There are a number of ways to launch applications in Windows.
1. Use the Start Menu Bar
2. Click icons on the desktop
3. Use the Quick Launch Bar
The latter is the fastest. Make sure the Quick Launch Bar is enabled in the Taskbar and Start Menu control Panel. It will then appear as a bar on the bottom of the screen. Just drag the icons of your most frequently used programs onto it and click these icons to launch. Here is my Quick Launch Bar.....guess the icons!

From The Scotsman

THE number of seven to ten-year-olds with a mobile phone has almost doubled in the past three years, according to a survey published today.
In 2001, 13 per cent of primary schoolchildren owned a phone. By the start of this year, the number had increased to 25 per cent. The findings come from a survey of 2,000 seven- to ten-year-olds from the market analysts Mintel.
Jenny Catlin, a consumer analyst at Mintel, said: "Many parents find it reassuring to be able to get in touch with their children at any time and some consider mobiles important for their children’s safety.
"Children in one-parent households are more likely to have their own phone. This may be because these children have more complex lifestyles, especially if they are in regular touch with their non-resident parent.
"They may need a phone more to help with the logistics of moving between two households."

Lately, there has been a lot of interest in capturing broadcast television and converting old VHS home movies to a more timeless digital format, such as VCD, SVCD, and DVD. As more and more people become interested, it becomes increasingly difficult to educate everyone on how to do this properly. Technology site, Ars Technica, have produded the first part of the Ars Technica Guide to Video Capturing, Cleaning, and Compression:. A fairly technical read... take your time.

As computers become faster and disk storage space becomes larger, we are able to more deftly manipulate digital data taken from analog mediums and frequently "improve" the original analog content using various techniques in the digital world. This series of guides will take you through an introductory course on the proper techniques of capturing analog video, cleaning up the video capture, and encoding the digital video into various new formats so that the original analog content can live on into the 21st Century.

This guide is the first part in a 3-part series and will cover Video Capture on a Windows PC using the (very affordable) Hauppauge WinTV-dbx (401) card. If you do not have a WinTV card, don't feel left out. The principles and considerations discussed in this guide are also applicable to owners of ATI All-In-Wonder cards.

Not exactly high technology, but may be of use to some of you!

More info on this low-tech gadget at Banana Guard.

It is a sad fact of life that there are those who enjoy exploiting the concerns of others. Many emailed warnings about viruses are hoaxes, designed purely to cause concern and disrupt businesses.
Such warnings may be genuine, but this is rare. Always check the story out by visiting an anti-virus site before taking any action, including forwarding them to friends and colleagues. I use Hoaxbusters and Vmyths.

We moved house last week to Devon, hence the pause in Technology Tips postings. I am still awaiting Broadband installation and have had a few struggles with internet access as new phone lines had to be installed. I am now online reasonably securely at last. However, my technology frustrations have been more than compensated for by our amazing new location - the River Dart runs through our garden!

For over 100 tips on more effective and productive use of Windows, do check out Dijit's Tips. A goldmine of timesavers and FAQs.

Most web browsers allow you to decrease or increase the default font size that web pages are displayed in. In IE 6 goto View -> Text Size and select the size you are comfortable with. I go for a smaller size which also means more of a web page is displayed on my screen.