by Abigail Zhu

Created on: September 01, 2010

Knowing shortcuts when using your computer is very useful and convenient. Here are the basic most commonly used shortcuts for a Windows PC:

Copy - CTRL+C Cut – CTRL+X Paste – CRTL+V Undo – CRTL+Z Print – CRTL+P Find Menu – CRTL+F

In addition to the 4 mentioned shortcuts, in Microsoft Office software (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint), you can also use these:

Save – CRTL+S Italics – CRTL+I Underline – CRTL+U Bold – CRTL+B Opening a file – CRTL+O For Microsoft Word starting on a new page – CRTL+ENTER

In addition to the commonly used shortcuts, here are five computer shortcuts to make using your computer easier and more fun:

1.    Spice up your desktop icons
Bored of the usual boring Windows icons? Well, you have an alternative to spice up your ordinarily “boring” Window icons with snazzy downloads from hundreds of sites online.

One good place to start would be royalty-free ones at iconshock.com First download a pack that you like. Once you have downloaded your desired pack, simply click on the icon you want changed. (For example, the calculator.)

Click Properties, click Change Icon, and Browse for the icon. In this case, it would be the Download folder where you placed them. Click OK and click Apply.

Make sure that you check that the site is genuine; you don't want to download a virus instead. So invest in a good anti-virus program.

2.    Create desktop Shutdown icon
Right-click anywhere on the desktop and click on New then Shortcut.

A Create Shortcut box appears. In the box, type: “shutdown –s t 00”.

Click Next. In the box called “Type a name for this shortcut”, type a brief name or leave the default “shutdown.exe” alone. Click Finish.

You will then see an icon that says shutdown.exe. Right-click on it, click Properties, choose the Shortcut Tab. Click change Icon, and browse the selections that you see. Usually it is a red button.

So the next time you power down, it is just one double click away, instead of having to do the usual 3 steps from the Start button.

3.    Go tabbing
If you are not aware of this already, instead of opening multiple windows on your computer, you can go windowless when browsing by using tabs instead.

On Windows, in both Firefox and Windows Explorer, hit the control button and the letter “T” (Ctrl + T). This way, you can have as many Web pages open without the hassle of opening

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