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This article a step-by-step process of creating an add-on utility for Microsoft Word. The right add-on program can mean the difference between loving and hating an application, but a separate utility is not always needed to rejuvenate a software. In fact, macros can be used to automate and customize tasks, such autoformatting Word files. The Word autoformat macro has four steps. First, press Control-A to select the entire document. Second, click Edit-Clear-Formats to remove the document's existing formatting. This way the file will not revert to the original font when you enter a new line, for example. Next, choose File-Page-Setup-margins and enter 2.5 under the Right setting to move the right margin in 1-inch. Finally, select Format-Font, click Arial in the Font list, choose 12 in the Size list and click ok. To record a macro, open Word and click Tools-macro-Record New Macro. In the Macro name box, enter a name, but do not use spaces and do not start with a number. Under Store Macro in, select All Documents to make the macro available in all the files you open. To create a toolbar button got the macro or give it a keyboard shortcut, do the following. Click the Toolbar-Customize and drag the macro you just named to any toolbar.

Offers a tip on buying a generic personal computer from an unfamiliar seller. Suggestion for using Intel's Processor Frequency ID Utility, which identifies the CPU in any Intel-based system and tells its condition; Versions of the utility found at the 'PC World' web site.

Presents pieces of advice for fast navigation in the Windows computer program. INSET: Improve Your Moves Wtih Total Copy.

This article presents tips on using the Windows computer operating system. For the biggest possible view of any Explorer or Internet Explorer window sans borders, title bars, and other controls, press F11. Press that key again to return to normal view. To close Explorer's folder-tree pane on the left, click the X icon in its upper-right corner. To make the pane slide in and out of view when you move your mouse to tbe left, click the pushpin icon to toggle between showing it and autohiding it. INSET: Get Multiple Monitor Support With MaxiVista.

The article looks at the ten best Windows freebies of 2005. They include the StripFile program from Nuetools, the Picasa image service from Google, Nikolay Avrionov's ExplorerXP program, the CutePDF Writer from Acro Software, the ObjectDock utility from Stardock, FileWare's LastChance utility, Tim Taylor's Icon Restore utility, the TaskArrange program from Elias Fotinis, the Tray Pilot Lite utility from Two Pilots, and the ClocX alarm program.

This article offers several tips on how to make quick work of Windows tasks by typing commands instead of clicking menus. The author suggests that to open a command in Windows 98, choose Start, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt. In Windows Me, click Start, Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt. Alternately, you can open the window by choosing Start, Run, typing command and pressing Enter. While the commands are useful by themselves, their real power comes from their switches. For almost every command, the best way to find the appropriate switches is to type the command name followed by a space and /?. Then press Enter. According to the author, this provides you with a summary of the command's purpose, as well as a description of its syntax and an explanation of each switch. When your command acts on a file or folder,generally you must type the path to that folder after the command. You can save typing time by doing a little dragging-and-dropping. To spiff up the command line, right-click the title bar of the command window and choose Properties. Under the Font tab, select the size and style of type you want; this also affects the size of the command window. In Windows 2000 and XP, you can change the background color and the text color via the Colors tab and the default size of the window by choosing the Layout tab. INSET: WINDOWS TOOLBOX.

This article illustrates how to remove unsolicited commands from context menus or right-click menus in the computer. Right-click menus are called context menus because the commands they list change depending on where you click. File utilities, various freeware programs and other applications add commands and submenus to some context menus to make using the programs easier. Unfortunately, the more this happens, the more cluttered and less useful the right-click menus become. Some utilities that add commands to the content menus also provide easy ways to customize or remove items. This is the best and safest approach to tossing context menu junk. If no such option is available, you can usually alter the menus in all versions of Windows via the Registry. For WinZip menus, go to WinZip Classic, choose Options Configurations and uncheck Display context menu items in the a submenu to avoid the hassle of clicking a submenu for these commands, or check and uncheck items in the Content Menu command box. To remove Winamp commands, go the Options Preferences, select File types under the General Preferences branch and uncheck Show Winamp in folder context menus in Windows Explorer or Directory context menus. INSET: Soup Up Send To With Send To Toys.

This article presents information on how to operate an application each time the Windows operating system starts. Right-drag its .exe file, or a shortcut to that file, to the Startup folder and choose Create Shorts Here. The next time the user Starts Windows, the program will load automatically. The Scheduled Tasks feature in Windows can operate activities such as scanning for viruses, making backups, defragmenting the hard drive and doing regular maintenance tasks, while the user is away from the system. One handy use for a shutdown folder is to clear persistent folderol from your Registry. Many applications try to keep themselves or one of their modules running in the system tray even if they are not being used. Most of these startup items are placed here when the user first installs the program. Unfortunately, some applications restore their startup commands everytime the user upgrades or even just run the application. Before one can clean them out automatically, one needs to edit the Registry key in question. choose Start-Run, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to the folder containing the command to start the application. With the key selected in the tree pane on the left, choose Registry-Export or File-Export. Navigate to the backup folder, give the export file a name and click Save. INSET: Turn Off Your PC Your Way With ShutDown Plus.

This article presents tips on the use of Magnifier accessibility tool in the Windows operating system. Magnifier does exactly what its title suggests. It is valuable for classroom instruction, product demos or almost any kind of presentation. It is also useful for software engineers, interface designers and anyone else who needs to zoom in on a piece of work. In Windows, one many have to install the utility from the Windows compact disc (CD): Insert the CD, click Start-Settings-Control Panel, and double click Add/Remove Programs. Users then click the Windows Setup tab and confirm that accessibility is selected in the components list. Then users click details, check the box for accessibility tools and clock OK twice. To start Magnifier, users choose Start-Programs-Accessories-Accessibility-Magnifier. In most versions of Windows, Magnifier starts by displaying an explanatory message box. By default, the Magnifier window appears at the top of the screen, enlarging whatever is under the mouse printer. If one does not like the size, he can position the pointer at the edge of the window and drag to make it larger or smaller. He repositions the magnifier by placing the pointer inside the window and dragging it to any screen edge.

This article presents guidelines for uninstalling Windows computer programs. If you uninstalled the program only a few days after installing it and you did not install anything else in between, simply restore the Windows Registry from a backup made before the installation. If a Registry restoration is not possible, open Windows Explorer and navigate to the C:\Program Files folder. If the folder for the offending application is still listed within Program Files, keep the window open and handy for a bit. Eventually you will delete the folder. Next, make sure that the program is not still loading every time your system boots. Select Start Run, type msconfiq, and press Enter. Click the Startup tab and look for anything that appears to be related to the outgoing program. Now verify that no file types are associated with the unwanted program. In Windows Explorer, select Tools Folder Options. Click the File Types tab and check the list of file types for any mention of the unwanted program. If you find one, consider whether that file type should be associated with some other program. To reassign a file type, click the Change button and follow the instructions. Otherwise, just delete it by clicking the Delete button and confirming your decision.

This article offers tips on managing Windows operating systems. To activate Automated System Recovery, open the backup utility that comes with Windows XP: Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then Backup. If you see the Backup or Restore Wizard, click Advanced Mode. On the Welcome tab, click Automated System Recovery Wizard. Follow the prompts to make a backup of your system file. To maximize windows in Windows operating systems, single-click the maximize button, double click the title bar, or right-click a taskbar button and choose Maximize. Unfortunately, very few windows are capable of remembering to open in the state you left them in the next you access them. To make the application always open in the Jumbotron mode, find the shortcut you want to adjust on the Start, Program or Start, All Programs menu. Right-click the shortcut and click Properties. On the Shortcut tab, choose Maximized from the Run drop-down list. Sometimes Windows XP is running its defragmenter utility while the system is otherwise idle. To turn the utility off, use Tweak UI, which is part of Microsoft's free Power-Toys for Windows XP. INSET: Broaden Your Web View With IE New Windonw Maximizer.

Presents tips on booting the Windows XP computer operating system. INSET: TEACH SOME XP PATIENCE.

This article focuses on the benefits of Microsoft's MSN Toolbar Suite product for users of Windows operating systems. In addition to its useful features, the suite aims to make finding files on hard disks as fast, easy and accurate as Web searches. The toolbars for Internet Explorer, Outlook , Outlook Express, Windows Explorer and folder windows are free. The three programs that comprise the MSN Toolbar Suite search disks and provide the same results based on a single shared index of email and local files. MSN Desktop Search is a stand-alone search application; the MSN Toolbar appears in the folder and Explorer windows; and the Deskbar resides in the taskbar. They search Outlook and Outlook Express email and attachments as well as Word, Excel and other Office files. They also index PDF-format files, text files and HTML-format files.

This article focuses on the benefits of the Copernic Desktop Search software for users of Windows operating systems. The features of the product include the ability to search local hard disks, the Web, and email on Outlook and Outlook Express software. Copernic also allows users to conduct searches using either an application window or a taskbar toolbar, choose the folders they want to have indexed, set indexing to occur in the background, and use Boolean operators to refine the search. Copernic allows users to filter search results based on such attitudes as file size and date; and it provides a preview pane for seeing a file's contents without launching a separate application to open it. In addition, users can store the index file in the folder of their choice; set the time and interval for index updating; and search Outlook contacts, as well as bookmarks and browser history in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla and Netscape software.