Use the Windows Logo key ( let's abbreviate that to 'W') plus the specified key to obtain the results below. e.g.
Pressing and holding the Windows Logo key (W) while typing the letter "E" is shown below as "W+E."
W. Opens the Start menu.
W+A Opens Accessibility Options if installed.
W+C Opens the Control Panel.
W+E Opens Windows Explorer.
W+F Finds a file or folder.
W+CtrlF Finds a computer on a network.
W+I Opens the mouse properties.
W+K Opens the keyboard properties.
W+L Logs on and off Windows.
W+M Minimizes all windows.
W+ShiftM Undoes the minimize all action.
W+P Opens the Print Manager.
W+R Displays the Run dialog box.
W+S Enables or disables the Caps Lock key.
W+V Views the clipboard.
W+F1 Displays Windows help.
W+Break Displays the system properties.
W+Tab Activates open programs in order.
*from THE NEWBIE CLUB INSIDER  Issue 185 June 13, 2004

We're a mouse-crazed world. Before the invention of the mouse, everything on a computer was done using the keyboard. Today, you can still do TONS and TONS of stuff with the keyboard that you can never accomplish with your mouse. You just have to know how.
Excluding the little round buttons added to a keyboard to increase its 'one-touch' ability, most boards have around 105 keys. From an ESC key on the top left to an Enter key on the bottom right.
The spacebar is always in the middle of things, operated by your thumbs.
What can you do quickly with the keyboard? Well, right now, you can clear all of the stuff on your screen, safely minimizing it to the bottom of your screen where your Task bar lives (next to the Start button) by holding down the Windows logo key and pressing the letter 'D'.
The Logo key is on the bottom row... between the Ctrl and Alt keys to the left of the spacebar and to its right.
Try it. Hold down the logo key... press 'D'... and release 'D'... then release the logo key.
If you press the Logo key alone, nothing happens until you release the key. Press and release it to activate the Start Menu.
Want to copy some text from a web site and paste it into a word processor such as Word or Wordpad? Open the word processor... and open the web page... highlight the text with the mouse cursor... then hold down the Ctrl key and press the 'C' key. You won't see anything happen. Now, move to the word processor, click once where you want the next to appear to set the cursor. Then, hold down the Ctrl key, and press the 'V' key.
The text will appear. If it doesn't, you didn't highlight the text from the previous document (in this case the 'document' is the web page you are copying from.)
You can highlight text with the keyboard, too. Right now, make sure your cursor is located in the body of this email. Doesn't matter where, this is only an illustration.
Now, hold down the Shift key... and press the right arrow key. Hmm... magic! See the text being highlighted? It's being 'selected'!
Select as much as you desire, then do the Ctrl + C thing to copy, and Ctrl + V to paste. (Ctrl + C is shorthand for saying "hold down the Ctrl key while you press the C key.")
So there you go. I've only touched on the amazing things you can do with your keyboard.
One last 'trick' for you: Want to quickly view the System Properties of your computer? That is, see how much RAM you have, the amount of resources free, and more? Just press and hold the Windows Logo key while you press the Pause/Break key. The System Properties window should appear.
*from THE NEWBIE CLUB INSIDER  Issue 183 May 29, 2004

Add special characters to enliven your communications, such as email, with ease. Just follow these simple steps, and use whatever code you desire. It's a very cool way to create a stir amongst your friends. "Hey, how'd you do that?!" It's a secret, of course. <smile>
Special characters are created by pressing certain number combinations on the numeric keyboard in conjunction with the Alt key. For example, holding down Alt and pressing "0169" (without the quotes) will yield the copyright symbol: ©.
The symbol is not created until you've pressed the last numeric key! So, while holding down the Alt key, press zero, one, six, nine, and voila! You'll see the copyright symbol "©" appear.
I'm going to give you a whole list of characters to play with and their codes in just a minute. First, one more interesting point.
If you select a font other than Arial, Courier New, or Times New Roman, you'll get even more options. You may have noticed there are two additional fonts in Windows that are kind of interesting. "Wingdings" and "Symbol." Let's say you're using Word or WordPerfect. Change the font to Wingdings. Then type the codes, and you'll see a totally new way of expressing yourself.
The code is called the "ANSI character set" by techies. ANSI stands for American National Standards Institute. Yea, it's exciting stuff!
Num lock must be on.  Hold down the Alt key and type the following numbers on the numeric keyboard for these symbols:
248   = ° (degree symbol)
246   = ÷ (division symbol)
247    =˜  (wavy line)
155   = ¢ (cent sign)
0161 = ¡ (Inverted exclamation)
0162 = ¢ (Cent sign)
0163 = £ (Pound sterling)
0164 = ¤ (General currency sign)
0165 = ¥ (Yen sign)
0166 = ¦ (Broken vertical bar)
0167 = § (Section sign)
0168 = ¨ (Umlaut (dieresis))
0169 = © (Copyright)
0171 = « (Left angle quote, guillemotleft)
0172 = ¬ (Not sign)
0173 = ­ (Soft hyphen)
0174 = ® (Registered trademark)
0175 = ¯ (Macron accent)
0176 = ° (Degree sign)
0177= ± (Plus or minus)
0178 = ² (Superscript two)
0179= ³ (Superscript three)
0180 = ´ (Acute accent)
0181 = µ (Micro sign)
0182 = ¶ (Paragraph sign)
0183 = · (Middle dot)
0184 = ¸ (Cedilla)
0185 = ¹ (Superscript one)
0187 = » (Right angle quote, guillemotright)
0188 = ¼ (Fraction one-fourth)
0189 = ½ (Fraction one-half)
*from the THE NEWBIE CLUB INSIDER  Issue 80 May 30 2002
All have been tested on Windows 98, so if you've got Windows 95, XP or whatever, give 'em a try anyway. It won't break!
Use the Windows Logo key ( let's abbreviate that to 'W') plus the specified key to obtain the results below. e.g. Pressing and holding the Windows Logo key (W) while typing the letter "E" is shown below as "W+E."
W. Opens the Start menu
W+A Opens Accessibility Options if installed
W+C Opens the Control Panel
W+E Opens Windows Explorer
W+F Finds a file or folder
W+CtrlF Finds a computer on a network
W+I Opens the mouse properties
W+K Opens the keyboard properties
W+L Logs on and off Windows
W+M Minimizes all windows
W+ShiftM Undoes the minimize all action
W+P Opens the Print Manager
W+R Displays the Run dialog box
W+S Enables or disables the Caps Lock key
W+V Views the clipboard
W+F1 Displays Windows help
W+Break Displays the system properties
W+Tab Activates open programs in order
*from THE NEWBIE CLUB INSIDER  Issue 79 May 23 2002

# Find files fast. Open Explorer and click on a folder to highlight it. Then, press the Windows Logo key together with F3 (denoted as "W+F3"). Type in a search string. A search string is just a bunch of characters typed in by you.
For example, if you type the character string "housephoto.jpg" the specified drive or folder would be searched for that file. It would then be displayed if it were found. You could then
double click the file to open it.
# Make System Properties pop up immediately. Use W+Pause to reveal the System Properties window. From there you can click the various tabs to see what you need to see. You'll find stuff there that shows who the computer is registered to, how much memory is installed, the processor type, and the version of Windows you've got installed. Various tabs let you manage hardware devices, check your system's performance, and more. Take a look sometime. It's quite revealing.
# Explore your hard drive. W+E starts exploring your hard drive. It opens Windows Explorer quicker than clicking, as long as your desktop is the focus of activity. You manage your files and folders with Explorer. Just don't confuse Windows Explorer with Internet Explorer, which is your web browser.
# Instant Control Panel. W+C activates the Control Panel. That's where you take control of lots of features of Windows. Try it now. See what's in the Control Panel.
# Check your mouse's properties. W+I opens the Mouse Properties dialog box.
# Access the Keyboard Properties. W+K opens the Keyboard Properties dialog box.
# Instantly access your desktop. W+D equals "take me to your desktop." Now, what did you want to do on the desktop? That's the fastest way to minimize all open windows, making the desktop available to read the new e-book you just downloaded.
*from THE NEWBIE CLUB INSIDER  Issue 81 June 6 2002

"Keyboard Simple Tricks That Do Complex Tasks"

We're a mouse-crazed world. Before the invention of the mouse, everything on a computer was done using the keyboard. Today, you can still do TONS and TONS of stuff with the keyboard that you can never accomplish with your mouse. You just have to know how.
Excluding the little round buttons added to a keyboard to increase its 'one-touch' ability, most boards have around 105 keys. From an ESC key on the top left to an Enter key on the bottom right.
The spacebar is always in the middle of things, operated by your thumbs.
What can you do quickly with the keyboard? Well, right now, you can clear all of the stuff on your screen, safely minimizing it to the bottom of your screen where your Task bar lives (next to the Start button) by holding down the Windows logo key and pressing the letter 'D'.
The Logo key is on the bottom row... between the Ctrl and Alt keys to the left of the spacebar and to its right.
Try it. Hold down the logo key... press 'D'... and release 'D'... then release the logo key.
If you press the Logo key alone, nothing happens until you release the key. Press and release it to activate the Start Menu.
Want to copy some text from a web site and paste it into a word processor such as Word or Wordpad? Open the word processor... and open the web page... highlight the text with the mouse cursor... then hold down the Ctrl key and press the 'C' key. You won't see anything happen. Now, move to the word processor, click once where you want the next to appear to set the cursor. Then, hold down the Ctrl key, and press the 'V' key.
The text will appear. If it doesn't, you didn't highlight the text from the previous document (in this case the 'document' is the web page you are copying from.)
You can highlight text with the keyboard, too. Right now, make sure your cursor is located in the body of this email. Doesn't matter where, this is only an illustration. Now, hold down the Shift key... and press the right arrow key.
Hmm... magic! See the text being highlighted? It's being 'selected'!
Select as much as you desire, then do the Ctrl + C thing to copy, and Ctrl + V to paste. (Ctrl + C is shorthand for saying "hold down the Ctrl key while you press the C key.")
One last 'trick' for you: Want to quickly view the System Properties of your computer? That is, see how much RAM you have, the amount of resources free, and more? Just press and hold the Windows Logo key while you press the Pause/Break key. The System Properties window should appear.
*from  THE NEWBIE CLUB INSIDER  Issue 95 September 19, 2002