Windows 8 Keyboard shortcuts and mouse tips and tricks

Changing the Windows interface 8 is the most drastic change we've seen from the jump from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95. With a more active approach due to interaction by touch (touchscreen), initially you may feel intimidated to want to use this new operating system with the traditional mouse and keyboard. But Windows 8 offers new shortcuts using these two peripherals.

Here are some shortcuts using the keyboard and / or mouse we have found:

• Unlock the lock-screen: Double-click with the mouse or press any keyboard key, instead of dragging the welcome screen image to the top.
• Open up the Charms-bar (shutdown, settings, share, and others) by hitting the lower-left corner of the screen with the mouse — clicking required or alternatively use Windows Key  + C.
• Peek your desktop by using Windows Key  + Y
• Use Windows Key  + I to activate the currently opened application setting
• Use Windows Key  + P to extend the screen to external monitor/TV
• Always use Windows Key   to go back to the Start Screen.
• Use Windows Key  + F  to open file search
• Use Windows Key  + W to open Search Settings pane
• Use Windows Key  + H to open Search App pane
• Use Windows Key  + Q  to open Search Apps
• Use Windows Key  + Space-bar to switch the input language and keyboard layout
• Use Windows Key  + D to show the desktop
• Use Windows Key  + O to lock the screen rotation
• Use Windows Key  + Enter to launch the narrator
• Use Windows Key  + Z to display the App bar in a Metro style app.
• Just type any keyword to start a search for anything, app, setting, file, etc.
• Use Windows Key  + Tab to cycle through the open apps
• To display everything you can do inside an application, just right-click to bring up the App-bar.
• Most applications don’t need to be closed down — Windows 8 will suspend them if they are not being displayed. To completely close an application down, you could use the new re-designed Task Manager (using the live tile or with the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keyboard shortcut) to perform a force quit.
• Move the mouse pointer to the left edge of the screen to view a small thumbnail of the most recently used application.
• Use the Page Up and Page Down keyboard keys to switch between tiles groups on the Start Screen.
• To Pin or Unpin tiles or remove applications, right-click on tiles on the Start Screen
• You can right-click a tile and change the size to smaller (half-tile) or larger (full-tile) — it may not be supported on every app tile.