Turn off Window's Voice Narrator

Windows Logo Key + CTRL + Enter

Touch Pad no longer Works on Windows Computer

If your touch pad no longer works its possible you've accidentally tapped the Fn key + F1 key which stops the touch pad from working. That happened to me!

You can press the Fn + F1 key to enable/disable the touch pad.

Here are other keyboard shortcuts:

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How to Turn on ClearType

For Windows 7:

1. In the Control Panel (Category view), select 'Appearance and Personalization'
2. Under Fonts, select 'Adjust ClearType text'
3. Follow the instructions on your screen to adjust your ClearType settings

For other operating systems (XP, Vista), go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypeFAQ.mspx

3 Useful Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Cycle between Windows:
I used to use the Alt + Tab keys to move between Windows Vista/XP/etc, but that doesn't work so well in Windows 7. If you linger on a Window for a second too long, you'll switch to that Window when all you want to do is continue to scan the Window before selecting. Awkward. So now I use Windows Key + Tab which is just OK, but better than Alt + Tab.

Minimize all Windows:
Windows Key + M

Focus cursor in the address box of browser:
CTRL + L

How to Remove Items from the Quick Launch Bar (Bar on bottom left of screen)

Go to:  C:\Users\rls\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch (where "rls" is your user name)

and simply delete the shortcuts you do not want to appear on the bar.

Get into Safe Mode!

To get into Safe mode, reboot and press the F8 key right before Windows starts up.  If you can't get into safe mode this way, here is the alternative method I use:

• Click the Start Button
• Type “msconfig” in the search box
• Select “msconfig”
• A “System Configuration” window will open
• Select the “Boot” tab in the Boot Options section
• Check the “Safe Boot/Minimal” check box
• Restart
• This will put you in “Safe Mode” with large icons and “Safe Mode” showing on all four corners of the screen (you may have to enter your password to get in).
• Complete whatever your task is (possibly Restart again), then go back to “msconfig”, and uncheck the “Safe Boot” box, and restart. Should boot normally.

Thanks to How to Geek and Larry!

Awesome!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. This post has been scraped in violation of that license if you are reading this post on other than http://www.digital-qa.blogspot.com/.

NYTimes: Q & A: Speeding Up a Slow Windows Startup

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/q-a-speeding-up-a-slow-windows-startup/

How to Restore the Missing Show Desktop Icon on the Quick Launch Toolbar

This is for Windows Vista:

Explorer search: "show desktop"
Drag to Quick Launch toolbar

You can also use these methods to 'show desktop':

• Press the Windows logo key+D on your keyboard.
• Right-click the Windows taskbar, and then click Show the Desktop or click Show Open Windows.

Clear Windows Temp Folders

Start | Run | %temp%