Riverbank It management

There it is on your keyboard, down at the bottom – the Windows button. The button no-one ever presses. It does have some good uses as a shortcut key to help you speed your way through your work. So take a quick look at the list below to see what it could do for you.

The Start button

At its simplest the Windows button is the same as clicking the Start button. Just quicker. Notice that the Start menu doesn’t appear until you let go of the Windows button. That’s because you can do other things while you are holding it down. Read on.

Lock your computer

You know you have to take security seriously so don’t leave your computer unlocked. Press Windows | L to lock it before you step away from your desk (hold down the Windows button and press L).

Lost in forest of open windows?

Are you often hunting thought a forest of open windows? There are two ways to cut quickly through the jungle of open documents.

1. Minimise everything and clear the desktop with Windows | D.
2. Use Alt Tab to step through a list of open windows. Just keep pressing Alt Tab until you land on the right window. I find this very useful when working in public because it saves a lot of mouse waving and keeps you in control.

Windows Explorer

Open Windows Explorer quickly with Windows | E.

Knit your own shortcuts

For common tasks use the Windows button to fire up the Start menu and then learn the button combination you need. I put my laptop into hibernation frequently so I use the combination of the Windows button followed by U (for ShUtdown) then H (for Hibernate) and Enter.