BNET Insight

Business Hacks

Technology tips, tricks, and hacks to make your workday work better.

Basic Tech Tips that Everyone Should Know (But Doesn't)

October 9th, 2008 @ 12:59 pm

6 Comments

Categories: Computers, Time-Savers, Web Tools

Tags: Mozilla Firefox, Tip, Knowledge, Web Browsers, Strategy, Internet, Management, David Goldenberg

poguesposts.jpgOver at the New York Times, tech columnist David Pogue has made a name for himself by distilling complex topics into language that everyone can understand. In a recent blog post, Pogue decided to list some basic tips that most people know most of but almost no one knows all of. Or as he puts it, “what’s common knowledge isn’t the same as universal knowledge.”

It’s certainly not. While I knew most of the tips that Pogue laid down (like not sending most of my money to various relatives of African royalty and tabbing my way through boxes on web forms), the real gold was in the hundreds of tips that readers threw in the comments, like…

Pressing the space bar twice on my Blackberry (or iPhone) gets me a period, a space, and then a capital letter.

Pressing the “/” key in Firefox brings up a quick search to locate terms in any webpage.

Pressing “ctrl” “enter” in IE or Firefox adds a “www.” prefix and a “.com” suffix to any address you type in.

Check them out, and then add your own favorites.

Got a Business Hack you want to share?

 
Reply to Story

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

  •  
    1

    jenniferim

    10/09/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Basic Tech Tips that Everyone Should Know (But Doesn't)

    A useful tip I never see: To add a new line in an Excel Spreadsheet Cell: At the end of the data entry point, press Ctrl and hit Enter. Voila! A new line in a cell.

    Very handy for adding headings without using wrap.

  •  
    2

    BizHacksRick

    10/10/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Basic Tech Tips that Everyone Should Know (But Doesn't)

    One of my favorites: Hit Windows-D to minimize all windows, then again to restore them.

  •  
    3

    marvelsven

    10/10/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Basic Tech Tips that Everyone Should Know (But Doesn't)

    I always use Ctrl + Enter which is equivalent to hitting "send" in Outlook. Also in Outlook, Ctrl + K will hyperlink and verify your email addresses in the To/CC/Bcc areas.

  •  
    4

    marvelsven

    10/10/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Basic Tech Tips that Everyone Should Know (But Doesn't)

    oh.. and another good one if you run in to writers block in Outlook: put your curser on the said word and hit shift + F7 to automatically pull up the thesauras.

    Great tips in #1 and 2!

  •  
    5

    admanalang

    10/11/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Basic Tech Tips that Everyone Should Know (But Doesn't)

    Highlighting sentences by using Shift+End, dragging to move or using Cut (Ctrl-X or Shift-Delete), Copy (Ctrl-Insert) and Paste (Ctrl V or Shift-Insert) shortcuts. Ctrl-X and Ctrl-Y to undo and redo.

    Use camera tool to select graphics and text when reading something in pdf.

  •  
    6

    NickKaplan1@...

    11/23/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Basic Tech Tips that Everyone Should Know (But Doesn't)

    Here's my favorite basic for Windows: In a web browser like IE or Firefox, instead of typing a full URL, just type the domain and hit .

    Ex:
    http://www.google.com --> google

Please add your comment:

  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  2.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

advertisement
Quick Poll
What is the top reason for going back to Business School?
Career Advancement
Networking
Personal Growth
All of the Above
advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement