Farhan's Two Cents on Collaboration, Integration & Enterprise Tech.

I've found on a few websites that "invert selection" is Ctrl+Shift+A or I...they just caps lock and italicize the selection, respectively. What is the true hotkey?

Unfortunately, I have not come across that combo yet. I have seen, what you mentioned, as application specific commands not for Windows in general. Please do let me know if you happen to discover it.

Ctrl+X = Cut
Ctrl+C = Copy
Ctrl+V = Paste
Ctrl+P = Print
Win = Start Menu
Ctrl+Esc = Start Menu
Ctrl+Shift+Esc = Task Manager

Win m, and win d are practically the same thing. Why did windows make both of them as hotkeys. Also why isn't there a hotkey to minimize the current window. It would be usefull to have it there.

This may not be a real 'hotkey', but it works. It goes thru the menu of a window/application to minimize it:
alt, spacebar, N

Thank you guys. I am going to update the original post with all your valuable hotkeys :)

I use Alt+F4 all the time. It closes the current window. I am surprised it is not on the list.

@Billy
Win+M and Win+D, though similar, are subtly different. Win+M minimizes all open windows, whereas Win+D shows the desktop. The show desktop feature will minimize all open windows, and, it also hides any open dialogue boxes.
Open one or more windows, then open say, display properties. Win+M minimizes the windows, but leaves dispaly properties open. Win+D minimize the windows, and hides the properties dialogue.

hey, i'm just wondering if there was a hotkey for invert selection (it can generally be found under edit). It is kind of weird that i can't seem to stumble upon a hotkey for it.

It would probably be a good idea if they implemented a hotkey for it in vista, if it doesn't exist already.. oh well :)

any thing in the menubar menus that has an underlined letter has a hot key. try Alt+E+I for invert selection. just follow the underlined letters in the menu system in the format Alt+1+2+... these are of course application specific

Alt+Shift+Tab shifts between windows in reverse order

Alt+Spacebar+X - maximize
Alt+Spacebar+R - restore

some keyboards have a key between the Win key and Ctrl on the right of the Spacebar. this is the hotkey for the right-click menu. use this button plus underlined letter hierarchy for application specific right-click menu hotkeys

Win+Pause => System Properties

Control + Shift + F10 - Shows context menu (right click) without having the little button or a mouse. I hate that.

Start + E launches explorer

creating a folder ? any one know the hot key for that?

or... virtually all hot-keys for the right-click ??

Alt + D toggles the desktop. Alt + M (minimize windows) is reversed by Shift + Alt + M.

Correction: Win + D toggles desktop. Win + M (minimize windows) is reversed by Shift + Win + M.

ctrl + w : close current window

Yes, but can we program the Win+ key. For example, I think it would be great to have Win+C launch a command window.

Nice job.

It might be worth noting some of the Windows Explorer hot keys... I use "Win+E" to launch, then the up/down/left/right arrows in the folders pane to get to a directory, and finally the tab key to get to the files pane.

This is just about only thing I can do faster on Windows than I can at a bash command line (with tab completions).

Of course once I get there I often have to touch the mouse which is way over there a few hundred milliseconds off the keyboard...

Anybody knows the hotkey for renaming a file?
Kinda annoying if u r renaming alot of files and have to right click or slooow double click it.

for a quick file rename solution, I use the button between the Win key and CTRL key on the right side (right click key). you can hit it and and then two clicks on the up arrow puts you at the rename option. you can get pretty quick after a few tries.

Like the above poster said, the right click key, but press M to rename

press F2 to rename files/folder.
press F6 with IE as the active window and it will highlight the URL text box
press F1 for help

alt F closes window, i think thats an explorer hot key though...

if you click once on a folder/file and then click it again a half second later you can rename it. You have to do it just a bit slower than double clicking.

I also often use f5 to reload a webpage.
Right click w f makes a new folder really fast when you are in a window.

Ctrl z = undo
ctrl d = bookmark a webpage
ctrl + = zooms on a webpage
ctrl wheel mouse also zooms a webpage
ctrl shift and right or left arrow highlights the entire next word

I found this site because I was looking for a hotkey to mimimize a window.

Ctrl+A = select all, either text or icons
Home = go to the first icon inside a folder or go to the first letter in a text-line
End = go to last icon or last letter
Alt+ Print screen = screen-captures the current window ONLY without the taskbar and without anything else with it if it is a small window

shift+left (or right) arrow = selects sentences in a word processor in paces of letters (i.e. select letter by letter)

Ctrl+left (or right) arrow = moves to the left or to the right in a word processor in paces of one word

+shift = combined with the upper keys, it selects word by word (i.e. selection by words not letters)

WIN + F to open Find All Files (search disk for files)
Very useful if you need to collect files scattered all over the place.

..And of course, the [Alt]+[Ctrl]+[Del] combination opens WTM (Windows Task Manager) :)))

what is "win" ? i don't know where can i find it....lol

hey guys what the hell is the word"win"....wer can i locate that????????????:(

Win is usually a key which has either the word 'Win' on it or has the Microsoft Windows amblem on it.
Such keys are usually present on Microsoft specifc keyboards so if you are from Non-MS side of world and have a 'non-MS' keyboard then it may be difficult to find that key cuz' it may not even exist on the keyboard.
In summary the presence of the Win key it really depends on the kind of keyboard that you have.

This helps so much. :)

Everything you guys have said, some I knew and some I didn't. But still, it helped remind me of some things I knew and forgot about.

I'm teaching some people basic computer skills and this helps give the student a little bit of fun. I told my student not to go to school--I'll show them all they need. I dislike how the classes teach you the basics and miss out what you REALLY need to know, such as hot-key commands, keeping a computer top notch and running efficiently, and the things to do and not to do to a computer.

It's the students of these classes that keeps us programmers and computer physicians in business. True those classes are helping us stay alive by creating not-so intelligent computer folk, but they are also crippling the world's future since technology is our future.

This forum helped me a TON! Half my students don't even know that the TAB key helps you skip around on the pages and is much faster than dragging the mouse all over the place. Some other ideas are the Ctrl keys with the arrows, to help you jump letters or words, Ctrl + Home/End to jump to the full beginning or end of the entire document. Print Screen copies the entire screen within your monitor's frame (unless you're one of those strange few who's computer ACTUALLY prints the entire screen :) ). On the number pad, if the Number Lock isn't turns on those arrows work much the same. Also about Tabs, it helps you jump around the entire page without using the mouse.

It bothers me when a student of mine has to call me for aid because their mouse suddenly doesn't work anymore and they can't do anything. I dislike school for this reason: they don't teach the student how to still be able to use the computer in case the mouse dies. I had to learn the hard way; I taught myself everything.

This post is far too long. I just want to give my compliments to everyone for adding in their thoughts in this forum. I plan to keep checking in from time-to-time.

Kitty

These work in both IE and Firefox.

Middle mouse click over a tab in a web browser closes the tab.
Right Clicking shows several options.
Ctrl + T opens a new tab.
Ctrl + W closes the current tab.
F5 Refreshes the current tab.
Alt + Home goes back to the homepage.
Home makes you jump to the top of the current tab.
End makes you jump to the bottom of the current tab.
Ctrl + Tab cycles through all open tabs.

does anyone know how to change or add hotkeys through the control panel?

If U want 2 create your own hotkeys, U can use some already made application like 4 example http://www.snapfiles.com/get/qshotkeys.html

Yep! This post helps me a lot! I usually use the Win key to pop the Start menu up, but my new laptop doesn't have that key! I've got to search and eventually see this post. Now, my problem is solved! ;)

More hotkeys:

Alt + (Shift) + Esc : Switch between windows. This is different from Alt + (Shift) + Tab in that it switch to the new window directly, without showing the "tasks window".

for those of you who dont know the word Win means the lil windows drawing key right next to Ctrl and to the left of alt on the left down side of the keyboard

if you want to delete a file you use ctrl + d

A useful way to combine the benefits of the command prompt and the hotkeys is to CREATE NEW COMMANDS. You can do this by dragging a shortcut to the folder named WINDOWS.

For instance drag a shortcut named skype to that folder and you're able to start skype with just hitting first the hotkey WIN+R and then writing skype. I start all the programs I use like this.

This thread is full of win. Bless you all.

I thought there was a way of assigning a hotkey to a command through registry, without needing to turn to thirty party sofware. Does anyone knows if it is possible?

love this

It kinda sucks that most keyboard and mouse drivers won't recognize the "win" key.

Alt + arrow keys allows you to scroll through your program menubar. Pretty obvious, but some people honestly don't know.

like said above:
ctrl+w closes a tab in Internet explorer and firefox, it closes a window in (normal) explorer, and it closes a file in adobe programs (pdf reader, photoshop, etc)

ctrl + q closes all tabs in firefox, and all files in adobe (pdf reader, photoshop, etc)

ctrl+(shift+) tab is also usefull in a lot of programs, for tabbing between parts of the program, or files opened in the program.
(shift=reverse)

esc closes menu's or cancelles something you are doing

ctrl + home / ctrl+ end is going to the full start or full end of something (like a list of files in explorer)

middlemouse/mousewheel-click or leftmouse+rightmouse on a link opens it in a new tab (in firefox at least, i guess internet explorer also)

ctrl+ l = set focus on the adressbar (in firefox)
ctrl + e = set focus on searchbar (in firefox)

f11 = full screen in much programs
alt+enter = also full screen in much programs


and i also want to point to a really magnificent program(not exaggerating, i love it) called autohotkey. It's free, and it is a very easy programming/scripting thing with which you can make your own hotkeys for whatever you want. (and you can do very much more with it) If you want to customize something for your own needs, this thing is great.

thanks for all the hotkeys! i found some which are new for me also, and very usefull :D

forgot a really obvious one:
alt+f4 shuts down a program


and i'm not sure if this one is mentioned befroe:
ctrl+y is redo (the opposite of ctrl+z, undo)

hotkey to rename a file: F2

thank very much

shift+insert = ctrl+v

ALT+B+U inverses the selection on a german xp.
When you hit ALT you see that a letter is underlined, that's your shortcut. Hit ALT+B for the menu item "Edit" than U to inverse.

ALT+ENTER to enter any properties dialog of a folder/file.
OR MENU+I as said before.. remember the underlined letters.

Thanks for Win + E really helped me out!

But I should probably be thanking Microsoft :s

ctrl+alt+arrow key= rotate screen

Win+Tab - Vista style Alt-Tab (under Vista)