One of the top 10 most emailed articles in the New York Times a couple of months ago was a post by David Pogue, their tech blogger, called Tech Tips for the Basic Computer User.
I read it and couldn’t believe some of the things I didn’t know myself, even though I’m a confirmed techy. I’m quoting some of the ones that I thought were most useful (and subsequently forgot, even though I thought they were great at the time.)
You can use Google to do math for you. Just type the equation, like 23*7+15/3=, and hit Enter.
You can switch from one open program to the next by pressing Alt+Tab (Windows) or Command-Tab (Mac).
You can tap the Space bar to scroll down on a Web page one screenful. Add the Shift key to scroll back up.
You can hide all windows, revealing only what’s on the computer desktop, with one keystroke: hit the Windows key and “D” simultaneously in Windows, or press F11 on Macs (on recent Mac laptops, Command+F3; Command is the key with the cloverleaf logo).
There’s more, like where to find out about possible internet hoaxes and how to use Google as a currency converter, so I highly recommend checking out the article. In fact, printing it out and keeping it by your computer (so you don’t forget some of them, like I did) is probably a great idea.
