When using MS Outlook, Outlook Express and Outlook Web Access on Internet Explorer you can quickly look up names in your contacts and address books with a keyboard shortcut.

Let us assume you are looking for a ‘Thomas Jones’, you can type ‘tho jo’ in the ‘To..’ field of a new email and hold down the Alt key and press K. Your email program will then either put the right address into the ‘To..’ field or it will present you with a list of matches, for example, there may be a ‘Thomas Johnson’ in your address book too, in which case both will be listed. Highlight the one you want in the list and click ‘OK’.

As I mentioned, this shortcut works on Outlook Web Access if you access it using Internet Explorer. In order to see the list of matching names you may have to disable pop-ups for that site. To do so click on the yellow bar at the top of the new email page if it appears and set IE to always allow pop-ups from that page.

If you open Outlook Web Access using Firefox or another web browser you can use the same feature by clicking on the ‘Check Names’ button (pictured). This will then add the text you typed to the list in red, click on this to see the list of matches. Again, pop-up blocking may have to be disabled for that page.

This technique also works with the other address fields: ‘CC’ and ‘BCC’.

Just about every windows application has an ‘undo’ feature and most have a ‘redo’ feature. These are a lifesaver on those frequent occasions that we make a mistake in what we are doing, and in the case of ‘redo’, when we realise that we were right the first time.

The undo/redo feature will either be available as toolbar buttons (as shown) or from the ‘Edit’ menu. Alternatively there are, unsurprisingly, a couple of keyboard shortcuts for them. To undo the last thing you did hold down the Ctrl key and press Z; to redo the last thing you undid, hold down the Ctrl key and press Y.

A short and sweet post today, after so many lengthy ones.

Here is a shortcut that I have mentioned in passing before: to open Windows Explorer (the Windows file browsing software) hold down the Windows key (the one with the Windows logo on it) and press E.

Note: this may not work if you have certain applications open, to remedy this hold down the Windows key and press D then E.

The first thing to do when your mouse stops working is to check the cable connection. There is no point reinstalling the mouse if it isn’t plugged in.

The next thing to try is to reboot the PC. I have written instructions on how to reboot a PC using the keyboard.

If after checking the cables and restarting the PC, the mouse still does not work you should try reinstalling the mouse. To do this you need to open the Device Manager, which can be accessed from the System Properties dialog box.

To open the System Properties dialog box hold down a Windows key (the ones with the Windows logo on) and press the Pause/Break key (on most keyboards this will be in a set of three keys to the right of the function keys).

Alternatively you can minimise all windows by holding down the Windows key and pressing D, then use the cursor key to highlight ‘My Computer’ and press the Application key to open up a menu, from this menu select ‘Properties’ using the cursor keys and press Enter.

The System Properties dialog will look something like this:

Use the right cursor key to move to the ‘Hardware’ page. Use the Tab key to move the focus to the ‘Device Manager’ button and press Enter. If you make a mistake at any time you can press the Escape key to close the System Properties dialog and start again.

This will open up the Device Manager program. To reinstall the mouse do the following:

· Press the Tab key to highlight the computer icon at the top of the list.
· Press the down cursor key repeatedly until ‘Mice and other pointing devices’ is highlighted (if · you go too far use the up cursor to go back).
· Press the right cursor key to open the sub-list.
· Press the down cursor key to select the mouse.
· Press the Application key to open up a context menu
· Use the down cursor key to move to highlight ‘Uninstall’ and press Enter.
· You will be asked to confirm this, press Enter.
· Wait for a while and then hold down Alt and press A.
· Continue waiting until the ‘Action’ menu opens.
· Use the down cursor to select ‘Scan for hardware changes’ and press Enter.
· Wait for a while, after which Windows should detect the mouse and reinstall it.

I have included a video of this process in action, so that you know what you should be seeing as you follow the instructions.

If your mouse still isn’t working after this, plug in different mouse to see if that works on your PC. If it does, plug the problem mouse into another PC, if it doesn’t work you know there is a hardware problem with your mouse. If a different mouse doesn’t work on your PC, something fundamental is wrong with it and you should seek expert technical advice.

I was writing a post on how to reinstall the mouse using the keyboard when I realised that rebooting the PC using the keyboard would be a required step in the process. So I decided to dedicate a whole post to that topic. I will give a few examples of how this can be done.

Using the Start Menu

· Press a Windows key (the ones with the Windows symbol on as shown right), this will open up the Start Menu.
· Use the cursor keys (the ones with arrows on) to highlight ‘Turn off Computer’ and press Enter to select it
· A dialog box will open. Use the cursor keys to to highlight ‘Shutdown computer’, ‘Turn off’ or whatever your version of Windows says, and press Enter again.

Using the ‘three finger salute’

Hold down Ctrl and Alt, and press Delete.

Windows 2000 and XP Home Edition users will be presented with a dialog box with buttons on:
· Use the cursor keys to select the ‘Shut Down’ button and use Enter to select it.
· Select ‘Shut down’ from the list using the cursor keys and press Enter one more time.

In other versions of Windows the Task Manager will open:
· Hold down Alt and press U to open the ‘Shut Down’ menu.
· Use the cursor keys to highlight ‘Turn Off’ and press Enter.

Hit Alt F4 ’till you can’t any more

The final method of shutting down that I will explain here is to hold down the Alt key and press F4 repeatedly. This will close every application that is open on Windows and eventually will close Windows itself. You may be asked if you want to save files by some programs, if so use the cursor keys and Enter to get past these dialog boxes.

Whenever you delete a file it will be sent to the Recycle Bin so that it can be restored if you change you mind (unless the file is too large for the recycle bin).

Sometimes, however, you may want to bypass the Recycle Bin and delete a file completely(ish), to do this highlight the files you wish to delete, hold down the Shift key and press Delete. As with a normal deletion you will be asked to confirm the action.

These files can still be restored by using appropriate software, as I have explained in a previous post, unless the drive they were deleted from is defragmented - even then it may be possible to restore the files, although this requires sophisticated techniques beyond the reach of most users.