ELM Bulletin - May 31, 2008
Internet Explorer 7 Keyboard Shortcuts & Enhancements
In this month's ELM Bulletin we will give you a short list of useful keyboard shortcuts for use with Internet Explorer 7, as well as a couple utilities and hints to enhance your use of this popular Internet browser.
Internet Explorer 7 Keyboard Shortcuts - Since Internet Explorer is provided free with Microsoft Windows remains the world's most popular Internet browser. A very unscientific analysis shows that over 65% of website visits are made using Internet Explorer. Consequently, most websites are designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer. This means that you are more likely to see a website correctly when using Internet Explorer than if you were using alternatives such as Opera or Firefox.
Since you will most likely use Internet Explorer at some point or an other during the course of business, or pleasure, here is a list of several of the more useful keyboard shortcuts for Internet Explorer 7. (Keyboard shortcuts for other widely used software can be found on our website by clicking here.)
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INTERNET EXPLORER 7 SHORTCUT KEYS |
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SHORTCUT KEY COMBINATION |
FUNCTION |
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CTRL + LEFT MOUSE BTN |
Open a link in a new background tab |
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ALT + ENTER |
Open a new tab from the Address Bar |
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CTRL + TAB |
Rotate forward through tabs |
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CTRL + W (or CTRL + F4) |
Close current tab |
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CTRL + Number |
Switch to a specific tab (numbered from left to right) |
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CTRL + Q |
Open Quick Tabs (thumbnail view of all tabs) |
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ALT + N |
Give focus to Information Bar |
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ALT + D |
Give focus to Address Bar |
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CTRL + E |
Give focus to Toolbar search box |
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ALT + ENTER |
Open your search query in a new tab |
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CTRL + DOWN ARROW |
Show the search provider menu |
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ALT (or F10) |
Toggle display of Menu Bar |
Internet Explorer Enhancements - Many enhancements are also available for Internet Explorer, below we list a couple of our favourites in the hope that you might also find them useful. Enjoy!
IE7Pro - IE7Pro is an add-on for Internet Explorer 7 only. IE7Pro enables many additional customizations for Internet Explorer 7 but perhaps its most useful feature (and the one that I use many times each day) is its download manager which allows great flexibility over file downloads, their location and their retrieval. You can visit the IE7Pro website by clicking here.
Google Toolbar - I have been accused of being a Google fanatic. While this may or may not be true, I do believe that Google provides some of the best computer enhancements available. The Google Toolbar is no exception. With the Google Toolbar installed Internet Explorer (all current versions) gains the following:
- the ability to perform a Google search without leaving your current website
- a pop-up blocker
- highlighting of search terms within search results
You can visit the Google Toolbar website by clicking here.
Internet Explorer Add-On Management - Some software, when installed, will also install add-ons to Internet Explorer. Many of these add-ons can be useful, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, IE7Pro and Google Toolbar, but others can just bog down your system or add unnecessary clutter to the Internet Explorer interface. Here are some easy tips for add-on management.
Toolbars - If toolbars are displayed that you just don't want to use you can usually disable them by right-clicking on any empty area in Internet Explorer's toolbar area and de-select the toolbars you do not want. Any toolbar with a check mark beside it will be displayed.
Add-Ons - Add-ons, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, are perfectly benign but others can be detrimental to system performance. (We will not discuss add-ons detrimental to system security here; please refer to last month's ELM Bulletin.) Different versions of Internet Explorer manage add-ons differently, here is the process for Internet Explorer 7:
a) Click on Tools in the Menu Bar (if the Menu Bar isn't displayed, pressing the ALT key should make it appear)
b) Select Internet Options from the sub-menu
c) Click on the Programs tab
d) Click on the Manage add-ons button
e) As you highlight add-ons in the list you will be given the option to Enable or Disable the add-on in the Settings area at the lower left of the dialogue (please be careful with what you choose to disable as some add-ons are necessary for proper Internet Explorer functionality), you may need to restart Internet Explorer to make some of your changes take effect
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this or any other issue.
Past issues of the ELM Bulletin are available from our website, feel free to forward them to anyone you wish.
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Peter Rhebergen Telephone |
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