Joshua Ditty is a web designer and programmer, and also owns TrafficRanker.
I got my first ‘real’ computer back in 2001. It was an IBM 385ED Laptop with Windows95. Seriously outdated, yes, but still better than nothing.
Before this the only other computer I had was when I was twelve, a basic desktop with Microsoft Works (no Windows), and a green monitor.
When I say it had a green monitor I don’t mean that it was some ugly avocado color like some refrigerator from the 70s or perhaps some of the monitors you might pick up today. I mean that the actual pixels were green - the type of green you saw on NASA computers - also probably from the 70s.
Because there was no Windows operating system I had to use the DOS prompt on that one.So when I got my IBM 385ED back in 2001 I was pretty excited, and pretty much out of the loop too. But working on these here computers every day has sharpened my Windows skills. Over the past four years I’ve found that the most useful feature by far in Windows is the shortcuts.
Windows shortcuts are a series of keys you can hold or press that will perform actions very quickly. From cutting and pasting, to navigating the programs in your toolbars, anything can be done using Windows shortcuts.
If I were particularly adept at them I would no longer need a mouse but, as it stands, I know enough to perform many of the actions I do everyday quickly, easily, and efficiently. Most software programs for Windows will also allow you to use shortcuts within them.
Here are a few you may find useful:Highlighting text
Hold down the shift key then, using the directional keys, you can highlight text. This can also be used to highlight icons in Windows Explorer and on the Desktop.
To take this one step further, if you already have icons selected and would like to select more you can hold down the shift key and use the mouse (or direction keys) to continue the current selection.
If you have multiple icons selected and want to de-select just a few, then you can use the CTRL key to do so. Press and hold the CTRL key and use the mouse (or direction keys) to deselect items just as if you were selecting them.
CopyingIf you right-click on a piece of selected text or icon, a menu will come up. One of the options in this menu is “copy”, a well known and often used action, but there is no need for the menu. Simply press CTRL+C to copy anything you have selected.
CuttingIn the same menu you’ll find by right-clicking is an option to “cut”, an even more popular and well known action. To do this using Windows shortcuts press CTRL+X.
This can also be done on selected text using SHIFT+DEL but, if you press SHIFT+DEL on an icon or other such object, it will delete it without moving it to the recycle bin.
PastingWhat is cutting without pasting? Another option in that right-click menu. You can do this simply by pressing CTRL+V. The Menu
In fact, if you don’t feel like right-clicking then you can bring up that menu by pressing SHIFT+F10.
When I first wrote this article, the Editor emailed me and said his greatest shortcut is ‘Windows Key + D’. What this does is minimize all of the windows and shows your desktop. Unfortunately my laptop doesn’t have a windows key so I can’t do this, but it’s a great shortcut.
I have a feeling that everybody has their own greatest shortcut.
What might be the most useful function for me might not be useful to you. Everyone uses Windows differently, and that’s what makes Windows the most used operating system in the world. It is diverse and flexible.
The ENTER key is another that I use quite a bit for online forms. Not elaborate, or overly special, it is the same as clicking your mouse button and done with a tap of my pinky rather than a flick of my wrist and forefinger.
With ‘CTRL + S’ I can save a file. This saves me a few seconds that would be wasted by opening the File menu and clicking on save, but when I do need to open that file menu I can do so by pressing ‘Alt + F’.
There are many great shortcuts, but what is the greatest to me? It’s simple, really. Undo!
Normally, this is done with ‘CTRL + Z’, but some applications -- like my browser - will use a variation like ‘Alt + Z’.What this little shortcut does is nothing less than amazing.
With two keys I can, in a sense, go back in time and undo all of the stupid mistakes and typos that I do in a day. Some applications will only let you go back one step and undo the last action. Some others will let you go back a few steps. There are some applications though, like the text editor I use for writing web pages and PHP files, that let me go back as many times as I want.
I use this shortcut many times throughout the day, and sometimes wish I had something like this in real life. How much easier would our lives be if we all had a proverbial ‘CTRL + Z’ key floating nearby to press whenever we made a mistake. The number of traffic accidents would certainly go down.
Please note that any attempt to follow the instructions below is done so at your own risk. Do not adjust your computer’s settings unless you are confident about doing so.
***DISCLAIMER***Is your PC running awfully slowly? It wasn’t this slow when you reinstalled windows, so why is it so slow now?
One of the culprits could be your temporary files folder.
Usually located at C:\WINDOWS\TEMP this lovely folder is filled with many files such as Zkt15574.tmp and it’s bigger brother ZKT02b19.TMP. Your PC most likely won’t have files exactly like those, except by some miraculous stroke of coincidence, but will undoubtedly have files with similar looking names.
These are temporary files. They hold random bits of information from all the various tasks and projects you may have done since you last deleted these files. They can grow to be considerably large and when this happens your PC will slow to a crawl.
It’s actually quite annoying.So, today I’m going to show you a simple step to automatically delete these files every time you turn on the computer. This does not hurt your PC and should cause you no harm unless you regularly retrieve old information from programs that you use.
To do this we simply make use of a file called autoexec.bat. This file should reside at C:\autoexec.bat.Before you do anything else, make a backup of this file. Simply make a copy of autoexec.bat and save it as autoexec_bak.bat.
Now that you’ve found the autoexec.bat file, right click on it and select ‘edit’. This should open up notepad.
Inside you may see a few lines of cryptic code that make little or no sense. Things like SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS. Or you may see nothing at all.
At the bottom simply add the following line:
DELTREE /Y c:\windows\temp\*.*
This will delete everything in your temporary file folder.
DELTREE /Y c:\windows\history\*.*
DELTREE /Y c:\windows\recent\*.*
DELTREE /Y c:\windows\tempor~1\*.*
Please note that if you make a mistake in following the above instructions, it may cause your PC to crash.
If you ever find yourself with a computer that hangs and refuses to boot up, press and hold F8 when you first turn it on. This will bring up a menu where you can choose to boot in Safe Mode or do a Step by Step confirmation.
Then simply replace the autoexec.bat file that you amended with the backup that you made.In my last article I talked about the autoexec.bat file and how to use it to automatically clear out your temporary files. Now, I’m going to tell you a bit more about these types of files like autoexec.bat they’re called batch files.
Batch files are files that you can put commands in that you might normally use at the command prompt, or DOS as it is also called. For example, you can use batch files to run programs, open files, or do other system processes.
Here I’m going to show you an easy step to improve your life.Every time I boot up my computer, I open up Maxthon, my web browser, and then I open up Mozilla Thunderbird, my email client. How much time could I save if I had a shortcut on the desktop that would open both of these programs at once?
To begin, let’s create a new folder to place our batch files in.From your desktop, click on ‘My Computer’, and then head to ‘C:’. From here, either right-click or press SHIFT+F10 to bring up a little menu. Hover over ‘new’ and another menu will come up. Select ‘folder’.
Name this folder BATCH. This will be the folder you place your batch files in. Go into this folder and create a new text document by right-clicking or pressing SHIFT+F10, hover over ‘new’, and select ‘text document’.
Rename this newly created file with something you can remember, like primary_programs.bat. The extension must be .bat, which is a batch file. Right-click on the icon now and select edit to bring up notepad. Here, you will type in the commands to open two programs, your browser, and your email client.
I use Maxthon and Thunderbird, but most people use Internet Explorer and Outlook Express as their browser and email client, so we’ll use those as an example. Customizing this to open different programs is easy, and I’ll explain this a little later.
First, let’s put in some comments to help keep us organized. At the top of this file, put the following::: primary_programs.bat
:: Opens up my most common programs
::
Notice the double colons. This signifies a comment, and tells the Window’s Command Prompt, or DOS, to bypass this line without reading it. There is also REM, short for Remark, and while this won’t be executed, Windows will still read it and this could slow things down a hair. If you want to keep things fast, use double colons when inserting comments.
After this, we’ll turn off the echo with this:
@ECHO OFF
By default, Windows will output commands and results from your batch files to the browser. Adding @ECHO OFF prevents this and keeps you from seeing useless text.
Now, let’s run Internet Explorer. In order to do this we tell Windows three things - where to start, where to go, and what to do.c:
cd\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1
iexplore
This is ancient code, however. The first line will go to the c: drive, second will change to the Program Files\Internet Explorer folder, and the third line opens up the program. This type of code is uncommon. We are fortunate in that we can usually just say where to go and everything is done.
C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\iexplore.exeEither one of these pieces of code should open up Internet Explorer. To test this, save your batch file and then double click on it to see what happens. This should not melt your computer.
Now, you’ve probably noticed the weird ~ squiggly lines in that command, and that you don’t actually have folders by the names PROGRA~1 and INTERN~1. Technically, you do - or you should. MS-DOS assigns special names to folders that are too long or have spaces. These things are prohibited in the command prompt so you will need to use the MS-DOS names in your batch files instead of the friendly Windows names.
To find out the MS-DOS name of a folder, right click on the desired folder and select ‘properties’. This will bring up a little menu showing all sorts of info about that folder, including the MS-DOS name.
This works for files as well.Now that we’ve successfully opened up Internet Explorer, using a somewhat complex code, let’s do the same with Outlook Express, which is at C:\PROGRA~1\OUTLOO~1\msimn.exe
Your batch file should now look like this::: primary_programs.bat
:: Opens up my most common programs
::
@ECHO OFF
C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\iexplore.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\OUTLOO~1\msimn.exe
Test it by double clicking and, if your computer is still solid and everything goes according to plan, you should have successfully opened two programs at one time. To add other programs, simply follow the same procedure - finding out what the path (MS-DOS style) to the program is and putting this at the end of your batch file.
To make this file accessible from the desktop simply right-click on it and select ‘create shortcut’. Place the newly created shortcut onto the desktop.
Imagine a batch file with all the websites you visit daily, sitting, ready for you to click on whenever you need? Use it to save time, to surf a few traffic exchanges, or to make your life so much easier.
Yes, what I’ve shown you is just the tip of the iceberg.Before I leave you, I made some comments about your computer melting by doing this - it’s a joke. If you follow these steps it should have no ill effect other than opening up an annoying command prompt for a few seconds. But if your computer really does melt then I accept no responsibility. It was probably very old.