The Amazing 16 Keyboard Shortcuts You’ll Love to Use to Save Time

We all have that one friend or co-worker, whose computer skills make us feel
like a neanderthal. They barely touch the mouse, their screen lights up with
all kinds of tasks and boxes and their fingers go lightning fast on that
keyboard. They even have time to casually chat with siri or cortana and stream
games afterwards, but this is no sorcery your friend is simply a whiz when it
comes to hotkeys and you can be too.

Let’s start with a skill every computer maestro needs to know.

1. Create a virtual desktop

Imagine you’re in the middle of some work project or research you’ve been
doing all day when you need to deal with another task immediately, opening new
tabs in windows will just slow you down and mess up your workflow.

So you need a new clean desktop, well just press the
Windows key + Control + D
or
Control + up,
if you use a mac. It’ll switch to a new fresh desktop and you’re ready to go.

2. Switch Between Virtual Desktops

Where is all that precious work you were doing before creating a virtual
desktop? is it gone forever? Ahh don’t panic, it’s just hiding to get it back
push the
Windows key + Control
or the
Control key on a mac now you can switch between all the virtual desktops you’ve made by
using the left and right arrow keys while holding the
Windows key + Control.

When you’re done with the second task ensure you no longer need that desktop,
then you can close it by pressing the
Windows key + Control + F4.
If you are on a mac hold down the option key and click on the
X
signs that appear over any open desktop spaces to close them.

3. Return to the Desktop from Apps

If you have too many apps open and you need to use another one, hidden behind
all those windows on your desktop, you don’t need to minimize them, all one by
one you can minimize all of them at once by pushing the Windows key + M.

You can also take a peek at your desktop with the
Windows key + Comma or
Command + F3
for OS. This is a handy little trick, if you work with information from
desktop widgets or if you really need to take a break for a second and look at
the fluffy kittens or fields of calming green grass, you use as your desktop
wallpaper.

4. Open an App from the Task Bar

If you want much faster access to your most used apps consider keeping them on
your taskbar it’ll speed up your workflow even more if you use the following
combination the
Windows key + a number key from 1-9, each number represents an app in your taskbar from the left to right and
this combo will bring up the necessary one, unfortunately there’s no similar
hotkey for os but i’m pretty sure mac users are quite content with the mac’s
awesome app navigation.

5. Split Screen Between Two Apps

Want to see a magic trick try this, open one app that you need for your work
and press the
Windows key + Left
arrow then open another app and click the
Windows key + right arrow, now two windows are sharing your screen checking facts in your academic
work while looking directly at your sources.

6. Switch Between Apps

There are several ways to effectively shift from one app to another and to
manage them on your desktop using hotkeys. Pressing
Control + Alt + Tab will show you all the apps currently running on your pc again, mac is known
for rocking the app navigation game so it’s a bit easier on os it’s just
Control + Tab.

Another way to open the task view is by pressing the
Windows key + Tab,
this is the pc equivalent to the mac mission control it provides a broader
view of open windows and available desktops and is much more convenient to use
and finally there’s the hotkey
Alt + Tab or Command + Tab
on a mac that will allow you to swap programs without previously displaying
them like a deck of cards if you work with just a couple of windows at once
this one’s for you.

7. Program Management and Troubleshooting

If there is program that is stuck and won’t process anything even if you cry,
beg or try to bribe it to do. So to avoid restarting your device and losing
all your progress, try using the following combo.

Control + Shift + Escape or

Command + Option + Escape
if you’re working on a mac it’ll open the task manager which will help you
force quit any malfunctioning app or stop the ones that aren’t responding,
losing some data from one faulty program is not the same as losing all your
data from all of them.

8. Open File Explorer

It is not all your apps need to be on hand all the time, for you to work
faster some of them are standard programs, built into your computer and
there’s a quick and convenient way to access them. Pressing the
Windows key + E,
opens the file manager window on your pc for mac users this is your finder
app.

9. Use the Magnifier

have you ever dreamed of becoming one of those tv detectives that can find
anything on any picture no matter how tiny the image is, to enhance the image,
it need 10x zoom, yes you can totally do that on your computer.

The
Windows key
combined with the +
or –
key will open the magnifier app which allows you to zoom in and out wherever
you point your cursor is pointing at.

The same goes for mac os but you need to use the combination of all
Command and + to zoom
just don’t expect to be catching any criminals from the tiny inverted
reflection bouncing off an earring or something.

10. Take Screenshots

Oh you found that tiny evidence well you better collect it. Use the
Windows key + Print Screen to take a screenshot and immediately save it in the image folder on your hard
drive, mac also lets you take screenshots by pressing
Command + Shift + 3,
but for you it gets even cooler if you push four instead of three, you’ll be
able to choose what part of your desktop you want to snap a picture of or even
take a screenshot of only one exact window.

11. Use Action Center

Set up bluetooth connection with devices in your network, use your pc as a
wi-fi hotspot or turn notifications on and off, those and many other functions
and newer versions of windows are available in one place called action center
to open it simultaneously press the
Window key + A,
for mac users your notification center is always a click away in the top right
hand corner.

12. Access the Settings

If you need more tweaking or access to more advanced parameters of your pc you
can have it all, you can use the
Windows key + I to do just that, you can also access settings all in one folder,  with
the help of God mode,  this will only be active after enabling it, 
see how to enable God mode in Number 16 below. 

13. Talk to cortana or siri

Task managers, thorough researchers and life organizers, Interesting
conversation partners. Nowadays computers come with a personal assistant
literally built in siri and cortana can do it all and you can call them up
with just one touch. To open cortana on windows in listening mode, press the
Windows key + C and to summon Siri on mac os hold
Command + Space

together.

14. Use the Windows Game Bar

So you’ve been working hard all day bringing up these desktops and Whatnot you
come home and it’s time to relax to a nice gaming sesh and here it comes that
exciting moment when you finally beat that insane boss fight, or you and your
friends had a hilarious exchange or epic battle in the online game you’re
playing together.

If only you could capture that moment forever well actually you have
everything you need right in the game bar feature on your pc you can bring it
up at any time by pressing the
Windows key + G, to set up recording manually but that’s not all, game bar itself has a
hotkey for starting and stopping recording just press
Windows + Alt + R, you can even start streaming by pushing the
Windows key + Alt + B.

Mac Os also has its own feature for capturing videos and it’s really simple to
use. Press

Shift + Command + 5 to record the screen using quick time player.

15. Lock Down your PC

Let’s say you share a computer with your family or co-workers and you’ve spent
all day looking for the perfect gift for your mom or slacking off at work and
you don’t want anyone to know about it. If you suddenly need to step away from
the computer but you don’t want anyone meddling in your stuff you can quickly
lock your user profile.

Simply push the
Windows key + L
or
Shift + command + Q on a mac, just make sure you set up your password first and don’t forget it.

16. Activate God mode in windows 10 or 11

Have you ever imagine having all the system tools and settings in one folder,
easy for accessing right on the windows desktop. The tools found in God Mode
cover a number of everyday tasks, like adding and removing apps or user
accounts, tinkering with disk partitions, creating System Restore points, or
adjusting your power settings. You can enable God mode by following these few
steps below:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Hey which hotkeys make your time on the computer smoother and faster, let
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