Holy smokes, that's annoying!

What the folks at Microsoft think of as “features” many other people regard as “annoyances.” Here’s how to fix a few.

There’s a lot to like about Office 2013, but the new start screen can be annoying. When I open a Word document, 99% of the time I just want to get to work. I don’t need to see every conceivable template.

You can disable all that and go straight to your Word document or Excel spreadsheet, just like we did in previous versions of Office. It’s easy.

• Start by opening a Word document, either an existing one or a new one; it doesn’t matter.
• Click on File | Options
• Click on the General tab if you’re not there already
• Near the bottom of that tab, clear the check mark next to Show the Start screen when this application starts
• Click on OK

That’s it! Now repeat the process for Excel and PowerPoint if you want to get right into those programs, too. Next time you open one of them, you’ll go right to your document, spreadsheet, or presentation.

Photo: Contributed

If ever you need the templates again, click on File/New and you’ll be right back there at the start screen.

If you use a web-based email account like Gmail, you should be using your browser to receive and send email, not a program like Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird. But when you click on an email address in your browser, you get a message that says there’s no program associated with that action, or you get an old email program that you once installed. Or in Windows 8.x you get the EXTREMELY ANNOYING Mail app that is just a piece of junk.

I hate it when that happens. You can either copy and paste email addresses into your Gmail, or you can just tell your browser to go to use Gmail when you click on an email address. Doesn’t that sound better?

This article shows you how to do it in the three most popular browsers, and also in Internet Explorer: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2682692/how-to-make-webmail-your-default-email-in-chrome-firefox-and-opera.html .
 

If you have a laptop or a Surface tablet, you can take it just about anywhere these days and find a wireless network to connect to. That’s actually pretty cool. But when you get back home to your desk, you might get a faster connection by connecting directly to your router with an Ethernet cable.

Oh, wait. You’ve tried that but the computer still connects to your slower WiFi? You can absolutely fix that by telling your laptop/tablet that it should always prefer a wired connection over WiFi. It’s easy.

• Access the Network and Sharing Center by searching on that term either in the Start Search bar in Windows 7 or on the Start Screen in Windows 8. (Or from either version, press WinKey +R and then type ncpa.cpl then press Enter to open the Network and Sharing Center.)
• If you don’t see the classic menu bar on top of that window, press the Alt key to reveal it
• Click on Advanced | Advanced Settings
• Click on WiFi
• Click on the green downward arrow to the right of Wi-Fi to bring Ethernet to the top of the list

And there you are. Your machine will always look first for an Ethernet connection and choose that when one is available.

Got a tip? Got a grievance? Send email to [email protected] and I’ll share with the other readers.

Do you need help with your computer? I'm here to help you and your home or business computer get along!

Cate Eales runs Computer Care Kelowna (http://computercarekelowna.com/) a mobile service helping home users and businesses get along with their computers. To arrange an appointment phone her at 250-764-7043. Cate also welcomes your comments and suggestions. Send email to [email protected].

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This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.