A few great shortcut keys that are great computer tricks are:
- Hold the windows key and press M
This will minimise all windows in one key press! This is the same as pressing the 'Show Desktop' icon but without having to click on it. It should be noted that Windows key + D also works for this! - Hold the windows key and press L
This will lock your workstation instantly. This means that if you are in a public place or a shared machine and go for a toilet break but do not wish for anyone to sneak a peak at what you are doing, or at worst steal yourfiles, then this will take you back to the login screen instantly.Very handy indeed! - Hold alt then press F4
This is quite a common one but should be mentioned here anyway. This key press will close your current window. If your screen is getting cluttered you can go on a 'close rampage' by holding down the F4 key as well! Good times! - Hold ctrl then press F4
The junior brother of alt F4. Instead of closing the whole window this will close internal windows within the current program. For example if you have multiple windows open in one instance of Microsoft Word this will close them one at a time. The best part is this works for the tab browsing that has come in to play in recent browsers. The key press closes the active tab you are viewing! This is one of the best computer tricks I find when browsing as it is really effective for FireFox for closing tabs. - Hold alt and press tab
This will cycle between programs on your computer. This feature isn't that useful until you install this nice little Microsoft tool which will show a thumbnail of the program your about the switch to. If you don't wish to activate the selected program keep holding down alt and press tab again to cycle to the next one! - Hold the windows key and press break
A lesser known shortcut but still useful! This one will open the System Properties dialog window which displays your RAM etc.
- Hold the windows key and press EThis will open 'My Computer' in explorer style mode. This is very handy if you want to access your files and disk drives from anywhere without having to find the icon on the desktop or start menu.
- Custom Shortcut Keys!
Another lesser known trick is setting up your own custom key presses. This works for a per-program basis. To setup a shortcut key to your favorite program first you need to right click on the shortcut icon you commonly use and then press on properties. Click on the Shortcut' tab and there will be a text field called 'Shortcut key'. Simply click in that and enter the key press you wish to use. Press OK and that key press is permanently associated with that program. This is very handy for many things such as opening word or opening your favorite game!
