The shortcuts use the Windows key plus one of the cursor keys. The left and right cursor keys dock the window to the selected side of the monitor, the up key maximizes the window, the down key minimizes it.

Win7Keys is a program for Windows Vista and Windows XP that replicates the new keyboard functionality on those operating systems.

The program needs to be installed before the shortcut functionality becomes availability. Win7Keys runs in the background when it is started. The application has no interface which means that there are no options available to change the shortcuts.

The default shortcuts use the very same keys that are used on Windows 7. Both the program and the program source code can be downloaded from the project website. Win7Keys is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. This includes Windows 7, even though it does not make sense to run the program under that operating system.

Windows users who like more control over the shortcuts can take a look at the Windows 7 Shortcuts program instead. The program offers customizable shortcuts and two additional shortcuts that are not offered by Win7Keys.

The program can change a window’s transparency minimize all windows but the active one on top of the four original shortcuts. Even better, Windows 7 Shortcuts does not have to be installed, it can be run from any location it has been placed in.

Do you use the windows management shortcuts under Windows 7 or previous versions of Windows?

While Microsoft and software developers are gracious enough to provide some shortcuts, those provided standard with certain products often fall short of fulfilling our individual needs. Different users want different things to happen when they push certain keys, but the part of the population that knows how to make that happen is limited in some cases.

Although you may not realize it, your Windows machine already has the capability of creating custom shortcuts. The funny thing is, you have probably looked right at the option hundreds of times without realizing what it meant.

Find an application or file that you would like to assign a shortcut key to. Right click, then select “Create Shortcut,” just like you would if you simply wanted to create a desktop icon for something. A new icon should appear. Next, right click on the new shortcut, then select properties. Select the “Shortcut” tab along the top of the new window and find the field that says “Shortcut key:”.

Now click in the box. At this point, any combination of keys that you hold down at the same time will bind to the shortcut. For example, if you click in the field and the hold down Ctrl+Alt+r, pressing those same keys simultaneously while doing anything will open the file or start the program you have bound them do. You can alternatively select a single key to be the shortcut key for the selected file or application. Windows will automatically add the keys Ctrl-Alt to it.

Once you have chosen a shortcut key and assigned it in the field, click “Apply” and close the window. Then give it a try. Your short cut keys should function the way that you want them to.

For many users this is all the keyboard shortcut customization they need. Others require a bit more structure, wanting to be able to review all their shortcuts on one screen and to assign keys tasks as well.
If you are one of those people, you might consider downloading a program like WinHotKey, HotkeyMan or Hoekey. Those programs allow you to bind key combinations that include the Windows Key to do things like minimize and maximize windows in addition to opening files, folders and programs.

Perhaps most importantly, they allows you to view all the assignments you have made on one page. That way if you attempt to make a shortcut but can’t because it’s already assigned, you can look and find out where. There are a few restrictions, and you cannot reassign the Windows Key to do things differently than Microsoft already programmed it to (the Windows Key already does things? Who knew?). But overall, these applications allow you to make some pretty significant improvements.

Shortcut keys can shave seconds off the time it take to open windows and files, and while that may not sound like much, over a week, a month, or a year, the increases in productivity those seconds create can be significant. In fact, it saves you time searching as well. These days, anything that increases productivity is a good thing.

Are you someone who uses shortcut keys? Are you likely to create your own?

The following guide explains how to set system wide keyboard shortcuts for websites, to launch those websites in the default web browser by pressing those shortcuts. The functionality is built into Windows, and requires no third party programs.

Keyboard shortcuts can be configured for url files, which Microsoft’s Internet Explorer creates when sites are added to the favorites in the browser. We recommend to start the 32-bit edition of Internet Explorer for this.

Start by visiting a website that you want to create a shortcut for. Now click on Favorites > Add To Favorites to add the site to the bookmarks in Internet Explorer.

internet explorer favorites

A click on the add button saves the new Internet shortcut in the selected folder. It may be best to create a special folder with those Internet sites.

website shortcut

Each individual shortcut needs to be edited now, this can be done in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer by clicking on Favorites, and right clicking the Internet shortcut and selecting Properties, or by opening the Favorites folder in Windows Explorer. Windows 7 users find it under C:\Users\username\Favorites.

web document shortcut

Locate the shortcut key field. It displays none by default. Clicking in it, and pressing a keyboard shortcut will set that combination as the active shortcut. It is for instance possible to use some of the F-function keys on the keyboard for this, or more complex shortcuts that make use of Alt, Shift or Ctrl.

You can for example configure Ghacks to always open when the F5 key is pressed. This works as a global shortcut, which means it can be triggered from any application window or the desktop (unless the app blocks the key).

A program to display all reserved and configured shortcuts may come in handy. ActiveHotkeys, developed by a Donation Coder member Tranglos is exactly the program needed for this. The program will test all possible selected keyboard combinations and report the active ones. To find out if F keys are taken one would select None as the modifier, and Function keys as the key group. Active Hotkeys is a very handy program for this purpose.

active hotkeys

It is usually a good idea to select at least one modifier for the Internet shortcuts, e.g. Ctrl or Alt to avoid incompatibilities with software programs that may have reserved keys for program specific functions.

Have another tip that you want to share? Let us know in the comments.

The question here is obviously if this is enough to justify running yet another background program 24/7 on the computer system. This really depends on the user in question. If you regularly add and remove removable devices and media from a computer system – talking about multiple times a day at least – then you might want to consider using the software. If you only do it once a week the software program feels like an overkill.

The feature can be enabled for CD Rom drives, removable media, fixed drives, network drives and ram drives. The application will sit quietly in the Windows System Tray and spawn a desktop shortcut immediately after one of the selected devices has been connected to the computer system. It will also remove the shortcut again if the device is disconnected from the system.

Desk Drive requires the Microsoft .net Framework and uses up to 18 Megabytes of computer memory while running. That’s a lot of memory and it should influence the decision whether to run Desk Drive or not heavily.

One of the biggest strengths of the application is the wide variety of possible actions that can be defined. It ranges from running applications, entering text, manipulating windows, changing system settings like the volume of the system. Hoekey supports multimedia keyboard keys and can control media playback on the computer system as well.

Probably the most amazing factor of this keyboard shortcuts program is its low resource usage. Once everything has been configured the application runs quietly in the background. It uses 200 Kilobytes of computer memory while running and 600 Kilobytes of virtual memory. That’s nothing compared to most other applications that allow the manipulation of keyboard shortcuts on the Windows operating system.

Orphans Remover is the solution for the problem. The software program was specifically designed to deal with Windows shortcuts. It is possible to scan predefined locations on the computer for invalid windows shortcuts or pick folders or drives manually that should be scanned for orphaned shortcuts.

Default locations are the Windows Startmenu, the computer desktop, the favorites and history, recent documents, program files and application data folders. Shortcuts pointing to removable or network drives, cd-roms and ram disks can be exempted from the search.

The software will scan the drive which does not take more than a few seconds. All invalid Windows shortcuts will be displayed and the user has the option to delete all or only some of them. Orphans Remover is a handy software program that effectively locates and deletes invalid Windows shortcuts.

Update: The developing company has ceased all operations. The website is no longer available, neither are downloads of the latest program versions that have been released prior to closing the doors.

We have uploaded the latest version of Orphansremover to our servers. You can download the program from the following link: Orphans Remover (137)

We have tested the release and it is virus free. Please note that we do not offer support for this software or are responsible for any damage or harm that it may cause on your system.

The software program Advanced Shortcuts Composer provides a few advantages over both already build in methods of creating shortcuts. The user can either drag and drop a file or folder in the program’s interface or browse the computer and pick the files or folders that way. He then has the option to change the shortcut’s name, the destination and more importantly the program’s priority and a shortcut key combination to launch it directly using only the keyboard in Windows.

The option to set another process priority is not available when creating shortcuts manually in Windows and it could be a real timesaver just for this reason.

The Advanced Shortcuts Composer comes with another application build in so to speak which can patch already existing shortcuts. Patching basically means to select a different program priority for the application.

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.