Top 10 keyboard shortcuts everyone should know
Using
keyboard shortcuts can greatly increase your productivity, reduce
repetitive strain, and help keep you focused. For example, highlighting
text with the keyboard and pressing Ctrl + C is much faster than taking
your hand from the keyboard, highlighting the text using the mouse,
clicking copy from the file menu, and then putting your hand back in
place on the keyboard. Below are our top 10 keyboard shortcuts we
recommend everyone memorize and use.Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert
Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert
Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y
Undo
any change. For example, if you cut text, pressing this will undo it.
This can also often be pressed multiple times to undo multiple changes.
Pressing Ctrl + Y would redo the undo.
Ctrl + F
Pressing Ctrl + F opens the Find in any program. This includes your Internet browser to find text on the current page.
Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Tab
Quickly switch between open programs moving forward.
Tip: Press Ctrl + Tab to switch between tabs in a program.
Tip: Adding the Shift key
to Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Tab will move backwards. For example, if you are
pressing Alt + Tab and pass the program you want to switch to, press Alt + Shift + Tab to move backwards to that program.
Tip: Windows Vista and 7 users can also press the Windows Key + Tab to switch through open programs in a full screenshot of the Window.
Ctrl + Back space and Ctrl + Left or Right arrow
Pressing Ctrl + Backspace will delete a full word at a time instead of a single character.
Holding down the Ctrl key while pressing the left or right arrow
will move the cursor one word at a time instead of one character at a
time. If you wanted to highlight one word at a time you can hold down Ctrl + Shift and then press the left or right arrow key to move one word at a time in that direction while highlighting each word.
Ctrl + S
While working on a document or other file in almost every program pressing Ctrl + S saves that file. This shortcut key should be used frequently anytime you're working on anything important.
Ctrl + Home or Ctrl + End
Ctrl + Home will move the cursor to the beginning of the document and Ctrl + End will move the cursor to the end of a document.
Ctrl + P
Open a print preview of the current page or document being viewed. For example, press Ctrl + P now to view a print preview of this page.
Page Up, Space bar, and Page Down
Pressing either the page up or page down key will move that page one page at a time in that direction. When browsing the Internet pressing the space bar also moves the page down one page at a time.
Tip: If you are using the space bar to go down one page at a time press the Shift key and space bar to go up one page at a time.
Top 10 Windows 7 tips
Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts
Use the below Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts to make the most of your Windows 7 experience.
Windows key and the arrow keys
Pressing the Windows key and Left or Right arrow keys
will dock the window your viewing to the left or right-hand side of the
screen. Pressing the Windows key and the Up arrow will maximize a
window and pressing the Windows key and the Down arrow will resize and
then minimize the window.
Use Shift: To stretch a window
vertically, press the Windows key + Shift + the Up arrow. If you have
multiple monitors use the Windows key + Shift + the Left or Right arrow
keys to move the window to another monitor.
Windows key and plus and minus keys
If you ever need to zoom in or out of what is being displayed on your screen press the Windows key and the + (plus) or - (minus) keys. Pressing the plus zooms in and once zoomed in the minus will zoom out.
Clear all background programs
If you are not viewing a window in full screen and have other windows
open in the background clear all background open windows by pressing the
Windows key + the Home key.
Use the Windows 7 search
Find and run anything in Windows by using the Windows 7 search box. Click the Start orb
or press then Windows key and type the name of the program you want to
run or file you want to edit. Windows 7 will usually do a good job at
finding an exact match and simply pressing enter will execute that
program or open that file. If more than one match is found, use the up
and down arrow keys to select the file you want to open and then press
Enter.
Running as administrator:
Some programs may require administrator mode in order to function
properly. You can run any program as administrator from the search box
by typing the name of the program you want to run and then instead of
pressing Enter to run the program press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run as administrator. If you want to click and run a program as administrator hold down the Ctrl+Shift and then click the icon.
Take full advantage of the Taskbar
Pin programs to the Taskbar
All programs can be pinned to the Taskbar and allow easy access to your favorite programs without having to use the Start Menu. To Pin a program to the Taskbar right-click on the program or shortcut to the program and in the menu choose the Pin to Taskbar option. Alternatively you can also drag the icon to the Taskbar.
If you want to remove a pinned program, right-click on the Taskbar icon and click Unpin this program from the Taskbar. Alternatively you can also drag the icon off of the task bar and then click Unpin this program from the Taskbar.
Move the icons and pinned programs
Any pinned or opened program on the Taskbar can be moved and arranged.
Left-click on any icon on the Taskbar and drag it to the location you
want it to remain.
Windows key and a number
Pressing the Windows key and a number on the top row of your keyboard
open the Window corresponding to the open program on your Taskbar. For
example, in the picture below of the Windows 7 Taskbar, Firefox i the
first icon, Control panel is the second icon, and Adobe Photoshop is the
third icon. If the Windows key + 3 was pressed, Adobe Photoshop would
become the active window. To make it even easier arrange your icons (as
mentioned above) from left to right by most frequently opened.
Pin your favorite folder
If you frequently access the same folder (e.g. your favorites, my documents, Dropbox, etc.) pin the folder to the Windows Explorer
icon on the Taskbar. To do this drag your favorite folder to the
Taskbar until you see Pin to Windows Explorer. Once pinned, right-click
the Explorer icon to access that folder under the Pinned section.
Open a second instance
If you want to open a second instance or window of a program that is already open, press and hold the Shift key and then click the program icon on the Taskbar.
Get to the Desktop
Click the Desktop button on the far right edge of the Taskbar to get to the Desktop.
Customize the Notification area
Windows Vista and Windows 7 allow the Windows Notification area
(aka Systray) to be modified. By default, many of the icons shown in
the past are now hidden and give Windows a much cleaner look. Customize
this area to make icons show or not show by clicking on the up arrow
next to the icons and selecting Customize, as shown in the picture. Once in Customize you can choose what programs show, don't show, or only show notifications.
Improve the quality of your text
Use the Windows ClearType
Text Tuner to improve the overall quality of all text you read on your
screen. To start the ClearType Text Tuner click the Start Orb and type cttune.exe and press Enter.
Enable and disable Windows 7 features
Turn on and off Windows features by clicking Start, typing features and press enter. In the Programs and Features window on the left-hand column click Turn Windows features on or off and in the Windows Features box check or uncheck the features you want enabled or disabled.
Use the Reliability and Performance Monitor
View the reliability history of your computer by using the Reliability Monitor. Click the Start orb and type reliability
and press enter for View Reliability History. In the Reliability
Monitor, you'll be able to view the overall reliability of your computer
and be able to identify any past problems your computer has had.
If you want to view the performance of your computer in real time use the Performance Monitor.
Click the Start orb and type performance and press enter for the
Performance Monitor. In the Performance Monitor, you can view your
computers performance in real time or view a log of your systems
performance.
Re-enable underlined keyboard shortcuts
By
default, Windows 7 has the underlines for keyboard shortcuts like those
shown in the picture. To re-enable these underlines in all Windows
programs follow the steps below.
- Open the Control Panel
- In the Control Panel click Ease of Access
- In Ease of Access click Change how your keyboard works
- Finally, check the Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys and then click Ok.
Rename multiple files at once
To change the name of multiple files at once highlight all the files you want to rename in Windows Explorer and press the F2 key.
Type in the new name you want to use for all files and press enter.
Once done all files will be renamed to the name entered followed by a
unique number.
Install Windows Essentials
Install missing Windows software by installing
the free Windows Essentials software package that includes: Windows Live
Family Safety, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, SkyDrive for
Windows, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Live
Writer, and Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector.
