The Windows XP Taskbar (which shows buttons for each open window) sits at the bottom of your monitor by default.
That might be OK if you aren't running a lot of software applications. But if you've got more than six or seven windows open at a time, the Taskbar can get kinda crowded!
One way to make more room is to move your Taskbar to the right or left side of the screen where it will be displayed vertically, allowing more room for all the buttons.
If you've ever turned on the CAPS LOCK when you're sending an instant message or preparing a document -- but you don't intend to SHOUT -- you might want to set up a sound cue...
1. In Windows XP, click on the Start button
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Click Accessibility Options
4. In the Accessibility Options window, click the Accebility Options icon.
If you've been doing a lot of copying & pasting between applications like Word and Excel, your computer's Windows Clipboard can fill up, causing your computer to slow down.
To clear the contents of the Windows XP Clipboard Viewer to help free up memory resources, follow these steps: 1. Click the Windows Start button. 2. Click the Run icon, which will open the Run box. 3. In the text box, type the word Clipbrd, and click the OK button. 4. The Clipboard will show your recent copy & pastes.
The Windows XP Quick Launch Toolbar is a small toolbar that sits next to the Start button. It holds the icons (which are actually shortcuts) for programs on your computer. Simply clicking on the program's icon starts the program, saving your time.
To add a program to the Quick Launch Toolbar, just drag the program's icon to the Quick Launch Toolbar.
If your computer's Windows XP quick launch toolbar isn't visible, follow these steps to display it:
If you want to discontinue being reminded to clean off unused icons or shortcuts you've put on your Windows XP desktop, follow the easy steps at the How-To Geek's web site.
Windows XP lets you display the contents of folders in a variety of ways -- a detailed list of the files, as thumbnail images, etc. Each folder in the My Computer or My Documents folder can have its own view. That's useful for folders like My Pictures, because you can look at your digital photos in Thumbnails or Filmstrip view. But changing the view for every folder can be time-consuming.
If you prefer to have all your folder contents displayed in a particular way, you can save yourself some time by changing the view for all the folders on your computer at once.
Here's a novel idea for a screensaver from Parent Hacks: use your My Pictures folder (or wherever you store your digital photos on your machine) as the source for your screensaver. Here's how it works with Windows XP:
Click on the Start Menu, then Control Panel
Double-click on Display
Find the Screensaver tab, and choose "My Picture Slideshow."
By default, this points to your My Pictures folder, but you can point it anywhere you want.
You can use the scroll button on your mouse to zoom in and out of documents quickly. Just hold down the Ctrl key and roll the scroll wheel forward to get a closer view of the document, or roll it back to shrink it.
