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25 Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows XP Users

Windows KeyIf you’re like me, your experience when you sit down at the computer is more of a ‘point and click’ thing than a ‘carpal tunnel generating’ thing. However, there are times (rare maybe) that I spend a little more time at the keyboard, and I find it irritating to have to scroll through a menu or use the mouse. Franklin gave a pretty comprehensive list for OS X users here, but I don’t have a Mac so it wasn’t as useful for me as it probably was for Steve Jobs. So for the Windows XP users out there (and Bill of course!) I’ve comprised a list of the top 25 keyboard shortcuts that I use just about daily. This is by no means a complete list of shortcuts, just ones that I find pretty handy (he he).


Shortcut

Result

Windows

Ctrl+X Cut
Ctrl+C Copy
Ctrl+V Paste
Ctrl+Z Undo
Ctrl+A Select All
Ctrl+= Zoom In
Ctrl+- Zoom Out
Alt+Tab Switch between open applications
Alt+Esc Cycles through items in the order that they were opened
Alt+(underlined letter of menu) Opens corresponding menu
Ctrl+Alt+Delete Opens Windows Task Manager
WinKey+D Displays the desktop, press again to return programs
WinKey Displays the Start menu
WinKey+L Locks your computer
WinKey+F Search for files

Microsoft Word

Ctrl+= Changes font to subscript, press again for normal font
Ctrl+S Save your file
Ctrl+P Print
Ctrl+F Brings up Find Text dialog box
Ctrl+I Italicize text
Ctrl+U Underline text
Ctrl+B Bold text

Dialog Box

F1 Displays the help menu (Also works in Firefox)
F4 Drops down address bar
Alt+F4 Closes dialog box

I hope these help. If you spend more time at the keyboard and need a more complete list, go here. You will find that some of the commands work in multiple programs, but I just listed them according to the programs I use most. I also don’t know if these shortcuts work in Vista; I’m more comfortable with XP. It’s been my experience that XP works better anyway.


Have something to add? Send me a message on twitter or leave a comment below.

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