The best Windows keyboard shortcuts for faster typing and browsing

When I was a kid, I’d absorb hints and cheat codes for the latest Nintendo games through a sort of osmosis. On playgrounds or at friends’ houses, we’d trade these bits of wisdom as if they were arcane secrets—even though most of us had simply picked them up by reading Nintendo Power.

Those days are long gone, of course, but if a grown-up version of this phenomenon existed, it might be the way we talk about keyboard shortcuts. Discovering a new way to save time in your work can feel like a superpower, even if it’s a little less thrilling than learning about the Konami Code.

I still remember, for instance, reading this Twitter post from indie game publisher Mike Rose last year and sitting back in astonishment. How did I go so long without knowing that you could hold Ctrl and press Backspace to delete entire words in Word and other Windows programs? That tiny tip has since become a regular part of my writing routine.

Even better, Rose’s Twitter post quickly morphed into a thread of secret-swapping, as other users chimed in with their own favorite shortcuts. Some highlights.

[“source=pcworld”]