There are always new ways to sharpen your skills on the PC and we bet that you will find at least one useful thing here that you didn’t know before. We’ve compiled some of the most handy useful computer tips and tricks you should be taking advantage of. The ultimate goal is to help you become more productive by shaving valuable seconds off your workflow. Of course, you can always pass along these tips to your not-so-savvy friends and family members to help them become better PC users as well.

Useful Computer Tips And Tricks To Help You Become More Productive

Here are some cool and very helpful computer tricks.

• Get back that tab you accidentally closed

simply press Ctrl+shift+T and boom your tab is back.

• Open a link in a new tab with one click

Simply press Ctrl button and click on any link it will open in new tab or If you click the “middle” button on your mouse, you will open the link in a new browser tab. And if you middle-click an open tab, it will close it.

• Pause YouTube with one click, or skip backwards and forwards 10 seconds.

Most people know you can hit the Space-bar to pause a YouTube video, but sometimes this causes it to scroll down the page if you haven’t already clicked on the video. If you press “K” this will play (or pause) the video every time.

Hitting the “J” key will cause you to go backwards 10 seconds while hitting the “L” key will make you go forward 10 seconds.

• Move your window to any side of the screen, or to the next monitor

you click the “Windows” key, plus one of the arrows (right, left, up, down), your current window will move to that side of the screen.

Similarly, “Windows” plus “Shift” plus one of the arrows will move your window into whatever monitor is that way.

• Clear your cache in seconds

Quickly clear your cache by pressing “Control” plus “Shift” plus “R” This will also refresh your page.

• Lock your computer in seconds

On a Windows machine, hit “Windows” plus “L” to lock your computer.

On a Mac click “Command” plus “Option” plus “Eject“.

• Turn your browser window into a simple text editor

If you want to bring up a basic text editor you can type in, just paste this into the address bar in your browser: data:text/html

• Edit what you Chrome browser looks like

If you want to play a trick on someone, and send them a fake screenshot of something that never existed, there’s an easy way in Chrome.

First, you bring up the console by pressing “F12“

Then you enter: document.designMode = “on”

After this, you can edit any of the text that appears on the screen.

• Only screenshot the part of the screen you want

If you only need to screenshot part of the screen, there’s a simple way to do it for both Windows and Macs.

For Mac: “Command” +”Shift“+”4” brings up the tool. Then you just drag the area you want.

For Windows: Just go to “Start” and then “Snipping Tool.”

 

• Open Chrome’s built-in task manager

Press Shift + Esc. Extremely useful when Chrome freezes.

 

• Drag multiple tabs to a new window

Press Ctrl + Click on tabs you want to move.

Do the same to move multiple tabs to an existing window.

 

• Scroll horizontally

Press Shift + Scroll.

•  access your address bar directly on any browser

Press F6 or Ctrl + L.

•  access blocked web page

Go to Google Translate, paste the URL, select source language as other language, select destination language as the web page’s language, click Translate. Free web proxy.

 

•  view articles with slideshows or multiple pages

Press Print or Ctrl + P.

• reset to the default Window size of your web page after zooming

Press Ctrl + 0.

• highlight text in a web page

Click on the starting point, then press Shift + Click on the ending point. No more mouse dragging especially long text highlights.

• Undo sent email

You can undo send your mail in Gmail. Turn it on now just in case!

• open Task Manager directly with one hand

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. You’re welcome.

• minimize every open windows except yours

Shake your active window. Do the same to maximize all windows. You sneaky Microsoft.

 

• To capture the exact steps you take and document it nicely

Search psr to open Problem Steps Recorder. Try it now and you’ll be amazed.

 

• take a screenshot of the active window only

Press Alt + Print Screen. Bye Snipping Tool.

• To delete one word at a time

Press Ctrl + Backspace.

• To open applications on the taskbar

Press Windows key + Sequence number of the application. Do the same to minimize/maximize it.

• To paste text without formatting

Press Ctrl + Shift + V.

• To rename a file

Press F2. Works for multiple file too, which will append “(1), (2), etc.” at the end.

• Calculate your mortgage payment, fuel economy, vehicle lease payment, and more

Open your Calculator and select View, mortgage

 

• To boost your Wi-Fi signal

Download Virtual Router to turn your computer(s) into a Wi-Fi hotspot. It will extend the reach of your network.

 

•  To share your Wi-Fi access

Generate a QR code with the access details. Print the QR code and stick it on the wall.

•  Wikipedia Nearby

Pulls up articles based on your location. Extremely handy when travelling.

 

•  Wikipedia Random

Read random articles. Now, change your start-up page from Facebook to this.

 

• To save your time watching videos on YouTube

Press > and < to speed up and slow down the video respectively.

• To view all keyboard shortcuts on YouTube

Press ?.

• To use mouse as laser pointer in PowerPoint

hold Ctrl + Left click. Mouse cursors are too mainstream. Stay cool with laser.

• To open your PowerPoint file in presentation mode directly

Right click on the file, then select Show.

 

More…

VLC Media Player have some little-known keyboard shortcuts that are really useful:

• To fix out-of-sync audio

Press J and K to move the audio back and forward respectively.

• To save your time watching videos

Press ] and [ to speed up and slow down the video respectively, by 0.1x. For example, you can save about 14 minutes if you watch a 2.5 hours movie 0.1x faster, without any noticeable difference.

• To install Java without annoying 3rd party sponsor offers

Disable them by following these steps.

• Learn to use keyboard shortcuts

The idea of ditching your mouse isn’t just about keyboard shortcuts. It’s also about making everything else you do on your computer simpler.

 

The 20 Most Common Shortcuts Everyone Needs to Know