Cool Characters

Alt Keyboard Sequences

Character Sequence backspace† Alt 8 tab† Alt 9 line break† Alt 10 ¤ Alt 15 ¶ Alt 20 § Alt 21 paste† Alt 22 space† Alt 32 ! Alt 33 " Alt 34 # Alt 35 $ Alt 36 % Alt 37 & Alt 38 ' Alt 39 ( Alt 40 ) Alt 41 * Alt 42 + Alt 43 , Alt 44 - Alt 45 . Alt 46 / Alt 47 0 Alt 48 1 Alt 49 2 Alt 50 3 Alt 51 4 Alt 52 5 Alt 53 6 Alt 54 7 Alt 55 8 Alt 56 9 Alt 57 : Alt 58 ; Alt 59 < Alt 60 = Alt 61 > Alt 62 ? Alt 63 @ Alt 64 A Alt 65 B Alt 66 C Alt 67 D Alt 68

Character Sequence E Alt 69 F Alt 70 G Alt 71 H Alt 72 I Alt 73 J Alt 74 K Alt 75 L Alt 76 M Alt 77 N Alt 78 O Alt 79 P Alt 80 Q Alt 81 R Alt 82 S Alt 83 T Alt 84 U Alt 85 V Alt 86 W Alt 87 X Alt 88 Y Alt 89 Z Alt 90 [ Alt 91 \ Alt 92 ] Alt 93 ^ Alt 94 _ Alt 95 ` Alt 96 a Alt 97 b Alt 98 c Alt 99 d Alt 100 e Alt 101 f Alt 102 g Alt 103 h Alt 104 i Alt 105 j Alt 106 k Alt 107 l Alt 108 m Alt 109 n Alt 110 o Alt 111 p Alt 112

Character Sequence q Alt 113 r Alt 114 s Alt 115 t Alt 116 u Alt 117 v Alt 118 w Alt 119 x Alt 120 y Alt 121 z Alt 122 { Alt 123 Alt 124 } Alt 125 ~ Alt 126  Alt 127 Ç Alt 128 ü Alt 129 é Alt 130 â Alt 131 ä Alt 132 à Alt 133 å Alt 134 ç Alt 135 ê Alt 136 ë Alt 137 è Alt 138 ï Alt 139 î Alt 140 ì Alt 141 æ Alt 145 Æ Alt 146 ô Alt 147 ö Alt 148 ò Alt 149 û Alt 150 ù Alt 151 ÿ Alt 152 ¢ Alt 155 £ Alt 156 ¥ Alt 157 P Alt 158 ƒ Alt 159 á Alt 160 í Alt 161

Character Sequence ó Alt 162 ú Alt 163 ñ Alt 164 Ñ Alt 165 Alt 166‡ Alt 167‡ ¿ Alt 168 ¬ Alt 170 ½ Alt 171 ¼ Alt 172 ¡ Alt 173 « Alt 174 » Alt 175 ¦ Alt 179 ß Alt 225 µ Alt 230 ± Alt 241 ° Alt 248 • Alt 249 · Alt 250 ² Alt 253 € Alt 0128 „ Alt 0132 … Alt 0133 † Alt 0134 ‡ Alt 0135 ˆ Alt 0136 ‰ Alt 0137 Š Alt 0138 ‹ Alt 0139 Œ Alt 0140 ‘ Alt 0145 ’ Alt 0146 “ Alt 0147 ” Alt 0148 – Alt 0150 — Alt 0151 ˜ Alt 0152 ™ Alt 0153 š Alt 0154 › Alt 0155 œ Alt 0156 Ÿ Alt 0159 ¨ Alt 0168

Character Sequence © Alt 0169 ® Alt 0174 ¯ Alt 0175 ³ Alt 0179 ´ Alt 0180 ¸ Alt 0184 ¹ Alt 0185 ¾ Alt 0190 À Alt 0192 Á Alt 0193 Â Alt 0194 Ã Alt 0195 Ä Alt 0196 Å Alt 0197 È Alt 0200 É Alt 0201 Ê Alt 0202 Ë Alt 0203 Ì Alt 0204 Í Alt 0205 Î Alt 0206 Ï Alt 0207 Ð Alt 0208 Ò Alt 0210 Ó Alt 0211 Ô Alt 0212 Õ Alt 0213 Ö Alt 0214 × Alt 0215 Ø Alt 0216 Ù Alt 0217 Ú Alt 0218 Û Alt 0219 Ü Alt 0220 Ý Alt 0221 Þ Alt 0222 ã Alt 0227 ð Alt 0240 õ Alt 0245 ÷ Alt 0247 ø Alt 0248 ü Alt 0252 ý Alt 0253 þ Alt 0254

If you want to type a cool character, using an Alt keyboard sequence:

1. Ensure that the Num Lock key has been pressed, to activate the numeric key section of the keyboard.
   
2. Press the Alt key, and hold it down.
   
3. While the Alt key is pressed, type the sequence of numbers (on the numeric keypad) from the Alt code in the above table.
   
4. Release the Alt key, and the character will appear.
   

There are some gaps in the numerical sequence of Alt character codes, because either those elements do not exist, or they are duplicates of elements listed elsewhere.

* Some word processing programs will not recognize these Alt functions.

Another Cool Windows Vista Keyboard Trick

For all I know, this may have been around since Windows XP, but I only recently discovered it on my Windows Vista RC1 machine.

The buttons in your Quick Launch bar are keyboard accessible using the Windows key () and a number.

So, with this Quick Launch setup:

I can quickly and easily get to Outlook by typing +3.

Very cool!

5 cool Windows XP tips

By Kleber Stephenson

These tips are from the book, Windows XP KillerTips by Kleber Stephenson ISBN 073571357X Copyright © 2003 All Rights Reserved Published here with the permission of Pearson Education, Inc.

Straight from the pages of Windows XP Killer Tips, here are 5 cool tips that will save you time, change the way your desktop looks, or simply make you say, "I always wondered how to do that."

Try them yourself and then share them with your family and friends.

Stretching the taskbar

Sometimes your taskbar gets a little tight and cramped for room. When this happens, give it a stretch.

First, unlock your taskbar by right-clicking the taskbar, and then clicking Lock the Taskbar if it is selected (this will un-select it). Scroll your mouse over the top edge of the taskbar until you see the vertical resize cursor (arrow pointing up and down). Click, hold and drag the top of the taskbar up. Isn't that better? Once you find a place where you like it, you should re-select Lock the Taskbar.

Adding a special character

There are probably one or two special characters that you use regularly (for example, ® and ©). It can be a real time-waster to open your Character Map every time you want to insert one of these symbols. So don't! Open the Character Map by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, and then clicking Accessories. Click System Tools, and then click Character Map. Click the © symbol. Notice that the bottom-right corner of the Character Map shows the keyboard shortcut used to insert the special character. Write it down for later use. When you want to insert that character, here's the trick: Position the cursor where you want to insert the special character, then with NUM LOCK key on, hold down the ALT key and use the number pad keys to type the character value.

Open files with one click

It just makes sense that if you can do the same thing in Windows with a single click of the mouse that you can do with two clicks, you'd take the shorter route, right?

If you want to change your two clicks to one, click Start, click My Computer. Under the Tools menu, click Folder Options. Now click the General tab in the dialog box, click Single-click to open an item (point to select), and then click OK. This makes everything in Windows exactly one click faster.

Change your pointer scheme

The first thing I do when I get a new computer is head straight for the cursors and change them. It's not that the default ones are bad; I've just been using the same ones forever and I'm not comfortable using anything else. If you want to change your pointer scheme, click Start, and then click Control Panel. In Category View (vs. Classic View) click on Printers and Other Hardware, and then click on Mouse. Click the Pointers tab and browse the available themes. Select the one that suits you best, and then click OK.

Change the power button

I rarely ever shut down my computer; instead, I tend to put my system into stand by mode. Here's a clever way to speed up this task and make your computer's power button put your computer into stand by for you. Click Start and open the Control Panel. In Category View, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Power Options. In the Power Options Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab. Under Power Buttons, select Stand by in the When I press the power button on my computer area, and then click OK. Now, when you push your computer's power button, your system will immediately go to stand by.

Cool Things You Can Do With Google

No one would argue the fact that Google is one of the most useful sites on the Internet. Unfortunately, most people only use about 3% of its power.

Smart Google users, on the other hand, know how to turn Google into a quick calculator, translate foreign sites, create their own customized search engine, and search for movie reviews and stock quotes with special search queries. In this article, we’ll show you how to do all of that and more.

Turn Google Into a Quick Calculator
Google enables you to perform a number of math operations includingaddition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and percentages.All you have to do is use some calculator operators, which include:

• + (addition)
• - (subtraction)
• * (multiplication)
• / (division)
• % of (percentage of)
• ^ (raise to a power)

Here a few example queries to get you started.

23 + 34

120-43

36*20

27/3

36% of 134

3^9 (3 to the 9th power)

Take Notes while Browsing the Web with Google Notebook.

This note taking application allows you to organize all of your online research quickly and easily. With Google

Notebook, you can clip text, images, and links from web pages while browsing. Your notes and clips are saved to an online “notebook” that you can access from any computer, and may also be shared with others. So whether you’re planning a vacation or writing a school paper, Google Notebook makes it easy. To get started, go to Google Notebook’s main site.

Translate Foreign Sites

A large portion of the web sites on the Internet are not in English. This means that you’re missing out on a big portion of the Web. Fortunately, Google has provided a solution.

First, translate the word you want to search for into the desired language. You can do this at BabelFish. Next, go to Google, enter your search query, and press enter.

On the results page, you should see a link that says, “Translate this page” to the right side of the search results. Click on that link and Google will automatically translate the page to Englishfor you.
I have used just this one tip to discover a number of great new sites that I never would have had access to if it weren’t for Google’s translation tools.

Looking for Movie Reviews?

Google’s got you covered. Simply go to http://www.google.com/movies and type in your favorite movie.

Google also has lots of specialized search portals catered to technology enthusiasts.

Are you a Mac junkie? Google will allow you to search for all things related to Mac and Apple at http://www.google.com/mac.

Search for all things Microsoft at http://www.google.com/microsoft/.

Not a Microsoft fan? Google’s got a special Linux search engine waiting for you at http://www.google.com/linux.

Forget the Weather Channel.

Who needs television when you’ve got Google? To get your local weather, simply go to www.google.com and type in weather:”areacode”. Fill in your area code and you will be given a 4-day weather forecast and today’s temperature, wind, and humidity.

Looking For a Stock Quote?

Find it quickly at Google by typing in: “stocks:msft”. This search query will give you a quick snapshot of Microsoft’s stock performance. To find other stock information, just change the stock symbol.

Create your own Customized Google Search Engine.

Google is allowing everyone to join in the fun with Google Custom Search Engines. This Google product allows anyone to create their very own search engine.

You get to choose the sites, invite others to contribute to your search engine, and even customize the look and feel to suit your preferences.

You could make your very own customized search for jobs, videos, digital camera reviews, and more. The possibilities are endless.

Start building your own search engine at http://google.com/coop/cse/.

Hidden Google Pages

There are also a number of hidden pages on Google that you’ve probably never seen before. Here are just a few of them:

Google Moms - A tribute to Google moms for Mother’s Day.

Google Dance 2004 , Google Dance 2005 and Google Dance 2006. Yes, it’s hard to believe, but Google has their very own dance. They’re packed with plenty of food, drinks, games, product demos, and a hotspot where you can meet the engineers.

Dilbert and the Google Logo - Check out the first and last Dilbert cartoon on Google.

The Future of Google
Google always has new ideas brewing in the Google Labs. Everything from Experimental Search to Google Voice Local Search. Find out what they’re up to at http://labs.google.com. Play around with their prototypes and then send in some feedback. Who knows, maybe we’ll see your ideas in the next Google tool.

Source: lifehack

How To: Extend Your Laptop Batteries Life

0% If cats have nine lives, a laptop battery probably has, well...less than one. In fact, they typically die a young, tragic death, one that has you muttering, "what a shame, they were too young to go."
Consumerist breaks out a few rules for giving your battery a few extra cycles and allows it to live until we're ready to retire it to the warm sunny beaches of Florida (well..the local recycling center, hopefully.)
Here's what we learned from Consumerist:• Keep the temperatures out of the extreme range by keeping your laptop in a nice normal temperature. Don't leave it out in less than 40 degree weather, and keep it from overheating. This means, keep it off of the couch, or anywhere that doesn't allow air to circulate and keep it cool, that means even your lap for long periods of time. (Consider buying one of these.)

• Kill the battery once a month. Letting the battery completely empty and recharging it is supposed to be good for it. Old wives tale or fact? We're still a bit skeptical.
• Make sure you use your laptop at least once a month. (Not a problem here.) But good to remember for other battery-powered electronics lying around your house.
What's your favorite method of trying to stretch out your batteries life?
Thanks Moooster for the photo of the laptop's arch nemesis, the cat chewing its power cord..

Source: unplggd

Convert a Broken Hard Drive Into Secret Storage

Got a broken hard drive, but don't want to pay to recycle it? Do what this guy did and turn your dead drive into a storage box...

If you take out the guts and add a couple of hinges you've got the perfect place to stash your valuables. Perhaps he's discovered the modern day version of the cut-out secret book. Who's going to think to look inside an old hard drive?

Source: unplggd

Card Drive U510

32 gigabytes in your wallet. The Card Drive u510 is a 2007 IDEA bronze award winner in the computer equipment category. Going against the trend of stubby stick style USB drives, the U510 manages to cram 32 gigabytes into a flat and slim credit card sized device. A flat USB connector slides out of the back when you need to plug it in, otherwise it retracts and remains hidden for easy storage.
Although the award page lists the 32 GB version, it seems that the 16 GB version is the biggest available right now. You can get it here for $158.99