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14 July 2007

Laptop question: This laptop, it do not have no Windows key. How am I use the Windows key when it do not have one? →[More:]

Specifically, is there an alternative to Windows Key + M (minimize all, my favorite keyboard shortcut)?

post by: mudpuppie at: 17:06 | 11 comments

There is a utility from Lenovo called the "Keyboard Customizer Utility" that lets you assign one.

That laptop is from the pre-Lenovo days of IBM, when the product managers still clung to the idea that you might install an OS other than Windows... OS/2, for example.

posted by Triode 14 July | 17:34

Awesome! Thanks, Triode.

posted by mudpuppie 14 July | 17:38

I have one, too. I think I'll use `

I never use that key.

posted by chuckdarwin 14 July | 18:09

On one of my PCs, there was an icon on the bottom of the desktop, and you could click that to minimize everything. I think it must have been a work computer, because I have no idea how to get it there and no idea who put it there.

But that was a nice shortcut.

posted by occhiblu 14 July | 19:39

occhiblu: See this AskMe. But WinKey+D does the same thing.

posted by grouse 14 July | 19:55

Also, in case anyone ever wondered what the difference between Show Desktop (WinKey+D) and Minimize All (WinKey+M) is, here it is.

posted by grouse 14 July | 19:57

I've never used the Window key. And oddly enough, my current keyboard is a Microsoft keyboard and doesn't even have one.

Me, I have an icon next to my Start button that's used for "show desktop".

posted by deborah 14 July | 21:32

I never noticed the Show Desktop icon before. They keyboard is much easier for me, though. Your mileage, it may vary.

posted by mudpuppie 14 July | 23:15

You can't use it for things like a quick minimize, unfortunately, but you can show the Start menu by hitting CTRL-ESC.

posted by TheophileEscargot 15 July | 01:53

You can't use it for things like a quick minimize, unfortunately, but you can show the Start menu by hitting CTRL-ESC.

Well, you can. On a stock Windows XP system, you can show the desktop with:

Ctrl+Esc, Tab, Tab, Tab, Shift+F10, S, S, Enter

OK, maybe that isn't "quick." You could also put the Show Desktop file in the Start Menu with a unique starting letter. That would be faster.

posted by grouse 15 July | 07:55

Thanks, grouse!

Truthfully, until this post, I had no idea the Windows key did anything. I don't think I've ever ever used it.

New toy! :-)

posted by occhiblu 16 July | 10:49

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