To highlight text - use the Shift key and the cursor arrows. Shift + Up or Down will select a line, Shift + Right or Left will select a letter. Add Ctrl and it will take a word or paragraph at a time.

         Whenever you have an open dialogue box e.g. the print box, use the Esc key to cancel and close it. If the option you want is highlighted - just hit enter to perform the command.

         In most Windows programmes, the shortcut to save is Ctrl + S. Train yourself to do this from time to time as you type - for extra protection. After a while, you will do it without thinking.

         The shortcut for copy (after you have highlighted the text) is Ctrl + C. Ctrl + X is cut and Ctrl + V is paste. Another alternative is to use the right mouse click.

         Ctrl + A will select all text in a document. If you then type any letter, all text will be replaced with that letter. To unselect text you have highlighted in error, hit one of the cursor arrows. This may take you to the top or bottom of the page, but no text will be deleted.

         To select a command from the drop down menus on your toolbar, hit the Alt key and the underlined letter of the menu you want e.g. Alt F opens the File menu. Then select the underlined character of the command to open the dialogue box e.g. P for Print.

         To go straight to the top of a document - Ctrl + Home. Ctrl + End will take you to the last line. Home and End alone will take you to the right and left of a line.

         The switch to bold text - use Ctrl + B. Ctrl + U will underline and CTRL + I will change to italics. Do this before you type, or highlight text already written and change it.

         To print hit Ctrl + P. The default settings will be selected. If that's what you want, simply hit enter to perform the function.

         Ctrl + F will find a word on your page. Or Ctrl + G will go to a particular word or page in your document. Both are under the Edit menu. The F5 key will also launch these commands.

         Ctrl + Z will undo your last action - useful if you accidentally delete something. It will step back several actions. Ctrl + Y will redo something if you go too far back with Ctrl + Z.

         Hit the F7 key to launch your spellchecker. Shift + F7 will launch your thesaurus.

         Most of the keyboard shortcuts for word for windows will work in other Windows applications e.g. Ctrl + P. Look in your menus - the keyboard shortcuts are written next to the commands they run.

         Ctrl + N will open a new document without closing the one you were working on. The same applies for Internet Explorer - a new explorer window will open without leaving the site you were on. By default it will go to the same site, but you can move on to another while still leaving the original open.

         If you have several applications or documents or web pages open, Ctrl + Tab will allow you to move between them without the mouse.

         Use Page Up and Page Down to move through your document a screen display at a time. Ctrl + Page Up and Page Down will take you a document page at a time.

         If your printer is spitting out an extra blank page, you probably have a lot of extra carriage returns at the bottom of your last page. Hold down Shift and arrow down until it will go no further - then delete the selected blank lines.