You want to be more productive during the course of your work (or play). Windows has many features that help you quickly start programs — links (or shortcuts) on the desktop, a quick launch toolbar, etc. There is one way that isn’t as well known. And it is probably the fastest way, especially if your hands are already on the keyboard.
This tip doesn’t work in XP or earlier versions of Windows. It is new in Windows 7 and 8.
No matter where you are at the time — even if you’re in the middle of something — hit the WINDOWS key. Type the first two or three letters of the program name (you only need to type enough to make the name unique) and hit ENTER. You can see the program’s name that will be launched as you type.
For example the name of Internet Explorer is iexplore.exe. To launch it type the following:
WINDOWS-KEY ie ENTER.
That’s all. In fact, depending on your system Internet Explorer is likely to come up by just typing the letter i. It takes only three keystrokes to launch it!
One drawback to this is you may need to know the actual name of each program. But you can usually type the description of the program instead of the name. To help you here are a few common programs and their names.
Windows calculator: calc.exe
Chrome browser: chrome.exe
Windows paint: mspaint.exe
Internet Explorer: iexplore.exe
Windows Explorer (File Explorer in Win8): explorer.exe
Word: winword.exe
Excel: excel.exe
Just remember, you don’t have to type the entire name – you only need to type enough letters to make the name unique, or the program’s description.
Now that you have learned another Windows tip you will be more efficient. Just don’t tell your boss or s/he may expect you to get more done.