11th June 1999

Let's say you've got a series of objects (icons) selected in the Windows Explorer. However, you're wanting to deselect a few individual icons. Instead of continually left-clicking & dragging, hover your cursor over a selected icon, hold down the CTRL key, and left-click the object. It will immediately become "unselected." Conversely, if you wish to select an icon, you can use the same method (use the CTRL key when left-clicking upon an unselected object). Your selection (or deselection) will be cumulative. In a similar vein, depressing the SHIFT key while selecting an object will allow you to select every item in between that one and the next one you left-click upon (while still depressing the SHIFT key).