As web users, we spend a lot of time typing things into a browser. I have talked about reducing your typing using Ctrl-Enter. 
Here is another “URL” time saver.
I have seen many people spend too much time entering a URL. The box at the right shows a “selected” URL. A “selected” URL is one that has been high-lighted. Once it is high-lighted, you can immediately start typing the destination URL. You don’t have to press the Delete key. Typing anything will replace all that is high-lighted.
Today I had to restore a machine using my bare-bones XP image. A long time ago I did a clean install of XP and then created a Ghost image of that install. The install took almost an hour. The imaging process takes ten minutes. I haven’t installed XP from the disks in years even though I do a fresh image at least once a month.
One of the first things I noticed after the install was that Windows Messenger was automatically running. I don’t use Messenger. I also don’t recommend running programs all the time if you are not going to use them. Even though the program is running in the background it is taking up CPU cycles that can be used to make your active applications run faster.
Here is a Microsoft article that explains how to stop Messenger from loading automatically when Windows starts.
When it comes to doing things quickly, the faster your computer, the more efficient your tasks. Your computer will run faster if you don’t have wallpaper loaded.
Adding a wallpaper image on top of everything else your computer does will slow everything down a little bit. The speed may not be effected a lot, but your computer will be slower.
More important, wallpaper on your desktop is something that is rarely seen while you use your computer. You probably can’t see your wallpaper right now. There are plenty of screen savers that will load a whole list of pictures for you when your computer is idle. You will enjoy them more when you don’t have a program running right over top of them.
I was reading an article about F/OSS in educational environments when I ran across this paragraph.
Myth: Students need to learn the standard applications.
Schools have a responsibility to give students the skills they need to succeed. By the time high school students get to the job market, today’s applications will be antiquated. Students need to know how to use word processors to communicate and spreadsheets to explore numbers and graphs. Their technical skills should transcend the particular idiosyncrasies of the applications.
This is something that I really preach to my students. Consider this. A first year college student starting an educational licensure program this fall will not be a classroom teacher until the fall of 2011. In Ohio, all higher education institutes offer a technology integration class as a freshman or sophomore course. In other words, the content from a tech course will be three or four years old by the time a student (or as we label them – teacher candidate) becomes a teacher.
This is why concepts are so important. In four years Vista and Office 2007 will be getting old. Memorizing commands that are specific to these applications will not have a long term benefit to the teacher using a completely different set of software applications in 2012.
The final product is most important. Why is a teacher using a word processing or spreadsheet program? Once this is established, the teacher should always be able to work towards the goal with whatever software is available. After general concepts are mastered, the shortcuts will come with daily use.
Know when to single-click versus double-click. All icons on your desktop or in Windows Explorer will require two clicks to activate.
After a program starts, most buttons (tool bars, menus) will require just one click.
While using your browser, everything will require one click. This is true of links to web sites. Don’t waste a second click on them. The first one is all it takes.
You can modify your Windows settings to make most items that are normally a double-click into a single-click. Look in the Folder Options of Windows Explorer. This is especially useful if you shake from too much caffeine consumption and have a hard time getting that second click on the same spot as the first.
TSPY=0.43
