PC Hints and Tips

You can reload the current web page from scratch, so that all content is pulled from the site and not from your cache, by pressing Ctrl+F5. This tip also works in IE7.

You can create a direct shortcut to any website simple by dragging-and-dropping the page to your Desktop. Double-clicking the shortcut icon will load the page in Firefox.

Caret Browsing places an insertion point cursor wherever you click. This lets you select text from a website using your keyboard, like in a word processor. Press F7 to toggle this feature on or off.

Google’s toolbar takes up a lot of space but you can configure it so it simply replaces the existing search box. Click the Settings button, choose Options and click Layouts. Select the option ‘Replace Fiefox search box and hide Toolbar’.

Annoyingly, if you close a tab in IE7 by mistake you can’t just re-open on the same page. An add-on called Open Last Closed Tab (http://tinyurl.com/yrz718) solves the problem by letting you re-open a tab just by pressing Alt+X.

We’ve all closed tabs by mistake before, but with Firefox it’s really not a problem. Just press Ctrl+Shift+T and the closed tab will magically reopen.

Firefox remembers all the tabs you’ve recently closed and will let you quickly reopen any of them. Just go to History, Recently Closed Tabs, and choose one to restore from the list.

To stop Vista’s Sidebar appearing, click Start and go to the Control Panel. Select ‘Appearance and Personalization’ and then choose Windows Sidebar Properties. Untick the option to ‘Start Sidebar when Windows starts’.

If you try to install a program or make any kind of system changes, UAC will prompt you for permission. This feature is annoying, but easily disabled. Click Start and type msconfig into the search box. Click the Tools bar, scroll down and select Disable UAC. Click the Launch button, and then restart your PC.

For easy access to websites, right-click a blank area of the Taskbar and select Toolbars then Address. Type a web address into the box and click Go (or press Enter on your keyboard). Your browser will then load that website. You may need to resize the Address toolbar so you can see the box properly, and should make sure you unlock the Taskbar first.