Please do feel free to leave a comment and add any of your favourite commands/tips/tricks. I must point out that I am using Windows 7 on this machine but I hope to point out which commands will work on older versions of Windows.
A couple of things to note at this point before we start. When I say the "Windows key" I mean
key. And when I say "Run" I usually mean pressing the Windows key + R
or go to the start button and on Windows 7 and Vista just type in the
command in the search bar and hit "Enter" or in older Windows Click on
"Start" and look for "run".When I say Windows (capital W) I mean the operating system while when I say window (lowercase w) I mean an application that is open or just anything that is open in general.
Now with the formalities out of the way here are some of the most used commands by me.
General Purpose Commands
These are commands that can usually be done from within any program and window and sometimes that commands actually work on the window that is in focus.
- Windows key + E: This porbably one of the most used shortcuts for me. It opens up a new Windows Explorer window. The location that the explorer is usually pointing towards is usually the "My Computer" one.
- Windows key + Num: This command is probably one that
sold Windows 7 to me. The idea is that you pin applications to your
start bar and then hitting the Window key along with the position of the
application you want to be opened will open the application. In my case
I have the following configuration.
So in my case Windows key + 1 would open up Firefox, Windows key + 2 would open up Internet Explorer
and so on. The maximum number of application you can pin to the start
bar does depend on your personal perferance but Windows + 11 will not
work to open the 11th application on your start bar, am just saying. - Windows key + Directional Arrows: Another one of those features that sold Windows 7 to me. When a window is in focus you can make it take up half of the screen by using Windows + Left direction arrow to make it take up the left half of the screen and Windows + Right direction arrow to make it take up the right side of the screen. In addition Windows + Up direction arrow will make the current window maximised and Windows + Down direction arrow will either minimise your window or restore it to its original size.
- Windows key + R: Opens up the Run dialogue box. This one might not be very important for a normal user but I tend to use this quit a bit even though its just to open up the command prompt. Some of the commands you can type into the Run dialogue are given later on in this post.
- Windows key + D: Not used as much by myself but I see the usefulness. This will show and hide your desktop. If there are windows open and covering the desktop then this shortcut will show you the desktop and if you press it again it will get the windows back up hiding the desktop. A funny thing though this command does not work if you manually minimise all the windows yourself and want to bring them back up.
- Windows key + M: This will simply just minimise all the windows showing you the desktop.
- Windows key + U: Opens up the utilities window. In Windows 7 this is the settings for the screen reader, mangifier and some other usability stuff, but in Windows XP this would open up the Control Panel so I would use it as a fast way of getting into the Control Panel.
- Windows key + P: Another one of the shortcuts I can no longer live without. On any Windows 7 and I think Vista machine hitting this key combo will bring up a dialogue for selecting the output of the monitor.
- Windows key + F: This is probably one of the most well known commands. This key combo opens up the search window to look for a file or folder on the computer.
- Windows key + L: This will lock the computer.
- Windows key + N: Focuses on the notifications. Probably most useful when the annoying bubble pops up instead of clicking on it just press this combo and voila.
- Windows key + X: This is one very useful command available in both Windows 7 and Vista. It opens up the "Mobility Center" although it works on desktops as well. It will let you do many things like change brightness, volume and set your battery profile.
--Update--
Since the time that I wrote this blog post I discovered one more shortcut. If you hold down the Windows key + the spacebar it will temporarily display your desktop. I personally dont have much use for it because I have absolutely no icon displaying on my desktop but there you go one more shortcut for you to show off with.
Hope this has been helpful and watchout for the followon of the shortcuts that are still to come and a bunch of useful Run commands that might actually let you do things slightly faster.
--/Update--
