58. Fun with Shortcuts 4: Create a Shortcut to Shutdown or Restart Your PC

You can create quick desktop shortcuts to shutdown or lock your PC with this handy tip.

To do this right click an empty area of the desktop or folder where you wish to create the shortcut and hit 'new\shortcut.' For the location of the shortcut, enter 'shutdown -s -t 01' for a shutdown command or 'shutdown -r -t 01' for a restart. Hit 'next' and give your shortcut an appropriate name.

59. Fun with Shortcuts 5: Create a Shortcut to Lock Your PC

To create a desktop shortcut that will instantly lock your PC, requiring a username and password to get back in right click an empty area of the desktop or folder, where you wish to create the shortcut and hit 'new\shortcut.' For the location, enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation.' Hit 'next' and give the shortcut an appropriate name.

60. Fun with Shortcuts 6: Create a Shortcut to 'Run' on Your Desktop

This tip creates a shortcut to the useful 'run' prompt on your desktop or another location.

Simply open the start menu, click on the 'run' command and drag it onto the desktop. This will create 'shortcut to &run' which you can then rename to 'run.'

61. Fun with Shortcuts 7: Create a Shortcut to Command Prompt on Your Desktop

Right click an empty area of the desktop or folder where you wish to create the shortcut and hit 'new\shortcut.' In the location box, enter 'c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe'. Hit 'next' and give the shortcut an appropriate name.

62. Fun with Shortcuts 8: Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Applications and Folders

To speed up access to your favourite programs and folders, you can create key combinations that will open them automatically provided they have a shortcut on the desktop.

To make a keyboard shortcut create a shortcut to an application or folder and place it on the desktop. Right click the shortcut, choose 'properties' and go to the 'shortcut' tab. Select the 'shortcut key' window and press a key you would like to use as a shortcut. Windows will automatically create a CTRL + ALT + (your key) combination. Pressing this combo will open the shortcut.

63. Shortcuts to Important Control Windows With the Run Command

As you probably already know, the 'run' command is a great way to quickly bring up several useful applications and windows. Following is a small list of some of the ones you might find yourself using most often. Simply bring up the run prompt by going to 'start\run' then type any one of the entries below to open that particular window.

Group policy editor: gpedit.msc
Command prompt: cmd
Windows Explorer: explorer
Registry Editor: Regedit
Computer management window: compmgmt.msc
Device manager: devmgmt.msc
Storage manager: diskmgmt.msc
Event viewer: eventvwr.msc
Services: services.msc