Google Docs is slowly evolving into a set of extremely useful tools and applications. Even though it may not be able to compete on every level with Microsoft Office or the other major office suites, Google is doing a good job of adding useful functionality at a steady pace.

A lot of useful functionality does still get overlooked, even by regular users. Here are some underrated features in Google Docs that you may not even know about.
Publish to Blog from Google Docs

One of the best things about Google Docs is the ability to share documents. What most people don’t know is that you can publish documents directly to your blog.

1. Once you’ve saved your post, click on Share, and then choose Publish as a web page.

2. On the Publish this document page, click on the change your blog site settings link.

3. On the Blog Site Settings page, fill in your blog settings, User Name and password.

4. Once you’ve verified that Google Docs can connect to your blog (use the Test button), click OK.

5. When you’re ready to post your document, click the Post to blog button, and then click OK on the confirmation dialog box.

Your document should appear on your blog. You may have some minor formatting issues depending on the complexity of the document, but being able to post to your blog directly from a good online word processor is worth the trouble, and saves you the extra work of having to copy and paste everything to your blog editor.
Bulk Upload All File Types

Google recently changed their policy to allow you to upload any type of file you would like up to 250mb. Previously you were restricted to typical office file types which Google Docs converted to its native format upon upload.

Now you can use Google Docs to store important files, which is really handy when you’re on the road, or when you need to access files from multiple computers.

1. From the main Google Docs dashboard, click Upload.

2. Click on the Select Files to upload link.

3. Select the files you would like to upload and click Select.

4. A list of the files you’ve chosen to upload will be displayed. If you would like your documents converted to Google Docs format (from Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.), click the checkbox next to Convert documents, spreadsheets & presentations to Google Docs format.

If you would like to save the files to a folder, choose the folder from the drop-down menu. When you are ready, click Start upload.

5. Once your files are loaded, Google Docs will display a check mark next to them.

These are just two of the lesser known Google Docs functions that can really improve your productivity and mobility. With these tools you know that you can post to your blog and access the files you need from anywhere at any time.

You may have noticed that Windows 7 has a default country theme. For example, the Windows 7 that I bought has a United States theme listed under Aero Themes. But, it also has several other country themes stored in hidden files. Here is how you can access them.

Start by opening up Windows Explorer. Once opened, look for the Organize button located in the upper left side of the window on the top toolbar.

Click the Organize button and select Folder and search options from the drop down menu. This should open up the Folder Options window. Click the View tab. Under the section labeled Advanced settings, look for the value Show hidden files, folders, and drivers and select it.

Next, look for the value Hide protected operating and uncheck it. If prompted with a popup window click Yes, than click the OK button.

Browse to the path Windows\Globalization\MCT. Upon doing so, you should see five MCT- folders. Each folder represents a different country. Open up a folder of your choice, and open up the Theme folder located inside the according country folder.

You should see that country’s theme as AU, CA, GB, US, ZA, etc… Double click the theme to activate it and add it to your Windows 7 themes library.

Active any or all themes that you would like to install by clicking the according theme files via the MCT folders. After you have checked out the new themes, go ahead and change the Globalization settings back for Windows.

Launch Windows Explorer. Click the Organize tab and select Folder and search options from the drop down menu. Click the view tab and reselect Don’t show hidden files, folders, and themes. Also reselect Hide protected operating system files. Click the OK button.

That’s all there is to it. You should now have several new country themes available in your Windows 7 themes library. Right-click on your desktop and select personalize. You should now see your new themes listed.

Want to check out some more themes that Microsoft has released? Head on over to this page http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/personalize. Just find a theme you like and click the download button next to that theme.

It will save to your computer as a Windows 7 theme file. Double click the theme to activate and add to your theme library.

If you got C00D11D2 error and "Windows Media Player cannot access the file; you might not have access to the computer where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct" error, this indicates problems in Windows registry.

This problem can prevent you from viewing stream audio/video or just windows media files.

To solve this problem preform next steps:

1. Go to Control Panel > Sound and Audio Devices > Sound Tab.

2. Save the scheme to your choosing. Then Load this most recently saved scheme.

3. Log Off and then log on again.

Then perform the following steps:

4. Download and install Perfect Optimizer tool. Click on the link PerfectOptimizer.exe (5.63 mb).

5. Click the Repair All button. This will scan the PC for problems.

6. Click Repair All button again and the problem should be fixed now.

P.S. There is another probable solution of the problem: System Restore to the date before the problem appeared.

Word 2007 allows us to add almost any kind of file to a Word document—even sound files.  The commands to do this are buried deep within the recesses of the insert menu, but once discovered, they can bring music to the dullest of documents.

First, move your cursor to the place in your document where you want the sound file to appear.  Then, click the insert tab at the top of the screen.

Click the the text icon, and choose object.

In the window that opens, click create from file.

Click browse and find the sound file you want to add to your document.  Once you have found and opened the file, click ok.

Your sound file will now appear in your document with a speaker icon.  If you click the speaker icon, your song will play.

Besides adding music to your documents, a more practical use for this tool might be adding spoken dialogue to explain things where vocal tone is more effective than the written word.  Whatever you use this trick for, remember sound files can be quite large, and will add download time if emailing your document.

The problem is that when you insert any usb device: memory card, HDD, usb-stick, mouse or keyboard ,- the PC freezes. Nothing can be done to unfreeze it, except manually rebooting PC by pressing reset button on the case. The problem is very common and spread among Windows users, and it can be fixed in few approaches.

I. Enable/(Start) Universal Plug & Play Device Host service in Windows services.

II. The second approach is to remove and reinstall all USB controllers.

1.Go to Start > Run > type in: 'sysdm.cpl' without quotation marks and press Enter.

2. Navigate to Hardware tab and click on Device Manager button.

3. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.

4. Right click every device under Universal Serial Bus controllers node, and then click Uninstall to remove one at a time.

5. Restart the PC and then reinstall the USB controllers.

6. Plug in USB storage device into USB-port, make sure the issue is resolved.

III. The third approach relies on a registry fix (this fix will also work if the usb-device doesn't show up in My Computer):

1. Go to Start > Run > type in: 'regedit' without quotation marks. Press Enter.

2. In the opened window navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

2. On the right pane, find and locate the problem device letter, which corresponds to problem device, delete this registry entry:

Note: The registry key should have the name that resembles the format of \DosDevice\X: where X can be any alphabet letter which corresponding to your physical system drive letter. 

Microsoft Outlook Express allows you to create automatic signatures which can be added to your e-mails. It is a good way to save time, efforts and add unique signature to any kind of the e-mails.

To Add E-Mail Signatures In Microsoft Outlook Express perform steps below:

1. Open Outlook Express > navigate to [Tools] > [Options...] > [Signatures] tab.

2. Decide what information you would like include in your signature: Name, E-Mail Address, Phone & Fax Numbers etc.

3. Type the text of your signature in the Text section below. Enter the text exactly how you want it to be displayed in Outlook Express e-mail.

4. Test created signatures by opening up a new email message. If you choose to add the signature automatically, it should appear. If you choose to manually add your signature, go to "Insert" on the menu and click on  "Signature".

5. Create as many signatures as you need for different purposes: work and personal, etc.

One of the handiest features in Outlook 2007 is the ability to send a poll to people in your contact list. Not only do you receive a response to your question from each individual, but Outlook even tabulates the results for you.

This means you can send email invitations for a dinner party and have your guests RSVP directly from your email. Of course, there are more practical business purposes too, like asking a group of employees how many of them need help with a project. The possibilities are endless.
Part 1: Sending a Poll

Open Outlook. Click New and then Message. In the window that opens, click the Options tab. Towards the middle of this window, click the button that says Use Voting Buttons.

A drop down menu appears. You can choose several answer possibilities, such as approve/reject, yes/no, yes/no/maybe, or create a custom answer. In our example, the question is Are you coming to dinner?, thus a yes/no/maybe answer is appropriate.

Address your message to the appropriate people in your contact list. Make sure to ask the question, either in the subject line or in the body of the email. Click Send.

Part 2: Answering the Poll

Everyone on your list receives a message with your question and a special option to vote just above the time sent stamp.

When the recipient clicks the Click here to vote link, they then select from your list of possible answers.

A window appears asking if they want to send the message now with just the vote, or edit the response. If a more extensive reply is needed, your recipient can make their reply by simply selecting Edit the response before sending.

Part 3: Tabulating the Results

After your recipients have replied, all that is left is to tabulate the results. To do this, go to your Sent Items folder and select your original message with the vote question. It has a special icon beside it.

In the message, click the View voting responses box.

A new window will open showing the results of your poll.

Please note: the voting function only works if your recipients are using Outlook. When tested in a web-based email account, the voting links did not appear.

Those of us who install or update our operating systems through downloads rarely remember to write down the product key. Or, if we do remember to write it down, you can almost bet we will misplace the Post-it where we scribbled it.

So, to save us all the heartache of not having that expensive product key in the event of a system crash, let’s all recover our Windows 7 or XP keys right now and save them to an external hard drive, or at least a USB drive. Here’s the easiest way to do it:

Go to WinKeyFinder.com and download the Simple Keyfinder. It is a very small 38k zip file. The product information says it works with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista, but we tested it in Windows 7 and it worked like a charm.

Double-click the zip file you just downloaded and choose extract all files at the top of the menu.

In the menu that appears, browse to choose a place for Simple Keyfinder to extract, then click extract at the bottom right off the window. Make sure the box is checked next to Show extracted files when complete.

A new window will appear listing the contents of the unzipped file. Double-click SimpleKey_Finder. If windows gives you a warning screen, click run.

This will open a window telling you your product key.

Don’t worry about writing it down—the program creates a text file containing the product key in the same folder where you extracted it. By default, the file is named WinKeyFinder_found_Key.

Save this file to an external hard drive or USB drive so you will have it if you need it. System crashes occur more often than any of us like to admit, but now we will all be prepared to restore our operating systems.

By default if you are not the member of a domain, Windows 7 periodically synchronizes your computer time with an Internet time server, time.windows.com. This way if your system clock loses a few seconds (or worse), Windows can periodically adjust it as necessary, helping prevent file synchronization problems with backups and other issues.

While many people appreciate the automatic synchronizations, others may have privacy issues with their computer periodically communicating with a public time server. Thus this synchronization can be disabled. Note that if you do so, you may find it important to occasionally manually adjust the system time.

1. Click on the taskbar clock and click "Change date and time settings" when the popup appears.

2. The "Date and Time" multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Click the "Internet Time" tab.

3. Click the "Change settings" button.

4. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, click "Yes".

5. The "Internet Time Settings" dialog box appears. Uncheck "Synchronize with an Internet time server".

6. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.

Here’s a list of Microsoft Word keyboard shortcuts that I have been using for years and that I thought I would share with the other billion Word users out there who may not readily use them. Word is amazing powerful and if you become well-versed in using the shortcuts, you can really save yourself a lot of time having to move your hand to your mouse in order to right-click or highlight text.

Now I’m not going to go through the really easy shortcuts like copy and paste as I am assuming you have used Word many times before reading this post!

1. CTRL + S – You might say “Well that’s one of those stupid ones!”, but it’s actually not! I don’t know why people do not save their documents quickly and easily using this shortcut! It would have saved many people lots of crying or frustration! Don’t go to File and then click Save, it’s a waste of time!

2. CTRL + A – Will select all of the text in the document. This is very useful when you have to change the font type or size for the entire document. You can use this one in combination with the others, such as CTRL + D to bring up the Font Format menu.

3. CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT ARROW – This one is my favorite as it allows you to select the last word you typed. This is useful if you messed up the last word and want to quickly re-type it without having to press backspace. You can keep pressing the arrow to select more words to the left.

4. ALT + CTRL + F - Adds a footnote at the current position of the cursor. Very useful when writing papers and having to cite your sources. At the end of the line, type the shortcut and the superscript will be created and you’ll be moved down to the bottom section where you can write your source info.

5. F7 – Starts up the proofing engine, which checks your spelling and grammar. No need to keep right-clicking on each red line! Then engine will go through all of the mistakes in the current document.

6. CTRL + 1, 5, or 2 – Pressing CTRL and then one of these numbers will automatically space the paragraph to either single (1), 1.5 (5) or double-space (2). You can use this one in conjunction with CTRL + A to double-space your entire doc.

7. CTRL + =, CTRL + SHIFT + = – Quick and easy way to go into subscript and superscript mode, respectively. Otherwise, you have to go through the Font dialog box, etc and that’s a real pain!

8. SHIFT + F7 – You can’t live without that thesaurus these days! You can use this one with CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT ARROW to highlight the word you just wrote and then bring up the thesaurus on the selected word!

9. CTRL + K – Will either take your highlighted text and make it into a hyperlink or will allow you to create your own hyperlink from scratch.

10. ALT + CTRL + M – Adds an annotation to your current text position. Great if you’re adding comments or notes to a document, then you don’t have to use the toolbar.

11. CTRL + M – Indents the paragraph by half an inch. Good for quotes or hierarchal outlines.

12. CTRL + P, F2- Brings up the print dialog box. F2 will bring up the Print Preview.

13. CTRL + L, E, or R – Aligns the line of selected text to the left, center, or right of the screen.

14. F4 – Repeats the last action performed. Very very useful when you have to change the same thing in multiple locations. Do it once and then press F4.

15. Alt + F4 - Close the Word program. Will prompt if you have not saved the file.

So start using some of the shortcuts and you’ll find things work a lot faster! It takes some time to get used to, but it’s worth it. The best way is to disconnect your mouse and force yourself to use keyboard shortcuts.