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<chapter id="tips">
<title>Useful tips</title>

<qandaset>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Reading documentation in &kde;</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>Pop up the <guilabel>Run Command</guilabel> window (<keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo> by
default) and type:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><command>man:<replaceable>command</replaceable></command> for man pages.  It
even unpacks on the fly if the man pages are gzipped.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem>
<para><command>info:<replaceable>command</replaceable></command> for info
pages.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem>
<para><command>help:<replaceable>kdeappname</replaceable></command> for &kde;
application help pages.</para>
</listitem>

</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>You can also enter any of these in the <guilabel>Location</guilabel> text
box in &konqueror;.</para>
<para>Or you can use the <application>&kde; Help Center</application> if you are using &kde;
2.  Simply start the <application>&kde; Help Center</application> by clicking on the icon (the blue
book with the yellow key) on the toolbar.  Once the <application>&kde; Help Center</application> has
loaded, the window on the left will contain an entry called
<guilabel>Unix manual pages</guilabel>.  Click once on this entry, and
you can browse through all the installed manual pages on your
system.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Move or resize windows quickly</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>To move a window, use <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<mousebutton>left</mousebutton></keycombo> mouse
button.  <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<mousebutton>right</mousebutton></keycombo> mouse
button will resize the window.  Last but not least, <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<mousebutton>middle</mousebutton></keycombo> mouse button
raises/lowers the window. The <application>&kde; Control Center</application>
allows you to change these mouse bindings.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Killing windows in &kde;</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>There is a standard keybinding (<keycombo
action="simul">&Ctrl;&Alt;&Esc;</keycombo>) 
that gives you a skull &amp; crossbones cursor.  Click that cursor on a
window to kill it.  The keybindings are viewable/changeable from the
<application>&kde; Control Center</application>.

<caution><para>Using this option kills the program forcibly. Data may be lost,
and some processes related to the program may remain active. Use only as a
last resort.</para></caution>
<!-- fixme: use only if necessary; processes might remain --></para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>What if something is so wrong that I can't even get the skull
&amp; crossbones cursor? How do I get out of a total lockup?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>These kind of locks tend to occur when an application locks up
while it has a so called <quote>mouse/keyboard grab</quote>. When that
happens you can try to select a virtual text console with <keycombo
action="simul">&Ctrl;&Alt;<keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo> and login. With the
following command you will get a list of all running processes:</para>

<screen><userinput>        <command>ps</command> <option>-aux</option> | <command>more</command></userinput></screen>

<para>By killing the process that has the mousegrab, your desktop will
come to life again. Unfortunately you can't see which process that is,
so you will have to find out through trial and error. To kill a process
use:</para>

<screen><userinput>        <command>kill</command> <option>-9</option> <replaceable>pid</replaceable></userinput></screen>

<para>Here <replaceable>pid</replaceable> is the process id of the
process, which is the first number on each line reported by
<command>ps</command> <option>-aux</option>.</para>

<para>You can switch back to the desktop with <keycombo
action="simul">&Ctrl;&Alt;<keycap>F7</keycap></keycombo> (or
<keycap>F8</keycap> through <keycap>F9</keycap> depending on your
operating system) to see if things work again. When you press
<keycombo action="simul">&Alt;<keycap>Tab</keycap></keycombo> you should get a
response from the window manager. If not, you need to get back to the
text console and try to kill another process.</para>

<para>Good candidates to kill are: the application you were working
with, &kicker;, &klipper; and &kdesktop;.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<!-- fixme: how to do in KDE2.x
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Switching window managers on the fly in &kde; 1.x</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>If you want to switch your window manager on the fly, type the
following into a terminal window: <command>kwmcom
go:<replaceable>blackbox</replaceable></command>.  This switches to
Blackbox, but you can substitute any window manager you like.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
-->

</qandaset>
</chapter>
