Keyboard Shortcuts
The beauty of a modern operating system is its relative ease of use. In the days when computers were in their infancy (along with most of the facebook generation), computers were more difficult to use. You had to know keyboard shortcuts to get things done. Now, since the invention of the mouse and the Graphical User Interface (Thank you, Xerox and Microsoft), we do not need to know all the keyboard shortcuts. But, here are a few helpful ones:
| Shortcut Keys | Description |
| <ALT>+<F> | Open the 'File' menu in a program |
| <Alt>+<E> | Open the 'Edit' menu in a program |
| <Ctrl>+<A> | Select all text, files or an entire image |
| <Ctrl>+<C> | Copy selected item |
| <Ctrl>+<X> | Cut selected item |
| <Ctrl>+<V> | Paste |
| <CTRL>+<B> | BOLD the selection. |
| <CTRL>+<I> | Italicize the selection |
| <CTRL>+<HOME> | Go to the beginning of the document |
| <CTRL>+<END> | Go to the end of a document |
| <WINKEY> | Opens the Windows Start Menu |
|
<WINKEY>+<D> <WINKEY>+<M> |
Minimizes everything and shows only the desktop |
| <WINKEY>+<E> | Opens Windows Explorer |
| <WINKEY>+<R> | Opens the Windows Run dialog |
| <WINKEY>+<L> | Locks the computer |
There are many, many other keyboard shortcuts. Spend some time trying different ones out and tell us what you think!