Many users of Word are not aware of a very simple, yet very effective, formatting tool called a page break. Page breaks do exactly as their name implies – inserts a break between pages. Too often I see people holding down the return button on their keyboard to fill a page with blank lines so that it splits across to a new page. This is possibly the absolute worst thing you can do in a document, since if you add more text to that page those blank lines will be pushed down onto the next page, creating whitespace at the top. It’s also a horribly inefficient way of getting a new page. To insert a page break in Word, simply put the cursor where the break should be inserted and press the CTRL + ENTER key combination. If you would like to see the breaks in the document, turn on show formatting in Word by either clicking the formatting ¶ button in the Word toolbar or pressing the CTRL + * key combination (as the * is above the 8 on the keyboard you may need to instead use the CTRL + SHIFT + 8 key combination). Pressing this key combination again will toggle formatting symbols off.

Recently Office 2010 Service Pack 1 was released which offers various feature enhancements and fixes for users of Office 2010. As is usually promoted it is a very good idea to keep up-to-date with all security patches and updates released for software on your computer, particularly system-critical and mission-critical software like Windows and Office, to ensure continuing smooth and secure operation. Office 2010 Service Pack 1 can be downloaded from the Microsoft website (office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/).

Often you may wish to display a Word document in full screen. This is particularly useful for presentations, primarily because the Word ribbon does occupy quite a bit of space on a projector that only runs at lower resolutions. It is quite easy to add a button to toggle full screen view into Word’s Quick Access Toolbar. Open Word then click the small triangle to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar (by default, the toolbar has a Save, Undo and Redo icon) and then select “More Commands…”. In the “Choose commands from” drop-down box, select “All Commands”. Locate “Toggle Full Screen View” in the list below, select it and press the “Add > >” button. Click OK to save and close. The Toggle Full Screen view button will now appear in the Quick Access Toolbar.

The iPhone has turned into one of the great all-time multipurpose devices and with the introduction of a 5-megapixel camera on the iPhone 4 that has significantly increased the usage of the iPhone as a mobile camera. However, a frequent question is how to download the photos from the iPhone onto a computer. Fortunately this is a relatively easy task. First, unlock the iPhone (if it is locked with a passcode) and then connect the iPhone to the computer. If you are using a Windows computer, go to “My Computer” and then double-click on “Apple iPhone” and you should be able to browse your photos and download them from the device. If you are using a Mac computer, open Preview and go to the “File” menu > “Import from Camera” and then follow the wizard to download the photos onto the computer.

A reader recently submitted a tip on how to keep widescreen LCD monitors free of dust when not in use. A pillowcase can often function as a perfect cover for LCD monitors. Cutting the pillowcase along one long horizontal end will allow it to slip over the top of the monitor, and for those who are proficient with a sewing machine could even sew the remaining open vertical end (traditionally where the pillow can be inserted) so that it fits neatly over the monitor with no unnecessary gaps. Just make sure that you turn the monitor off before placing the cover over the cooled down monitor otherwise the heat generated from the monitor could cause overheating or worse!