Technology Tales

Adventures in consumer and enterprise technology

Yet another useful Windows shortcut

Published on 11th December 2011 Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

During the week, I needed to go to a client to upgrade the laptop that they'd given me for doing work for them. The cause was their migration from Windows XP to Windows 7. Office 2010 also came with the new set-up, and they replaced the machines with new ones too. As part of doing this, they carried out upgrade training and this is when I got to learn a thing or two.

While I may have been using Windows 7 since the beta releases first were made available, I am under no illusions that I know all there is to be known about the operating system. Included among the things of which I wasn't aware was a shortcut key combination for controlling display output from the HP laptop that I'd been given. This is the Windows key + P. This brings up a dialogue screen from which you can select the combination that you need and that includes extending the display across two different screens, such as that of the laptop and an external monitor. Going into the display properties will fine tune things such as what is the main display and the placement of the desktops; there's no point in having Windows thinking that the external screen is to your left when in fact it is on the right.

Another interesting shortcut is the Windows key + TAB. This affects the Aero application view and repeating the combination cycles through the open applications, or you can use a mouse wheel to achieve the same end. With ALT + TAB and the taskbar still about, this might appear more of a curiosity, but some may still find it handy, so I've shared it here too.

All in all, it's best never to think that you know enough about something because there's always something new to be learned, and it's always the smallest of things that proves to be the most helpful. With every release of Windows, that always seems to be the case and Windows 8 should not be any different, even if all the talk is about its Metro interface. A beta release is due in the spring of 2012, so we'll have a chance to find out then. You never can stop learning about this computing business.

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