Let's face it, sometimes within Vista we really need to get into a system application quickly! Maybe the Firewall or Services need to be opened ASAP. Of course these can be opened within the Control Panel any time. But in order to save a few clicks, typing the command or search keywords is faster. And a few clicks add up to substantial savings over time. For example, to open the Vista Firewall, you can go to the Start menu, Control Panel, Security, Windows Firewall. Pretty easy. But an alternative is to go to the Start menu and in Search type 'firewall.cpl'. It seems like MORE work due to the typing, but really you can just type 'fir' and you will see Windows Firewall show in results.
Other shortcuts to type in the Search:
res: System Restore
sys: System Properties
serv: Windows Services
cmd
: command prompt
dev: Device Manager
adm: administrative tools
calc: Calculator
ev: Event Viewer (this is an IMPORTANT one!)
Also, you may see the names of files that have been worked on in the results. This is handy if you forgot a saved file name. Once you get used to typing shortcut commands, you will save time overall.
For some real Vista fun, type in all the letters of the alphabet in the Search area and see for yourself what shows up!(no results for q, x or z on my test system)
Enjoy!
More tech fun:
http://www.riguy.com
