Okay, I am going to date myself here, but my computer experience far predates the general use of that wondrous device we now call the "mouse". But before this regresses into one of those, "Back in my day" monologues, let me say I have nothing against the mouse. I don't miss having to click down 17 times and then arrow over to get to the text I want. I certainly don't miss having text menus, batch files, and the old DOS black screen. On the other hand the reality is that the act of typing generally requires that both of your hands essentially hover over the keyboard. Consequently, reaching over to grab the mouse and click on a menu or icon breaks your stride at the least. Luckily many programmers, like me, are relics of the computer dark age and consequently Windows and its applications are just full of keyboard shortcuts and ways to get around and get things done without reaching for that mouse.
Some of these shortcuts are obvious if you know where to look. The Control Key and some keyboard shortcuts are the first ones many Windows users learn. It doesn't hurt that Microsoft kindly places the shortcut next to the menu item in most applications. So using Control+S to Save a file, is much faster and much less disruptive to your train of thought while writing, and as most of us had to learn the painful way, the more often we save, the less we lose. Some of these Control key shortcuts even work when their mouse equivalents do not. I always use Control+C to Copy selected text and Control+V to paste. If you haven't tried it, you would be amazed how often these will work when a right click won't. These together with Control+Z for undo are probably the most common shortcuts people use. The other common shortcut is the Alt key. Alt plus the underlined letter on the menu bar allow you to access most menu items from the keyboard, so for example Alt+F and then X will allow you to exit most applications.
Around the time Windows 95 was released Microsoft encouraged all manufacturers to add a special windows key to keyboards. This key resides on the bottom left of most keyboards between the Ctrl and Alt keys. In its simplest form this key causes the Windows menu to pop up just as it does when you click the start menu. But this key also has a number of lesser-known useful shortcuts associated with it. For example, if you hold down the Windows key while hitting E the system will start up Windows Explorer. This makes for a quick and easy way to get to your files from wherever you are. If you have a bunch of windows laid out over the top of your desktop and need to get back to your desktop quickly; don't minimize each window one at a time. Hold down the Windows key and hit D for Desktop. Everything, even windows that won't normally allow you to minimize them, will immediately jump down to the taskbar. Then when you're all done and want things back just like they were, you can simply hit Windows+D again. Need to search for a file? Windows key and F will bring up the File Search function. Getting up and need to lock your computer quickly? Try Windows key and L. For the more technically inclined, if you have the need to access the system properties control panel quickly, try the Windows key plus the Pause/Break key. Finally, and this leads right into our next batch of shortcuts, Windows Key plus the R key will give you a Run dialog box.
The Run dialog box is your secret passage for quickly getting to lots of places in your system. If you need to get to a folder quickly, just start typing its path---if you type C:\D for example, the system will offer you all the folders on your C: drive that start with D; then you can arrow down, select the folder you want and hit Enter and an Explorer window will open in that directory. Lets say you want C:\Downloads\Bids; no problem - you would just arrow down to Downloads, but don't hit enter yet; instead just type \B and all the subfolders that start with B will be displayed. You can continue this as long as you need to reach any subfolder. Want to open www.InLine.com but your web browser isn't open? Just type www.InLine.com into the Run dialog and your browser of choice will open and take you to that page. If you want to start Excel or Word, all you need to know is the name of the program. Typing 'Excel,' 'WinWord,' or 'Outlook' into the Run dialog will launch that application for you. If you need to see what is on another machine on your network, just type \\ and the name of the machine into the Run box and a list of shared items on that machine will be displayed. As you can see, the Run dialog is a shortcut to almost anywhere in Windows.
Got a great shortcut I didn't mention? Send it to Newsletter@InLine.com and we'll see about sharing it in future issues.
Also, just before we finalized this month's newsletter someone sent me a link to the wizards at Google's new map solution for Mobile phones. If you have a modern cell phone and a data plan or a Blackberry, visit http://www.google.com/glm and give it a try. I have to say being able to search for a Hotel, Pizza, or anything else NEAR any address in the U.S. and having my phone not only give me a map of all my choices, but directions to my selection from my current location is one of the coolest things I have seen recently.