OneNote to rule them
When you are making notes in a meeting or a class, or working on a creative project, you may find the strict linear structure of a word processor a disadvantage.
For making random notes, a tool that lets you write notes anywhere on the page works better than one that places each item one after the other. A few years ago, Microsoft released just such a program called OneNote. It's unusual for a few reasons and one is that it works very well for a first-release. Microsoft isn't renowned for releasing great first-version software and its programs usually need a few revisions.
OneNote, however, was developed by a small and smart team of developers within the company and it's a shining example of what the behemoth is actually capable of producing.
At its most basic, OneNote works a bit like a plain-paper notepad. You can write anywhere on the page, draw and highlight things on the screen and once something is written or drawn it is there permanently, with no need to save it.
OneNote goes further than a notepad, though, as you can move things around, delete them and record audio notes as you work. If you're attending a class, for example, you can record portions of the presentation using a computer microphone and replay the recording as you review your notes later on. You don't have to save the audio file separately and you play it back from within OneNote.
When researching information on the Internet, you can drag content from a website and drop it onto the OneNote page. When you do this, not only does the selected content appear on the page but also a link to the original web page so you'll never have a quote or important information recorded without having any clue as to where you found it.
Microsoft offers a 60-day trial version of OneNote that can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/office/onenote/prodinfo/trial.mspx It's a whopping 80MB download; simple to do on a broadband connection but it will take hours on a dial-up. An alternative method is to fork out the cost of the shipping and Microsoft will send you the disk.
Once you have installed and launched OneNote, it's worth having a play to become familiar with it. Click anywhere on the screen and start typing, then click somewhere else and type something. Move any of the pieces of typing around by selecting it with your mouse and dragging it - you can join blocks or split them by dragging them. Add a picture, copy some text from the web or use the Pen tool to draw something. Exit the program without saving your work, open it again and be impressed - everything is still there!
Your OneNote notepad can have multiple sections and pages. To add a new page, click the New Page button in the tabs down the side of the page. To add a new section, right click a section tab across the top of the notepad area and choose New Section.
To record into the OneNote notepad click the Record button and the recording will instantly begin. Click Stop to end and an icon appears to indicate there is audio content at that place in the document. You can have multiple recordings on the page and each will have its own identifying icon, meaning you could make a recording for each point in a list if you wish. Double click an icon to play that recording.
There are other handy features to discover with OneNote. All text and handwriting can be searched and you can use Stationery to decorate the pages you're working on. Add Note Flags to items you need to remember or have questions about and you can list all the note flag items in the task pane when you want to ensure you haven't overlooked something important.
To make lines in a Word document to use for handwritten notes, choose Format, Tabs, enable the Right alignment option and set the Leader to the character to use for the line. Type a position, such as 15cm for the tab position, click Set and then OK. To make a line, press the Tab key, press Enter and create a second new one by pressing Tab and Enter again. Press Control + N to return to normal editing.
One click screensaver
Run your screensaver from a desktop icon by locating its .scr file in your Windows\system32 folder. Right click the file in Windows Explorer and choose Create shortcut. Drag and drop the shortcut from the folder onto the desktop. You can now start the screensaver by double clicking your shortcut.
Title bar magic
You probably already know you can Command click on the icon on a Mac OSX Window's title bar and you'll see the path to the folder containing the file (provided of course it has been saved). You may not know you can click and drag the icon to move it to another location or Option + drag it to make a copy of it somewhere else.