It’s time for another post about shortcut keys. This time I’m focusing on some of the shortcut keys that work on Windows. They should all work in most versions of Windows.
Shortcuts using the WINDOWS KEY
- Windows Key – Opens the Start Menu
- Windows +D – Minimizes open windows and displays the desktop. Use it again and it restores the open windows and returns you to the window you had open
- Windows +E – Opens Windows Explorer
- Windows +F – Opens search
- Windows +L – Locks the computer
- Windows +M – Minimizes all open windows
- Windows +R – Opens the Run dialog box
- Windows +T – Scrolls through anything open in your taskbar
- Windows +U– Opens the Windows Ease of Access Centre
- Windows +X – Opens the Windows Mobility Centre
- Windows+TAB – Scrolls through open programs just like Atl+Tab except with much larger thumbnails
The most useful Function Keys
- F1 – Opens Help for the current program
- F2 – Rename a highlighted file
- F4 – Repeat the last action performed
- F5 – Refresh or reload browser windows or desktop
- F6 -Highlights the address bar in browsers ready for typing
- F11 – Toggles Full Screen mode in browsers
Some other useful key combinations are:
- SHIFT + Delete – Deletes file without sending it to the recycling bin. Note: there is no coming back from this, so don’t use it unless you’re certain you want to delete the file.
- CTRL + ALT + Delete – Opens the Windows Security dialog which is where you access the Task Monitor
- CTRL + Shift + ESC – Opens Task Manager
- ALT + TAB – Scrolls through open programs displaying a thumbnail of each. The thumbnail you stop on is then bought to the front
- CTRL+ or CTRL- – Enlarges (+) and Shrinks(-) the display size of a webpage
- CRTL + 0 (zero) – Return to normal display size
- Shift + Print Screen – Take a screenshot
- Alt + Print Screen – Take a screenshot of the active window only
Do you have any other shortcuts that you couldn’t live without? Let me know in the comments!
