Tip of the Week: Adding a Web Shortcut to Your Desktop

March 15, 2023

Keyboard shortcuts are great ways to make your workday just a little more efficient without much effort. Did you know that you can make a keyboard shortcut on your Windows computer that can direct you to a specific webpage? Let’s go over how you can make it happen.

There are a couple of ways you can make your keyboard Internet shortcut.

Manually

To manually make your keyboard Internet shortcut, right-click on your desktop and select New > Shortcut. When the dialog box opens, type the website URL in the box that appears, then select Next. You’ll then be prompted to give your new shortcut a name. Once you’re ready, click Finish. Your new icon will appear on your desktop.

Now, when you right-click it, you can select Properties to see information about the shortcut. From here, you can change the URL, assign a shortcut key, and change the icon. Click in the Shortcut key box, then type the key you would like to use for your new shortcut. The key combination will then appear in the box.

Click-and-Drag

To save yourself a step, you can simply click-and-drag the shortcut’s URL to your desktop to make the shortcut a bit faster and more easily. This also assigns your shortcut a name in the form of the website page’s name. From here, you can right-click the shortcut, select Properties, and see the same information that you could see in the above step.

And that’s all there is to it! Now you can make custom keyboard shortcuts for your favorite websites. Alternatively, you could just use bookmarks in your browser, but the more tools you have at your disposal, the better.

First Column IT can help your team best utilize its technology for the sake of productivity. To learn more, call us today at (571) 470-5594.

‍

4 Ways Technology Helps Pinpoint and Solve Inefficiencies

Inefficiency is a common and frustrating problem for many businesses, but it doesn't have to be. Modern technology offers powerful solutions to help you identify and eliminate these productivity problems. By finding the right technology, you can transform how your business operates and achieve a higher level of performance. Here are four effective ways to use technology to find and fix inefficiencies within your organization.

September 20, 2025

The Hidden Dangers of Vendor Data Access

Every business relies on vendors for a lot: software, services, you name it. They’re a huge part of our businesses’ ability to meet the market’s demands. The way business is done today, in order for them to do their job, they often need access to our data; but, just like you wouldn’t hand over your house keys to a stranger, you shouldn’t just hand over the keys to your data to every vendor without a second thought. When you give vendors broad, indiscriminate access, you're opening the door to some seriously bad situations.

September 18, 2025

The Power of Your Pocket Office

Smartphones have evolved from simple communication devices into powerful, portable command centers that are fundamentally changing the way businesses operate. In today’s fast-paced, mobile-first world, they are no longer a luxury but a critical tool for success.