The days in which the average user felt insecure at the computer are long gone. Almost everyone has become so skilled in this matter that they are comparable to a novice programmer. As a result, having understood the system, people try to use their time as rationally as possible and not waste it on all sorts of trifles.

Such little things include switching tabs in the browser. This problem is quite relevant, because now everyone has access to the Internet, and that is where most of the time is spent. In this article we will talk about how to switch between tabs using the keyboard, thereby speeding up your work on the Web.

Sequential switching

So, let's figure out how to switch between tabs using the keyboard. The purpose of the key for this is quite simple. CTRL+TAB is responsible for this. As soon as you press this combination, the tab will switch to the right of the active one.

As you continue to press TAB, you will move further and further, and so on in a circle. It is noteworthy that all the hotkeys given in this article are universal. That is, you can use them in all browsers without exception.

Switch to a specific tab

The above was not the only way, how to switch between tabs using the keyboard. It allows you to switch them sequentially, but this is quite inconvenient, especially if there are several tabs and you need to get to a specific one. Now let's talk about how to switch between tabs using the keyboard so that you can switch to a specific one.

To do this, use something else - CTRL+1...9. By pressing a number from 1 to 9, you will switch to the corresponding tab. That is, the indicated figure is a serial number.

Switch to next tab

If you want to go to the next tab in order, then the keyboard shortcut CTRL+PageDown or the above-mentioned CTRL+TAB will help you with this. We figured out how to switch between tabs using the keyboard to the next one, but many may ask why such a variety. It's very simple: on different keyboards It is convenient to use different combinations.

Switch to previous tab

If you decide to switch to previous tab, then feel free to press the key combination CTRL+PageUp. In the event that it is inconvenient for you to press these buttons, you can use another combination - CTRL + SHIFT. The essence of this hotkey layout is quite simple. It consists (as in the previous case) in the fact that on some keyboards it is inconvenient to reach, for example, PageUp, and on others, on the contrary, to SHIFT. This allows the user to decide for himself what is more convenient for him.

Add-ons

We have listed all the ways to switch between tabs using the keyboard. Using hotkeys may not always be convenient. This is why various browser add-ons have been developed. They are quite different from each other. Some allow you to assign hotkeys yourself, others introduce specific changes. It's up to you to decide which ones to use.

Windows' standard methods of switching between active audio devices are inconvenient. Comfort does not increase from version to version. You need to open “Playback devices”, select an audio device from the list and make it work by default. You can also switch the device in the volume mixer window. Such solutions are controversial from the point of view of convenience and aesthetics.

Installing and configuring Audio Switcher

Audio Switcher is a free audio device switcher focused on speed of use. When creating it, the developers did not take care of packaging: the program does not shine with beauty, but you will quickly forget about it, because you will not have to see the interface.

Download Audio Switcher from the official website. After the download is complete, open the archive in .ZIP format and copy the single AudioSwitcher.exe file to a convenient location. Installation completed! Run the file, the program icon will appear in the system tray. Right-click on the icon, select Open Preferences and swipe pre-setting.

We recommend checking the box Start when Windows starts. This feature allows the program to start automatically when you log into Windows. We suggest checking the Show Default Playback Device icon in tray checkbox. The active device icon will appear in the tray. Check Start minimized so that the program does not remind you of itself when starting.

After completing the preliminary setup, open the Playback tab and select which device will work by default. Now you can switch between headphones and speakers in just two clicks:

• right-click on the Audio Switcher icon in the notification area;
• choose required device in the pop-up list.

Audio Switcher supports the use of hotkeys. Each device can be assigned its own combination or select a common one to switch between them.

In the near future, the developers are going to release Audio Switcher 2.0. A new version will provide users with an improved interface, translation into various languages ​​of the world, support for JavaScript-based scripts, the ability to configure automatic operation of the program (for example, turn on speakers when watching a movie, and turn on headphones when starting music) and color themes. The program is automatically updated, so it will be difficult to miss the release of version 2.0.

If in Microsoft Windows Learning to work without a mouse and using a keyboard for everyday tasks can significantly improve your productivity. In addition, there are situations when the mouse suddenly stops functioning and you have to work on the computer without it. The sections below contain many useful combinations keys used for Windows management using the keyboard.

Note

Some of these keyboard shortcuts do not work in Windows 8, 8.1, and 10, or act differently.

Open the Start menu.

To open the Start menu or start menu, you need to press Windows key on the keyboard or press the key combination Ctrl + Escl.

From the Start menu, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move up, down, right, or left within the Start menu. Once you find the program you need, press the Enter key.

Since Windows 8 does not have a Start menu, pressing the Windows key or Ctrl + Esc will open the Start menu. Windows screen, or will open the desktop.

How to open a program on the desktop.

If the program you want to run has a desktop shortcut, you can get to the desktop by pressing the Tab ↹ key on your keyboard. Pressing the Tab ↹ button will move between the taskbar and desktop shortcuts. You can determine which area you are currently in by appearance icons and labels. The one that is currently selected will be highlighted.
In some cases, you may have to press Tab ↹ several times before getting to the desktop icons. Once one of the desktop icons is highlighted, you can navigate through the shortcuts using the cursor keys.
When you find a shortcut for the program you want to launch, press the Enter key to open that program.

How to Close a window, maximize it to full screen, minimize it to a window or move it.

How to close windows.

Press the key combination Ctrl and F4 to close the currently open program or window.
You can also press the Alt + Space combination, thereby calling up the program system menu, then use the down arrow to select the Close menu item and press Enter.

How to minimize a window.

To minimize a window, press Windows and the down arrow (sometimes twice).

How to expand a window to full screen.

To maximize a window, press the Windows key and the Up arrow.

How to move a window without using the mouse.

Before moving a window, make sure it is not maximized to fill the entire screen. To make the window moveable, press Alt + Spacebar, select the Restore menu item, and press Enter. Then press Alt + Spacebar again and select Move, and the cursor will change (it will appear as four arrows in different directions). After which you can move the window using the cursor keys.

How to switch between tabs using the keyboard or Close tabs.

How to close tabs.

In most programs that support tabs (eg browsers), pressing Ctrl + F4 closes the active tab.
How to switch between tabs using the keyboard
To move from left to right between tabs in the current window, press Ctrl + Tab ↹.
To move from right to left, press Ctrl + Shift + Tab ↹ .

How to navigate between open windows and applications.

To move between any open programs on your computer, press and hold the ALT key, then press the Tab ↹ key. A window will appear in which each of the open source software on your computer. Pressing Tab ↹ while holding down Alt key You will navigate through thumbnails of open programs. When you reach the program you want to switch to, release both keys to make it your active window.

Navigation between areas and buttons on a window.

To move your cursor between area objects in a window (such as a dialog box), you will often use Tab ↹ , space bar, arrow keys, and the Enter key. Most programs use Tab ↹ for this, but if that doesn't work, try using the cursor keys. If you need to press a button such as OK or Cancel, press the spacebar or the Enter key.

Managing and moving around a text document.

Below are various control methods text document without the help of a mouse. Not only does this help users who don't have access to a mouse, it can also save you a lot of time when working with text documents.

• Cursor keys — Using the cursor keys on your keyboard, you can move text up, down, right, or left.
  Ctrl and Cursor Keys – Pressing Ctrl keys along with the right or left arrows will move the cursor one word to the left or right with one click. This is much faster than using just the arrow keys. Holding Ctrl and clicking the up and down arrows will move one paragraph in the document.
• End and Home keys - Pressing the End key will move the cursor to the end of the current line, and pressing the Home key will move you to the beginning.
• Shift key - The Shift key allows you to select text. For example, pressing the Shift key and the right or left cursor keys will select text to the left or right of the current cursor position. If you hold down the Shift key and press the down or up arrow keys, you will select one line of text at a time down or up, respectively.
• You can also use Shift in combination with the combinations above. For example, pressing and holding Shift , Ctrl and using the arrows will highlight one word per press. Pressing Shift + End will select text from the current cursor position to the end of the line or document.

Scrolling the window.

Scrolling the window down or up is achieved in the following ways: Move Up and Down using the cursor keys, PageUp and PageDown to move one page up or down.

Right-clicking a symbol or other Windows element.

In some situations, you may need to right-click an image, text, or other Windows element. To do this without a mouse, select the character or move the cursor to the text you need to right-click on, then press and hold Shift and F10.

Hello, dear users! The topic of today's article will be speeding up and simplifying the use of a computer keyboard. I would like to note that the keyboard shortcuts listed below are not all the capabilities of the hot keys function, since each program uses certain shortcuts.

But even with those listed in this article, most users almost never encounter them, although their use greatly simplifies working with a PC if you get used to it. Plus, if you have problems with the mouse, you can control it without it!

Of course, it’s very difficult to remember everything at once, so you can add this article to your Bookmarks and look at it at any time. At the beginning of the article, I will separately highlight those keyboard shortcuts that I use almost every day, and then I will list those that I know and their functions.

Windows hotkeys

So, let's proceed directly to the description of the main features, the so-called hot keys.

Here are the main keys I use every day:

Win + d – show desktop

Ctrl + Tab – switch between tabs in the browser

Alt + Tab - move between open windows

F5 - refresh page in browser

Ctrl + Home - go to the beginning of the page or file

Ctrl + End - go to the end of the page or file

Win + E - Open Windows Explorer

Alt + Enter - View file properties in Windows Explorer

Win + R - open the Run menu

Win+ Break - view system information

Print Screen - take a screenshot of the current view

F6 - Go to your browser's address bar (Ctrl + L also works in Firefox)

F2 - rename file or folder

F1 - Use the help menu for any open applications

Win + F - search for files using Windows search

Ctrl + T - open new tab(Works with Firefox, IE7)

Ctrl + A - select all contents of a page or document

Ctrl + C - copy all selected data

Ctrl + X – cut all information

Ctrl + V – paste copied information

Ctrl + O - Open file

Ctrl + P - print files

Ctrl + Shift + P - Show preview print

Clicking on the mouse wheel opens the document in a new tab in the browser

Now let's look at another selection of keys.

Switch between applications.

Alt+tab – switch between active windows

alt+Shift+Tab – switch forward between applications (press Shift again to reverse order)

Alt+Ctrl+tab – by pressing once, you can switch between windows using the arrows without holding down the combination

Alt+Esc /Alt+Shift+Esc – switch between active windows in the taskbar

Win+Tab - 3D window switching

Ctrl+Win+Tab - Press once to switch between windows using 3D window switching

Win+g – show all desktop gadgets on top of other windows

Move and resize the active window.

Win+↓ — minimize window

Win+ - expand window to full screen

Win+Shift+ / Win+Shift+↓ — expand the window as vertically as possible / return it to its place

Win+ → / Win+ ← — move the window to the right / move the window to the left

Win+Shift+ → / Win+Shift+ ← – when using multiple monitors, move the window in the left / right monitor

Alt+spacebar - opens header menu

Alt+ space +Enter – restore the original window size

F11 – turn on/off full screen page

Managing multiple windows.

Win+d – minimize/maximize all windows on all monitors

Win+m – minimize all windows on the current monitor

Win+Shift+m ​​– maximize all windows on the current monitor

Win+Home – minimize all windows on the current monitor except the active one

Win+spacebar – show desktop / make all windows transparent (may not work with all settings)

Access to Windows components.

Win+e – launch Windows Explorer

Win+r – open the Run window

Win+f – opens Windows Search. On the desktop it is also possible to F3

Win+l - lock keyboard/computer

Win+F1 – opens the Help window

Alt+Shift – change the keyboard language if several layouts are active

shift when starting a CD or DVD – canceling autorun when loading media

Win+p – select presentation display mode

Windows 7 taskbar.

win(ctrl)+Esc – open the Start panel. Then use the arrow keys, spacebar, and enter keys to navigate the Start menu

Win+t - go to the first item in the taskbar, continue using the arrows

Win+b - go to the first item in the system tray (near the clock)

Shift+click on the desired object – open the object

Ctrl+Shift+ click on the desired object - open the file as administrator

Shift+right click - show program menu window

Win+1...9 – go to the program corresponding to the number in order from the taskbar

Shift+Win+1…9 – open a new program window corresponding to the number in order from the taskbar

Unfortunately, Microsoft has removed the ability to select multiple taskbar items in Windows 7

Desktop navigation.

Arrows – move between icons on the desktop

Home/End – select the first / last object on the desktop

Enter – launch the active icon

Shift+F10 – enable the context menu of the active icon (replaces the right mouse button)

tab / shift+tab on an empty desktop - switch between desktop, panel quick launch, taskbar and notification panel. Using the arrow keys navigate to the desired application to activate it.

a, b, c, ... - by clicking on the initial letter of the name of any object, the corresponding application or folder will be highlighted. Continue typing the name of the item if more than one item starts with the same letter

Windows Explorer.

Basic

Win+e – open My Computer window

Alt+ – go back (replaces the Back arrow)

Alt+ ← / Alt+ → – go to previous / next folder

Tab / Shift+Tab - switch forward / backward between the list address bar Search, Toolbar, Navigation Pane, and File List (this is usually selected by default)

Alt+d or f4 – go to the address bar

Ctrl+e or ctrl+f – go to Search

Ctrl+n – open a new My Computer window

F11 – expand window to full screen

Working with a list of files

Alt+p – show/hide preview

Ctrl+ rotate mouse wheel – change icon size

Arrow Keys - Move between files and folders

Enter – open file and folder

Home/End - go to the first/last file

F2 - change the name of the active file

Shift+arrow keys – select multiple objects in a row

ctrl – using an additional space and enter, you can select several objects randomly

Ctrl+a – select all

a …z and 1..9 - click on the first letter of any element to go to it. Continue typing full name, if several elements begin with the same letter

Ctrl+c, ctrl+x, ctrl+v – copy, cut, paste

Delete – delete to trash

Shift+Delete – complete removal file from computer

Shift+F10 – call the context menu (replaces the right mouse button)

Ctrl+Shift+n – create a new folder

Alt+Enter – open file/folder properties

View pictures and photographs.

← / → or space – next / previous picture

Ctrl+. (у) — rotate the photo clockwise

Ctrl+, (b) — rotate the photo counterclockwise

[+ / -] - Zoom in / out (or mouse wheel)

Delete – delete the image to the trash

Shift+Delete – complete deletion of an image

Alt+Enter - show properties of the current photo

Alt+e or ctrl+s - attach a photo to an email (if associated with an email program)

Ctrl+c – copy the file to the clipboard

Alt+o – open the current photo in another application, such as Paint

For the administrator.

Ctrl+Win+f - search for computers (if Active Directory Domain Service is enabled)

Win+pause/break – show information about your PC system

Ctrl+Shift+Esc – call the task manager (replaces Ctrl+Alt+ Delete) without closing the desktop

Alt+Page Up/ Page Down - move between programs from left to right / right to left

Alt+Insert – switch between programs

Alt+Home – displays the Start menu (in the browser returns to the home page)

Ctrl+Alt+pause/break – switch between window and full-screen viewing mode

Ctrl+Alt+End - open dialog Windows window Security

Alt+Delete - Display the system menu

Windows Assistant.

Alt+c - display Contents

Alt+n – opens the Connection Settings menu

F10 - display the Options menu

Alt+Arrow Left/Alt+Arrow Right – view previous/next viewed topic

Alt+a – opens the customer support page

Alt+Home - display help and home page

Home/End – move to the beginning/end of the topic

Ctrl+f – search for the current topic. Press tab to close search

Ctrl+p – print theme

F3 - move the cursor to the search field. Press tab to return to topic

To use a magnifying glass.

Win+u – open the Ease of Access Center window

Press Shift 5 times – enable/disable Sticky Keys

Win+[+] – turn on the magnifying glass and enlarge

Win+- - reduce

Ctrl+Alt+i - invert colors in the display magnifier

Win+Esc – exit the magnifying glass

Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Keys - move the magnifying glass window

(Important!) Some of the hotkeys listed may not be available to all PC users.

This video will make you smile:

That's all! Today we looked at the hotkeys that can be used in Windows 7. In the near future I will describe the main hotkeys for the Windiws 8 OS. I hope this article will make your work on the computer easier and faster!

Subscribe to new interesting articles! I wish you success!

You may also be interested in these articles:

In Windows 7, thanks to Aero Desktop, it is possible to switch between application windows in 3D. It looks impressive and works well. To switch between windows, you need to press Windows + Tab and go to the desired window while continuing to press Tab. I must say that this key combination is not the most successful or convenient. Switching between windows can be done differently, much simpler and more convenient.

Create a shortcut
You can organize beautiful switching between windows in Aero Desktop by creating a shortcut. To begin, go to the desktop, open the context menu and select “New - Shortcut” there, and in the window that opens, write the path to the shortcut:

C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe DwmApi #105

After you click Next, the system will ask you what to name the shortcut. Here you can write anything, for example Switch Between Windows. Then you need to call the shortcut properties. Right click and Properties. In the resulting menu, click Change Icon.

Now write the path to the icons:

C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll

Among the many icons, it would be most logical to choose the one in the upper left corner.

All you have to do is click “Ok” and the shortcut is ready!

Using a shortcut

To make the shortcut convenient to use, place it on the taskbar.

Click on the shortcut and switch between windows using the direction keys. You can stop your selection on a specific window by pressing Enter. This is much faster and more convenient than switching using the Windows + Tab combination.