WindowsXP Interface Tips VIII

21. Quickly Un-Format Web Text with Notepad.

When you need to copy text from a web page or heavily formatted document into a word processor, you may find that you spend half your time resetting fonts, font sizes, colors, removing bold and italic letters, spacing, etc. This can get quite frustrating after a while.

One easy way around this is to use the notepad application built into every version of Windows. Any text copied into notepad is converted automatically to plain text, Times New Roman 12-point letters with no colors, italics or bold characters. If you keep a notepad window open and copy all your text into notepad, and then from notepad into your word processor, you avoid any formatting headaches.

22. Uncover **** Passwords

Have you ever been in a situation where you've forgotten your Internet connection or email password? It can be extremely frustrating to forget an important password, more so if Windows XP holds it tantalizingly out of reach by covering up with ****.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to reveal asterisk covered passwords in Windows XP using a free third-party utility. Asterisk-Key, available here can remove the veil of secrecy and reveal your passwords.

To use Asterisk-Key open the program, highlight the password box or open the web page containing the covered password and click the 'recover' button. Your password will be displayed in the program windows sans asterisks.

23. Disable the Annoying 'Click' Sound in Internet Explorer.

It seems that a lot of people get rather irritated with the constant clicking that Explorer and IE makes when you are selecting links and navigating through files. It's easy to see why, especially if you have a pair of cheap speakers hooked up. The incessant clicking can begin to seem like chunks of jagged broken glass falling from a height onto your eardrums... but we digress. If you want to turn The Click off, it's easy enough to do.

Go to 'start\control panel\sounds and audio devices' and choose the 'sounds' tab.

Now in the 'program events' windows, scroll down to the 'windows explorer' section and highlight 'start navigation.' Now change the 'sounds' dropdown box at the bottom of the window to '(none).' This will rid you of the infernal click.