If you answered "Typing and moving the yellow box around the screen," you are correct — but that's not all. There are many other buttons and keys on your keyboard that can make life easier when you're surfing the Web or writing e-mail.


Can I buy a vowel?
In the lower left corner of your keyboard you'll find two very handy keys: Cmd and Alt. What do these keys do? Read on.

The Cmd key — Combined with other keys, the Cmd (Command) key can come in very handy when you're writing e-mail or surfing the Web.

For example, if you've used the Find key to find a word on a Web page, you don't have to keep pressing Find to go to other occurrences of that word. Just press Cmd+G repeatedly to go to all occurrences of a found word.

Cmd can also be a timesaver when you're writing e-mail. For example, press Cmd+Delete to delete a whole line of text, or Cmd+[right arrow] to move to the end of a line.

Cmd is a many-splendored key. You can also use it to get around on a page: press Cmd+Scroll Down to zip to the very bottom of a long Web page, or Cmd+Scroll Up to jump to the top.

If you have a printer, you can press Cmd+P to print the page you're viewing.

To learn more about the Cmd key, choose this link: Using the Cmd key

You can also use Cmd, along with other keys, to copy text from one place (an e-mail message or Web page, for example), and paste it into an e-mail message you're writing. To learn more, choose this link: Cut, copy and paste

The Alt key — Have you ever been typing along and wished your keyboard had a few extra keys? For example, if you're typing a question in Spanish, it would be great to place an upside-down question mark at the beginning of the question, as is the custom. Your wish is granted, thanks to the Alt (Alternate) key! Just press Alt while you type a question mark, and you'll type an upside-down question mark.

To see more Alt-key combinations, choose this link: Using the Alt key

You can also use Alt to type various accented letters, like voilà or café. To learn more about typing accented characters, choose this link: Typing accents

Why does the keyboard have two Alt keys? There's no pressing reason. Like the Shift key, Alt appears on each side of the keyboard for your typing convenience. Feel free to Alt-ernate between them.

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Get to Web pages in a flash
If you want to go to a Web page, you can press the Go To key and type the page's address. But that's the hard way. A couple of keyboard shortcuts can help you out.

The Recent key — Let's say you're doing some research on a topic and going to lots of Web pages with long addresses. If you need to go back to a page you visited earlier, there's no need to get calluses on your typing fingers. Just press the Recent key and select a recently visited page from the list.

To learn more, choose this link: The Recent key

The Favs key — While the Recent key is handy for going to pages you've just visited, there's also a key you can use to go to your favorite Web pages fast. The Save key lets you add the Web page you're viewing to a list of favorite pages. If you have lots of favorite pages, you can arrange them in folders for easy access. Once you've added some pages, press the Favs key to go to your favorites folders.

For even faster access, you can choose seven of your very, very favorite Web pages and assign each one its own shortcut key: F1, F2, F3, and so on.

To learn more, choose this link: Creating a list of favorite Web pages


Find info and pass it on
The Web is a wondrous place, but it's huge, and can be daunting when you're trying to find one little piece of information among millions of pages. Fear not — your keyboard can help.

Let's say you're looking for info on Chinese Crested dogs. Your first stop on the keyboard should be the Search key, which will help you find pages with information on these oddball canines. Once you get to a page, you might want to refine your search. For instance, if you're looking for a Hairless Chinese Crested dog, it would be handy to search for the word "hairless" on that page. That's where the Find key comes in (Remember the tip from earlier in this article: press Cmd+G to find every occurrence of a found word.).

If you find a great Web page and want to share it with a friend, press Send to quickly e-mail your pal a copy of the page's address.

With what you've learned here, you can get to Web pages quickly, find information on them, and share that information. And you thought your keyboard was just for typing!

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