ALT-TAB fast switching between applications

If you are running many programs at once, you can quickly switch between them by holding down the ALT key, and then hitting the TAB key until you have selected the desired application. Use Shift-ALT-TAB to switch in the reverse direction.
Tabbed web browsing

If you need to have many different web pages open at the same time, instead of going back and forth or launching many web browsers, try using tabbed browsing. Some web browsers such as Firefox (mozilla.com) or Internet Explorer 7 allow you to open many web pages all at the same time in different tabs. For example, pressing CTRL-T will open a new tab. If you click on a link using the middle mouse button, it will open the link in a new tab. (Clicking on a tab using the middle mouse button closes it) This makes web browsing much faster because you can:
Open many pages without going back and forth which causes you to wait for the pages to reload repeatedly
It allows you to “pre-load” many pages at the same time. Meaning, while you are reading one web page, you can open several others in other tabs and let them download in the background, thus they will be ready for you when you come back to read them.
Hibernate instead of shutting down

By hibernating instead of shutting down or rebooting, you can keep all your work-in-progress exactly as you left it. Booting from hibernation is also faster when you can avoid the normal process of loading a bunch of start-up programs. To enable, hibernation, you might need to turn off the “Fast user switching” feature using the control panel user manager. To be safe, always save your work even though you are using hibernation.
Add WordPad to your “Send to” menu

If you create a shortcut to WordPad in your “Send to” menu, you can open files quickly in Windows Explorer by right-clicking and selecting “Send to” WordPad. To set this up:
Copy the WordPad program
Right-click the “start” button, select “Explore”
Select the “Send to” folder and paste a shortcut of WordPad in the folder (make sure you use “Paste Shortcut” not “Paste”)
You can do this with any other program that you frequently use to open files.

Enable the “Show Desktop” quick launch icon

You can use your Windows desktop just like a real desktop by keeping a lot of your work-in-progress easily accessible on your desktop. But when you have a lot of programs running, it can be hard to get to your desktop by minimizing all the open programs. To get to your desktop quickly, enable the “Quick launch” menu and you should see a “Show desktop” icon. If not, follow the instructions here: How to re-create the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar (microsoft.com).

Windows File Explorer tips

Configure explorer to use single clicks instead of double clicks to let you work more efficiently. Open an explorer, on the top menu, click “Tools” then “Folder Options.” Check the box for “Single-click to open an item (point to select)” and click “OK.”
You can open two file explorers and tile them side by side for convenience. To tile two explorers neatly side by side, click on one explorer in your task bar (at the bottom), hold the CTRL key, right click on the other explorer and select “Tile Vertically.”
You can use explorer as an FTP client. Just type in “ftp://username:password@website.com” in the address bar. If you tile two explorers side by side, you can FTP files conveniently.
Ergonomics tips

Buy a higher resolution LCD monitor, at least 1600 pixels wide. Higher resolution screens allow you to view more information on the screen and reduce scrolling.
Use a track point instead of a mouse. A track point is a little rubber stub that you push to control your cursor. This reduces your hand motion and reduces your hands moving to and from your keyboard. It is available on most IBM/Lenovo laptops or keyboards. (See Wikipedia for more info)