MUO Polls: Top 5 Windows Shortcuts you Can’t Live Without
Last week we did a poll on Top 5 Firefox shortcuts. It turned out great, after 550 + votes we had our top 5 shortcuts.
The cool part about running such a poll was that it especially helped those users who had never used shorcuts before. Instead of randomly jumping at the long list of shotcuts ,they could see what are the top recommended ones and start with them instead.
Today we are extending the top shortcuts idea to Windows. This time, tell us about your favorite Windows shortcuts. So please vote on your top Windows shortcuts below.
You can select up to 5 shortcuts. The Win stands for Windows button (see image above). If your favorite shortcut isn’t listed then make sure to include ‘Other’ in your vote and mention the shortcut in comments.
Top 5 Windows Shortcuts
- Ctrl + C/V/X (text copy/paste/cut) (17%, 422 Votes)
- Ctrl + Alt + Del (show task manager) (14%, 344 Votes)
- Alt + Tab (switch between open apps) (14%, 334 Votes)
- Ctrl + A (select all text) (11%, 263 Votes)
- Win + D (show desktop) (8%, 205 Votes)
- Shift + Del (delete files permanently) (7%, 162 Votes)
- Alt + F4 (close current program) (7%, 159 Votes)
- Win + R (open Run box) (5%, 127 Votes)
- Win + E (show Windows Explorer) (5%, 125 Votes)
- Win + L (lock desktop) (5%, 121 Votes)
- Alt + Print Screen (screenshot of currently active program) (3%, 74 Votes)
- Other (please share in comments) (1%, 33 Votes)
- Win + F (open Windows Search) (1%, 20 Votes)
- Alt + Enter (open properties of selected item) (1%, 17 Votes)
- Alt + F/E (open File/Edit menus in current program) (0%, 9 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,415
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I am surprised to find out that so far I am the only one to vote on Alt + F/E shortcut.
Yes. Except i didn t know the alt+ F/E. I just use alt which takes me to the menu and use the arrows to go left/right and then up and down once in th right menu.
I personally never use the Alt-Tab shortcut, but it’s bound to be one of the most popular here. One shortcut I can’t live without is the WinKey+R shortcut, besides, of course, the ubiquitous Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C/V/X shortcuts
Yeah, Win + R is definitely a must use one, though in that case the person should be also familiar with Run commands.
Since my ergonomic keyboard has no WIN key, I have Locate32 mapped to CTRL+ALT+F, but I still voted for WIN+F, since it’s the same basic idea.
I absolutely can’t live without ALT+TAB, and I don’t know how people go without using it!
The site says Ctrl+Alt+Delete for the Task Manager, but it’s actually Ctrl+Alt+Esc that brings you directly there.
Actually, I think it’s Ctrl+Shift+Esc… I was going to comment the same thing! Also, I find Win+Space to be very helpful. It brings up the Vista Sidebar.
I too prefer Ctrl+Shift+Esc for Task manager.
Win + Pause/Break brings up system properties (Device manager, System restore, updates, performance settings etc. etc.), very useful
Win + M (Minimize all windows)
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V would be high but i use the Forward-Back buttons on my mouse for that and would never use a three button mouse for that very reason. Utterly invaluable. But my top one is to call up the wonderful Launchy with Alt+Space (I think that’s the default, tho I can’t remember now). Opens anything, does lots. I use the Win button a lot when some full screen app wont let me get to the task bar.
I would like to vote for all
Really use them all
Ctrl+F to search the open window
CTRL+SHIFT+ESC
Goes right to Task Manager (skips that menu you get from ALT+CTRL+DELETE)
Use this great utility to extend the windows key. . Just don’t ever tell your friend to come over because you want to show him your Winkey. I made that mistake. HAHAHA
Ctrl+Shift+Esc
Second place to shortcut that historically means “in case of trouble”. Says something about OS, doesn’t it? (disclaimer – I am happy Windows user, just found it funny)
alt+space -> ever loose the top part of window above the screen? alt+space opens a menu that alows you to navigate to the move option so even if the top of a window is above your screen you can move it back down.
way usefull
Ctrl + Shift + Esc –> brings up task manager
Windows Break. It gets the System Info box up so you can check out the hardware. I use it to quickly find if a computer will be Linux compatible.
^C, ^V, and ^X aren’t Windows-specific, though….neither is Alt+Tab.
And the “Windows” key is really the Super key. It’s the same as the Apple key, the Sun diamond key, and the Ubuntu key. They’re all just universally the Super key, for those times when hardware and software disagree.
in the internet explorer address bar (i think firefox & opera too) use ctrl + enter to auto complete http://www…com
I love Win-L, a fast way to lock my computer.
I use Ctrl + V,C,X a lot as well, along with Ctrl + Alt + Del, and Ctrl + A.
The rest were unfamiliar to me.
[win]+s, s –> shutdown
F2 for rename is one that I find useful every single day. I didn’t know about it until a few months ago, but it saves a lot of clicks.
And there’s always CTR-ARROW/SHIFT-CTRL-ARROW to move by word or section (which I use constantly). I wanted that function back in the days of Win 3.11.
Tough one. I sacrificed Ctrl+Alt+Del for Alt+Tab. I only use Ctrl+Alt+Del once at bootup and keep it open always. Alt+Tab however survives when explorer.exe is killed, and is responsive when everything else isn’t. Love it.
Also, I love the AutoHotkey Script I made that makes Ctrl+Alt+F4 kill the process of the current active window (or restart explorer.exe if none are selected).