The other day on Friendfeed, I noticed Matt Mastracci posted a link to an article explaining how and why additional keys were added to and removed from Mac (and PC) keyboards. It is an interesting read, but I found something even more interesting to me in the comments at the end of the article.
One commenter posted a handful of keyboard shortcuts you can use in Windows. Before reading the comment, I always thought that the “Windows” key on my keyboards did nothing more than open and close the “Start” menu (as did the author of the article, it seems). The commenter, however, pointed out that it also can be used to perform some pretty handy actions in Windows (I have only tested them on Windows 7, so I can’t comment as to how far back they are compatible with Windows or whether or not they are compatible with Linux in any way).
Following are the shortcuts he pointed out:
- win+d = show desktop (minimize all windows)
- win+e = open explorer (same as finder)
- win+l = lock the computer (so no one tinkers with it)
- win+r = open “run” dialog (terminal commandline)
- win+pause|break = open computer properties (add to domain, remove hardware and so on)