Choose Line Thickness First

Want to draw a bold oval or polygon? Paint allows you to choose the thickness of the line of a Rectangle, Polygon, Oval, or Rounded Rectangle. But, before you select your geometric drawing tool in the Toolbox on the left of the window, choose the Straight Line tool. Now choose a thickness from the set of 5 possibilities. Now click on the geometric shape drawing tool you want to use. Draw that shape. This thickness will remain your choice as you choose other geometric shape tools.

Smart Erasing in Paint

Is there an element of your Paint drawing you'd like to erase, without affecting the rest of your work? Before you move the Eraser tool around your drawing elements, remember that Eraser tool will selectively erase (or replace) a single color. Drag the tool over any part of the canvas, and everything but the selected color remains untouched.

First, click the color you'd like to erase (or replace). Then, right-click the color you'd like to replace it with (usually the background color). Select the Eraser/Color Eraser tool, then hold down the right-mouse button as you drag the mouse pointer over the color you're trying to erase or replace. Only the selected color disappears!

Create WordPad Template

You frequently use WordPad to type documents in same format (same font, same heading, same paragraph style, and so on). To save time for those formatting jobs, you need to create a WordPad template. Here's how:

Open WordPad and make all the formatting changes you'd like, such as change the font and design your company heading. Save the file using a name "template.tpl".

Open Explorer and select View (Win9x) or Tools (WinMe), Folder Options. On the File Types tab, click the New Type button. Next to Description Of Type, type "WordPad Template". Next to Associated Extension, type “tpl”. All without the quotes.

Click New, and in the Action box of the New Action dialog box, type “Open”. Under Application Used To Perform Action, type your WordPad's path, C:\Program Files\Accessories\Wordpad.exe

Click OK three times to close all open dialog boxes.

Now double-click template.tpl and it opens in WordPad, complete with all your formatting. Make sure to save it under a new name before creating a new document from the template.

Safely Switch Calculator Views

As you probably know Calculator clears the display when you switch between Standard and Scientific views. If you need to switch between views without losing the current number, you must use this tip. Store the currently displayed number by clicking MS. Then choose View, Scientific to switch view. Click MR to recall the number you stored in Standard view.

Select All

To select an entire WordPad document you can use one of these methods:

- Hold down the Ctrl key and click anywhere in the left margin.

- Place the cursor at the very beginning of the document and press Ctrl-Shift-End

- With your cursor anywhere, press Ctrl-A

- Triple-click in the left margin

Quick Highlight

Use these methods to quickly highlight the text in your word processor, including WordPad:

To highlight a word, double-click it.

To highlight a line of text, click once to its left (in the left margin).

To highlight an entire paragraph, double-click to its left (again, in the margin).

If you need to jump between words and/or sentences simply depress CTRL (and plus SHIFT, if you want to select) while tapping any arrows key.

Motion Effects in Paint

Click the Start button and choose Programs, Accessories, Paint to open Windows Paint. Click any of the shape tools and draw a single shape on the "paper." Click the Select tool (the top right tool, which looks like a box with a dotted outline) and draw a box around the shape you just drew. Hold down the Shift key. Drag the shape around the screen.

Quick WordPad Tab

Want to know the quickest way to set a WordPad tab? Double-click over the Ruler right where you want the tab stop.

The Format Killer

A simple text editor such as Notepad, which doesn't have formatting capabilities, can be used to remove a document's format (for example, bold or italic in MS Word document). Simply by cutting and pasting it to Notepad, and then cut it out of the Notepad document and paste it into your target message or document. The formatting that your text had in the original document will be gone.

Viewing a Message to Your Computer User

Before lend your PC or Notebook to a friend, you can type a message inside it, just to remind him or her. Type this message on WordPad, use big size font, and then save it. Open Windows Explorer, and then move the message to C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp folder. Now, every time your friends use your computer, the message will appear on your Windows 9X/Me desktop.

Undo The Job in Paint

While working in Paint, you can undo any operations (drawing a box, selecting an object, etc) before you finish. At any point as you draw your box or select your object, continue to hold down the LEFT mouse button but click the RIGHT mouse button. Paint cancels whatever you're doing.

Triple Click

Using click or double-click mouse inside Windows 9X/Me is like an everyday job. If you work in WordPad, there is another type of click: people call it triple click. Triple click is also available on more complex word processors, such as Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect. You can use triple click to select a paragraph or to select all paragraphs on your document. That depends on locations where you use the triple click. If you use the triple-click inside a paragraph, it will select a paragraph. But, if you use the triple-click to the left of a paragraph, it will select all paragraphs on your document.

Sort a Group of Numbered File Name

If you use Notepad, Wordpad, or Paint, probably you create and save a file using a numbered name like pic01.pcx, pic02.pcx, and pic03.pcx. If so, make sure that you have inserted enough leading zeros in each name. Without leading zeros, you can end up with disordered file name list, for example pic11.pcx appearing before pic2.pcx.

Save without Save

Just like another applications for Windows 9X/Me, WordPad supports "scraps". You can take benefit from this feature. First, open WordPad and set it to a minimal view with no toolbar or status bar. Type your note. Highlight the text and then drag-and-drop it into your Desktop. A "WordPad Document Scrap" will be created and automatically saved.

Preventing a File with Double Extension

If you create a new file in WordPad or Notepad and save it, these applications add a TXT extension regardless of whether you add an extension by yourself. You can end up with filenames like DOCUMENTS.TXT.TXT. To prevent them from adding the extension, put quotation marks around your filename ("DOCUMENTS.TXT") in the Save As dialog box.

One Shortcut for Three Applications

It is possible to create a shortcut that opens three applications in the same time. To do so, open Notepad, type start followed by a space and the command line of an application (for example, start c:\windows\calc.exe), and then press Enter. If your path includes long file or folder names, you must either enclose the path with quotation marks (for example, start "c:\programfiles\accessories\notepad.exe") or use shortened versions of the long names (for example, start c:\progra~1\ access~1\notepad.exe). Add more lines following this pattern for each programs you want to start with one icon. When you are finished, choose File, Save and type a file name (in quotation marks) with the .bat extension. Double-click the batch file or its shortcut to launch the programs.

Mysteries in Solitaire

Choose Game, Deck from menu bar and then choose one of card designs. The last design is a magician's hand holding three Aces. The fourth Ace sometimes mysteriously peeks out of the hand's sleeve. Meanwhile, the cocoa tree design has a sun that sometimes wears sunglasses and sticks out its tongue.

Fitting a Picture in The Workspace

If you often use Copy and Paste to create and edit a picture on Paint, there is a tip to make your work easier. Click Image, Attributes on menu bar to display Attributes dialog box. Type 1 in the Width and Height box, choose pels from Units group, and then click OK. Now, every time you Paste into the workspace, Paint displays a question dialog box, asking whether you want to enlarge the bitmap. Choose Yes and you will get a picture that fits the workspace size.

Cheating at Solitaire

Start a game. Choose Game, Options from the menu bar, and then click Draw three. You can also put the scoring and status on. Type in "xyzzy" (without the quotes). Hold down the CTRL + ALT + SHIFT & click on the deck of cards.

Cheating at Minesweeper

Start a game. Click the right mouse buttons & the left mouse button together. While clicking both buttons press Escape. The timer has stopped. Play as slow as you want.