Users who are interested in finding out how spell checking will work in Internet Explorer 10 can head over to the test drive website to find out right now. Microsoft has created a test page where users can test Internet Explorer 10′s spell checking capabilities. The page works only if you run Internet Explorer 10 on the Windows 8 Platform Preview. It won’t work in other web browsers or on other operating systems.

Internet Explorer 10 will not only support spell checking but also auto correction of text which works identical to that of Microsoft’s Office suite.

The test demonstrates the web browsers following capabilities:

Auto-Correction: When you enter a misspelled word in a text area form Internet Explorer 10 may auto-correct the entered word while you may continue to type in the form.

Spellcheck: Words that are not spelled correctly will be underlined in Internet Explorer 10 just like they are in other web browsers that are already supporting spell checking. A right-click on an underlined word displays the suggest correction in the context menu where it can be selected. A right-click on an auto-corrected word brings up the option to force the browser to ignore the word from now on to stop auto-correcting it.

The spelling correction uses Microsoft spellchecking engine and dictionaries. It is important to note that spell checking is by default only enabled for text area HTMl elements and not text boxes. Microsoft notes that web developers can override the defaults.

It is not clear if Internet Explorer 10 users will also be able to change the behavior of the web browser’s spell checking and auto-correction capabilities.

The integration of spell checking and auto-correction in Internet Explorer 10 is a step long overdue, especially when you consider that IE is used by many organizations as the primary browser.

Speed Typing is but one of the aspects of Direct Access, it is more of a workflow optimizer. At its core is the ability to identify commands that are entered by the user. This can be Microsoft Office 2007, Firefox or Notepad. Direct Access displays an overlay when a command gets recognized to provide a visual signal to the user. The command could then be executed by the user by pressing the associated hotkey.

Here are some examples: You can use Direct Access to create text abbreviations. To write Best Regards you could simply type br and hit the confirmation key which will automatically expand the text. Other possibilities include automatic spell checking as it is possible to define commands that do not a confirmation.

Text manipulation is but one of the possibilities that Direct Access offers. It can also be used to launch applications or websites. It is for example possible to launch an email client, Wikipedia or Skype with short commands that can be initiated anywhere. Commands are recognized anywhere, they just have to be typed on the keyboard. To make it clearer, no text input form is needed to write and start commands.

Want to startup the Windows Calculator? Just type calc and press shift afterwards anywhere. Want to display the Network Places in Windows? Type netw and shift to load that interface. Want to start the email client Thunderbird? Type tb and hit shift to load the email client.

Direct Access comes with a set of default commands that can be imported easily to help the user understand the software program. These default commands add all kinds of commands to the software. All examples given above are included in the default command set.

Before we explore the custom command creation we would like to let you know that you can download additional command packages from the website. This includes an html and control panel command set but also auto corrections for various languages like Spanish, German or French.

One of the main ways to increase the workflow is the custom command creation. It is possible to edit a default command in case you want to change the way the command is launched. Commands use various parameters depending on their purpose.

Auto-correction commands require only four parameters while application commands make use of seven. There are four types of commands that can be added to the software program: Autotext, Launch Application, Open Website and Send e-Mail.

To create a new auto-correction command one would simply add the correct phrase, the mistyped phrase and a description. Applications on the other hand require additional work. You need to specify the path, window style, abbreviation, option parameters and run in commands and if you want to use a confirmation key.

Direct Access makes use of a few shortcuts to streamline the process. Shortcuts are available to add the current application, the last executed command or to create a new autotext.

You can further optimize commands with the use of macros. Think of macros as advanced commands that do more than the execution of just one software program. Some examples include positioning the cursor after executing a command, inserting special characters or clipboard contents or nesting commands. The excellent online documentation explains all concepts extensively.

Direct Access increases the workflow almost instantly. The default command set that can be imported makes for a good start but the real strength is the ability to add custom commands that suite the needs of the user in front of the computer monitor.

The software program requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 and is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.

You can win one of eight licenses that have been donated by Andrea Nagar, the software developer. Just leave a comment and let us know how you would use this software.