Q: Internet Explorer doesn’t fill the screen when it opens. I can press F11 to make it fill the screen.

But how can I open Internet Explorer so the Web page fills the monitor without hitting F11 or clicking the resize icon in the top-left corner?

A: When you open Internet Explorer, it normally opens to the same size as when it was last closed. So, to make it open as a window that fills the screen, drag the window’s corners until they fill the screen. Close Internet Explorer, and when you reopen it, the window will fill the screen once again.

But if you want Internet Explorer to open so a Web page fills the entire screen, without the visual baggage of Internet Explorer’s menus and toolbars, you want “Kiosk Mode.” By tweaking Internet Explorer’s shortcut on your Start menu, you can make Internet Explorer open to fill the screen and display just your Home page, as seen to the left. Since you’re only seeing the Web page, you won’t even know Internet Explorer’s there.

Follow these steps to make Internet Explorer open in full-screen mode, just as if you’d pressed F11:

1. Click the Start button, and find Internet Explorer’s icon.
2. Right click Internet Explorer’s icon, and choose Properties. (Internet Explorer’s Properties window opens to its Shortcut tab.)
3. Find the Target line. There, you’ll see this string: “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”
4. Add -k to the end of that string, so it looks like this: “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe -k”
5. Press OK button to save your handiwork.

The next time you choose Internet Explorer from the Start menu, it will open to fill the entire screen. Pressing F11 won’t toggle Internet Explorer back to normal size; it still hogs the entire screen.

And how, one might ask, do you run your computer when you can’t see any menus? The answer is to use Windows shortcut keys. For example, these shortcut keys come in handy whenever Internet Explorer runs full screen.

• Press Alt+F4 to close Internet Explorer.
• Press the Windows key () to see the Start menu and taskbar, where you can launch other programs.
• Hold down the Windows key and press Tab to see all your open windows, as well as your desktop, displayed as thumbnails. Keep pressing tab until you’ve highlighted the window you want, then let go of the Windows key.
• Press Alt+Space to bring up a menu letting you minimize or close the window.
• Hold down the Windows key and press D to minimize all your windows, letting the  desktop come into view.

Kiosk mode works well on a tiny-screened netbook, as well as for heavy duty browsing, but it has one kink: If a Web link opens another version of Internet Explorer, that new version won’t be full-screen, it will only fill a window. However, most Web links are well-behaved enough these days to open links in a new tab, rather than a new Internet Explorer window.

Tired of Kiosk mode? Go back to normal by repeating the steps above, but removing -k in Step 4.

Yet, Windows comes with about 30 other Windows Key shortcuts, where you hold down the Windows Key and press a single letter or character to complete a task. Learning a few will really speed up your work, especially on laptops with their awkward trackpads.

I use these Windows key shortcuts most often:

• +E fetches the handy Computer program, which grants quick access to your drives, libraries, and favorite folders.
• + ← (the left arrow key) pins a window to your Desktop’s left edge; press and the right arrow to place another window against the right edge. That quickly aligns the windows side-by-side on your desktop, making for easy cutting and pasting between them.

• +1 launches the first program listed on your taskbar; if it’s already running, +1 brings it to the top of my desktop’s pile o’ windows. Similarly, pressing + 2 fetches the taskbar’s second program, +3 calls up the third, and so on.
• + X brings up the Mobility Center on a laptop, a subset of the Control Panel that deals exclusively with laptop features like checking the battery, and turning wireless Internet access on or off.

Here’s the full list of Windows Key shortcuts for Windows 7; many work in Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well:

	Open or close the Start menu.
+Pause	Display the System Properties window.
+D	Display the desktop.
+M	Minimize all open windows.
+Shift+M	Restore those minimized windows to the desktop.
+E	Open Computer.
+F	Search for a file or folder.
Ctrl++F	Search for computers (if you’re on a network).
+L	Lock your computer or switch users, handy when leaving the keyboard for a break.
+R	Open the Run dialog box.
+T	Cycle through programs on the taskbar.
+number	Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. (If the program is already running, switch to that program.)
Shift++number	Start a new instance of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Ctrl++number	Switch to the last active window of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Alt++number	Open the Jump List for the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
+Tab	Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl++Tab	Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl++B	Switch to the program that just displayed a message in the notification area.
+Spacebar	Preview the desktop.
+Up Arrow	Maximize the current window.
+Left Arrow	Maximize the current window to the left side of the screen.
+Right Arrow	Maximize the current window to the right side of the screen.
+Down Arrow	Minimize the current window.
+Home	Minimize all but the current window.
+Shift+Up Arrow	Stretch the window to the top and bottom of the screen.
+Shift+Left Arrow or Right Arrow	Move a window from one monitor to another. (This assumes you’re using a second monitor.)
+P	Choose a presentation display mode if you’re using more than one monitor or a projection screen.
+G	Cycle through your Desktop gadgets.
+U	Open Ease of Access Center.
+X	Open Windows Mobility Center on laptops or netbooks.

A: Holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the letter “s” is one of many Windows shortcut keys. Shortcut keys are time savers, letting you keep your fingers on the keyboard while working, rather than knocking over the coffee while reaching for the mouse.

Pressing Ctrl+S means to “save your current document,” but Ctrl+S does slightly different things depending on what you’re currently doing:

• If you open an existing file, change a few things, and press Ctrl+S, your program saves the new information inside your opened file, keeping the file stored in its original location.
• If you create something new with a program and press Ctrl+S, the program creates a new file, asking you to choose a name and location to store your masterpiece. Most programs even simplify things by suggesting a file name and a location: They usually offer to place your new file inside one of your existing folders, depending on whether you’re working on a document, a music file, a video, or a picture. To retrieve that file later, return to that chosen folder.
• If you press Ctrl+S and you’re not working in a program, Windows does nothing. After all, you haven’t created any work to save.

But, you may ask, how do you find the file’s location if you don’t remember where you originally saved it?

You can find a file’s name and location in any of several ways:

• Click the Start menu and click Recent Items to see a list of the past 15 files you’ve created. Right-click a file’s name and choose “Open File Location” from the pop-up menu; Windows immediately opens the folder containing your long-sought file. (Windows even highlights the errant file’s name for easy clicking retrieval.)
• On the taskbar, right-click the icon of the program that created the file; hover your mouse pointer over the file’s name, and Windows lists the file’s location in a pop-up menu.
• Can’t even remember the file’s name? Click the Start menu and type a few words you remember from inside the document. Windows begins listing files containing those words. When you spot the right file, right-click its name and choose Open File Location.
• If you know when you saved your file, search for files created within a certain date range in Windows 7.

The “Open File Location” command comes in handy whenever you can spot a file’s name, but want to see the folder where it’s currently living.

When you’ve worked with a program for awhile, you might prefer learning a few keyboard shortcuts: quick key combinations that perform tasks faster than you can click a menu. Windows 7 offers zillions of keyboard shortcuts; some are new, some have been around since the first version of Windows.

These keyboard shortcuts all work in Windows 7′s WordPad program:

Windows 7 offers many other keyboard shortcuts; many of them work in Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well.