Top computer tricks
Technology & Software
Make a quick copy of a file
On a Mac just hold the ‘Alt’ key, or if you’re on Windows use ‘Control’, then click and drag the file. This will make a copy that you can drop anywhere you want by un-clicking.
Reset your browser
Sometimes you accidentally zoom in or out on your web browser and have no idea how you did it or how to un-do it.
‘Control’ (‘Command’ on Mac) plus ‘0’ resets it to default
‘Control’ (‘Command’ on Mac) plus ‘+’ zooms in
‘Control’ (‘Command’ on Mac) plus ‘-‘ zooms out
Get back your tab
If you want to get back a tab you closed, just press “Control” (or “Command” on Mac), plus “Shift,” plus “T,” and it will reappear.
Edit your Google Chrome web browser
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.
Screenshot specific parts of your screen
If you only need to screenshot part of the screen, there’s a simple way to do it for both Windows and Macs.
For Windows: Just go to “Start” and then “Snipping Tool.”
For Mac: “Command,” plus “Shift,” plus “4” brings up the tool. Then you just drag the area you want.
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, <title>Text Editor</title><body contenteditable style=”font-size:2rem;font-family:georgia;line-height:1.4;max-width:60rem;margin:0 auto;padding:4rem;”>
Repeat your last command in Excel
If you press the F4 button in Excel, it repeats the last command. Here’s an example given on Reddit:
“If you select a cell and highlight it yellow, you can then highlight any other selected cell(s) yellow by pressing F4.”
Rotate your screen
If you press “Control” plus “Alt” plus one of the arrow keys, it will rotate your screen that way. Note: this doesn’t work for all computers (and only on Windows), but when it does, it can be a really fun prank to play on your friends.
Open a link in a new browser tab with one click
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.
Reverse search an image in Google Chrome
In Google Chrome, if you press “S” while you right click on an image it will do a reverse Google search. That means you’ll be able to see where that photo is and where it potentially originated.
Quick lock your computer
On a Windows machine, hit “Windows,” plus “L” to lock your computer.
On a Mac click “Command,” plus “Option,” plus “Eject.” (Or “Power” if your computer doesn’t have an optical drive.)
YouTube: pause with one click, skip backward and forward 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. However if you press “K,” this will play (or pause) the video every time. Hitting the “J” key will cause you to go backward 10 seconds, while hitting the “L” key will make you go forward 10 seconds.
Quick clear your cache
Quickly clear your cache by pressing “Control,” plus “Shift,” plus “R.” This will also refresh your page.
Move your window to any side of the screen, or the next monitor
If 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 (right, for example). Unfortunately, this only works for Windows machines.
