Windows Tips

Gaara

Just wanted to start a thread with tips for PC users. There are a lot of cool things you can do with windows that a lot of people don't realize...at least from my experience. Add any you don't see th at can be useful to others.

I decided to make this thread because a professor last night was having trouble zooming in using excel. Like most professors he was making the font size larger, and then resizing everything else. I clued him in on a much easier way to do this, which apparently very few people know.

Tips General:

Ctrl+scroll wheel zooms in and out of documents

Ctrl+z will undo the last command, good when you accidentally delete something in word.

Ctrl+y will redo a command undone

Ctrl+s will save a document, I use it all the time writing papers or when using excel

Ctrl+c copies text selected

Ctrl+x cuts text selected

Ctrl+v pastes text

Ctrl+b bolds things in excel, word, and while posting

Ctrl+i italicizes things in excel, word, and while posting

Ctrl+u underlines things in excel, word, and while posting

F4 copies the last thing you did in word

ctrl+home brings you to the top of a page, good for long documents or pdfs

Ctrl+end brings you to the end of a page

ctrl, hold it down to select multiple items, like when moving multiple files click one and hold control and click the rest you want to move. Good when being selective, also works in excel and word.

ctrl+f will find a word in firefox, word, or excel. In word you can also use it to replace words.

ctrl+pgup/pgdown will go to the next tab in excel and in firefox

Windows:

Alt+F4 automatically closes a window, good if you are looking at something at work you shouldn't be

Alt+tab will switch over to the last window you were looking at, I use this all the time at work. Have your work up and whatever else up (ex polk forum) and tab between them when someone walks by.

Alt+tab hold alt, can switch between any of your open windows

windows key opens the start menu

Windows key + e opens my computer

Ctrl+alt+delete to get to windows security

ctrl+shift+esc to go automatically to task manager

Gaara

Firefox tips

F5 refreshes the page using firefox, not sure about IE.

F6 brings you to the navigation bar

F11 in firefox will get rid of the top and bottom bars giving you only the present window

Ctrl + click on a link opens link in a new tab

Ctrl+t will open a new tab

Ctrl+w will close the current tab

Backspace with nothing selected goes back one page

audiobliss

I knew most of those, but the Windows key + e is pretty cool.

Thanks!!

Disc Jockey

Windows key + d minimizes all open windows and takes you directly to the desktop

bobman1235

Firefox has a bunch (a lot of these are similar in IE):

Ctrl-L brings you to the address bar
Ctrl-K brings you to the search bar
Ctrl-*number* brings you to the *number*th tab
Ctrl-F searches
Ctrl-G repeats last search


General Windows
Window Key + m minimizes all windows
Window Key + SHIFT + M undoes Window-m
Window Key + r brings up the run window
Ctrl-F4 closes the active sub-window in most programs (tabs in firefox, images or boxes in Photoshop, etc)

VR3

windows + l = log off

Systems

Prtscn = "cuts" a copy of your entire display. you can paste the image in a program like word as an image "screen shot"

alt-prtscn = "cuts" the current active window that you can then paste into a program like word as an image "screen shot"

Aka, if you have an error pop up, take a screen shot of it so you can show it to whomever you call to have fix it (at say work). Its SOOO much easier to fix a problem that you have a screen shot of then just saying "my puter popped up and error, I don’t know what it was but fix it".

bobman1235

Here's 10 Clipboard Tricks. Most of these I didn't know.

hearingimpared

bobman1235 wrote: »

Here's 10 Clipboard Tricks. Most of these I didn't know.

Thanks Bob, I use the clipboard a lot!

jflail2

Commonly Used Shortcut keys for excel:

Anchoring cells: F4

Auditing Toolbar: Alt T U

Autosum: Alt+=

Borders: Outside area: Ctrl+Shift+7

Borders: Remove All: Ctrl+Underscore

Highlight entire row: Shift+spacebar

Highlight entire column: Ctrl+spacebar

You can add or remove a column or row after the above steps (or a cell where your cursor is) by using Ctrl and the + or - symbol on your numpad.

Move to toolbar: Alt

Copy: Ctrl+C

Paste special values:Alt E S V

Paste Special transpose: Alt E S E

Paste Special formulas: Alt E S F

Naming a cell: Alt I N D

Edit Cell: F2

Format Cell: Ctrl+1

Highlight a contiguous range: Shift Ctrl+ over arrow and then down arrow and then release Shift Ctrl.

Undo: Ctrl+Z

Repeat last action: F4

These are a few of my excel favorites.

Also helps to understand pivot tables (Data->Pivot Tables) for larger sets of data.

These are a few of my favorites that get used on a daily basis here at work.

Early B.

Got a stupid question -- why use shortcuts when a mouse click is faster?

PhantomOG

because for most people the keyboard is much faster

jflail2

Yup. I guarantee I can paste special faster using the kb than anyone can using their mouse. Its slower as you're learning the keys, but once you have them down, its no contest....

And when you're working on a monstrous spreadsheet, its nice to get into a groove and not have to go right clicking or digging through menus for something that can be done in 2 keystrokes.

bobman1235

For most of these instances, it depends on what excactly you're doing whether the mouse or keyboard is faster. When I finish typing this post, I'm going to hit "Alt-S", which is a shortcut for submit. Why? Because my fingers are on the keys already, so it's quicker than going to the mouse and moving it to submit and then submitting.

This goes doubly so when you're talking about something that requires several menus of navigation. Do you think right-click->copy is quicker than CTL-C?

Kris Siegel

windows key + tab = Vista's 3D window cycling....thing (not sure how else to describe it, heh)

also, if you just press the windows key in vista, you can start typing and it instantly searching for whatever you're typing in. Great for lauching applications or finding documents quickly.

Gaara

Lots of good info in here, thanks for everyone that participated.

I love using windows key + m and windows key + m + shift, very useful especially when you have a lot up.

I also forgot a couple of little ones that I use all the time:

When in the navigation bar typing control+enter fills in the www and the .com. Like type "polkaudio" then hit ctrl+enter and it enters www.polkaudio.com.

Shift + enter fills in www and .net

alt+enter fills in the info and opens in a new tab

For alot of things just typing it in and hitting enter works...but it takes more time.

mrbigbluelight

When shifting between fields on a fill-in form, you use TAB.

Is there a key combination for shifting back to a previous field, ie, reverse
TAB-ing ?

I usually get carried away with the TAB key.

Disc Jockey

shift + tab