Vista and Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows 7 and Vista both come with a plethora of keyboard shortcuts for those of us who want to be super efficient or who are just mouse weary.

Here is a small, arbitrary and incomplete selection of some keyboard shortcuts that I find useful, at least sometimes.

Alt + P (in explorer)	Activates preview of the currently selected file
Win + Up	Maximizes the active window
Win + Down	Minimizes the active window
Win + Shift + Up	Stretches the active window to max. screen height but leaves the width unchanged
Win + Shift + Down	Active window: -    reduce maximized window to normal -    minimize normal window
Win + +	Turns the magnifier on
Win + Esc	Turns the magnifier off
Win + Left/Right	Repeated use on active window will -    fill exactly left/right half of screen -    flips window to other side of screen -    reduce window to original size and location
Win + Home	Minimizes all open windows except active window; repeating restores all previously minimized windows
Win + T	Cycles through preview thumbnails of all open programs (almost identical to Alt + Tab)
Win + E	Opens Explorer on “Computer”
Win + (number)	Launches programs pinned to taskbar (first, second a.s.o.)
Win + Space	Aero mode only: Make all windows transparent (toggle switch)

I hope you too will find some of these useful.

There are many, many more. Click on Start, Help and Support, search for Keyboard Shortcuts and click the Keyboard Shortcuts entry in the list of results.

Lots to read, bring some spare time to the party ;-)

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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