Windows PCs are one of the most popular types of PCs for both working and gaming, and for casual usage. Whatever you use your Windows PC for, it’s probably true that you are not using it in the most efficient way possible. Windows is packed with loads of brilliant features and functions that aren’t made easily visible to the average user; but if you know about them, and know how to enable them, you may be surprised with how much time and effort you can save yourself while using your machine. TechQuarters, an IT support company and Microsoft Partner from London, discussed some of the ways in which anyone can start using their Windows PC in a more fluent and intuitive way. The truth is that the standard PC interface that most people are used to is slow, when compared with just how quickly a PC can execute functions.
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Below is a brief list of 5 tricks that can be used to become more efficient when using a Windows PC.
- Use Hotkeys to Navigate more Efficiently
People are most used to navigating their PC with a mouse or the trackpad on their laptop – but this is probably the least efficient way there is of navigating your digital workspace. If you want to save a huge amount of time and get things done much more quickly, consider using hotkeys.
A hotkey is a combination of keyboard keys pressed either together or in succession in order to access a certain PC function. Hotkeys are especially popular with IT support providers – IT engineers love using hotkeys to make their work quicker and smoother. But don’t let that make you think hotkeys are complicated, as they can be used by the average user to fulfill simple functions much quicker. An example might be using hotkeys to open a new word document, or a new window in your web browser – both of these actions use only 2 keystrokes, whereas opening a new document or browser window using your mouse would take several movements and clicks of the mouse.
- Create your Own Hotkeys
If you really get into using hotkeys to speed up your work, you might even want to start creating your own hotkeys. Windows and Mac both come with their own native hotkeys that were designed by the company – but these hotkeys don’t normally cover every app, and certainly not third-party apps you have installed yourself. If, for example, you wanted to be able to open up an Adobe app in less than a second, you could create a custom hotkey that opens the app. By combining the built-in hotkeys with your custom hotkeys, you will be able to navigate and use your PC fluently and with minimal effort.
- Learn to touch-type
Carrying on with the trend of utilizing your keyboard, learning to touch type is an excellent skill that makes working at a PC infinitely more fast.
Touch typing is the practice of navigating your keyboard via muscle memory. In other words, you don’t need to look at your keyboard to know which buttons the press. There are a number of different ways in which you can learn to do this, but it always starts with learning the position of all the different keys are on your keyboard – this isn’t just limited to the letter keys, but knowing where all the special symbols and numbers keys are positioned will make working quicker – especially if you’re using hotkeys all the time.
- Arrange your Windows with a Snap
Multi-tasking is a valuable practice when working with a PC. Your computer is capable of opening and running multiple apps at once if you need it to. To make multi-tasking easier for yourself, it is good to have all the windows you need in-view at the same time – you don’t want to be manually minimizing and maximizing apps to get the information you need. The easiest way to do this is to use the Snap function in Windows – this allows you to arrange windows on your screen in an orderly fashion; meaning you could writing out a document while searching for information on your web browser without having to switch between windows.
With Windows 11, the Snap function is even more advanced, as it features Snap groups, which remember the specific layout of your windows, and stores them in the taskbar, so you can easily bring them up even after minimizing them.
- Use Virtual Desktops
Multi-tasking can be taken even further than just arranging program windows on your screen. Imagine having a separate desktop for work and personal, or even gaming. This is all possible with virtual desktops in task view. These virtual desktops allow you to have different apps and programs open in separate virtual workspaces – you can assign different desktop backgrounds and even create custom names to differentiate each virtual desktop.