Internet Multifunctioning

We all spend lots of time using and enjoying our computers…and we use our keyboards as our main means of communicating with them. Did you know that there are lots of keyboard shortcuts to help us get things done? There are general Microsoft shortcuts, Office shortcuts, Internet Explorer shortcuts, and Vista even has programmable shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts save time because it’s much faster to touch two or three keys simultaneously than clicking on a menu function and then selecting one of the menu choices.

The shortcuts I use most are the following:

Windows Logo Key (the key on the same keyboard row as the space bar, usually to the left of the space bar) + L locks your computer
(handy if you want to leave the PC and don’t want anyone to use it. All aspects of your session remain exactly as you left them. You’ll need to use another shortcut, Ctrl+Alt+Del to unlock it.

In Word or Open Office Writer, I like to use the Ctrl+C to copy text, Ctrl+X to cut text, Ctrl+V to paste text, Ctrl+B to bold text, Ctrl+A to select all text or items in the current window, Ctrl+U to underline text, Ctrl+I to make text italics, Ctrl+Z will undo the last command and there are many more.

Check out this link for all the shortcut lists http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/keyboard.aspx

There are probably many more shortcuts you’ll find interesting at this site. Print them off for use as a quick tips sheet, or bookmark the page for future reference. However, you’ll find that you’ll quickly remember the shortcuts you use most and will use the references less and less.