Heads Seniors Techie Tips

Here is a handy list of tips for using on your computer, hit the Print Friendly button for a hardcopy.

Email SPAM tips:
Don't reply to spam. If spam sneaks past your protection or rules never reply to it, delete it.

Google search tips:

Type "weather" or "movies" followed by a post code or city and state to display current weather conditions or movie theaters in your area. For example, typing weather 2130 gives you the current weather conditions for Summerhill for the next four days. Typing movies 2000 would give you a link for show times for movies in that area.

Use the Google Search engine as a calculator by typing a math problem in the search. For example, typing: 100 + 200 would display results as 300.

Pull up the definition of the word by typing define followed by the word you want the definition for. For example, typing: define bravura would display the definition of that word.

Take full advantage of Google's options feature by clicking the Show options... link at the top of your search results. Clicking this link will display a bar to the left side of the results allowing you to refine your results to more of what you're looking for.

Internet Browser tips:

Web page favourites/bookmarks:
Quickly bookmark/favourite any web page in all major browsers by pressing CTRL + D on your keyboard. Pressing these two keys together will open the bookmarks or favorites for your browser and allow you to quickly place a bookmark for the page you're currently at.

Oops did you mistakenly close a tab you didn't want to close? Press CTRL + Shift + T to undo a close tab.

Scroll one page at a time in all major browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox by pressing the Spacebar key. Move back up the page by pressing Shift + Spacebar or the Home key on the keyboard.

Make your Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Mozilla Firefox the full screen without all the toolbars by pressing the F11 key. To restore the window back to how it was press F11 again.

Quickly move forwards and backwards between web pages by holding down the shift key and scrolling up or down on your mouse wheel.

Automatically enter the www. and .com into most major browsers URL or address bars by typing the name of the page and pressing CTRL + ENTER on the keyboard. For example, if you type: computerhope and then press CTRL + ENTER you will automatically be sent to www.computerhope.com.

Many programs support the ability to zoom in and out of a page or document also support the shortcut key to quickly zoom in and out. To do this hold down the CTRL key and scroll the wheel on your mouse up to zoom in or down to zoom out or hold down the CTRL key and press - or + to zoom out or in of a web page. To reset the zoom back to the default view press and hold down CTRL and press the 0 (zero) key.

In all major Internet browsers you can move move forwards and backwards by pressing and holding the ALT key and then pressing the left or right arrow key. Pressing the left arrow will go back a page and pressing the right will move forward a page.

Printing tip:
Save on your printer ink by selectively printing in Windows programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Internet Explorer (and other browser), WordPad, Outlook, etc. To do this highlight portions of text you wish to print and Copy/Paste into one of the programs above. Alternatively, click the Print option in the File menu. Then in the printer dialog window (like the one shown below) under Page Range choose the option Selection.

Windows tips:
Quickly get to the Microsoft Windows Desktop by pressing the Windows key and D at the same time on the keyboard.

Screenshot tip:
If you hold down the ALT key and then press Prt Sc only the active or front window will be copied for pasting into your document or PowerPoint.

To close a program without needing the mouse type CTRL+F4.

Using the F4 key in Microsoft Office programs allows the user to repeat the last used action. For example, if you have changed the font of a selected text and wish to change another portion of text to the same font, highlighting the text and pressing F4 will do this for you automatically.

In Microsoft Excel press CTRL and SHIFT and " to copy the above cells contents into the current cell.

Quickly undo mistakes in the majority of Windows programs by pressing the shortcut key CTRL + Z. For example, if you mistakenly cut or deleted text in Microsoft Word pressing the CTRL and the Z key at the same time would undo that change. CTRL + Y is Redo.

iPad tips:

To Undo the current change on an iPad note taking app just shake the iPad. Redo also works in this way. It really does!

You can take a screenshot on your iPad by pressing Home and then the Sleep/Wake button. The screen will flash and you'll hear a click, indicating that a photo has been taken. Your screen shots are saved automatically in your Photos gallery. Here, you can view or email them as you see fit.

Turn iPad caps lock on
To type a capital letter on the onscreen keyboard you first tap the left or right shift key, then the letter. If you need to type a whole word in caps this can be painful. Save time typing in caps by turning the caps lock on. To do this double tap on either shift key.

Copy and paste
You can quickly copy and paste text by tapping and holding down, and then choosing Select to select the exact portion of text you'd like the copy. Next tap Copy, then go to a different app, and tap and hold down again, then tap Paste from the menu that appears. 
Top tip: To select an entire paragraph of text you need to tap four times.

Replace a word
When you hold down on a word to copy it, choose Select, then you will see a new option: Replace. Tap this and, you can see suggestions for alternative words that have similar spellings. It's a good way of quickly correcting typos.

Hidden apostrophe and quote key on the keyboard
This is a great tip for any app, such as Notes, Pages or Mail, that you type into using the iPad's virtual keyboard. Rather than having to go to the second screen of the keyboard every time you want to type an apostrophe (which is a real pain) just tap and hold on the ! key and a hidden apostrophe option will appear - then just slide your finger up to access it. You can also enter a quotation mark by tapping and holding the ? key and a quotation symbol appears, which you can select by moving your finger upwards.

Add a full stop
Another great keyboard tip for typing in apps such as Pages, Notes or Mail is to doubletap the space bar at the end of a sentence. This adds a full stop and a space for you, which can be enormously time-saving when you're writing long articles.

Note: iOS 8 is now available and if you have automatic updates you will have it already. Read the Tips app for some important changes and be aware that your Photos will now display differently.