MFL 195:  KEY COMBINATIONS

By popular request (!), I have included below a brief list of some of the most popular and frequently-used key combinations.  Remember, there is ALWAYS more than one way to skin a cat.  You can accomplish almost all of the actions below by using menu commands.  But, if you are a reasonably good typist and prefer to keep your hands on the keyboard rather than the mouse, you will quickly learn these shortcut key combos.
 
KEYS
ACTION
MENU COMMAND 
ALT + TAB Hold down the ALT key with your left thumb and press TAB repeatedly to cycle through the programs that are open.  When the program you want is highlighted, release your thumb, and the program will reappear on your screen. The other method of cycling through open programs is to use the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.  When you minimize an open program, a button is placed on the taskbar.  To restore this program, simply click on the button and it will come back on your screen.
CTRL + A Select all.  Hold down the Control key and press A.  This will highlight an entire page (everything on the document).  You can then do whatever you want with the selection (copy it, delete it, etc.) In most applications, you can click on "Edit" (on the top toolbar), and then "Select All" (or words to that effect).
CTRL+ C Copy.  Highlight the area you wish to copy, hold down the Control key, then press the letter C.  This will leave the original text in place and create a second copy. In most applications, you can click on "Edit" (on the top toolbar), and then "Copy."
CTRL + F Find.  To search for a word or phrase within a document, hold down the Control key, then press the letter F. In most applications, you can click on "Edit" (on the top toolbar), and then "Find"or "Find in Page."  Look carefully at the dialogue box that opens up for you to enter your search string.  You can often search either up (from where your cursor is) or down.  In some applications, there is a button in this box for "Find next" -- click on it to locate the next occurrence of your search item.
CTRL + G Find next.  This key command applies only to the bookmark file in Netscape.  If you do a search using CTRL + F from within Netscape's bookmarks, you can use CTRL + G to find the next occurrence of your search string. Once more, you must be in the bookmark file of Netscape.  If you invoke the "Find" command, you can find the next occurrence by clicking on "Edit" then "Find again."
CTRL + H History.  To see a complete list of all web sites you have visitied recently in Netscape, hold down the Control key and press the letter H.  You can revisit any site on the list by double-clicking on it.   
CTRL + P Print.  To print the entire document that is in the active window of your screen, hold down the Control key and press the letter P.  Warning:  this will print the entire document; you will not be able to select just certain pages to print. In every application, you can print by clicking on "File" (on the toolbar at the top), then "Print".  This action gives you much more control over printing than just CTRL + P.  You can select only certain pages of a document to print, you can determine how many copies you want, you can choose your printer (if, for example, you are on a network and have a choice of more than one printer), and select the kind of paper (plain paper, glossy paper, transparent film, etc.) you want to use.  TIP:  Before you print a document, click on "File" then "Print Preview."  This will show you exactly what you're going to get.  You can catch a lot of potential disasters and wasted paper by using the print preview command.
CTRL + S Save.  Hold down the Control key and press the letter S.  Do this often!!  Save your work frequently!  If you are building a web page, save your work after every addition, then preview it to be sure your page looks like what you think it should! You can always save your work (in any application) by clicking on "File" and then "Save."  The first time you save a file, you will be asked to name the file and indicate where you want to save it.  Thereafter, it will be saved automatically under the same name and in the same place.
CTRL + V Paste.  Place your cursor where you want the text to appear, then hold down the Control key and press the letter V to paste the selection in place.  This assumes, of course, that you have previously used the "copy" command and have something to paste in the first place. In all applications, you can click on "Edit" then "Paste" to accomplish this task.

Query:  Why isn't this command CTRL + P (as in "P" for "paste")?  Because CTRL + P is the print command!

CTRL + X Copy and delete.  Highlight the section you want to copy.  Hold down the Control key and press the letter X.  The highlighted section will be deleted, but a copy of it will still reside on the clipboard, waiting for you to paste it into its new location.  This is also referred to as Move and Copy. In order to accomplish this feat using menu commands, you will need to go through two separate steps.  First, highlight the section you want to move.  Click on "Edit" (on the top toolbar), then "Copy."  Next, place your cursor where you want to put the text and click on "Edit" then "Paste."  Now, go back to the original text you no longer want, highlight it, and press the delete  key to get rid of it.  This is the long way around!!
CTRL + ALT
+ DELETE
The Three Finger Salute.  When your computer is locked up, you can try to get out of this mess by pressing the control key, the ALT key and the delete key all at the same time.  If you're lucky, you may get a dialogue box asking if you want to end the task that has locked you up .  If possible, click on this option ("End task").  If nothing happens, press CTRL + ALT + DELETE and try it again.  You may have to do this four or five times before it kicks in.  If however, it doesn't end the task (it will close the application that is locked up and you will lose any unsaved work), continue to hit CTRL + ALT + DELETE and eventually you will have to shut down (again, you will lose any unsaved work).  If hitting CTRL + ALT + DELETE fails to shut down your computer, turn it off at the power switch (on the front of the computer).  If that doesn't work, you will have to take the last ditch measure and pull the plug!! This is to be used only in dire situations when your computer is locked up.  Because it is locked up, no menu options are available to you.  CTRL + ALT + DELETE is your only option.

Do not be alarmed when you reboot your computer.  You will get an admonition from Windows that your computer was not shut down properly (duh!!).  You will be told to press any key to run scan disk.  Scan disk is a utility built in to Windows that will check your hard drive for errors and fix them.  Do it!!