Computer and Web Articles

Here are two methods for selecting a large range of cells at once within Microsoft Excel.

The first method requires you to:

• Select the first cell.
• Press and hold down the Shift key.
• Select the last cell by clicking on it.
• Let go of the Shift key.

The second method requires you to:

• Select the first cell.
• Type the address of the last cell into the Name box (for example, D:32).
• Press Shift + Enter.

Try them both to see which method is easier for you.

If you’ve ever tried copying website addresses into Microsoft Word, you’ve likely experienced a bit of frustration upon finding that the pasted link was a different size, appeared to be a different font style, or ended up in the wrong place.

The secret to keeping your Word documents nice and organized while still including links to web pages or other documents is the keyboard combination of the Ctrl + k.

Go ahead and type a sentence in a new Word document. Next, highlight a few words of the sentence. Now, hit Ctrl + K and a little window pops open. This window allows you to type (or paste) in the address of a website or link to a different document located on your computer. Upon clicking the OK button, the text you highlighted will become a link that matches the rest of your document’s text.

Though it’s universally despised, plenty of people procrastinate when it comes to getting rid of Microsoft Word’s Office Assistant. You know the one - the bouncy paper clip (or perhaps on your computer he comes in the form of an overly-friendly dog?).

It only takes two easy steps and no more than about 8 seconds to make the Office Assistant go away - so you really have no excuses for complaining about how much you *wish* he’d just go away. All you need to do is click on the little fellow, then click on “Options.” Once you uncheck the “Use Office Assistant” check box, you’ll be able to work in peace once again.

Install this extension in your Firefox browser and you’ll instantly be able to do some super cool things with your favorite Google applications, including:

• Remove ads from google search results;
• Remove Gmail’s spam folder and invite box;
• Filter out sites that you never ever want to see (ever) again from Google’s search results;
• Remove click tracking;
• Anonymize your Google ID;
• Add favicons in your web search results; and
• Add links to results from other search engines.

Sound like it might be a useful extension for you? Learn more here: http://www.customizegoogle.com.

RoboForm is a clever little program that helps you reduce the amount of time you spend filling out web forms and logging on to subscription sites. Remember one master password, and RoboForm remembers the rest.

With RoboForm, completing long registration or checkout forms is a breeze; all you need to do is click on your RoboForm Identity (you can store more than one!) and the program fills in the entire form for you. The program even contains a feature called “Login” which allows you to go to a webpage, fill in a form and submit your information - all with one mouse click.

Interested? RoboForm can be downloaded for free from Download.com here: http://tinyurl.com/3d2wej.

Videora is a little program that takes any of your video files - whether YouTube videos, downloaded movies, or your own DVDs - and converts them into a format that allows you to play them on your iPod.

Videora can convert avi, divx, xvid, flv, x264, vob, mkv, mpeg, DVDs, YouTube files and more. So chances are that if you have a video file on your computer that you’d love to be able to watch on your iPod, Videora can help.

If this program sounds like something you’d like to test out, download it for free from Download.com here: http://tinyurl.com/24t7oh.

1. Knowing how to zoom effectively will help you become a more effective Photoshopper — so remember that you can keep your document window the same size while zooming in and out if you hold down the Alt key (or Option key for Macs) while pressing the Ctrl key (Command key for Macs) and the “–” or “+” keys.
2. One of the easiest ways to add a new color to your Swatches palette is to position your cursor over the gray area after the last swatch and then click. If you want to add the color without having to name it, make sure you hold down the Alt key (or Option key if you’re using a Mac) when you click. Stop going back into your Photoshop preferences every time you want to change your rulers’ unit of measurement. Instead, just right-click (Ctrl-click for Mac users) on one of the rulers and choose your preferred measurement unit from the little box that pops open.
3. If you want your layer mask to have nice, clean, sharp edges — and especially if you want the ability to edit those edges — you should be using a vector mask instead of a layer mask. How? Just hold down Control when you click the “Add a Mask” button at the bottom of your layers palette, then go for it and use your Pen tool to draw your mask.

RamBooster is a free software utility that helps you keep your computer from acting like a slug. It optimizes how your computer uses its RAM and works to keep as much free as possible. It can even try to free up a specified amount of RAM if you want to run a program that requires more free RAM than what you have available.

A simple-to-use program that’s been reviewed by PCWorld, RamBooster can be downloaded here: http://tinyurl.com/gblpu. And in the worst case scenario (RamBooster doesn’t work for you), simply uninstall it, no harm done.

WinZip is not free.

If you know what I’m talking about, you’re either one of the folks who has purchased a license for WinZip or you’re one of the folks who has continued to use the trial version of the program, ignoring the “You have been using this program for x days now” message that shows up each time you use it.

If you happen to fall into the latter group, listen up, because there’s a free alternative. It’s called FreeZip and you can download it from www.PCWorld.com at: http://tinyurl.com/2pue6g. It uses no windows and no icons or pictures to usher you through the zipping and unzipping process; it simply gets right down to business by adding commands like “Zip” and “Unzip Here” to the menus you see when you right-click files and folders.

FreeZip is basic, free, simple and effective. So stop waiting for WinZip to load if you’re never going to buy a license, and go download FreeZip now.