| Keystroke | Function |
 | Opens the Start menu |
| + E | Opens My Computer in Windows Explorer |
| + Pause/Break | Opens the System Properties dialog box |
| + U | Opens the Utility Manager |
| + R | Opens the Run… prompt |
| + F | Opens the Search for Files and Folder window |
| + Ctrl + F | Opens the search for computers on the network |
| + M | Minimize all windows |
| + Shift + M | Maximize all windows (after minimizing them) |
| + D | Minimize all windows to the desktop, and then restore all Windows |
| + L | Lock Computer |
| + Tab | Cycle through the open programs on the Taskbar |
| + B | Selects the first item in the System Tray; use the arrow keys to cycle through the items and use the Enter key to open a selected item in the SysTray |
| Alt + Tab | Switch between open programs |
| Alt + F4 | (in a program) Closes the program |
| Alt + F4 | (from desktop) Opens the Windows Shutdown/Restart dialog box |
| Alt + Enter | Opens the Properties page of a selected item |
| Alt + Esc | Cycle between open programs in the order that they were opened |
| Alt + Spacebar | In the active window, this brings up the corner dialog box for Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, or Close |
| Shift + Insert | CD/DVD Inserts a CD/DVD without triggering Autoplay or Autorun |
| Shift + Delete | Permanently deletes an item (rather than sending it to the Recycle Bin) |
| Ctrl + Shift + Esc | Opens the Windows Task Manager |
| Ctrl + drag an icon | Copies that item |
| Ctrl + Shift + drag an icon | Creates a shortcut for the item |
| Right-click + drag a file | Brings up a menu to copy, move, or create a shortcut |
| PrtScn | Takes a screen shot of the entire screen; go into a photo program (the Windows program "Paint" will also work) and hit Paste to edit and save the screen shot |
| Alt + PrtScn | Takes a screen shot of only the active Window; hit Paste in a photo program to edit and save the screen shot |
| F1 | Opens the Windows XP Help |
| F2 | Rename selected item |
| F3 | Opens Windows search for files and folders |
| F5 (or Ctrl + R) | Refresh Internet Explorer page, or refresh any other window |
| F6 | Cycle through the different types of elements that can be selection on a screen or window |
| F10 | Selects the menu bar in the active program (usually "File") so that you can use the arrow keys to navigate through the menus and the Enter key to select |
| Shift + F10 | For a selected item, this does the same thing as a right-click with the mouse |
| Tab | Move through the different elements on a page or the fields in a form |
| Shift + Tab | Move backward through the different elements on a page or the fields in a form |
| Ctrl + A | Select All |
| Ctrl + C | Copy |
| Ctrl + X | Cut |
| Ctrl + V | Paste |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo |
| Ctrl + P | |
| Ctrl + O | Open |
| Ctrl + Esc | Opens the Start menu |
| Ctrl + Backspace | Deletes the entire word to the left |
| Ctrl + Delete | Deletes the entire word to the right |
| Ctrl + Right arrow | Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word |
| Ctrl + Left arrow | Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word |
| Ctrl + Down arrow | Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph |
| Ctrl + Up arrow | Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph |
| Ctrl + Shift + Arrow keys | Highlight a block of text |
| Click Shift 5 times | Turns StickyKeys on or off |
| Hold down the right Shift key for 8 seconds | Turns FilterKeys on or off |
Windows XP shortcuts
Windows XP contains a lot of (mostly) unknown shortcuts and key kombinations. I have obtained a document with a lot of these listed, and am making them available here. Below is the first section of the list, and the full list (original) in HTML format is here.
| Change:
