The Windows logo is a key on your keyboard.    You can use it in combination with other keys to do some very common tasks that will save you time.  These key shortcuts are know as hotkeys.  I have picked 5 of my favorite hotkeys to share with you.

1. I want to open windows explorer in a hurry and have the starting view show all my Hard Drives, Removable Drives, and Network Drive letters.  For this I use +E

2. I want to minimize all my open applications so only the desktop is showing.  For this I use +M

3. Ctrl+F is another 2 key combination used to find something while working inside a program.  Try it. Use Tip #1 to open Window Explorer then type Ctrl+F.  In Windows 7 you will get a search box opened in the upper right corner of Windows Explorer.  The +F hotkey will open a new Windows Explorer session and open the search box at the same time.

4. Undo.  Oh, how often do you do something and regret it then you want to Undo it?  Yeah, several times a day.  Ctrl+Z will undo your last operation in most applications.

5. I am going to skip Ctrl+C (Copy) and Ctrl+V (Paste) because you probably know these already. However, Ctrl+Alt+V is very handy when pasting clipboard content that has formatting that you don’t want to use.  This combination only works in MS Office applications but what a time saver. This hotkey will open a dialog to allow you to choose formatting options, one of which is Unformatted Text.  Now you can avoid having to paste, then highlight the content, change the font and change the height.  That’s just too much work when you know there is an easier way.  I like is so much I blogged about it exclusively in another post.

To help you find more useful hotkeys visit the Microsoft web site http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Keyboard-shortcuts