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PC Club: Adding a shortcut key to a keyboard

November 18th, 2008, 2:26 pm · 5 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

North Orange County Computer Club Q&AThe North Orange County Computer Club helps The Gadgetress tackle the multitude of readers cries for help. NOCCC group has experts in Windows, Word and all sorts of computer topics. The club, which meets monthly on various topics, has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. To get this answer delivered to your computer automatically, sign up for the e-mail update HERE.

Question: I have a media keyboard at home and find it easy to press one button to open up Internet Explorer. However, I want to do this at work and the keyboard doesn’t have the same button. I googled to find a keyboard shortcut, but only found every other conceivable shortcut. but not the one I need. Can you help me?  ~ Jimmy Wong

PC Club: It is not quite as slick as pressing one key, but if you can deal with using a three key shortcut, I have an answer for you.Right click on the Internet Explorer desktop icon. That opens an options window. Go to the bottom of that window and left click on Properties to open the Properties window. In the middle of the Properties window is the label “Shortcut key:” that line gives you the ability to create a keyboard shortcut to activate the icon instead of double clicking on it.

Click in that window next to the word None, tap the “I” key, (or another key of your choice, some won’t work) the word None will be replaced with “Ctrl+Alt+I. Click on Apply and then OK. Now, when you depress Ctrl+Alt+I at the same time, Internet Explorer will open. (Click image to enlarge.)

In addition, with the properties window open, there is a line labeled “Target:” that line contains the string: “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” This tells the operating system which program you wish to open and additionally, where to go — features also known as switches.

For instance, if you edit that line so that it looks like this:  – “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” www.yahoo.com —  then when you press Ctrl+Alt+I, not only will Internet Explorer open, but it go to the Yahoo website. Take note of the space between iexplore.exe and www.yahoo.com in that image. You can, of course, use the domain name of your choice. ~ Jim Sanders, President, NOCCC

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Posted in: Stump the PC Club • • • • • •
 
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 5 Comments

  • R. Albertson says:
    November 18, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    Recently when I first try to go online, my computer starts to connect to my home page, (National weather service local weather page), then after a few seconds the screen will go white and it seems to hang.
    the page address shows in the address bar and the status bar shows four or five bars, (less than half loaded).
    if I don’t do anything it’s hung there for several minutes.
    But if I click the X to stop the action then hit the refresh button the page
    will load instantly.

    I have a fast ATT Uverse connection.
    After the first time each day, i can connect quickly with no problems
    even after deleting the history and temp. internet files.
    It’s just the first time I try to connect each day after starting the computer.

    Any suggestions?

  • Gadgetress says:
    November 18, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    Have you tried setting your Internet browser’s start page to “blank” ?? This will save some browser start-up time and you can then pick what web site to go to. — Gadgetress

  • Joyce says:
    November 28, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    Hi - I want to add a shortcut key that will pull up my screensaver when nosy people are around — I used to be able to do this, but cannot remember how. Any advice? Thanks!

  • DougieT says:
    December 2, 2008 at 5:26 pm

    R. Albertson: I don’t agree with the Gadgetress b/c your problem states that it connects to your home page and then go blanks. I understand what she is saying, but this is not one of them.

    One of the reasons is that it may be that the page has a lot of graphics (Java, JavaScripts, etc.) that may cause it to hang. This has nothing to do with how fast your Internet connection is. However, your video card or RAM may be the cause.

    One way to find out is to turn off all the graphics in Internet Explorer or whichever browser you’re using. If that doesn’t help, try disabling Java. Give it a try and let me know.

    -Doug T.

  • DougieT says:
    December 2, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    Joyce: If you are signed on with your User Name and Password, you can easily “lock” the computer so that no one will be able to see what you’re doing. Just press Windows key + L.

    When you’re back from your break, just type in the password only to unlock. You will return to what you were doing.

    Hope this helps.

    -Doug