Use Text Expanders on your Phone

Today's tip comes to you courtesy of Lifehacker, because I honestly had no idea you could do this until I read this article today.

When I try to log in to websites or apps on my phone, it can be a pain to have to enter my email address every time.  Using the "Keyboard Shortcuts" on iOS or "Personal Dictionary" on Android allows you to set up a keyboard shortcut that will enter your email address.

The article recommends using "@@" for your primary email address and adding additional "@" for secondary email addresses, but points out that this did not work on Android.  The truth is that you can use any key combination, so long as you don't plan to actually type that particular combination.  Don't use "email" as your shortcut because you will never be able to actually type the word "email" on your phone again without deleting this shortcut.

To set it up, go to the Settings app in iOS and tap General, followed by Keyboard, and add a new shortcut.  In Android, also go to the Settings app and tap Language and Input, followed by Personal Dictionary.

Move Quickly Between Browser Tabs

It is hard to believe that there was ever a time that we survived without browser tabs.  It is a rare event when I only have one tab open.  Currently, I have two browser windows open.  One browser window has three open tabs and the other has seven open tabs.  Before tabbed browsing, that would have been ten separate windows I would have had open.  Even for those who do not open quite as many tabs as me, tabs are still a great way to organize two or three web pages.

However, when you have multiple tabs open at a time, switching between them can take time if you reach for the mouse for each switch.  Fortunately, all the major browsers have some key combinations to help you move between tabs more quickly.  Even better, the same key combinations are used on Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.

Here are a few of the best key combinations to use with tabs:

Open a New Tab:  Ctrl + T will open a new tab.

Open the Last Closed Tab:  If you accidentally close a tab you wanted open, use Ctrl + Shift + T to reopen it.

Switch Between Tabs:  Ctrl + Page Down moves to the next tab.  Ctrl + Page Up moves to the previous tab.  (I thought this key combination worked on Internet Explorer, but it did not work on my computer.)

Go To a Specific Tab:  Use Ctrl + [Number] to advance to a specific tab.  For example, Ctrl + 1 moves to the first tab, Ctrl + 2 moves to the second tab, etc.  If you have more than eight tabs, this tip will only allow you to move directly to the first eight.

Move to the Last Tab:  Regardless of the number of tabs open, Ctrl + 9 moves to the last tab.

Narrow Your Search Results

Search engines like Google and Yahoo are wonderful, but they have their limitations.  For example, doing a Google search for to be or not to be yields 2.56 billion pages.  Obviously, these search engines have done a great job at tweaking their algorithms so that the pages most applicable are listed at the beginning of those results, but what should you do when Google or Yahoo just can't seem to get it right?

Obviously, with something like to be or not to be, you can be more specific to narrow your results a little.  Adding that is the question brings the number of pages down to 571 million.  Adding Hamlet after that phrase brings the total number of pages down to 9.66 million.  Obviously, I have provided enough in my example for Google to discern what I am looking for and provide results from Shakespeare's Hamlet, but if I was searching for more obscure information, I would not have time to search through all 9.66 million pages to find the few that have the information I need.

One of the reasons for the multitude of results (besides the fact that the internet is just a large place) is that search engines will search for pages that match any word you write (excluding a few common words, like "the", "a", etc.)  A search for to be or not to be Hamlet yields any page containing any of those words. Obviously, Google's software will rank pages containing all of these words higher than pages containing only one of them, but there is still the ability for pages that are not relevant to sneak in.

However, if you have a sequence of words, and you know the words will usually appear in that sequence, you can add quotation marks around them before you search.  This will require that the exact phrase appear instead of just one of the words.  You can also combine words inside quotes with words outside of the quotes.  Now, a search for "to be or not to be" Hamlet yields only 592,000 results.  Not only is this a mere six percent of the original number of pages, but it will also assist Google in providing the most relevant pages at the top.

Perhaps I was looking for the 1942 movie, To Be or Not To Be (I did not know this movie existed until I started doing searches on this phrase), and all I could find was information on Hamlet.  (I realize that the to be or not to be search actually lists information on this movie as the first result.)  Google, Yahoo, and Bing all have Advanced Search options, but they are not necessarily easy to find.  These allow you to search with a variety of options to narrow your results even more.

Finally, if you know the website where your intended result is located,  you can narrow your search to only that site.  For example, if you are searching for information on a Windows problem, and you only want results from Microsoft's website, you can add site:microsoft.com to your search.  This will only display search results with any terms you enter that appear on pages at Microsoft.com.

My Laptop's ___ Doesn't Work!

Today's tip actually comes as a result of two recent service experiences I had.  I will briefly describe both experiences:

1)  I worked on a customer's computer and returned it to him.  He called me later that day and informed me of two problems he was still having, including not having internet.  I was able to quickly diagnose the internet problem using today's tip.

2) I was called to a customer's house to work on a desktop.  While there, his wife told me her laptop's touchpad had suddenly stopped working, and she asked me to look at it.  Once again, I quickly solved the problem using today's tip.

The simple answer to both of these problems:  the wireless card and touchpad had been turned off accidentally.  (Fortunately, in both cases, I was already doing other work, so I did not have to charge either of them solely for the service call.)  Now, for the more complicated answer:

Computer manufacturers have developed a lot of switches and key combinations into their laptops that allow you to turn functions of your laptop on and off.  For example, if you are travelling a long distance and want to write some letters or crunch some numbers on a spreadsheet, you will not need to use your wireless connection.  In this case, you may want to conserve battery life by turning off power to your wireless card.  (The reason why this will help save your battery will be the subject of tomorrow's tip.)

The touchpad could be turned off because you prefer using a wireless mouse, and you have a tendency to bump the touchpad and make your pointer go crazy.  (I do this all the time!)  Other key combinations available on my laptop include shutting off the screen (if connected to an external projector or monitor), adjusting the screen's brightness, and turning the sound up and down.  Depending on your model, you may have other options.

Each of these buttons or key combinations have a legitimate purpose, but they can really mess you up if you don't realize you shut it off.  In the case of the "bad" touchpad, the person was attempting to set up a connection to an external projector at work and unknowingly hit the key for the touchpad instead because they were located right next to each other.

So, before you pay for a technician to look at your laptop because something suddenly stopped working, it would be well worth your time to see if you accidentally shut off that feature.  You may be able to find a symbol somewhere on the keyboard or near a switch that roughly represents the item that is shut off.  (In the case of a key combination, it will usually be the Fn key combined with one of the F1-F12 keys.)  If you are unsure, you can check your computer's documentation (either the print version that came with it or the copies posted online).  It is well worth a few minutes if it saves you some money.

Making Use of the Aero Interface

If you have Windows 7 or 8, you have the Aero interface built in to your desktop, unless you have disabled it.  (Vista also has a version of the Aero interface, but the features of this tip do not work.)  The Aero interface contains several very useful features that you might want to try out and use on a regular basis.  Here are four of the most useful uses:

1) Areo Peek - When you have a window open, hover your mouse over the taskbar icon to see a thumbnail of the window.  This is useful if you have multiple windows open for the same program, and you want to see which window you are maximizing before you open it.

2) Aero Snap - Aero snap is perhaps the most useful tool in Windows 7 (at least for me).  This allows you to "snap" a window to your monitor.  There are two different ways to snap.  First, you can drag the window to the very top of your monitor.  Before you release the mouse, you will see a small circle that expands to fill the screen.  After you see the circle, you can release the mouse, and the window you are dragging will instantly fill the screen.

You can also snap to the right or left side of your screen.  This will cause the current window to fill only the half of the screen you are snapping it to.  This is very useful when you have two windows you want to use simultaneously.

3) Aero Shake - By grabbing the title bar of a window and quickly shaking it back and forth, you can quickly minimize all other windows.  Shaking the window again will restore all the windows you minimized.

4) View Desktop - On the far right side of the taskbar (just to the right of the clock), there is a small button.  (The button usually blends in with the clock until you hover your mouse over it.)  Clicking on this button will minimize all windows and show you the desktop.  Clicking it again will restore all windows.  In Windows 7, you can hover over the button and have all windows disappear until you move the mouse again.

Keyboard Shortcuts That Will Save You Time

Yesterday, we covered how the scroll wheel on the mouse can do more than just scroll up and down the page.  Today, we will look at four keyboard shortcuts that can save you time.

1) Switch Between Programs Easily - If you need to switch between two different programs or two windows of the same program, you can use the Alt+Tab (meaning you hold down the Alt key while you hit Tab) key combination to switch between them.  The first time you hit the Tab key, you will see a list of programs you have open, arranged in the order you last used them.  If you continue to hold down the Alt key, you can hit the tab key multiple times to cycle between the open windows.  When you reach the window you want, release the Alt key to switch to that window.

2) Close Programs without a Mouse - If your hands are already on your keyboard and you need to close the program you are working with, you can use the key command Alt+F4.

Bonus Tip:  If you are working in a browser with tabs, you can close only the current tab with the key command Ctrl+W.  This command also works in Microsoft Office and some other programs that allow for multiple files to be open within the same window.

3) Cut, Copy, and Paste - This tip is actually three-in-one.  The cut, copy, and paste commands are invaluable tools.  However, you can access them without needing to move your hands from the keyboard.  You can cut using the key combination Ctrl+X, and you can copy using the key combination Ctrl+C.  Pasting what you cut or copied earlier can be accomplished by using Ctrl+V.  These three combinations may seem hard to remember, but it is easier once you realize that the three keys are all next to each other on the keyboard.  Using these commands in combination with the fourth item will allow you to cut, copy, and paste without needing the mouse.

4) Select Text - If you are editing a Word document or any other file where you have a cursor, holding down the Shift key and navigating with the arrow keys will allow me to select text.  Unfortunately, this does not work in most web pages, where you do not have a cursor to designate the starting point.

The Scroll Wheel Does So Much More!

For years, the majority of mice have come with a scroll wheel. Yes, the scroll wheel allows you to do is to scroll up and down, but did you know it can do so much more?  Here are five other things you can do with your scroll wheel:

1) Open a Link in a New Tab - Browser tabs have made our lives more convenient.  Instead of having to open multiple browser windows, we can now see all the pages we have open in one simple bar at the top of the screen.  It is not uncommon for me to have five or more tabs open at a single time.  If you need to open a link in a new tab, simply click with the scroll wheel (called a 'middle click').

2) Close a Browser Tab - Staying on the topic of middle clicking, if you want to close a tab in your browser, simply middle click anywhere on the tab at the top of the page.  It's much easier than trying to get your mouse right on the little 'x'.

3) AutoScroll - Middle click in a browser window, an Office document, or many other programs, and your cursor will turn into a small compass.  Move your mouse in a any direction to scroll in that particular direction.  Once you've reached where you want to go, middle click again to get your regular cursor back.  This may not work in every program, but the only way to know for sure is to try it.

4) Close a Window - This one only works in Windows 7 or 8.  The taskbar at the bottom of your screen contains an icon for every program you have running.  When you hover over that icon, a thumbnail of the window or windows you have open will show up.  You can right click to open a particular window, or you can middle click on the thumbnail to close it.

5) Zoom In and Out - Holding down the Ctrl key while scrolling up or down will zoom the current window in or out.  This works in most programs, and once again, the only way to know for sure is to try it in your favorite program!