you don't know what this is, it's a better idea security wise for you to leave it disabled! To re-enable it for the current user: Open Regedit by clicking on the Start/Windows button, typing regedit into the run box, and hitting enter Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\ If it doesn't exist already, right-click in the right-hand pane, choose New, then Key, and enter the name FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE Enter the folder you created, and in the right-hand pane, right-click, choose New and DWORD Value. Enter the name iexplore.exe and hit enter If you want to re-enable for Windows Explorer as well, create another DWORD and call it explorer.exe. Both should have their data set to 0 User/pass URLs are now active again

072.

Set default search engine to Google If you didn't have the opportunity to set the search field in the top right to search Google (or any other provider for that matter), here's how to change the search engine used. Click on the down arrow next to the magnifying glass on the right-hand side Select Find more providers From the links provided, click on the search engine you want Click on the check box that says Make this my default search provider, then click Add Provider If at any time you want to change the default from pre-installed search engines, click the down arrow next to the magnifying glass, and select Change Search Defaults. Select the search engine you want and click the Set Default button, then click OK Change the default search engine to something that works. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

073.

Increase simultaneous download limit Web browsers these days will only run a finite amount of concurrent downloads from the one server. In the case of Internet Explorer 7, it's still limited to two, although Firefox 3 has since made the upgrade to six concurrent connections to a single server. To raise the limit in Internet Explorer: Click the Start/Windows button and in the run box, type regedit and press Enter on your keyboard Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings Right-click on the right-hand side in an empty space, mouse over New and click on DWORD Value. Enter the name MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server, then double click it and set the value to the number of concurrent connections you want. Create another DWORD Value called MaxConnectionsPerServer, and enter the same value as before Restart your machine for the changes to take effect

Google

074.

Boolean searches and quotations You can improve your search results by using Boolean operators. By default, Google operates in AND mode — that is, if you type two search terms (say, laptop review), it will return all results that contain both laptop and review. Note that Google ignores some search terms by default, like the and and, but sometimes you'll want to include these (for instance, if looking for a title of a book). To force Google to search for the terms, you can prefix them with a + symbol: lucy in +the sky with diamonds To return results that contain any one of the search terms, you can use the OR operator, symbolised by a pipe. Eg, laptop | review would return results that contain either the term "laptop" or "review" You can weed out incorrect results by using the NOT operator, defined by prefixing the unwanted search term with a -. For example, to remove all Wikipedia results from your search: laptop review -wikipedia Finally you can use quotation marks to give preference for a specific phrase, rather than individual words. Eg, "laptop review" would search for the entire string, rather than the words individually.

075.	Search for synonyms If you want to expand your search, you can tell Google to include synonyms for a word by prefixing it with a tilde. For example: cnet ~laptop Would search for the term "cnet", "laptop" and synonyms for the word "laptop".

076.	Wildcards You can use the * symbol to represent any word during a search. Particularly useful if you can't remember an exact song lyric! For example: lucy in the * with diamonds

077.	Site specific search To search within one website, you can use the site: operator. For example: laptop site:cnet.com.au Would search for the word "laptop" only within cnet.com.au, while laptop site:.au Would search for the word "laptop" on Australian sites only.

078.

Advanced searching There are some Google specific operators which will help you refine your searches even more, although they will only be needed in special circumstances. intitle: Search for the phrase only in the title of Web pages. Eg, intitle:cnet inurl: Search for the phrase only in the URL of Web pages. Eg, inurl:cnet intext: Search for the phrase in the body of Web pages, ignoring links and title. Eg, intext:cnet cache: Show Google's cache of the website, rather than return recent results. Eg, cache:cnet.com.au

079.	Unit and currency conversion The magical word here is in. For example, to convert from inches to millimetres: 45 inches in mm Or to convert American dollars to Australian: 30USD in AUD Google understands a heck of a lot of units of measurements, so give it a go!

080.

Use Google as a calculator Google can function as a calculator. It understands the following symbols: Symbol Explanation + Add - Subtract * Multiply / Divide % of Find the percentage of a number. Eg, 26% of 43.5 ^ Exponent/to the power of root of Eg, square root of 16, cube root of 9, 6th root of 36 etc. You can also use parentheses to determine order of operations, and Google also understands logarithms, trigonometry and factorials. Of course, you could always just ask Google calculator for the answer to life, the universe and everything. It can sometimes be quicker to use Google rather than the inbuilt calculator app. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

081.	Check world time To get the time in another city quickly, just type in time followed by the city. Eg, time new york city. Never ring mum at two in the morning again. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

082.	Get your stock quotes To get market data for a particular company, just enter its stock ticker. For example, typing in NVDA would get us Nvidia's results. Check how your stocks are going with a quick search. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

083.	Hunt in specific document types If you want to restrict your search to one particular format, this is the bees knees. Let's say you wanted to search for the term "cnet", but only return PDF files. You would enter: cnet filetype:pdf

084.	Local movie times This one is easy. Simply enter the name of a currently running movie and your location to get back movie times in your area. For example, typing tropic thunder sydney get us: Get to movie times quicker than on the cinema's own site. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

085.	Weather forecast Want to know if it'll be sunny for that perfect outing? For a four-day weather forecast, type weather followed by the city of choice. For example, weather sydney would return: Whether the weather is hot... (Credit: CNET.com.au)

Gmail

086.

Import from other mail accounts You can consolidate all your email accounts into Gmail, so long as they support POP3. To do so: Click the Settings link in the top right Click the Accounts link Click the Add another mail account link and follow the steps. You will have to verify that the email account belongs to you Afterwards, you will be able to add the email address to your "from" field, so you can make it look as if you're responding from the imported account

087.

Use the US version Being US based, Google tends to roll out all its new features to the US English version first, leaving the UK English version to languish. If you can stand a few misspelled words in exchange for shiny features: Click the Settings link in the top right-hand corner Change the Mail display language to English (US), scroll down and click Save changes

088.

Use labels Adding labels can help you to isolate specific emails. To create a label: Click the Settings link in the top right-hand corner Click the Labels link In the Create a new label field, enter an appropriate name (for example, Mum), and then click the Create button Now you can apply the label to an email by clicking the check box next to it, clicking on the More Actions drop down box and selecting the new label. You can also remove labels the same way, and can apply multiple labels to the one email Labels are added to a box on the left-hand side. Click on a label's link to show only the emails marked with that label

089.

Make labels act like folders If you want to organise your mail even further, you can make your labels act like folders so marked emails never land in your inbox. This is a two-step process: first we have to create a filter that auto-applies labels, the next we want to archive the emails so it never appears in the inbox. Click the Settings link in the top right-hand corner Click the Filters link Click the Create a new filter link You'll now be given a number of fields in order to identify what email to apply the filter to. For example, if we wanted to auto apply the "Mum" filter we created in the earlier tip, we'd want to identify our mother's email address here. For the sake of example, say her email address is mum@mum.com — we'd enter that in the From field and click Next Step We can now choose what we want to do with those emails we've identified — for our example, we'd want to check Skip the inbox (Archive it) and set Apply the label to Mum If we wish to apply this rule to all existing mail as well as new mail, then the Also apply filter to x conversations below check box should be ticked When ready, click Create Filter Now those emails will never appear in your inbox — you'll have to click the label link on the left-hand side to access them, essentially turning labels into folders

090.

Better Gmail 2 If you're using Firefox and the new Gmail interface, the Better Gmail 2 extension can make things a lot prettier, and customise the interface to your liking. Give it a go! If you're running on the "Older version" interface, you can always try the original extension. A walkthrough of some of the more complex features can be found at Lifehacker.

091.

Upload emails and contacts from Outlook and Thunderbird Importing your life into Gmail from older tools like Outlook can be frustrating. While the process still isn't 100 per cent perfect, Google Email Uploader can certainly ease the pain. Just be warned, it does require a Google Apps account, your normal Gmail account won't cut it. Get your archived Outlook email into Gmail. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

Playing Video and audio

092.

Install the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack This little beauty will not only install the best video player for Windows available (Media Player Classic), but will also install almost every video and audio codec you'll ever require. The default installation should include enough options for everyone. Download it from here.

093.

Install QuickTime Alternative Split out from the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, QuickTime Alternative allows you to playback QuickTime files in both Media Player Classic and Web browsers, without having to install Apple's own player and the bloat therein. You can find it here If you use iTunes 8, you can download an add-on that will make QuickTime Alternative compatible with it here.

094.	Install VLC Equally required in every user's video toolkit is VLC. It's a video player that incorporates all the codecs within the player itself, rather than relying on externally installed ones. You can download it here.

095.	Use a decent music player Unless you are using the iTunes music store, there's really no need to use iTunes. Some excellent alternatives (depending on your needs) are Winamp, Foobar, 1by1 and AIMP.

096.

Automatically tag your music files Making sure you have accurate ID3 tags can be tough, especially if you have a large music collection. Thankfully a MusicBrainz enabled tagger can help ease the process for you. Comparing an online database against your collection, it attempts to cleverly tag your files with you barely lifting a finger. Those more into the manual side of things may wish to check out Mp3tag.

System Maintenance

097.

Use Windows update, keep drivers updated If you haven't got it set on automatic, make sure to check Windows Update every now and then for your operating system updates. Also make sure to install driver updates for your hardware, such as GPU, sound and chipset drivers, as they can fix problems and add new features.

098.

Install anti-spyware software To make sure you're protected, we'd recommend you start with at least SpyBot Search & Destroy and Spyware Blaster. After updating both, you can immunise your system against threats. Should you already be infected with spyware, Spybot is a good first line of defence, but won't catch everything. You may have to use a number of tools, including Ad-Aware, Hijack This and dedicated tools from trusted antivirus sites like Kaspersky, F-Secure, Eset and Symantec.

099.

Install antivirus software Although the most advanced users can usually get by with none whatsoever, there's always the virus that slips through the net — Chernobyl and Blaster, just to name two. A wise user will have an antivirus program by their side, whether a free one like Avast, AntiVir or AVG, or a paid subscription to something like Kaspersky, Nod32, BitDefender or Norton.

100.

Find out what's wasting space on your hard drive More than once we've stopped to think: what could possibly be taking up all the space on our hard drive? SpaceMonger attempts to address this, showing how much files and folders are taking up on your hard drive in a spatial manner — that is, using dynamically sizeable boxes. You can even double click on the boxes to drill down to lower levels, and find those unfinished downloads you completely forgot about. The 1.40 version is free, and a little digging around on its website will unearth the download link. The squares will resize and show more detail the bigger you make the window. Another excuse for that 24-inch monitor. (Credit: CNET.com.au)

101.	Clean things up CCleaner can track down and remove all sorts of temporary files you don't need, as well as help clean up your registry. Well worth the download. CCleaner will help free up some needed space on your hard drive. (Credit: CNET.com.au)