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Windows 8: THE power user’s hotkey

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In Windows 8 there are a lot of new keyboard hotkeys to help navigate. In my opinion the one that is going to be THE poweruser hotkey is…

 

WIN+X

This brings up the following menu:

image

 

The underlined letter of each entry allows you to follow WIN+X with

  • f – for programs and features (a.k.a. Add/Remove programs)
  • o – for Power Options
  • v – for Event Viewer
  • y – for System Properties (I still use WIN+BREAK)
  • m – for Device Manager
  • k – for Disk Management
  • g – for Computer Management
  • c – for the Command Prompt
  • a – for a Command Prompt running with Admin rights
  • t – for Task Manger
  • p – for Control Panel
  • e – for File Explorer
  • s – Search (this drops you into the Start screen’s all “Apps” view ready to search for pick an app from the list
  • r – Run (Still prefer WIN+R)
  • d – for Desktop (Still prefer WIN+D)

 

I feel this one hotkey will help to mitigate complaints on how quickly (or not quickly) the new Start screen allows you to get these important system locations.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 22, 2012
    Hi, How can I define a new shortcut keyboard combination for an App?.  Example: Actually I use AltGr + x to open excel

  • Anonymous
    November 08, 2013
    Thanks for the tip Support Guy.  Have Win 8 at home and it's good to know.