Every now and then, your screen may go blank — especially on your laptop. Whether it’s a misbehaving app or a video card glitch, sometimes you just know that your computer is still running but you can’t see anything. Using Fn+F8 to toggle output modes may help, but if not, try this sequence:

1. Hit Windows key + R to get the Run dialog box. Even though your screen is blank, Windows will ask you what command you want to execute.
2. Type cmd plus Enter to run the Command prompt. (You may know this as the DOS command screen.)
3. Press Alt+Enter to toggle full screen mode. This will force your video mode to text mode, which should fix the display problems.
4. Type EXIT and enter to close the Command screen. That will return you to Windows mode, and your video should now be restored.

Ideally you’d never need it… but sometimes you just need it!

Just recently I received a new laptop, and found that by default, the keyboard shortcuts in menus weren’t displayed.

This is the enemy of all keyboard users: An option hidden away in the Display settings that hides the underlined letters telling you what keys you can press. Boo on Microsoft for making this a default.

To enable keyboard shortcut underlining, follow these steps:

1. Hit Windows+D to show the desktop.
2. Press Shift+F10 to show the shortcut menu.
3. Press up arrow to get to the bottom menu item, Properties, then press Enter to select it.
4. Press Ctrl+Tab to change tabs three times, until the Appearance tab appears.
5. Press Alt+E to hit the Effects button.
6. Deselect the last item by pressing H.
7. Press Enter twice to close the dialog boxes.

Sometimes you just want to see the Task Manager, which gives you a list of which applications and processes are running, lets you run new programs, and lets you kill programs.

Credit for today’s tip goes to Jake, who left a comment earlier: Ctrl+Shift+Esc will instantly produce the Task Manager.

Bonus tip today! This follows from the earlier tip about Ctrl+Shift+Drag to create a shortcut, as well as yesterday’s tip about Ctrl+Drag to copy a file.

Let’s be complete: Suppose you’re still using the mouse to drag a file icon somewhere. And let’s suppose you’re about to drag it to a folder for a different drive (such as your A: drive or a second hard drive like D:, or a network drive like U:). Normally Windows will make a copy when you drag a file between two different drives. But if you hold down the Shift key, it’ll move the file instead.

Note that when you have the Ctrl key held down (or are dragging the file to the same drive), the ghosted-out image of the file’s icon has a little “+” in it to show it’s about to be copied.

If you have either the Alt or Ctrl+Shift keys held down, the file’s icon has a little arrow to show it’s about to be created as a shortcut.

If you have the Shift key held down, the icon is normal to show it’s being moved.

(By the way, instead of remembering all this confusing stuff about Shift or Ctrl or Alt), another choice is to use the right mouse button when dragging instead of the left mouse button. Then when you let go of the button, you will get a shortcut menu asking you what to do with the file you’re dragging. You can use the arrow keys and Enter to select your menu choice instead of clicking on the choice you want.)

Next week we’ll talk about how to use keys with the Windows Explorer so that you never have to bother with dragging a file ever again.

If you have a selected file and press Ctrl+Shift while you drag it, it will create a shortcut — a pointer. This pointer can then be put on the Start menu or placed on your desktop, or put in a folder if you need a quick way to reference the original file.

When you have to use a mouse and you drag a file into a folder, normally it gets moved (assuming you’re moving it on the same drive). If you hold down the Ctrl key while you drag the file, the file is copied instead. You’ll end up with one copy in the original location, and one copy in the new folder you dragged it to.

Previously, we saw that you can edit a cell in Excel using the F2 key.

We also have discussed dialog boxes and working with files using the Windows Explorer. In order to quickly rename a selected file, just press F2. It works a little like editing a cell in Excel.

I mentioned this one back in this Explorer shortcut post, but it deserves being spelled out on its own: When you see a file in a directory folder (such as when opening or saving a file, or when using the Windows Explorer), you can delete a file normally by using the Delete key. It then goes to the Trashcan, where you can undelete it.

If you have a sensitive file or a big file that you don’t want taking up disk space, press Shift+Delete to delete it instead. It won’t appear in the Trashcan, it’s just gone with only one confirmation dialog box to confirm.

Change your mind? You can press Ctrl+Z to Undo the delete operation, but don’t wait too long.

If your computer is on a network (such as when you’re at work) and you want to find a computer based on its name, press the Windows key plus Ctrl plus the letter F, then type in the computer’s name and press Enter.

Once a list of computers is returned, you can press the Up and Down Arrow keys to select the computer you want to access, and then press Enter to see the list of shared folders and printers available on that computer.

To search for files and folders on your computer, try Windows key plus F.

Related to yesterday’s tip, Windows key plus the Shift key plus the letter m will undo your “minimize all” action.

We started covering the Windows key back when the blog first started on February 23. (Recall that the Windows key by itself will show the Start menu; combined with different keystrokes, you can perform other useful tasks.)

One of the most useful shortcuts we covered is Windows key+D to show the Desktop. Related to that is a similar keystroke: Windows key+M will minimize all of the open applications that can be minimzied, showing only dialog boxes. Try it out!

(If you want to minimize only the current window, try this minimize shortcut.)

The “Run” dialog box from the Windows Start menu is a handy way to open an application or document. Usually you would select it from the Start menu, but a shortcut is to press the Windows key and R.

Once you’ve got the Run dialog box open, you can type in the name of a program and then Enter. Here are some popular ones:

• cmd: Command prompt for running DOS-style commands
• notepad: The Notepad app
• sol: Solitaire
• winword: Microsoft Word
• calc: the Calculator

You can also open directories by pressing Win+R, then typing the directory name (such as C:\TEMP) and pressing Enter.

More recent versions of Windows also let you type in a URL, such as www.google.com, and it will open in a browser automatically.

EDIT FOR FEB, 2012: Megan asked in the comments how you know what to type. There is not an easy way, because there’s no definitive list. What happens is that Windows will look through a list of directories (known as your “path“) for an application (that is, a program file ending in .com or .exe) that matches the name you typed. If you view the properties of the shortcuts, you can find the program name. If you look in your Microsoft Office folder (such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14) you will see Applications, such as POWERPNT.EXE. So then you know what to type next time.

EDIT FOR JUNE, 2013: From the comments below, a lot of you are getting suspicious calls telling you to run various commands using the Win+R key. As a rule of thumb, even if the command is safe, NO ONE FROM A COMPANY CALLED “WINDOWS” WILL EVER CALL YOU ABOUT A VIRUS. Just hang up on them and ignore the call. Most likely the caller is a scam artist who will try to convince you that your computer has a virus or is otherwise doing bad things, and then magically they happen to know this information somehow, and also magically they happen to be able to sell you a solution. You should never trust people who cold-call you with such information. Instead, get someone you trust to check out your computer.

Good practices:

1. Never trust anything that is being told to you over the phone/email from someone contacting you about your computer.
2. Never run commands that you don’t know 100% what they do (especially if a stranger is telling you to run them).
3. Never give your credit card over the phone to any stranger who called you.

EDIT FOR JAN 2015: It’s amazing to me how long this scam has been running and how many comments this post gets. I stand by the advice of just hanging up, or saying “please remove me from your list and don’t call me again” and then hang up.

EDIT FOR SEP 2019: It’s still going! Wow.

If you’re in the Windows Explorer or viewing files when using File | Open (usually Ctrl+O) or File | Save (usually Ctrl+S), and you want to move up a directory level (for example, move from U:\DOCUMENTS\2007 to U:\DOCUMENTS), then press the Backspace key.

In quite a few applications, you can press Alt+Enter to open a Properties dialog box (which displays information about the selected object).

For example, suppose you press the Windows key+E to open the Windows Explorer. As you navigate around, suppose you want to know more information about a folder or drive or file. Press Alt+Enter and you’ll get a Properties dialog box.

To exit from the current application, try Alt+F4.

When you insert a CD in your computer, it will usually begin automatically playing or running a designated default program.

If you hold down the Shift key when inserting the CD, then nothing will automatically start, allowing you to use the Explorer (remember Windows key+E!) to view the files instead, if you like.

You can toggle on or off the High Contrast Mode of Windows by holding down both the Shift key and the Alt key on the left side of your keyboard then tapping the Print Screen (PrtScrn) key.

High Contrast mode will increase the font size for all windows and buttons as well as change your color scheme.

To launch Windows help, tap the Windows key plus F1.

This week we’ll cover a few more general Windows shortcuts.

Just to get this one out of the way: We’ve covered the Windows key previously. The Windows key plus the letter U runs the Windows Utility manager, which lets you control how three specific utilities work on your computer:

• The Magnifier, which can enlarge sections of the screen (making them easier to see).
• The Onscreen Keyboard, which lets you use a mouse or joystick to type keys instead of the regular keyboard.
• The Narrator, which can read aloud text on screen.

Windows Vista user? Read this post in How To Geek to see how to enable Windows keyboard shortcuts being displayed in your Windows Vista menus.

Chances are you’ve got this “Break” key on your keyboard in the upper center (it might be located with the “Pause” key) and you’ve never used it. It sure doesn’t do much. Well, if you press that Windows key plus the Break key, you get the System Properties control panel, which (among other things) tells you how much memory your computer has. With a couple of presses of the Ctrl+Tab key to change tabs in the dialog box, you can view your hardware devices and make sure they’re working, change your computer name, or a few other administrative tasks.

This one’s useful for laptops or whenever you want some privacy: Assuming you’ve set up a password for your Windows login username, press the Windows key+L. Immediately, the Lock Dialog will appear. To use your computer again, you must press Ctrl+Alt+Del, enter your password, and press Enter.

We covered the Windows key previously. If you hold that key down and then press the “d” key, you’ll see the desktop. Press Windows+D again and your application windows will reappear.

Note: Some people like the Windows+M shortcut, which minimizes all applications. Windows+D and Windows+M are very similar, but I prefer Windows+D because it’s a toggle and because not every application can be minimized. So Windows+D is just a little bit more generally useful.