Hidden commands on Windows

Question

Everybody has their secrets and Windows has them too.. I've been using these for a while and wanted to share them and I'd like to see some more I don't know yet.

To get to the 'Shut Down Windows' screen in Windows Vista is not straightforward too, and this is how I got there, Ctrl + ESC, Esc, Alt + F4**. This is useful too when you can't see your screen, and if you're lucky enough you can press, R or S, and then Alt + K to restart or shutdown a blind Windows (no screen).
Shutdown Windows Explorer: you have to get to the logoff screen then press Ctrl + Alt + Shift and simultaneously Cancel, that will close Windows Explorer without ending the session. That helped me a lot when some Windows Explorer window goes crazy and doesn't want to respond. I think this has worked since Windows 95, but I'm not sure.

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Ctrl + Shift + Esc, brings Task Manager to the focus and if it's not running it starts it, this is helpful when you have Windows Explorer closed (the point 1) and want to start a new one, going to file / new task, and running 'explorer'.

You should really have your tricks as answers so they can be included in the voting — Aaron Powell, May 05 '09 at 03:02
You may be right but I just placed these as samples of what I wanted to be exposed here. — Eugenio Miró, May 05 '09 at 03:16
shutdown: (start > run > shutdown -s -t 0). Reboot: (start > run > shutdown -r -t 0) — tsilb, Aug 29 '09 at 17:32

lc. · Answer 1 · 2009-05-05T04:27:39.810

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I'm not sure these are properly documented anywhere official, but I'm a big fan of the Windows Key shortcuts:

Windows key alone - Start menu (follow this by shortcut keys to access the start menu with the keyboard - U to shut down, for example)
Windows key + Pause/break - System control panel
Windows key + R - Run
Windows key + L - Lock the computer
Windows key + E - Open new explorer window
Windows key + D - Show desktop
Windows key + F - Find
Windows key + M - Minimize all
Windows key + Shift + M - Restore all

Edit: I guess they are documented somewhere official after all.

edited May 05 '09 at 04:27

answered May 05 '09 at 04:21

lc.

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+1 for Windows key D, the best shortcut noone knows about – Shard May 05 '09 at 05:50
Knew about all of these, except Windows+Pauze/Break. Nice one! – May 05 '09 at 06:24
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Nice thing about Windows+D is it toggles desktop view. Hit it again to restore your previous view. – Cory House May 31 '09 at 16:20
When I did Pause/break on Win XP SP 3 it opened the System Properties window. – Russell Aug 23 '10 at 22:46

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 08:28

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Bring Misplaced Off-Screen Windows Back to Your Desktop is a classic in this time of "double screen programming", especially when you must access your double-screen computer from a one screen remote desktop.

The application is running. You can see it in the taskbar, but you can't see it on the screen, because it still thinks it's running on the secondary monitor.
You try and use right-click, Move, but that doesn't do anything, and the window doesn't move anywhere. You end up rebooting and cursing Microsoft.

There's a simple trick to get around this.
First make sure you've alt-tabbed to the window, or clicked on it once to bring it into focus.
Then right-click on the taskbar and choose Move

enter image description here

At this point, you should notice that your cursor changes to the "Move" cursor, but you still can't move anything.

enter image description here

Just hit any one of the arrow keys (Left, Right, Down, Up), move your mouse, and the window should magically "pop" back onto the screen.

Note: For keyboard savvy people, you can just ALT-TAB to the window, use Alt+Space, then M, then Arrow key, and then move your mouse.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 08:28

Bart De Vos

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answered May 05 '09 at 04:07

VonC

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I love this technique, I use it all the time mostly when I switch my laptop from my desk in my office, where I have a docking station, and home where I dont and monitors are placed in different spots. Sadly there are some apps like gtalk that doesn't allow to move them this way... sad really... have to shut it down and start it again... – Eugenio Miró May 05 '09 at 04:14
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+1 This is a great one. I was really proud of myself when I figured this one out and still use it all the time. – lc. May 05 '09 at 04:22
@lc: Me too! I felt like a super hacker when I discovered it back on Windows 95. – Steven Richards May 05 '09 at 08:23
I use a mouseless variation of this technique, ALT+SPACE, select move. – bobobobo Aug 29 '09 at 17:04
I use it all the time too, it feels more like a glitch than a feature but it is sooo handy! – Russell Aug 23 '10 at 22:50

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 23 '09 at 02:07

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Using Check Boxes to select multiple items within Windows Explorer.

This is really useful if you want to use single-click navigation rather than double click in Windows Explorer.

edited Jul 23 '09 at 02:07

p.campbell

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answered May 05 '09 at 03:01

Aaron Powell

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I THOUGHT this was cool, but then it wasn't AS COOL. I still end up holding CTRL. – bobobobo Aug 29 '09 at 17:05

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 23 '09 at 07:17

For shutting down my machine I use Start , U , U. It depends on if you have anything that starts with U in your start menu or not, the above is for if you don't.

If you do have one, say uTorrent, in your frequently used programs area of the start menu, then you type: Start , U , U , Enter , U

The last U can be changed to either R or S.

Otherwise, I love altshiftesc, StartD, StartR and the like.

I'm truly amazed by how many people CANNOT REMEMBER alttab no matter how many times a year you tell them. The problem seems to be in holding alt down to tab through the apps.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 05 '09 at 07:40

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I recently took the time to learn these keyboard shortcuts - pretty good when I am editing some text.

Alt+Space+x (Maximise window with keyboard)
Alt+Space+n (Minimise window with keyboard)

Lesser known ones are

Alt+Space+m (Move window with arrow keys, press enter when done)
Alt+Space+s (Change size of window with arrow keys, press enter when done)
Alt+Space+r (Un-maximise window with keyboard)

Of course these shortcuts have been around for a long time. In conjunction with Alt+Tab or Win+Tab, it just can come in handy when you are editing some text and don't want to take your keys off the keyboard.

answered May 05 '09 at 07:40

thomasrutter

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I think you mean "Alt+Space, x" etc, but yeah, these are good. – lc. May 05 '09 at 08:04
You can do it either way. Depends what your fingers are good at I think, but Alt+Space+x feels a bit more like it's a single key combination :) – thomasrutter May 06 '09 at 01:34
alt-space, M: Comes in handy when a window is active and focused but out of view or covered. – tsilb Aug 29 '09 at 17:33
I use Alt, Space, X. – pipTheGeek Aug 29 '09 at 18:24

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 24 '10 at 08:58

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Winkey+down to minimize, or if already maximized, restore
Winkey+right, maximize to right half
winkey+left, maximize to left half
Winkey+up, uh, well, guess what that does,

Windows 7

edited Sep 24 '10 at 08:58

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 29 '09 at 17:08

bobobobo

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score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 24 '10 at 08:59

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Since Windows XP, if I recall, Ctrl + Shift + Esc will bring up the task manager, even when it would normally bring up the dialog asking if you want to log off.

edited Sep 24 '10 at 08:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 23 '09 at 05:23

koenigdmj

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Control+Shift+Esc, and it's much older than XP :) – Mark Henderson Aug 29 '09 at 23:36

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 29 '09 at 17:43

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Win-Shift-Left and Win-Shift-Right.

Moves windows to the next monitor over in their respective directions. Doesn't work too well when you have two rows of three monitors, but I digress :)

answered Aug 29 '09 at 17:43

tsilb

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Hidden commands on Windows

8 Answers8