10 Most Useful Windows Shortcuts for Non-Tech Users

From speeding up efficiency to increasing productivity, and desperately trying to minimize monotonous and annoying tasks, those of us who want to be ahead are searching for ‘one-click’ solutions. Wouldn’t it be so much simpler to just take the shortcut, and go high speed into productivity mode? Think of what kind of edge useful Windows shortcuts give you above all these multi-clickers!

This is the same logic that made us create Ellp. Yet as much as we’re doing our best, Ellp can’t just yet solve all your computer tasks. So to further help you save time and move forward to what matters most, we decided to compile a shortlist of most useful Windows shortcuts to speed up your PC activities.

10 most useful Windows shortcuts for non-tech users

1. How to enable Ctrl key shortcuts?

In order to do that you need Command prompt. It’s a command line interpreter used to carry out entered commands. In some cases, such shortcuts need to be activated. To do this you’d need to open Command Prompt. Simply go to the Windows Start menu and in the search box type in ‘Command Prompt’ and run it, right-click and select ‘Properties’ from the drop-down menu. Once inside the Properties box, select the ‘Options’ tab and from the selection, and tick ‘Enable new Ctrl key shortcuts’. This makes your PC responsive to any Ctrl + keyboard shortcuts. Like what?

Here’s a bunch of the most popular and extensively used keyboard shortcuts that will help you with copying and pasting.

• Ctrl + C — copies the selected text
• Ctrl + V — pastes text at the cursor
• Ctrl + A — selects all text and images on the clipboard
• Ctrl + X — removes or ‘cuts’ the text so that you can paste it elsewhere
• Ctrl + Z — undoes your last action

2. Taking a Screenshot

Instead of stuffing your PC with tons of files and documents, why not take a screenshot? This is a lot less time-consuming, it’s also perfect if you’re trying to save disk space.

To take a screenshot, simply press: Windows key + Prt Scr

All screenshots will be automatically saved on your PC. These can be found here:

File Explorer\This PC\Documents\Pictures\Screenshots

3. Open Settings Swiftly

Want quick access to your settings? Simply press: Windows key + I on your keyboard. This will give you easy access to settings and tools for managing your PC.

4. Cycle through items in the Taskbar

Press: Windows key + T or Windows key + Shift + T

This keyboard shortcut allows you to move visual focus from the taskbar. By pressing ‘T’ again while still holding down the Windows key, you’ll be able to cycle through items in the taskbar. Enjoy pedaling away!

5. Optimize Window Management with Task View

Task view is a new feature for Windows, which opens and expands all your open windows so that you can view them all simultaneously.

Use these keys:

• Windows key + Tab — Once you press and release both keys they will open the new task view interface, which will stay open even after keys are released.
• Alt + Tab — This is not a new shortcut for Windows, what it does is it gives you the possibility to cycle through open windows. By clicking on the Tab key, you can keep on flipping through windows.

6. Open and Close the new Virtual Desktop

Like the Task view, the Virtual Desktop feature is also new to Windows and both go hand in hand as they are integrated with one another. This feature allows you to create multiple desktops, which are able to hold their own set of application windows.

Use these keys:

• Windows key + Ctrl + D — to create a new virtual desktop and switch to it
• Windows key + Ctrl + F4 — to close current virtual desktop

7. Switch from one Virtual Desktop to the next

To do this, simply press and hold: Windows key + Ctrl + Left/ Right Arrows, to switch from one virtual desktop to another.

8. Snap Assist

This feature was first introduced back in Windows 7 and has now been further enhanced and improved with the Windows 10 version. This window snapping feature helps you to speed up processes rapidly. Allowing you to snap windows from left to right, or from top to bottom by just pushing two buttons.

Press:

• Windows key + Left Arrow — to snap window to the left
• Windows key + Right Arrow — to snap window to the right
• Windows key + Up Arrow — to snap window to the top of the screen
• Windows key + Bottom Arrow — to snap window to the bottom of the screen

9. Restore a Closed Browser Window

How many times have you accidentally closed a browser tab? I do it all the time :/ But fret not! By pressing Ctrl + Shift + T, you’ll be able to reverse your action and reopen your last closed browser tab. Good save, right?

10. Bookmark a Webpage

Do you like what you’re reading, would like to save this webpage for future reference? Simply hit, Ctrl + D, in your preferred search engine, be it Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer, and a dialog box will pop up, which will prompt you to bookmark the page, edit the name of the bookmark, and even select the folder where you want to save it.

This is the full list of the top 10 most useful Windows shortcuts for non-tech users. These shortcuts are quite basic and at times you may not be sure what to use them for. Yet with time, they come in handy more and more often! Feel free to add yours in the comments!

If you’re a fan of getting things done faster, then Ellp is just the right solution for you. This new PC assistant can take care of a variety of tasks for you from maintaining your PC at the optimal level of performance, to helping you stay focused and be productive, to monitoring your online safety and even to elevating your entertainment. And what’s best — Ellp is free to download and yours to keep!

You can download Ellp directly from here: https://www.ellp.com/