Top 5 Windows Shortcuts you Can’t Live Without [Poll]

Windows-Shortcuts 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.

 

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Aibek Esengulov

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  • Bart

    I am surprised to find out that so far I am the only one to vote on Alt + F/E shortcut. :?

    • Pint

      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.

  • http://rwsoft.method8.net Simon

    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

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Yeah, Win + R is definitely a must use one, though in that case the person should be also familiar with Run commands.

  • FekketCantenel

    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!

  • Naugahyde

    The site says Ctrl+Alt+Delete for the Task Manager, but it’s actually Ctrl+Alt+Esc that brings you directly there.

    • AttmayMB61489

      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.

  • http://cksachdev.blogspot.com Chetan Sachdev

    I too prefer Ctrl+Shift+Esc for Task manager.

  • Niko Belic

    Win + Pause/Break brings up system properties (Device manager, System restore, updates, performance settings etc. etc.), very useful

  • http://twitter.com/nlnnet Brian Kelley

    Win + M (Minimize all windows)

  • idodialog

    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.

  • http://my.opera.com/nlupus Sasha Kovaliov

    I would like to vote for all :)
    Really use them all

  • betty

    Ctrl+F to search the open window

  • coonj

    CTRL+SHIFT+ESC
    Goes right to Task Manager (skips that menu you get from ALT+CTRL+DELETE)

  • Jeff Jensen
  • http://www.Rarst.net Rarst

    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) :)

  • James

    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

  • RandyN

    Ctrl + Shift + Esc –> brings up task manager

  • http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com Mackenzie

    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.

  • ctrl+enter

    in the internet explorer address bar (i think firefox & opera too) use ctrl + enter to auto complete http://www…com

  • Altzan

    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.

  • thebeard03

    [win]+s, s –> shutdown

  • http://blog.allergybegone.com Joseph Z.

    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.

  • John Baima

    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).

  • joe

    ctrl f
    copy paste cut
    alt tab