Many people download a new software application or install an upgraded version and start using it, just out of the box. What they don’t realize, is the fact that most software makers have only the basic features enabled. Software makers try to make the product attractive and user friendly for as many users as possible and know that the average person is computer illiterate and have difficulties with adapting change.

Take advantage of advanced features
Take time to look at advanced and additional features that an application can offer you. Study at least the preferences or options menus that can be found in many applications under the Edit or Tools button in your standard toolbar.

Just take a look at all tabs and buttons available under these menus and ask yourself the question: “What can this option do for me? Will it improve or increase my productivity?” I am sure you find a few options that you want to enable in every application that are normally in standard installation not available.

Let me give you an example. I view old news articles that are scanned and sent to me in PDF format. This format is being used with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader application. Sometimes I want to have a close up look of the photo in the news article so I have to zoom in.

By enabling the feature: “Make Hand Tool use mouse-wheel zooming” I can zoom in and out of the page by the scrolling the wheel in the middle of my mouse. This is quick, easy and convenient.
Some preference or option settings are obvious; the name of the setting provides you an explanation. If a particular option is not clear in what it can mean for you, don’t hesitate the help file.

Click on image to enlarge

Adding and changing toolbars
Another critical element of every application is the toolbar. Again, often, only the standard toolbar is displayed when you start the application for the first time. Take advantage to add and modify toolbars in all your applications so you don’t have to go into all the menus to select a tool. You will be surprised how many opportunities you have missed in the past and much time this will save you.

I take modification of the toolbar a step further. After I have added a toolbar, I modify the toolbar by removing and adding feature buttons. Many applications allow you to right mouse click on the toolbar and have a “customize” or “more tools” button that you can use to your advantage.

From now on, when you have to go into a certain menu a lot to perform an action, add the button for that action on the toolbar.

Conclusion
Take time to learn the advanced features of your application. Invest some time to get to know the options and features that are available well. It will save you time in the long run. You also will have a laugh when you see family, friends and colleges fumbling around in the application that you are so familiar with. A geek like me, also checks the “What has changed since the previous version log” or simply named but that is a subject for another article..

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter)

Logitech NEW G5 Laser Mouse

Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks

One blizzard day in February, I had to complete a monthly financial business report with only a few hours left before the deadline expired. Yes, I am a procrastinator. It was almost midnight and the report had to be sent to the executives before Monday, 7 a.m. My typing skills were bad so the creation of a business report took always a long time to complete.  Typing two full pages took longer than the time it took to burn a large wood log in my fireplace; an observation I made during that evening.

Countless Sunday hours have been wasted due to my lack in typing skills. My five finger type system was just not working.  I have been practicing my “system” for years but my speed and accuracy did not get better.
I will describe my self developed system. I look at the sentence on the screen from lets say a reporting application that does not allow me to copy and paste due to security reasons. I read the sentence and try to remember it. Then I start to type peck on the keyboard word for word by using only five fingers: my index and middle fingers plus my right thumb. My eyes are focused on my keyboard. When done typing the sentence, I look back at the screen to check if I didn’t make a typo. I have to search for sentence on the screen. Yes, I lost the position of the sentence on the reporting screen.  Eventually I will find the sentence. “Damn, Patrick, another mistake” and I press the backspace key  a few times to delete 80% of the sentence. Typing mistakes, somehow  starts always at the beginning of the sentence. I start pecking again on my keyboard and check the typed sentence once more and go to the next line. Yippee, one sentence of the report is done. I am sure many of you have a similar useless system.

Early in the morning when the report was finally done, I thought: “what could I have done better to save me time in the creation of these reports next time”. To be honest, my typing skills did not come up in my mind to improve.  I was more thinking in the line of standardizing the reports.  Till I read an article about Medical Transcription jobs and the money experienced medical transcript associates can make. The more transcripts they complete, the more money they can earn. Of course, they have to avoid typing and grammar errors.

Then it hits me.  How do they type transcripts fast and accurate. Do medical transcript associates have some tricks that I don’t know about? Turns out they don’t. The real secret is the fact that they all type with ten fingers blind. They type fast and accurate. This is important for them because they get paid by transcript completed or by number of sentences and/or words typed. Is it difficult to type with ten fingers and blind? No, it is not. You just have to practice. Many medical transcript associates have not a college degree but they can type with ten fingers and focus on the screen or paper at all times.
I researched how to become better skilled in typing and wrote the following article. I hope you start typing with ten fingers soon and enjoy it!

Learn typing fast and easy.

Consider some of the advantages of typing with ten fingers:

• Increase productivity by faster typing;
• No need to look at the keyboard anymore and search for characters;
• Less typing and grammar errors;
• Better focus on typing out your thoughts.

There are probably many more reasons for switching to ten finger typing. If I forgot to mention some good reasons, please leave a comment on the bottom of this article.
Learning to type with ten fingers is not as difficult as you might think. It takes only some practice and a few sweat drops in the first 2 days. After a month or two, you think to yourself: “Why haven’t I used the ten finger technique before?”
What do you need to get started?

• Get a comfortable, good working keyboard
  No keyboards with sticky keys, loose keyboard wire or keyboard with missing keys;
• Adjust your chair so you can reach the keyboard comfortably. You must be able to move your wrists comfortably;
• Download my free finger position template
  I created a large template so you can print it out. Laminate the template and keep it near your keyboard. I have mine hanging above my notebook screen although after typing blind with ten fingers for 2 months, I don’t need the template anymore;
  

  Ten Finger Typing Template for Keyboard Position

  Click on image to enlarge for print out.
  For PDF file format, click here

• Copy and paste my practice sentences into your favorite word editor application.
  The practice sentences I have chosen for you are pangrams. Pangrams are sentences that use all the letters in the alphabet. In other words: you will touch every character on your keyboard. I hate to type silly random characters that many tutorials provides you. You can do if you want after typing the practice sentences when you have still difficulties with certain characters.
• Have discipline and don’t give up so easily.
  Don’t switch back to your old typing habits! You have to bite through a few difficult hours;
• Have patience.
  You probably typed with 2, 4 or 6 fingers for years so don’t expect to change in a few hours. Again, don’t give up. I believe in you If you get frustrated, take a break and walk away from your computer. Look around you and laugh at 2 and 4 finger keyboard peckers;
• Be aware about what you are typing.
  Quality before quantity. When you start to improve your ten finger typing skills, it is much better to type slow with no typing errors than fast with a ton of typing errors. Your typing speed will increase over time.
  Also think about what you are typing. Spell the words in your head, After you practice for a few days, you type also most as fast as your mind is going so sometimes you will type words as they sound which can be different than the actual spelling of the word;

Practice pangram sentences:

Okay, it is time to practice. Start typing the following sentences. Make sure your fingers are well positioned. Your left index finger is on the F key and the right index finger is on the J key. Now you know why you can feel a bump in those keys when you rub the keys with your index fingers. You can find these keys in the dark. Position all your other fingers in one line with your index fingers and place your thumbs on the spacebar.
When capitalizing your characters, make sure that you press the shift key with your pink of the opposite hand. For example: when capitalizing the letter: A, you press the shift key with your left pinky finger. So now you know why you have two shift keys on your keyboard.

Junk MTV quiz graced by fox whelps.

Fox nymphs grab quick-jived waltz.

Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.

The five boxing wizards jump quickly.

Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.

Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes.

My girl wove six dozen plaid jackets before she quit.

Jack quietly moved up front and seized the big ball of wax.

Crazy Fredericka bought many very exquisite opal jewels.

How razorback-jumping frogs can level six piqued gymnasts!

A quick movement of the enemy will jeopardize six gunboats.

All questions asked by five watch experts amazed the judge.

Let me know how many words per minute you can type! If you still want to buy typing software, please take a look at these top software titles:

TypingMaster 7 SpeedSkin Edition for Windows Includes PC/Desktop Keyboard Cover

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Deluxe 20

SpongeBob Squarepants Typing 2008