T 'n' T: Win 95/98/Me's Achilles Heel - 8/5/2002 Remember buying a pretty helium balloon at the fair, only to see it shrivel and sag over the next few days at home? Well, Windows 95/98/Me can do the same thing after a few hours' computing. If you haven't switched to Win 2000 or XP, here's how to monitor the crucial -- and, alas, leak-prone -- system resources that keep your PC up and running.
T 'n' T: Tray Cool - 7/29/2002 The system tray at the end of Windows' taskbar is a neat place to check the time or monitor a few essential utilities, but too many programs flood the tray with too many icons. This week's tips 'n' tricks help you clean up the system tray -- hiding icons from view, or perking up performance by getting rid of them altogether -- and keep those binary barnacles from coming back.
Inline Skating with FrontPage - 7/25/2002 Need a tidy way to organize information online? First seen in Internet Explorer 3.0, scrollable inline frames have become popular ways to add lists of product information, legal disclaimers, or photo albums to Web sites. Here's how to use Microsoft FrontPage to create and control pages within pages.
T 'n' T: Time Trials - 7/22/2002 What time is it? If you glanced at the bottom right of your screen instead of your wristwatch, you're a real Windows pro. So is tips 'n' tricks guru Gregg Keizer, who's collected five ideas for optimizing, updating, or replacing the familiar system-tray clock (did you know you needn't switch to Outlook to check a monthly calendar)?
Starting Office Applications Your Way - 7/17/2002 Want to launch Word or Excel without opening a blank document or workbook by default? Did you know you can create a new Outlook contact, appointment, or sticky note without actually opening Outlook? The secret's in the switch -- startup switches you add to custom desktop shortcuts or Start menu items. Here's how.
T 'n' T: Fave On - 7/15/2002 There's lots worth seeing on the Web, but Internet Explorer's handling of favorite sites or bookmarks leaves room for improvement. This week's tips 'n' tricks let you manage, sort, and shortcut all the Favorites and home pages you can collect, get your Favorites list out of the Start menu and onto your second PC, and more.
Excel's Best-Kept Secret - 7/10/2002 Calculating a dozen variables by picking one choice from a menu? Testing what-if values by lazily clicking up-and-down arrows instead of typing each number? Microsoft Excel's Forms toolbar has some of the slickest point-and-click time-savers in the whole Office suite. Helen Bradley reveals this little-known resource.
T 'n' T: Readers' Greatest Hits - 7/8/2002 Gregg Keizer may be the king of tips 'n' tricks, but WinPlanet readers are the power behind the throne -- and this week, Gregg shares four nifty enhancements (and one, ahem, correction) suggested by Windows-savvy civilians. From forcing Explorer to honor your display preferences to sorting programs' File/Open document lists, the request lines are open.
A Guide To Office OLE - 7/3/2002 That Excel budget table would look good in your Word report, and the accompanying chart is just right for your PowerPoint presentation -- but merely cutting and pasting them may not be your best move. Office expert Helen Bradley explains the uses of (and vital differences between) Object Linking and Embedding, and how OLE can bring your documents to life.
T 'n' T: Don't Forget the Floppy - 7/1/2002 Yeah, yeah, CD-R and CD-RW discs store up to 700MB of multimedia goodness. But if you're just moving a couple of word processing documents or spreadsheets from one PC to another (or to any old PC), the 3.5-inch floppy disk will never die. So this week's tips 'n' tricks offer quicker access, extra convenience, and even a bit more capacity for the faithful A: drive.
T 'n' T: Search Party - 6/24/2002 Today's huge hard disks are wonderful -- until you're looking for that crucial file that doesn't seem to be in your work folder with its fellows. Before you waste time ransacking My Documents and clicking on forgotten filenames, take a deep breath and take advantage of this week's tips 'n' tricks for using (and for times when you don't want someone using) Windows' built-in search tool.
Quick Fixes for Photoshop - 6/19/2002 This column has nine items, so it qualifies for the express lane -- express secrets for speeding through image-editing tasks without getting bogged down in the admittedly awesome depths of Adobe Photoshop. Whether you want a quick layering trick to perk up a photo's colors or secret keystrokes for instant image resizing, hurry up and read these.
T 'n' T: Shaving Seconds - 6/17/2002 If time is money, this week's tips 'n' tricks are pocket change -- they may not let you go home an hour earlier, but over time they'll save enough moments, keystrokes, and mouse clicks to make your Windows work a bit more productive. Besides, who wants to look at the same old startup and dial-up screens several times a day?
T 'n' T: Turn Back the Clock - 6/10/2002 Windows tips 'n' tricks? Why, in Gregg's day, we had real tips 'n' tricks, not like the young whippersnappers nowadays. Shift Windows into reverse with five retro suggestions, ranging from amusing (typewriter sound effects for your keyboard) to functional (cool display fonts and powerful file managers).
Desktop Publishing with Microsoft Word - 6/5/2002 No, the world's favorite word processor doesn't have all the features of a deluxe desktop publishing program, but it has more and finer formatting controls than you're using now. Here's how to take advantage of text boxes, line spacing, and other tools for surprisingly stylish newsletters or flyers.
T 'n' T: What's the Password? - 6/3/2002 Whether you're leaving your PC switched off for the weekend while you're in the country, or idle for 10 minutes while you're down the hall, password protection is a smart, simple way to fend off nosy colleagues or careless kids. This week's tips 'n' tricks strike a balance, helping make your PC more secure without making your routine impossibly complicated.
T 'n' T: How'd They Do That? - 5/27/2002 Tips 'n' Tricks columnist Gregg Keizer isn't shy about asking for recipes -- when he sees a neat shortcut or special effect on someone else's PC, he finds out how they did it and shares the scoop with you. This week, Gregg reveals the secrets to shrinking Windows XP's title-bar buttons, replacing your PC vendor's Control Panel branding, and more.
When Excel Has One Too Many What-If's - 5/22/2002 The trouble with what-if questions is that they rarely come one at a time. Not to worry: Excel's Scenario Manager is the key to keeping track of a stack of changing variables and outcomes for any business contingency. Office ace Helen Bradley provides the best possible tutorial.
T 'n' T: Save Our Screens - 5/20/2002 Today's monitors don't need them the way '80s displays did, but most of us still like to use Windows screensavers. This week's tips 'n' tricks offer both plain and fancy ways to make your own screensavers, disable or delete unwanted ones, and save energy by letting your CRT catch a few ZZZ's.
Smart Photoshop Selections - 5/15/2002 Selecting, copying, or masking part (or parts) of an image is one of the most fundamental Adobe Photoshop skills, but grabbing with the lasso and finding you've missed or lopped off desired areas is one of the most frustrating Photoshop experiences. Instead of selecting by trial and error, try these expert tips for constraining, editing, and moving selections on the fly.
T 'n' T: Sound Off, Sound On - 5/13/2002 Customizing your Windows startup and shutdown sounds is fun, but dealing with the operating system's other audio feedback can be an earache. Here are five tips for spiking Internet Explorer 6.0's annoying sound effects, muting and restoring Windows' sounds with a single click, optimizing CD audio quality, and more.
T 'n' T: Five Desktop Favorites - 5/6/2002 Ready for some desktop spring cleaning? This week's tips 'n' tricks help you tidy your Windows workspace -- by getting rid of unused shortcuts, unwanted labels, and sending applications to the system tray instead of the taskbar -- so you'll have space to add handy sticky-note reminders. As a bonus, Gregg's got a secret for high-speed printing of your frequently used documents.
T 'n' T: Stupid Mouse Tricks - 4/22/2002 Push it around, point, click -- you use your mouse a thousand times a day, but are you using it for more than the basics? This week's tips 'n' tricks concern good mousekeeping: saving clicks and keystrokes, reading Internet Explorer pages without eyestrain, finding wayward pointers, and reducing the risk of painful carpal tunnel syndrome.
Elegant Excel Formatting - 4/18/2002 Got financial news that's sure to please the boss? Don't bury it in a bland, black-and-white grid of hard-to-read numbers. Office expert Helen Bradley shows you how to outdo Excel's built-in formatting with intelligently colored rows or columns and cells that show data in more intuitive, eye-catching ways.
T 'n' T: Hello, Family Help Desk Speaking - 4/15/2002 The only bad thing about reading WinPlanet's Tips 'n' Tricks column is that it increases the odds of friends and family hitting you up for Windows help. So this week, Gregg shares his favorite tools and tactics for quickly diagnosing and fixing colleagues' PC problems -- and for hinting how they can help themselves next time.
When Word Documents Disappear - 4/11/2002 It's happened to all of us: The word processing file that was fine only yesterday is suddenly missing in action or, worse, turned to garbled garbage. Try these tips to attempt a safe recovery, or at least enlist some of Microsoft Word's little-known features to reduce the risk of document loss in the future.
T 'n' T: Rock the Taskbar - 4/8/2002 Don't look down -- that strip at the bottom of your screen isn't pulling its weight. Windows' taskbar is a handy indicator of the programs and documents you're working with, but these five tips 'n' tricks can make it do more -- including hiding or moving the taskbar or controlling it with your keyboard instead of your mouse.
Automating Outlook - 4/3/2002 Microsoft Office expert Helen Bradley has a confession to make: When it comes to sorting incoming e-mail, deleting spam, and answering routine inquiries, she's lazy. You can be, too, thanks to Outlook's automatic rules, customizable message notification, and e-mail templates. Here's how to make Outlook work more so you can work less.
T 'n' T: On Your Mark, Get Set, Tweak! - 4/1/2002 The Start menu and Control Panel hide a handful of ways to configure, customize, or add convenience to Windows, but you haven't really used the operating system until you've tweaked it. In this week's Tips 'n' Tricks, Gregg Keizer presents five versatile tweaking toolkits for Win 98, Me, 2000, and XP, from Microsoft's legendary TweakUI to freeware and shareware favorites.
T 'n' T: Take Control of the Control Panel - 3/25/2002 You probably visit Windows' Control Panel at least every few days to tweak a setting or change a default. But have you tweaked the Control Panel itself? This week's tips 'n' tricks help you do everything from removing unwanted modules or applets to remodeling the Control Panel as a toolbar or pop-up menu for faster access.
Work Wonders with Word Images - 3/20/2002 Pasting a square photo or clip-art image into your document? Boring! Take advantage of Word's creative controls by putting images into artistically shaped frames or cutouts, changing that clip-art character's blue shirt to a red one, or even adding artwork to envelopes.
T 'n' T: Top Five Turn-Offs - 3/18/2002 Gregg Keizer's Tips 'n' Tricks column usually explores various helpful features within Windows -- but this week, he's out to shut down some not-so-helpful ones. Check out these five quick fixes for some of the operating system's more annoying intrusions.
Ready, Set, Present - 3/14/2002 Microsoft PowerPoint gives you plenty of tools for making eye-catching, entertaining slide shows or multimedia demos -- but when your creative work's done, it's time to consider your most effective delivery method. Office expert Helen Bradley shares half a dozen ways to make sure even your unattended presentations proceed without a hitch.
T 'n' T: It's My Search Party, and I'll Cry If I Want To - 3/11/2002 Windows XP features the most sophisticated search tools of any Microsoft operating system to date, but you may find its defaults -- from summoning the MSN.com search engine to accompanying searches with a cute animated hound -- less than lovable. Tips 'n' tricks king Gregg Keizer shows you how to make sure nothing comes between you and your data.
Fun and Functional Excel Charts - 3/6/2002 For making numeric data readable, there's nothing like a chart -- but chances are, your coworkers or clients are sick of seeing the same old bars, columns, and pies. Whether changing columns to cones or adding stylish backdrops and pictographs, here's how to create Excel charts that stand out.
T 'n' T: Up With Downloads - 3/4/2002 Windows is a great operating system, but it gets even better when you think outside the box -- the shrink-wrapped box, that is, with regular visits to Microsoft's download library. The company's newest online offerings do everything from plugging security holes and ironing out mouse-driver incompatibilities to letting you install Windows XP even if your PC can't boot from a CD.
