Whilst they won't save you loads of time, these quick windows short cuts can be very useful every now and then, or just when you can't be bothered to move the mouse.

They can all be accessed from a standard keyboard, so you don't need programmable buttons or anything like that. You can find an extended list of shortcuts here, but this tutorial will only deal with the ones using the windows key that work universally.



Windows Key  Opens start menu
Windows Key + Tab Toggles task bar items
Windows Key + E Opens Windows Explorer
Windows Key + R Opens "Run" command dialogue
Windows Key + U Opens Utility Manager which then lets you access the magnifier, narrator and on-screen keyboard.
Windows Key + S Lets you take a screen clipping to be imported to OneNote (Requires Microsoft Office 2007)
Windows Key + D Minimizes all windows to show you the desktop.
Windows Key + F Opens Search application
Windows Key + L Switches user (Leaves you logged on)
Windows Key + N Opens OneNote (Requires Microsoft Office 2007)
Windows Key + M Minimizes all Windows (Windows Key + SHIFT + M re-opens all windows)


I hope this was useful and please check out the Microsoft Website for more short cuts to save you time.