Are You Neglecting Your Windows Key?

Today I saw something that made my eyes go wide: A friend reached for the mouse, clicked the Start button, and then went back to the keyboard to type the name of the app he wanted to launch.

I asked him what I considered an obvious question: “Why didn’t you just press the Windows key?”

“The what key?” he responded.

Seriously? This isn’t common knowledge? Apparently not, because after a quick survey of some friends and family, I discovered that few people ever bother with the Windows key, and some don’t even know what it’s there for.

(The horror. Time to re-up your PC World subscriptions, people!)

Needless to say, a tap of the Windows key (which on most keyboards is just to the left of the Space Bar) takes you to the Start menu, where–in Vista and 7–you can start typing to dynamically search for apps, files, e-mail, and the like.

A lesser-known use of the Windows key is to launch apps in a flash. And don’t forget these three indispensable Windows-key shortcuts.

So stop thinking of that little key as some kind of wayward Microsoft marketing effort and start putting it to good use!