shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts make browsing Netflix and rating movies quick and easy.

Instead of clicking on menus and navigating to the areas of your interest, why not press one key? That's the functionality that a userscript written by Dustin Luck adds to your browser. The script states it will definitely work in Firefox, but also seems to work Chrome, Opera, and Safari without much of a hitch. Here's how to get it for yourself:

Step 1: Open your Web browser of choice. The notes for the script suggest that you use Firefox, … Read more

The system menu in OS X holds the various commands that are available for performing tasks in your current application.

For many of the commands that are commonly used, Apple and application developers have bound them to keyboard shortcuts (listed next to the menu item) so you can perform the same command with a keystroke instead of needing to access the menus.

When browsing through the various system or application menus, you will see that in addition to the commands with built-in keyboard shortcuts there are a number without shortcuts. These are generally less-common commands; however, there are some that … Read more

Facebook has a small, but useful set of keyboard shortcuts you can use to navigate the social networking site.

They're not universal like Twitter shortcuts, so the modifiers are different depending on the browser and operating system you use. The shortcuts work best with Chrome in Windows and Firefox on Mac OS X, because they only need one modifier key, plus the shortcut key. Also keep in mind that the number shortcuts must be pressed from the number row; they don't work with the number pad.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts for Facebook:

Windows Firefox modifier: Shift + Alt + # … Read more

If you're a Twitter.com user, you may have been caught off-guard earlier today with the complete redesign of the Web site.

Though the UI has been redesigned, Twitter.com's keyboard shortcuts still work with a few new additions. To get around the Twitter redesign without worrying about where everything went, try these shortcuts:

Actions n : new Tweet r : reply t : retweet m : direct message f : favorite Enter : toggle detail pane l : close all open tweets (new)

Navigation j : next Tweet k : previous Tweet space : page down / : search . : refresh Tweets ? : display keyboard shortcuts

Jumping g then h : home … Read more

Keyboard shortcuts are useful for quickly accessing common functions, such as saving files (Command-S), or quitting programs (Command-Q).

In addition to universal commands like saving and quitting, most applications will have unique hot keys for their own functions, even if they are the same key sequence. For instance, Command-I in TextEdit toggles between normal and italic text, but the same command in Preview brings up the inspector window.

Since hot keys can be very useful, Apple has a built-in option to set custom hot keys for a number of system and application functions. To do this, open the Keyboard system … Read more

Not many people use only one computer. In fact, most of us hop from machine to machine in the course of a workday.

The best way to make sure you can access your important files from any of the various machines in your digital life is to store the files online. If you use Google Docs as your online file repository, these tips will help shorten your workday.

Send a zipped copy of all your Google Docs files to your hard drive Most PC users back up their important files by copying them to an optical disc or USB storage … Read more

One of the big draws of jailbreaking your iPhone or iPad is access to SBSettings, a free app that provides quick access to settings like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, screen brightness, and so on.

If you've ever wished for that kind of convenience without the hassles of jailbreaking, this is your lucky day. A hack called IconSettings lets you add up to 40 iOS-settings icons to your iDevice, no jailbreaking required.

This "app" is actually a collection of fancy-icon browser bookmarks with hooks into iOS settings. Thus, when you tap, say, Brightness, you'll see Safari appear and … Read more

One of the reasons users jailbreak their iOS device is the ability to add custom settings shortcuts directly to their home screen, or, with iOS 5, the notification tray. … Read more

It stands to reason: the less software you have on your system, the lower the risk of software conflicts.

Windows 7 is complete enough to not need any added helper programs. The Windows Firewall, Security Essentials, Windows Update, and other components of Windows 7 are sufficient to keep your machine running smoothly and virus-free.

(Technically, Security Essentials is freeware supplied separately by Microsoft, but I consider it part of the operating system.)

In the past, I have recommended free file-management programs for Windows Vista and XP to replace or enhance Windows Explorer. Windows 7 Explorer is not a big departure … Read more