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Find Exactly What You Want In Windows 8.1 With Just A Few Letters

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In Windows 7, once you knew the right word, or combination of words, to type into the search box of the Start Menu, it’s pretty easy to track down the exact application you want to run without diving through a bunch of menus. It’s possible to take this a step further in Windows 8.1, with a couple of letters taking you directly to what you want.

Sergey Tkachenko over at WinAero did some experimenting with the search box on Windows 8.1’s Start Screen and discovered that by putting in certain letter combinations, you can quickly access core parts of the operating system. Here’s the list of combos he managed to find:

r d p = remote desktop connection — to connect to another PC
w d = windows defender — to locate Windows Defender.
r l = reading list — to find the Reading list app.
l s se = lock screen settings — open the Lock screen settings.

gHack’s Martin Brinkmann also had a play with the search box and come up with a few of his own, which you’ll find below:

w m d = Windows Media Player
n c s = Network Connection Settings
c p = Control Panel
pc s = PC Settings
t o y = Turn Off Your PC
wi u s = Windows Update Settings
c f u = Check For Updates
de se = Device Settings
u a = Uninstall apps

If you’re running 8.1, see if you can find some new ones and if you do, be sure to post about them here!

How to speed up search on the Start screen in Windows 8.1 [WinAero]

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