One of the things we hear from customers, especially on the phone, is that they can’t easily get back to their computer’s desktop to log in to us. (www.4kcc.com/rts) They’ll tell us that if they close the browser or software they need help with in order for them to get to our icon, they’ll lose what we need to see.

Or, in the case of users like me, I will often have fifteen to twenty different programs and browsers open. It will take forever to minimize each of the windows to get back to the desktop.

Luckily for all of us, there are shortcuts to help solve this problem. Choose your operating system and learn the various ways of easily getting back to your computer’s desktop.

Windows

Keyboard shortcut: Hold down the Windows Key and then tap the “D” key.

Taskbar shortcut: Right-click on the taskbar where there are no icons. From the menu which appears, left-click on “Show the desktop.”

Another Taskbar shortcut: At the very end of the Taskbar, there is a thin area (To the right of the time/date) – almost off the screen. If you left-click in this area, it will minimize all the windows and take you to the desktop. This area is sometimes difficult to find and use but give it some practice and you should do fine!

Apple (Mac)

Keyboard shortcut #1: Hold down the Command key and then press F3.

Keyboard shortcut #2: Hold down the Function (FN) key and then press F11.

Conclusion

By the way, once all the windows have been minimized, repeating the shortcuts explained above will reverse the situation. All the windows will be maximized again.

Remember, give these shortcuts a try!