Open an app without the mouse

Step by step

1. Turn on the screen reader. Press Ctrl + Alt + Enter: hold down Ctrl and Alt, then press Enter. You hear "Screen reader on". (On a real PC the shortcut is Ctrl + the Windows logo key + Enter.)
2. Open Start with the keyboard. Press Ctrl + Esc: the Start menu opens and the reader reads the search box, where you can type straight away. (A real PC also has a Windows logo key for this.)
3. Type "notepad". Type the word notepad: the reader says each letter, and Notepad becomes the first result.
4. Press Enter. Press Enter: Notepad opens, and the reader reads its window.
5. Where am I? Press the reader key + T. Hold down Caps Lock (the reader key) and press T: the reader says the title of the window you are in.
6. Close this window. You are done with this window, so close it: click the ✕ button at the top right corner of the "Notepad" window (on its title bar, the strip at the top). The window disappears.
7. Turn the screen reader off. Press Ctrl + Alt + Enter again. You hear "Screen reader off".

These steps are written for SafePC, a pretend Windows-style computer in your web browser. On your own computer, the buttons and menus may look a little different, but the idea is the same.

More lessons in Screen reader

• Turn on the screen reader
• The on/off keyboard shortcut
• Move with Tab and Shift + Tab
• Read a whole window, then stop
• Make it speak slower or faster
• Read line by line with the arrows