Summer is a time for recreation. For many of us, our performance run ends with Commencement. We often use the summer to recreate ourselves, preparing for the next performance. Here are descriptions of two things that drive me crazy when typing in Word. Perhaps I can be of help to you as you recreate yourself by showing you how to change your computer settings to avoid or mitigate these problems.
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PROBLEM: I ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE cAPS lOCK KEY AND EVERYTHING STARTS LOOKING LIKE THIS IN mICROSOFT wORD.
SOLUTION PART 1: Have the computer beep when you press the Caps Lock key. That way you will know you have done it and be able to correct the situation immediately.
SOLUTION PART 2: Have the Shift key release the Caps Lock key, just like it works on a typewriter. (I know my students have never used a typewriter, but I will assume that you know what I am talking about.) With this change things will be corrected after the first upper-case letter. The sentence above, if I didn't notice the beep and just kept typing, would look like, "I ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE Caps Lock key and everything starts looking like this in Microsoft Word." Ok, it doesn't completely solve the problem, but at least there should never be more than one sentence that needs to be fixed.
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PROBLEM: I press some key while editing and all of a sudden whatever I type replaces what was already there. This one is terribly disconcerting since I have to figure out what was there before and I have to figure out how to insert it into the document rather than continuing to overtype things.
SOLUTION: The problem is caused by pressing the Insert key, a key I don't even see since I don't use it for anything. The problem is solved by disassociating the Overtype action from the Insert key.
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Rather than including the technical details for each of these, let me refer you to my Tips and Tricks blog. You can find the entire blog at http://wrvtips.blogspot.com/. Each of the specific techniques can be found as follows.
Beep when the Caps Lock key is pressed:
Turn off Caps Lock with the Shift key:
Turn off the overtype problem in Word:
Two of these link to descriptions already on the Internet. Rather than writing the instructions myself I simply provide links to existing copies. I hope you don't mind.
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DISCLAIMER 1: These changes are solutions to problems that I encounter. If you don't encounter these problems the solutions will add nothing to your computing experience.
DISCLAIMER 2: If someone manages your computer for you, check with that person before attempting to make any changes to your computer, including changes such as these.
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Bill Vilberg
305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)
