Do you want to be a Keyboard Kowboy?

I remember back in University, my friends and I used to race to see who could do things faster on a computer. I usually lost, and it wasn't because I wasn't movin' that mouse, it was because I didn't know all the short cut keys. Since then I've stayed more on the keyboard than the mouse.

Windows provides a lot of shortcuts to help you be productive, you just gotta know them. Learn your tools, they will make you productive. :)

Here's some shortcuts for you to know as an IT person

• Win+L - Lock workstation


• Win+E - Open Explorer


• Win+R - Open the Run dialog


• Win+F - Search (although I can't say I use this one much)


• Win+B - focus on the system tray (although I can't see what's going on, but if you start pressing enter and use the arrow keys, you'll launch things from the system tray, seems like this is a good idea, but needs some improvement)


• Win+D - Toggle minimize all, and restore all windows (I suppose it's "D" for desktop)


• Win+M - Minimize all windows


• Win+Shift+M - restore all windows


• Win+U - Utility manager (pretty cool, the PC starts speaking to you!)


• CTRL+SHIFT+ESC - Launch the task manager


• CTRL+ESC - Open the Start Menu (you can also just press "Win", but some old keyboards don't have this shortcut)


• Win+Break - System properties Window


• ALT+Enter - Display the properties (commonly used in Windows Explorer)


• ALT+Space - Window Menu (follow the keystroke by an "n" to minimize the single window)

I'm sure there are more system ones, but I wanted to share some IE ones also:

• Backspace - Back button


• CTRL+mousewheel - Change the font size (this only works if the font size is not specified on the page using a "pt" font size)


• F6 - Jump to the Address Bar (Also can use ALT+D)


• Home - Top of the page


• End - Bottom of the page

That's all for now. Did I miss some? Drop them in the comments and let's all become keyboard kowboys together!