Windows Keyboard Shortcuts to Help You Be More Productive

Many keyboard shortcuts come built into Windows. Some are gimicky, like the “Aero” view in Windows 7 that shows a real-time view of open programs and allows you to quickly flip between them (Alt+Tab). Other key combinations are more practical, allowing you to quickly “lock” your computer from unwanted access, or easily zoom in for a better view of a webpage.
Locking Your Computer
Whether you want to leave your desk for five minutes or take an hour for lunch, it’s important not to leave your computer with different programs open on the desktop, as this can be a privacy and security risk. That said, you may not want to turn off your computer either, though that may be wise when you’re leaving the office for the day, in order to conserve power.
A quick way to protect your computer, and prevent even the temptation of others to snoop around on your system, is to quickly press and hold the Windows logo key while tapping “L”. This will lock your computer, and prevent it from being used until you enter the password to re-enter Windows.
Zoom Into A Webpage
Whether you are having a hard time reading an article, want to see an image more clearly, or need to focus exclusively on a section of a web page during a presentation, this is a handy shortcut to know, and can be used in any modern browser.
Press the CTRL key while tapping the “+” or “-” keys (beside the backspace key) to zoom in or out of a webpage. You can also find the option in the “view” menu, but that can be a hassle, especially if you want to zoom in quite a bit.
Select Multiple Documents
It’s easy enough to click and drag the mouse over several items to select them, but sometimes you only want some of those items selected in order to drag and drop them elsewhere or delete them.
Click one of the items, then hold down the CTRL key and click the other items in the folder to select multiple items.
Alternatively, you can click the first item, press and hold the “shift” key, and click another item to select both items and every item in between in that folder.
What are your favorite keyboard shortcuts? Let us know in the comments, on our fan page, or send us a tweet!