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YOUR PC HAS a large number of shortcuts that you can take advantage of.
Chances are you know basic ones like new tabs, copying stuff or saving files, but they go much further than that.
Some of them allow you to lock or shut down your PC quickly. While neither are exactly hard to complete in the normal way, this will make the process much faster.
To lock your PC, just press Windows + L. Doing that will bring your PC to the lock screen preventing anyone from accessing your computer without your password.
If you want to shut down your PC, you can press Windows + D to minimise all windows and bring you to the desktop and then Alt + F4. The shutdown window will appear so click ok (or press enter) to turn it off.
To do the same thing on Mac, you have to press Control + Shift + Eject/Power depending on whether you’re using a Mac or Macbook.
If you want to shut it down, press Command + Option + Control + Power/Eject to quit all apps and shut down your Mac. If you have any unsaved documents open, it will ask you whether you want to save them or not.
Alternatively, you could just hold down the power button for a second or two and the shutdown window will appear.
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Shortcuts that are longer than the normal process. Fair play Quinton. You’re earning your wages this week.
How is pressing alt+f4 a longer route than using the mouse to close off programs and selecting shutdown? 10 files open you’ll have to x them all, Windows could be in different positions then after all that head down and use a few more clicks to shutdown, where’s using alf+f4 and a couple of enters you’re done.
Sure if you just shut down it will close all open programs, etc anyway! Pointless article.
I prefer to just close the laptop
What if you are using a desktop computer
Throw it out the window?
Alternatively if on a pc, say in work, you can just pull the plug out of the wall and go for the end of day pint that few seconds quicker :-)
Stand up, turn around and walk away. That what my family does!
what about the porn?
Or just press the power button. One simple click of a physical button. Easy.
Not if, like me, you have the PC tower in a closed cupboard well away from the keyboard and monitor
Start > shutdown
Vs
Windows M, Alt + f4, enter/click yes
You missed a step it’s start>power>shutdown
Not after Windows 7 and you change the settinngs
Or if you go into power button settings and set it to one short press to shut down
Leaving a large magnet sat on top of your laptop over night is also a great tip for fixing a slow laptop, particularly a work one.
I tried this and now my screen looks all weird. Is this normal?
Cheers Eyepopper, I’ll give that a go. Hope it works.
Don’t do this. Magnets destroy computers. Eyepopper is an unfunny a***hole. The End.
Just pull the battery out ;)
Want some extra shortcuts that can really save you time? These work with almost every kind of list in windows.
CTRL + A … Select everything in this list. You can then use CTRL + MouseClick to deselect specific entries without unselecting the rest… very handy if you want to select 90% of a list (say) rather than having to click each of the ones you want specifically.
Ctrl + Mousclick…. Select these specific elements of the list WITHOUT deselecting ones I have selected previously. Very handy for picking say 6 files out of a Documents directory full of files. Not all lists are Multi-Selection, (some force you to only select one file)…. but most are. This is very handy for when you want to open 5 word documents say, Do a File > Open and then hold CTRL and click the 5 documents and then click open… tada, 5 docs will open… saving you having to open each one specifically.
Click and then Shift + Click. This selects a range in the list from the first click to the second click. IE: I want to select the files from *here* to (SHIFT) *here*.
You can combine these too, so you can select a range (with click, SHIFT + click) and then add/subtract to/from that range with CTRL + click.
Or use CTRL A to select all of them and then use them to deselect files in ranges or specifically.
Open file explorer and have a go, its a lot more obvious than I’ve probably made it sound :)
You’re a Saint, Quinton. Very helpful! Excellent productive tips. Never heard of these before.
Thanks!
Assigning sainthood. You’re doing it wrong.
Recommending a hard shutdown by using the power button can cause the hard drive to screw up the final write before spinning down.
That’s only if you hold the button down for a few seconds. One press will shut it down properly (if set to), much faster than any shortcut. Or you can create a bat file on the desktop with the command shutdown.exe /s and then double click it whenever you want.
Oh and these two:
click and then SHIFT+ HOME … select everything from this clicked file to the top of the list.
click and SHIFT + END … select everything from this clicked file to the bottom of the list.
To get the € sign, hold down Alt key while typing 0128.
Alt Gr key + 4 button (not numeric keypad) :-)
Tom Murphy he’s out on his own
I once worked for a company SO TIGHTFISTED they wouldn’t buy mice for all the IT staff. (this is not a joke, it was back in the early 90s). We had to learn all the keyboard shortcuts for everything and I still remember loads of them.
I cant remember my mums mobile number of course but those shortcuts are *burned into my skull*.
:)
In Word, ALT then I, then B, then Enter will insert a new page where the cursor is.
WHY… WHY IS THAT IN MY HEAD!!!
Genuine question. Anyone know how to do a restart and when you reopen your internet browser all the tabs are still there?
lmgtfy
There should be an option there to restore previous?
@angryjoepublic,
fifmb
1. On Chrome… go to settings….under “On Startup” click “Continue where you left off”
2. On Internet Explorer or other browsers, install Chrome and see point 1.
My cat shuts mine down simples!
You’re better off closing each app first to ensure everything is saved. Takes longer but avoids heartache when changes are not saved.
Windows X, U U for quick shut down.
Using the windows key + left/right arrow on windows 7+ will move the opened window to half of a the screen. Useful for reports etc when looking at source material
Using a sharp scissors, cut the thickest wire leading to the back of the computer. Wait 5 seconds. If nothing happens cut the next thickest. And so on.
Source: Leviticus 10:6
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