78 Ways to Make Software Do More

With these tips and tools, your everyday applications--from Office to IE, Firefox to ZoneAlarm--can become faster, more powerful, and easier to use.

Robert Luhn is a former PC World editor who enjoys formatting floppy disks. Laurianne McLaughlin is a Massachusetts-based freelance writer. Special thanks to Preston Gralla, Richard Lynch, Jim Felici, Guy Hart-Davis, Echo Swinford, Curt Frye, and Jim Aspinwall.

Robert Luhn

Software vendors would love it if we upgraded immediately to every new release of their products, but that's hardly necessary: There's plenty of life left in the programs we've been using for years. Here are 78 ways to get more out of the most popular programs from Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec, and other vendors. These tips and free or low-cost downloads will let you make mincemeat of your ever-growing workload.

First, visit your software vendors' sites, including Microsoft Office Update, to download and install the latest patches and updates. You'll want to try the new Web-service alternatives to deskbound programs that Laurianne McLaughlin describes in "Sites That Work the Web." Before downloading, check out my Download Rules, which you'll spot throughout the story. And see "Get More Work Out of Your Apps" for a list of links to all the application add-ons mentioned in the story.

Microsoft Word 2003

Everyone lives in Word, but it's a house beset by trapdoors, windows that stick, and a sometimes leaky roof. In short, it could stand some improvement.

Make Word Run Faster

Sometimes I think Microsoft intentionally configures Word to run slowly. Click Tools, Options and make the following changes to improve Word's speed and attitude: On the View tab, uncheck the Animated text box. If you use Word in Normal view, check Wrap to window. On the General tab, uncheck Provide feedback with animation. If you work with many documents, bump the 'Recently used file list' entries to 9 (the highest setting). If you use simple AutoShapes, uncheck Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes. On the Spelling & Grammar tab, uncheck Check grammar as you type and Check grammar with spelling. Really need speed? Turn off the on-the-fly spelling checker too, by unselecting Check spelling as you type. On the Print tab, turn off Background printing; most printers and networks spool print jobs plenty fast. Click OK.

Is Word still dragging? Turn off the other automatic features. Click Tools, AutoCorrect Options; and on the AutoFormat As You Type tab, uncheck all the boxes under 'Apply as you type' and 'Automatically as you type'.

Revive Dead Documents

When Word crashes, it often trashes your document. But when Word restarts, the Microsoft Office Application Recovery feature may offer you a replacement document. If it does, check the file carefully and save it under a different name. If it doesn't, use Windows Explorer to make a backup copy of the damaged file; then switch to Word and open the original damaged document, but click the Open button's drop-down arrow and select Open and Repair. Word will try to fix the file. No good? If you've set up Word to make backup copies, look for your file with a.wbk extension tacked on; most of your data may still be there. If not, open the damaged document with WordPad and collect as much usable material as you can.

Supercharge Search

Find files faster by adding descriptive keywords via the Document Properties box.

Smart searching requires documents stuffed with metadata--descriptive keywords that Word can search for. First tell Word to prompt you for the Properties dialog box. Select Tools, Options, click the Save tab, and check the Prompt for document properties box. When you try to save a new document, the Properties box will ask for input. (To add this data to an existing document, open it and select File, Properties.)

On the Summary tab, enter the basic information--Title, Subject, keywords (for example, "restructuring," "goals for 2007"), Comments, and so on. Need more? Click the Custom tab and enter additional properties--Client, Department, and so on. You can even create custom fields: Enter a name in the Name box, choose its type, enter a value that you define, and click the Add button.

To search for documents, select File, File Search. In the Other Search Options area to the right, choose the drives or folders to search, the file types to find, and so on; then click the Go button.

Use Word's own security features to control what others can do to your documents.

Lock Up Your Docs

Word can secure your documents to a moderate degree. Choose Tools, Options, and then click the Security tab. To prevent unauthorized edits, type a password in the 'Password to modify' box; to disallow unauthorized viewing, type a password in the 'Password to open' box. To permit editing (to fill in a form, for example, or to use tracked changes), click the Protect Document button and make your choices.

But Word's lockbox is easily picked. Try creating a watermarked PDF of your document with Docudesk's deskPDF Professional ($30). The tool can generate tamper-proof PDFs using 128-bit security that restricts viewing, copying, pasting, and printing.

Use Word as a Calculator

Word used to have a Calculate function on the Tools menu. Select numbers anywhere in the text, and, with a click, Word could add, divide, and more. Press <Shift>-<Insert>, and the result was pasted into your document. Word could even resolve expressions such as '(5+5)*(3+3)'. This feature remains part of Word; it's just hidden. To make it resurface, select Tools, Customize, and choose the Command tab and then Tools in the Categories panel on the left. Over in the right panel, locate Tools Calculate, grab it, and drag it over to a Word toolbar. To use the feature, highlight numbers in your document and click the new Tools Calculate button on your toolbar. The results appear in the status bar in Word's lower-left corner.

Keep Documents Connected

Your business proposal contains links to Excel worksheets, logos, and even parts of other Word documents. But if you put that proposal on your laptop and leave town, you will lose all the linked material.

You can embed the material in the document, but then you lose automatic updating. Here's a fix: When inserting graphics, select Insert, Picture, From File, select the file, click the little down arrow on the right side of the Insert button, and choose Insert and Link. Word will thereupon store a copy of the picture for use when the linked file isn't available, and it will update the picture whenever the file becomes available again.

For files and other objects, you can either break the links or take all the files with you. To break links, choose Edit, Links, select all the links, click the Update Now button, and then click Break Link. To take the files with you, use the Links dialog box to see which files you need, and copy them all to a folder on your computer. In the Links dialog box, click the Change Source button to alter each source file's location. And use the free Word Hyperlink Checker to find and scotch dead hyperlinks.

Don't Use XML--Yet

Don't use Word's XML format to save documents if they have embedded images. Word's XML encodes images as ASCII characters, and the resulting files are easily 30 percent bigger than their.doc peers. Worse, in the words of XML.com reviewer John E. Simpson, Word's XML is "spectacularly hideous." If you want to get your Word documents up on a Web site in lean and clean XML, either wait for Word 2007 or fork over $125 for upCast.

Microsoft Excel 2003

People use the world's most popular spreadsheet program to manage everything from multinational corporations to Little League baseball teams. Unfortunately, many of Excel 2003's best tools are difficult to find. And some of its most useful features require a third-party add-on. These tips and downloads will jet you through your worksheets and make the program work the way you want it to.

Cut down on your data-entry chores--Excel can fill in series with the yank of a cell's handle.

Enter Data in a Flash

Why waste time typing a data series into Excel when you can use the fill handle to enter the data in one step? The program generates all kinds of numeric and text sequences for you automatically, and it can even figure out custom sequences as you create them. For example, type January into a cell, select it, and hover your pointer over the black square (the fill handle) at the bottom-right of the cell. Drag the fill handle down or to the right to fill in values 'February', 'March', and so on. Or enter another series--say, 5, 10--in adjacent cells (you'll need at least two entries to see the effect), select the cells, and drag the fill handle to have Excel fill in '15,' '20', '25',... to the end of your selection. If you want Excel to copy the series, press the <Ctrl> key as you drag (it will repeat the series as many times as you have room for).

Summarize Your Data Automatically

One of my favorite Excel 2003 features is the program's data list, which treats a set of columns and rows as they would be treated in a database table. This enables the program to total columns automatically. It also allows you to change a column's summary operation. For example, if you have a table with columns containing customer ID numbers and rows recording each of their orders, you can create a data list by typing a set of column headers into a worksheet, selecting the header cells, and then choosing Data, List, Create List. Check the My list has headers box and click OK. A new data list appears, complete with a data entry row. Now if you'd like to add a summary row at the bottom of the table, you can do so by selecting Data, List, Total Row. If you would like to change the default 'Sum' summary operation that any cell in the Total row uses, you just select the cell, click the down arrow that appears, and choose a different summary operation (Average, Max, Min, and so forth).

Expand Your Named Ranges

Excel lets you define named ranges so your formulas are more descriptive. (For example, you can replace '=SUM(C2:C25)' with '=SUM (Bonus)'.) Although Excel's named ranges are usually static cell ranges, such as 'C2:C25', you can create a dynamic named range that expands as you add new data. To rename a range and make it dynamic, note the worksheet's name (such as 'Bonus') and the address of the first data cell in it that's not a column header (such as '$C$2'). Click Insert, Name, Define; enter the worksheet name in the 'Names in workbook' field. In the 'Refers to' field, type =OFFSET(Bonus!$C$2,0,0,COUNTA(Bonus!$C:$C)) with no spaces, and then press <Enter> to create the named range. This formula defines your named range, counts the number of nonblank cells in column C (starting from cell C2), and extends the range by that number of cells.

Name the Dates

If someone sends you a worksheet with dates in mm/dd/yyyy format ('10/23/2006'), you can add the days of the week that those dates fall on, with just a few quick swipes of your mouse. Simply select the dates, right-click them, choose Format Cells, pick Date in the Category list on the left, choose Wednesday, March 14, 2001 in the Type list on the right, and click OK. Now the days of the week are paired with their corresponding full calendar dates. To create a date with a custom pattern, choose Custom in the Category list, and in the Type box on the right, select the format you prefer. For example, selecting 'd-mmm-yy' will cause Excel to convert '10/23/2006' into '23-Oct-06'. For a list of date codes, browse to "Excel Custom Number Formats" and scroll down to the page's "Formatting Codes" section.

Find Target Values

Does your boss ask you questions like, "How much do we have to reduce our labor costs by so they represent no more than 20 percent of our expenses?" Put down that aspirin, and let Excel do the heavy lifting with its Goal Seek feature. Open the relevant worksheet, select the cell containing the labor-cost number, and choose Tools, Goal Seek. Type the target value in the 'To value' field, and enter the address of the cell that you want to change (in this example, the labor expense cell) in the 'By changing cell' field. Press <Enter>. If a solution is possible, Goal Seek displays the result. If not, it tells you there is no solution.

Reformat your Excel view to quickly create a presentation screen.

Excel Does PowerPoint

You don't have to depend on PowerPoint to create every presentation slide you make. Excel's often-overlooked View function presents your data pretty effectively, too. If you have a worksheet with five cells documenting, say, departmental expenses, simply select the cells and choose View, Zoom. In the dialog box, choose Fit selection and click OK. To save this view, select View, Custom Views, click the Add button, supply a name for the view, and press <Enter>. To recall the view, choose View, Custom Views, select the view from the list, and then click the Show button.

Share a PivotTable, Not the Data

Businesses large and small use Excel's PivotTables to summarize their important data. But PivotTables often contain sensitive data, so you might very well hesitate to share them. One simple strategy is to separate your PivotTable from its underlying data. To do so, right-click the PivotTable's worksheet tab at the bottom of the screen, and select Move or Copy. In the 'To book' drop-down, click (new book) and then OK. Excel will move the worksheet to a new workbook. Give the new workbook a different file name from the original, and save it. Now you can distribute the workbook holding your PivotTable without exposing the source data.

Really Hide a Worksheet

Some data is too sensitive to share. For example, a workbook may calculate a department's total sales commissions on a worksheet that everyone is allowed to see, but it may also list each salesperson's commission rate on another worksheet that you need to keep private. Hiding a worksheet by clicking the worksheet's tab and choosing Format, Sheet, Hide is too obvious a trick. (Anyone can easily undo it by selecting Format, Sheet, Unhide.) To hide a worksheet effectively, select Tools, Macro, Visual Basic Editor. In the Project pane in the upper left corner, click the name of the worksheet you want to hide. In the Properties pane below, choose the Visible property label, click the down arrow in the field to the right, and select 2- xlSheetVeryHidden. The sheet won't show up in the Unhide dialog box! To reveal the worksheet later, change the property to -1- xlSheetVisible or 0- xlSheetHidden.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2003

Peter Norvig (a Google bigwig) once said, "PowerPoint is like having a loaded AK-47 on the table: You can do very bad things with it." But maybe PowerPoint is misunderstood. Delve into these tips and tools for making it work better.

Let's Get Small

PowerPoint users quickly learn that presentation files can get real big, real fast. One way to keep 'em small is to turn off Allow Fast Saves (Tools, Options, click the Save tab.) Another is to use the options from PowerPoint's Insert menu instead of dragging and dropping photos, sounds, and other files from Windows Explorer onto a slide (and thereby creating an embedded OLE Server with lots of overhead in your file).

Finally, your pictures shouldn't use any more pixels than the screen projecting them does. For instance, if you use an XGA projector, a picture taking up a fourth of a slide shouldn't exceed 256 by 192 pixels, and an image filling an entire slide shouldn't top 1024 by 768 pixels.

Build Presentations in Word

Before you create a presentation in PowerPoint, build it (or at least its skeleton) in Word. The trick? Apply just a handful of styles to your text, and then shift the file to PowerPoint using File, Send to, Microsoft Office PowerPoint. Any text tagged in Word with Heading 1 becomes a slide title in PowerPoint. Text tagged with Heading 2 becomes a primary bullet, Heading 3-styled text turns into second-level bullets, and so on. (You can apply styles in Word by using the Task Pane available at Format, Styles and Formatting, or by selecting levels or promoting/demoting text in Word's Outline View.)

Note: Text set in the Normal style won't transfer, nor will tables, charts, graphics, and other objects in your Word document. Be prepared to use Edit, Copy and Edit, Paste Special to move these items from Word into PowerPoint.

Beef Up Security

Getting truly secure PowerPoint files entails having access to Microsoft Windows Server 2003, purchasing a Rights Management Services User Client Access License (RMS User CAL) for each user, and applying Information Rights Management tools built into PowerPoint 2003. But for us mere mortals, the options come down to adding a password, using a third-party tool, or using a manual workaround.

Selecting Tools, Options, Security enables you to prevent people from opening a presentation or changing its slides. If you want to let users rearrange or delete slides, merely forgo the passwords and save your slides as images (click File, Save as and choose PNG in the 'Save as type' drop-down menu). To add an image to a presentation, open it, select Insert, Picture, From file, select the PNG file, and click Insert. Or pick up a copy of PPTools' Protect for $30; it does the same thing, only faster and more easily.

But what if your presentation contains animations? PowerPoint expert and writer Echo Swinford shares this killer tip: Make a copy of your presentation, delete all the animated pieces, save the slides as images, and import them into a new presentation. Then, slide by slide, copy the animated pieces from the original presentation and paste them on top of the slides in the new presentation. This approach doesn't completely protect your slide content, but it comes close enough.

Want more? Secure Pack creates stand-alone self-running presentations that expire after a certain date or can be limited to a specific number of views. The $100 program has a free 20-day trial period.

The Select Multiple Objects command lets you easily identify all the objects in a complicated PowerPoint slide.

See Everything at Once

PowerPoint's Select Multiple Objects tool is invaluable when you need to click objects in a slide that other objects are hiding. To add it to your toolbar, select Tools, Customize, Commands, choose Drawing in the Categories panel, and drag the Select Multiple Objects tool to a toolbar. Click the Close button. Choose the Select Multiple Objects icon, and a dialog box, listing all of the objects on your slide, will pop up. Check the box next to the objects you want to select, and click OK.

The next time you add objects to a presentation, plan ahead. Insert the object, double-click it, and type descriptive text in the Web tab. This information will show up when you use Select Multiple Objects--handy if you're trying to remember what the object is.

Create a custom chart in PowerPoint and then modify it.

Set Up Custom Charts

PowerPoint comes with a bushel of prefab chart types, but it's simple to create reusable variations that you define. Double-click a chart in your presentation, and select Chart, Chart Type, Custom Types. Click the User-defined radio button and then the Add button. Type in a name and description for the chart, and click OK to add it to your list of user-defined charts.

Still, user-defined charts won't retain color changes you make to PowerPoint's standard palette, nor will they travel with presentations or templates. If you want to share user-defined charts with colleagues, locate GRUSRGAL.GRA (usually in C:\Documents and Settings\userprofile\Application Data\Microsoft\Graph), send a copy to your colleagues, and have them replace their GRUSRGAL.GRA file with yours. Warning: This action will overwrite any user-defined charts that they created!

Grow and Shrink

PowerPoint offers an animation called Grow/Shrink that causes the selected objects to do just that. But you get no delay function. So if you want to enlarge a photo, fly some text over it, and then shrink the photo, the Shrink function won't work.

The fix is to create the animation in stages. Right-click the picture on the slide and select Custom Animation, click the Add Effect button in the task pane to the right, select Emphasis, Grow/Shrink, and leave the default setting of '150%' in the Size drop-down. This will enlarge the animation. Now animate the text. Finally, select the picture again, click Emphasis, Grow/Shrink, enter 66.7 in the Size drop-down, and press <Enter>. This will trigger the shrink. Note: To determine how much to reduce objects, use the formula (Target percent/Grown percent) x 100. In this case, (100/150) x 100 = 66.7 percent.

Output a Presentation to Flash

Converting a presentation to Flash is a chore. You have to use File, Save As, output the file as a WMF or EMF image, open Flash, create a keyframe, and import each slide in turn onto the stage. You also spend time cleaning up various graphics. Luckily, a number of utilities perform Flash conversions. My pick to click: Articulate's $500 Presenter Pro because it lets you add narration and interaction to a presentation, and then converts it to Flash in a flash.

Microsoft Outlook 2003

After the telephone, Outlook may be the most ubiquitous (and maddening) communications tool around. These tips will help you gain more control over the messages that enter your inbox, as well as the ones that leave your outbox.

Instruct Outlook to download only the headers of all the messages you receive that have large files attached to them.

Download Headers Only

Nothing is more frustrating than downloading a humongous e-mail only to find out that it's spam--or only slightly better, pictures of Aunt Sally's latest knitting project. To make Outlook give you a chance to screen large messages and decide for yourself when to download the files, click Tools, Options, Mail Setup, Send/Receive, choose All Accounts, and click the Edit button. Select the Download complete item including attachments option (it likely is checked by default), and choose the Download only headers for items larger than box. Set a threshold size for messages (the default is 50KB), and click OK, Close, OK. From now on, when Outlook encounters a message larger than the threshold size you selected, it will download only the header.

Use this rules feature to control who receives e-mail with return receipts from Outlook--and who doesn't.

Control Your Automatic Return Receipts

Outlook lets you limit your return-receipt requests to the addresses you specify. To create your list of addresses with receipt requests, select Tools, Rules and Alerts and click the New Rule button. Choose Start from a blank rule, select Check messages after sending, and click Next. Check sent to people or distribution list in the top box. At the bottom of the screen, click the people or distribution list link. Now select only the people who should receive e-mail with return receipts. Click OK, Next, and check notify me when it is delivered. Click Next twice. Enter the rule's name in the Step 1 field, and complete the process by clicking Finish, OK.

Keep It Simple With Plain Text

Whether for security reasons or file-size concerns, some e-mail users dislike receiving messages formatted in HTML. If you normally send HTML mail, you can instruct Outlook to send plain-text mail to specific recipients: Open the program's address book and double-click the contact's name. In the upper-right corner of the 'E-mail' field under the General tab, double-click the contact's e-mail address. In the 'Internet format' drop-down menu, choose Send Plain Text only. Click OK, Save and Close. From now on, messages you send to that correspondent will be formatted in plain text.

Sync Multiple Inboxes

If you use Outlook on more than one PC, you know the hassles of keeping several inboxes up-to-date. Here's the solution: Outlook keeps all of your messages in its Outlook.pst file, commonly found in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. Before you hit the road, copy that file to your laptop; then use Outlook on your laptop as you would normally. When you get back home, copy the file back to your desktop PC. To make the file-copying process foolproof, download Microsoft's free SyncToy.

Get Your Gmail in Outlook

People who use both Gmail and Outlook can simplify their lives by retrieving their Gmail messages via their Outlook account. Start by configuring Gmail for POP3 e-mail access: Open your Gmail account, click Settings, and choose Forwarding and POP at the top of the page. If you want Outlook to retrieve all the e-mail you've ever received on Gmail, choose Enable POP for all mail in the POP Download section. This is a very dangerous choice, however--especially if you have hundreds of megabytes of old mail hanging around--because Gmail doesn't delete old mail. A safer choice is Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on.

Next, dictate what should happen to your Gmail messages after Outlook grabs them. They can be kept in your inbox, archived, or deleted from Gmail. If you plan to use Outlook exclusively to check your Gmail account, choose delete Gmail's copy in the 'When messages are accessed with POP' drop-down menu. To leave them in Gmail, select keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox (the default setting). When you're done, click Save Changes.

To set Outlook to receive your Gmail, click Tools, E-mail Accounts, Add an e-mail account, Next, POP3, Next; this will open the E-mail Accounts settings dialog box. For the incoming mail server (POP3), enter pop.gmail.com; for the outgoing mail server (SMTP), type smtp.gmail.com. Use your Gmail address as your user name, and enter your Gmail password (if you wish). Click the More Settings button, select the Outgoing Server tab, and check My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication. Make sure that Use same settings as my incoming mail server is selected. Now click the Advanced tab, and check This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) under both 'Incoming server (POP3)' and 'Outgoing server (SMTP)'. Type 465 in the 'Outgoing server (SMTP)' field, and click OK and Next.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

Internet Explorer 6 is woefully out-of-date, but folks are stuck with it until version 7 arrives. (See "New IE 7 Beta Available for Download" for our first look at the IE 7 beta.) To stretch the current release's features, apply a little finesse with these tips and freebies for your browsing pleasure.

You don't need to wait for browser tabs: Maxthon shows each of your open Internet Explorer 6 windows under a separate tab.

Internet Explorer Does Tabs

When Internet Explorer 7 finally ships (only the Shadow knows the actual date), it will include tabs. But you can give IE 6 tabs now, with the free Maxthon browser built around IE. Besides adding tabs, Maxthon lets you perform common tasks by moving the mouse in certain ways. It also blocks ads, erases your Web browsing tracks, provides a built-in RSS reader, and more. Maxthon can easily pull in your IE Favorites as well, but other preferences don't transfer over.

Find Faves Fast

Are you sick of scrolling through IE's clunky Favorites list? Save your sanity by installing DzSoft's free Favorites Search. Once the program is ensconced on IE's toolbar, a click summons a quick-search box. Enter a keyword, and voil&#233 list of clickable bookmarks appears. You can search a bookmark's name and/or the URL itself, automatically create a handy Last Items Found folder, and more. Note that your antispyware program may alert you to the presence of a browser helper object; but in this case the object doesn't constitute a security risk.

Launch IE Your Way

Need Internet Explorer to load in a specific way? You can launch IE from Windows' Start, Run box by using various switches. For example, type iexplore-e, and the app launches with a Windows Explorer pane on the left and IE on the right. Type iexplore-k, and IE launches in full-screen kiosk mode--no toolbars, no address bar, nothing. (To close the window again, simply press <Alt>-<F4>). Type iexplore-nohome, and IE displays a blank page. You can also combine switches with URLs. For example, to open IE in kiosk mode to PCWorld.com, type iexplore-k www.pcworld.com.

Print Without Graphics

When you print a Web page with IE, you probably care more about the text than about the graphics and ads. If a Web site has a "printer-friendly" link, you're set. If not, tell IE to print your page, minus pictures.

Open Notepad and type:

IMG { display: none!important;}

Download: NoImages.css [right-click and select: Save Target As]

Save the file as Imagesoff.css. When you're ready to print, go back to Internet Explorer, select Tools, Internet Options, click the Accessibility button, and check the Format documents using my style sheet box. Click the Browse button, navigate to and select the Imagesoff.css file, click Open, and then click OK twice. IE will stop displaying most (but not all) of the images. If, after printing your page, you want IE to display images again, go back and uncheck the Format documents box.

Full-Size Windows--Always

Sometimes when you right-click a link and select Open in New Window, you get a cramped, half-size pane. To see a full-screen window every time, teach IE this trick: Shut down all instances of IE, except one. Right-click any link, and select Open in New Window. Close the original browser window, and resize the remaining window manually by dragging each side as far as it will go. (Don't click the Maximize button to do this.) Hold down the <Ctrl> key and click the x at the top-right of the page to close IE. From now on, IE will open new windows full-size.

Quick Keyboard Surfing

These two keyboard classics save tons of time, and let your mouse cool its casters. First, to push the cursor into IE's address field, type <Alt>-D. Next, type the core address (such as pcworld) and press <Ctrl>-<Enter>, and both the 'www.' and '.com' will be slapped around it. Press <Enter>, and IE will take you to the site. (Note: These shortcuts also work in Firefox.)

With a few tweaks to the Windows Registry, you can beautify your Internet Explorer toolbar.

Design Your Own Toolbar

Tired of IE's drab toolbar? Add any.bmp file as a background. If the file is small, IE will tile it for you. (Don't go smaller than 10 by 10 pixels, however.) The steps: Open the Registry editor by selecting Start, Run, typing regedit, and pressing <Enter>. Go to and select HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar in the left pane, and right-click in the right pane. Select New, String Value, and type BackBitmapIE5. Double-click this new key. In the 'Value data' box, enter the path of the.bmp file you want to use, and press <Enter>. Exit the Registry and close IE. The next time you open IE, you'll see your custom background image on the toolbar. To remove the background, delete the BackBitmapIE5 key.

Mozilla Firefox 1.5

If you consider Internet Explorer too big a target for online dastards, the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox may have appeal as a safer browser alternative. Here are several ways to get more out of Firefox.

Run IE Inside Firefox

Some sites work properly only when viewed in Internet Explorer, including Microsoft's valuable Windows Update site. The free IE Tab extension allows you to run Internet Explorer from within Firefox. When you visit a page that requires IE, the extension fires up Microsoft's rendering engine and permits you to surf without a hitch. (If IE Tab doesn't kick in, right-click the page and choose View Page in IE Tab.) You can even set specific sites to open with IE when you visit them in Firefox: Choose Tools, IE Tab Options, click the Sites Filter tab, type the address into the URL box, and click Add and then OK.

Restart Firefox in Safe Mode

Sometimes Firefox gets tripped up by an extension or theme for the browser. Like Windows XP, Firefox has a safe mode that loads a bare-bones version of the program, without extensions and custom settings. First, completely close Firefox. Now click Start, Run, type firefox.exe-safe-mode, and press <Enter>. The resulting dialog box lets you reset toolbars, controls, bookmarks, and user preferences. When you're done, click Continue in Safe Mode.

Change Firefox's throbber icon so that clicking it will lead you to whichever Web site you choose.

Change Your Throbber Page

The small circular icon in Firefox's upper-right corner that twirls when the browser is working is called the "throbber." When you click it, you jump to the "Welcome to Firefox" page. But you can tie the throbber to a different page: Type about:config in the address bar, and press <Enter>. Type browser.throbber.url in the Filter box, and then double-click this entry in the list beneath. In the 'Enter string value' field that appears, type the desired URL and press <Enter>. The throbber will henceforth take you to that site.

Recover From a Firefox Crash

When Firefox crashes, you have to restart the browser and reopen tabs for the sites you were visiting--what a hassle! The free Tab Mix Plus add-on provides a raft of useful tab controls. Once you've installed the program, when Firefox crashes, simply restart the browser and choose Tools, Session Manager, Last Session. The program's Session Manager even remembers all your closed tabs, so if you accidentally close one, you can reopen it in a jiffy.

Search Google From the Address Bar

Firefox has a Google search box to the right of its address bar. But if moving the mouse that far is too much trouble, you can enter your search term directly into the address bar. First, select Bookmarks, Manage Bookmarks, and click the New Bookmark button. Type Google Search in the Name field. In the Location field, enter http://google.com/search?q=%s. Type g in the Keyword field, and press <Enter>. Now to run a Google search in the address bar, enter g followed by a space and your search term, and then press <Enter>.

Adobe Elements 4 & Photoshop CS2

A picture is worth 10,000 clicks--if you're trying to make something look just right in Photoshop (or even its little sibling, Photoshop Elements). Herein, ways to keep the clicks to a minimum.

Faster Elements

Though Elements is pretty swift, it could be swifter. When it loads, turn off the Welcome screen and shave about 10 to 20 seconds off the startup time. At the bottom left of the startup screen, click the Start Up In drop-down, choose Editor, and close the Welcome screen. Two other time-savers: Press <Ctrl>-J to duplicate the current layer, and press <Ctrl>-<Alt>-<Shift>-E to copy everything you see in the current image to a new layer. These two tricks let you keep your corrections and continue working without flattening the image.

Balance colors in Elements, via the Levels dialog box.

Balance Your Colors

Elements lacks a Color Balance feature (something Photoshop has had for years). But fear not, Photoshop maven Richard Lynch says: Use Elements' Levels dialog box instead. Open the image and select Enhance, Adjust Lighting, Levels (or press <Ctrl>-L). Select Red, Green, or Blue from the Channel drop-down, and then move the gray slider immediately below the graph. The Red channel balances red and cyan; the Green channel, green and magenta; and the Blue channel, blue and yellow.

Do Curves in Elements

Photoshop Elements also lacks a Photoshop-like Curve Adjustment Layer tool for making color and tonal corrections. But Photoshop pros Ted Padova and Don Mason (authors of "Color Correction for Digital Photographers Only") have created a great little workaround. Ask a Photoshop CS2 pal to open a new blank file (sized to 100 by 100 pixels, at 72 pixels per inch, with Color Mode set to RGB) and to create a new layer with a set of six Curve adjustments--darken, lighten, darken with more contrast, lighten with more contrast, darken with less contrast, and lighten with less contrast--and save each individually as a PSD file. In Elements, open the image you're working on, and then the PSD file (which will appear blank) with the desired Curve corrections. Select first Windows, Images, Tile (so you can see both) and then Windows, Layers. To apply the Curve correction, click the PSD file, and then click the little curve icon to the right in the Layers palette, and drag it onto your image. Drop it, and the correction is magically applied. Want to increase the intensity? Drag and drop the curve icon again.

Automate Photoshop CS2

The ability to record and play back steps makes Actions a powerful, time-saving tool, especially since actions can be assigned to function-key combinations. Say you want to access some tool presets without opening the Tool Preset palette. Press <Alt>-<F9> to open the Actions palette, click the Create new set button (the tiny folder icon) on the palette, and name the set. Then click the Create new action button next to it, name the action, assign a function-key combination (for example, <Shift>-<F2>) to it, and click the Record button. Walk through the steps, click the square Stop button on the palette, and close the palette. The next time you want to select that tool preset, just press <Shift>-<F2>. One caveat: Adobe's implementation is a little uneven. If one keyboard combo doesn't work, try another!

Instant Web Photo Galleries

If you want to share pictures but lack the skills to create a Web site of your images, rest easy. Photoshop CS2 can create a dozen different photo galleries for you in a flash. Select File, Automate, Web Photo Gallery, pick a template from the Styles drop-down, select Banner From the Options drop-down, and in the Site Name field enter a title; then select the folder holding the images you want to use, size them, and pick a destination folder to hold the generated HTML and other files. Click OK, and Photoshop processes your images and generates the Web pages.

Make Sharp, Small PDFs

To create a sharp PDF of a scanned image with a tiny file size, don't "print" the image from Photoshop to PDF, or save it as a Photoshop PDF. Instead, save it in Photoshop as an EPS file. Then select Image, Mode, CMYK. Save the image again as an EPS file, under a different name. Exit Photoshop, load Acrobat Distiller, and then open this second EPS file. When it's finished, you will have a sharp, small PDF.

Lock 'em Up Tight

Want to lock down your images so that only people with the password can see them? You could use a compression utility that incorporates encryption--or you could use Photoshop CS2. Save the image as a Photoshop PDF. After you click Save, the Save Adobe PDF dialog appears. Click Security on the left, and check the Require a password to open the document box on the right. Type a password in the Document Open Password field, and click the Save PDF button. You'll be asked to confirm the password. That's it: Now your image is locked up tight with 128-bit encryption.

Change Tool Presets on the Fly

Photoshop's tools are often used for multiple purposes, which means constantly changing settings as you move from one task to another. The solution: Tool Presets. To create a preset, select a tool (such as the Art History Brush), set the options for it (brush size, mode, opacity, and the like), open the Tool Presets palette (Window, Tool Presets), and click the tiny Create new tool preset icon on the bottom-right of the palette. Once you've saved the preset, you can change the tool's nature by clicking the preset on the palette or by pressing a keystroke combination you assigned to the preset as an action.

Adobe Acrobat 7

Acrobat is essential for anyone involved in publishing--or for that matter, anyone who wants to create portable documents or capture Web pages with a click. (We refer, of course, to the full Acrobat package--beginning with the $299 Acrobat Standard edition.) But even this capable app needs a nudge.

View Notes

It's simple to use a full Acrobat package to add a note to a PDF. Click the Comment & Markup toolbar icon, and select Add a Note. The problem? Acrobat pushes the note halfway off-screen. The fix: Select Edit, Preferences, choose Commenting in the Categories list, and uncheck the Create new pop-ups aligned to the edge of the document box.

Hide Those Notes

Acrobat's annotation feature is convenient--unless you're on the receiving end of a PDF buried in notes. To suppress the notes quickly (in full Acrobat versions only; Acrobat Reader users are stuck), select Comments, Show Comments & Markups, Hide All Comments. If the Commenting toolbar is displayed, select Show, Hide All Comments.

Customize Adobe Acrobat PDFs with your own presets. Need faster printing? Reduce resolution to 300 dots per inch.

Acrobat Your Way

When you "print" a file to PDF, Acrobat defaults to its poky standard settings. Here's how to create your own settings. In the print dialog box of any application, select PDF Printer (or Adobe PDF) as your output "device," and click the Properties button. Then choose the Adobe PDF Settings tab. Click the Edit button to the right of the Default Settings field, and you can create a new preset.

For faster desktop printing click General, and change 600 to 300 in the Resolution field. For smaller on-screen PDFs, select Images. In the 'Color Images' and 'Grayscale Images' sections, change the Downsample settings to 100 pixels per inch for image resolutions that exceed 100 pixels per inch. In the Monochrome Images sections, set the values to 300 pixels. Click the Save As button and name the preset.

Match a Face

Ever wonder why a PDF of a Web page doesn't resemble the Web page? Maybe the Web site won't let Acrobat download its fonts. Or maybe Acrobat isn't trying to download them. To change this behavior, open Acrobat, click the Create PDF button, and select From Web Page. Next, click the Settings button and, in the File Type Settings, select HTML and click the Settings button. Click the Fonts and Encoding tab, and then check the Embed Platform Fonts When Possible box. Click OK twice, and back at the 'Create PDF from Web Page' dialog box, click Create.

Reveal Spreads

Many documents (especially those laid out with Adobe's InDesign page-design program or a similar publishing tool) are designed to be read magazine-style, with two facing pages or spreads. But when Acrobat generates a PDF, it normally breaks these spreads into a series of single pages. To keep the spreads the next time you generate a PDF, check the Spreads box in your application's Print or Export dialog box.

Lock Up That PDF

Worried about the security of your PDF files? Don't rely on the controls available from a Print dialog box. Instead, create your PDF and then pull it into the full Acrobat program, which offers more-powerful and easier-to-use tools. Open the PDF in the full Acrobat program, click the yellow Secure lock toolbar icon, and select Secure This Document. Here you'll find two prefab security policies. To create your own, click the New button and follow the prompts. Password-based settings are easier to set up than certificate-based settings (and they're almost as good, except for state secrets). Take this route, and you can require passwords to open a PDF or (separately) to print, edit, copy, or extract content. Don't forget to protect metadata; otherwise, interlopers could use keyword searches to locate the file, although maybe not read it. Note: Acrobat doesn't record much metadata without telling you. To see and change what it does record, go to File, Document Properties and click the Description tab.

Go Acrobatless

Acrobat is not the only game in PDFville. The following alternatives are cheaper, though they do lack collaborative features--one reason to stick with Acrobat. Nitro PDF Pro (30-day trial, after that $89.10) is the only one in the group to offer a built-in PDF file viewer. It has good table and interactivity tools, and excellent controls over merging, splitting, and concatenating PDF files; and it lets you design forms, so you won't need the pricier Acrobat Professional. Jaws PDF Creator 3 ($84) is for publishing pros who need high-resolution output and powerful prepress tools. Jaws comes with prefab configurations that optimize PDF output for different situations; and you can create custom configurations. Its formidable prepress toolbox easily integrates into your PDF workflow. NovaPDF (Professional $40, Standard $30, Lite $20) is an entry-level choice for users who find Acrobat overkill. It offers solid 40-bit security, but its file compression tools are weak, resulting in fairly pudgy PDF files. If you're strapped for cash, though, this is a workable alternative to Acrobat.

Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2006

Until a safer world arrives, an antivirus utility such as Norton AntiVirus 2006 is essential for any PC user. These tips will bolster your virus protection.

Speed Up Your Virus Checker

Never run a disk scan while streaming audio or other big files from the Internet, or while running any program that actively accesses the hard drive. If you have a sturdy, up-to-date firewall in place, you can disable NAV's Auto-Protect feature when you're not using the Internet or any other network (including e-mail); Auto-Protect is a performance hog. Just be sure to scan every download for viruses before you open it and after you update your virus definitions. If Norton's LiveUpdate is running too slow, jump to Symantec's virus definitions download page and pick up the latest security updates and virus definitions there.

Switch between Norton AV and ZoneAlarm Internet Security e-mail scans by unchecking these options.

Integrate Your Antivirus and Firewall

If you install NAV on a system protected by the ZoneAlarm Internet Security program (which has an antivirus tool of its own), NAV will urge you to uninstall ZoneAlarm. Ignore it and click the Next button. NAV will install just fine. When your PC reboots, you'll find that ZoneAlarm's virus checker is disabled. Flipping between the two virus scanners is easy: In NAV, select Options, Norton AntiVirus, uncheck all the boxes to disable NAV, and end by rebooting your PC. A message will pop up, asking whether you want to enable ZoneAlarm's antivirus scanner. (If the message doesn't appear, double-click ZoneAlarm's icon in the system tray, and activate its antivirus and spyware features manually.) Reverse the preceding steps to revive the virus scanner that's built into NAV.

Turn Off What You Don't Need

If you exclusively use Web-based e-mail--such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail--that you access via your browser (not through Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or any other e-mail client), you can safely turn off Norton AntiVirus's automatic e-mail protection: Click Options, Norton AntiVirus, select Email in the left pane, and uncheck Scan incoming Email and Scan outgoing Email.

Leave Auto-Protect On

When you install a new game or productivity program, Symantec recommends keeping Norton's Auto-Protect features activated. The company claims that you need NAV running on all cylinders during software installation. Programs from little-known sites may harbor malware, and there are cases where even shrink-wrapped software from major vendors has accidentally shipped with viruses.

Stay Informed

Need the 411 on the latest virus threat? Check the company's all-in-one "Symantec Security Response" page. It's a one-stop-shop where you can read about the latest virus threats, check recently discovered holes in your favorite software (such as Excel, Windows Media Player, and even Windows itself), find the newest definitions and removal tools, hear about viruses myths (the bogus threats your friends may e-mail you about), and check the handy ThreatCon indicator (tip: if it's ThreatCon 4, run for the hills). Another very handy site is TaskList.org, which bills itself as "the ultimate resource to help you determine if your computer is infected with spyware, adware or viruses." No foolin'.

Zone Labs ZoneAlarm

ZoneAlarm continues to be the firewall defender of choice, but you can make it work even better with a few simple tweaks. (Note that these tips also work with ZoneAlarm Pro; $50 for a one-year subscription.) Your download choices include the free version and a 15-day trial copy of the Pro release.

You Can Take It With You

If you're a road warrior, constantly moving from home to office to airport to client with trusty (and encrypted) laptop in tow, preconfigure ZoneAlarm for all the network address ranges and subnets you want it to accept. Your home and office network can go in your trusted zone, as can any remote offices you visit regularly. Otherwise, instruct ZoneAlarm to challenge new and unknown networks by popping up a warning when you attempt to access them. At that point, you can accept them case-by-case, or classify them as Trusted, Internet, or Blocked.

Track Attacks on Your PC

ZoneAlarm is a first-rate firewall, but it can't tell you much about who's trying to break into your system, nor can the program report the information to the proper authorities. That's where the VisualZone 5.7 utility comes in. This free add-in performs a "backtrace" that attempts to locate the would-be intruder's IP address, physical location (more or less), and Internet service provider. With a single click, you can report the incursion to DShield, a service that tracks threats as part of the SANS Internet Storm Center.

Make the Firewall Say "Goodbye"

When you try to uninstall ZoneAlarm, it may not go peacefully. To send the program packing, first double-check its uninstall process: Open ZoneAlarm, click Overview in the upper-left panel, and choose the Preference tab to the right. Uncheck Load ZoneAlarm at startup, exit ZoneAlarm, and restart Windows; ZoneAlarm should now be dormant. Next, select Start, All Programs, ZoneAlarm, Uninstall (your steps may vary depending on your Windows configuration), and let the program uninstall itself. The TrueVector service will pop up and wave bye-bye, files will be removed, and ZoneAlarm will finally be uninstalled. If the program is still there after you reboot, consult "Zone Labs Customer Care" for detailed instructions on how to remove the program manually.

Download Rules

Avoid Tools That Track

Don't use download tools--your movements may be recorded. (At least search for the program in the spyware database at SpywareGuide beforehand.) Avoid downloading anything iffy. Be especially wary if you can't see an obvious revenue source for the program and it's not open-source software. Don't let a site install an ActiveX control unless it has been digitally "signed" by a reputable company. Finally, don't download illegal or pirated software, which is much more likely than a legitimate program to include malware.

Be Wary of Beta Versions

Never download and install beta software releases except on a computer that you don't rely on. Make sure the PC is backed up, and that it has Windows' System Restore turned on. Read the software's end-user license agreement (EULA), which may restrict use, state that adware or other tracking software is included, or even require you to file beta reports.

Scan Before, Scan After

Never let your browser automatically extract the contents of the zipped files you download. This is a common way to unleash a virus. Make sure your antivirus program scans the zipped file first, and then extract the uncompressed files manually.

PCWorld.com's Downloads section and most other popular download sites generally sterilize the files in their libraries and require publishers to follow certain standards. Visitors often post warnings on user review pages. If you must download from a vendor--even a big name--scan the file for viruses before you run it.

Protect yourself by installing a firewall (for example, the free-for-nonprofit-and-nonbusiness-use ZoneAlarm), a reliable antivirus package like Norton AntiVirus, and a good spyware scanner such as Webroot's Spy Sweeper (free trial, $30 to keep).

Put Everything on a CD

Put your antivirus, spyware scanners, and other rescue utilities on one CD. Then, if disaster strikes, you can clean up your PC with programs on the disc, without having to download anything.

Back up your browser bookmarks, templates, inboxes, and other preference information. If you're faced with reinstalling Windows, this will make your life a lot easier. See "Keep Your Data Backups Safe, Simple, and Fast" for more on preparing your PC for disaster. When you save the files, give them descriptive names. If you need to maintain the original file name, combine the two, as shown here: VideoGacker2.0--Vgkk200-dz.exe.

Sites That Work the Web

Ajax and other new Web technologies allow you to do a lot more in your browser today than you could just a couple of years ago. These new Web-based apps (many of them free) promise to make your work life better.

Productivity Boosters: ThinkFree Online--a free, ad-supported Web service--delivers sprightly word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications in your browser. Create new.doc,.xls, or.ppt files, or work with existing Office files, all of which are reopenable in their corresponding Microsoft Office app. The service (currently in beta) offers 1GB of online storage, so you can keep key files offsite.

Work on Word files in your browser via the Zoho Writer service, currently in beta.

Writely.com, Google's cool little Web-based word processor, has closed its beta-test participation for now; but for an alternative, try Zoho Writer. The beta site imports%20existing Word docs of any size and complexity, and exports PDFs,.doc files, or.html files. If you need a svelte document editor for Web work, consider INetWord; it has a spelling checker and several document templates.

E-Mail Delivery Services: The free Dropload service lets you park files%20as large as 100MB on a Web server for seven days; you send the recipient an e-mail with a link for downloading the file. SendThisFile offers a similar free service for individuals; you should expect to see some ads, though, and the files must be retrieved within three days.

Calendars to Share: Google Calendar has an ad-free interface (unlike Yahoo's calendar), and fast searches of your calendar entries. This beta service could be a viable personal-calendar option if you're satisfied with quick, free, and simple. Another free beta, CalendarHub provides nice calendars, easy sharing, group invitations, and publishing, with no ads as yet.

Kiko sends reminders via IM or text message. Two calendar URLs let you share all or some of your events with anyone. The free service doesn't yet stay in sync with Outlook, but the company is working on it.

Sites for Organizers: Use Backpack to organize everything from hiring someone to preparing for a trip. Store notes, links, files, pictures, and maps--all the data you need.

Voo2do.com's free service lets you keep tabs on all of your tasks.

Voo2do, a free task and project manager, organizes your items by priority and deadline, and tracks the time you spend on various tasks.

Remember the Milk stores random info. Add tasks via e-mail and send reminders to yourself or others in a slew of ways.

Project Management and Collaboration: Basecamp tracks and manages group projects. The service's prices start at $12 per month for a personal plan, and at $24 for business plans. (A free trial is available.)

The Latest in Search: When a question stumps you, browse to Answers.com, which is particularly adept at technology questions. The next time someone asks what blogs are saying on a subject, give Ask.com's blog search feature a try; it will clue you in to hot blogs on almost any topic.

Laurianne McLaughlin

For a complete list of all the free and low-cost application add-ons mentioned in this article, see "Get More Work Out of Your Apps."