SMALL BUSINESS SOFTWARE NEWSWelcome to our July newsletter! DeskTop Sam is jumping for joy this month! We have completed Alpha testing of our new software product! Now we're ready for Beta testers. If you would like to participate in Beta testing, please contact us as soon as possible. Our contact information is at the end of this newsletter. You can either e-mail us or phone us. We're looking forward to hearing from you! :
Did you know that Windows can be used without a mouse? In fact, it can be faster and more productive and even sometimes easier to use your keyboard to navigate through Windows and your programs.
Back in the old days we used to count the number of keystrokes it took to get a certain task done as a measure of a program's worth. Nowadays we've gotten a bit lazy on the subject. Nevertheless, the number of steps it takes to get something done still makes a difference in our daily productivity, even on Windows. Using the mouse often takes several steps that can often be accomplished with one or two keystrokes. On repetitive tasks this can add up to a substantial amount of 'wasted' motion.
If you constantly find yourself switching between the keyboard and mouse while, for example, editing documents, keyboard shortcuts can be real time-savers. Most of these shortcuts work with any Windows programs and they work the same in each program. They don't take long to learn and with a little practice they'll become second nature and save loads of time.
Here are some common keyboard shortcuts. Give them a try and see how well they work for you:
You can find more shortcuts by looking in Start, Help, Contents, Exploring Your Computer, and Keyboard Shortcuts. Find and use the ones that make YOUR life easier and more productive.
Even if you don't want to become expert at all the shortcuts available to you, using just a few that make your work more efficient can save you a substantial amount of time each and every day. Better yet, they cost nothing but a bit of learning to use.:
Summer time is thunderstorm madness for many areas of the United States. These precautions are a MUST if you want to guarantee that your computer won't get zapped.
If a thunderstorm is approaching your area, shut down your computer and all peripherals immediately. This is important as it sometimes takes a few minutes to get all the programs closed so that you can safely shut down without losing any of your data. Once everything is turned off, unplug ALL power sources. This is VITAL! Even surge protectors and fancy power supplies will not protect you if a lightning strike happens to hit close to your house or office. When I was living in north central Idaho, a thunderstorm passed through with some violent lightning. There was a strike near the house, and blue sparks came out of ALL the electrical outlets in the house. In Florida and other areas, power failures are common during thunderstorms. If you are in the middle of something and you aren't connected to an auxiliary power supply, your computer goes dead and you lose ALL your data. Don't think this can't happen to you!
It is equally important to make sure all your modems or phone line connections are unplugged from the phone jacks. If you are on the Internet in any way, shape or form, lightning can still damage your computer through phone lines, DSL lines or cable lines.
Having to do all of the above may seem like a real pain, and a total stoppage of your productivity. This may be true, but consider the consequences of having your computer, your modem, your server, your printer, or your expensive power supply fried. They can die in a puff of smoke, or with a little whimper, but die they will. The cost of replacing equipment and retrieving data will far outweigh the small inconvenience of following the above safety procedures. Protecting your valuable equipment is the SMART thing to do!:
We can help you with ANY PC problem.
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Small Business Software News is a publication of DeskTop Software, Inc.
Website: http://www.desktop-software.com
Editor: Nancy West
Copyright © 2003 by DeskTop Software, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.