Efficiency Tip #99 – Windows-1, Windows-2…

Until Vista, I was never a fan of the Quick Launch toolbar.  The small set of icons just to the right of the Start button seemed redundant.  Since I’m a keyboard-shortcut fan, the extra “click-only” icons were just in the way.  With Vista it is a different story. 

Now those icons are numbered by the new Windows OS.  The icon closest to the Start button is number one.  The next icon is number two.  To “click” the first icon, press the Windows key and the number one. 

On my computer, Windows-1 opens IE, Windows-2 opens Firefox, Windows-3 opens Word… you get the idea.  Since the Quick Launch bar is configurable, I can control which icon is in each position.  If I want Word to be in that first spot, I can click and drag the Word icon from number three over to number one.

If you look back at tip number one, you will see IE took three key strokes in XP:

Windows Key
Down Arrow
Enter

With the Quick Launch bar, it takes 33% fewer key strokes.

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