15 Tips to managing your files better

You work with documents, presentations, graphics, and other files all day—and chances are, you have a lot of them. And that means it takes time to find the documents you need. Even if it's just a couple of minutes here, and a couple of minutes there, it all adds up.

But there is a better way to stop the file clutter—by managing your files more effectively. Digital files are no different than paper files, and if you don't have a good method of organization, things get lost. You may have to use the Search tool to find the missing files.

Whether you save your files on your computer's hard drive or a shared network location, these tips will help you save the time and headache of searching for files. And if you haven't already familiarized yourself with the search features in Windows Vista, this is the perfect time to learn more.

Use these tips to help manage your files.

1. Use Documents. For many reasons, it's smart to take advantage of the Documents feature (called My Documents in Windows XP and earlier versions) in Microsoft Windows. To open Documents in Windows, click Start, and then click Documents. Documents provide an easy way for you to store your personal documents.

By using Documents, you will be better able to: •
Find files. Windows provides easy access to the Documents folder (and its subfolders) in many places: through the Start menu, the task pane in Windows Explorer, common File Open and File Save dialog boxes, and other places.
• Back up files. You should back up files regularly—and keeping all your files in one place helps make backup a snap.
• Keep files separate from programs. By separating document files and program files you reduce the risk of accidentally deleting your documents when you install or upgrade programs.


2. Adopt consistent methods for file and folder naming. Develop a naming scheme for the kinds of files you create most often and then stick to it.

3. Keep names short. Even though Windows allows you to use long file names, it does not necessarily mean you should. Long file names are harder to read and harder to copy out through the command prompt in a case of failure.

4. Separate ongoing and completed work. To keep the Documents folder from becoming too unwieldy, use it only for files you're actively working on. As a result, you can reduce the number of files you need to search through and the amount of data you need to back up. Every month or so, move the files you're no longer working on to a different folder or location, such as a folder on your desktop, a special Archive folder, flash drive, external hard drive, or even on a CD.

5. Store like with like. Restricting folders to a single document type (or predominantly one type) allows you to take advantage of folder templates in Windows Explorer. This makes it easier for you to find files. For example, with all your graphics in a single folder, it's easy to use the Filmstrip view and slide show feature in Windows Explorer to find the right picture for your newsletter.

6. Avoid big folder structures. If you need to put so many subfolders in a folder that you can't see all of them at a glance, consider creating an alphabetic menu.

7. Use shortcuts and shortcut links instead of multiple copies. If you need to get to the same file from multiple locations, don't create copies of the file. Create shortcuts to it instead. To create a shortcut, right-click on the file and click Create Shortcut. You can drop and drag the shortcut to other locations.

8. Use abbreviations. Keep file names short by using common abbreviations, such as "MTG" for meeting or "ACTG" for accounting. This makes the file names more descriptive and you can more easily find files through Search if it's necessary.

9. Use thumbnails. Search through folders in the Thumbnail view. They're easier to see and you can put a picture or clip art on the folder so that it's more easily recognizable. For example, a folder that contains information about a product can have a picture of the product—or something else that reminds you of the folder contents.

To view your folder list in Thumbnail view, on the Documents folder, in the toolbar click View and then select Thumbnail.

To put a picture on the folder, right-click the folder and click Properties. In the Properties dialog box, click the Customize tab. In the Folder pictures area, click Choose Picture.

10. Use common names. To make it easier to search for documents, name your files and folders with easily found names, such as model numbers, project names, or the project lead in the title.

11. Don't save unnecessary files. Be selective about the files you keep. You probably don't need to keep them all. With e-mail, for example, you rarely need to keep everything you receive.

12. Use Recent Items. To find a file you just worked on, use Recent Items (called My Recent Documents in XP) in the Start menu.

13. Put Documents on the desktop. Put a shortcut to Documents on the desktop. You can save several clicks of the mouse to get where you want to be sooner.

14. Organize files by dates. Use a date in the document name. Such as victor100201, which would mean October 2, 2001? This puts all the victor materials together and sorted by date.

15. Color code your folders. There are third party program which allows a user to "color" certain folders in Documents that are used frequently. This allows a quick access to open or save a document.

Next week we will be considering 60 Indispensable Microsoft Word Tips.
This is a must read for anyone that uses or hopes to use Microsoft Word in future. You will learn things that will keep you smiling all day.

10 Ways to secure Windows XP

Our subject today, although concentrates on Windows XP, will still be useful on other Operating systems, so you are covered as long you are using a Windows Operating system (not too obsolete though).
If you have just finished installing Windows XP and you think the work is done, you are wrong. Some of the most important steps to getting Windows XP up and running come after the installation of the operating system. At this point, you need to make specific configuration changes and install additional software to ensure that your computer is secure.
With its default configurations, Windows XP is not very secure. However, by making the recommended changes in the checklist below, you can secure your system and data from attackers and viruses.
Note: Windows XP Professional edition is inherently more secure than Windows XP Home edition. Since Windows XP Home does not contain as many security features, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade to Windows XP Professional.
File System
Windows XP supports both FAT32 and NTFS. NTFS supports additional features that can be used to secure your system.
For example, NTFS allows you to set permissions at the file level, not just at the folder level. If you formatted any partitions with FAT32, there is a one time conversion from FAT32 to NTFS without any data loss.

1. Convert Partitions to NTFS.
It is recommended that you convert all partitions and volumes to NTFS to take advantage of advanced security features that are not included with FAT32.
One way of converting to NTFS is to use the convert command from the command prompt. The syntax for the command is as follows:
Convert x: /fs:ntfs

Where x is the letter assigned to the partition or volume you want to convert.
After you press Enter, you’ll be asked to confirm your actions by pressing Y and the conversion is done. You can now set security at the file level. If the partition or volume is currently in use, prime example is if you are trying to convert your system volume, you can opt to have the conversion take place the next time the computer is restarted.
A word of caution though as this is a one time conversion which means there isn’t any going back from NTFS to FAT32 unless you format the volume or find a third party utility that can perform this task.

2. Use Automatic Updates.
Ensure your computer has the latest software updates by configuring Windows XP to automatically download and install updates for you at a certain schedule.
You can configure a schedule to instruct Windows XP when to install new updates on your computer. A handy feature for those of you who do not want updates installed when you are busy using your computer for other tasks. You can configure a schedule so the updates are installed when your computer is not being used for anything too important.
The process of configuring a schedule is very straight forward. In Windows XP, you can use the following steps to enable this feature:

1. Right click My Computer and select Properties.
2. Click the Automatic Updates tab from the System Properties dialog box.
3. Select the option to Automatically download the updates, and install them on the schedule that I specify as shown in the following figure.
4. Select the day and the time when you want the updates installed.
5. Click Ok.

3. Enable Windows Firewall.
Verify that the Windows Firewall in enabled on your Internet connection.
Note: if you are setting up a home network, do not enable ICF on your LAN (local-area network) connection.
Only enable it on the Internet connection. If you enable ICF on your LAN connection, it will block File and Printer Sharing.

4. Disable Simple File Sharing.
With Simple File Sharing disabled, you can assign permissions to specific users
and groups. This provides you with a finer granularity of control over controlling access to resources.
Simple File Sharing can be disabled by opening the Folder Options applet in the Control Panel. Click the View tab and remove the check beside the Use simple file sharing (recommended) option.

5. Disable the Guest Account. Verify that the Guest account is disabled. The guest account has always been a huge hacker hole and should remain disabled if it is not required.

6. Require passwords for all user accounts. Both Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition allow user accounts to utilize blank passwords to log into their local workstations, although in Windows XP Professional, accounts with blank passwords can no longer be used to log on to the computer remotely over the network.
Obviously, blank passwords are a bad idea if you care about security. Make sure you assign passwords to all accounts, especially the Administrator account and any accounts with Administrator privileges. The local password policy should be configured to require all passwords to be a minimum of eight characters in length.
Keep in mind that in the Windows XP Home Edition all user accounts have administrative privileges and no password by default. Make sure you close this hole as soon as possible.

7. Rename the Administrator account.
By renaming the administrator account hackers not only have to guess the password but also the name assigned to the account.
Many hackers will argue that this won’t stop them, because they will use the SID to find the name of the account and hack that. Our view is, why make it easy for them. Renaming the Administrator account will stop some amateur hackers cold, and will annoy the more determined ones. Remember that hackers won’t know what the inherit or group permissions are for an account, so they’ll try to hack any local account they find and then try to hack other accounts as they go to improve their access. If you rename the account, try not to use the word Admin in its name. Pick something that won’t sound like it has rights to anything.

8. Disable Remote Desktop.
Windows XP Professional’s Remote Desktop allows users to connect remotely to your computer. Although it can be useful for obtaining remote assist with troubleshooting, it is also an open door for attackers.
Remote Desktop should be disabled and only enabled on an as need basis.
Remote Desktop is disabled using the Remote tab from the System Properties dialog box. Under the Remote Desktop heading, remove the check beside the All users to connect remotely to this computer option.
Anti-virus Software
9. Install anti-virus software.
Anti-virus software is a program designed specifically to detect and remove viruses, making it an essential application to install. Once you install anti-virus software, it will scan your computer and clean any viruses it finds.
Anti-virus should be installed as soon as possible to protect your computer from viruses.
Some of the more popular antivirus software programs are listed below.
1. Symantec
2. Panda Software
3. Karspersky Internet Security
4. Eset Smart Security etc
Most anti-virus software must be purchased or it may be included with the purchase of a new computer. Some vendors also offer specials or free trial periods. In any case, if you have just performed a clean installation of Windows there will be no anti-virus software on your computer. The installation process will vary from vendor to vendor

10. Use a password protected screensaver. Enable a password protected screensaver so other users can not access your computer.
You can configure a screensaver to start when your computer has been idle for a specific amount of time (for example, after 5 minutes). By password protecting the screensaver, the computer will be locked when the screensaver starts. This is a great idea for those of us who forget to lock our workstations when we leave. In order to return to the desktop and resume working, you will need to supply the correct password. So once a password protected screensaver has been enabled, you can walk away from your computer knowing that your folders and files are secured. In Windows XP, you can use the steps outlined below to enable a password protected screensaver.

1. Right click your desktop and click Properties.
2. From the Display Properties dialog box, select the Screensaver tab.
3. Use the drop down arrow to select your screensaver of choice.
4. Change the Wait value to specify how long the computer can remain idle before the screensaver is started.
5. Select the On resume, password protect option. If you do not select this option any activity will cause the desktop to appear.

10 things you should do to protect yourself on a public computer

Most of us will occasionally have to use a public computer for one reason or another. Maybe it’s an emergency situation (your own computer crashes or you get caught without your laptop when traveling) or perhaps the opportunity is just too convenient to pass up. Whatever your reasons, using public computers will always carry an inherent risk of exposing your personal data. Luckily, there are some things you can do to protect yourself and lessen that risk.

1. Delete your Browsing History
This should be the first step you take to protect your privacy when Web surfing on a public computer. When you’ve finished browsing, it's a good idea to delete your cookies, form data, history, and temporary Internet files.

In Internet Explorer 7, you can do this all at once under Tools | Delete Browsing History.
In older versions of IE, each of these must be deleted separately, under Tools | Internet Options.
In Mozilla Firefox, go to Tools | Options, click the Privacy tab, and select Always Clear My Private Data When I Close Firefox. By default, this erases your browsing history, download history, saved form information, cache, and authenticated sessions. Click the Settings button and select the options to erase your cookies and saved passwords, too.
In Opera, go to Tools | Delete Private Data, you can click on Details to see the list of all you will delete by this singular command

2. Don’t save files locally
When you're using a computer other than your own, even if it's a trusted friend’s machine, it's polite to avoid saving files locally if you can help it. This is basically equivalent to not cluttering up another person’s home with your junk. On a public machine, though, this goes beyond politeness and is an important security practice. Many of the files you would normally save locally, such as e-mail attachments, can contain private or sensitive information. An easy way to protect this data is to carry a flash drive and save files there when necessary. It’s also a good idea to attach the flash drive to your key ring so you’ll be less likely to misplace it and create a new security problem.

3. Don’t save passwords
This should be obvious when using a public computer, but if the option is already turned on, you might forget about it. To make sure passwords are not saved in Internet Explorer 7, go to Tools | Internet Options | Content. In the AutoComplete panel, click the Settings button and verify that the Prompt Me To Save Passwords check box is deselected. None of the other AutoComplete features needs to be enabled either, so deselect them as well.
In Firefox, choose Tools | Options | Security and deselect Remember Passwords For Sites.

4. Don’t do online banking
You should remember that ultimately, a public computer is never going to be anywhere close to completely secure, so there are some things you just shouldn’t use them for. If you really need to check your balance on the road, you’re much better off finding a branch office or ATM or using your phone.

5. Don’t enter credit card information
As with online banking, public computers are not the place for online shopping. Your online purchases can and should wait until you can browse from a more secure location. A little added convenience isn’t worth the trouble of having your credit card hijacked.

6. Delete temporary files
Temporary files (often abbreviated to “temp files”), as opposed to temporary Internet files, are created when you use programs other than a Web browser. For instance, when you create a Word document, in addition to the actual document file you save, Word creates a temporary file to store information so memory can be freed for other purposes and to prevent data loss in the file-saving process.
These files are usually supposed to be deleted automatically when the program is closed or during a system reboot, but unfortunately they often aren’t. To find these files, do a search on all local drives (including subfolders, hidden, and system files) for tmp,*.chk,~*.*
This will bring up all files beginning with a tilde or with the extensions .tmp and .chk, which are the most common temp files. Once the search is complete, highlight all and Shift + Delete to remove them. (If you don’t hold down Shift, they'll usually be sent to the Recycle Bin, which you would then have to empty.)

7. Clear the pagefile
The pagefile is the location on the hard disk that serves as virtual memory in Windows. Its purpose is to swap out data from RAM so that programs can operate as if they have more RAM available than you actually have installed in the computer. Anything that can be stored in memory could also be stored in the pagefile. To have this automatically cleared on shutdown, you need to use Local Security Policy.
To access Local Security Policy,
• Open Control Panel
• Double-click on Administrative Tools
• Double-click on Local Security Policy.
• Click Security Options in the right-hand pane and scroll down to Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile. Double-click that item and make sure it’s enabled.
Note: On many public machines you won’t have the rights to get to Local Security Policy, and while this task can also be accomplished from the registry, on these machines you likely won’t be able to use regedit either. In this case, you can delete the page file manually. First you’ll have to change the settings in Windows Explorer.
• Click View | Folder Options
• Click View tab
• Scroll down
• Click Show Hidden Files and Folders. Deselect the Hide Protected Operating System Files check box.
Now, find the file named pagefile.sys. It is usually (but not always) on the C: drive. Delete it; a new one will be created when the system reboots.

8. Reboot
When you’re finished using the public computer, the final thing you should do is a hard reboot. This will not only clear the pagefile, if you’ve enabled that option, but it will also clear out everything you did from the physical memory (RAM).

9. Boot from another device
This is a fairly advanced option, and one that is often overlooked. If you boot from either your own USB drive or from a CD, many of the problems mentioned above can be avoided. Today, many Linux distributions have the option of running completely in memory after booting from a CD. If a public computer has had its BIOS options left at default (which happens more often than you would think), this could be an option. If you are able to do this and remember not to save any other files to the local hard drive, everything will be gone when you reboot.

10. Pay attention to your surroundings and use common sense
Finally, you need to remember to pay attention to things outside of the actual computer that could be a risk. Be aware of strangers around you (potential shoulder surfers) and remember that a public computer is just that -- public. Don’t view any truly sensitive documents you couldn’t bear for others to see.
Some places have security cameras and your keystrokes can be zoomed out. Cover your hands from view when entering any login information to prevent any casual spying.
Most important, remember that there is nothing you can do to make a public computer completely secure. A truly malicious owner or user could install a hardware keystroke logger that would be impossible to detect without actually opening the case and inspecting it. With that less-than-comforting thought, use common sense and use public computers only for non-sensitive tasks.

11 ways to recover a corrupt Word document

If you've ever had an important document get corrupted, you know the despair that sets in. You've lost critical information and/or countless hours of work – or so it appears. But hang on: You may not have to accept data loss. Here are some things you can try when you're dealing with a corrupted Word document.

1. Don't assume that the document is corrupt
Automatically assuming that a document is corrupt can be a big mistake. It could be Word or even Windows that is having the problem. Before you start trying to restore a backup or repair a file, try opening other documents. Try opening your "corrupt" document from another computer. You may be surprised by what happens.

2. Make a copy of the document
This isn't really a recovery trick, but it is a crucial preliminary step. If you don't have a backup copy of the corrupt document readily available, make a copy of the corrupted file right away and store it on removable media. There's a chance that the corruption within the file could become worse over time or that you could destroy the file while trying to recover it. Making a backup copy of the file now may save you even more heartache later on.

3. Check your email
In many cases, you may have emailed a copy of the document to someone at some point. If so, a copy of the document may still be in Outlook's Sent Items folder, attached to the email message you sent. Try selecting the Sent Items folder and using Outlook's Search feature to look for the document's name.

4. Run CHKDSK
Try running CHKDSK against the volume (i.e. the hard drive or partition) containing the corrupted file. Your problem could be caused by corruption at the file system level, and CHKDSK may be able to fix the problem. If nothing else, running CHKDSK allows you to test the integrity of the file system, which allows you to determine whether the problem exists at the file system level or within the document itself.
To run Chkdsk, open the command prompt (either at the start menu, or Windows + R key combination) and type the command.

5. Try exporting the file
If you can open the file in Word, try saving the file in an alternate format. Sometimes, using a format such as RTF or TXT will cause some of Word's codes to be stripped from the document, which often fixes the problem.

6. Extract the raw text
Although saving the Word document as an RTF or TXT file usually works pretty well, that technique does you no good if Word won't open the file. One approach is to use another word processor that supports Word documents. Alternatively, you can use a file editor (a hex editor) to manually extract anything salvageable from the file.

7. Use Word's text converter
You may also be able to recover the text portion of a document using Word’s text converter.
Click File | Open. When the Open dialog box appears, select the troublesome Word document. Then, choose Recover Text From Any File from the Files of Type drop-down list and open the document. This filter will import straight ASCII text from any file. You will lose Word formatting and non-text items such as graphics, but you should at least be able to extract most of the text information from the file. Note that this method is limited to documents in the Word 97-2003 format (not docx or dotx files which is a Word 2007 format).

8. Use Open and Repair
Word XP and later offer an Open and Repair option, which you can use to force Word to attempt a recovery. Just select the file in the Open dialog box and choose Open and Repair from the Open drop-down list in the bottom-right corner. This isn't necessarily foolproof, but it does work on a lot of problematic documents.

9. Use a Vista shadow copy of the document
Windows Vista automatically saves shadow copies of some files to the hard drive. If a shadow copy of your document exists, it may be possible to recover a recent version of the document. To do so, right-click on the document and select the Properties command from the shortcut menu. When the document's properties sheet appears, select the Previous Versions tab. (This tab exists only for files stored on NTFS volumes.) The Previous Versions tab will show you any previous versions of the file that are available.

10. Rebuild the file header
Although every Word document is different, Word documents that are created by a common version of Word have a common file header. I can't tell you exactly what this header contains, because it varies from one version of Word to the next. What I can tell you is that if you use a file editor to examine multiple known good Word documents, it will quickly become apparent which bits each of the documents has in common. Once you have determined which part of the file is the header, you can copy the header bits from a known good document and use the editor to paste those bits into your corrupt document, overwriting the existing header in the process. If the header was the portion of the document that was damaged, this technique will fix the problem.

11. Use a recovery program
Several third-party applications on the market are designed to recover corrupt documents. One of the best known products is OfficeRecovery. Another popular product is Ontrack Easy Recovery. Data recovery products like these can have a hefty price tag, and depending on the extent of the damage, they may or may not actually be able to repair your file.

75 Microsoft Word 2003 keyboard shortcuts

Microsoft Word is a text editor/word processing package that has been in use for so many years. No computer is complete without a Microsoft Word application installed. Some OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) like Dell and Hp most times has it preinstalled on their systems.
Being the application with the most use, knowledge of the shortcuts involved would largely boost the efficiency of any user. Although this edition concentrates on Microsoft 2003, there exist Microsoft Office XP, 2000, 2007 and 2010. Majority of the shortcuts listed here can be used on all of them, including Linux word processors like Open Office. Whichever version you may be using, this article will still help me.

Working with text and paragraphs
Shortcut Function
Ctrl+A Select all text in a document

Ctrl+Shift+A Format selected text as all caps

Ctrl+B Bold the selected text

Ctrl+C Copy the selected text or object

Ctrl+Shift+C Copy the format of the selected text

Ctrl+D Display the Format | Font dialog box

Ctrl+E Center the selected paragraph

Ctrl+Shift+H Apply hidden text formatting to the selected text

Ctrl+I Italicize the selected text

Ctrl+J Justify the selected paragraph

Ctrl+K Insert a hyperlink within the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+K Format select text as small caps

Ctrl+L Left align the selected paragraph

Ctrl+M Indent the selected paragraph from the left

Ctrl+Q Remove paragraph formatting from selected paragraph

Ctrl+R Right align the selected paragraph

Ctrl+T Apply a hanging indent to the selected paragraph

Ctrl+U Underline the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+D Double-underline the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+W Underline the selected words but not spaces

Ctrl+V Paste cut/copied text or object

Ctrl+Shift+V Paste copied format

Ctrl+0 Add/Remove one line space before the selected paragraph

Ctrl+1 Apply single-space lines to the selected text

Ctrl+2 Apply double-space lines to the selected text

Ctrl+5 Apply 1.5-space lines to the selected text

Ctrl+Spacebar Remove selected text's manual character formatting

Shortcut
Function

Ctrl+Equal Sign Subscript the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+Plus Sign Superscript the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+Q Apply Symbol font to the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+F Change the selected text's font

Ctrl+Shift+P Change the selected text's font size

Ctrl+Shift+> Increase the selected text's font size by one point

Ctrl+Shift+< Decrease the selected text's font size by one point

Ctrl+] Increase the selected text's font size by one point

Ctrl+[ Decrease the selected text's font size by one point

Shift+Enter Insert a line break

Ctrl+Enter Insert a page break

Ctrl+Shift+Enter Insert a section break

Alt+Ctrl+Minus Sign Insert an em dash

Ctrl+Minus Sign Insert an en dash

Ctrl+Hyphen Insert an optional hyphen

Ctrl+Shift+Hyphen Insert a nonbreaking hyphen

Ctrl+Shift+spacebar Insert a nonbreaking space

Alt+Ctrl+C Insert the copyright symbol

Alt+Ctrl+R Insert the registered trademark symbol

Alt+Ctrl+Period Insert and ellipsis
Printing and previewing
Shortcut Function
Ctrl+P Display the File | Print dialog box

Alt+Ctrl+I Switch in and out of Print Preview

Ctrl+Home Move to the document's first preview page

Ctrl+End Move to the document's last preview page

Working with styles
Shortcut Function
Alt+Ctrl+K Enable AutoFormat

Ctrl+Shift+L Apply the List style to the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+N Apply the Normal style to the selected text

Ctrl+Shift+S Apply a style to the selected text

Alt+Ctrl+1 Apply the Heading 1 style to the selected text

Alt+Ctrl+2 Apply the Heading 2 style to the selected text

Alt+Ctrl+3 Apply the Heading 3 style to the selected text
Working with tables
Shortcut Function
Tab Move to next cell in a row; Start a new row if pressed within a row's last cell

Shift+Tab Move to previous cell in a row

Alt+Home Move to the first cell in a row

Alt+End Move to the last cell in a row

Alt+Page Up Move to the first cell in a column

Alt+Page Down Move to the last cell in a column

Up Arrow Move to the previous row

Down Arrow Move to the next row

Enter Start a new paragraph within a cell

Ctrl+Tab Insert a tab within a cell

Working with documents
Shortcut Function
Ctrl+N Open a new document that is the same type as the current or most recently opened document

Ctrl+O Display the File | Open dialog box

Ctrl+W Close the current document

Ctrl+S Save the current document

Alt+Ctrl+S Split the document window

Alt+Shift+C Remove the document window split

Functions keys
Shortcut Function
F1 Display Word Help dialog box
Shift+F1 Open Reveal formatting dialog box or open context-sensitive Word Help
F2 Move selected text of object
Shift+F2 Copy the selected text
F3 Insert AutoText
Shift+F3 Change the case of the selected text
F4 Repeat last action
Shift+F4 Repeat Find or Go To
F5 Display the Edit | Go To dialog box
Shift+F5 Move to the last change
F6 Move to the next pane or frame
Shift+F6 Move to the previous pane or frame
F7 Display Tools | Spelling and Grammar dialog box
Shift+F7 Display the Tools | Language | Thesaurus dialog box
F8 Extend the selection
Shift+F8 Shrink the selection
F9 Update the selected fields
Shift+F9 Switch between a field code and its product
F10 Activate the Word menu bar
Shift+F10 Display the shortcut menu
F11 Move to the next field
Shift+F11 Move to the previous field
F12 Display the File | Save As dialog box
Shift+F12 Save the current document

76 keyboard shortcuts for moving faster in Windows Vista

As is normal with Windows, Microsoft has provided a huge number of keyboard shortcuts to make interaction with the product easier for those who enjoy the productivity that almost 100 percent keyboard use can supply. Below is a list of Vista keyboard shortcuts that are available when you're working on the Vista desktop, in Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), in the Vista Sidebar, in dialog boxes, and in Vista Help.

Vista Desktop
Shortcut Function
Windows key Opens or closes the Start menu
Windows + D Displays your desktop
Windows + E Opens the Computer window
Windows + F Opens the Search window
Ctrl + Windows + F Searches for computers (if you're on a network)
Windows + L Locks your computer or switches users
Windows + M Minimizes all windows
Shift + Windows + M Restores minimized windows
Windows + R Opens the Run dialog box
Windows + T Cycles through programs on the Taskbar
Windows + U Opens the Ease of Access Center
Ctrl + A Selects everything in a window
Ctrl + C Copies selected items
Ctrl + X Cuts selected items
Ctrl + V Pastes cut or copied items
Ctrl + Y Redoes an action
Ctrl + Z Undoes an action
F1 Displays Help
F2 Highlights the label of a selected item for editing
F3 Opens the Search window
Ctrl + F4 Closes the current document
Alt + F4 Closes the current item or program
F5 Refreshes a window
F6 Cycles through elements in a window or on the desktop
F10 Activates a program's menu bar
Shift + Windows + F10 Displays the shortcut menu for a selected item
Delete Deletes selected items to the Recycle Bin
Shift + Delete Deletes selected items permanently
Alt + Enter Displays the properties of a selected item
Ctrl + Esc Opens the Start menu
Alt + Esc Cycles through items in the order you opened them
Ctrl + Shift + Esc Opens the Windows Task Manager
Left Alt + Left Shift + Num Lock Turns the Mouse Keys feature on or off
Hold for five seconds + Num Lock Turns the Toggle Keys feature on or off
Windows + Pause Displays the System Properties dialog box
Left Alt + Left Shift + Print Screen Turns the High Contrast feature on or off
Right Shift for 8 seconds Turns the Filter Keys feature on and off
Press Shift five times Turns the Sticky Keys feature on or off
Alt + Spacebar Opens the shortcut menu for the current window
Alt + Tab Switches between open items
Windows + Tab Cycles through open items with Flip 3-D
Ctrl + Alt + Tab Displays open items (use the arrow keys to switch between them)
Ctrl + Windows + Tab Displays open items with Flip 3-D (use the arrow keys to cycle through them)
In Windows Explorer
Shortcut Function
Alt + D Moves to the Address bar
F4 Displays the Address bar drop-down list
Ctrl + N Opens a new window
F11 Maximizes/minimizes the current window
Left arrow Collapses a selection or selects its parent folder
Alt + Left arrow Shows the previous folder
Right arrow Displays the current selection or selects its first subfolder
Alt + Right arrow Shows the next folder
Asterisk (keypad) Displays subfolders within a selected folder
End Displays the bottom of the current window
Home Displays the top of the current window
Minus Sign (keypad) Collapses the selected folder
Plus Sign (keypad) Displays the contents of the selected folder
In the Vista Sidebar
Shortcut Function
Windows + G Cycles through gadgets
Windows + Spacebar Brings all gadgets to the front; selects Sidebar
Tab Cycles through Sidebar controls
In a dialog box
Shortcut Function
F1 Displays Help
F4 Displays items in a drop-down list
Backspace In Save As or Open dialog, opens a folder one level up from a selected folder
Enter Works like a mouse click for some selected options
Spacebar Selects or deselects an active check box
Tab Moves forward through dialog box options
Ctrl + Tab Hops from tab to tab
Shift + Tab Moves backward through dialog box options
Ctrl + Shift + Tab Hops backward from tab to tab
In Vista Help
Shortcut Function
Alt + A Displays the customer support page
Alt + C Displays the Help And Support Contents
Ctrl + F Opens Find dialog box for the current topic
Alt + N Displays the connection settings menu
Ctrl + P Prints a help topic
F3 Moves to the Search box
F10 Displays Options menu
Alt + Home Displays the Help And Support home page

56 keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Windows XP

Using a computer involves clicking and clicking and clicking. The process of dragging the mouse to the spot that needs to be clicked could take some time (especially if the mouse is dirty), not so much though but enough to do something else, if you knew a shortcut. Every operating system and application program can be manipulated with a keyboard shortcut. At times you may find that the same shortcut could be used for several other applications. Once you are acquainted with a collection of shortcuts for a given OS or application, you can use a lot of it on others.
I have decided to begin this series with an Operating System. I will take Windows XP and Vista since they are found on majority of systems now.
Let the icon  represent The Windows key. It is normally located between the Ctrl and Alt keys on most keyboards. However, some vendor keyboards and some laptops do not have this key.
Note: Majority of the shortcuts have a + sign in between. The existence of the plus means a combination of keys i.e. you press the keys involved simultaneously to activate the command.

Have fun…

Keystroke Function
 Opens the Start menu

+ E Opens My Computer in Windows Explorer

+ Pause/Break Opens the System Properties dialog box

+ U Opens the Utility Manager

+ R Opens the Run… prompt

+ F Opens the Search for Files and Folder window

+ Ctrl + F Opens the search for computers on the network

+ M Minimize all windows

+ Shift + + M Maximize all windows (after minimizing them)

+ D Minimize all windows to the desktop, and then restore all Windows

+ L Lock Computer

+ Tab Cycle through the open programs on the Taskbar

+ B Selects the first item in the System Tray; use the arrow keys to cycle through the items and use the Enter key to open a selected item in the SysTray

Alt + Tab Switch between open programs

Alt + F4 (in a program) Closes the program

Alt + F4 (from desktop) Opens the Windows Shutdown/Restart dialog box

Alt + Enter Opens the Properties page of a selected item

Alt + Esc Cycle between open programs in the order that they were opened

Alt + Spacebar In the active window, this brings up the corner dialog box for Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, or Close

Shift + Insert CD/DVD Inserts a CD/DVD without triggering Autoplay or Autorun

Shift + Delete Permanently deletes an item (rather than sending it to the Recycle Bin)

Ctrl + Shift + Esc Opens the Windows Task Manager

Ctrl + drag an icon Copies that item

Ctrl + Shift + drag an icon Creates a shortcut for the item

Right-click + drag a file Brings up a menu to copy, move, or create a shortcut

PrtScn Takes a screen shot of the entire screen; go into a photo program (the Windows program "Paint" will also work) and hit Paste to edit and save the screen shot

Alt + PrtScn Takes a screen shot of only the active Window; hit Paste in a photo program to edit and save the screen shot

F1 Opens the Windows XP Help

F2 Rename selected item

F3 Opens Windows search for files and folders

F5 (or Ctrl + R) Refresh Internet Explorer page, or refresh any other window

F6 Cycle through the different types of elements that can be selection on a screen or window

F10 Selects the menu bar in the active program (usually "File") so that you can use the arrow keys to navigate through the menus and the Enter key to select

Shift + F10 For a selected item, this does the same thing as a right-click with the mouse

Tab Move through the different elements on a page or the fields in a form

Shift + Tab Move backward through the different elements on a page or the fields in a form

Ctrl + A Select All

Ctrl + C Copy

Ctrl + X Cut

Ctrl + V Paste

Ctrl + Z Undo

Ctrl + Y Redo

Ctrl + P Print

Ctrl + O Open

Ctrl + Esc Opens the Start menu

Ctrl + Backspace Deletes the entire word to the left

Ctrl + Delete Deletes the entire word to the right

Ctrl + Right arrow Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word

Ctrl + Left arrow Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word

Ctrl + Down arrow Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph

Ctrl + Up arrow Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph

Ctrl + Shift + Arrow keys Highlight a block of text

Click Shift 5 times Turns StickyKeys on or off

Hold down the right Shift key for 8 seconds Turns FilterKeys on or off


Hold down Num Lock for 5 seconds Turns ToggleKeys on or off


Make your own custom keystroke for a program Right-click on the icon of a program or shortcut; go to Properties; click on the Shortcut tab; enter your custom keystroke combination in the "Shortcut key" field (it will only let you assign key combos that aren't already taken)

80 Keyboard shortcuts to move faster in Mozilla Firefox

Today we will consider some shortcuts that enhance your net surfing experience using Moxilla Firefox. A lot of people do not use Moxilla Firefox by default, but if you come across it on any system, these shortcuts will assist you.

Keystroke Function
Alt + B Open the Bookmarks drop-down menu
Alt + D Select the current Location bar text
Alt + E Open the Edit drop-down menu
Alt + F Open the File drop-down menu
Alt + G Open the Go drop-down menu
Alt + H Open the Help drop-down menu
Alt + T Open the Tools drop-down menu
Alt + V Open the View drop-down menu
Alt + Enter Open address in a new tab
Alt + Left Arrow Move back
Alt + Right Arrow Move forward
Alt + Home Open the Home page
Alt + F4 Close active window
Backspace Move back
Delete Delete
Esc Stop downloading a page
End Move to the bottom of a page
Home Move to the top of a page
Ctrl + + (plus sign) Increase text size
Ctrl + - (minus sign) Decrease text size
Ctrl + 0 Restore normal text size
Ctrl + 1 Open Tab 1
Ctrl + 2 Open Tab 2
Ctrl + 3 Open Tab 3
Ctrl + 4 Open Tab 4
Ctrl + 5 Open Tab 5
Ctrl + 6 Open Tab 6
Ctrl + 7 Open Tab 7
Ctrl + 8 Open Tab 8
Ctrl + 9 Open Tab 9
Ctrl + F4 Close active tab
Ctrl + F5 Refresh (override cache)
Ctrl + A Select All
Ctrl + B Open/close the Bookmarks pane
Ctrl + C Copy
Ctrl + D Add a bookmark (defaults to the active page)
Ctrl + E Activate Web Search
Ctrl + F Find
Ctrl + G Find again
Ctrl + H Open/close the History pane
Ctrl + I Open/close the Bookmarks pane
Ctrl + J Open/close the Downloads dialog box
Ctrl + K Activate Web Search
Ctrl + L Select the current Location bar text
Ctrl + M Open a new e-mail message using the default e-mail client
Ctrl + N Open a new Firefox window
Ctrl + O Open a file
Ctrl + P Print
Ctrl + R Refresh
Ctrl + S Save As
Ctrl + T Open a new tab in the current Firefox window
Ctrl + U View the source code for the current page
Ctrl + V Paste
Ctrl + W Close the active tab within the current Firefox window
Ctrl + X Cut
Ctrl + Y Redo
Ctrl + Z Undo
Ctrl + Down Arrow Select next search engine in Web Search bar
Ctrl + Up Arrow Select previous search engine in Web Search bat
Ctrl + Tab Select the next tab within the current Firefox window
Ctrl + Page Down Select the next tab within the current Firefox window
Ctrl + Page Up Select the previous tab within the current Firefox window
Ctrl + Shift + Tab Select the previous tab within the current Firefox window
Ctrl + Enter Add "www." to the beginning and ".com" to the end of the text in the Location bar
Ctrl + Shift + Enter Add "www." to the beginning and ".org" to the end of the text in the Location bar
Ctrl + Shift + R Refresh (override cache)
Ctrl + Shift + W Close Firefox
Shift + F3 Find previous
Shift + F6 Move to the previous frame
Shift + Enter Add "www." to the beginning and ".net" to the end of the text in the Location bar
Shift + D Delete the selected Autocomplete entry
Shift + Backspace Move forward
F1 Open Mozilla Firefox Help
F3 Find again
F5 Refresh
F6 Select the current Location bar text
Move to the next frame
F7 Toggle on/off Caret Browsing
F11 Switch between full-screen/normal view

Today marks the end of the series on shortcuts. Next week we will discuss 10 things you should do to protect yourself on a public computer.
If you’re frequent at Cyber Cafés, this edition will tell you what you need to know.

60 indispensable Microsoft Word tips

No matter how long you've been using Microsoft Word, you can always learn new techniques to help you work faster and smarter. Here are some tips and tricks for Word 97, 2000, 2002(XP), 2003, and 2007, organized into four sections: The Basics, Advanced Tips, Things You Don't Have to Do, and New to Word 2007.

The Basics

1. Learn to use Undo – Make a mistake? Press [Ctrl]Z or choose Undo from the Edit menu right away. Keep pressing [Ctrl]Z to backtrack through and undo the most recent editing changes you've made. In 2007, the Undo button is on the Quick Access toolbar in the top-left corner. Redo does double duty with the new Repeat button.

2. Save often – Press [Ctrl]S or click the Save button on the Standard toolbar. Save your work frequently. You can also instruct Word to automatically save your work periodically. Open the Tools menu, select Options, click the Save tab, and activate the Save AutoRecovery Info Every option. You can specify an interval from 1 to 120 minutes. In 2007, click the Office button (in the top-left corner) and then click the Word Options button at the bottom right of the resulting dialog box. Now, click Save. You’ll find the Save AutoRecovery Information Every option in the Save Documents section.

3. Quickly move to the beginning or end of a document – To move to the top of a document, press [Ctrl][Home]. To move to the bottom of a document, press [Ctrl][End].

4. Open menus and select commands with the keyboard – Press [Alt] plus the letter that's underlined to open a menu, such as File, Edit, View, and so on. Once a menu is open, you don't need to press [Alt] to select a command; just press the underlined letter of the command you want to select. Here are some common examples: Quick Print: [Alt]F, P. Quick Save As: [Alt]F,A. Quickly reopen the first document in the most recently used file list: [Alt]F,1. Most of the standard shortcuts still work in Word 2007, but the display is different. When you press [Alt] in Word 2007, you'll see KeyTips (letters and numbers that denote keyboard accelerators) displayed for each button. Just press the appropriate KeyTip and then press the additional keys as indicated by the labels. For example, [Alt],P,M will activate KeyTips, select the Page Layout tab, and display the Margins drop-down list.

5. Select a block of text – Here are four selection tricks.
(1) Use the mouse. Just click and drag the mouse to select text.
(2) Use [Shift] plus the arrow keys. Hold down [Shift] and press an arrow key to select text in the desired direction.
(3) To select a word at a time, press [Ctrl][Shift] and the left or right arrow key.
(4) Use the mouse with the [Shift] key. Move the mouse pointer away from the insertion point position, hold down [Shift] and click to select all the text between the insertion point and the place where you clicked. Frustrated when you try to select text with the mouse past the bottom of the currently visible page and Word leaps past what you want to select? Those are the times to use [Shift] plus the down arrow key instead of the mouse.

6. Select a word – Double-click on it. If a space immediately follows the word you select, the space gets selected, too. Punctuation is ignored.

7. Select a sentence – Hold down [Ctrl] and click anywhere in the sentence.

8. Select a paragraph – Triple-click within the paragraph or move the mouse just past the left margin of the paragraph. When the pointer changes to a right-pointing arrow, double-click to select the whole paragraph.

9. Select a table – Select a table by holding down [Alt] and double-clicking anywhere in the table, but only in versions up to 2002. This trick is broken in versions 2003 and 2007. It still selects the table, but it also opens the Research pane. If you can live with that, you may still want to use it.

10. Select cells in large tables using the keyboard (Word 2002 and later) – As the size of a table increases, it becomes harder to use the mouse as your sole means of navigation within it. For example, to select a column with the mouse, you need to move the pointer along the top gridline of the first cell in the column until it changes to a down arrow and then click. However, using the keyboard simplifies this process. Position the pointer anywhere in the column, press [Alt], and select any cell (in versions 2003 and 2007, this sequence opens the Research pane instead). To use the keyboard to select an entire table, click anywhere in the table and, with Num Lock off, press [Alt]5 on the numeric keyboard (in all versions). Like Excel, Word 2002 and later versions let you press [Ctrl] to select nonadjacent cells. For example, to select columns 1 and 3, select column 1, hold down [Ctrl] and select column 3.

11. Select all the text between the insertion point and the end of the current line– To select all the text between the insertion point and the end of the current line, press [Shift][End]. To select the text from the insertion point through the end of the current paragraph, press [Ctrl][Shift] and the down arrow. To select the text from the insertion point to the end of the document, press [Ctrl][Shift][End].

12. Select multiple, noncontiguous words (Word 2002 and later) – Select a word, then hold [Ctrl] and double-click an additional word or words. This will select the words regardless of whether they are adjacent to each other.

13. Select an entire document – Press [Ctrl]A. This is handy when you need to change the font or add or remove formatting. Once you've selected the entire document, apply the formatting to everything and either leave it applied or apply it again to remove it. For example, suppose some text in your document is underlined and you want nothing underlined. To avoid spending time visiting each underlined section of text and un-underlining it, select the whole document with [Ctrl]A. Press [Ctrl]U to apply underlining to the entire document and then press [Ctrl]U again to remove the underlining. Be careful when you use [Ctrl]A; you could inadvertently make wholesale changes to all your text. If you accidentally press [Delete] or type a keystroke and delete everything, don't panic. Just press [Ctrl]Z or choose Undo from the Edit menu.

14. Find multiple instances at once (Word 2002 and later) – You can use the Find command to count and select the occurrences of a particular word. Open the Find And Replace dialog box by pressing [Ctrl]F. Type the word or words you want to locate in the Find What text box. Select the Highlight All Items Found In check box. (In 2007, choose Highlight All from the Reading Highlight drop-down list.) Click the Find All button, and Word will display the number of instances of that word occurring in your document. It will also select them so that they're easy to spot and edit. This last step isn’t necessary in 2007—choosing Highlight All automatically initiates the find task. While Word 2002 and 2003 simply select the occurrences of the text, Word 2007 actually applies a highlight to them that persists if you close the dialog box without choosing Clear Highlighting.

15. Grow font, shrink font – Here are three quick ways to change the size of selected text:
a. Choose Font from the Format menu and specify the desired point size in the Font dialog box. (You can open this dialog box by pressing [Ctrl][Shift]P, even in Word 2007.)
b. Click the Font Size button on the Formatting toolbar and select an entry from the drop-down list. (In Word 2007, Font Size is in the Font group on the Home tab.)
c. Use the Grow Font and Shrink Font shortcuts, which are [Ctrl] plus the ] and [ characters, respectively. Just keep hitting ] or [ with [Ctrl] held down to continue growing or shrinking the text.

16. Rename an existing document – Use Save As. When you need to use an existing document as the basis for a new one, don't overwrite the old document. As soon as you open it, press [Alt]F and then press A. Alternatively, press [F12] or open the File menu and choose Save As.( In Word 2007, Save As is on the Office menu.) In the Save As dialog box, just type a new name or change some part of the original one and click Save.

17. Print envelopes – Want to address your envelopes in the printer? Type an address in a blank document or in a letter. Open the Tools menu and select Envelopes And Labels. (Word 2002 users choose Letters And Mailings and then select Envelopes And Labels. In Word 2007, select the address and choose Envelopes from the Create group on the Mailings tab.) Now, in the Envelopes tab, enter the return address if you want one and click Print.

18. Expand your vocabulary – Word has a built-in thesaurus. Press [Shift][F7] or open the Tools menu, select Language, and then choose Thesaurus. Word will display a list of synonyms for the word you've selected or the word closest to the insertion point marker. In 2007, Thesaurus is in the Proofing group on the Review tab. In Word 2000 and later, you can also right-click on a word and choose Synonyms from the shortcut menu to see a list of synonyms, along with the Thesaurus command.

19. Make friends with the right mouse button – Don't be afraid to right-click on a block of text or a table cell. The shortcut menu offers immediate access to some handy formatting options.

20. Paste plain text – When you copy and paste text from a Web page or another document, the text brings its formatting into your document. To get around that behavior, copy the text and place the insertion point marker where you want to insert the copy. Then, open the Edit menu, choose Paste Special, and select the Unformatted Text option. In 2007, the Paste Special command is on the Paste drop-down list. The Paste option is in the Clipboard group on the Home tab.

21. Print multiple pages of a document on one sheet (Word 2000 and later) – If you regularly print large documents or send printed copies of them through the mail, you can save on both paper and postage by using Microsoft Word's Zoom feature. With Zoom, you can print as many as 16 pages on a single sheet of paper. To print four pages to a sheet, choose File and click on Print. (In 2007, click the Office button and choose Print.) In the Zoom section, select 4 Pages from the Pages per Sheet drop-down list, make any other print selections, and click OK. Zoom automatically reduces the scale to fit four pages on each sheet. Zoom reduces the size of your printout without changing the document's format or page layout settings.

Advanced tips

22. Instantly AutoCorrect – Right-click on a word that's flagged as misspelled to display the Edit shortcut menu. Word will list possible alternatives at the top. If you don’t see the right word, choose AutoCorrect and then select the correct version of the word from the submenu to create an AutoCorrect entry.

23. Enter AutoText effortlessly – Take advantage of Word's AutoComplete option to quickly insert common text. Just open the Tools menu, select AutoCorrect Options, click the AutoText tab, and select Show AutoComplete Suggestions. With this option enabled, Word will show a ScreenTip after you begin typing an AutoText item. Just press [Enter] and Word will insert the item for you. (This feature also works with dates and days of the week.) Word 2007 doesn't offer a ScreenTip display for AutoText entries. To insert AutoText, you must either open the Quick Parts drop-down list (located in the Text group on the Insert tab), choose Building Blocks Organizer, select the item, and click Insert or type the first few letters of the AutoText name in your document and press [F3]. Note: If you rely heavily on AutoText, you may want to add the AutoText command to your Quick Access Toolbar.

24. Get on your mark(ers) – Work with paragraph markers and tab marks displayed. Simply click the Show/Hide ¶ button on the Standard toolbar. In Word 2007, click the Office button, click Word Options, and then choose Display in the left pane to find options for displaying formatting marks. (The [Ctrl][Shift]8 shortcut works in all versions and acts just like the Show/Hide ¶ button.) Displaying those normally hidden characters helps you avoid inadvertently deleting objects or changing formatting; it also helps you figure out funky alignment and extra white space problems.

25. Use AutoCorrect as a text expander – You don't have to keep typing that long string of words you have trouble with. Come up with a three- or four-letter abbreviation for it and add it to your AutoCorrect list. For example, say you often need to type Indianapolis. Enter that text and select it. Then press [Alt]T (to open the Tools menu) and press A to select AutoCorrect. (Pressing [Alt] in Word 2007 will display KeyTips on all the buttons -- you can then continue by pressing T and A to access the AutoCorrect dialog box.) Indianapolis will appear in the With text box, so just type indy in the Replace text box and click OK twice. Now, any time you type indy followed by a space or any punctuation (or if you press [Enter]), Word will automatically "correct" that spelling and replace it with Indianapolis. You can save up to 255 characters in an AutoCorrect entry. (If you need more characters or you want to include pictures along with text, save it as an AutoText entry.)

26. Clear the table – If you need to delete the contents of all the cells in a table, just select the table and press [Delete] (not [Backspace]). Pressing [Backspace] will delete the text and the table.

27. Display built-in styles – When you create a document, Word starts you out with a handful of basic styles. (Later versions are a bit more generous, but they still offer a limited list.) If you need to apply a more specialized style, hold down [Shift] and click on the arrow beside the Style box on the Formatting toolbar. Word will expand the Style list to include all its built-in styles. Just select the one you need and Word will apply that style and add it to your document. This also works in 2007, but you must first add the Style list to the Quick Access Toolbar. Choose More Commands from the toolbar’s drop-down list. Select Customize in the left pane, and then select Popular Commands from the Choose Commands From list. Select Style, click Add, and then OK.

28. Calculate a table column total – Performing addition in a Word table is simple. Click in an empty cell at the bottom of a column of numbers. Open the Table menu, select Formula, and click OK to accept the default Sum function. In Word 2007, whenever you're in a table, you'll see the Table Tools tab -- which displays the Design and Layout subtabs. For this trick, position the insertion point below a column of numbers, click the Layout subtab, and then click Formula in the Data group. The Formula dialog box will appear as in earlier versions, and you can click OK to insert the Sum function.

29. Create styles on the fly – Format a paragraph the way you want, type a name in the Style box on the Formatting toolbar, and press [Enter]. This also works in Word 2007, but you must first add the Style drop-down list to the Quick Access Toolbar as described in tip 27.

30. Quickly toggle fields – Press [Alt][F9] to quickly toggle field code display on and off.

31. Add a border to a page – To jazz up a document by adding page borders, open the Format menu, select the Borders and Shading command, and click the Page Border tab. You can then select the desired formatting and designs for the border. In 2007, click the Borders And Shading button in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.

32. Get there fast – Double-click the left end of the status bar to bring up the Go To tab so you can jump to an item in your document, such as bookmark, a specific page, a table, a section, and so on.

33. Split Document – See two parts of a document at the same time by choosing Split from the Window menu and clicking to place the split bar where you want to divide the document window. Separate vertical scroll bars allow you to bring different portions of text into view—and you can set different view preferences for each pane. To restore the panes to a single window, just double-click the split bar or drag it beyond the top or bottom of the window. In Word 2007, Split Window is in the Window group on the View tab.

34. Be selective when counting words – Need to know how many words, characters, paragraphs, or lines appear in a portion of a document? Just select the desired text before choosing Word Count from the Tools menu. In Word 2007, it’s even easier because 2007 displays word count on the Status Bar. Just select the text and 2007 updates the count accordingly.

35. Trim ragged text by turning on hyphenation – When text contains many long words and your left and right margins are close to one another, your right margin can look ragged. To help smooth out that edge, choose Language from the Tools menu, choose Hyphenation, select the Automatically Hyphenate Document check box, and click OK. In Word 2007, choose Automatic from the Hyphenation drop-down list. This option is in the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab.

36. Add a new coat of formatting on your text – To copy the formatting from a selected word or paragraph, click the Format Painter button on the Standard toolbar and then select the word or block of text to which you want to apply that formatting. To copy the same formatting to more than one block of text, double-click on the Format Painter button. Then, you can apply the formatting to several blocks of text. To turn off the Format Painter, just click the button again or press [Esc]. You’ll find Format Painter in the Clipboard group on Word 2007’s Home tab.

37. Jump quickly between documents – If you work with a lot of open, overlapping documents, here's a quick way to cycle between them: Press [Ctrl][F6] to jump from one to the next; [Ctrl][Shift][F6] will jump you backward.

38. Insert and format symbols – For instant access to thousands of special symbols, like foreign characters and wild and crazy icons, open the Insert menu, choose Symbol, and look through the selections available for different fonts and subsets of fonts. After you insert a special character or symbol, you can then select it and adjust its size, if necessary. In Word 2007, choose More Symbols from the Symbol drop-down list, which you’ll find in the Symbols group on the Insert tab.

39. Create a desktop shortcut to a document (Versions prior to Word 2007) – To create a document shortcut, first highlight some text to serve as a target in the document and click the Copy button. Next, minimize the Word window or drag it out of the way so you can see the Windows desktop. Then, hold down [Ctrl], right-click on the desktop, and choose Paste Shortcut. You'll probably want to change the shortcut name to something more meaningful. To do this, click on the shortcut to select it and then press [F2] to activate the label for editing. Type the desired name and press [Enter]. Close your document, clicking Yes to save your changes. You can even exit Word, if you want. Then, simply double-click on the desktop shortcut. Word will open the associated document, navigate to your target text, and select it.

40. Pick up where you left off (Versions prior to Word 2007) – When you open a document you've been working on, it would be nice if Word took you back to the last place you were working. Unfortunately, it always puts you at the top of the document instead. You can jump straight to your most recent editing location if you remember to press [Shift][F5] before doing anything else in the document when it opens. This is Word's Go Back shortcut, and it will remember the last place you made an edit and take you to it.

Things you don't have to do

41. Worry – You don't have to worry about doing something wrong. Just get familiar with the program and experiment with Word features. If something looks wrong or funny, that's when you use the Undo feature. Press or type the wrong thing, try [Ctrl]Z to undo whatever you did. Always remember you can press [Ctrl]Z or choose Undo from the Edit menu (or click Undo on the Quick Access Toolbar in Word 2007) to undo changes one at a time. Aside from deleting or failing to save a file, there's almost nothing you can do that isn't reversible. Frequent saves will also help. If the worst happens, you can always revert to the saved file. If you save often, you should lose very little work.

42. Move your hands from the keyboard – You don't have to use the mouse to do things like open menus (or change groups, in Word 2007), select or format text, or move the insertion point marker. You may find you work more efficiently if you're not always moving your hand from the keyboard to the mouse. Press [Home] to move to the beginning of the current line and press [End] to move to the end of the current line. Press [Ctrl] and the left or right arrow to move one word in either direction. Hold down [Shift] while pressing those keys to select the text between the insertion point marker and the beginning or the end of the line, respectively.

43. Select an entire paragraph to change formatting or style – You don't have to select the entire paragraph to change the paragraph's formatting or style. Just click anywhere in the paragraph and choose the desired format or style. A good example is paragraph alignment. Just click anywhere in the paragraph and then click the Align Left, Align Right, or Justify button on the Standard toolbar. (These buttons are in the Home tab's Paragraph group in Word 2007.) Of course, this works only with paragraph formats—to apply a character format (such as italics), you have to first select all the characters you want to format.

44. Work with only one document at a time – You don't have to close one Word document before you open another. Open as many at a time as you want to. Use the [Ctrl][F6] keyboard shortcut or the Windows menu to move quickly between open documents.

45. Risk missing something you're looking for – You don't have to visually scan and manually scroll through a document looking for a word or phrase. Use [Ctrl]F to open the Find tab of the Find And Replace dialog box and let Word locate the text for you.

46. Waste time during a spelling check – You don't have to repeatedly click Ignore or Ignore All every time the spell-checker stops on a proper noun or a term that's commonly used in your documents. Click Add (Add To Dictionary in Word 2002 and later) so you don't waste time checking the same words over and over.

47. Delete old text you're replacing – You don't have to delete text you want to replace with new text. Select the old text and start typing the new. The first keystroke replaces the old selected text. Don't waste time pressing [Delete] first.

48. Press [Backspace] over and over – You don't have to press [Backspace] a dozen times to delete a word or phrase. If you type something and then change your mind, pressing [Ctrl][Backspace] to delete a word at a time is much faster. Only one thing is more wasteful: using the mouse to click on the beginning of a word or phrase and then pressing [Delete] repeatedly. (You can use [Ctrl][Delete] to quickly remove words in that situation.) If you get overzealous with [Ctrl][Backspace] or [Ctrl][Delete] and remove one word too many, press [Ctrl]Z to bring it right back.

49. Use the default toolbar configuration – You don't have to settle for the default toolbar configuration that shows the Standard and Formatting toolbars. Click View | Toolbars to reveal a list of available toolbars. If you routinely edit documents, the Reviewing toolbar comes in very handy. Use the Tables And Borders toolbar to quickly create tables or the Drawing toolbar to easily manipulate graphics. You can also modify Word's toolbars by clicking View | Toolbars | Customize, which opens the Customize dialog box. When this dialog box is open, you can rearrange a toolbar's buttons, add or remove buttons, or even edit a button's image or create your own special toolbars. Note that this doesn't apply to Word 2007, although you can customize the Quick Access Toolbar to include the items you need. (Just click on the toolbar's drop-down arrow and choose More Commands to access customization options.)

50. Count words by hand (Word 2000 and later) – Don't waste time manually counting words. Word's count function will tell you how many words and characters are in a document, paragraph, or selection. Word 2002 and 2003 offer a Count toolbar that even simplifies the process. Click View | Toolbars | Word Count. Word 2007 keeps a running word count in the status bar; you can double-click there to display the number of pages, characters, paragraphs, and lines.

New to Word 2007

51. Make the Quick Access Toolbar your own – You can add a few common commands, such as Save, Open, and Quick Print to the Quick Access Toolbar in Word 2007 by selecting those commands from the toolbar’s drop-down list. Other commands are also available. Just choose More Commands from the Quick Access Toolbar’s drop-down list (or click the Office button, click Word Options, and then choose Customize in the left pane.) You can peruse the exhaustive All Commands list for items you need that don't appear in any of the Ribbon groups or that are simply hard to find.

52. Minimize the Ribbon to free up document space – Word 2007’s Ribbon takes up a lot of room. If you need more space, you can turn the Ribbon display off and on by pressing [Ctrl][F1]. You can also set it to be minimized by right-clicking on its background (not on a button) and selecting Minimize Ribbon. Only the tabs remain, resembling a more traditional menu bar. When you need to access the groups in a particular tab, just click on the tab name and Word will display it. Click the tab name again, and Word will collapse the tab out of view. To turn Ribbon display back on, right-click on the Ribbon and deselect Minimize Ribbon.

53. Quickly add a cover page – Word 2007 offers several preformatted cover pages that will help dress up your documents. To insert a cover page, click the Insert tab. Then, in the Pages group, choose a page from the Cover Page drop-down list. To save a cover page you’ve created, highlight the entire page. Then, click the Insert tab and select Save Selection To Cover Page Gallery from the Cover Page drop-down list.

54. Get a sneak peek – Word 2007’s Live Preview is one its most useful enhancements. Select some text and then move your mouse over styles in the Styles group on the Home tab. Live Preview will display those changes to the selected text without actually making changes to the document. This feature simply allows you to see what those changes would look like if you applied them. If you find Live Preview distracting, you can disable it by clicking the Office button, clicking the Word Options button, choosing Popular in the left pane, and then deselecting the Enable Live Preview option in the Top Options For Working With Word section.

55. Find and flag text – Word's new Reading Highlight feature lets you search for a particular word or phrase and highlight all occurrences of it—then have the highlights remain even after you turn off Find. Start by clicking the Home tab, clicking the Text Highlight Color button in the Font group, and choosing the color you want. (If you don't do this, Word defaults to a yellow highlight.) Next, press [Ctrl]F to open the Find And Replace dialog box. Enter your text in the Find What text box and choose Highlight All from the Reading Highlight drop-down list. All the instances of the specified text will be highlighted in your document. You can click Close and Word will retain the highlighting. Return to the Find And Replace dialog box and choose Clear Highlighting from the Reading Highlight drop-down list to remove the highlights. Or simply press [Ctrl]A to select all your document text and choose No Color from the Text Highlight Color drop-down list.

56. Pick a prefab page setup – In Word 2007, you don't have to wrangle with separate margin settings in the Page Setup dialog box (unless you want to). Just click Margins in the Page Setup Group of the Page Layout tab to access a list of layouts, such as Narrow, Moderate, Wide, or Word 2003 Default. A little graphical display will show you how the page will look with the various settings. You also have the option of selecting Last Custom Settings to re-create a layout you previously set.

57. Change the default document folder – In Windows, all your Word documents save to the My Documents folder by default. If this doesn't suit you, it's easy to specify a different folder—but the option may be hard to find if you're used to earlier versions of Word. In 2007, you need to click the Office button and click Word Options. Then, choose Save in the left pane and under Save Documents, click the Browse button next to the Default File Location text box. Navigate to and click the folder you want to be your default, then click OK twice.

58. Assemble slick documents with building blocks – When you need to quickly produce an important report in Word, you don’t want to spend a lot of time formatting it. But that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice appearance. You can still achieve a professional look by assembling the document from Word 2007’s built-in components, called building blocks. To add items such as headers, footers, and watermarks, click the Insert tab. Then, click Quick Parts in the Text group and choose Building Blocks Organizer. This will open a gallery of predesigned elements you can insert into your document. Once you insert an item, you can fine-tune it by entering any necessary text, such as the document title, organization name, and so forth.

59. Use the contextual spell checker to avoid silly mistakes – Word’s spell checker can help you cut down on spelling errors, but what if you type the word right and it should be write? Until Word 2007, the spell checker would have ignored the error. For those of us who consistently type to for too, there for their, or site for sight, Word 2007 has a new feature that not only checks for the correct spelling but also for the correct context. To enable the contextual spell checker, just click the Options button and click Word Options. Then, choose Proofing in the left pane and select the Use Contextual Spelling check box under When Correcting Spelling And Grammar In Word. Click OK, and then try it out: Type Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of there country. Word will underline there in blue. You can right-click the word to select the correct spelling: their.

60. Make sure you're compatible – Before you send out that beautifully formatted Word 2007 document, it's a good idea to check the compatibility of your document with other versions of Word. For example, if your document contains SmartArt (a feature that is not supported in earlier versions of Word), when a Word 2003 user opens your document, the SmartArt graphics will be converted into a single object that can't be edited. To check the document for features that aren't supported in earlier versions, click the Office button and click Word Options. Then, choose Prepare in the left pane and click Run Compatibility Checker. Word will provide a report that lists the document's unsupported features and details what you can do, if anything, to make your document readable in earlier versions. You can also have Word automatically run a compatibility check every time you save a file. Just select the Check Compatibility When Saving In Word 97-2003 Formats check box in the Word Compatibility Checker dialog box before clicking OK to close the compatibility report.

10 Free Security tools that actually work

PC security is a hot industry, thanks to forces from the Dark Side. Your system, more than finances, will determine the tools you use to protect it. However, for the casual home or business computer, a number of free security products work well. Almost all of these products offer a paid version with more features, and many users eventually upgrade -- which is why these companies can afford to offer free products.
Before you spend your hard-earned money on expensive security products, check out the following free tools.

AVG Anti-virus Free Edition
Without doubt, AVG is probably the most popular, free, antivirus software. It protects your system against both viruses and spyware. Initially, the free version of AVG was stable and effective. As the Dark Side advances, AVG has fallen behind a bit, but, it is still a good product if you combine it with other products (specifically, #2 and #3). Don't depend solely on AVG.

Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes fights malware -- programs designed with malicious intent. Unfortunately, there's no way to uninstall malware once it's installed, because it doesn't show up in the Control Panel. In addition, these files usually install helper programs that re-download then reinstall the malware if you delete it. Malware includes viruses, worms, rootkits, spyware, and trojans. As these products evolve, they are harder to detect and remove. Malwarebytes is one of the best programs, free or not, for detecting and removing malware.

Spybot - Search & Destroy
Spyware tracks your Internet usage to create a marketing profile that is then sold, without your knowledge, to advertising companies. If you notice a new toolbar in your browser, most likely you're being tracked by spyware. Sometimes, these programs hijack your browser homepage, forcing you to browse the Internet through their system. Although spyware isn't inherently destructive, it usually affects performance. If your system suddenly slows down, chances are you've been infected. Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, which isn't covered by many other anti-malware applications.
Note: A combination of #1, #2, and #3 provides adequate protection for most single-user systems. They're easy to use and don't require special technical knowledge.

WOT
Within the context of the market, WOT is a fairly new offering that adds security, via an add-in, for your browser. It will keep your system safe from online scams, identity, theft, spyware, spam, viruses, and suspect commerce sites. As WOT encounters suspect sites, it alerts you. Of course, you decide whether to continue or not, but at least you go into the transaction forewarned.

WinPatrol
WinPatrol is a robust security monitor that alerts you to hijackings, malware attacks, and changes made to your system without your permission. Traditional security programs scan your hard drive, searching for specific threats. WinPatrol uses a heuristic (discovery) behavior to detect attacks and violations by taking snapshots of critical resources and alerting you to changes.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector
Most of us have at least one insecure program installed, which puts our systems at risk. Secunia Personal Software Inspector (SPI) scans your PC for insecure programs. It also keeps you informed of updates and patches for your installed programs.

Sysinternals Security Utilities
This free utility from Microsoft performs a number of important security functions. For example, it:

• Lets you know who has access to files, Registry keys, and other Windows services.
• Finds programs configured to run on startup.
• Uses command-line utilities to list processes running on local or remote systems.
• Scans system for rootkits.
• Offers a Department of Defense-compliant secure delete program.

Wireshark
System administrators will appreciate Wireshark, a network protocol analyzer. Security features include, among other things:

• Live capture and offline analysis.
• Display filters.
• Rich VoIP analysis.
• Decryption support for many protocols.

Nmap
Nmap is a network-mapping utility for network exploration and security auditing. Uses for Nmap include:

• Determining what hosts are available.
• Determining what services hosts are offering. Determining what operating systems are running. Determining the type of packet filters and firewalls in use.

Online scans
If you suspect your system has been infected and your current tools aren't able to deal with it, try one of the following free online scan services:
• Ewido Online Scanner
• X-Block Free Scanner
• Trend Micro Online Scanner
• F-Secure Online Scanner

In addition, you can test your firewall at ShieldsUP

Computer viruses: description, prevention, and recovery

I have observed by experience and research that a virus can really mess up a user. Of late, I was with a friend who was unable to make calls on Skype. She could hear the other party, but she could not be heard. At first I thought the problem was from the sound controller, but to my surprise, some sound applications worked. Later I realized that it was actually an infection.
I have decided to write on Malicious programs for the next couple of weeks.
I may not cover half of the information you need to keep your system virus, spyware or adware free. The best precaution is, DO NOT USE ANY SYSTEM WITHOUT A FULLY UPDATED ANTIVIRUS. If you need help with this, please contact me.

What is a computer virus?
A computer virus is a small software program that spreads from one computer to another computer and that interferes with computer operation. A computer virus may corrupt or delete data on a computer, use an e-mail program to spread the virus to other computers, or even delete everything on the hard disk.

Computer viruses are most easily spread by attachments in e-mail messages or by instant messaging messages. Therefore, you must never open an e-mail attachment unless you know who sent the message or unless you are expecting the e-mail attachment. Computer viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files. Computer viruses also spread by using downloads on the Internet. Computer viruses can be hidden in pirated software or in other files or programs that you may download.

Symptoms of a computer virus
If you suspect or confirm that your computer is infected with a computer virus, obtain the current antivirus software. The following are some primary indicators that a computer may be infected:
• The computer runs slower than usual.
• The computer stops responding, or it locks up frequently.
• The computer crashes, and then it restarts every few minutes.
• The computer restarts on its own. Additionally, the computer does not run as usual.
• Applications on the computer do not work correctly.
• Disks or disk drives are inaccessible.
• You cannot print items correctly.
• You see unusual error messages.
• You see distorted menus and dialog boxes.
• There is a double extension on an attachment that you recently opened, such as a .jpg, .vbs, .gif, or .exe. extension.
• An antivirus program is disabled for no reason. Additionally, the antivirus program cannot be restarted.
• An antivirus program cannot be installed on the computer, or the antivirus program will not run.
• New icons appear on the desktop that you did not put there, or the icons are not associated with any recently installed programs.
• Strange sounds or music plays from the speakers unexpectedly.
• A program disappears from the computer even though you did not intentionally remove the program.
Note These are common signs of infection. However, these signs may also be caused by hardware or software problems that have nothing to do with a computer virus. Unless you run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, and then you install industry-standard, up-to-date antivirus software on your computer, you cannot be certain whether a computer is infected with a computer virus or not.

Symptoms of worms and Trojan horse viruses in e-mail messages
When a computer virus infects e-mail messages or infects other files on a computer, you may notice the following symptoms:
• The infected file may make copies of itself. This behavior may use up all the free space on the hard disk.
• A copy of the infected file may be sent to all the addresses in an e-mail address list.
• The computer virus may reformat the hard disk. This behavior will delete files and programs.
• The computer virus may install hidden programs, such as pirated software. This pirated software may then be distributed and sold from the computer.
• The computer virus may reduce security. This could enable intruders to remotely access the computer or the network.
• You receive an e-mail message that has a strange attachment. When you open the attachment, dialog boxes appear, or a sudden degradation in system performance occurs.
• Someone tells you that they have recently received e-mail messages from you that contained attached files that you did not send. The files that are attached to the e-mail messages have extensions such as .exe, .bat, .scr, and .vbs extensions.

Symptoms that may be the result of ordinary Windows functions
A computer virus infection may cause the following problems:
• Windows does not start even though you have not made any system changes or even though you have not installed or removed any programs.
• There is frequent modem activity. If you have an external modem, you may notice the lights blinking frequently when the modem is not being used. You may be unknowingly supplying pirated software.
• Windows does not start because certain important system files are missing. Additionally, you receive an error message that lists the missing files.
• The computer sometimes starts as expected. However, at other times, the computer stops responding before the desktop icons and the taskbar appear.
• The computer runs very slowly. Additionally, the computer takes longer than expected to start.
• You receive out-of-memory error messages even though the computer has sufficient RAM.
• New programs are installed incorrectly.
• Windows spontaneously restarts unexpectedly.
• Programs that used to run stop responding frequently. Even if you remove and reinstall the programs, the issue continues to occur.
• A disk utility such as Scandisk reports multiple serious disk errors.
• A partition disappears.
• The computer always stops responding when you try to use Microsoft Office products.
• You cannot start Windows Task Manager.
• Antivirus software indicates that a computer virus is present.

Note These problems may also occur because of ordinary Windows functions or problems in Windows that are not caused by a computer virus.

How to remove a computer virus
Even for an expert, removing a computer virus can be a difficult task without the help of computer virus removal tools. Some computer viruses and other unwanted software, such as spyware, even reinstall themselves after the viruses have been detected and removed. Fortunately, by updating the computer and by using antivirus tools, you can help permanently remove unwanted software.

To remove a computer virus, follow these steps:
• Install the latest updates from Microsoft Update on the computer.
• Update the antivirus software on the computer. Then, perform a thorough scan of the computer by using the antivirus software.
• Download, install, and then run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool to remove existing viruses on the computer. To download the Malicious Software Removal Tool, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx)
For more information about how to remove a computer virus, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/remove.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/remove.mspx)

How to protect your computer against viruses
To protect your computer against viruses, follow these steps:
• On the computer, turn on the firewall.
• Keep the computer operating system up-to-date.
• Use updated antivirus software on the computer.
• Use updated antispyware software on the computer.
For more information about how to protect a computer against viruses, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/default.mspx)

9 Ways To Help Protect Your Computer From Viruses

By taking the following precautions, you can help reduce the risk of your computer being infected by a virus:

1. Use the default security settings in Microsoft Office

Office has safeguards in place to help protect your programs and data from viruses. We recommend that you do not change the Office default settings to less secure security settings.

2. Turn on the security features in the Microsoft Windows Security Center, and keep your computer updated.

The easiest way to do this is to visit the Protect Your PC site, which guides you on how to use the Windows Security Center to enable the following:
• Internet firewall
• Antispyware software
• Antivirus software
• Automatic updates from Microsoft Update

Tip To locate the Windows Security Center in Microsoft Windows, do the following:
• In Microsoft Windows Vista, click the Start button, type security center in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
• In Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Security Center.

3. Try a subscription to Windows Live OneCare

Windows Live OneCare is a round-the-clock protection and maintenance service that you can subscribe to. Windows Live OneCare helps protect and maintain your computer by providing all-in-one functionality including virus scanning, firewall, antispyware, PC performance tuneups, and file backup and restore capability. Visit the Windows Live OneCare site for more information and to sign up for a free 90-day trial.

4. Find out whether you really have a virus

Viruses often run without your knowledge. However, if your computer is acting strangely or if one of your programs is not working correctly, this does not necessarily mean that your computer has a virus. It is important to be aware of the specific symptoms that a particular virus causes. On the Microsoft Security Antivirus Information site, you can find information and alerts about the latest viruses, their severity, and the symptoms they cause.

5. Check the Microsoft Security Bulletins regularly

An up-to-date list of security issues that affect Microsoft products is available on the Microsoft Security Updates site. This site provides technical information about security issues that affect specific products. If you don't want to remember to check the site regularly, you can subscribe to get security bulletin e-mail notifications for free that let you know about important security updates from Microsoft. In the past, hackers have attempted to mimic these notifications to send bogus information. However, it is not difficult to determine whether a Microsoft security-related message is genuine, because authentic Microsoft security bulletin notifications are always digitally signed and never include software updates as attachments. Instead, the notifications always link to the update on the Microsoft.com Web site.

5. Download files only from trusted sites

When you download a file from a Web site, be sure you know the source! You should download only files that are from known, well-established companies. When in doubt, don't download the file. As an extra precaution, you can download files onto a disk separate from your hard disk, such as a floppy disk or a flash disk, and then scan the files with your virus scanner.

6. Install only from authentic CDs

In general, installing software from authentic, commercially distributed CDs is the safest method. For example, all Microsoft CDs have holograms to prove their authenticity.

7. Back up your data regularly

If a virus erases or corrupts files on your hard disk, a recent backup may be the only way to recover your data. Back up your entire system regularly. At the minimum, back up files that you can't afford to lose, such as documents, pictures, favorite links, address books, and important e-mail messages. For details about how to back up your specific program's data, search the Microsoft Office Online Web site. You can also use the System Tools in Microsoft Windows to back up your data, as follows:
• In Microsoft Windows Vista, click the Start button , click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Backup status and configuration. Follow the instructions provided.
• In Microsoft Windows XP, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup. Follow the instructions provided.

8. Don't open suspicious e-mail messages or files

Even though the Junk E-mail Filter in Microsoft Outlook helps to protect your Inbox from spam and phishing messages, it is a good idea to avoid opening any attachment in a message that you did not expect to receive, especially if the message is from a source that is unknown to you.

How to recover from a computer virus infection and how to prevent future infections from computer viruses in Windows operating systems

To recover from a computer virus infection or to prevent future infections from computer viruses, use the following methods.

Method 1: Use current antivirus software
If you suspect or if you confirm that your computer is infected with a virus, obtain current antivirus software.
Antivirus software helps protect your computer against most viruses, worms, trojans, and other malicious programs. Many computers come with antivirus software installed. You can also purchase antivirus software, and you can install it yourself. In this scenario, you must also keep the antivirus software up to date.

Notes
If you do not have an antivirus program installed, you can use a free online virus scanning service. For more information, visit the http://safety.live.com (http://safety.live.com)
If the antivirus program has stopped working, reinstall the antivirus program.
Obtain the latest virus signature file from the antivirus vendor's Web site. For each new virus, antivirus vendors issue updates that protect the computer against newly discovered viruses.
After a computer virus has been removed, scan the computer again to make sure that the virus has been removed. I recommend that you schedule the antivirus program to check the computer while the computer is not being used.
You may have to format the computer hard disk, and you may have to reinstall the Windows operating system together with all the computer programs, if one or more of the following conditions are true:
1. The antivirus software displays a message that the antivirus software cannot remove a computer virus.
2. A computer virus damaged or deleted some important files on the computer. In this scenario, you may experience one or more of the following problems:
o The Windows operating system does not start, or some programs do not start.
o You receive error messages when the Windows operating system starts or when a program starts. These error messages indicate that there are damaged files or missing files on the computer.
o The problems that are described in this article persist after you run antivirus software, and the antivirus software reports that the computer is no longer infected. You are sure that a computer virus causes these problems.

Method 2: Use an Internet firewall
A firewall is software or hardware that creates a protective barrier between the computer and potentially damaging content on the Internet. A firewall helps guard the computer against malicious users and against many computer viruses and computer worms.

Most Antivirus software comes with an integrated Firewall. Use a firewall only for network connections that you use to connect directly to the Internet. For example, use a firewall on a single computer that is connected to the Internet directly with a cable modem, with a DSL modem, or with a dial-up modem. You can use the same network connection to connect to the Internet and to a home network or to an office network. In this scenario, use a router or a firewall that prevents a computer that is connected to the Internet from connecting to the shared resources on the home computer or on the office computer.

Do not use a firewall on network connections that you use to connect to your home network or to your office network unless the firewall can be configured to open ports only for your home network or for your office network.

If you use your home network or your office network to connect to the Internet, a firewall can only be used on the computer or on another device, such as a router, that provides the connection to the Internet. For example, consider the following scenario:
• You connect to the Internet through a network that you manage.
• The network that you manage uses connection sharing to provide Internet access to multiple computers.
o In this scenario, you can install or you can enable a firewall only on the shared Internet connection. Additionally, if you connect to the Internet through a network that you do not manage, verify that the network administrator uses a firewall.

Note If you use a firewall on all computers on your home network or on your office network, you may be unable to search for other computers on your home network or on your office network. Additionally, you may be unable to share files with other computers on your home network or on your office network.

On a Windows XP-based computer, the automated part of the Microsoft Protect Your PC Web site can automatically do the following:
1. Detect the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) and configure the ICF
2. Configure Automatic Updates settings
3. Provide information about antivirus software
On a Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computer, the ICF is called "Windows Firewall" (WF). If your computer is running any of the following operating systems, you can use the ICF feature:
• Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
• Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
• Any version of Windows XP

For a Windows Server 2003-based server that is running Routing and Remote Access, use a basic firewall.
For a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer or a Windows Server 2003-based computer, use Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000.
For other versions of Windows, use a third-party hardware firewall or a third-party software firewall.

Method 3: Update your computer
Updates help shield your computer from vulnerabilities, from viruses, from worms, and from other threats as they are discovered. Steps that you can take to update your computer include the following:
• Install updates for Windows and for Windows components such as Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Windows Media Player. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Note Microsoft Windows NT Workstation, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, and Microsoft Windows 95 have reached the end of their product support life cycles. Updates that were provided for these operating systems are available on an archived basis on the Windows Update Web site. However, Microsoft no longer offers technical support for these operating system releases. Therefore, consider upgrading to Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition so that you can take advantage of Automatic Updates and of other security features that have been introduced after the release of these older operating systems.
• Install updates for Microsoft Office programs. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/default.aspx
• Install updates for other third-party programs on your computer. For more information, contact the manufacturer of the third-party program.
• Additionally, install security updates for other Microsoft products that are on your computer, such as Internet Information Services (IIS), Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, and other products. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.aspx (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.aspx)