My Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts

The most basic, and most useful, keyboard shortcuts involve the CTRL and SHIFT keys.

Open your Outlook Express, or similar e-mail program.  In your Inbox, click on the first e-mail, then SHIFT+CLICK on the last e-mail. All inclusive e-mails will now be highlighted. If you delete one, you'll delete them all. (SHIFT+CLICK means hold down the SHIFT key and click once with the primary mouse button.)  

This works with any first/last grouping of e-mails.  If you use CTRL+CLICK, you'll notice that you can highlight one e-mail, then highlight another and another. You can undo a highlight, without undoing others, with this method also.  Try it and experiment.

SHIFT+CLICK and CTRL+CLICK work universally, not just in e-mail programs.  Try it with the icons on your Desktop.

But my most favorite keyboard shortcuts are CTRL+C (Copy), and CTRL+V (Paste). Anything you can highlight with your mouse, in any program (almost), can be copied into a different place, or different program, with the simple CTRL+C and CTRL+V keys. (Once highlighted, hold down the CTRL key, then tap the letter C.  Go to the new place with your mouse, then press CTRL+V to paste.  It's universal, so experiment with it.) 

Happy computing!


Jim