Blog – Lifehacker

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Occasionally, I will post about a blog I find interesting or useful. These blogs are not computer related necessarily.

The interesting blog for today is Lifehacker, which touts itself as a “Productivity and Software Guide”.

Typically there are multiple daily entries, mostly dealing with technology. Sometimes announcements of interesting technology, sometimes how to articles, etc. I usually check it out once or twice a week, as I find time and have yet to have a day when there wasn’t something of interest.

For instance, check out the September 20, 2006 post by Adam Pash “Download of the Day: tinySpell (Windows).

The post tells you about a Freeware cross-application spell checking utility. I have read it and followed the link and think this will be something worthwhile to try. If this works out for me, I will let you know in a later posting.

Try it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

XP – Full Screen Mode

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Sometimes maximized windows just do not contain enough room when viewing Windows Explorer windows, this is where the full screen mode comes in handy.

Just press the F11 key and the window will instantly expand to cover all the viewable space on your monitor.

When you have finished using full screen mode, just press the F11 key once again, to return the window to the previous size.

This should also work in Internet Explorer and Firefox recent versions.

XP – Single Click File Open

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Some people have asked me if there is a way to use only a single click with Windows Explorer, to open a file, like clicking on a link in a web browser.

The answer is yes, if you use Windows ME or XP.

To set it up:

  • Access your Control Panel.
  • Open the Folders Options applet.
  • Under the General tab, select Single-click to open an item (point to select).
  • Also select Underline icon titles consistent with my browser, to have all icons underlined (Default).
  • Or select Underline icon titles only when I point at them. (Optional)
  • Click Apply.
  • Click OK.
  • Close Control Panel.

Personally, I leave my options to be opened by a double click, as I find myself opening things I don’t really want opened, using the single click method. This is really a matter of personal preference, so if you can get used to the single click option, it should make your computing experience better.

Try it out for a while, if you can not get used to the change, or just find it doesn’t work for you go back to the Control Panel General tab and reselect Double-click to open an item (single-click to select), click Apply and then OK and close Control Panel.