How to switch to a Classic start menu in XP?

Many of us are very much used to the way the Start Menu appears in the older versions of windows and may not be comfortable with the XP style start menu. So, how do we get back the start menu which we are familiar with? Let's see that today.

Just move your mouse over the Start menu button in the bottom left corner of the desktop and right click on it. You will be able to see a menu like the one below. It may not be exactly the same like this but a similar one.





Are you able to see properties there? Yes, click on it to get the start menu properties window like the one given below.




Are you able to see two options there? One a 'start menu' and another one called 'Classic start menu'. OK. Here, I have selected the option called start menu which will display the XP style start menu.Now, If you want to get the appearance of Windows 98 or other older versions, then select the classic start menu option as shown in the figure below and click apply and OK.




Now, are you able to see the start menu appear as you wish?

Thank you. Have a Nice day!!

Alt-Tab - Task Switcher

Suppose you are working with multiple tasks at a time and you want to switch between tasks without using the mouse. Today let us see how to do this with a keyboard shortcut.

Alt-Tab is the keyboard shortcut known as Task Switcher for switching between top-level windows without using the mouse. Alt-Tab can switch to any running program. The list of tasks is kept in an order with the most recently used tasks at the front.

How to do it? First press the Alt key and hold down. While Alt is down, press and release the Tab repeatedly, to move the cursor through a list of tasks. A special task selection window appears the first time Tab is pressed with Alt down. When the Alt key is released, the task selection window closes and switches to the selected task.

The Alt-Tab behavior is defined by a set of rules, of which some important ones are stated below.

• The task list appears as soon as Tab is pressed with Alt down, whenever there is more than one task.
• The task list remains open until Alt is released.
• Tab moves the cursor forward in the list; Shift-Tab moves it backward.
• Esc while Alt is still down, aborts the action.
• The windows are listed by their "Z-order".
• Switching to a window moves it to the top of the Z-order sequence.
• When the Alt-Tab window is not in use, Alt-Esc lowers a window, placing it at the bottom of the Z-order sequence. This sends it to the end of the list.
  
• Minimizing a window also sends it to the end of the list , with the exception of some applications like Outlook.

How to add a shortcut to your desktop?

Today let us see another tip which is probably a simple one, but very useful.

At times, we may have some favorite files which we may want to access quite frequently. What should we do then? We’ll have to go to the location where it is stored and then open the file, which is obviously time-consuming. Right? Yes, but how else can we do it then?

You can do it by creating shortcuts. You can create shortcuts on your desktop that enable you to open the file/folder by simply double-clicking the mouse on it.

To add a shortcut from a file to your desktop

1. Locate and open the folder in which your file is stored and select the file that you want to create a shortcut to.

2. Right-click the file, click Send To, and then click Desktop.

You’ll see the shortcut on your desktop like the one below.

This shortcut has an arrow in the lower-left corner. We can identify any shortcut with this arrow symbol. The real file will not have this arrow.

If you move the mouse over the shortcut, you can see the location of the file.

We can open the file by double-clicking this shortcut. Another point to note here is, we can also delete a shortcut. Deleting a shortcut will not delete the original file. Only the shortcut will be deleted. Nice. Isn’t it?

Try creating shortcuts and enjoy quick access. Good day!