{"id":24183,"date":"2022-09-06T10:25:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T14:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=24183"},"modified":"2022-09-14T14:37:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T18:37:33","slug":"we-want-you-to-start-using-windows-key-shortcuts-and-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/we-want-you-to-start-using-windows-key-shortcuts-and-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"We Want You to Start Using Windows Key Shortcuts and Here&#8217;s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 24pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">We Want You to Start Using Windows Key Shortcuts and Here&#8217;s Why<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">OK&#8230;we&#8217;ve featured Windows key shortcuts several times, but sadly not enough times to convince some of you just how much of a time saver Windows key shortcuts can be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Casting &#8220;Zulu&#8221; from my laptop to my Roku\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Just last evening I was using my laptop and I wanted to watch something on TV via my Roku player. I subscribe to a streaming service (which I will not mention here for obvious reasons). When I watch this particular streaming service (I&#8217;ll call it Zulu for convenience) on my TV I have to watch all of the commercials because I&#8217;m too cheap to pay the extra $6.95 a month to buy the ad-free version of &#8220;Zulu&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">I discovered, however, that if I log into &#8220;Zulu&#8221; on my laptop and &#8220;cast&#8221; it from my laptop to my TV, good old uBlock Origin blocks all the ads on &#8220;Zulu&#8221; and effectively gives me the ad-free version at no extra moolah. Is this cheating? I don&#8217;t know &#8211; it was accidentally discovered, so I think not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">What the heck does this have to do with Windows key shortcuts? A lot actually. I use the Windows key + K shortcut to open the &#8220;Cast&#8221; dialog in Windows 11 (it works on Windows 10 too). When the Cast dialog opens I can see my 3 Roku players (2 Roku Express and 1 Roku Ultra).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2022\/winkyk2.png\" alt=\"Casting from my laptop to my Roku Player - Cloudeight InfoAve\" width=\"519\" height=\"678\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Using the Windows key + K shortcut opens the &#8220;Cast&#8221; dialog immediately and saves me from having to type in &#8220;Cast&#8221; in the Taskbar search or muddle around in Settings to find &#8220;Cast to a wireless display&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">I use the Windows key + K shortcut just about every day. And not many days pass by that I don&#8217;t use Windows key + R (Run box), Windows key + I (Settings), Windows key + V to paste from the extended clipboard, Windows key + X to open the Start button right-click menu, Windows key + S to open a search box, and many others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">So consider this a reminder that using Windows key shortcuts can save you a lot of time and the more you use them the more you&#8217;ll remember them and the more they&#8217;ll become part of your computer skill set.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">What is the Windows key and where can you find it?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">We&#8217;re glad you asked. Some of you are afraid to ask where the Windows key is because you think it&#8217;s a stupid question. But you know, the only stupid question is the one you don&#8217;t ask.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">The Windows key is on the bottom of the keyboard between the Ctrl key and the Alt key&#8230; or if you&#8217;re using a laptop it is usually between the Fn key and the Alt key. You can find it easily as it&#8217;s the only key with the Microsoft Windows logo on it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2022\/winky22.png\" alt=\"The Windows Key - Cloudeight InfoAve\" width=\"400\" height=\"194\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">And when we say, for example, Windows key + R (or Winkey+R), what we mean is that you hold down the Windows key while tapping the &#8220;R&#8221; key. So, Windows key + means holding down the Windows key while tapping the key after the &#8220;+&#8221; (plus) sign. To further shorten our Windows key shortcuts we use &#8220;Winkey&#8221; instead of &#8220;Windows key&#8221; &#8211; but they are exactly the same. Easy peasy, right?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Here&#8217;s an extensive list of Windows Key shortcuts<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"auto-style790\"><span class=\"auto-style67\"><span class=\"normaltext\"><span class=\"auto-style1\"><span class=\"auto-style747\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Pressing the <strong>Windows key (Winkey) by itself<\/strong> opens the Windows Start menu<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + E<\/strong>\u00a0 Opens File Explorer<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + A\u00a0<\/strong> Displays the Action Center<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + D<\/strong> Shows the Desktop<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + G<\/strong> Activates the Xbox game bar to let you record games or take screenshots.<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + H\u00a0<\/strong> Opens Microsoft speech services (Dictation)<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + I<\/strong>\u00a0 Opens the Windows Settings app<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + K<\/strong> Activates the Connect (Cast) feature to stream to wireless displays\/audio devices<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + L<\/strong> Locks your computer<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"auto-style790\"><span class=\"auto-style67\"><span class=\"normaltext\"><span class=\"auto-style1\"><span class=\"auto-style747\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><strong>Winkey + M<\/strong>\u00a0 Minimizes all open Windows<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"auto-style790\"><span class=\"auto-style67\"><span class=\"normaltext\"><span class=\"auto-style1\"><span class=\"auto-style747\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><strong>Winkey+Ctrl + M<\/strong>\u00a0 Opens Windows Magnifier<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + R<\/strong> Opens a Run box.<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + S<\/strong>\u00a0 Opens Search<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + Q\u00a0<\/strong> Opens Search or Cortana (Windows 10)<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + U\u00a0<\/strong> Opens the Ease of Access center (Accessibility)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"auto-style790\"><span class=\"auto-style67\"><span class=\"normaltext\"><span class=\"auto-style1\"><span class=\"auto-style747\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><strong>Winkey+ PrtScr key<\/strong> Takes a screenshot of your computer screen<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey+ Fn + PrtScr key<\/strong> Takes a screenshot of your computer screen (some laptops)<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + X<\/strong> Opens power user features (Same as right-clicking the Windows Start button.)<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + Ctrl + D<\/strong> Creates a new virtual desktop<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + Ctrl + F4<\/strong> Close virtual desktop<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + Ctrl + Left or Right arrow<\/strong> Switches between virtual desktops<br \/>\n<strong>Winkey + Shift + Left or Right arrow<\/strong> Moves apps from one monitor to another.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">There are many more but those should be enough to get you started!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; We Want You to Start Using Windows Key Shortcuts and Here&#8217;s Why OK&#8230;we&#8217;ve featured Windows key shortcuts several times, but sadly not enough times to convince some of you just how much of a time saver Windows key shortcuts can be. Casting &#8220;Zulu&#8221; from my laptop to my Roku\u00a0 Just last evening I was using my\u2026 <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/we-want-you-to-start-using-windows-key-shortcuts-and-heres-why\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3948,4299],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24183"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24232,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24183\/revisions\/24232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}