On the taskbar above, for example, Windows+3 would launch Google Chrome, Windows+4 would launch Slack, and so on all the way up through Windows+0 for Outlook. Press the Windows key along with a number key to launch the corresponding app. This allows you to launch them with your keyboard. The first ten apps on your taskbar are assigned numbers from 1 through 0, left to right. RELATED: How to Put the Command Prompt Back on the Windows+X Power Users Menu Keyboard Shortcuts for Launching Apps on the Taskbar You can do pretty much everything in PowerShell that you can do in Command Prompt, plus a lot of other useful things. It’s very easy to switch back to showing the Command Prompt on the Power Users menu if you want, or you can give PowerShell a try. Note: If you see PowerShell instead of Command Prompt on the Power Users menu, that’s a switch that came about with the Creators Update for Windows 10. Or, you can just use your arrow keys to move up and down and press Enter to launch your selection. Press Windows+X to open the Power Users menu, which–unlike the beginner-friendly Start menu–provides quick access to powerful utilities like the Event Viewer, Device Manager, Command Prompt, and more. After opening the Power Users menu with Windows+X, you can then press any of the underlined letters in the shortcut names to launch that utility. Windows 8 and 10 also added a new, somewhat hidden menu with more advanced options. Whether you’re looking to launch an app, visit a page in the Control Panel, or see what events are coming up on your calendar, you can do it all without ever touching the mouse. Just press the Windows key to open the Start menu, and start typing. Within a column, use your arrow keys to move around and press Enter to open whatever is highlighted. Note that if you use the right arrow key on an app that supports jumplists, it will display the jumplist, and you can use the left arrow to back out of the jumplist.īut the real power of the Start menu isn’t actually in its menus–it’s the built-in Search (and, in Windows 10, Cortana) features. Use Tab and Shift+Tab to jump between those columns. The Start menu is organized into three columns–folders, apps, and tiles. You can close the Start menu by pressing Windows or Esc.

For starters, you can open the Start menu by hitting the Windows key or by pressing Ctrl+Esc. There are not a lot of specific keyboard shortcuts for working with the Start menu, but you can still use your keyboard to navigate it and launch apps. Keyboard Shortcuts for Working with the Start Menu

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