Windows tips, shortcuts and tricks

[michaellee]

I interact and assist hundreds of Windows OS users located all across the U.S., from newbies to seasoned veterans. The things I witness even the veteran users doing amazes me more each day. Or should I say "the things they don't do". Most of us realize that a large percentage of the time we spend in Windows we are repeating the same tasks over and over, be it opening certain programs, copying files, etc.. So personally, I find it beneficial to use any method I can to make using Windows easier, especially shortcuts or any trick to eliminate repetitive keystrokes.

With so many intelligent, unselfish posters here at the JREF, why don't we share our individual knowledge of any shortcuts or tricks and make using Windows that much more pleasant for all. I myself know of hundreds such "undocumented"shortcuts or tricks, and will start off by posting one here, and would be glad to share them all, as long as others show interest and post some as well.
I will try and post one such tip for every 10 others post here.

Tip #1

I use Windows Explorer frequently, so it is very convenient and time saving if when it first opens, it displays the folder or files I use the most. The default for Windows Explorer when it opens is to select and expand the "My Documents" folder. Well, I never use this folder. I do use and need quick access to, as most of us do, the folders and files located on my local "C:\" drive.

So, it is nice to have Windows Explorer open up and select and expand the folders on my C drive.
To do this, you need to simply go into the property sheet for the shortcut you use to open Windows Explorer. Under the 'Shortcut' tab, there is a box titled 'Target', and the default setting is:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

Change this to read as:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:\

Now every time you open Windows Explorer, it will select your local C drive and expand the folders in it. If you want it to open up and select a folder or files other than the C drive, substitute the desired location for the 'c:\' at the end of the Target path.

Do any of you have knowledge of any shortcuts or tips you wish to contribute? It doesn't matter if you think everyone knows them already- trust me, most people don't, so post them!

[mummymonkey]

Hold down Ctrl and scroll mouse wheel to alter text size in IE & zoom %age in Word.
Treble click selects whole paragraph in most things.
Ctrl and semi-colon will enter current date in Excel, Ctrl and colon enters the time.
Alt and left/right arrows to page back/fwd in IE.

[jimlintott]

My best Windows tip:

Format c:

Install Linux.

Better stability, better performance, easier to install, easier to maintain, easier to use.

The GUI file manager for KDE is Konqueror (http://www.konqueror.org/features/filemanager.php) (also a very capable web browser). It defaults to opening to your home folder. In Linux each user gets their own home folder. All of their files from their own data to software configuration is kept there. This means that not only can I not read other user's data I can't screw up any of their software settings. If Windows organised files decently you wouldn't need to point explorer to a different location.

Oh, by the way setting Konquerer to open another folder is a simple option in a menu. I wouldn't use a GUI file manager for operating on large amounts of files. A command line is far superior. Ever select a bunch of files, have your hand slip and end up with a folder full of 'copy of foo'? GUI file managers suck.

It's a lot cheaper too. I was pricing Windows software to give me the same functionality as my desktop Linux box and I quit at around $1300 and still wasn't close. The Linux distro I'm using was free to download and I'm not violating any licenses.

[scribble]

I worked on the Windows helpdesk back in 95 when Win95 had jus thit hte shelves (obviously) so I should know a few cool tricks.

Sadly, I've forgotten most of them. The only one that comes to mind is if you hold SHIFT when you close a window, it'll close all it's parent windows, too.

IF you hold SHIFT while you put in a CD, it won't autoplay (handy to knwo sometimes)...

Can't think of any other goodies. As for Linux - well, people can debate untilthe cows come home, all I can give is my opinion. As a computer programmer who spends all day long at work on Linux, I feel I've got some right to comment.

I couldn't stand to use Linux all the time, thank god for Windows, I say. Linux rocks for what it rocks at (killer networking and programming platform), Windows rocks for letting me do the things I want to do (ie browse the web and view pornography) without having to learn the entire process behind it.

Besides that, I'm a totally manical video game addict. Linux doesn't cut it for games, you have to admit.

-Chris

[Skeptoid]

Originally posted by jimlintott
My best Windows tip:

Blah, blah, blah...
I was wondering how long it was going to be before some smartass made a post like yours. Second post after the OP. I guessed it would be within 5. :rolleyes:

The OP didn't ask for advice on alternative OS's, now did it? If you want to proselytize on the virtues of Linux/Mac start your own damn thread and quit hijacking every Windows thread that comes along.

[FFed]

One thing I do that helps with speed is to turn off all the fancy animation. Like sliding menus. Works especially good on older computers.
For winxp I also turn off the common task side bar in folders. I have no need for it and it takes up space. It's under folder options. Select windows classic folders.
And to tweak your internet connection, http://www.speedguide.net

[michaellee]

originally posted by Skeptoid
...the virtues of Linux/Mac start your own damn thread and quit hijacking every Windows thread that comes along.LINUX USER:k:
Touche!


Tip #2) Don't piss off Skeptoid

[Ove]

Yep i agree, lets keep this Windows based, like it or not it IS the largest system.
Thank you very much for that tip with Windows explorer it has been one of the things that have irritated me from day one. You could off course use C:\mydocuments but sometimes that is not an option. Our work computers are set up with a small C: drive and a large D: drive. The idea is that C: only contains the basic setups and are only touched by the maintenance guys. If we install something it must be on the D: drive and most of our data are stored on network drives.

This fact does off course that the basic windows idea that everything evolves around C: can be quite annoying sometimes. but now at least i got my explorer sorted out. Thank you again.:D

I can second the idea about turning off all smart effects and keeping things in the "classic" style. It really does improve speed. Another option you would want turned OFF is "Show windows contents while dragging".

[Zep]

I thought we went through a series of these a few months back...

MY TIPS

On Windows NT-based machines:

(a) Do defrag your disks regularly - Windows spreads files from hell to breakfast and back, ESPECIALLY after the initial install. Do it again after installing big software suites (eg. MS Office).

(b) Defrag your pagefile(s), because a fragged pagefile (the Windows default) makes your sooper-dooper P4 3.6GHz with all the bells and whistles just *s*u*c*k* badly. Simplest free way is to create a replacement new pagefile on a non-system disk/partition, but there are other solutions too. Read up on how to do this - it pays off.

[clk]

Press Alt+F4. It uh...makes your OS work faster....yeah, that's it, faster.

Nobody fell for that, right?

[peptoabysmal]

Mine isn't some guru thing. Just a bit of shareware that I wish were actually part of the system.

This little gizmo has been worth it's weight in gold to me, but I type a lot of code. I can set up buttons that cut the selection and paste it into a function and the function gets pasted into my code with the cursor right where I want it. And I do the same with HTML tags and on and on. In other words it saves me lots of time on repetitive tasks.

TypeItIn (http://www.wavget.com/typeitin.html)

[Underemployed]

I use Alt+F4 all the time to close whatever the current open window is, it's a useful command.

Also useful are the Windows key commands (that button in the bottom left with the Winlogo on it). Pressing that key plus a variety of others is a documented feature but is seldom used.

Win+M - minimise all open windows to the taskbar

Win+Pause/Break - open system properties

Another simple tip many people benefit from is just using the TAB key to move the cursor into the next available field. The amount of time some people with poor mouse skills (poor mouse skills....there's a construction I never thought I'd use) spend trying to click inside the next open field is amazing. No wonder people were slow to start shopping online.

[michaellee]

If you often have the need to open files with unknown or unassociated extensions in a simple text editor such as Notepad, you currently must either open Notepad, then open the file from within; most likely you probably double-click on the file name, Windows prompts you to choose a program to open the file with...and this routine occurs for each new unknown file type.

To save the trouble when you want to simply view a file with a text editor, place a shortcut for the text editor in your "Send To" folder.

Open Windows Explorer, expand your root drive, probably "C", and expand each folder until you reach the

"C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\Send To"

folder and click on it once. Scroll down to the main Windows folder and click it once. To the right, scroll down until you find the file "NOTEPAD.EXE", then right click it, left click copy, then scroll back up to the Send To folder and click it once. In the right hand pane, right click in the empty space then left click "paste shortcut". A new file will appear titled "shortcut to notepad.exe".

Right click this file, left click Rename, and rename the file "Notepad", then hit the enter key and you are finished.

Now, to open any file with any extension, all you have to do is right click the file, left click "Send To", left click "Notepad", and the file opens up no questions asked.

[Tez]

By default IE6 only lets you do two downloads at once. A while ago I looked up the registry key you need to change in order to set as many simultanoues downloads as you like. Heres a site explaining how to do it manually, as well as a little script to do it for you:

http://www.petri.co.il/change_maximum_download_limit.htm

this is not the site I used, I dont vouch for it!

[richardm]

Originally posted by Underemployed

Win+M - minimise all open windows to the taskbar

Win+Pause/Break - open system properties


Also Win+E - Open Windows Explorer.


Another simple tip many people benefit from is just using the TAB key to move the cursor into the next available field.

.. And Shift-Tab will take you back to the previous field.

Pressing the spacebar will "press" the currently selected button. Those Tabs and space keys save a lot of mousework.

[William H.]

Hit the F11 key to get a larger browser window.









http://www.uwm.edu/People/hubbardj/tk421net/gallery/pictures/microsoft.jpg

[michaellee]

http://www.uwm.edu/People/hubbardj/tk421net/gallery/pictures/microsoft.jpg

MY EYES!! MY EYES!! I...I...I...........I........AAAAHHHHHHH

[Iconoclast]

Here's a few most people don't seem to know about.

- In Microsoft Word (Word 2k and later), if you hold down the ALT key and drag a rectangle with your mouse, all the text inside the rectangle will get selected. Though I can't think of any appropriate use for this feature in Word itself, you can also do this trick in most of the Visual Studio tools from Version 6 onwards (C++, C#, VB), and it really comes in handy in those applications.

- In IE, hold down the SHIFT key when clicking a hyperlink to open the linked page in a new instance of the browser.

- Also in IE, if you go to a specific web page often, then rather than add it's URL to your Favourites folder, just navigate to the URL you want then drag the little IE icon from the Address bar onto the Links bar to create a shortcut you can access with a single mouse click.

[Iconoclast]

Here's another one for those of you who regularly use applications that are deep in the Start->Programs menu. Create a new directory called (say) "Tools", and to this directory add shortcuts to all the apps you commonly use. Then, right-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select "Toolbars->New Toolbar". Then, select the directory you created earlier and you'll get a cool toolbar on the right hand side of your taskbar that gives you fast access to all your apps.

[Rat]

Here's one I discovered by accident. Some people (well, me and a couple of others) love it, others hate it.

Right-click task bar, select toolbars...New toolbar. You can select any folder, or the C: drive, or whatever. It now appears as a toolbar like the start menu. I have this for 'My Computer' (which is no longer called My Computer, but something shorter) and have quick access to all files not too deep in the directory structure.

Cheers,
Rat.

[Iconoclast]

Is there an echo in here?

[bangdazap]

Win + D = show desktop, press again to go back

[Psi Baba]

It drives me crazy to watch people shut down their computers by doing this: Cliiiiiiiiick the Start button with their mouse, then cliiiiiiiick the Shut Down command on the Start Menu, then cliiiiiiiiiick the 'Shut Down' radio button in the Shut Down Windows dialog, then cliiiiiiiick the OK button.
What I do: Win key | u | Enter (if 'shut down' is preselected. Up arrow key if it isn't) Bing bang boing. Computer off.

[ceptimus]

I want a tip for the Scroll Lock key. Poor underused thing.

[JesFine]

Win + e opens explorer. I use this all the time.

[Underemployed]

If you want to copy and paste a load of files from one folder to another, there are a few ways to do it quickly (apart from dragging the entire parent folder), especially when the files you want are not all in one 'block' on screen.

ctrl+A selects all files within the window you are viewing (ie it highlights them all). If you want all but one, hold down the ctrl key and click on the one(s) you don't want. Presto! The others remain highlighted. This works in reverse - you can 'add' highlighted files by holding the ctrl key and clicking on them. Once you've got all the files you want highlighted, press ctrl+C to copy. Open the folder you want them in and press ctrl+V to paste.

Within any open program that has a toolbar along the top (file, edit, view etc) you can access this through the keyboard using the ALT key. ALT+F opens the FILE menu, then the arrow keys can navigate while the ENTER key selects. If you use Word a lot this can mean you never use the mouse at all.

This man is our master. (http://www.theonion.com/onion3929/area_man_knows_all.html)

[richardm]

Originally posted by ceptimus
I want a tip for the Scroll Lock key. Poor underused thing.

Lever it off and replace it with one of these. (http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/ProductDetails.aspx?language=en-GB&product=PANBUT)

http://images.iwoot.com/large/PANBUT_lg.jpg

[Wudang]

Richardm - you're a star. 20+ years in IT to finally find this!
ROFLMAO

[jimlintott]

Yes, I guess I deserve some flack. I wasn't trying to derail the thread as that is actually my best Windows tip.

I have two dual boot machines and have run Windows for many years. In fact I go way back to the DOS days. So here are some Windows tips.

Whenever you finish playing one game and want to play another. Reboot first. You'll get fewer crashes. If you hit ctrl-alt-del you can get a listing of running programs. You can shut down many of these to free up resources. Pretty much all except systray and explorer can be shut down.

If a game seems to mysteriously lock up try running scan disc. I know this has cured Diablo many times.

While working on important stuff save frequently. Losing work to a mysterious lock up is never fun. Turn on auto save if possible. (Computers shouldn't crash or lock up but apparently this should be discussed in a different thread.)

Don't blame yourself for all of your computer problems. The lockups and crashes you experience are most likely not your fault. It happens to even experienced users like myself. (There is a fix for this but again apparently it belongs in another thread.)

[Wudang]

Brad Wardell of Stardock (http://www.stardock.com ) wrote a piece somewhere (joeuser maybe) about how he keeps his XP system running for ages by watching the handles. Start task manager and change the view columns to show handles, GDI objects and User objects.
Never mind, found the URL for the article here (http://draginol.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=505)

[Luke T.]

Originally posted by mummymonkey
Hold down Ctrl and scroll mouse wheel to alter text size in IE & zoom %age in Word.
Treble click selects whole paragraph in most things.
Ctrl and semi-colon will enter current date in Excel, Ctrl and colon enters the time.
Alt and left/right arrows to page back/fwd in IE.

Holding down the Shift key and scrolling the mouse wheel also pages back and fwd in IE.

[FFed]

Originally posted by Iconoclast
Here's another one for those of you who regularly use applications that are deep in the Start->Programs menu. Create a new directory called (say) "Tools", and to this directory add shortcuts to all the apps you commonly use. Then, right-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select "Toolbars->New Toolbar". Then, select the directory you created earlier and you'll get a cool toolbar on the right hand side of your taskbar that gives you fast access to all your apps.

That's a great tip.
Another thing you can do with this is to move it onto your desktop or to the side or top of your screen.
Right click, unlock the taskbar.
Then grab the little dots that appear to the left of the name of your folder on the taskbar and move it onto your desktop. That makes a new window like thing on your desktop.
You can also move it to the side or top of your screen and it will dock there. You can then make it auto hide so it will only appear when you move your mouse to the side or top. You can have two, one for the top and one for the side.

[ShowMe]

If you have several computers hooked up through a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) box, Right-Click on My Computer and choose rename. Then Rename the My Computer icon to the name of the computer.

It saves a lot of headaches trying to figure out which PC you're on.

[Ove]

BUMP- BUMP
I was justt looking for a trick i read here and thought this was worth bumping for newcomers, there are some very good advice here.;)

[evildave]

Nothing irritates me more than watching a user who doesn't know the basic typing shortcuts taking their hands off the keyboard to drag around with a mouse when the thing they wanted to select was RIGHT THERE...

Tab, Shift-Tab
Select controls

Control-C, Control-X, Control-V
Copy, cut, paste.

Control-Z, Control-Y
Undo, redo

Control-A
Select all

Shift-Arrows
Select lines, characters, etc.

Control-Left, Control-Right
Control-Shift-Left, Control-Shift-Right
Word forward/back
Select word forward/back

Control-Shift-page-up, etc.

There are more. Learn to use them. They will serve you better than most shortcuts.

[Ove]

There are more. Learn to use them. They will serve you better than most shortcuts.

AND they'll probably spare you for some of the mouse-related damages.;)

[michaellee]

evildave is quite correct... I see "experienced" users who use their keyboards only for typing text. Like 10 keystrokes, grab the mouse, click 4 or 5 times, then repeat this process for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 365 days a year. Yes, to each his own, but when you inform these "expert users" that instead of using the mouse for that task you can simply hit "alt enter" etc..., what do they say, EVERY TIME?
Oh, yah, I see, but I'm used to..I'll just do it my way...I don't like the keyboard anyway...and my favorite... I CAN'T EVER remember what key combinations to use and it just wastes more time for me, and well, yes I am a fckg idiot and becoming a bigger one as each second passes by...just go away and leave my stupid ass alone so I can waste more time, and guarantee myself a crippling case or two of carpal tunnel. No, not in my brain, because I don't have one.

And the greatest ignorance of all- I have watched hundreds of Office program users, Word and Excel are the most common programs in use when I see this happen. In Excel, a user will want to copy the contents of one cell repeatedly or implement the same format numerous times, and what do they do? Click the cell, click Edit on the file menu, click copy, click the destination cell, click Edit on the file menu, then click paste. I have seen many users who have used Excel for 5 years or more do this type of action 25 times in a row! So they click the mouse 6 times for each copy and paste type activity, times 25 times, equalling 150 mouse clicks just to copy and paste the same value or format 25 times. You tell them a way to do it with the keyboard that will take them 5 seconds total versus 10 minutes their way, and 2 years later, they are still doing it their dumbass, stubborn headed way.

So, for those of you out there looking to use their keyboard for certain tasks but can't find or don't know of any documented or undocumented keyboard shortcuts for the task, post it here, and you will receive an answer. There is a keyboard shortcut for EVERY task, in almost every Windows program.

[rockoon]

Whats the keyboard shortcut I need to hit to filter out posts by michaellee?

[Brian]

Originally posted by michaellee
evildave is quite correct... I see "experienced" users who use their keyboards only for typing text. Like 10 keystrokes, grab the mouse, click 4 or 5 times, then repeat this process for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 365 days a year. Yes, to each his own, but when you inform these "expert users" that instead of using the mouse for that task you can simply hit "alt enter" etc..., what do they say, EVERY TIME?
Oh, yah, I see, but I'm used to..I'll just do it my way...I don't like the keyboard anyway...and my favorite... I CAN'T EVER remember what key combinations to use and it just wastes more time for me, and well, yes I am a fckg idiot and becoming a bigger one as each second passes by...just go away and leave my stupid ass alone so I can waste more time, and guarantee myself a crippling case or two of carpal tunnel. No, not in my brain, because I don't have one.

And the greatest ignorance of all- I have watched hundreds of Office program users, Word and Excel are the most common programs in use when I see this happen. In Excel, a user will want to copy the contents of one cell repeatedly or implement the same format numerous times, and what do they do? Click the cell, click Edit on the file menu, click copy, click the destination cell, click Edit on the file menu, then click paste. I have seen many users who have used Excel for 5 years or more do this type of action 25 times in a row! So they click the mouse 6 times for each copy and paste type activity, times 25 times, equalling 150 mouse clicks just to copy and paste the same value or format 25 times. You tell them a way to do it with the keyboard that will take them 5 seconds total versus 10 minutes their way, and 2 years later, they are still doing it their dumbass, stubborn headed way.

So, for those of you out there looking to use their keyboard for certain tasks but can't find or don't know of any documented or undocumented keyboard shortcuts for the task, post it here, and you will receive an answer. There is a keyboard shortcut for EVERY task, in almost every Windows program.

http://www.theonion.com/onion3929/area_man_knows_all.html

:)

[evildave]

Actually, the common sommands I described are even printed on the keys of some keyboards.

With little icons and everything.

The Onion spoof is dead-on. Most people simply don't want to be bothered to learn to do things the easy way.

For instance, where you might have gone copy, paste-paste-paste-paste, it CAN be simpler to highlight with the mouse, select 'paste-special' and replicate the value across multiple cells of a spreadsheet.

You have to stop, think for almost a second, and go for the simple way. Of course, thinking for even a fraction of a second doesn't come naturally to most people.

Of course, some incremental investment in time tinkering with interface elements on a scratch document when you have some idle time can teach you more than all the computer "classes" there are combined. You could actually learn to find the solution to problems on your own. *Gasp*

[JesFine]

Also there is almost always an "Options" or "Preferences" option in the menu bar that lets you do all kinds of neat stuff with whatever application you are running. I get a lot of people asking me how to turn off the beep when someone sends an instant message for example, and the answer is always "OK, go to 'File'->'Preferences'... ok now look for something that says 'sounds'" etc. I think they think I have this stuff memorized.

Also, opening links in new browser windows is a very useful thing that a lot of people don't seem to use. In IE, Just right click on the link and select "Open in New Window" (In fact, right clicking on almost anything will give you a lot of options if you didn't know already). And if your browser is Mozilla, you can hit the middle button and a new window opens in a new tab underneath your current window, so it is no interruption at all. If you are not using Mozilla, go ahead and switch now. I'll wait.

[michaellee]

The "Onion" article drowns in self parody;
mocked readers can't swim anyway.

[Darat]

Originally posted by JesFine
...snip...

Also, opening links in new browser windows is a very useful thing that a lot of people don't seem to use. In IE, Just right click on the link and select "Open in New Window" (In fact, right clicking on almost anything will give you a lot of options if you didn't know already). And if your browser is Mozilla, you can hit the middle button and a new window opens in a new tab underneath your current window, so it is no interruption at all. If you are not using Mozilla, go ahead and switch now. I'll wait.

Or CTRL+SHIFT when clicking on the link will do the same.

[Iconoclast]

Originally posted by Darat
Or CTRL+SHIFT when clicking on the link will do the same. ...and it still works even if your CTRL key is broken.

[Darat]

Originally posted by Iconoclast
...and it still works even if your CTRL key is broken.

Bah - me forgot I use OPERA when the CTRL opens it in the background!

[Iconoclast]

Originally posted by Darat
Bah - me forgot I use OPERA when the CTRL opens it in the background!
Ah!

[Rascal]

Here are two shortcuts I use all the time with IE, and they can save quite a bit of extraneous typing and clicking.

1) To move the focus to the Address field, hit Alt+D.

2) If you're going to a .com address, simply type in the root domain and hit Ctrl+Enter. For example, to go to www.skeptic.com, just type in 'skeptic' followed by Ctrl+Enter. This slaps www. on the front and .com on the end, thereby giving you eight keystrokes you can save for old age.

[Fendetestas]

This is not a Windows tip, but a Word one.

I have written a lot of laboratory reports with it and I frequently need special symbols (greek letters, +- ...) Now, selecting them from the Insert -> Symbol menu was a pain. Fortunately, you have the option of creating your own keyboard combo for them, by clicking "shortcut key" in the mentioned menu. For example, you can set Alt+ (latin equivalent) for a Greek letter or Alt+shift+(latin equivalent) for its capital form. This has saved more time than any other tip.

Also, you can use CTRL+I, CTRL+B, CTRL+U to open and close Italics, Bold and Underlined enviroments, and of course there are many others.

[Tez]

Originally posted by Fendetestas
This is not a Windows tip, but a Word one.

I have written a lot of laboratory reports with it and I frequently need special symbols (greek letters, +- ...) Now, selecting them from the Insert -> Symbol menu was a pain. Fortunately, you have the option of creating your own keyboard combo for them, by clicking "shortcut key" in the mentioned menu. For example, you can set Alt+ (latin equivalent) for a Greek letter or Alt+shift+(latin equivalent) for its capital form. This has saved more time than any other tip.

Also, you can use CTRL+I, CTRL+B, CTRL+U to open and close Italics, Bold and Underlined enviroments, and of course there are many others.

Or you can learn how to use latex ;)

BTW, for anyone using powerpoint who hates typing equations in microsoft equaiton editor, download something called "texpoint" - it just sits as another menu option on powerpoint, and allows you to type in latex equations...

[Fendetestas]

Originally posted by Tez


Or you can learn how to use latex ;)


I know how to use LaTeX, but for a 10-20 page lab report, filled with tables and graphics, I find Word quicker. The other reason is that my teammate hardly nows how to use Word... In fact she needs assistance when she tries to copy his part of the report to a disc, in order to give it to me to finish it. Of course she doesn't have internet and hardly nows what it is, and don't get me started on her numerical calculus exam... when the professor told us that we should save all our programs in separate file with our name, her head almost exploded... I don't think LaTeX is a real option here...

P.S.: Thanks for the texpoint advice.