Microsoft Word Shortcuts You Probably Don’t Know

Microsoft Word: Love it or hate it, practically everyone uses it. I've been using it so long, I thought I knew everything about it. But I stumbled across some super helpful shortcuts — hidden tricks and timesavers that make Microsoft Word easier and faster.

One caveat for these tips: different versions of Word may have different commands, so some of these may not work in your version. That said, here are my top eight shortcuts:

1. Double Click And Drag
If you're like most people, when you want to move a section of text from one place to another, you use Control-C to cut and Control-V to paste. That's fine. It works. But there's a faster way: Double click or highlight what you want to move, then simply drag what you've highlighted to where you want it to land.

2. Double Underline
You know you can affect text by hitting Control-B to make it bold or Control-U to underline. But if one line of underlining just isn't emphatic enough, Control-Shift-D will double underline. (On a Mac, use Command-Shift-D.)

If that doesn't make your point, you may have to go to ALL CAPS, and I've got a shortcut for that too…

3. Change CaseChange Case button
Instead of retyping everything to change from lower case to Title Case or to UPPERCASE, just highlight the text you want to change, click the case button, and then choose which case you want.

4. Adding Buttons to Your Toolbar
Suppose you just tried using shortcut #3, but the case button isn't on your toolbar, no worries; you can add it (and almost any other command). Go to View, Toolbars, Customize Toolbars, Commands, then scroll to find the command you want — and drag it to where on the toolbar you want it.

5. Add the Date
How many times a day do you type the date? If you do it even once, that's too much. Next time, just hit Alt-Shift-D (or Control-Shift -D on a Mac) to add the date automatically.

6. Quick Parts
This next tip builds on what the Autotext function did in older versions of Word: If you have a certain paragraph of text you regularly need to add to a document — like a boilerplate disclaimer, or maybe directions to your office — turn it into a Quick Part. Here's how:Quick Parts

Highlight the text you regularly use
Click the insert tab
Hit Quick Parts, and choose "Save Selection To The Quick Part Gallery"

Now any time you want to insert that chunk of text into a document, either a new one or and old one you're editing, just hit that Quick Parts button. Just one more click will select which saved Quick Part to insert. This trick will even work as a shortcut for adding a logo or letterhead.

7. Conform Fonts
This one used to drive me crazy: I'd copy and paste some bit of text from another document or from the Web, and then I'd have to click all over the place to get the font size and style to match the surrounding text of my existing document. No longer. Here's all you need to do: Highlight the non-conforming text, then hit Control-Spacebar. Done.

8. Customize Quick Access Toolbar

There is one way to get your most commonly used commands in the same place- that's to customize the Quick Access Toolbar. It's like the center drawer in your desk that has all the stuff you use most in one easy-to-access place. No organization, just (as the name implies) quick access. So take the things you like most and add them to the Quick Access toolbar. Click the little down arrow tab to get to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar drop down menu:uyl_ep54_quick_access2 crop

Hit "more commands" and add whatever you use most. You can also position this toolbar below the ribbon if you prefer it to be closer to your document text.

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Protect yourself online

If your password is a common name or phrase, a hacker could guess it. Make your online accounts more secure by avoiding using the same password on multiple sites and sticking with longer, hard-to-guess words or sentences.

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Play the "travel game"

Some people like chess while others like Sudoku or crossword puzzles. Expert suggests to play the game of travel, which requires strategy and collaboration to get hotels at about 40 percent of retail price.

You can start with Priceline.com and Hotwire.com, and then go to the travel boards of biddingforrtavel.com and betterbidding.com, where people will post the names and bidding amounts of hotels they've won. If you don't see what you are looking for, you can post a question which always seems to get answered.

In just about a half hour, you can often save hundreds of dollars per trip and that's a whole lot more rewarding than finishing a Sudoku game.

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Surf the net, email, make calls - with your glasses!

The technology giant is close to launching a pair of futuristic glasses that would deliver all the services of a smartphone straight to the wearer’s eye. Featuring a miniature display on one lens, the hi-tech specs allow users to surf the internet or deal with text messages and emails without lifting a finger.

The screen is controlled with a ‘mouse’ which is moved simply by tilting your head. And should you still wish to actually talk to someone, it is believed the glasses will let you make calls using an in-built microphone. Reports suggest the device, which would revolutionise the smartphone market, could be available by the end of this year costing less than £380 – making it cheaper than Apple’s iPhone.

Users would also be able to see through the lenses as normal and go about their daily business, then with a flick of the head activate the display and start surfing. The glasses would use the same Google operating system that powers Android smartphones and tablets and would connect to the internet through 3G or next-generation 4G mobile networks.

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Facebook for Sale

Even in a region famous for cranking out business marvels, Facebook is something to behold. Almost eight years to the day after launching in a Harvard dorm room, the Menlo Park social networking giant on Wednesday took the wraps off a financial rocket that reached all but the loftiest of expectations surrounding the company.

In its eagerly awaited initial public offering filing, Facebook said its annual revenue last year totalled $US3.7 billion ($A3.47 billion) as profits hit $US1 billion. About 845 million people around the world check into the site at least monthly - and nearly 500 million do so daily - giving Facebook the kind of global reach usually associated with a century-old brand like Coca-Cola.

''This is a unique and extraordinary company,'' said Mark Siegel, managing director at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, which does not have a stake in the company. ''I don't know that you can draw a whole lot of parallels.''

All of which is why the $US5 billion offering, which several reports say could rise to $US10 billion, is the most highly anticipated tech offer since Google. It could mint hundreds of millionaires, make boatloads of rich VCs a whole lot richer and reignite market fascination with dot-com offerings in the wake of some high-profile duds.

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Twitter CEO Says Blocking Policy Over-distilled

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is seeking to calm the global outrage over the company's new country-by-country censorship policy.

Speaking at the All Things D conference on Monday he said that the outrage in part has resulted from the issue being treated with the same the kind of shorthand that has made Twitter popular.

By taking down tweets only in the country where Twitter believes they may have violated local laws, Costolo says the company is making sure the message is still available to the rest of the world.

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The Zuckerberg Roommate Who Said No to Facebook

Facebook is due to become a publicly traded company on Wednesday when it will launch with an expected $100billion valuation, but one man in Mark Zuckerberg's social network won't be celebrating to the same extent. Joe Green is the former college roommate of Mr Zuckerberg who, unlike his famous friend, decided to stay enrolled in Harvard instead of dropping out to make Facebook. That decision is called his $400million mistake.

Even in spite of the mistake, Mr Green now runs a charitable giving site called Causes and through that as well as the shares of Facebook which he owns, he will still likely make a multi-million dollar profit from the company's expected launch. 'My father, who's a professor, was not too happy with the prospect of me getting kicked out of school,' Mr Green told Good Morning America.

Instead of going on to launch the world's biggest social network, Mr Green graduated and went to work for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, and is now running an online charitable giving service that is one of Facebook's largest applications. Though he wasn't one of the original founders of Facebook in full, Mr Green was a part of the company's original iteration and helped Mr Zuckerberg create the website's predecessor. The college boys first made a site called 'FaceMash' which allowed visitors to judge the looks of people online.

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Google and Apple Race to Bring out Internet TV Sets

They have been locked in combat over mobile devices - and now Google and Apple are set to do battle in a technology war over 'smart' TVs.

LG Electronics just unveil its first internet-connected TV to run on the Android interface. Samsung is making its first set using Google software later this year, while Sony and Vizio have produced Android models already.

Apple look certain to bring in the iTV set this year. The company transformed the music and mobile phone markets, but it seems Google is trying to stay one step ahead of them with TVs.

Google said that chipmaker Marvell Technology Group and chip designer MediaTek were already on board as new partners in the venture. In a sluggish economy, TV manufacturers hope moving into the Internet TV market will help pick up business as consumer demand continues to slow.

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The Television You Can 'Reach Iinside' to Grab Things on Screen

Television that you reach inside and interact with, like Willy Wonka’s Wonkavision in the classic 1970s movie, could be just around the corner.

Media student Jayne Vidheecharoen from the Art Center College of Design in California has designed a prototype TV that converts physical hands into virtual ones when users put them in the back of the box.

Google Streetview appears as a back drop courtesy of a green screen and digital objects can be manipulated and moved around at will. In Charlie And The Chocolate Factory we see spoiled Mike Teevee converted into a million pixels, miniaturised and beamed into a TV set.

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Apple May Hurt Shareholders with Patent War

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, told his biographer that he'd rather wage "thermonuclear war" with Google than make deals to share its technology with the maker of the Android operating system.

That was no empty threat. In the 18 months before Jobs died on October 5, Apple sued HTC, Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility, the three largest Android users. It alleged that the phone makers stole Apple's technology and asked courts to make them stop.

Now, as rulings start coming in, it might be time for a détente that helps Apple maximise the value of its patents, said Kevin Rivette, a managing partner at 3LP Advisors, a firm that advises on intellectual property. When courts side with Apple and impose bans on infringing products, competitors can often devise workarounds; in cases where Apple doesn't win import restrictions, it would be better off striking settlements that ensure access to a competitor's innovation, he said

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Obama Bans Daughters from Facebook

He relied heavily on social media to get him elected in 2008. But Barack Obama has admitted he has banned his daughters from using Facebook – because he doesn’t want ‘strangers knowing our business’. The U.S. President said it ‘does not make much sense’ to put the most private details of his family life on public view.

His elder daughter, Malia, is 13, and just old enough to use Facebook. Her younger sister Sasha is ten. But Mr Obama said he won’t consider allowing them to join the site until they are both four years older. His admission seems somewhat ironic, given that he made full use of Facebook and other websites to encourage the young to vote for him in the presidential election – and to raise millions of dollars for his campaign. As a result, he became known as the ‘First Social Media President’.

His Facebook page – which has 24million ‘likes’ – remains a key part of his ongoing efforts to seek re-election.

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Use technology with intent to maximize your day

In today's 24/7 all-access world, it's hard to get a handle on technology use. While it's impossible to avoid it altogether, you can be disciplined about how much time you spend perusing the Web. Set aside a specific time, say 15 minutes after lunch, to scroll through your social networking sites or other favorite websites-and stick to it.

Or try something like Google Chrome's website blocker, which allows you to set restrictions to your online time by either totally blocking your favorite websites or just restricting the timeframes within which you are allowed to check them. In addition to surfing the Internet, it's important to watch your email habits. Whether you give yourself 15 to 30 minutes at a set time each day to check your personal email, or you allow yourself brief intervals between tasks, Holhbaum says the key is to be very mindful of the time you're spending checking your non-work inbox. "Have a very clear distinction between what's personal and what's work. If that's a part of your 'OK I need to zone out for a little bit' time, that's fine. But you need to be clear and be mindful of what you're doing."

Even work-related emails can become a distraction if not properly managed. Ask yourself if email is the best method of communication, or if you're better off calling the person. "Sending 100 emails isn't [always] going to be the most productive thing. And as we know, emails beget emails. They're like little rabbits," Hohlbaum jokes. "If it's a one-way communication, for example forwarding an airplane itinerary, you don't need to have any answer [so email works]. But if you want detail or you know the person won't respond right away by email, pick up the phone," she says.

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BlackBerry under Fire over Illegal Sex Content

Smartphone company BlackBerry faces controversy after it was revealed its customers have been able to access illegal sex content on the internet, including child pornography.

Since the summer, BlackBerry has failed to provide internet blocks which protect users, including children, from accessing a list of banned websites. The news will alarm parents since teenagers make up a large proportion of the eight million BlackBerry users in the UK.

Last night, telecoms regulator Ofcom said it was ‘very concerned’ about the issue and that it was talking urgently to Canada’s Research in Motion (RIM), owners of BlackBerry, about how to solve the problem.

All mobile phone operators in Britain are signed up to a code of practice which ensures they apply a block on access to sex sites on the internet. A spokesman for RIM said: ‘By the end of 2011, we will have a solution in place that blocks access to these sites.’

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Lindsay Lohan's Nude Playboy Cover Leaked Online

She is no doubt one of the most high profile and controversial stars to agree to grace the magazine's front cover But Lindsay Lohan’s Playboy cover shot big reveal has been thwarted and a picture of the upcoming issue has been leaked online. The 25-year-old actress is seen straddling a Playboy bunny shaped chair which manages to cover her modesty, but reveals the curve of her breasts.

Wearing just a pair of black high heels, Lindsay has her hair in big blonde curls falling around her shoulders, and she is seen pouting into the camera with bright red lips, matching her seat and the curtains in the backdrop.

Lindsay, who was reportedly paid $1million for the shoot, had planned to reveal her nude cover on the Ellen DeGeneres show on December 15. The actress had to pose for the magazine photographers twice, as the original attempt did not satisfy Playboy boss Hugh Hefner. Speaking about the snaps which appear in the January/ February issue of the magazine, Hefner spoke about the inspiration behind the racy shots.

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HP Slate 2 Tablet

The Slate 2 is actually a follow-up to HP's Slate 500, which launched more than a year ago at a price of $US800, running Windows 7 and marketed to businesses and not consumers. The Slate 2, again, isn't a consumer tablet, HP says, noting that it envisions the gadget "for business and vertical markets such as education, healthcare, government and retail, where jobs frequently take users away from a traditional desk." So don't go expecting to see this device showing up in you local electronics retailer.

The new HP tablet for businesses will sell for $US700, and like the Slate 500, the Slate 2 will weigh in at 680 grams, feature an 8.9-inch touchscreen and make use of an optional stylus. On the Slate 2, a software update will enable users to also use an on-screen swipe keyboard, HP said.

The Slate 2 will run on Intel's 1.5-gigahertz Atom Z670 processor, offer up to six hours of battery life and encrypt data on the device's hard drive. A VGA camera is built into the front of the Slate 2 while a 3-megapixel camera is on the back and the tablet has 2 gigabytes of RAM, a hard drive of up to 64 gigabytes and one USB port - the same as the Slate 500's setup.

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Best smartphone for battery life

Here's a phone that could easily fit in the category above, too. While the Sonim XP1300 CORE doesn’t run on a major operating system like Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 or BlackBerry, it does offer email, a browser, FM radio and other familiar features.

But what is most impressive is the phones’s 18-hour talk time and 800 hours of standby life. There are not many devices on the market that can boast anything close to that kind of battery life, which is why it sits at the top of this list. The Sonim XP1300 is available for AT&T and T-Mobile customers.

Still, Sonim’s main offering of massive battery life will not please everyone. If you’re already rocking a much more dainty iPhone or Android smartphone, there are still some steps you can take to prolong your battery life. The iPhone 4 is certainly good for gaming, but a few hours of Infinity Blade and your juice will be depleted before lunch.

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Worst Passwords

A major hack on social gaming site RockYou revealed some troubling patterns in how we choose our passwords. The Imperva Application Defense Center (ADC), a security research group, examined the passwords of RockYou's clients to see just what went wrong.

The study found that more than 29,000 of the compromised accounts were using the password "123456" — the most popular password. The second and third most common passwords were also strings of consecutive numbers.

And the fourth most common password? "Password." Other popular passwords from the RockYou case include "iloveyou," "abc123," and a handful of common first names like "Ashley" and "Michael."

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Best smartphone for gaming

Apple made this one easy with the iPhone, and specifically the iPhone 4. And with the next generation just around the corner, iDevices will offer even more fun for gamers. Beyond the state-of-the-art graphics and controls that set the standard for gaming on mobile devices, there are more than 70,000 iPhone games available in Apple’s App Store.

Whether you are simply a casual gamer who likes to occasionally tap into a crossword puzzle or a hardcore action-arcade fanatic, there truly is something for everyone. The popularity of a game like Angry Birds, which began life on Apple’s smartphone before hitting other platforms (and, essentially taking over the world), has made everyone stand up and take notice.

It’s also telling that instead of console and PC games shaping the iOS gaming market, the tide is beginning to turn. Games that were created for iPhones including Fruit Ninja, Backbreaker Football, and the aforementioned Angry Birds are now available on major consoles. The iPhone 4 is currently available for AT&T and Verizon customers.

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For 'tracking cookies of logged-out users': Facebook Could be Investigated by U.S. Govt

Facebook could be investigated by the U.S. government over claims it is tracking users after they have logged out of the social networking site.

Reps Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey and Texas Republican Joe Barton have both complained to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Their letter follows privacy fears over tracking cookies sparked by Australian blogger Nik Cubrilovic, who prompted a Facebook investigation.

Reps Markey and Barton have both been vigorously pursuing Facebook on privacy issues, reported the Los Angeles Times. ‘When users log out of Facebook, they are under the expectation that Facebook is no longer monitoring their activities,’ they wrote. ‘We believe this impression should be the reality.’

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Adobe Brings Flash to iPhone and iPad without Asking Apple

The battle between Adobe, maker of the popular Flash video software used in more than 50 per cent of websites, and Apple, which refuses to allow it to work on many of its devices, is one of the bitterest in corporate history.

But Adobe has now created a 'cheat' that allows Flash video to play freely on Apple's devices - without Apple signing it off. But don't expect Flash to start working immediately on every website you visit - with some video-industry insiders describing the new solution as a 'fudge'.

The new solution works for publishers who want videos stored in Flash to be visible on popular Apple products such as iPhone, iPods and iPads. At present, Apple limits the web-browsing software in their handhelds so it is difficult for many users to see web video barring videos from YouTube.

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