Be a Keyboard Ninja - Basic Shortcuts

I'm starting a new series today, on keyboard shortcuts. I'll take you through all kinds of normally used programs and help you master the art of using-the-keyboard-for-just-about-everything. So, follow along, and have fun too. I'll start off with basic hotkeys.

This series is written in a way that you'll want to read everything in order, so I'm interlinking all the posts in the series. But you can always visit the series again and see them in any order. You may bookmark these articles too, to keep as reference.

You'll want to subscribe to this blog so that you don't miss out future articles in this series. And it's worth subscribing too. Check out the link and you'll know.

Let's get started:

Probably everyone knows this, but I have to cover these as formality:

• Cut: Ctrl+X
• Copy: Ctrl+C
• Paste: Ctrl+V
• Undo: Ctrl+Z
• Redo: Ctrl+Y

Inarguably, they are the most basic, and most probably, they are the highest used keyboard shortcuts. Let's move on to some other basic formatting shortcuts:

• Bold: Ctrl+B
• Underline: Ctrl+U
• Italics: Ctrl+I

As I write this article, I'm using some of these too. I already have one italic word here, and so many bold ones. Okay, let's move on to some basic Windows shortcuts that help you move around open windows and other things:

• Start Menu: Windows Key (which will be written as WinK from now on)
• Show Desktop: WinK+D
• Minimize everything: WinK+M
• Restore all minimized windows: Shift+WinK+M
• Windows Explorer: WinK+E
• Control Panel: WinK+C
• Switch between open Windows: Alt+Tab 
• Flip 3D (Switch between windows in 3D, only in Aero): WinK+Tab
• Close window: Alt+F4, and sometimes even Ctrl+W
• Delete selected file/folder: Delete key (which will be written as Del from now on)
• Permanently delete selected file/folder (bypass Recycle Bin): Shift+Del
• Run box: WinK+R
• Lock computer: WinK+L (works in most cases, but see this for details)

If you notice, most keyboard shortcuts can be reversed by adding Shift to the combo. Maybe not in the basic ones, but you'll see this later. It's pretty useful.

Do subscribe to this blog so as to not miss my next post in this series.
Also, see the article about the timesaving keyboard shortcuts for web browsers, which was written earlier and not as a part of this series.

What about you? Which of these did you not know already? Let me knoe in the comments. Oh, and the comment system is really fun and easy to use too. You can log in using your social networking accounts, or your OpenID. You can post as a guest too.

Be a Keyboard Ninja - Basic Shortcuts