Key Boarding in Win 95

There are many reasons why it is good to know how to navigate with a keyboard in Windows 95:

Once learned, the keyboard commands are faster than using the mouse.

All that clicking and dragging is hard on the wrists.

It is possible to switch quickly between open applications.

When the mouse quits, you can save your document before hitting the reset button.

You can even sometimes shut down Windows and avoid the reset button altogether.

To access the ever so important Start button simply push the Windows 95 key. It is near the bottom left of the keyboard. If your keyboard does not have a Windows 95 key, don’t panic, you simply need to use the Ctl key, called (and, on some keyboards labeled) the Control key. You then can use the Arrow keys to take you to the application you want and the Enter key to run it. Closing an active window is simply a matter of using the Alt and F4 keys.

When you are in an application and the mouse stops working you probably want to save you work if at all possible.

Look at the menu bar. See how the words you normally click on with the mouse each have one letter that is underlined? Such as File and Help. The underlined letter show a keyboard short cut. If you hold down the Alt key and then press and release the underlined letter, You get the same results as when you had clicked on that selection with the mouse, a pull down menu appears. Here again the choices each have an under lined letter. Type the letter that corresponds with with the action you wish to perform, If you want to Save your document type the letter s.

Switch between applications easily by holding down the Alt key and then pressing and releasing the Tab key. A window will appear showing all the applications you currently have open. Again using the Tab key, (while still depressing Alt) will move a frame from left to right in the window. Release the key when the frame is around the application you wish to be active. Shift Alt Tab will move the frame in the opposite direction.

In word processing there are several key strokes that are very handy to know. You can move around in a document using the Arrow keys as well as Page Up and Page Down. You can move to the end of a line with the End key and to the beginning of a line with the Home key. You can also move one word at a time by holding the Ctl key and the Left or Right Arrow. Holding the Shift key, in combination with any of the these keys, will highlight the text for editing. You can then remove the highlighted text by pressing the Del (Delete) key or replace it by simply typing what you wish it replaced with.

Even cutting and pasting can be accomplished (in most word processors) without the use of a mouse. Highlight the text you wish to cut, hold the Shift key and press Delete. To paste use Shift Ins (Insert).

When you are in a dialog box you can move between your choices with the tab key. Sometimes the Arrow keys and/or underlined short cuts are use here as well.

In the Control Panel, Accessability Options may be configured in a way to assist those who have difficulty using keys in combinations.

It takes some getting used to but using the keyboard instead of the mouse is actually faster, some people find the use the mouse less and less has they learn more keyboard short cuts. For example this paper was written entirely without the use of a mouse.