Add/Remove Windows Components and other time-saving shortcuts

Keyboard/command-line short-cuts that get you to a particular control panel applet or Windows dialog box are usually such great time-savers if you use them enough and (therefore) can remember them. Here’s a list of some great time-saving short-cuts – (some will impress even your IT Pro colleagues… ):

The number one time-saver for me is the command to:

1. Open Add/Remove Windows Components dialog box – usually accessed from Add/Remove Programs, 4 mouse-clicks that really slow you down if you do this on a frequent basis. (The Add/Remove Programs applet itself takes a while to open before you can press the Windows Components short-cut):
control appwiz.cpl,,2

2. Add/Remove Programs – if you haven’t already guessed it:appwiz.cpl

3. Network Connections applet: ncpa.cpl
What would be really cool along with this: being able to get to TCP/IP Properties of a network interface… has anyone figured that out yet?

4. Display Properties: desk.cpl

5. To set resolution, et al from the Display properties, Settings tab:control desk.cpl,,3

6. System properties: sysdm.cpl
System properties | Computer name: control sysdm.cpl,,1
System properties | Remote: control sysdm.cpl,,6
List of all values for System properties
General(0), Computer Name(1), Hardware(2), Advanced(3), System Restore(4), Automatic Updates(5), Remote (6)

7. Active Directory Users & Computes: dsa.msc
8. Active Directory Domains & Trusts: domain.msc
9. Active Directory Sites & Services: dssite.msc
10. DNS Management Console: dnsmgmt.msc
11. Computer Management Console: compmgmt.msc
12. Disk Management: diskmgmt.msc
13. Show Desktop (minimizes all programs): Windows key + D
14. Hibernate (great for a short-cut that you can than place in the quick launch bar in the Task Bar: %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Hibernate
15. Event Viewer (an old NT favorite): eventvwr