Tips #1

Alt-Cap-Backspace (some may have to do it twice in a row) is what’s called a “soft reboot”. If you’ve ever had your Blackberry hang or just take forever to do something, give this a go. The other option is to pull out the battery.

Now Alt-Cap-Backspace may work for some, others may have to do it once, which will reset the screen (and it goes black); then when something appears on your screen again hit Alt-Cap-Backspace again.

Tip #2

Along the lines of our Excel shortcuts, we’re going to start a series of helpful tips for Blackberry users.

Given that it’s hard for us to figure out what people do or don’t know with BB shortcuts and tips, don’t be too harsh as we start out.

The following tip should work for 8000 series+ Blackberries.

Shortcut: Alt + Escape (side button)

Purpose: Use to toggle out of whatever program you are in and into another program. You should see a strip pop up that offers a selection of different programs that you can use. It’s the equivalent of Alt + Tab in Windows.

Tips #3

Ever wonder just how good your reception is?

This tip, admittedly a basic one in the world of Blackberry geeks, changes your signal bars into a signal number.

Shortcut: Alt + NMLL (may be Alt +NNMLL for some models). To switch back, type the same sequence.

Purpose: The higher the number (dBm), the worse the signal and the more power your Blackberry consumes to send signals. 50 - 90 is operational; 90 - 100 spotty, I found.

Tip #4

Like Ctrl-Alt-Del for your BlackBerry

 Alt-Cap-Backspace (some may have to do it twice in a row) is what’s called a “soft reboot”. If you’ve ever had your Blackberry hang or just take forever to do something, give this a go. The other option is to pull out the battery.

Now Alt-Cap-Backspace may work for some, others may have to do it once, which will reset the screen (and it goes black); then when something appears on your screen again hit Alt-Cap-Backspace again.