Favourite/Most Used/Useful Shortcuts/Workarounds/Applications/Whatever

[SpaceCow]

I vaguely remember a thread kinda like this (or maybe I'm just delusional) but post your favourite shortcuts/hints/applications here and other general hints and tips relating to computing and technology.

Here's some of my favourite shortcuts.

Firefox (Some are Firefox specific and some are compatble with other browsers too)

Ctrl + Tab to switch to the next tab
Ctrl + Tab + Shift to swith to the previous tab
Mouse wheel click links to open in new tab
Mouse wheel click tabs to close them
Ctrl + K to go to search bar
Ctrl + L to go to URL bar

Word
Ctrl + Shift + N to remove all formatting
Shift + F3 to change selected text to caps
Ctrl + [ to decrease font size
Ctrl + ] to increase font size

Excel/Most Office Products
Alt + F11 to switch to Visual Basic code underlay

Windows
Windows Button + F to bring up search window
Windows Button + E to bring up 'My Computer'
Windows Button + U to bring up utilities
Windows Button + D to minimise all windows

Application wise I tend to like the following

F.lux
Awesome nifty little app that tones down the 'blue' temperature of your computer screen at night which causes quite a bit less strain on your eyes. I noticed a marked difference in my sleep comfort when I began using this.

Update Notifier/Device Doctor
Separate apps but they do similar things. Search for any updates and patches that your software/drivers may need and lists them for you with download links.

SpaceSniffer
Not the most practical or useful app but I find it to be quite cool. Gives a visual representation of all the files and folders on a particular storage device. Novelty factor = lots. Practicality = Not as high (I haven't really found a use for it beside it looking awesome)


That's all I can think of at the moment. Over to you.

 

[red+black]

Great topic for a thread

Here are some simple ones.

Windows 7:
- Windows + Left/Right Arrow: lock window to left or right, can even be used on multiple screens

Windows:
- Alt+PrintScreen: stop emailing full screenshots people!

Remote Desktop
- if you need to shutdown/reboot a remote PC, and the Start button only permits lock/logoff, from a terminal (Start-Run-cmd), run shutdown -s -t 5 or shutdown -r -t 5 which will shutdown/reboot in 5 seconds (I think 30s is default)

 

[soonarmee]

Great topic for a thread

Here are some simple ones.

Windows 7:
- Windows + Left/Right Arrow: lock window to left or right, can even be used on multiple screens

You can actually get the same result by simply left clicking and holding down anywhere on the top bar (apart from a tab or menu) and "Snap" it left or right.
I use this feature heaps..

 

[red+black]

You can actually get the same result by simply left clicking and holding down anywhere on the top bar (apart from a tab or menu) and "Snap" it left or right.
I use this feature heaps..

Yeah I know. But see how well that works if you have 2 or 3 monitors.

 

[SexyBlueGirl]

Learn vi or emacs.

 

[Gibbsy]

Chrome - can shortcut to whichever tab you like, that corresponds with a number on the keyboard.

E.g. Ctrl + 3 takes you to the third tab that you have open currently

 

[Conan Troutman]

Windows Explorer
Ctrl + N - Open current folder in a new explorer window

Photoshop
Hold down ALT when using the settings for many things like Adjustments/Filters/Save For Web etc and it will change some of the buttons - eg. When using Curves, hold down ALT and the 'Cancel' button becomes a 'Reset' button, or Save For Web, the 'Done' button becomes 'Remember'.

Not sure if this one meant to work this way or not, as it's a little awkward? Hold down ALT when selecting a menu option which has settings (example Curves, Hue/Saturation etc), and it will have your last used settings instead of the default. But annoyingly, pressing ALT also brings up or closes the menu in windows apps, so try holding down ALT first, then the menu, and hold down your mouse button, or hold Alt then hold shift or ctrl and choose the menu, to stop the menu disappearing. Or if you know the shortcut, using curves as an example, the normal shortcut for that is Ctrl-M, when Alt is added to that (Ctrl+Alt+M), the previous settings are loaded.

Some other ones I use a lot which I don't think are written in menus...

ENTER on Number Pad - get out of text editing mode.

[ - decrease brush size
] - increase brush size

Ctrl + E Merge current layer with layer below
Ctrl + E (2+ layers selected) Merge selected layers
Ctrl + Alt + E (2+ layers selected) Merge layers into new layer, keeping old layers

Ctrl + H Hide Selection (toggle on/off)

Ctrl + Space - temporary Zoom + tool
Ctrl + Alt + Space - temporary Zoom - tool

an unusual one I had to use the other day - immediately after choosing "Save For Web & Devices" press Ctrl + Alt, to bring up an option to delete Save For Web preferences

 

[spitlizard]

Yeah I know. But see how well that works if you have 2 or 3 monitors.

Why would you need the snap function if you have2 or more screens?

 

[darcytiger]

OSX Lion.

Assuming you're on a laptop or have a trackpad
- 3 finger double tap on a word brings up dictionary/wikipedia on it

 

[SpaceCow]

Here's another couple

Most Browsers
Ctrl + Enter in URL to enter 'www.' and '.com' around whatever is currently in the URL bar

DeskPins
Allows you to pin windows so that they appear over other ones you have open. Excellent for notepad apps.

 

[red+black]

Why would you need the snap function if you have2 or more screens?

Why would you not?

 

[Rustin Cohle]

ctrl+enter in the address bar adds www.com to the web address. I rage when I see people typing out the entire address.

 

[red+black]

yeah, the noobs that go http and get it wrong, when they don't even need to type it.

Or they type in a whole address and because they look at their keyboard the whole time don't realise that it's in their history and they could have gotten away with just typing 2 or 3 letters.

 

[Gman]

Two of my fav apps I have been using of late:

Fences from Stardock - if you are one of those users that have lots of icons on your desktop this program is a beaut!

http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/downloads.asp


Mouse without borders - install this program on separate pcs etc that are networked and you can move your mouse across all screens...nifty

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-no-borders-mouse-screens.html#comments