Wouldn't it be nice to be able to type something like [ctrl+alt+w] to launch your favorite word processor, Microsoft Office Word, for instance. Sure, most keyboards have a few buttons that already do this, but how about making keystrokes for different programs. It's pretty easy. Locate the icon you usually click to launch the program. Right click the icon and choose properties from the menu. Move over to the shortcut key field and press the keystroke you want to use to activate the program. Most [ctrl+alt], [ctrl+alt+shift], and [alt+shift] keystrokes work. Keep in mind that if a keystroke is already assigned to another program's shortcut, it will launch that program when you type the keystroke, rather than place the keystroke into the shortcut key field. To enter a keystroke, [ctrl+alt+i] is my example, hold down ctrl and alt together, press the letter i, then release all 3 keys. You can assign a shortcut key to just about any shortcut. You could even create a new shortcut to your homepage and create a keystroke for that. To create a new shortcut, go to my computer. Go to the file menu, locate and choose new, then locate and choose shortcut. Type the location the shortcut refers to in the first field. If you want a website, just type it in the way you always have.
http://aarontech.randylaptop.com
For a folder on your hard drive, just type the path. For example,
c:\documents and settings\your user name\my documents\my music.
If you specify a file at the end of your path, like this
c:\documents and settings\your user name\my documents\my music\intro.mp3
the shortcut will actually launch that file. Once you get the shortcut doing what you want by clicking on it, then you'll be able to right click it, go to properties, and enter a hotkey for it as I described above.

With the use of keystrokes, we can speed up our computing experience, make life easier, and reduce the strain on our mice. Of course if we don't use mice in the first place that last one isn't valid. I'm sure you got my point anyway. You'll be able to amaze your coworkers and friends. You'll be entering commands and getting things to happen so fast they'll be like
  "How'd you do that?"
  "It's a secret, of course."

This document was completed on Thursday, March 08, 2007 at 07:59 AM by Aaron T. Spears
You can visit us on the web at http://aarontech.randylaptop.com