If you work a lot on a computer, then you probably found that you use the same actions over and over. Windows has a number of shortcut keys that could help you speed things up quite a bit.

Possibly the best known ones are CTRL-C and CTRL-V, which are the shortcuts for copy and pasting information. But there are a number of others that you might want to get to know better too.

Below you'll find a list of the shortcuts that we think you're likely to use the most. Should you wish to specify your own shortcuts, then you can download and install third-party utilities which allow you to do so. (Try Keybreeze or HotKeyz.)

These ones, however, are already built into Windows:

CTRL + C: Copy

CTRL + V: Paste

CTRL + X: Cut

CTRL + Z: Undo

CTRL + N: New (used within a program)

CTRL + O: Open a new document (used within a program)

CTRL + A: Selects everything in the current open window

CTRL + Esc: Opens the Start menu

CTRL + F4: Closes the currently selected window of a program that can have multiple windows open, e.g. more than one Word document (used within a program)

ALT + F4: Closes an open program (used within a program)

ALT + Tab: Switch between open programs

ALT + Shift + Tab: Reverse switch between open programs

ALT + Down arrow: Opens the drop-down menu lists (used within a program)

ALT + Double-click: Shows the properties of the file that you double-clicked upon

F1: Help (used within a program)

F2: Rename a file name when it is highlighted

F5: Refreshes the current window

Shift: Hold down the shift key while putting a CD in the CD-ROM drive and it will skip the autorun features

Backspace: Goes back to the first folder (in Windows Explorer), or goes back one step (in Internet Explorer)

Tab: Moves to the next field on a form (e.g. in Internet Explorer)

Shift + Tab: Moves to the previous field on a form

Click here for more shortcut keys.

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