Google Chrome Tips

32 Google Chrome tips and shortcuts

The following are some useful shortcuts:

1. Alt+F – Open the wrench menu (i.e chrome settings menu)
2. Ctrl+J – Go to downloads window
3. Ctrl+H – Go to history window
4. Ctrl+Tab – Navigate Tabs
5. Alt+Home – Go to home page
6. Ctrl+U – View source code of the current page
7. Ctrl+K – To search quickly in the address bar
8. Ctrl+L – Highlights the URL in the address bar (use this to copy/paste the URL quickly)
9. Ctrl+N – Open a new Chrome browser window
10. Ctrl+Shift+N – Open a new incognito window (for private browsing)
11. Ctrl+Shift+B – Toggle bookmark display
12. Ctrl+W – Close the current Tab
13. Alt+Left Arrow – Go to the previous page from your history
14. Alt+Right Arrow – Go to the next page from your history
15. Space bar – Scroll down the current web page
16. Control + T— opens a new tab.
17. Control + Shift + T— opens your most recently closed tab. Press the key combination again to open the tab closed before that one. Google Chrome remembers the last 10 tabs you’ve closed.

18. Jump to different open tabs using Control + 1, Control + 2, Control + 3, etc. Control + 9 takes you to the last tab.
19. Control + Shift + Tab cycles through your tabs in the opposite order.
20. Control +B hides the Google Chrome bookmarks bar. Press Control +B to bring it back again.
21. Right-click the top of the browser window and select Task manager to see how much memory different tabs and plug-ins are using. Highlight one and click End process to stop it running.
22. Shift + Escape is a quicker way to bring up the Google Chrome Task manager.

23. To see what plug-ins are installed, type about:plugins into the address window.
24. You can also type the following commands into the Google Chrome address window: about:stats, about:network, about:histograms,about:memory, about:cache, about:dns.
25. Type about: crash to see what a crashed tab looks like.
26. A three-second diversion: type about: internet. (Only works in Windows XP.)
27. Edit any web page – right-click a page and select Inspect element. Now edit the HTML source code and hit Return to view the changes.
28. To make Google Chrome your default browser, click the Tools button (in the right-hand corner of the browser window – a spanner icon). Select Options, click the Basics tab and then click the Make Google Chrome my default browser button.
29. To delete cookies, go to Tools > Options > Under the Hood. Scroll down to the Security section, and click Show cookies. Now you can click Remove all or remove individual cookies.
30. To clear more data such as the Google Chrome browsing history and cache, click the Tools icon and select Clear browsing data…
31. To clear the most visited web sites that appear on your Google Chrome start page, you must clear your browsing history using the method above.
32. Clearing your Google Chrome browser history will also stop matches from previously browsed sites appearing as suggestions in your address bar.

Internet Explore 9 Tips

Easy ways to get to your websites
Internet Explorer 9 has something for every preference, offering different ways to get to your favorite sites—fast.
• From One Box (formerly known as the address bar), you can pin a website by clicking the icon to the left of the web address and dragging it to the taskbar, the Start menu, or your desktop. Now your favorite sites are just a click away—you can launch the site without first having to open Internet Explorer.
• If you’re already in the browser, open a new tab to see a selection of your favorite sites. To go to a site, just click it. Your favorite sites are always within easy reach.

Change and manage search providers
When you first install your browser, you might have only one search provider installed. In Internet Explorer 9, you can add multiple search providers right from the Address bar.
To add providers, begin typing search terms in the Address bar. In the drop-down list that appears, click Add, and then choose the search providers you want to add. If you want the provider to offer search suggestions, be sure to select the Use search suggestions from this provider check box.
You can add search providers from the Address bar
For each search provider you add, a button is displayed in the drop-down list from the Address bar. This makes switching between providers during a browsing session easy and fast. All you have to do is click a button to switch your search to that provider.
To change your default provider, remove a provider, switch the order of the buttons in the search box, or see what other management options are available, click the Tools menu, click Manage Add-ons, and then, under Add-on Types, click Search Providers.

Manage Add-ons
When you use Internet Explorer 9, you might see notifications about different add-ons you’ve installed. In some cases, add-ons can affect the performance of your browser. These notifications can help you decide what you want to do with your add-ons.
Rather than waiting for notifications to alert you to add-ons and how they might be affecting your browser’s performance, there’s an easy way to view and manage all of your add-ons: Click the Tools menu, and then click Manage Add-ons.
The Manage Add-ons window
Under Add-on Types, you’ll see the different add-on categories. Select an add-on to see information like its name, publisher, version, and type in the details section of the window. Depending on the type of add-on it is, you can disable or enable it, or remove it entirely. Before you disable or remove an add-on, keep in mind that some WebPages, or Internet Explorer itself, might not display correctly if certain add-ons are disabled.
To see other choices you have, like which columns to show or how to sort each type of add-on, right-click an add-on. You can also find more add-ons or learn more about each type using the links in the lower-left corner of the window.

Tips to Block Websites in Internet Explorer

Many websites exist on the Internet that is of no use. Some websites also contain inappropriate content that should not be viewed by children. Internet Explorer has a built-in feature that allows you to block such websites.
Steps to Block Websites in Internet Explorer
1. Open the Internet Explorer by clicking the ‘Start’ button. Click on the ‘Tools’ option in the menu bar. From the drop-down menu that appears, select ‘Internet Options’.
2. Click the ‘Content’ tab of the Internet Options dialog box. You will see the Content Advisor configuration section. Click the ‘Enable’ button in the Content Advisor area.
3. The Content Advisor dialog box will appear. You will see four tabs: Ratings, Approved Sites, General and Advanced. Click the second tab titled ‘Approved Sites’. Write the name of the website you want to block in Internet Explorer. For example, if you want to block twitter.com, then write it in the box and click the ‘Never’ button on the right-side menu. Now you will be able to view the name of your website in the larger box below with a red slashed circle. Click ‘Apply’ when you’re finished.
4. Click the General tab in the same window. Check the option ‘Users can see sites that have no rating’. You now need to create a new password. Click on the ‘Create Password’ button to fulfill this task.
5. To check whether you have successfully blocked the website, open twitter.com in Internet Explorer. You will be directed to the dialog box where you will be asked to enter the administrative password.

Internet Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
Viewing and exploring Web pages
F1 Display the Internet Explorer Help, or when in a dialog box, display context help on an item
F11 Toggle between Full Screen and regular view of the browser window
TAB Move forward through the items on a Web page, the Address bar, and the Links bar
SHIFT+TAB Move back through the items on a Web page, the Address bar, and the Links bar
ALT+HOME Go to your Home page
ALT+RIGHT ARROW Go to the next page
ALT+LEFT ARROW or
BACKSPACE Go to the previous page
SHIFT+F10 Display a shortcut menu for a link
CTRL+TAB or
F6 Move forward between frames
SHIFT+CTRL+TAB Move back between frames
UP ARROW Scroll toward the beginning of a document
DOWN ARROW Scroll toward the end of a document
PAGE UP Scroll toward the beginning of a document in larger increments
PAGE DOWN Scroll toward the end of a document in larger increments
HOME Move to the beginning of a document
END Move to the end of a document
CTRL+F Find on this page
F5 or
CTRL+R Refresh the current Web page only if the time stamp for the Web version and your locally stored version are different
CTRL+F5 Refresh the current Web page, even if the time stamp for the Web version and your locally stored version are the same
ESC Stop downloading a page
CTRL+O or
CTRL+L Go to a new location
CTRL+N Open a new window
CTRL+W Close the current window
CTRL+S Save the current page
CTRL+P Print the current page or active frame
ENTER Activate a selected link
CTRL+E Open Search in Explorer bar
CTRL+I Open Favorites in Explorer bar
CTRL+H Open History in Explorer bar
CTRL+click In History or Favorites bars, open multiple folders
Using the Address bar
Press this To do this
ALT+D Select the text in the Address bar
F4 Display the Address bar history
CTRL+LEFT ARROW When in the Address bar, move the cursor left to the next logical break (. or /)
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW When in the Address bar, move the cursor right to the next logical break (. or /)
CTRL+ENTER Add “www.” to the beginning and “.com” to the end of the text typed in the Address bar
UP ARROW Move forward through the list of AutoComplete matches
DOWN ARROW Move back through the list of AutoComplete matches
Working with favorites
Press this To do this
CTRL+D Add the current page to your favorites
CTRL+B Open the Organize Favorites dialog box
ALT+UP ARROW Move selected item up in the Favorites list in the Organize Favorites dialog box
ALT+DOWN ARROW Move selected item down in the Favorites list in the Organize Favorites dialog box
Editing
Press this To do this
CTRL+X Remove the selected items and copy them to the Clipboard
CTRL+C Copy the selected items to the Clipboard
CTRL+V Insert the contents of the Clipboard at the selected location
CTRL+A Select all items on the current Web page

Fire Fox Tips & Tweaks

15 Coolest Firefox Tricks Ever

Everybody’s favorite open-source browser, Firefox, is great right out of the box. And by adding some of the awesome extensions available out there, the browser just gets better and better.
But look under the hood, and there are a bunch of hidden (and some not-so-secret) tips and tricks available that will crank Firefox up and pimp your browser. Make it faster, cooler, more efficient. Get to be a Jedi master with the following cool Firefox tricks.
1) More screen space. Make your icons small. Go to View – Toolbars – Customize and check the “Use small icons” box.
2) Smart keywords. If there’s a search you use a lot (let’s say IMDB.com’s people search), this is an awesome tool that not many people use. Right-click on the search box, select “Add a Keyword for this search”, give the keyword a name and an easy-to-type and easy-to-remember shortcut name (let’s say “actor”) and save it. Now, when you want to do an actor search, go to Firefox’s address bar, type “actor” and the name of the actor and press return. Instant search! You can do this with any search box.
3) Keyboard shortcuts. This is where you become a real Jedi. It just takes a little while to learn these, but once you do, your browsing will be super fast. Here are some of the most common (and my personal favs):
• Spacebar (page down)
• Shift-Spacebar (page up)
• Ctrl+F (find)
• Alt-N (find next)
• Ctrl+D (bookmark page)
• Ctrl+T (new tab)
• Ctrl+K (go to search box)
• Ctrl+L (go to address bar)
• Ctrl+= (increase text size)
• Ctrl+- (decrease text size)
• Ctrl-W (close tab)
• F5 (reload)
• Alt-Home (go to home page)
4) Auto-complete. This is another keyboard shortcut, but it’s not commonly known and very useful. Go to the address bar (Control-L) and type the name of the site without the “www” or the “.com”. Let’s say “google”. Then press Control-Enter, and it will automatically fill in the “www” and the “.com” and take you there – like magic! For .net addresses, press Shift-Enter, and for .org addresses, press Control-Shift-Enter.
5) Tab navigation. Instead of using the mouse to select different tabs that you have open, use the keyboard. Here are the shortcuts:
• Ctrl+Tab (rotate forward among tabs)
• Ctrl+Shft+Tab (rotate to the previous tab)
• Ctrl+1-9 (choose a number to jump to a specific tab)
6) Mouse shortcuts. Sometimes you’re already using your mouse and it’s easier to use a mouse shortcut than to go back to the keyboard. Master these cool ones:
• Middle click on link (opens in new tab)
• Shift-scroll down (previous page)
• Shift-scroll up (next page)
• Ctrl-scroll up (decrease text size)
• Ctrl-scroll down (increase text size)
• Middle click on a tab (closes tab)
7) Delete items from address bar history. Firefox’s ability to automatically show previous URLs you’ve visited, as you type, in the address bar’s drop-down history menu is very cool. But sometimes you just don’t want those URLs to show up (I won’t ask why). Go to the address bar (Ctrl-L), start typing an address, and the drop-down menu will appear with the URLs of pages you’ve visited with those letters in them. Use the down-arrow to go down to an address you want to delete, and press the Delete key to make it disappear.
8) User chrome. If you really want to trick out your Firefox, you’ll want to create a UserChrome.css file and customize your browser. It’s a bit complicated to get into here, but check out this tutorial.
9) Create a user.js file. Another way to customize Firefox, creating a user.js file can really speed up your browsing. You’ll need to create a text file named user.js in your profile folder (see this to find out where the profile folder is) and see this example user.js file that you can modify. Created by techlifeweb.com, this example explains some of the things you can do in its comments.
10) about:config. The true power user’s tool, about.config isn’t something to mess with if you don’t know what a setting does. You can get to the main configuration screen by putting about:config in the browser’s address bar. See Mozillazine’s about:config tips and screenshots.

11) Add a keyword for a bookmark. Go to your bookmarks much faster by giving them keywords. Right-click the bookmark and then select Properties. Put a short keyword in the keyword field, save it, and now you can type that keyword in the address bar and it will go to that bookmark.
12) Speed up Firefox. If you have a broadband connection (and most of us do), you can use pipelining to speed up your page loads. This allows Firefox to load multiple things on a page at once, instead of one at a time (by default, it’s optimized for dialup connections). Here’s how:
• Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Type “network.http” in the filter field, and change the following settings (double-click on them to change them):
• Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
• Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
• Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to a number like 30. This will allow it to make 30 requests at once.
• Also, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.
13) Limit RAM usage. If Firefox takes up too much memory on your computer, you can limit the amount of RAM it is allowed to us. Again, go to about:config, filter “browser.cache” and select “browser.cache.disk.capacity”. It’s set to 50000, but you can lower it, depending on how much memory you have. Try 15000 if you have between 512MB and 1GB ram.
14) Reduce RAM usage further for when Firefox is minimized. This setting will move Firefox to your hard drive when you minimize it, taking up much less memory. And there is no noticeable difference in speed when you restore Firefox, so it’s definitely worth a go. Again, go to about:config, right-click anywhere and select New-> Boolean. Name it “config.trim_on_minimize” and set it to TRUE. You have to restart Firefox for these settings to take effect.
15) Move or remove the close tab button. Do you accidentally click on the close button of Firefox’s tabs? You can move them or remove them, again through about:config. Edit the preference for “browser.tabs.closeButtons”. Here are the meanings of each value:
• 0: Display a close button on the active tab only
• 1:(Default) Display close buttons on all tabs
• 2:Don’t display any close buttons
• 3:Display a single close button at the end of the tab bar (Firefox 1.x behavior)

Top 10 Windows 7 Tips

Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts

Use the below Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts to make the most of your Windows 7 experience.

Windows key and the arrow keys

Pressing the Windows key and Left or Right arrow keys will dock the window your viewing to the left or right-hand side of the screen. Pressing the Windows key and the Up arrow will maximize a window and pressing the Windows key and the Down arrow will resize and then minimize the window.

Use Shift: To stretch a window vertically, press the Windows key + Shift + the Up arrow. If you have multiple monitors use the Windows key + Shift + the Left or Right arrow keys to move the window to another monitor.

Windows key and plus and minus keys

If you ever need to zoom in or out of what is being displayed on your screen press the Windows key and the + (plus) or – (minus) keys. Pressing the plus zooms in and once zoomed in the minus will zoom out.

Clear all background programs

If you are not viewing a window in full screen and have other windows open in the background clear all background open windows by pressing the Windows key + the Home key.

• Full listing of computer shortcuts

Use the Windows 7 search

Find and run anything in Windows by using the Windows 7 search box. Click the Start orb or press then Windows key and type the name of the program you wish to run or file you wish to edit. Windows 7 will usually do a good job at finding an exact match and simply pressing enter will execute that program or open that file. If more than one match is found, use the up and down arrow keys to select the file you wish to open and then press Enter.

Running as administrator: Some programs may require administrator mode in order to function properly. You can run any program as administrator from the search box by typing the name of the program you want to run and then instead of pressing Enter to run the program press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run as administrator. If you want to click and run a program as administrator hold down the Ctrl+Shift and then click the icon.

Take full advantage of the Taskbar

Pin programs to the Taskbar

All programs can be pinned to the Taskbar and allow easy access to your favorite programs without having to use the Start Menu. To Pin a program to the Taskbar right-click on the program or shortcut to the program and in the menu choose the Pin to Taskbar option. Alternatively you can also drag the icon to the Taskbar.

If you want to remove a pinned program, right-click on the Taskbar icon and click Unpin this program from the Taskbar. Alternatively you can also drag the icon off of the task bar and then click Unpin this program from the Taskbar.

Move the icons and pinned programs

Any pinned or opened program on the Taskbar can be moved and arranged. Left-click on any icon on the Taskbar and drag it to the location you want it to remain.

Windows key and a number

Pressing the Windows key and a number on the top row of your keyboard will open the Window corresponding to the open program on your Taskbar. For example, in the below picture of the Windows 7 Taskbar, Firefox i the first icon, Control panel is the second icon, and Adobe Photoshop is the third icon. If the Windows key + 3 was pressed, Adobe Photoshop would become the active window. To make it even easier arrange your icons (as mentioned above) from left to right by most frequently opened.

Pin your favorite folder

If you frequently access the same folder (e.g. your favorites, my documents, Dropbox, etc.) pin the folder to the Windows Explorer icon on the Taskbar. To do this drag your favorite folder to the Taskbar until you see Pin to Windows Explorer. Once pinned, right-click the Explorer icon to access that folder under the Pinned section.

Open a second instance

If you want to open a second instance or window of a program that is already open, press and hold the Shift key and then click the program icon on the Taskbar.

Get to the Desktop

Click the Desktop button on the far right edge of the Taskbar to get to the Desktop.

Customize the Notification area

Windows Vista and Windows 7 allow the Windows Notification area (aka Systray) to be modified. By default, many of the icons shown in the past are now hidden and give Windows a much cleaner look. Customize this area to make icons show or not show by clicking on the up arrow next to the icons and selecting Customize, as shown in the picture to the right. Once in Customize you can choose what programs show, don’t show, or only show notifications.

Improve the quality of your text

Use the Windows ClearType Text Tuner to improve the overall quality of all text you read on your screen. To start the ClearType Text Tuner click the Start Orb and type cttune.exe and press Enter.

Enable and disable Windows 7 features

Turn on and off Windows features by clicking Start, typing features and press enter. In the Programs and Features window on the left-hand column click Turn Windows features on or off and in the Windows Features box check or uncheck the features you want enabled or disabled.

Use the Reliability and Performance Monitor

View the reliability history of your computer by using the Reliability Monitor. Click the Start orb and type reliability and press enter for View Reliability History. In the Reliability Monitor, you’ll be able to view the overall reliability of your computer and be able to identify any past problems your computer has had.

If you want to view the performance of your computer in real time use the Performance Monitor. Click the Start orb and type performance and press enter for the Performance Monitor. In the Performance Monitor, you can view your computers performance in real time or view a log of your systems performance.

Re-enable underlined keyboard shortcuts

By default, Windows 7 has the underlines for keyboard shortcuts like those shown in the picture to the right disabled. To re-enable these underlines in all Windows programs follow the below steps.

1. Open the Control Panel
2. In the Control Panel click Ease of Access
3. In Ease of Access click Change how your keyboard works
4. Finally, check the Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys and then click Ok.

Rename multiple files at once

To change the name of multiple files at once highlight all the files you wish to rename in Windows Explorer and press the F2 key. Type in the new name you wish to use for all files and press enter. Once done all files will be renamed to the name entered followed by a unique number.

Install Windows Essentials

Install missing Windows software by installing the free Windows Essentials software package that includes: Windows Live Family Safety, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, SkyDrive for Windows, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer, and Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector.

• Official Windows Essentials web page and download.