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MSN
Toolbar empties the Desktop
Ever fancied an empty, uncluttered
desktop? I know I'd rather look at my bike than see all those icons littering
the screen. Well here it is, thanks to the new MSN Toolbar and Desktop Search. 
With the new MSN
Desktop Search Toolbar
comes a user configurable shortcut facility.
Once downloaded and installed,
using the Windows Toolbar type in the " ! " character. A box
will open with the standard shortcuts loaded. Remove
the "!" and type in "winword" and hit
return - up comes MSWord. 
Type in "calc" and up comes the calculator. In my opinion, I
wouldn't want to type so many letters so using the user config I now have my major
programs, files and internet pages starting from using 2-3 key strokes.
To
configure a shortcut type in @ the shortcutname ,= and the path
eg:
I wanted excel for instance so I typed in @xl,=EXCEL.EXE . 
Now with two key strokes
"xl" typed in the MSN
Search Box I can get rid of the EXCEL icon on my desktop.
Looking at the rest of my desktop I started playing. I now have- ol
for Outlook
@ol,="C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start
Menu\Programs"
ie for Internet Explorer
@ie,="C:\Program
Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" wd
for MSWord
@wd,=winword.exe
dw for Dreamweaver
@dw,="C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver.exe"
ar
for Acrobat reader
@ar,="C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe"
sk for SKYPE
@sk,="C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe
ftp for CUTEFTP
@ftp,="C:\Program Files\Cute\CUTEFTP.EXE
and so on, (path names
will differ from machine to machine). Then I thought about some of the online
stuff I use like AltaVista's translator, so now I have tl
for Translate
@tl,=http://babelfish.altavista.com/
bbc
for BBC
@tl,=http://www.bbc.co.uk Some
will no doubt say this sort of thing has been available to "power users"
for years, in the form of the Run command. My response would be that the Run command
isn't quite this simple, intuitive or versatile.
I know
I'm a MSN Search Champ, but all that means is I've been playing with this for
longer than most. This may well be more of a "power user thing"
than the average user, but if Microsoft were to introduce more two and three character
shortcuts as standard who knows maybe we'll all have empty desktops.
Here's to a tranquil uncluttered life... 
M.P | 
