Keyboard Shortcuts

Some people are happy to use their mouse for everything. Some of us prefer to be able to do things without the mouse once in a while. Windows has more than a few built in "keyboard shortcuts" that enable you to turn on various software with a couple of quick key strokes and you can create more if you like. That's what I'm going to talk about in this tutorial.

To start with I'll tell you about the built in shortcuts that are connected to the Windows key. That's the funny little key that lives between the Ctrl and Alt keys on most keyboards and looks something like this:

Using this key in combination with other keys can give you quick access to some useful programs and functions. Here's some of them:

Pressing the Windows key alone displays the Start menu (just as if you'd clicked on it with the mouse)

Pressing the Windows key with a "D" will minimize or restore all Windows (just as if you'd clicked on the Desktop icon)

This is the Desktop icon and it's normally
located just to the right of the Start button.

(Win2K and older) (Win XP)

Pressing the Windows key with an "E" opens Windows Explorer.

Pressing the Windows key with the "Tab" key steps through the programs you have open on your task bar. Pressing "Enter" opens the one you've selected if it's minimized, or brings it to the front of the screen if several open windows are stacked on your desktop.

Pressing the Windows key with an "F" opens the "Find:All Files" search window.

Pressing the Windows key with "Ctrl" and "F" opens the "Find Computer" window (useful in network systems).

Pressing the Windows key with an "R" opens the "Run" window.

Pressing the Windows key with the "Break" (or "Pause") key opens the system "Properties" window. This is useful for many things, but if you're concerned about the loading of your system resources in particular (Win98), click on the "Performance" tab of the system Properties window. The second item listed under "Performance status" is "System Resources". On my computer, for example, the "System Resources" shows "60% free" as I write this.

The Function keys (F1, F2, and etc.) can be assigned specific functions by the software you use, but there are some more or less generic functions for them too.

Pressing F1 will usually open the help window for whatever software you have at the front of your screen or if all open software is minimized (or no software is open) it opens the Windows help window.

Pressing F5 will insert the time and date into your document in many text editors.

Pressing F11 will toggle between a normal, and expanded screen in some web browsers and some software applicatons.

Now we get to the really good part. Windows' "built in" shortcuts probably won't help you with the applications you use the most but you can create your own. As well as being a terrific time saver, keyboard shortcuts can help you clean off your desktop without losing the benefits of fast access to the programs you most often use.

I'll use my favorite graphics editor XnView for an example but you can do this with any software on your computer. Just remember the key combination you use needs to be one that you're highly unlikely to hit by accident.

First, locate the main program icon for the software by going through "Start" and "Programs"

Right click on the icon, scroll down, and click on "Properties".
This will open a properties window that looks like this:

Notice where it says "Shortcut key" and the text in the box says "None" (right by the cursor in the image). Click once inside the textbox, after the word "None", to place the cursor in the box. A flashing letter "I" (or vertical bar) will indicate that the cursor is in place.

Now simply type in the keys you want to use for your shortcut (the word "None" will dissappear when you start typing). I'm going to use "Ctrl+Shift+X" for my shortcut to XnView and you can see this in the window once I've typed it.

Now you need only drop down to
the bottom of the window and click on "Apply"

and then click on "Close",

which closes the Properties window and my new shortcut is in place. From now on, when I want to open XnView, I'll just press and hold the "Ctrl" and "Shift" keys while I quickly tap the "X" key and XnView will pop open. I won't need the icon cluttering up my desktop and I won't have to go through the Start menu to get to it. Is this cool or what?

If you later decide that you want to get rid of your shortcut, or change it to something else, simply follow this same procedure to see the keys you've entered in the "Shortcut key" box, place your cursor in the box, hit the backspace key, and the word "None" will reappear in the box. Click on "Apply" and "Close". Your shortcut is gone. To change the key combination, place the cursor in the box, type the new key combination, hit "Apply" and "Close".

Tip: If you type a shortcut and it disappears as soon as you type it, Windows is telling you that the shortcut you've chosen already exists on your system, and is associated with some other program.

Here is a web page with more information
on Shortcuts, some of which repeats what
you've seen here, but not all.

The Windows Key

Keyboard shortcuts, of the type described in this tutorial should be applied to the icons shown in the "Programs" folder under the "Start" button. Many applications, especially small utilities, don't place an icon (shortcut) in the start menu when they're installed but you can send a shortcut to your Desktop [by right clicking on the executable in Windows Explorer, scrolling down to "Send To", across to, and clicking on "Desktop (Create Shortcut)"] which can then be dragged through the "'Start" button and dropped into "Programs" in either an existing folder (like Accessories for example) or one you've created with Windows Explorer and then create a keyboard shortcut to the application in the manner outlined above.

This tutorial, by Don Crowder, posted on June 20, 2004