Handy QuickTip - Close a window

If you have multiple windows open on your computer, rather than closing them all down with the mouse press "ALT"+"F4", this will close the curent open window.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are items on your computer that make it easier to run your favourite software.

The software on your computer is installed in a particular place, to find this would be both time consuming and sometimes confusing, for this reason in Windows there are shortcuts.

The "Start" menu consists mainly of shortcuts and also your desktop can have shortcuts on there as well, a lot of the software you install on your computer will place a shortcut on the desktop of your computer.

The shortcut has a small arrow on the bottom left hand side of the icon.

It is perfectly safe to delete these shortcuts from your desktop, this will not remove the software you have installed on your computer.


You can also create your own shorcuts:

1. Click on the software icon you would like to create a shortcut to, this will open a seperate box of options.
2.  Here you will see a command called "send to", highlight this option by moving down to it with the mouse and this will open another box with options.
3. You will then see a command called "Desktop (create shortcut)", left click on this option to create your shortcut.

Handy QuickTip - "Pinning"

If like us at PCQuickTips you use a particular item of software on your computer a lot and would like easier access to it you can "pin" it to the "Start" menu.
If you find the software you need on your computer and then right click on the name of the software this will bring up a box of options one of these options is "Pin to Start Menu", click this and a shortcut is added to your "Start" menu giving you easier access to your favourite software.

To "The Cloud"

You may have seen advertisments on TV or in print using the words "The Cloud".

In computing terms this is an area of the Internet that you can use for storing your files, you can store documents pictures videos all on some virtual space (usually free) that is allocated to you by various Internet companies. a good example of this Microsofts, Windows Live Skydrive.

At PCQuickTips we use "The Cloud" to store backups of the files we use and also personal photographs and documents. These services provide a way of backing up your items so if something happens to your computer you can easily get them back. You can also log in on any computer anywhere and still access your files.

Another example of this would be an email service that you use on the Internet such as Yahoo Mail, Google Mail and Hotmail.

Service Packs

You may have seen your computer downloading various updates at certain times and you may have come across an update called a Service Pack.

A Service Pack is generally a collection of software updates and security fixes to help your computer perform better, most of the time the Service Pack is simply a collection of updates that your computer may have missed at the time of release.

• Windows XP is currently at Service Pack 3
• Windows Vista is currently at Service Pack 2
• Windows 7 is currently at Service Pack 1

Some of the items in the Service Pack can also bring extra improvements such as with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP which added the security centre and major improvements in the way security is handled within Windows.

In Windows Vista the main emphasis was on speed and stability of the system.

Windows 7 is based more around the collection of updates.

To check which Service Pack you have installed click on the Start menu and hover of the the My Computer icon or Computer icon depending on your version then Right Click and select Properties, another window will appear showing you information about your computer, you should here be able to see which version of the Service Pack you have.

Most computers will be up to date with the Service Packs as they are "delivered" to you from the Internet directly and automatically.

Handy QuickTip - Renaming a file continued

Following on from our earlier tip of renaming a file, in version of Windows Vista and 7, if you have a large amount of files to rename in one folder, you can use the TAB key to move onto the next file to rename automatically, this saves you time highlighting each file individually.

Microsoft Updates

From time to time, Microsoft sends out various updates for your computer, you generally notice when this happens as a small symbol will appear in the bottom corner of your computer screen and a box will pop up telling you that updates are ready to install on your computer.

These updates are perfectly safe and are generally there to help improve the security of your computer from on going battle against things like computer viruses.

These updates can also provide increased funtionality to certain Windows tasks, although these are generally updates that won't have any impact on the way you use your computer.

It is important that you keep your computer up to date with these updates as thet not only provide your computer with added security thet may just help others too if your computer is blocking a certain virus from entering your system it wall also ensure that you cannot pass the virus onto anybody else.