Hi all, as you know, I'm a diehard Mac user and I have a friend who just purchased a new computer with Windows XP installed. I'm helping her get started.

She didn't believe me when I told her that she could control where her files were saved and she was blown away by the context menu that appears when you click the right mouse button.

Anyway, It's been years since I used any version of Windows and I've forgotten all the tips and tricks I used to know. A search for tips and tricks on the net brought up real techie things like registry settings - too deep for my friend.

I'm looking for the commands that you don't think about any more - as simple as Ctrl+C for copy and Ctrl+V for paste.......

Wrack your brains and list your tips and shortcuts here and I'll be able to impress her with my knowledge.

Thanks, Margaret

Hi Margaret,

Tell her to go to "Start"/"Help and Support". Click on "Windows basics", and near the bottom of the page there will be a link to "Windows keyboard shortcuts". This will keep her busy for a very long time. :)

Ed

Thank you Ed, I will do that - I knew there was a list of them somewhere but just couldn't remember where.

Happy New Year, Margaret

You're welcome. A very happy new year to you too.

Ed

Hey Margaret,

a few months ago, I was helping out an older couple who had just bought their first computer with XP installed, but they did have a bit of computer experience so they knew some basics. It's surprisingly hard to teach basic things! I was trying to move slowly so that they could see what I was doing and tell them what was going on at the same time while I configured things, but then they asked how I could do everything so fast, so I guess my idea of slow was a little different from their's :D however, for my situation it was easier because of the fact that I'd already had about 9 months worth of heavy XP usage behind me. as for resources, I did some searching on google and I agree with you, it's hard to find any tutorials or anything like that for newbies, they almost all assume you're at a "intermediate" level. I did find some basic video tutorials here (http://www.computer-training-software.com/windowsxp.htm) though (they have a list of free ones, but the rest you have to pay to watch)
Good luck!

- David :)