Operating System Shortcuts
Operating system shortcuts sit underneath every other application on this site, and they're arguably the highest-leverage shortcuts to learn precisely because they apply constantly regardless of which specific program you happen to have open — window snapping, virtual desktop switching, and screenshot capture are used dozens of times a day by nearly everyone, in a way that even the deepest application-specific shortcut set can't match for sheer frequency.
Windows
Snap-based window management, virtual desktops (Task View), and File Explorer navigation, the daily-driver shortcuts for the majority of desktop users worldwide.
macOS
Mission Control, Spaces, Spotlight, and Finder shortcuts built around Apple's distinct window and virtual-desktop management philosophy.
Windows Terminal
Modern tabbed terminal application for Windows, with pane-splitting and profile-switching shortcuts beyond a legacy single-window console.
PowerShell
Windows' scripting shell and command-line environment, with history search and tab-completion shortcuts for faster command entry.
Raycast
Mac-only Spotlight replacement and extensible launcher, with clipboard history and window management layered on top of core app search.
Because OS-level shortcuts apply globally rather than being scoped to one application, they're also the ones most likely to conflict with an application's own shortcut for the same key combination — worth keeping in mind when a shortcut that should work inside a specific app instead triggers a system-level action, which usually means the OS has claimed that combination first before the application ever sees the keypress.