1 Spice up desktop icons

Chuck the boring ones from Windows and download snazzy substitutes from hundreds of sites online.

Royalty-free ones at iconshock.com are a good try. Download a pack you want.

After that, simply click on the icon you want changed, for example, the calculator.

Click Properties, click Change Icon, and Browse for the icon, in this case, in the Download folder where you placed them. Click OK and click Apply.

Make sure you check that the site is genuine; you do not want to download a virus instead.

2 Go tabbing

If you do not know this already, go windowless when browsing. Use tabs instead.

Hit Ctrl T for a new tab (in both Firefox and Internet Explorer). This way, you can have as many Web pages as you want without opening separate windows that clutter the taskbar. Press Ctrl W to close a tab. Hit Shift Ctrl T to reopen the closed tab.

Also, give that mouse hand a rest with keyboard shortcuts for frequently used commands. Hit Ctrl L to jump to the address bar, where you can type in the URL and Ctrl K to get into the Search box (for Firefox).

3 Create a personal letterhead

Put your personal stamp on Word documents by creating a template, say, a personal letterhead.

Go to the Template folder (look under Documents and Settings in the Local Disk, usually the C drive). Click on a template icon (it has an orange bar across the top).

In the Word template or master copy that opens, type in all the personal bits you want.

For instance, name, cellphone number and e-mail at the top right corner of a header and an inspirational message in the footer. Add a visual if you like. There is no end to what you can tweak - from inserting page numbers to formatting a watermark.

Under File, select Save As and name the template, for example, seashell-lttrhd. Next, go back to the template in the Template folder and right-click on it to Create Shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut and paste it on the desktop.

Now, every time you double click on the Word icon on the desktop, your personalised letterhead pops up.

4 Never forget a task - use a sticky

Now that we live our lives in front of the computer, stickies have replaced paper to-do lists.

A useful one is Stickies by Zhorn Software. Download it from www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/. The icon sits on the QuickLaunch bar. Click it once and a yellow window pops up. You can create up to 32 stickies.

Right-click the icon to manage the stickies - save them and lock them so you do not accidentally erase an important reminder list. Right-click to personalise too: tweak it not only for fonts and colour but to sound alarms, for example, to take that vitamin pill.

5 Create desktop Shutdown icon

Right-click anywhere on the desktop and click on New, then Shortcut.

A Create Shortcut window pops up.

In the box, type: 'shutdown -s -t 00'.

Click Next. In the box called 'Type a name for this shortcut', type a brief name or leave the default 'shutdown.exe' alone. Click Finish.

You will see an icon that says shutdown.exe.

Right-click on it, click Properties, choose the Shortcut tab. Click Change Icon and browse through the selections that you see.

Usually, it is a red button.

The next time you power down, it is just one double-click instead of the usual three steps from the Start button.

6 Toggle between programmes

Alt+Tab and Shift+Alt+Tab: For laptop users, this is faster than dealing with fingers and a touchpad to scroll though open programmes.

To alternate quickly between open applications, hit Alt and Tab keys at the same time. A list of icons of all open programmes will be shown.

Holding on to Alt, keep tapping the Tab key to cycle through the open applications. When the one you want is highlighted, let go of both buttons and that program will appear on screen.

By holding Shift+Alt and hitting Tab, the cursor moves backwards instead of forward.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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