Windows NT Workstation at a Glance
Windows NT Keyboard Shortcuts
Key
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Purpose
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Ctrl+Esc
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Opens the Start menu on the Taskbar. You can then use the arrow keys to select an application. Pressing Enter will start the application you selected.
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Alt+F4
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Ends the current application. You can also use it to end Windows if you use it while at the desktop.
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Alt+Shift+Tab
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Switches to the preceding window.
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Alt+Tab
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Switches to the next window.
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Esc
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Cancels the last action in most cases. You can't back out of some actions, so Esc can't help you.
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F1
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Displays on-line help. In most cases, this help is general in nature, but it's application specific.
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F2
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Pressing this while an icon is highlighted allows you to change the object name.
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F3
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Unless your application uses this key for something else, you can press it to access the Find dialog box. In most cases, you'll get better results pressing it while at the desktop. You can also use this key at the Taskbar and Start menu.
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Left Alt+Left Shift
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Holding down these three keys turns on the
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+Num Lock
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MouseKeys feature of the Accessibility options.
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Num Lock
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Holding down Num Lock for five seconds turns on the ToggleKeys feature of the Accessibility options.
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Right Shift
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Holding down Right Shift for eight seconds turns on the FilterKeys feature of the Accessibility options.
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Shift 5 Times
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Pressing Shift five times turns on the StickKeys feature of the Accessibility options.
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Shift+F1
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Displays context-sensitive help when the application supports it. The Windows NT desktop doesn't appear to support this option.
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Shift+F10
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You must select an object before you use this key combination. It displays the context menu most users display using a right mouse click. Considering the number of options on the context menu, this literally allows you to do about anything with the object.
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Tab
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Use this key while at the desktop to switch between the desktop, Taskbar, and Start menu. In fact, you can use Ctrl+Esc to bring up the Start menu and then press Tab to switch between applications.
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Standard Windows NT Context Menu Entries
Actions Section
The first section of the context menu tells you what kinds of actions you can perform with the object. The default actionnormally, Openappears in bold print.
Open
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Opens the object for editing or viewing.
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Open With...
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File extension doesn't appear in the registry, so you'll need to select an application to open it with.
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Print
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Sends the file to the default printer for output using the default settings.
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Quick View
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Opens the file using one of the viewers supplied with Windows NT. You cannot edit the document in this mode.
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Arrange Icons
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Allows you to rearrange your desktop or Explorer pane in a specific order. This entry always displays a submenu containing the arrangement options.
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Lineup Icons
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Moves the icons on your desktop or Explorer pane to fit within an invisible grid.
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Explore
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Opens an Explorer view of a folder or other container object.
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Find
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Allows you to find a specific file within a folder or other container object.
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Empty Recycle Bin
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Permanently removes the contents of the Recycle Bin from the hard drive.
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Update All
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Updates the contents of a Briefcase with the linked documents it supports.
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Cascade
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Resizes all the application windows to the same size. Windows NT arranges them in a diagonal arrangement, much like the display you'd normally see in a spreadsheet when opening more than one file.
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Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically
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Use either of these options if you want to see the window areas of all your applications at once. Windows NT uses every available inch of desktop space to place the applications side by side. Each application receives about the same amount of space.
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Minimize All Windows
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Minimizes every application you have running on the desktop.
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Network
This is an optional section and normally contains a single entry: Sharing.
Sharing
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Shares the specified resource with another user on the network.
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Send To Menu
Send To
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Sends a folder or file to a floppy drive (or other location).
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Editing
Believe it or not, you can edit an object just like everything else under Windows NT. This section contains entries for Cut, Copy, and Paste.
Copy
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Places a copy of the object on the ClipBoard, and then enables you to paste as many copies as you need onto other objects.
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Cut
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If you cut an object, Windows NT does not remove the icon from the display; it grays the icon and waits until you paste the object somewhere else before removing it permanently. This prevents you from accidentally erasing objects.
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Paste
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Places an object that Windows NT finds on the ClipBoard at the desired location.
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Manipulation
This section usually contains three entries, but it can contain more. Each option allows you to modify or change the object in some way.
Create Shortcut
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Places a link to a file or folder somewhere else.
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Delete
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Sends the file to the Recycle Bin. You can still recover it later if necessary.
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Rename
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Changes the long file name associated with the file.
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New Menu
This menu always contains a list of standard and alternate objects you can create.
Folder
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Creates a standard folder.
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Shortcut
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Creates a shortcut entry, and then allows you to designate which object to create a link to.
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Other
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There are a lot of other object types, but they vary by the features you install. Each object normally corresponds to a specialized document or a Briefcase, but there can be other types of objects listed in this menu as well.
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Properties
Every objectit doesn't matter whatcontains a Properties entry on its context menu.
Properties
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Clicking on this entry always displays a dialog box that allows you to view and configure the properties of that particular object.
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Explorer Toolbar Reference
Go To Listbox
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Contains a list of drives and other upper level objects. It also contains the tree used to access the current folder. You can use this listbox to quickly move from one area of your machine to another.
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Up One Level
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Moves up one level in the directory tree. It isn't quite as handy in this view of Explorer as it is in others. This tool is especially helpful when moving between levels in the single-pane view of Explorer.
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Map Network Drive
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Explorer only displays this tool if you're connected to a network. It displays a dialog box that allows you to map one of your drives to a network drive. Of course, you can still access the drive using Network Neighborhood, even if you don't map it.
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Disconnect Net Drive
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This tool only become active when you install a network and map some network drives to your local drives. Clicking this tool displays a dialog box you can use to disconnect from any network drives. Of course, the drives remain accessible using Network Neighborhood, even after you disconnect.
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Cut
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Cuts one or more objects.
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Copy
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Copies one or more objects.
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Paste
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Pastes any object in the ClipBoard to the currently selected object in Explorer.
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Undo
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Undoes your last action. This comes in quite handy if you send a file to the Recycle Bin and discover that you really intended to delete something else. The Undo tool doesn't work for some types of actions. You can't undo a permanent erase, for example.
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Delete
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Sends the currently selected objects to the Recycle Bin. It doesn't permanently delete them. You need to perform the second step of emptying the Recycle Bin to remove things permanently if you use this tool.
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Properties
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Displays the Properties dialog box for the currently selected object. Nothing happens if you don't select an object.
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Large Icon
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Displays the objects in the right pane using the large icon format.
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Small Icon
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Displays the objects in the right pane using the small icon format.
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List
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Uses the list format to display objects in the right pane. This doesn't include any details about those objects.
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Details
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Displays the objects in a list format and includes all the details about that object, including file size, type, and date last modified.
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Exchange Toolbar Reference
Up One Level
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Moves up one level in the directory tree. It serves the same purpose as the equivalent tool in Explorer.
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Show/Hide Folder List
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Some people might find the dual pane look of Microsoft Exchange less useful than others. You can turn off the directory tree shown in this left pane using this button.
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New Message
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Creates a new message. It doesn't matter where you are in the directory tree. The new message can go to the company e-mail or an on-line service. Microsoft Exchange always uses the address to determine where a message gets sent. In fact, you can send a single message to a combination of local and on-line addresses if you want.
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Print
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Prints one or more messages.
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Move
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Moves the selected messages from one folder to another. I find this particular tool handy for resending messages that didn't make it to the intended party for whatever reason.
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Delete
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Moves the selected messages to the Deleted Items folder. If you delete messages in the Deleted Items folder, Exchange removes them completely. Exchange doesn't send messages to the Recycle Bin, so if you remove them from the Deleted folder, you can't undelete them later.
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Reply to Sender
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Sends a reply to the originator of a message.
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Reply to All
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Sends a reply to the originator of a message and all the other recipients. This works well in group discussion type e-mails.
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Forward
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Sends a copy of the message plus any comments you might want to make to a third party.
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Address Book
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Accesses your personal or any other accessible address book. You can use this tool when you need to add a new address or edit an existing one.
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Inbox
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Takes you to your inbox without going through the directory tree.
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Help
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Provides on-line help for Exchange.
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Internet Explorer Menu Entries
This is a subset and extension of the standard Explorer interface. Only menu items that are new with Internet Explorer or behave in a manner specific to it are listed here.
File menu
Open
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Type the address of the place you want to go to or the page you want to view, or select an address from the list. Check Open In New Window to display the page in a new window.
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Save As
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You can save the current page to a file on your computer by clicking Save As and typing a name for the page in the File Name box.
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Create Shortcut
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If you plan to view a page often, you might want to create a shortcut to it on your desktop.
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Open Start Page
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Choose this item (or click the Open Start Page button) to return to your home page. You can set it to any page you want using the Start Page tab of the Options dialog box.
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Internet Explorer
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Keeps track of the pages you've viewed. The last nine pages you viewed during this session are added to the bottom of the File menu so that you can easily return to one of them. For a complete list of all the pages you've viewed in all sessions, click More History.
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View Menu
To view the source file for the current page, use the right mouse button to click anywhere on the page, and then click View Source.
Back
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Choose this item (or click the Back button) to return to the preceding page you visited.
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Forward
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Choose this item (or click the Forward button) to go to the next page.
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Toolbar
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Check this item to display the quick access buttons for Open Start Page, Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh, Add to Favorites..., and Open Favorites.
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Address Bar
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Check this item to display the address bar. You can go directly to a place or page on the Internet by typing its address in the address bar.
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Status Bar
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Check this item to display the status bar.
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Stop
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If it takes too long to display a page, you can cancel it by choosing this item (or clicking the Stop button).
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Refresh
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Use this to download a fresh copy of the page you are currently viewing.
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Options
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You can speed up the time it takes to display a page by choosing Options from the View menu and then unchecking the Show Pictures checkbox on the Appearance tab. You can also customize the appearance of Internet Explorer from this tab.
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On the Advanced tab, you can change the size and location of your cache, the maximum number of pages listed in your history, and the location of the history file. To browse viewed pages faster, move the slider in the cache area toward the right to increase the amount of disk space used to temporarily store the pages.
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Finally, the File Types tab lets you associate various file types you might download with the applications needed to view or play them.
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Favorites menu
Add To Favorites
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If you plan to view a page often, you might want to add it to your collection of favorite pages.
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Open Favorites
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You can organize your favorite pages into folders and quickly access them from here.
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Accessing Data Quickly
Getting to your data quickly is important when every second counts during the day. The following tips help you get organized by using Windows NT features to your advantage:
- Place shortcuts to your current project files on the desktop. You'll find that not having to look for a file saves you a lot of time. The data-oriented approach to Windows NT means that opening an application isn't necessary any longerjust double-click on the file.
- Arrange your files using folders. If you're like me, you work on more than one project at a time. Just place a folder for each project on the desktop and throw any files you need for the project in the folder.
- Clean a messy desktop fast using the Taskbar context menu. The Taskbar contains three methods for organizing open files: Cascade, Tile Horizontally, and Tile Vertically. You can also use the Minimize All Windows option to clear the desktop immediately.
- Place today's work in the StartUp folder. If you place the data folders for the next day's work in the StartUp folder before you leave for the night, the programs needed to edit the data files will automatically open when you restart Windows the next day.
- Exchange folders instead of files with fellow workers. Passing someone a shortcut to your data folders or a copy of the folder itself in an e-mail message is faster than passing all the files. Not only that, but the other person will have access to all the data he needs to complete a task without asking you for it.
Quick Configuration Methods
You don't have to open the Control Panel every time you want to change some system settings. Some configuration dialog boxes are a right-click away. All these configuration dialog boxes are accessed by right-clicking the object specified and choosing Properties from the context menu. (This doesn't work with every Property dialog box, as I'll show you in a moment.)
Configuration Dialog Box Object to Right-Click
Display Properties
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Desktop
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System Properties
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My Computer
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Network
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Network Neighborhood
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MS Exchange Settings Properties
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Inbox
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Internet Explorer Properties
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Internet Explorer
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Recycle Bin Properties
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Recycle Bin
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My Briefcase Properties
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My Briefcase
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Taskbar Properties
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Taskbar
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Start Menu Properties
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Taskbar
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A few of the configuration dialog boxes will hide. Right-click the Speaker icon on the Taskbar and select Adjust Audio Properties, for example, and you'll see the Audio Properties dialog box. In some cases, selecting Properties isn't the right thing to do. Right-click the Time icon on the Taskbar and select Adjust Date/Time instead of Properties, for example, and you see the Date/Time Properties dialog box.
DOS Commands Not Supported by Windows NT
Windows NT DOS doesn't include any of the following commands (although you can use them in a dual-boot copy of DOS if your old DOS directory is still available):
APPEND
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FASTHELP
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JOIN
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PRINT
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ROMDRIVE.SYS
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ASSIGN
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FASTOPEN
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MEMCARD
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PRINTER.SYS
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SHARE
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BACKUP
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GRAFTABL
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MEMMAKER
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QBASIC
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SMARTMON
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COMP
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GRAPHICS
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MIRROR
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RAMDRIVE.SYS
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TREE
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DOSSHELL
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HELP
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MSAV
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RECOVER
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UNDELETE
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EDLIN
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INTERLINK
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MSBACKUP
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REPLACE
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UNFORMAT
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EGA.SYS
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INTERSVR
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POWER
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RESTORE
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VSAFE
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