Internet Explorer 7 - Shortcuts

1.) Ctrl + T - Opens a new tab in the foreground.
2.) Ctrl + Click - Opens links in a new tab in the background.
3.) Ctrl + Shift + Click - Opens links in a new tab in the foreground.
4.) Alt + Enter - Opens a new tab from the address bar.
5.) Alt + Enter - It also opens a new tab from the search box.
6.) Ctrl + Q - Opens up quick tabs, which are thumbnail views.
7.) Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + Shift + Tab - Allows you to switch between tabs.
8.) Ctrl + N - Switches to a specific tab number. In this case, N can equal anything between the numbers one and eight.
9.) Ctrl + 9 - Switches to the last tab.
10.) Ctrl + W - Closes the current tab.
11.) Ctrl + Alt + F4 - Closes other open tabs.
12.) Alt + F4 - Closes all the tabs.

Now, here are a few mouse shortcuts for you as well.
1.) Click the middle mouse button (if your mouse has one) on a link and it will open up that link in a background tab for you.
2.) Double click any empty space right next to the last tab you have open and it will open up a brand new tab.
3.) If you click on the middle mouse button on one of your tabs, it will close the tab for you.

FUNCTION KEYS
F1- Typically pressing this brings up the help file for the program you're currently in. To test this, go ahead and left click on a blank area of your desktop, then press F1. The help file should spring to life, offering it's bounty of knowledge!

F2- This F-key is used to rename stuff. Click on a file or folder and strike the F2 key; you'll be able to rename it with ease! This is a good one to know if you're zipping through a bunch of files you're archiving and you have a specific naming convention in mind. Click the file, press F2 and rename it! - wash, rinse, repeat!

F3 – Used to bring up the search function in Windows, but varies for other programs. Great for Internet Explorer and Firefox users who want to find a specific word or phrase on a web page with ease!

F4 – In Internet Explorer the F4 key opens the address bar. Even though I said I wouldn't be mentioning any extra key commands until later, I must mention that pressing ALT + F4 will close any active program. Careful with this one! :)

F5 – Refresh key. Use this key to reload a web page or refresh your desktop. This is a good one for both the Internet (good for Ebay bid battles) and apparent computer freezes which you can read about here.

F6 – Cycles the cursor from field to field in the active program. In MS Word you can use this F-key to go to the next pane or frame.

F7 – This F-key is program-specific. Experiment in different programs to see what it can do, but remember to save your work first!

F8 – This key is used to boot Windows in Safe Mode. Read about Safe Mode here.

Middle Mouse Button Magic

So there I was, taking advantage of the precious few moments I get to spend at home these days; catching up on my e-mail, and using Firefox to browse a few websites I consider daily staples. I found out awhile ago that if I created folders for all of my favorite bookmarked sites that I could access them without scrolling down through all the "in-betweeners" that I use every great once in awhile. This made my web browsing prep time a little more streamlined in that I could open a few tabs (Ctrl-T), rattle off some mouse clicks and be information bound in no time at all. Good stuff, or so I thought...

Well, last night I was going through my routine and I accidentally clicked the middle mouse button (the scroll wheel) over a folder containing my daily sites. Lo, and to my utter astonishment, the entire contents of the folder sprang to life in my browser window; each with it's own tab! I just shaved about a minute and a half off of my browsing preparation time! Thanks Firefox!

Okay, maybe I was a bit quick to put all my praise on Mozilla's browsing beastie. In truth, Internet Explorer is capable of the exact same thing. I just happen to like Firefox better! ;)

Give it a try! Just make sure you don't have a million bookmarks in the folder you click on. That may result in a little more than your browser (or PC) can handle!

SOME USEFUL TIPS

Press Win+L to switch to the Welcome screen.
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Press Win+L to lock your workstation.
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You can switch users without going through the Welcome screen:  From Task Manager, go to the Users tab, right-click a user, and select Connect.
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Hold down the shift key in the shutdown dialog to change "Stand By" to "Hibernate".  Or just press H to hibernate instantly.  You can even use the Power Control Panel to configure your power button to hibernate.
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To disable the password when resuming from standby or hibernation, open the Power Control Panel and uncheck "Prompt for password after returning from standby" on the Advanced tab.
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You can rename multiple files all at once: Select a group of files, right-click the first file, and select "Rename". Type in a name for the first file, and the rest will follow.
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Hold down the shift key when switching to thumbnail view to hide the file names.  Do it again to bring them back.
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When dragging a file in Explorer, you can control the operation that will be performed when you release the mouse button:

 

Hold the Control key to force a Copy.

 

Hold the Shift key to force a Move.

 

Hold the Alt key to force a Create Shortcut.
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If you create a file called Folder.jpg, that image will be used as the thumbnail for the folder.  What's more, that image will also be used as the album art in Windows Media Player for all media files in that folder.
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From the View Menu, select "Choose Details" to select which file properties should be shown in the Explorer window. To sort by a file property, check its name in the "Choose Details" in order to make that property available in the "Arrange Icons by" menu.
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To display the volume control icon in the taskbar, go to the Sounds and Audio Devices Control Panel and select "Place volume icon in the taskbar".
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Hold down the shift key when deleting a file to delete it immediately instead of placing it in the Recycle Bin. Files deleted in this way cannot be restored.
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If you hold down the shift key while clicking "No" in a Confirm File Operation dialog, the response will be interpreted as "No to All".
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To save a document with an extension other than the one a program wants to use, enclose the entire name in quotation marks.  For example, if you run Notepad and save a file under the name

 

Dr.Z

 

it will actually be saved under the name Dr.Z.txt.  But if you type

 

"Dr.Z"

 

then the document will be saved under the name Dr.Z.  Note that a document so-named cannot be opened via double-clicking since the extension is no longer ".txt".
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Put a shortcut to your favorite editor in your Send To folder and it will appear in your "Send To" menu. You can then right-click any file and send it to your editor.
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Ctrl+Shift+Escape will launch Task Manager.
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To arrange two windows side-by-side, switch to the first window, then hold the Control key while right-clicking the taskbar button of the second window.  Select "Tile Vertically".
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To close several windows at once, hold down the Control key while clicking on the taskbar buttons of each window.  Once you have selected all the windows you want to close, right-click the last button you selected and pick "Close Group".
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You can turn a folder into a desktop toolbar by dragging the icon of the desired folder to the edge of the screen. You can then turn it into a floating toolbar by dragging it from the edge of the screen into the middle of the screen.  (It helps if you minimize all application windows first.)
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You can turn a folder into a taskbar toolbar.

 

First, unlock your taskbar.

 

Next, drag the icon of the desired folder to the space between the taskbar buttons and the clock. (Wait for the no-entry cursor to change to an arrow. It's a very tiny space; you will have to hunt for it.)

 

You can rearrange and resize the taskbar toolbar you just created.

 

You can even turn the taskbar toolbar into a menu by resizing it until only its name is visible.
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In the Address Bar, type "microsoft" and hit Ctrl+Enter.  Internet Explorer automatically inserts the "http://www." and ".com" for you.
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To remove an AutoComplete entry from a Web form, highlight the item in the AutoComplete dropdown and press the Delete key.

 

To remove all Web form AutoComplete entries, go to the Internet Explorer Tools menu, select Internet Options, Content, AutoComplete, then press the "Clear Forms" button.
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To organize your Favorites in Explorer instead of using the Organize Favorites dialog, hold the shift key while selecting "Organize Favorites" from the Favorites menu of an Explorer window.
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You can organize your Favorites by dragging the items around your Favorites menu.

 

Alternatively, you can open the Favorites pane and hold the Alt key while pressing the up and down arrows to change the order of your Favorites.
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To run Internet Explorer fullscreen, press F11. Do it again to return to normal mode.
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If your "Printers and Faxes" folder is empty, you can hide the "Printers and Faxes" icon when viewed from other computers by stopping the Print Spooler service.
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To add or remove columns from Details mode, select Choose Details from the View menu, or just right-click the column header bar.
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In Internet Explorer, hold the Shift key while turning the mouse wheel to go forwards or backwards.
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In Internet Explorer, hold the Shift key while clicking on a link to open the Web page in a new window.
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In Internet Explorer, type Ctrl+D to add the current page to your Favorites.

 

This and many more keyboard shortcuts can be found by going to Internet Explorer, clicking the Help menu, then selecting Contents and Index.  From the table of contents, open Accessibility and click "Using Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts".
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In some applications (such as Internet Explorer), holding the Control key while turning the mouse wheel will change the font size.
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To shut down via Remote Desktop, click the Start button, then type Alt+F4.
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Create a Password Reset Disk

If you're running Windows XP Professional as a local user in a workgroup environment, you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password.

To create the disk:

1.Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.
2.Click your account name.
3.Under Related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password.
4.Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password reset disk.
5.Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone using it can access your local user account.

Disable CD Autorun

1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC

2) Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.

3) Locate the entry for Turn autoplay off and modify it as you desire.

Force users to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to Logon (XPPro only)

Go to start/run,

and type control userpasswords2