Pretty much in the title, the only time I interact with the windows key in its standard operating condition is getting pissed off that the start menu opened. I use it in other capacities such as taking screen shots and other key commands but I got to wondering if anyone, ever actually uses it to access the start menu.
Also if anyone comes here and posts “dOnT uSe wINdoWs,” you really are cute.
Edit: I am more curious if anyone actually gets utility out of its default behavior (opening the start menu). I am aware that it is used in a number of key commands (although some are new to me).
Yes, I definitely do. I use it to open start menu and search, as well as using quite a few commands, run, snipping tool, moving and resizing windows, etc.
When win10 is no longer supported we will be making the leap to linux, and I really hope I can get much of this functionality there.
Yes, it’s one of the most useful keys. I haven’t used file explorers for applications in forever. Hit the Windows key, type a couple letters of the program you want, hit enter.
Also you can do Win+E to open the Windows Explorer.
Yeah, 100%. I hit the windows button and immediately just continue typing the name of the program I’m looking for. It’s extremely convenient.
Win+M minimises everything.
Win+(arrow key) moves windows around.
Win+S for screenshot.
Win+C (with PowerToys) opens a color pipette tool.
Win then type the name of the program or setting brings those results up (well, after windows has a network connection or realises it isn’t gonna get one. Which is stupid)Win+P allows you to quickly change how your windows works. Win+K brings up the menu to connect to a wireless monitor. Win+L will lock the screen. Win+R will call the “Run…” window.
KDE Plasma also inherits a lot of the shortcuts Windows has. AFAIK MATE/Cinnamon do also share some of the keybinds, but for some reason they use CTRL+ALT instead.
Also fun fact: the Windows key is also called the SUPER key.
How else would you open a program?
With Internet searching disabled, the start menu is decent enough as a quick launcher and so I find myself hitting the Windows key quite often for that purpose.
On Linux there are better launchers that I’m too lazy to set up so still just hit Super and use the Application Launcher to find and run programs.
Sometimes it works better for tabbing out of a game than alt-tab does. Not sure why. Also it depends on the game.
In Ubuntu I use the command key as my main way to launch applications.
Also if anyone comes here and posts “dOnT uSe wINdoWs,” you really are cute.
Don’t use windows?
🥺👉👈
You really are cute.
Do you mean super key? Yea, All the time for moving Windows, opening programs, etc.
Don’t you have a Penguin sticker on yours ? It doesnt have to be a Windows logo.
Yea, I bought a penguin sticker paste it on my Windows keys.
I actually use it to open the start menu for a few reasons. Usually I do it to the press tab and the down arrow 5 times then enter twice, why? Because that puts your selector thingy on the sleep option as my keyboard doesn’t have a sleep key. The other reason is I can just start typing some program’s name and launch it without using my mouse. I don’t do it all the time since most programs I need to use the mouse to keep using anyway, but sometimes I just want a calculator or notepad++ and the search function works well enough for those
Yes since I use a lot of windowed fullscreen programs and it’s the easiest eay to access the taskbar when I need it.
I use it a lot. Ever since windows 8, the best way to use windows has been hit the windows key and type what you want.
Additionally there are a few shortcuts that are handy
- win + L for locking
- win + E for file explorer
- win + D for desktop
- win + ctrl + alt + shift + L to hate what windows has become
win + space to switch between keyboard languages
win + tab to open the desktop switcher
win + ctrl + t (if you have PowerToys installed) to prevent other apps from stealing focus from your windowdeleted by creator
Also “win + - > or <-” to move a tile to left or right side.
Well, I’d say the start menu peaked in Windows 7, where it only showed good local results, but it is still the best way to open something I know the name of.
You can disable online results permanently with about 15 minutes of web searching and adjusting settings (including within registry and group policy, but still).
including within registry and group policy
Sigh
Not on my work computer, the only place I use windows, I can’t. A workaround is never a complete fix.
win + x brings up a useful alternate start menu
I often use win+v for the clipboard history and win+shift+s for taking screenshots.
Plus Win+arrow keys to move a window around, maximize, or minimize it. I use it ALL THE TIME.
win + ; for some fun ascii art
Win+ca+enter = calculator
Can you edit these key bindings?
I think you can edit the ctrl alt shift win ones, or at least add them for letters they haven’t sold
I had to google ctrl shift windows, l, and…
It kind of makes sense: I bet the type of person who actually use this hotkey is the same kind of person who reposts motivational corporate shite every 10 minutes.
All the time. It’s basically the only way I open the Start menu. And I use Windows key shortcuts like Win+Alt+K really often.
Constantly.
Open shit on the taskbar.
Win + E for file explorer.
Win key and type stuff for a few programs I don’t want to have icons for.
One of the best keys!
So you use your mouse to click on the start menu button, scroll through the menu and click again on the program? That sounds awful. I click the Windows button and type the program name.
I pin programs I frequently use to my task bar like a gentleman.
Check this… Windows Key + Number corresponding to position of your task bar icon will launch that program. So your 3rd icon from the left = Win+3
Is the implication here that you don’t use any other programs?
obviously
Buy top of the line gaming rig
Only check email
The real question is who uses the actual start menu, as in tiles and program list. I’ve only ever seen people type the program name
I use the tiles to “pin” programs that I use semi-regularly and can’t be bothered remembering the name of. Or that share an inconveniently long prefix with the name of another program. Or that I have multiple versions of installed, with a specific version I usually need.
I don’t like pinning such programs to the task bar because they add unnecessary clutter while not in use.
The Windows start menu is inexplicably a huge mess. Like all MS products, they cram their interface with as much as possible.
I preferred their nested menus to what is there now, though I started using search as soon as it became a thing (Windows 7?). They should have really implemented categories (like in Linux) early on rather than having every suite have it’s own sub-menu in the Start Menu.
You can do that yourself, since Chicago first debuted in ~1994.
I don’t want my OS categorizing stuff for me.
My start menu is categorized on the root (where “pinned” items go), and I leave the rest of the menu alone.
The maintainer of the application chooses the categorie(s) but manually organizing things as an end user… is kinda dumb. Maybe I don’t understand your workflow (or why the Start Menu is the way it is now with all programs barfed into one list, I figured it was for touch devices). It doesn’t really matter, though, because search is used primarily now, anyways. Forgetting the name of the application is the only reason I can see digging through the Start Menu now.
I prefer OpenShell, since it unfucks the start menu and makes it usable. It’s just like Win7 but easy to customize.
I only ever see the real start menu on other people’s computers. Openshell is like ublock, without it your face tends to contort and twist like you ate a lemon.
I imagine some legacy users who cut their teeth on Windows 95 or something and never changed their ways. I was a Mac user through the mid 2000s and switched back when I got my gaming rig with Windows 10 so I don’t remember when the search bar was implemented—never used the start menu since.
