Windows Media Player 9 Inspires Plug-Ins and Add-Ons - 2/3/2003 Have you switched to Microsoft's latest CD-listening and -burning, video-viewing, and streaming and digital audio player yet? We tell you what's good about Media Player 9 (new audio and playlist options and a nifty toolbar); what's not so good (it can't be uninstalled); and what you'll find on the company's new site devoted to Media Player plug-ins.
2002's Top 10 - 12/9/2002 Sure, there was an upgrade to Mac OS X and some stellar new Linux distributions, but the year wasn't a total yawner in the Windows software world, either. From a landmark new version of Windows XP (no, we don't mean SP1) to radically original Web-site and office-suite tools, WinPlanet overstuffs its Top 10 list with almost 20 noteworthy programs.
Coming Attraction: Microsoft OneNote - 11/18/2002 Gotta get organized? Microsoft says that easy-to-lose, hard-to-search, retype-into-your-PC paper notes are too little -- and, yes, admits that sometimes Word and Excel are too much. So a new free-form note-taking program -- ideal for Tablet PC handwriting, but equally handy with desktop or laptop typing -- will join the Office family in mid-2003. Here's your first look.
Are You Ready for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition? - 11/11/2002 There's a new version of Windows XP in town -- and it's brought a whole new crop of portable PCs, as well as third-party writing, sketching, and organizing applications, with it. We give you a preview of what's exciting -- and what may prove disappointing -- about Microsoft's blank-slate software/hardware combo.
10 Freeware Favorites - 11/4/2002 With the holidays approaching, we're in the mood for software stocking stuffers — and the mood for saving money. You may already be enjoying a few of these totally free productivity and utility downloads, but you're likely to discover a new treat or two as well — from world-class antivirus and firewall protection to a complete office suite and the quintessential sticky notes.
T 'n' T: Got SP1? - 9/23/2002 Windows XP Service Pack 1 has arrived, bringing over 300 bug fixes and security patches to Microsoft's flagship operating system. Here's what you need to know about the quick and not-so-quick (134MB download) ways to install SP1, its controversial antitrust-suit "Set Program Access and Defaults" option, and how to uninstall the upgrade safely.
Get Help From a Master: PowerPoint Slide Formatting - 9/18/2002 Reinventing the wheel is one thing, but recreating your favorite PowerPoint slide layouts is something else. Office expert Helen Bradley tells you how to get the most from PowerPoint's header, footer, Slide and Title Master, and format-applying and -exporting shortcuts -- as well as making emergency font substitutions and firing blanks in the middle of bullet points.
T 'n' T: Card Tricks and Game Cheats - 9/16/2002 Admit it: Not only do you play Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Windows' other time-wasters, you're tempted to cheat at them -- lifting one card in the middle of a three-card draw, or winning every game of FreeCell without even trying. This week, bad boy Gregg Keizer devotes his tips to the games installed with Windows (and installing the ones Windows 98 leaves out). We dare you not to read.
Tops and Tails: Dress Up Word's Headers and Footers - 9/11/2002 Professional art directors and page designers don't overlook an inch of their workspace, and you shouldn't overlook the header and footer areas when working with Word -- they offer desktop publishing possibilities that go far beyond page numbers (although you can do more than you think with page numbers, too).
T 'n' T: A Font of Knowledge - 9/9/2002 There's more to life than Arial and Times New Roman, and there should be more to your documents than a few default fonts. Gregg's tips 'n' tricks this week help you install, preview, and manage Windows fonts, including a nifty trick for using a font occasionally without waiting for it to be loaded at startup every morning.
Photoshop: Peeling Back the Layers - 9/4/2002 You say you've mastered Adobe Photoshop's editing tools and brushes, but complex images are still giving you fits? Slice and stack your images into layers for the most precise control possible. Here's how to manipulate and navigate backgrounds, foregrounds, and everything in between -- including using layers to perk up a photo with muddy colors.
T 'n' T: Desperately Seeking Security - 9/3/2002 Feeling insecure? There's no denying Windows is vulnerable to hackers and snoops -- so is your desktop PC, if anyone shares your home or office with you. This week's tips help you manage Microsoft's security updates, control dial-out access, apply Win XP Pro's deluxe folder- and file-level security even if you're running Win XP Home Edition, and more.
T 'n' T: Mo' Dem Secrets - 8/26/2002 Windows ace Gregg Keizer is glad you're taking the time to read his tips 'n' tricks; he just wants you to spend less time loading them. This week, he offers five ways that dial-up modem users (still the majority of surfers, despite cable and DSL chic) can get online quicker and more conveniently.
Excel Views and Reports - 8/21/2002 Your boss wants the big-picture view, but her boss is a micromanager? Give each of them a personally tailored printout by taking advantage of Excel's Custom Views feature and Report Manager add-in. Here's how to find them (the latter was left out of Excel 2002, but you can fix that) and start setting up, saving, and summoning different perspectives on workbook data.
T 'n' T: For More Friendly Files - 8/19/2002 Whether you're double-clicking or right-clicking, knowing your way around Windows Explorer's file associations can mean the difference between a screenful of icons and quick, at-a-glance access to file contents. This week's tips 'n' tricks help make perusing files a pleasure.
Organize Outlook, Organize Your Life - 8/14/2002 Famous for forgetting your spouse's birthday or calling a distant branch office after office hours have ended? Microsoft Outlook's calendar can help you track not only appointments but anniversaries, time zones, and at-a-glance summaries of your next three Thursdays. Here are some nifty navigation shortcuts and timekeeping tips.
T 'n' T: What's New? - 8/12/2002 Right-click the Windows desktop, and you'll see one of the operating system's handiest -- and least used -- features, the New menu. This week's tips 'n' tricks let you decide which document types and templates get this quick-start treatment, eliminating unwanted entries and making sure your favorite files are only a click away.
Writing With Style(s) - 8/7/2002 Have you put Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 to work for you? Office expert Helen Bradley brings you up to speed on Microsoft Word's greatest timesavers -- using Styles and the Document Map for navigation shortcuts, instant table of contents creation, and more, in addition to fast formatting and layout changes.
T 'n' T: Win 95/98/Me's Achilles Heel - 8/5/2002 Remember buying a pretty helium balloon at the fair, only to see it shrivel and sag over the next few days at home? Well, Windows 95/98/Me can do the same thing after a few hours' computing. If you haven't switched to Win 2000 or XP, here's how to monitor the crucial -- and, alas, leak-prone -- system resources that keep your PC up and running.
T 'n' T: Tray Cool - 7/29/2002 The system tray at the end of Windows' taskbar is a neat place to check the time or monitor a few essential utilities, but too many programs flood the tray with too many icons. This week's tips 'n' tricks help you clean up the system tray -- hiding icons from view, or perking up performance by getting rid of them altogether -- and keep those binary barnacles from coming back.
Inline Skating with FrontPage - 7/25/2002 Need a tidy way to organize information online? First seen in Internet Explorer 3.0, scrollable inline frames have become popular ways to add lists of product information, legal disclaimers, or photo albums to Web sites. Here's how to use Microsoft FrontPage to create and control pages within pages.
T 'n' T: Time Trials - 7/22/2002 What time is it? If you glanced at the bottom right of your screen instead of your wristwatch, you're a real Windows pro. So is tips 'n' tricks guru Gregg Keizer, who's collected five ideas for optimizing, updating, or replacing the familiar system-tray clock (did you know you needn't switch to Outlook to check a monthly calendar)?
Starting Office Applications Your Way - 7/17/2002 Want to launch Word or Excel without opening a blank document or workbook by default? Did you know you can create a new Outlook contact, appointment, or sticky note without actually opening Outlook? The secret's in the switch -- startup switches you add to custom desktop shortcuts or Start menu items. Here's how.
T 'n' T: Fave On - 7/15/2002 There's lots worth seeing on the Web, but Internet Explorer's handling of favorite sites or bookmarks leaves room for improvement. This week's tips 'n' tricks let you manage, sort, and shortcut all the Favorites and home pages you can collect, get your Favorites list out of the Start menu and onto your second PC, and more.
Excel's Best-Kept Secret - 7/10/2002 Calculating a dozen variables by picking one choice from a menu? Testing what-if values by lazily clicking up-and-down arrows instead of typing each number? Microsoft Excel's Forms toolbar has some of the slickest point-and-click time-savers in the whole Office suite. Helen Bradley reveals this little-known resource.
T 'n' T: Readers' Greatest Hits - 7/8/2002 Gregg Keizer may be the king of tips 'n' tricks, but WinPlanet readers are the power behind the throne -- and this week, Gregg shares four nifty enhancements (and one, ahem, correction) suggested by Windows-savvy civilians. From forcing Explorer to honor your display preferences to sorting programs' File/Open document lists, the request lines are open.
A Guide To Office OLE - 7/3/2002 That Excel budget table would look good in your Word report, and the accompanying chart is just right for your PowerPoint presentation -- but merely cutting and pasting them may not be your best move. Office expert Helen Bradley explains the uses of (and vital differences between) Object Linking and Embedding, and how OLE can bring your documents to life.
T 'n' T: Don't Forget the Floppy - 7/1/2002 Yeah, yeah, CD-R and CD-RW discs store up to 700MB of multimedia goodness. But if you're just moving a couple of word processing documents or spreadsheets from one PC to another (or to any old PC), the 3.5-inch floppy disk will never die. So this week's tips 'n' tricks offer quicker access, extra convenience, and even a bit more capacity for the faithful A: drive.
T 'n' T: Search Party - 6/24/2002 Today's huge hard disks are wonderful -- until you're looking for that crucial file that doesn't seem to be in your work folder with its fellows. Before you waste time ransacking My Documents and clicking on forgotten filenames, take a deep breath and take advantage of this week's tips 'n' tricks for using (and for times when you don't want someone using) Windows' built-in search tool.
Quick Fixes for Photoshop - 6/19/2002 This column has nine items, so it qualifies for the express lane -- express secrets for speeding through image-editing tasks without getting bogged down in the admittedly awesome depths of Adobe Photoshop. Whether you want a quick layering trick to perk up a photo's colors or secret keystrokes for instant image resizing, hurry up and read these.
T 'n' T: Shaving Seconds - 6/17/2002 If time is money, this week's tips 'n' tricks are pocket change -- they may not let you go home an hour earlier, but over time they'll save enough moments, keystrokes, and mouse clicks to make your Windows work a bit more productive. Besides, who wants to look at the same old startup and dial-up screens several times a day?
T 'n' T: Turn Back the Clock - 6/10/2002 Windows tips 'n' tricks? Why, in Gregg's day, we had real tips 'n' tricks, not like the young whippersnappers nowadays. Shift Windows into reverse with five retro suggestions, ranging from amusing (typewriter sound effects for your keyboard) to functional (cool display fonts and powerful file managers).
Desktop Publishing with Microsoft Word - 6/5/2002 No, the world's favorite word processor doesn't have all the features of a deluxe desktop publishing program, but it has more and finer formatting controls than you're using now. Here's how to take advantage of text boxes, line spacing, and other tools for surprisingly stylish newsletters or flyers.
T 'n' T: What's the Password? - 6/3/2002 Whether you're leaving your PC switched off for the weekend while you're in the country, or idle for 10 minutes while you're down the hall, password protection is a smart, simple way to fend off nosy colleagues or careless kids. This week's tips 'n' tricks strike a balance, helping make your PC more secure without making your routine impossibly complicated.
T 'n' T: How'd They Do That? - 5/27/2002 Tips 'n' Tricks columnist Gregg Keizer isn't shy about asking for recipes -- when he sees a neat shortcut or special effect on someone else's PC, he finds out how they did it and shares the scoop with you. This week, Gregg reveals the secrets to shrinking Windows XP's title-bar buttons, replacing your PC vendor's Control Panel branding, and more.
When Excel Has One Too Many What-If's - 5/22/2002 The trouble with what-if questions is that they rarely come one at a time. Not to worry: Excel's Scenario Manager is the key to keeping track of a stack of changing variables and outcomes for any business contingency. Office ace Helen Bradley provides the best possible tutorial.
T 'n' T: Save Our Screens - 5/20/2002 Today's monitors don't need them the way '80s displays did, but most of us still like to use Windows screensavers. This week's tips 'n' tricks offer both plain and fancy ways to make your own screensavers, disable or delete unwanted ones, and save energy by letting your CRT catch a few ZZZ's.
Smart Photoshop Selections - 5/15/2002 Selecting, copying, or masking part (or parts) of an image is one of the most fundamental Adobe Photoshop skills, but grabbing with the lasso and finding you've missed or lopped off desired areas is one of the most frustrating Photoshop experiences. Instead of selecting by trial and error, try these expert tips for constraining, editing, and moving selections on the fly.
T 'n' T: Sound Off, Sound On - 5/13/2002 Customizing your Windows startup and shutdown sounds is fun, but dealing with the operating system's other audio feedback can be an earache. Here are five tips for spiking Internet Explorer 6.0's annoying sound effects, muting and restoring Windows' sounds with a single click, optimizing CD audio quality, and more.
