Notepad is also helpful for stripping text formatting when you copy content from Web pages into your own business files. To open Notepad quickly, you can create a shortcut for it on your desktop.

Stupid question, and probably very easy answer. Basically, in XP, if I create a Notepad file on the Desktop, and name it something like 'index.html', the file shows up on the desktop as 'index ...

Microsoft is distributing new preview versions of the rudimentary text editor Notepad in the Insider channels. It now learns advanced text formatting and also allows Markdown-style input.