Windows Generic Navigation

• Tab: Forward one item.
• Shift + Tab: Backward one item.
• Ctrl + Tab: Cycle through tabs/child windows.
• Ctrl + Shift + Tab: Cycle backwards through tabs/child windows.
• Enter: If a button's selected, click it, otherwise, click default button.
• Space: Toggle items such as radio buttons or checkboxes.
• Alt + (Letter): Activate item corresponding to (Letter). (Letter) is the underlined letter on the item's name.
• Ctrl + Left: Move cursor to the beginning of previous word.
• Ctrl + Right: Move cursor to the beginning of next word.
• Ctrl + Up: Move cursor to beginning of previous paragraph. This and all subsequent Up/Down hotkeys in this section have only been known to work in RichEdit controls.
• Ctrl + Down: Move cursor to beginning of next paragraph.
• Shift + Left: Highlight one character to the left.
• Shift + Right: Highlight one character to the right.
• Shift + Up: Highlight from current cursor position, to one line up.
• Shift + Down: Highlight from current cursor position, to one line down.
• Ctrl + Shift + Left: Highlight to beginning of previous word.
• Ctrl + Shift + Right: Highlight to beginning of next word.
• Ctrl + Shift + Up: Highlight to beginning of previous paragraph.
• Ctrl + Shift + Down: Highlight to beginning of next paragraph.
• Home: Move cursor to top of a scrollable control.
• End: Move cursor to bottom of a scrollable control.

Mozilla Firefox Shortcuts

• Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + PageDown: Cycle through tabs.
• Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PageUp: Cycle through tabs in reverse.
• Ctrl + (1-9): Switch to tab corresponding to number.
• Ctrl + N: New window.
• Ctrl + T: New tab.
• Ctrl + L or Alt + D or F6: Switch focus to location bar.
• Ctrl + Enter: Open location in new tab.
• Shift + Enter: Open location in new window.
• Ctrl + K or Ctrl + E: Switch focus to search bar.
• Ctrl + O: Open a local file.
• Ctrl + W: Close tab, or window if there's only one tab open.
• Ctrl + Shift + W: Close window.
• Ctrl + S: Save page as a local file.
• Ctrl + P: Print page.
• Ctrl + F or F3: Open find toolbar.
• Ctrl + G or F3: Find next...
• Ctrl + Shift + G or Shift + F3: Find previous...
• Ctrl + B or Ctrl + I: Open Bookmarks sidebar.
• Ctrl + H: Open History sidebar.
• Escape: Stop loading page.
• Ctrl + R or F5: Reload current page.
• Ctrl + Shift + R or Ctrl + F5: Reload current page; bypass cache.
• Ctrl + U: View page source.
• Ctrl + D: Bookmark current page.
• Ctrl + NumpadPlus or Ctrl + Equals (+/=): Increase text size.
• Ctrl + NumpadMinus or Ctrl + Minus: Decrease text size.
• Ctrl + Numpad0 or Ctrl + 0: Set text size to default.
• Alt + Left or Backspace: Back.
• Alt + Right or Shift + Backspace: Forward.
• Alt + Home: Open home page.
• Ctrl + M: Open new message in integrated mail client.
• Ctrl + J: Open Downloads dialog.
• F6: Switch to next frame. You must have selected something on the page already, e.g. by use of Tab.
• Shift + F6: Switch to previous frame.
• Apostrophe ('): Find link as you type.
• Slash (/): Find text as you type.

Windows Hotkeys

• Ctrl + Escape or Win: Display start menu.
• Shift + F10 or AppsKey: Display context menu.
• Win + E: Open Windows Explorer.
• Win + R: Open Run dialog.
• Win + M: Minimize all windows.
• Win + Shift + M: Undo minimize all windows.
• Win + D: Toggle minimize all windows. or toggle desktop view, using Show_Desktop.scf, while MinimizeAllWindows doesn't minimize dialog boxes (including Properties windows).'.
• Windows Hotkeys: Activate system tray. Arrow keys select, Enter double-clicks, and AppsKey or Shift + F10 right-clicks.
• Win + L (XP Only): Locks keyboard. Similar to Lock Workstation.
• Win + F or F3: Open Find dialog. (All Files) F3 may not work in some applications which use F3 for their own find dialogs.
• Win + Control + F: Open Find dialog. (Computers)
• Win + U: Open Utility Manager.
• Win + F1: Open Windows help.
• Win + Pause: Open System Properties dialog.
• Win + Tab: Cycle through taskbar buttons. Enter clicks, AppsKey or Shift + F10 right-clicks.
• Win + Shift + Tab: Cycle through taskbar buttons in reverse.
• Alt + Tab: Display CoolSwitch. More commonly known as the AltTab dialog.
• Alt + Shift + Tab: Display CoolSwitch; go in reverse.
• Alt + Escape: Send active window to the bottom of the z-order.
• Alt + Shift + Escape: Activate the window at the bottom of the z-order.
• Alt + F4: Close active window; or, if all windows are closed, open shutdown dialog.
• Shift while a CD is loading: Bypass AutoPlay.
• Shift while login: Bypass startup folder. Only those applications will be ignored which are in the startup folder, not those started from the registry (Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\)
• Ctrl + Alt + Delete or Ctrl + Alt + NumpadDel (Both NumLock states): Invoke the Task Manager or NT Security dialog.
• Ctrl + Shift + Escape (2000/XP ) or (Ctrl + Alt + NumpadDot) : Invoke the task manager. On earlier OSes, acts like Ctrl + Escape.
• Printscreen: Copy screenshot of current screen to clipboard.
• Alt + Printscreen: Copy screenshot of current active window to clipboard.
• Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow: Invert screen. Untested on OSes other than XP.
• Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow: Undo inversion.
• Win + B : Move focus to systray icons.

Tricks for Windows Explorer

• Keyboard and mouse shortcuts:
o Open any folder and press F3. This will bring up the Find Files dialog box for that folder.
o Press Start+TAB key combination just once. Now, pressing TAB repeatedly will allow you to jump between various areas of the desktop, such as the desktop proper, taskbar, system tray, quicklaunch toolbar, and Start button.
o When you drag a file with the right mouse button, you will be presented with an option to move or copy the file when you drop it elsewhere.
o If you drag a file from some location and hover it over a folder that is minimized on the desktop without dropping it, then that folder will spring open allowing you to drop the file there.
o If you drag a shortcut and place it over the Start button without dropping it, then the Start menu will spring open and you can navigate to your special program groups and drop it there.
o Sometimes, when you have many programs open and you use the Alt+TAB combination to switch to another program, it does not switch. In this situation, press the Start button twice.
o Press Alt+F4, to close a program. If no program is open, then it functions like a Shutdown command.
o Pressing Alt+Enter after selecting an item will bring up its properties box.
o Pressing Start+Pause will bring up the System Properties of your computer.
• Adding extra options to the Send To menu: Open the Windows\SendTo folder. Create shortcuts to the programs and folders that you commonly use. My suggestion is for shortcuts to Desktop, My Documents, IrfanView, Subhash VCDPlayer, Winamp, and Windows Media Player. When you use this operation on any file, the file will copied to the chosen location or opened in the respective program.
• Adding extra options to context menu: Usually, a certain file type can be opened with many programs, but when you double-click on it only the default program opens it. To have a choice, add some extra custom options to the context menu.
Supposing you have MP3 files in your machine, which by default opens with Windows Media Player, you can have options in the context menu so that it can be opened with other programs such as Subhash VCDPlayer, Winamp, etc.
Say you want to have an option with Subhash VCDPlayer, here is what you need to do. Go to Folder Options. Click on File Types tab. From the list under Registered File Types, search for and select MP3 Format Sound. Now click on Advanced. In the Edit File Type window, click on New. In the New Action window, enter Open with Subhash VCDPlayer in the text box under Action and "C:\Program Files\Subhash VCDPlayer" "%1" (including the quotation marks) in the Application used to perform action.
Here, the ampersand symbol '∓' is placed before the 'S' in Subhash VCDPlayer so that 's' becomes the hot key in the context menu. You can follow a similar procedure, to do the same with Winamp or Sonique. Use the Edit button to modify any previous setting you have created. Exercise caution with the choice of the program. If the program and the file type are incompatible, the result can be undesirable.
In Windows 9x, go to Folder Options » File Types. Here, select the file type that you need to add custom options. Now, click on Edit. In the Edit File Type window, click on New and follow the above-mentioned procedure.
Create different options for different file types with compatible programs using this method.
• Resize columns: Press Ctrl+Plus to resize columns to best fit the contents. Do not use this trick in the Temporary Internet Files folder though. Super bad news if you frequent this folder to manually pick out files.
• Folder Options: Customizing the Windows Explorer is done via the Folder Options. To access this,
o In Windows Me/2000: From the menu, choose Tools » Folder Options.
o In Windows 9x: From the menu, choose View » Folder Options
To move between the different tabs, press the Ctrl+TAB key combination or just use the mouse.
• Setting the default view: There are five types of views available
o Large Icons
o Small Icons
o List
o Details
o Thumbnails
Open any folder and choose the type of view that you want from the toolbar. If you were to choose the Details view, then adjust the column sizes now. Then, go to Folder Options. In the View tab, click on the Like Current Folder.
• Single-click operation: Normally, to select a file you single-click and to run you double-click. You can change this to hover for select and single-click to run. Go to Folder Options. Here, in the Click items as follows section, check the Single-click to open an item and Underline items only when I point at them.

In Windows 9x, go to Folder Options, and choose Custom, based on settings you choose and click on Settings. In the Click items as follows section, choose the above-mentioned setting.
• Expanding and collapsing levels: On the folder pane, you can expand a level by pressing ASTERISK or *. To collapse a level press MINUS or -.
• Customized Links Toolbar: The Links toolbar has shortcuts to several Internet sites that you never have use for. You can replace them with shortcuts to folders or files in your hard disk or your own choice of Internet sites. To do this, go to the Windows\Favorites\Links folder. Here remove the shortcuts that Microsoft has provided and create some shortcuts to your own files and folders in your hard disk or network.
• Open links in the same window: In the above tip, when you click on any link, the link opens in a new window. To open the link in the same window, right click on the link and select Open from the context menu.
• Removing the Links toolbar: If you want to remove toolbar from showing up at all then, open a Windows Explorer window and from the menu, choose Views » Toolbars and click on Links. This will remove the Links toolbar from you Explorer window. To get it back again, repeat the process and see that the Links option is checked again.
• Favorites: You can use the Favorites instead of the Links toolbar. This is especially useful in a networked environment where you need to navigate between several nodes and folders to access any file. Go to the Windows\Favorites folder. Create a folder and give it a name of your choice. Cut all the MS-supplied shortcuts and paste them in this new folder. Now go to your Network Neighborhood and navigate to the folders that you often access and add them to your Favorites by choosing Add to Favorites from the Favorites menu. Now, to hop over to some distant folder in just a couple of clicks, you need to choose it from the Favorites menu.
• Using Favorites in other programs: The above tip can come to good use not just in Explorer windows, but also in other programs such as Word or Excel. If you need to save a file in a location that you have added to the Favorites, locate the Favorites icon in the Save As dialog box, click on it, and choose the appropriate favorite to open the folder.
• Customising the Toolbar: In Windows Me and Windows 2000, you can customise the toolbar with your own choice of buttons. For this, from the Windows Explorer menu, choose Views » Toolbars » Customize. Remove those buttons that you do not need and add those that you need.

Tricks For Internet Explorer

Most people use Internet Explorer to browse the net. It loads up fast because parts of it is loaded by Windows as the latter boots up. Using the feedback from its huge user base, Microsoft has made numerous improvements, which you can use to your advantage.
• Disable the Links toolbar and save space. Remove the Explorer view for the same reason.
• Customize the toolbar via View » Toolbars » Customize.
• Blank home page: Set your home page to a blank one so that it loads up faster. This is done via Tools » Internet Options » General » Use Blank.
• Offline browsing:You do not have to connect to the Internet to revisit a page. You can access it from the cache. This is done via Tools » Internet Options » Temporary Internet Folders » Settings » Check newer versions of stored pages: » Never. After setting up IE like this, you can browse offline by, click on the History button. This will open up the History folder in a left pane. Browse through this to access the pages that you have visited earlier. You check the latest version on the net however by clicking on the Refresh button.
• Context Menu Extensions For IE: IE allows you to copy the address of a link with just two clicks. But to copy the address of an image on a webpage, you have make at least 5 clicks. To make things like this more easier, you can create your own context menu extensions. For this, some new keys will have to be added to the registry. These keys will refer to Javascript or VBScript functions placed in some special HTML files. Extract the HTM files to C:\. Extract the cmes.reg and double click on it. The keys will be merged into the registry. Your IE context menu will have new options - "Copy All Hyperlink Address" (default), "Copy All Image Addresses" (default), "Copy Image Address" (on images), "Set Text Size To Medium" (on selected text) and "Copy HTML Code" (on selected text). You will have to make some modification to the cmes.reg file if you are not able to place files at C:\, a common scenario for people who are on a network.
• Computer Security: Some websites have ads that tell you that your computer could be transmitting vital/private information about you, which could be targeted by hackers and viruses. They will tell you to download a security software. Considering the fact that they are using wrong tactics to sell their product, it is quite possible that their software could be doing more harm than good. No matter which software you use, it is not possible to completely hide your computer on the net. People who have always-on Internet connections like broadband or cable should instead use firewalls like the trusty ZoneAlarm or Tiny.
There are other websites that will ask visitors to install ActiveX controls like Gator or Bonzi. These are spyware and Internet users should avoid them.
Neither should you install programs like MP3 Dancer. These are spyware. Even if you uninstall them, they will still remain on your computer without your knowledge.

• Paranoia 1: IE's autocomplete feature may throw up some web addresses at the address bar, which you may not want others to see. So, clear the history. This is done by Internet Options » Clear History. If otherwise you want to selectively remove history items, then delete the appropriate folders inside the History folder. In Windows 9x/Me, the History folder is inside the Windows folder. In Windows 2000/XP, it will be inside the Documents and Settings\«User name»\Local Settings\ folder.
• Paranoia 2: Deleting the files in the Temporary Internet Files folder can remove only part of your tracks. Cookies stored by websites usually remain in this folder with their full web address. So, that is a security violation. To remove them, choose Internet Options » Temporary Internet Folder » Delete Cookies.
• Paranoia 3: All evidence is still not removed. There is a file inside the Temporary Internet Files folder called index.dat, which has some evidence of your browsing history. Delete this file too. IE will regenerate another index.dat later.
• Paranoia 4: When the Autocomplete feature is enabled, all your personal information including passwords are stored on the computer, which is available for others to misuse. So, when you are done with browsing at your office or an Internet cafe, follow the above three steps and clear the saved data by choosing Internet Options » Content » AutoComplete » Clear Forms and Clear Passwords. Sometimes, the Internet Options menu option might be disabled in your office or web cafe. So, delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\IntelliForms key from the registry. If you want to steal or backup passwords, export this key and import it on a different machine or installation. You will also have to copy the {username}.pwl file and cookies to the new machine/installation. Sometimes, there are ActiveX programs that sit silently recording everything. You can check them out at Internet Options » Temporary Internet Files » Settings » View Objects. This will open the Downloaded Program Files folder in the windows folder. By right-clicking the contents, you can either remove them or check out their properties.
• Paranoia 5: In certain Internet cafes, silent keyboard loggers are installed by certain people to collect userids and passwords, and send them to their email addresses. Remove these programs from memory and only then browse. Also disable form fillers such as Gator in Internet cafes.
• Dialer: When you click on a link, IE starts the dialer program. If this is annoying to you, disable this via Internet Options » Connection » Never dial a connection.
• Saving on telephone bills: You can make optimum use of your online time by opening the links in new windows rather than the current one. Take for example your HotMAIL Inbox. Every time you go there, there are many messages there. Instead of just clicking on a message and waiting for that message to load, right click on the message's link and choose Open in New Window. Go back to the Inbox and do the same for all other messages. By this time, your first message would have been downloaded. When you finish reading it, all the other messages would have been downloaded in their windows. Now, you can logout and disconnect the Internet connection.
• Downloading recalcitrant files: Most people use a downloaded manager to download huge files. But, sometimes they run into problems when the download manager is not able to catch the correct url of the file. In such cases, open the source of the page via View » Source and do a search for the download file. Usually, the full url of the file will be found here. Copy this and paste it in the download manager. If some website prevents you from right-clicking to save an image on it, just look inside the Temporary Internet Files folder for it.
• IE Toolbars ∓ Desktop Tickers: Add the Google Toolbar to IE. With this toolbar, you will get to the results without having to visit Google's home page first. You may also use Yahoo! Companion instead. With Yahoo! Companion you will be able to harness the power of the Google search engine and also get easy access to other Yahoo! services.
• If you have to keep in touch with the latest news, then get the Reuters Desktop Ticker. Reuters is the world's leading news provider and almost every newspaper and TV station in the world gets feeds from it. Once connected to the Net, headlines flash across the ticker and you can click on the headlines to see the news stories in a browser window.
• ESCAPE: Many people do not know this. If a page is being downloaded and you want to stop it, then pressing the Escape key will do that. Also, pressing Backspace key will take you to the previous page.
• Saving web pages: Beginning with Version 5, IE allows saving a web page in a single file including its images and other embedded content. To do this, choose Save As from the File menu. Here in the Save as type, choose Web Archive, single file (*.mht). Sometimes, MHT files may not show anything even though its thumbnail does show something. If you disable Javascript, you will be able to see the whatever something you saw in the thumbnail.