The last selection tip I have for you is a very common and quick way to select everything in a text area or icon window: Select All.  Select All usually (if the developer is being good) appears in the Edit Menu.  But it’s much faster to invoke using the keyboard shortcut, command + A.

By the way, that is the normal convention for describing a keyboard shortcut and says, “hold in the command key and press the letter A,” while this, ⌘A, is how it will actually appear in the menu next to the command.  When you see these kind of symbols next to options in a menu, they are telling you what the keyboard shortcut for that command is.  As you learn them you will find you move about the computer much faster than when always using the mouse to go up to the menu.  These are the shortcuts that enable power users to move so quickly by not having to take their hands off the keyboard while working.