LaFarr's favorite Keyboard Short Cuts

Last Up date on: 2003 November 14
Recent changes:
Tune is: "Steel Guitar Polka".
Just put in as an ordered list.
I have picked these up from a variety of people. Unfortunately, Micro Soft doesn't document them well.

    In general, I have put the most useful first.
  1. In Windows dialog boxes, the Tab key moves to the next dialog box and the Enter key executes the default button.
  2. Shift+Tab moves backwards between fields in a dialog box.
  3. Alt+Tab toggles forward between open applications, Alt+Shift+Tab toggles backwards.
  4. In Windows Explorer
    • Esc will stop a page from loading
    • Alt+Left Arrow, goes Back.
    • Alt+Right Arrow, goes Forward
    • F11 will give you a full size screen; F11 again restores the control bars.
    • F5 will Refresh the Window
    • Alt+Home goes to the Home page
  5. Alt+Space opens a little menu that allows you to Close, eXpand, miNimize or Resize the Window, with a single key.
  6. To Restore or eXpand a window without trying to hit that little button in the upper right corner, you can double click on the title bar of the window you want to expand.
      I haven't tried the following, but you may want to.
    • To select all files in a folder press Ctrl+A
    • Press F2 to rename a file or folder quickly.
    • To make keyboard access faster, rename your menu Shortcuts so each one starts with a unique letter.
    • For those of you who like to dabble with individual device managers and hardware profiles, and have a keyboard with the Win key on it, here is a badly documented shortcut to the system properties dialog box. Just hold down the Win key and press Pause/Break. Hey presto, much faster than going to My Computer, Control Panel, System...
    • Do you ever accidentally hit the Caps Lock or the Num Lock button by mistake, only to realize a few words later that what you have written is not what you wanted? Windows 95 has an option to let you know when either of the buttons have been hit. Open the Control Panel, choose Accessibility Options and select Use Toggle Keys. Click OK, and now every time you hit Caps Lock or Num Lock, you will hear a warning tone.
    • To get to the top of a folder window quickly, press Ctrl+Home. To get to the bottom, press Ctrl+End.
    • To quickly see the popup menu, press SHIFT + F10.
    • You can use accelerator keys to improve keyboard access to the Start menu or Programs menu on the Start button by placing an ampersand ("&") before a unique letter in the name of items (rename them with an ampersand within the name).
    • You can improve keyboard access to the items at the top of the Start menu by numbering the icons there (rename them with a number at the beginning of the name). Then, you can press Ctrl-Esc followed by the number to launch your most commonly used programs.
If you have suggestions, comments or ideas e-mail me. I would like to hear from you.
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