... Windows Tips 'n Tricks 5 ...
As he teaches, so he learns.

Energy Star compliance means a device has been designed to economize on power, using less in regular circumstances and dropping to a very low power level when not busy. If your monitor is Energy Star-compliant, your Display Properties control panel has some extra options.

1. Click Start and then choose Settings, Control Panel.

2. Double-click the Display icon. (the other way which I usually use is to right click the Desktop and click Properties)

3. Click the Screen Saver tab.

4. Click the Configure or Settings button for Energy Star features, down near the bottom of the control panel.

Now you can choose a power-saving scheme. The possibilities listed here depend on your monitor and computer. The shorter you set these times, the more energy you can save.

Exiting Windows programs is fairly easy because all of the programs are supposed to use the same special exit command: Simply click the little X in the upper-right corner of the program's window. (You can also hold down the Alt key and press F4.) Never quit a program by just flicking off your computer's power switch. Doing so can foul up your computer's innards. Instead, you must leave the program responsibly, so that it has time to perform its housekeeping chores before it shuts down.

How can you use Explorer to get to folders you created on your desktop? To begin, right-click on Start and select Explorer. When Explorer appears, you will see the word Desktop, along with its icon, at the very top of the list. The folder created in your desktop will reside in here. Double-click Desktop and you'll find your new folder in the right-hand pane. In case you're interested, the Desktop folders are actually stored physically in C:\Windows\Desktop\

Were you aware that Exploring (sometimes called Explorer) is a great search tool for browsing through the archived data on any disk in your system? Begin by right-clicking on the Start button. A small menu will appear with the second option being Explore(r). Left click on Explorer and a HUGE menu screen appears. Here, you can open and close folders, and search through your system. To open a folder, click on the [+] button and all subdirectories will appear. Click on the [-] to make them shrink back down. To see the files in a folder, click on the folder and the files will appear on the right.

When moving files from the right side of Explorer's dual pane view to a subfolder on the left, you can quickly expand a contracted folder by dragging the file to the left pane and hovering over the top level folder for a couple of seconds. The contracted folder expands and you can continue drilling down to the folder you want, using the hover technique until you find the folder you need. Then drop the file in place.

To open the Explorer with a session on the Start Menu, you can just right click on the Start button and choose Explore.

Most avid windowers know that this will start an Explorer session focused on the Start Menu directory. This allows you to easily and quickly add/modify your Start menu.

Take advantage of Windows Explorer's tree view by using these easy keystroke shortcuts to maneuver through the list of folders and drives. Press the Tab key until the focus is in the left pane of Explorer, then use the up and down arrow keys to move through the list of folders and drives. To expand a folder, press the right arrow key. To close it, press the left arrow key. When you reach the folder you're looking for, press the Tab key to hop over to the right pane and use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the file list.

As anyone who's ever browsed the Web knows, you can go back and forth through the pages you've visited using the Back and Forward buttons at the top of your browser window. With this in mind, take a look at the toolbar of any Explorer window (with the Standard Buttons toolbar displayed). Look at that--Back and Forward buttons. Try them out as you're navigating your way through windows; they work the same way as other Back and Forward buttons. Use them to go back the way you came (and forward again) without all that unnecessary double-clicking. You can even jump multiple windows back or forward by clicking the down arrow next to the appropriate button and choosing a destination in the list. Again, just like a browser window.

To open one subfolder in Explorer's left pane, you'll notice a [+] next to some of the folders, meaning these folders contain one or more subfolders. You can then navigate through the subfolders to find what you want.

If you want to expand ALL of the subfolders, highlight the folder and press the asterisk (*) on the numeric keypad and all folders will open. (A caveat: If you are using a HUGE network drive, you probably do NOT want to do this.)

Want to collapse it again? If you simply press the minus sign (-) at the top of the expanded branch, the folders inside will appear to collapse; but the next time you expand that folder, its contents appear fully expanded. So what's the trick? After clicking the minus sign (-) at the top of the branch, press F5. (whew)

Would you like Windows Explorer to always open to a particular folder? All you need to do is make one small edit to its shortcut and you'll be set. Right-click on the shortcut you use to open Windows Explorer, choose Properties from the context menu, and click the Shortcut tab. Click into the Target box and move to the end of the command line. Press the space bar once and then type the full path of the desired folder (e.g., c:\data). Your Target line will look something like this:

c:\windows\explorer.exe c:\data.

If you prefer the dual pane view of Explorer, add "/e" (sans quotes) directly in front of your folder's path. The Target would then look like:

c:\windows\explorer.exe /e,c:\data

Click OK to save the change to the shortcut. If you access Explorer from other shortcuts too, be sure to make the same change to each of them.

File management is the key to keeping your documents and files organized and readily accessible. Windows has several built-in shortcuts for accessing its file manager, Windows Explorer. Take advantage of these time-savers by picking the method that best suits your work habits:

Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Explorer from the context menu.

Right-click the Start button and choose Explorer from the context menu.

Press the WIN+E keystroke combination, if your keyboard has a WIN key (next to the Alt key).

When you view a folder's contents in Details view (select View, Details), some columns of information are probably cut off. (Each cut-off entry is followed by ellipses.) One way to view the hidden information is to resize each column. Or, try this trick Hold down the Ctrl key as you press the plus sign (+) on your numeric keypad. Instantly, Windows sizes every column to fit the widest entry. (Note: In many cases, you'll need to enlarge the window to see every column of information.)

You know how to change the icon used to represent a file type: In any Explorer window, select View, Options (or View, Folder Options); click the File Types tab and select a file type; click Edit and then click Change Icon; select a new icon; click OK and then click OK two more times.

Worried that you won't remember what file type that icon represents? Assuming you don't have file extensions showing (otherwise, you'd know a file type at a glance), you can opt to show the extension for just that file type.

Follow the steps above to change the icon, but before clicking the last two OKs (while still in the Edit File Type dialog box), select Always Show Extension. Now click OK twice, and regardless of whether you've opted to hide or show extensions, you'll always see the extension for that file type.