Ten Windows Keyboard Shortcuts I cannot live without

When I’m helping friends and family members who are not that tech savvy with their computers I always notice that they do not use keyboard shortcuts. Instead of doing the plain old CTRL C, CTRL V to copy and paste selected text they use the mouse to do that. Thinking about this for a while I thought it might be useful to list ten Windows keyboard shortcuts that I cannot live without.

It hopefully might help some users who are starting to work with Windows and probably even some users who rely on the mouse to do everything in Windows. But before I start I would like to explain the reason why I’m using keyboard shortcuts in certain situations and not the mouse.

The main advantage of a keyboard shortcut is speed. Take the copy and paste example. A user who is using the mouse marks the text that he wants to copy, presses the right mouse button, selects copy from the list, moves to the new document where he wants to paste it, right-clicks the mouse again and selects paste.

Using keyboard shortcuts instead makes the right-click part of the process obsolete. Lets start with the Ten Windows Keyboard Shortcuts I cannot live without.

• CTRL C / CTRL V: This one is obvious and probably the most used keyboard shortcut in the world. CTRL C copies whatever is currently marked and CTRL V pastes the contents again. (C for Copy, V for Verbose)
• CTRL A: The copy and paste shortcuts work well with this one. CTRL A selects all.
• ALT F4: Closes the active window
• F3: This one opens the Windows Search.
• ALT TAB: Switches between open applications.
• CTRL P: Opens the Print Screen dialog.
• F2: Rename the active item
• CTRL ESC: Displays the Windows Start Menu.
• SHIFT DEL: Deletes the item immediately without moving it into the trashbin
• TAB: Move to the next control, excellent for forms.
• Spacebar: Checks a checkbox, presses a button if on a button, selects an option if on an option
• Return, ESC: Those are single shortcuts. Return is used perform the active command while ESC cancels the current task.

Those are my ten. Remember it’s only for Windows and not specific applications like Firefox (I would definitely have mentioned F11 then for example). If you find different Windows shortcuts noteworthy let me know please.