Your favorite Computer Tricks.

pound dog mom wrote: cool - the ctrl + is going to become my BFF on gaming sites. Thanks

What kind of gaming? online BF2 player here. just wich I had a faster CPU, video card and connection.

It's not so much a trick as it is software... but for anybody who is rather tech-oriented already, and wants a more-robust network at home... I've recently stumbled across Vyatta. They do enterprise-level routing software for large companies, and release their old versions as free "community" (read: linux-based freeware) software that you can download and load onto an old computer.

It essentially turns any computer (I use an old P4) into a router, VPN sever, and a lot more. I love it! It runs my DHCP, a pretty extensive firewall, allows me to VPN into my network from anywhere and access my local file-shares... and I use it for my internet-gateway as well. There are other solutions out there (eBox, for one) but I really like Vyatta!

[url=http://www.vyatta.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.vyatta.com[/url]

Grady wrote:

pound dog mom wrote: cool - the ctrl + is going to become my BFF on gaming sites. Thanks

What kind of gaming? online BF2 player here. just wich I had a faster CPU, video card and connection.

I am a lightweight gamer - I use sites like MSN, AOL (love the card games) wild tangent, big fish etc. I enjoy the hidden object, cards, difficult match 3 puzzles, anything I can that build my own empire and rule; I am playing the westward sequence now.

For zooming in, CTRL + is great, but you might find this easier: CTRL SCROLLWHEEL

Press & hold the CTRL key, while scrolling with that wheel on your mouse. Most mice have it between the left & right buttons. If you're using a Logitech trackball, lemme know if you figure that one out. I have a Kensington with a scroll wheel about 3" in diameter, so I'm good.

If anyone is interested in seeing a complete list keyboard shortcuts for MS Office, just drop me a PM with your email address and the version of Office you're using.

Ahhh, I have to share another few...

Someone sends you an embedded photo in an email. How do you save it as a .jpg?

Couple of options come to mind:
1 - copy & paste it into PowerPoint, then right-click the pic and "save as picture"; or
2 - copy & paste it into MS Paint (START>ACCESSORIES>PAINT) and save it from there

I get this question alot:
"How do I save a PowerPoint slide as an image (.jpg)"?
Simple. Do a "Save As" and choose from the dropdown at the bottom of the Save window ".jpg". You will be prompted to save the current slide or all slides.

(I have a feeling this is going to be my favorite thread!)

The most convenient computer "trick" that I love is hardware virtual machine. This allows me to have several operating systems available from my desktop, residing within my main OS. Each OS (Linux, Solaris, Windows, etc.) thinks that it it the resident OS. This is so convenient that it makes programming fun. If I really mess up while writing software it does not totally dissolve my machine, but only the slave OS within which I was operating. Life becomes easy again.

By the way, we used to refer to the keyboard shorcuts as hotkeys. Maybe this dates me more than I care to consider.

here is another trick that I like:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad63/majorbean/trick.gif?t=1276370441

:rofl I love it!! I know several people that need that page to come up! :Whistle

That is a great one, major bean!

For those among us who have swore off the PC, and gone Apple... never to return:

command + shift + 4 to "grab" anything you can view on your screen

If you do facebook and Twitter you should look into the Flock browsers, the beta one. It is built on Google Chrome. The current production one is built on FireFox and not as nice.
http://beta.flock.com/