Name: 18 Useful Shortcuts You Might Not Know About
Uploaded: 2020-03-07T03:01:53.000Z
Duration: 10 min 1 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Question for you. What do your laptop and an ancient dungeon have in common? Yeah I

know -- both can lock you up in an aggravating way. But the answer I’m looking for is:

They both have a lot of secret stuff and amazing tricks that you'll never find if you don't

look well enough. Here are some hidden opportunities of your laptop.

1) If you sit at your workplace and receive a call or a message on your phone, you can

answer either of them from your laptop. MacBooks allow you to do this. You need to have the

same Apple ID on your phone and computer. The connection between Android and Windows

is also possible, thanks to the Your Phone app. You can't make such a connection between

iPhone and Windows, but there are many well-known messengers that have mobile and desktop versions.

2) It's not necessary to buy an additional monitor if you work a lot at the computer

and one desktop is not enough. Your laptop can create as many desktops as you need. On

macOS, such a thing is called spaces. Press Ctrl + up arrow and you will see all opened

applications on the laptop. Hover over the top of the screen and the function to create

another desktop will appear. On Windows, it's called multiple desktops.

You can add a new one by clicking the Task View button (to the right of the search box

on the taskbar), then the New desktop button.

3) Animated dynamic wallpapers can be installed not only on phones but also on laptop screens.

Open Apple in the MacOS menu then choose System Preferences, Desktop & Screen Saver, and Desktop

photos, then pick a Dynamic Desktop. There is no such built-in function in Windows, but

you can download an application with similar features.

4) Set the Do Not Disturb mode on your laptop. You won't be distracted by notifications,

messages, and calls. On Windows: click the cog icon in the Start menu, then choose System

and Focus assist to configure how notifications and notification rules work — the mode itself

can be launched from the Action Center. (click the notification icon to the right of the

taskbar to find it). On macOS: you can configure this mode through

the system settings, in the Notifications section.

But the easiest way to enable this mode is to swipe two fingers from the right side to

the center on the touchpad and click on the Do Not Disturb switch with a crescent icon.

5) There are many ways to take a screenshot, but now macOS developers have added a screen

recording function, recording a selected area, editing a thumbnail and setting a timer for

the screenshot. All these functions open when you press cmd+shift+5.

6) You don't have to buy a cable to display the image from laptop on your TV screen. You

can do this wirelessly. The main thing is that your TV should support this function.

On Windows: open Action Center then click Connect to see a list of all the wireless

devices you can connect to. On macOS: you can do this with AirPlay. In

the menu bar, you will see all available Apple TVs.

You can also display the image using the Chrome browser. Click Cast from the Chrome menu,

choose Cast desktop from the drop-down, and you can mirror your Mac display to any Chromecast

7) On Windows and macOS, you may turn on the typing dictation function. On Mac: System

Preferences, Keyboard, and Dictation. On Windows: dictation is installed using Ease of Access

then Speech. Then press Win + H whenever you want to dictate text.

8) The macOS developers have added a very cool feature called smart folders. These folders

are kind of a special file filter that helps you work quickly and efficiently. Suppose

you create a huge project related to astronomy. You have scattered files, documents, photos

and tables associated with the project all over the computer. The smart folder can help

you collect all these documents in a couple of clicks in one place. Here's how to do it.

In the Finder window, press the keys: Command + Option + N. Then enter the search criteria.

For example, files named "stars" or photographs made over a specific period of time. macOS

provides a huge number of filters. The smart folder collects all these files in one place.

Thus, you can filter downloads, documents, photos, music, anything.

9) Spotlight Search is a very handy feature for quickly finding anything on macOS. But

besides this, it is also a quick calculator. Open Spotlight and right in the search bar

enter the math problem that you need to solve. Also, Spotlight uses data from the internal

dictionary. Enter any word in the search bar and get data about this word from the dictionary.

But its coolest function is conversion of any quantities. Distances, weight, speed,

temperature — enter the parameter you need and Spotlight instantly converts it to another.

10) A useful key combination if the Dock on your MacBook annoys you. Press Command + Option

+ D and the Dock panel will disappear. Click again and the panel will reappear.

11) A quick and easy way to draw the Apple logo: in any text editor, press the Option

+ Shift + K keys and the company icon will appear. It works only on an English keyboard

12) Do you often use the "Win" button on your Windows laptop? By itself, its only function

is to open the main menu. But in combination with other keys, it is quite useful.

Win + M (D) - minimizes all windows, opens the desktop.

If you hold down the Windows button and press "+", the screen magnifier turns on, you can

zoom objects in or out. Win + E - allows you to open the Explorer

quickly. By pressing Win + R, the Run window opens,

where you can open any program, file, folder or web page.

Win + L - allows you to lock the desktop quickly. Useful only if you have an account password.

And this is only a small part of the key’s functions.

13) On macOS, such a unique key is Command, and here are some cool combinations with it:

Command + Up or Down - Instantly scroll up and down any web page.

Command + 1 (2, 3). Use these keys to conveniently switch between any open tabs in your browser.

Command + 1 will take you to the first tab, Command + 2 will take you to the second, etc.

Command + H - quickly hide all open windows from the currently active app.

Command + Shift + T - instantly open the last closed tab in your browser.

14) This is not a useful feature, but a funny Easter egg, which few people know about. Open

WinRar, go to the Help - About WinRar and click on the logo. Check it. It can be that

the logo books begin to fall down and then bounce back or you can watch the ocean surf

and waves move. Which one did you see? Share in the comments!

15) Skype has a huge number of hidden emoticons. For example, if you write (toivo) in brackets,

you'll see a man with a dog, write (rock) and it shows you a real rock! Type (poolparty)

and... you'll see a dancing person who is certainly ready for fun.

16) If there are any secret folders or files on your Mac that no one should find, then

you can hide them. Go to System Preferences Security & Privacy pane and turn on FileVault.

That will encrypt your entire hard drive, so someone would need your password to get

at its contents. 17) The fastest way to block access to your

MacBook is to press Command + Control + Q.

18) If you have a Windows computer, then you probably like playing games. Windows 10 Creators

Update has a special game mode, thanks to which you can increase the FPS level and improve

game performance. Follow these steps to use Windows 10 Game

Then select Game Mode from the left-hand menu. You should now see the Game Mode page and

a switch called Game Mode, which should be On by default. If it is not, turn it on yourself.

The Game Mode is now enabled globally, which means that Windows 10 uses it for all the

games you play on your PC. Reviews about the game mode are ambiguous

- some tests suggest that it can add a few FPS, while others state the effect is not

noticeable or even opposite to what was expected. Still, worth a try! Um, If your computer starts

to smoke, don’t blame me. And tell your computer to knock it off – smoking is a