Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Keyboard Shortcut Tips

Since many of us are addicted to the computes and they are now integral part of our life. So, to avoid any type of stress, bad conditions, time wastage or body pain give a read to some of these tips.

Use your keyboard safely

Using your keyboard properly can help avoid distress or injury to your wrists, hands, and arms, particularly if you use your computer for long periods of time. Here are some tips to help you avoid problems:

• Place your keyboard at elbow level. Your upper arms should be relaxed at your sides.
• Center your keyboard in front of you. If your keyboard has a numeric keypad, you can use the spacebar as the centering point.
• Type with your hands and wrists floating above the keyboard, so that you can use your whole arm to reach for distant keys instead of stretching your fingers.
• Avoid resting your palms or wrists on any type of surface while typing. If your keyboard has a palm rest, use it only during breaks from typing.
• While typing, use a light touch and keep your wrists straight.
• When you're not typing, relax your arms and hands.
• Take short breaks from computer use every 15 to 20 minutes.

Create keyboard shortcuts to open programs

You can also create keyboard shortcuts to open programs. Opening programs this way is often simpler than opening them using your mouse or other pointing device. Before you get started, you need to create a shortcut for the program to which you want to assign a keyboard shortcut. To do this, open the folder that contains the program, right-click the program's executable file, and then click Create Shortcut.

Follow these simple to create keyboard shortcut to open a program:

1. Locate the shortcut to the program for which you want to create a keyboard shortcut.
2. Right-click the shortcut and then click Properties.
3. In the Shortcut Properties dialog box, click the Shortcut tab.
4. Click in the Shortcut key box, press the key on your keyboard that you want to use in combination with Ctrl+Alt (keyboard shortcuts automatically start with Ctrl+Alt), and then click OK. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Notes

• The word none appears in the Shortcut key box until you press a key; then it's replaced with Ctrl+Alt+the key that you pressed.
• The new shortcut might not work for programs that have their own keyboard shortcuts.
• You cannot use the Esc, Enter, Tab, Spacebar, PrtScn, Shift, or Backspace keys to create a keyboard shortcut.
• You can also create keyboard shortcuts to open files and folders.

Make the keyboard easier to use

You can use your keyboard to control the mouse and make it easier to type certain key combinations. Windows 7 make it much easier to control every bit of your computer, you can also adjust these settings to make the keyboard easier to use, follow the steps to do so:

1. Go to Control Panel and open Ease of Access Center.
2. Select the options that you want to use:
   • Turn on Mouse Keys: This option sets Mouse Keys to run when you log on to Windows. Instead of using the mouse, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard or the numeric keypad to move the pointer.
   • Turn on Sticky Keys: This option sets Sticky Keys to run when you log on to Windows. Instead of having to press three keys at once (such as when you must press the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys together to log on to Windows), you can use one key by turning on Sticky Keys and adjusting the settings. This way, you can press a modifier key and have it remain active until another key is pressed.
   • Turn on Toggle Keys: This option sets Toggle Keys to run when you log on to Windows. Toggle Keys can play an alert each time you press the Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock keys. These alerts can help prevent the frustration of inadvertently pressing a key and not realizing it.
   • Turn on Filter Keys: This option sets Filter Keys to run when you log on to Windows. You can set Windows to ignore keystrokes that occur in rapid succession, or keystrokes that are held down for several seconds unintentionally.
   • Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys: This option makes keyboard access in dialog boxes easier by highlighting access keys for the controls in them.
   • Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen: This option prevents windows from automatically resizing and docking along the sides of your screen when you move them there.

Type without using the keyboard (On-Screen Keyboard)

Instead of relying on the physical keyboard to type and enter data, you can use On-Screen Keyboard. On-Screen Keyboard displays a visual keyboard with all the standard keys. You can select keys using the mouse or another pointing device, or you can use a single key or group of keys to cycle through the keys on the screen.

1. Go to Control Panel, open Ease of Access center and select On-Screen Keyboard.
2. To use the On-Screen Keyboard, select the mode you want, following modes are available:

Typing mode	Description
Click on keys	In clicking mode, you click the on-screen keys to type text.
Hover over keys	In hovering mode, you use a mouse or joystick to point to a key for a predefined period of time, and the selected character is typed automatically.
Scan through keys	In scanning mode, On-Screen Keyboard continually scans the keyboard and highlights areas where you can type keyboard characters by pressing a keyboard shortcut, using a switch input device, or using a device that simulates a mouse click.

Notes

1. If you're using either hovering mode or scanning mode and accidently minimize On-Screen Keyboard, you can restore it by pointing to it in the taskbar (for hovering mode) or by pressing the scan key (for scanning mode).
2. If you're using a mouse click to select a key in the Scan through keys mode, the mouse pointer must be located over On-Screen Keyboard.
3. The keyboard layout changes in On-Screen Keyboard depending on the language displayed in the active program.

Set On-Screen Keyboard to use for various handy tasks:

1. Open On-Screen Keyboard.
2. On-Screen Keyboard make an audible click when a key is pressed Click Options, select the Use click sound check box, and then click OK.
3. Use a numeric key pad to enter numbers with On-Screen Keyboard. Click Options, select the Turn on numeric key pad check box, and then click OK.
4. When text prediction is enabled, as you type, On-Screen Keyboard displays a list of words that you might be typing. Click Options, select the Use Text Prediction check box, and then click OK.

If you don't want to automatically add a space after you insert a word using text prediction, clear the Insert space after predicted words check box, and then click OK.

Notes

• Text prediction is only available in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. To enable text prediction in a specific language, you must first install additional language files for that language.
• Text prediction isn't included in Windows 7 Home Basic.