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 we're 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 instant access to many of the software programs on your computer. Here's a list of 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.
Pressing the Windows key with an "E" opens Windows Explorer.
Pressing the Windows key with the "Tab" key steps through the progams 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 "File: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, 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, and if all open software is minimized, or you haven't opened any software, 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
Abiword).
Now we get to the really good part. If you have software that isn't a Microsoft product, you can still have keyboard shortcuts for it, you just have to make your own. This can be a terrific time saver. It can also 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 my example, but bear in mind you can do this with any software. Just remember the key combination you use needs to be one that's not likely to be used by other software you're using, and it needs to be a combination that you're highly unlikely to hit by accident. Don't add a shortcut to an icon on the desktop, because deleting the icon will also delete the shortcut. Add keyboard shortcuts to the program's icon in your Start menu.
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, in the box, 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 simply 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 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 instantly. 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've made a poor choice of keys for a particular shortcut, or want to change it to something else, no problem. It's reversable. 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", then click on "Close" and your shortcut is gone. If you simply want to change your shortcut key combination, then place the cursor in the box, type the new key combination, hit "Apply", and "Close". Now you have an entirely new shortcut for the software.
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
The Windows Keyboard Enhancer
for Win95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP.
Freeware that allows you to create
shortcuts with the Windows key.
WinKey
This tutorial written and posted on September 5, 2002 by Don Crowder.
Editor's Update: Since this tutorial was written, I've tried the Winkey software. It worked very nicely, but it did put itself in my start-up menu, by default, during the installation. This annoyed me so I removed it from the start-up menu and soon learned that Winkey has to be turned on briefly before the shortcuts created with it will work. Apparently they're loaded into RAM when the software is opened and the shortcuts it has created will remain functional for as long as the computer is turned on, whether the software in on or off thereafter. That means the user has three choices. You can let it install itself the way it likes, and forget about it; you can let it install itself the way if likes, and turn the software off once the computer has booted up, each time; or you can remove it from the Start-up menu, and open the software, when you want to "activate" the shortcuts it created (turning it off again, right away, if you like). I've chosen the later option for the moment, but I suspect my final solution will be to either put it back in the Start-up menu, and turn it off right away each time I boot up, or to delete the sofware altogether. I have issues with software that asks me to tolerate a function I don't like, in order to use it, and I'm very "picky" about my start-up menu. The only files in it currently are my Ram Booster and Cookie Muncher, both of which are only useful to me if they're on all the time, and their functions are, indeed, very useful to me.
Additional update September 11, 2003. Keyboard shortcuts, of the type described in this tutorial, will only work with applications that are listed somewhere in the Start Menu. Many applications, especially small utilities, don't place an icon (shortcut) in the start menu when they're installed. They expect you to send a shortcut to your Desktop and that's fine, but if you're busy working, with several windows open, it can be frustrating to have to get to the desktop to double click an icon to open a program. You can 'fix' the problem by using Windows Explorer to make a new folder in WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs. Name it anything you like, just fix the name in your mind until you've finished. Now you can drag the application's icon from your desktop, through the Start button, and drop it into your new folder. This won't actually relocate the desktop shortcut, it will simply create a copy of the shortcut in the Start Menu, and you may then create a keyboard shortcut to the application in the manner outlined above.
