Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: I can’t always find the program I want. They seem to move around the desktop or get lost in the clutter. I don’t like putting them on the taskbar because that gets too busy. What’s a better way to organize programs I use all the time?
A: Pin them to the Start Menu.
- Find the program icon.
- Right click and you get a drop-down list of favorite choices.
- Select “Pin to Start Menu”. That puts it above the line (when you push the Start button). Programs below the line are the ones you’ve used recently.
Now, all you have to do is push the Start button (in the lower left corner) and you’ll see all your favorite programs. It also works for websites if you have one you go to all the time (like Ask a Tech Teacher!).
Apple aficionados: How do you do it on a Mac?
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
Thank you for sharing this.
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My pleasure!
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Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner.
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Thanks for the reblog.
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Jacqui to the rescue once again. Thanks!
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Anything to get me back to writing!
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I have my Start Menu divided into three groups. The first group as called Constant Use. The second one is Tools (CCleaner, Defragmenter, Contact Support, etc. The third is Occasional Use (PC games, Kindle, PDF, etc. Most of my icons are small because that’s all that’s really needed to find the programs for me.
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No surprise as you are very organized.
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So helpful! Thanks
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I have all my favorites lined up on the Start button. It makes it pretty quick to get to work!
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Yes that is such a great idea!
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So clever! Thanks!
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🙂
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Another great tip. I’m still thrilled about the Ctrl F tip you gave us. I’ve used it so much now. What a timesaver!
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That is in my top five favorite tips. Ctrl+V for undo is another. And Ctrl+K-Ctrl+V to copy-paste links (something I do at least a hundred times a day.
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I know the copy and paste ones. But those were about it!
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On the MAC, you keep your frequently used programs in the ‘dock’ at the bottom of the screen. When you open a program, right click on the icon, select options and then click “keep in dock.” You can undock a program by reversing the procedure.
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That seems to be how Chromebooks do it, too, though I haven’t quite figured it out on mine. Thanks for sharing those directions, Andrew.
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Great idea!
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Yep–I use it alot!
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Helpful and informative!
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Anything that can get us writers back to writing faster is a good thing!
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