Sunday 16 September 2012

3 Simple Ways To Speed Up Your Windows Computer


Remember the first time you got your Windows computer? It probably booted up pretty quick and everything loaded fast. After months of using it, things started to slow down. It takes much longer to reboot now and the desktop takes a couple of minutes before it completely loads. These are but some of the signs of a slow-running Windows PC and you can make it fast again just like when you first got it. We’re going to teach you how to speed up the Startup time, Start Menu, and Right Click Menu loading of your Windows computer with a few easy-to-do tweaks.

1. Speeding up your Windows PC startup time

You can optimize your computer’s startup speed by launching Run on your Windows computer and typing“msconfig” without the quotes. This will take you to the System Configuration Settings which has five tabs – General, Boot, Services, Startup, and Tools.
Under the General tab, you’ll find 3 startup selections: normal, diagnostic, and selective. During normal startup, all device drivers and services will be loaded by your computer. If this is ticked, it may be the reason why your computer is taking long. Choose either diagnostic or selective startup to speed up the starting time of your Windows computer. Diagnostic startup only loads basic devices and services whereas with selective startup, you can choose to load neither system services nor startup items. After making a selection select “Apply.”
Under the Boot tab, select Advanced options so you can choose the number of processors to facilitate boot speed. If you have a dual-core or quad-core processor, assigning more than one of them to help with the start-up process can significantly boost your computer’s speed. Unfortunately, this optimization tweak is not so efficient on power so if you’re using a laptop, expect some battery drain after startup.
Finally, there’s the Services and Startup tab where you can specifically choose which services and startup items are going to load.
2. Speeding up your Windows Start Menu
The Start Menu is another serious offender as it often takes time to load. Once again you need to open Run but this time, you will type “regedit.exe” to launch the Registry Editor. Go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder and findControl Panel –> Desktop –> MenuShowDelay. Then, double click MenuShowDelay to edit its value. Type in the numbers on the blank and hit “OK.” Remember, the lower the value the faster the Start Menu will load.
Another trick for speeding up your Windows Start Menu would be to limit the number of shortcuts on your desktop. It could be that you just have too many icons on your desktop and that’s what is causing your computer to take long when loading the Start Menu.
3. Speeding up the Right Click Menu
Yet another disappointing slow-down that Windows users experience is the time it takes the Menu to show up when hitting the right click. Installing third-party programs that allow you to remove items from the context menu should speed it up.
Author biography: Judene Macariola is a tech geek and a Windows PC expert for 10 yearsShe works forBroadbandExpert.com which specializes in providing high speed internet advise.

Courtesy : http://www.techpraveen.com/

Thursday 6 September 2012

WINDOWS 8 – SHORTCUT KEYS

WINDOWS 8 – SHORTCUT KEYS
Windows key + C
 Access the charms bar
Windows key + Tab
 Access the Modern Desktop Taskbar
Windows key + I
 Access the Settings charm
Windows key + H
 Access the Share charm
Windows key + K
 Access the Devices charm
Windows key + Q
 Access the Apps Search screen
Windows key + F
 Access the Files Search screen
Windows key + W
 Access the Settings Search screen
Windows key + P
 Access the Second Screen bar
Windows key + Z
 Brings up the App Bar when you have a Modern Desktop App running
Windows key + X
 Access the Windows Tools Menu
Windows key + O
 Lock screen orientation
Windows key + .
 Move the screen split to the right
Windows key + Shift + .
 Move the screen split to the left
Windows key + V
 View all active Toasts/Notifications
Windows key + Shift + V
 View all active Toasts/Notifications in reverse order
Windows key + PrtScn
 Takes a screenshot of the screen and automatically saves it in the Pictures folder as Screenshot
Windows key + Enter
 Launch Narrator        
Windows key + E
 Open Computer
Windows key + R
 Open the Run dialog box
Windows key + U
 Open Ease of Access Center
Windows key + Ctrl + F
 Open Find Computers dialog box
Windows key + Pause/Break
 Open the System page
Windows key + 1to10
 Launch a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
Windows key + Shift + 1to10
 Launch a new instance of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
Windows key + Ctrl + 1to10
 Access the last active instance of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
Windows key + Alt + 1to10
 Access the Jump List of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
Windows key + B
 Select the first item in the Notification Area and then use the arrow keys to cycle through the items Press Enter to open the selected item
Windows key + Ctrl + B
 Access the program that is displaying a message in the Notification Area
Windows key + T
 Cycle through the items on the Taskbar
Windows key + M
 Minimize all windows
Windows key + Shift + M
 Restore all minimized windows
Windows key + D
 Show/Hide Desktop (minimize/restore all windows)
Windows key + L
 Lock computer
Windows key + Up Arrow
 Maximize current window
Windows key + Down Arrow
 Minimize/restore current window
Windows key + Home
 Minimize all but the current window
Windows key + Left Arrow
 Tile window on the left side of the screen
Windows key + Right Arrow
 Tile window on the right side of the screen
Windows key + Shift + Up Arrow
 Extend current window from the top to the bottom of the screen
Windows key + Shift + Left/Right Arrow
 Move the current window from one monitor to the next
Windows key + F1
 Launch Windows Help and Support


PageUp
 Scroll forward on the Modern Desktop Start screen
PageDown
 Scroll backward on the Modern Desktop Start screen
Esc
 Close  a charm
Ctrl + Esc
 Switch between Modern Desktop Start screen and the last accessed application
Ctrl + Mouse scroll wheel
 Activate the Semantic Zoom on the Modern Desktop screen


Alt
 Display a hidden Menu Bar
Alt + D
 Select the Address Bar
Alt + P
 Display the Preview Pane in Windows Explorer
Alt + Tab
 Cycle forward through open windows
Alt + Shift + Tab
 Cycle backward through open windows
Alt + F
 Close the current window Open the Shut Down Windows dialog box from the Desktop
Alt + Spacebar
 Access the Shortcut menu for current window
Alt + Esc
 Cycle between open programs in the order that they were opened
Alt + Enter
 Open the Properties dialog box of the selected item
Alt + PrtScn
 Take a screen shot of the active Window and place it in the clipboard
Alt + Up Arrow
 Move up one folder level in Windows Explorer (Like the Up Arrow in XP)
Alt + Left Arrow
 Display the previous folder
Alt + Right Arrow
 Display the next folder
Shift + Insert
 CD/DVD Load CD/DVD without triggering Autoplay or Autorun
Shift + Delete
 Permanently delete the item (rather than sending   it to the Recycle Bin)
Shift + F6
 Cycle backward through elements in a window or   dialog box
Shift + F10
 Access the context menu for the selected item
Shift + Tab
 Cycle backward through elements in a window or   dialog box
Shift + Click
 Select a consecutive group of items
Shift + Click on a Taskbar button
 Launch a new instance of a program
Shift + Right-click on a Taskbar button
 Access the context menu for the selected item
Ctrl + A
 Select all items
Ctrl + C
 Copy the selected item
Ctrl + X
 Cut the selected item
Ctrl + V
 Paste the selected item
Ctrl + D
 Delete selected item
Ctrl + Z
 Undo an action
Ctrl + Y
 Redo an action
Ctrl + N
 Open a new window in Windows Explorer
Ctrl + W
 Close current window in Windows Explorer
Ctrl + E
 Select the Search box in the upper right corner of a window
Ctrl + Shift + N
 Create new folder
Ctrl + Shift + Esc
 Open the Windows Task Manager
Ctrl + Alt + Tab
 Use arrow keys to cycle through open windows
Ctrl + Alt + Delete
 Access the Windows Security screen 
Ctrl + Click
 Select multiple individual items
Ctrl + Click and drag an item
 Copies that item in the same folder
Ctrl + Shift + Click and drag an item
 Creates a shortcut for that item in the same folder
Ctrl + Tab
  Move forward through tabs
Ctrl + Shift + Tab
 Move backward through tabs
Ctrl + Shift + Click on a Taskbar button
 Launch a new instance of a program as an Administrator
Ctrl + Click on a grouped Taskbar button
 Cycle through the instances of a program in the group
F1
 Display Help
F2
 Rename a file
F3
 Open Search
F4
 Display the Address Bar list
F5
 Refresh display
F6
 Cycle forward through elements in a window or dialog box
F7
 Display command history in a Command Prompt
F10
 Display hidden Menu Bar
F11
 Toggle full screen display
Tab
 Cycle forward through elements in a window or dialog box
PrtScn
 Take a screen shot of the entire screen and place it in the clipboard
Home
 Move to the top of the active window
End
 Move to the bottom of the active window
Delete
 Delete the selected item
Backspace
 Display the previous folder in Windows Explorer  Move up one folder level in Open or Save dialog box
Esc
 Close a dialog box
Num Lock Enabled + Plus (+)
 Display the contents of the selected folder 
Num Lock Enabled + Minus (-)
 Collapse the selected folder
Num Lock Enabled + Asterisk (*)
 Expand all subfolders under the selected folder