Techreluctant.com

You’ve seen it, down in the lower left corner of the keyboard, between the Ctrl and Alt keys. A key with the windows logo on it. It either looks like the picture in this post or, with an older keyboard, may have an older Windows logo on it.

Maybe you’ve even used it to show or hide your start menu, or maybe you don’t know that it can do that. It can. But in combination with other keys, it can also do a number of other things to make life easier. Here’s just a few you might find helpful.

• Windows logo+D One of the One of the keyboard shortcuts I use the most is the Windows logo+D. That combo will show you the desktop right away. When you have a number of windows open, this simple shortcut can be a huge time saver.
• Windows Logo+F1 Need help with Windows? This combo will display Windows Help.
• Windows Logo+R This keyboard shortcut displays the Run command.
• Windows Logo+E This one opens My Computer. Why, the E, you say? For Windows Explorer.
• Windows Logo+M Now this one, as with the Windows logo+D, is useful when the boss comes by and you’re checking in on facebook instead of doing that monthly report. Windows Logo+M minimizes all open windows.
• Windows Logo+Shift+M Yup, you guessed it, once the boss is out of the way, it restores all minimized windows.
• Windows Logo+F This combination will bring up the Find or Search area so you can search for files or folders.

There are more shortcuts that use the Windows logo but I think these are the ones the tech-reluctant might want to use the most.

Maybe you’re a bit thumbs-challenged and can’t type very well on your cell phone. But maybe you like the idea of sending a quick message to a friend who’s on the go or to your husband in order to remind him to pick up milk or you just want to send your text message for free. Well, you can send text messages to a cell phone from the web. Most cell phone companies provide online text messaging (see a short list below) or you can go somewhere like txtdrop.com and text message away. If your provider’s link is not here, just google your providers name and “online text messaging”. If txtdrop.com is not your cup of tea, just google “online text messaging”.

Bell

Rogers

Telus

Verizon

If you’re like me, you are sometimes at the computer while holding a kid in your lap and typing with one hand. At times like that, you might think, as I do, that it sure would be easier if I could use my mouse to type. Well, you can. Just press your Windows Logo Key and the R key at the same time (don’t worry, mouse instructions are coming, I know you have that kid in your lap). That brings up your Run screen. Now type “osk” (minus the quotes) and voila, an on screen keyboard. Now, if you want to go the mouse way, it’s Start–>Programs–>Accessories–> On Screen Keyboard.