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#40 Work Faster by Changing Windows without the Mouse

March 24, 2011

Multitasking is a critical skill to have in today’s computing environment. Your ability to quickly switch between open windows and tabs can greatly affect your productivity. These keyboard shortcuts can help you to become more productive when you need to frequently switch between windows.

Multitasking is a critical skill to have in today’s computing environment. Your ability to quickly switch between open windows and tabs can greatly affect your productivity. These keyboard shortcuts can help you to become more productive when you need to frequently switch between windows.

Switching Windows

  • Alt+Tab: Pressing both keys at the same time will bring up a window-switching box, with listed icons for all of your open applications.
  • Windows + Tab (Windows 7 Only): Pressing both keys will bring up a 3D view of your open applications.

By holding down the Alt key, you can continue to shift between open tabs by pressing the Tab key until you get to the window you would like to become active.

Switching Tabs in Internet Explorer

The same principals described above can be used for quickly switching between open tabs in an internet browser.

  • Ctrl+Tab: Pressing both keys will change to the tab to the immediate right of the active tab.

Additional Tip: Holding down the shift key with any of the commands above will advance through windows in reverse order.

For more keyboard shortcuts visit Microsoft’s List of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP.