Below is a listing of all the more commonly used Windows shortcut keys for every version of Microsoft Windows. If you are looking for shortcut keys related to programs in Windows, like Microsoft Word, Excel, Internet browsers, and others, see our 'Other computer keyboard shortcuts' page linked below.
General Windows keyboard shortcuts
I tried the above watch command but the output is just 1 (for voluntary and involuntary context switch). My linux kernal version is 2.6.39-400.214.4.el6uek.x8664. Is the output dependant on the linux version? – Andy Dufresne Mar 19 '15 at 6:49. Android ADB Fastboot 1.7 is available to all software users as a free download for Windows 10 PCs but also without a hitch on Windows 7 and Windows 8. Compatibility with this software may vary, but will generally run fine under Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP on either a 32-bit or 64-bit setup.
Alt+Tab
Switch between open applications in all versions of Windows. Reverse the direction by pressing Alt+Shift+Tab at the same time.
The ability to do context switching is an essential component for any multitasking OS. The same type of things that cause context switching in Linux would cause context switching in Windows as well. All a high thread count means is that the CPU will be forced to switch contexts more often to fulfill the processing requirements of the scheduler.
Ctrl+Tab
Switches between program groups, tabs, or document windows in applications that support this feature. Reverse the direction by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Tab at the same time.
Alt+double-click
In Windows 95 or later, display the properties of the object you double-click. For example, doing this on a file would display its properties.
Alt+Print Screen
Create a screenshot only for the active program window in all versions of Windows. For example, if you opened the calculator and pressed these shortcut keys, only the calculator window would be created as a screenshot. If the Print Screen key is pressed alone, the whole screen will be made into a screenshot.
Ctrl+Alt+Del
Open the Windows option screen for locking computer, switching user, Task Manager, etc. in later versions of Windows. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del multiple times reboots the computer.
Ctrl+Shift+Esc
Immediately bring up the Windows Task Manager in Windows 2000 and later.
Ctrl+Esc
Open the Windows Start menu in most versions of Windows. In Windows 8, this opens the Start screen and in Windows 3.x, this opens the Task Manager.
Alt+Esc
Switch between open applications on Taskbar in Windows 95 and later.
Alt+Spacebar
Drops down the window control menu for the currently open Windows program in Windows 95 and later.
Alt+Enter
Opens properties window of selected icon or program in Windows 95 and later.
Shift+Del
Sound studio 4 9 5 full. Permanently delete any file or another object without throwing it into the Recycle Bin in Windows 95 and later.
Hold down the Shift key
When putting in an audio or data CD that uses Autoplay, holding down the Shift key prevents that CD from playing.
Windows function key shortcuts
Below is a listing of keyboard shortcuts that use the keyboard function keys. See our what are F1 through F12 keys page for a full listing of what function keys do with all other programs.
F1
Activates help for current open application. If you're at the Windows desktop, this activates the help for Windows.
F2
Renames a highlighted icon, file, or folder in all versions of Windows.
F3
Starts find or search when at the Windows desktop in all versions of Windows.
F4
In Windows 95 and later, F4 opens the drive selection or address bar when browsing files in Windows Explorer.
Pressing Alt+F4 closes the current open program window without a prompt in all versions of Windows.
Pressing Ctrl+F4 closes the open window in the current active window in Microsoft Windows. Only works in programs that support multiple windows or tabs in the same program window.
F6
While in Windows Explorer, F6 moves the cursor to different Windows Explorer pane or in Windows 7 browse available drives.
F8
Pressing F8 over and over as the computer is booting starts the computer in Safe Mode.
F10
Activates the file menu bar in all versions of Windows.
Simulates a right-click on selected item, which is useful if right-click is difficult or impossible using the mouse.
Windows keyboard key shortcuts
Below is a listing of Windows keys that can be used on computers running Microsoft Windows 95 or later and using a keyboard with a Windows key. In the below list of shortcuts, the Windows key is represented by 'WINKEY.' Because not all these shortcuts work in every version of Windows, we've mentioned which versions of Windows support each shortcut key combination.
All versions of Windows
WINKEY
Pressing the Windows key alone opens or hides the Windows Start menu. In Windows 8, this opens or hides the Start screen.
WINKEY+F1
Open the Microsoft Windows help and support center.
WINKEY+Pause / Break key
Open the System Properties window.
WINKEY+D
Display and hide the Windows desktop.
WINKEY+E
Open Microsoft Windows Explorer.
WINKEY+F
Display the Windows Search or Find feature.
WINKEY+Ctrl+F
Display the search for computers window.
WINKEY+L
Lock the computer and switch users if needed (Windows XP and above only).
WINKEY+M
Minimizes all windows.
WINKEY+Shift+M
Undo the minimize done by WINKEY+M and WINKEY+D.
WINKEY+R
Open the run window.
WINKEY+U
Free Ip Switcher Windows 10
Open Utility Manager or the Ease of Access Center.
Windows XP
WINKEY+Tab
Cycle through open programs on the Taskbar.
Windows 7 and 8
WINKEY+1-0
Pressing the Windows key and any top row number key from 1 to 0 opens the program corresponding to the number of the program icon on the Taskbar. For example, if the first icon on the Taskbar is Internet Explorer, pressing WINKEY+1 would open that program or switch to it if already open.
WINKEY+(Plus (+) or Minus (-))
Open Windows Magnifier and zoom in with the plus symbol (+) and zoom out with the minus symbol (-).
Press the WINKEY+ESC to close the Magnifier.
WINKEY+Home
Minimize all windows except the active window.
WINKEY+P
Change between the monitor and projection display types or how second screen displays computer screen.
WINKEY+T
Set the focus on the Taskbar icons.
WINKEY+Left arrow
Shrinks the window to 1/2 screen on the left side for side by side viewing.
WINKEY+Right arrow
Shrinks the window to 1/2 screen on the right side for side by side viewing.
Windows Switcher Windows 10
WINKEY+Up arrow
When in the side by side viewing mode, this shortcut takes the screen back to full size.
WINKEY+Down arrow
Minimizes the screen. Also, when in the side by side viewing mode, this shortcut takes the screen back to a minimized size.
Windows 8
WINKEY+,
Peek at the Windows desktop.
WINKEY+.
Snap a Windows App to the sides of the screen. Pressing it multiple times switches between the right and left side of the screen or unsnap the app.
WINKEY+Enter
Open Windows Narrator.
WINKEY+C
Open the Charms.
WINKEY+G
Cycle through desktop gadgets.
WINKEY+H
Open Share in Charms.
WINKEY+I
Open the Settings in Charms.
WINKEY+J
Switch between snapped apps.
WINKEY+K
Car drawing game download. Open Devices in Charms.
WINKEY+O
Lock the screen orientation.
WINKEY+X
Open the Power User Menu, which gives you access to many of the features most power users would want to use such as Device Manager, Control Panel, Event Viewer, Command Prompt, and much more.
Open the Game bar. Only works if a game is running.
WINKEY+I
Open the Windows 10 Settings window.
WINKEY+S
Open the Windows Search utility.
WINKEY+X
Open the Power User Menu, which gives you access to many of the features most power users would want to use such as Device Manager, Control Panel, Event Viewer, Command Prompt, and much more.
Additional information
Supported Bit Versions
32-bit, 64-bit
Source Code URL
https://github.com/WarmUpTill/SceneSwitcher
Minimum OBS Studio Version
25.0.0
Supported Platforms
Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
(CLICK 'Go to download' FOR DOWNLOAD - NOT 'Source Code URL')
Contexts 3 6 2 – Fast Window Switcher Software
This plugin is based on the built in scene switcher. It extends its functionality by adding the following:
fullscreen detection (for Window Title / Executable based switching)
hotkey to start and stop the scene switcher
cursor position based scene switching (Screen Region tab)
temporarily pause the scene switcher based on scene or window title
the option to ignore windows
the option to configure a sequence of automated scene switches (Scene Sequence tab)
the option to switch to a scene after detection of being idle (Idle tab)
the ability to read/write current scene from/to txt file (Write to file / Read from file tab)
the ability select a different transition for each switch case (Transitions tab)
executable based scene switching (Executable tab)
system time based scene switching (Time tab)
audio based scene switching (Audio tab)
Some of these are described in more detail below. Installation Windows:
Extract the folder
Open the Windows folder
Copy the advanced-scene-switcher.dll in the OBS Stdio plugin folder. (For example C:Program Files (x86)obs-studioobs-plugins32bit or C:Program Filesobs-studioobs-plugins64bit - this path can be different for you!)
Install the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads 64bit: vc_redist.x64.exe 32:bit: vc_redist.x86.exe
Configure the settings (see later section)
Installation MacOS:
Extract the folder
Open the MacOS folder
Copy the advanced-scene-switcher.so to ~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins/advanced-scene-switcher/bin/ , whereby '~' represents your user's home directory.
Finally configure the settings (see next section)
Installation Linux:
Extract the folder
Open the Linux folder
Copy the advanced-scene-switcher.so file into the OBS Studio plugin folder. The location of this folder can vary so you might have to look around a bit. Examples are .. /usr/lib/obs-plugins/ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/obs-plugins/ ~/.config/obs-studio/plugins/advanced-scene-switcher/bin/64bit/
Configure the settings (see next section)
Settings Configuration (a bit outdated): You can access the advanced scene switcher the same way you access the normal scene switcher, by selecting Tools -> Advanced Scene Switcher. You can also set a hotkey to start/stop the scene switcher the settings of OBS. (Settings -> Hotkeys -> Toggle Start/Stop for Advanced Scene Switcher. This hotkey will only work when the settings menu for the advanced scene switcher is closed)
The settings window for the advanced scene switcher will open up. Under the 'General' tab you can find the window title based scene switching settings, which are also present in the built in scene switcher. But you also have the option to only switch to a scene if the window, which is causing the scene change, is also in fullscreen mode.
In the tab 'Screen Region' you can switch to a scene based on which screen region your cursor is in. This can be useful if you have a setup that is using multiple monitors and you to switch to the monitor scene you are currently using.
The tabs 'Pause Scenes' and 'Pause Windows' let you add scenes and windows that will pause the automatic scene switching on the currently selected scene. To continue the scene switching just switch to a scene that is not a Pause Scene or a window that is not listed in the Pause Windows tab.
The 'Ignore Windows' tab lists window titles of programs, which will be ignored by the scene switcher. It will act as if the last window is still the one shown. This can be useful if you ALT-TAB a lot and don't want the scene switcher to switch to the scene you specified if there is no match for the current window title. So for example you could add 'Task Switching' (this is the title of the ALT-TAB program) and 'Twitch - Google Chrome' and 'TeamSpeak 3' to still be on your in-game scene even if you ALT-TAB to these windows.
'Scene Sequence' lets you specify a sequence of automatic scene switches and a delay between each of these switches. So for example if you would want to first show the scene 'cam1' for 3 seconds, then switch to 'cam2', wait another 3 seconds before switching to 'cam3' and finally wait 3 seconds and switch back to 'cam1' to restart the whole process you can use the settings shown in the image below.
Additional Information and Notes: Don't run both, the built in scene switcher and the advanced scene switcher. Otherwise both will try to switch based on their settings and cause many unnecessary scene switches. If you want to build the plugin yourself the source is available here. Uninstallation Windows: Remove the advanced-scene-switcher.dll file in the obs-plugins32bit and obs-plugins64bit directory of your OBS studio installation. MacOS: Remove the advanced-scene-switcher.so file in the obs-plugins directory in the package contents of your OBS application. Linux: Remove the advanced-scene-switcher.so from /usr/lib/obs-plugins/
App Switcher Windows 10
Please report any problems you experience using this plugin here or send me a message.