Ask Lemmy

Sometimes it works better for tabbing out of a game than alt-tab does. Not sure why. Also it depends on the game.

In Ubuntu I use the command key as my main way to launch applications.

I’m on Linux. But yeah I use it to open the start menu all the time. Then I can type apps name and hit enter

All the time. It's basically the only way I open the Start menu. And I use Windows key shortcuts like Win+Alt+K really often.

Also if anyone comes here and posts “dOnT uSe wINdoWs,” you really are cute.

Don't use windows?

🥺👉👈

With Internet searching disabled, the start menu is decent enough as a quick launcher and so I find myself hitting the Windows key quite often for that purpose.

On Linux there are better launchers that I'm too lazy to set up so still just hit Super and use the Application Launcher to find and run programs.

Windows Key + a lot of other keys are super useful shortcuts.

But I don't even use the start menu at all. It's rather pointless these days and also full of garbage.

Use it constantly, as others have said windows -> type is the best way to use windows, and I do the same thing on my linux machines, actually a lot of the ones I use regularly are the same or similar in KDE (can't recall if it's out of the box or if I configured that)

CTL+windows+arrows to swap desktops (which have been in windows for a while now and I swear no one else uses), lots of ones around those are super useful. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/keyboard-shortcuts-in-windows-dcc61a57-8ff0-cffe-9796-cb9706c75eec for reference.

100%

It's the only way I open the start menu. There is no faster way to get to what I want than Superkey and typing.

PS I have all my OSes set up similarly. OSx has spotlight, my GNOME and KDE are configured to launch searchable menus on Super, and my mobile launcher is set up to search when I swipe up.

Oh yeah. I use it all the time. It's useful to hit the key and type the first 3-5 characters of the program I want to launch and hitting return.

It's also the function key for the screen clip feature which I use often (Windows + Shift + S).

The purpose of the windows key is its the thing you press when the program freezes and alt+tab doesn't work.

Constantly. I'm a keyboard shortcut junky. I use it with several different key combos. The fact that the "super key" works slightly differently in Pop OS kind of drives me crazy. I really need to figure out how to remap it so it's closer to the same.

Edit: I should clarify that I also use it to bring up the stupid Windows menu all the time, too. Then I will search for whatever app I'm looking for. I have turned off web searching with it, though.

Even though most-frequently used apps are pinned, there are still quite a few others that I need semi-regularly but not enough to earn a pin.

Rarely used it in Windows (though my last home Windows was xp, pre-2010).

Use it often in Debian offshoot (xubuntu) to bring up the menu. {And type three or four first letters of a program to bring up}

Irony is silly.

Whether you use Windows or Linux, the Windows key is the foundation of many useful keyboard shortcuts. You know, hold it down plus some other key.

Whatever your preferred OS, look them up! You may find a few you would like to start using.

But yeah, on my work computer which is a Windows machine, I often use it to open the start menu and start typing the name of the app I want to launch. It’s faster than clicking on an icon somewhere if your hands are already on the keyboard.

The Super key? Yes all the time to pull up the GNOME action menu and to use shortcuts. Super+E for file browser window, +B for browser, +T for terminal window I use often.

Windows key + type to open whichever app i need to open that's not already pinned to my taskbar.

Shift + win + s to take a screenshot.

I don't ever use the start menu for anything. I can't be bothered to look through that mess.

Instead I press the windows key and type the first few letters of whatever I need, unless it's already stickied to the bar. It's fewer key presses than clicking through the start menu. I suppose that still counts as opening the start menu, even if I don't use the actual menu structure.

I also use the windows + arrow keys to toss windows around the multiple screens. It has a lot of other purposes, like creating extra desktops etc, which I admittedly never use.

It's a useful button for sure, but it does get a little overwhelming when combined with shift ctrl or alt . I can't possibly remember all the uses, but I have the most commonly used on muscle memory.

nope - but the start menu has been dogshit for years now, so I try to avoid start menu as much as possible- I use pinned icons and a few desktop shortcuts.

I mostly use win key fo:

• win+D
• win+E
• win + arrow
• win+shift+S
• win+R
• ctrl+shift +win+B (dodgy usb-c port replicator needs to be slapped every now and again)
• win+L , i probly use that less than ctrl alt del to lock.

Constantly, I don't use desktop icons so I am always pressing Win then typing the first 6 letters of the program that I want and hitting enter. I know wintab and winenter search programs exist, but for what I use it for the default one is fine and it is one less program constantly running in the background

but I got to wondering if anyone, ever actually uses it to access the start menu.

Yes definitely. Try pressing the Windows key and type the first few letters of the app name you're looking for, it's way way faster than mousing around clicking and scrolling through the Start Menu.

Also Windows key + E to open the file explorer gets used a lot. And windows key + L to lock the screen, I do that one a lot when walking away from the desktop at work.

I use it to open the start menu a lot. Especially if I'm in a full screen application.

I use it all the time in Linux and even when I unfortunately have to use Windows. Launching an app from just the keyboard is useful. And, like you said, as the modifier key for a number of shortcuts I use a lot.

I use it for shortcuts in my linux

Yes I do.

🪟 + ⬅️/➡️/⬇️/⬆️ snaps windows into tiles on your screen or maximize/minimizes them.

🪟 + shift + S is the shortcut for the ‘new’ snipping tool

Sure, 🪟 alone opens and closes the start menu, but when opens opened, your curser is already the search bar so if you want to quickly open an app, it’s just: 🪟, first few letters of the app, Enter

I don’t use it as much, but: Ctrl +🪟 + ⬅️/➡️ cycles you through virtual desktops

I use it on my laptop running a Debian based distro with KDE because I like how I can open the start menu thing. But for some reason I don't do it on my desktop.

All the time, both on Windows and KDE Plasma. It's especially convenient for starting an app you don't have pinned to your taskbar, just press the Windows key and then type the name of the app.

Yeah I use it to open the start menu. I'm on windows 10 so I have my daily used programs pinned to the taskbar, my frequently used programs organized in sections of tiles on the start menu, and for everything else I either type to search for it in the start menu or just Win+R and use the run dialog if it's a system component.

Likely moving to Linux when Windows 10 ends support. I've got enough experience with 11 to know I couldn't stand using it regularly

Edit: and I didn't really talk about using it as a hotkey because of your OP, but for the record I use it like that all the time too. Win arrow for window sizing, win shift arrow for moving things between monitors, win R, E, L, D, win semicolon for the emoji keyboard, win number row to quickly launch taskbar pins, win tab for the lulz sometimes, win shift S for snipping tool when I don't need to use shareX instead for a local copy of the snip, etc.

I use it as a modifier chorded with another key in Linux for a number of things, like switching workspaces, opening a terminal or browser window, resizing windows, existing the graphical environment, locking the system, toggling floating windows, starting application launchers, toggling a window's fullscreen state, or toggling playing music. I think that as a modifier key, it's fine. I don't have tapping it alone do anything, and in general, don't like single-key operations like that; ditto for F-key operations.

It sounds like one can disable the tap-Windows-key-alone behavior on Windows via the autohotkey macro software package:

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=101812

I use it as an additional modifier key, Super. I bind stuff to its modified keys in my window manager, but also emacs intercepts them before the window manager and I have some bindings that do more or less the same thing in both emacs and my window manager. The operating system has no "intentions" for how I am meant to use the Super key but this usage is within what the designers anticipated for certain.

I hide my taskbar and sometimes it gets funky and a little shy and doesn't pop up. Pressing the Windows key pops it back up.

Once in awhile on my home non-windows machine I use it to pop the menu out to turn off the computer. Completely mood based.

I just use the shortcut key combinations. I haven't used the start menu in ages since I end up just using the search bar instead.

Not here. I don't use Windows and so I rebind the Win key (or, Super) for some quick functions.

Win + L to lock the screen
Win + K to blank it
Win + C for my calculator app
Win + T (and Ctrl+Shift+T) for a Terminal
Win + Left/Right arrow to cycle to the previous/next desktop

Bonus fun, I rebind the Right Alt key to a Compose key for typing Latin-1 diacritics in non UTF-8 applications. (Plus, I can't remember the U-codes)