How to Use the "Extra" Keys on Your Keyboard

There are roughly 50 keys on your keyboard that you use on a regular basis, but there are at least 104 total keys on your keyboard.

So, what are those other keys for?

Here is a list of the keys you may not be using that can make your life a lot easier - in no particular order.

F1 - The F1 key is located above your number and letter keypad. In almost any program anywhere in Windows, pressing F1 will bring up your help screen. From the help screen you can look up topics and learn more about the program you are using.

PRINT SCREEN (PRT SCR, PRNT SCR, etc.) - Located to the right of the F keys, the Print Screen button is handy for capturing the contents of your entire screen onto the clipboard. After hitting Print Screen, you can click on EDIT->PASTE in almost any program and an image of the screen capture will come up on the screen. TIP: Holding ALT while hitting the Print Screen button will capture only the active window.

HOME/END - The Home and End keys are located in the little "six pack" of keys between the letter and number pads. Pressing Home will move the cursor to the top of a document. Pressing End will do just the opposite and move the cursor to the end of the document.

DELETE - The Delete key works like your Backspace key, but in the opposite direction. It deletes characters, spaces and returns to the right of the cursor.

INSERT - We don't know why this key exists for most users. The Insert key controls whether placing a cursor in the middle of a word or sentence will type over that area or insert what you have typed between the characters that already exist.

WINDOWS KEY - The Windows small key with the Windows logo on it just to the right and or left of your space bar. The Windows key does much more than you would ever know. In fact we have an entire tip devoted to this key here.

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