Hi Raven, I play WinXP and have the Windows start button on my keyboard. If I hit this, I'm on my desktop then. Hitting this button again, brings me back to the game.
[color:"yellow"]Warning[/color]: Makes the game unstable though, not recommended for real playing, just if you want to pop in or out by looking for something. In fact I play offline - and use what I described above only if I want to test something in one of my saves, make a screenshot etc.
If I install a patch or a game, I do this always offline and have no background programs running at the same time to avoid crashes.
Kiya