Windows 10 Tips

1. Minimize all windows except the active one

If your desktop screen has gotten too crowded with open windows, you can quickly minimize them all except the one you are currently working in.

Just click the title bar of the window you want to remain open to select it. Then, hold the mouse down and move the window back and forth quickly — shaking it, essentially. After a couple of quick shakes, all other open windows will minimize, leaving only the one you’ve shaken open. Neat, huh?

2. Open the ‘secret’ Start menu

You know that to get to the Start menu, you hit the Windows icon at the bottom left of the screen or on your keyboard. But Windows 10 includes a lesser-known second Start menu that makes accessing important features like the Command Prompt, the Control Panel and the Task Manager much easier. You can access it two different ways, either by pressing the Windows key + X, or right click the Windows icon/Start button.

3. Create an event without opening the Calendar app

Windows 10’s latest update lets you quickly add events to your Microsoft calendar directly from your Taskbar — without actually having to open the calendar at all. Here’s how to do it:

1. On your Taskbar, click the box with the time and date in it in the right corner.

2. Click the date when you want to schedule an event.

3. Enter the event name, time and location. (If you have multiple calendars, click the down arrow next to the event name field to choose the one you want to add it to.)

4. Click save. The event should appear in your Calendar app across your devices.

4. Take a screenshot

I know, it’s a basic one — but it’s amazing how easy it is to forget how to take a screenshot on your laptop or desktop when you don’t do it often.

There are at least eight different ways you can take a screenshot with Windows 10. If you want to capture and save a picture of your entire screen, the easiest way is to hit the Windows key + Print Screen key, and that picture will be saved to the Pictures > Screenshots folder.

To capture just one part of your screen, hit the Windows key + Shift + S to open a tool called Snip & Sketch, which allows you to click and drag to create a screenshot, which is saved to your Clipboard.

5. Open items on your Taskbar with keyboard shortcuts

If you’ve pinned programs to your Taskbar at the bottom of your screen to create a shortcut, you don’t have to click the icons to open them. Instead, use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + [Number key], with the number key corresponding to the position of the program on the Taskbar. For example, Windows key + 2 will open the second item on the Taskbar.

This is especially useful if you’re typing furiously and don’t want to lift your fingers from the keyboard. It may feel more natural to reach for the Windows key.

6. Figure out how much space apps are taking up

Computers start running slower as they grow short on space. One quick way to speed them up may be to get rid of apps that take up more space than they should, especially if you don’t regularly use them.

To see how much space an app uses, navigate to Settings > System > Storage. Click on the drive you want to search (likely the local storage, “This PC”), and click Apps & games to see a list of apps installed on your machine and how much space they are taking up. You probably won’t get rid of your browser, but you might find that a game you haven’t played in years is some good dead weight to drop.

7. Get rid of ads in your Start menu

When you run Windows 10 with default settings, you may sometimes see apps on the right side of your Start menu. Microsoft calls them “suggestions,” but they are actually ads for Windows Store apps you can buy.

To get rid of the ads in your Windows 10 Start menu, go to Settings > Personalization > Start. Toggle the setting called Show suggestions occasionally in Start to the off position.

8. Shut down background apps

Apps that run in the background can receive info, send notifications, and stay updated, even when you aren’t using them — which can be useful, but can also suck your battery and your data, if you’re connecting via a mobile hotspot.

To control which apps are running in the background and save some battery power and data, go to Settings > Privacy > Background apps. To stop all apps from running in the background, toggle Let apps run in the background to Off. Or, you can choose which apps to run in the background individually by going down the list on the same page.

9. Use background scrolling

With Windows 10, you can scroll up and down on any window — even if it’s not the one you’re directly working in. This is a useful tool when you have a lot of windows open that you want to look through at the same time — for example, if you want to open new sub-menu options in new windows to save you time clicking back and forward on the same page.

Try opening two programs — say, an internet browser page and a notepad or Word document. Arrange both on the screen so you can see at least some of the text on each. While you are in one window, hover your mouse or use the touchpad to move to the second window, and scroll. Even though you aren’t active in that window, it should allow you to move up and down the page.

The feature should be on by default, but if it isn’t, go to Settings > Devices > Mouse, and toggle Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them to On. Then you can place your mouse over a window that’s in the background and use the scroll wheel to scroll.

10. Show file extensions in File Explorer

Microsoft hides file extensions by default, which makes life difficult for people who need to look for specific types of files, like JPEGs and JPGs. To see file extensions in File Explorer, do the following:

1. Go to the Search bar at the bottom of the screen, and type in File Explorer Options, and click it. (There are a number of other ways to get here too, but that one seems fastest.)

2. In the window that pops up, click the View tab.

3. Uncheck the box that says Hide extensions for known file types. Click Apply, and OK. You should now see file extensions for all files in the File Explorer.

You can also use the File Explorer Options menu to choose to show empty drives, hidden files and folders, and more.

11. Cut down on distractions with Focus assist

It’s frustrating to try and get work done when you keep getting interrupted with notifications. You can determine how many you get with Focus assist, a tool Windows 10 added in the April 2018 update.

Set it up by going to Settings > System > Focus assist. Choose from three options: Off(get all notifications from your apps and contacts), Priority (see only selected notifications from a priority list that you customize, and send the rest to your action center), and Alarms only (hide all notifications, except for alarms).

You can also choose to automatically turn this feature on during certain hours, or when you’re playing a game.

Google Chrome Tips

Like any good browser, Google Chrome has several dozen keyboard shortcuts that can help improve your productivity. Below are just a few of our top favorites.

Ctrl+1-8 = Pressing Ctrl and any number 1 through 8 will move to the corresponding tab in your tab bar.
Ctrl+9 = Switch to the last tab.
Ctrl+H = Show history.
Ctrl+J = Open Downloads window.
Ctrl+K = Move the cursor to the omnibox (address bar).
Ctrl+T = Open a new tab.
Ctrl+Shift+T = Undo any closed tab.

Sync Chrome with your Google account

Chrome allows you to sync your settings, passwords, and bookmarks to your Google account. If you switch computers a lot (e.g., work computer and home computer), sync allows you to access all your bookmarks and account settings from any device. You can log into your Google Account and adjust your sync settings by going into Settings under the Google Chrome menu icon .

Pin your frequently used tabs

Pin your favorite tabs to save space on your tab bar without losing quick access to your favorite pages. In the picture above, you can see we have eight pinned tabs, which would have normally consumed our tab bar.

To Pin a tab, right-click on any open tab and select Pin Tab.

Bonus tip: You can also click-and-drag a pinned tab to the position of your choice.

Use the Autofill feature

Use the Chrome Autofill feature for automatically filling out any online form with common fields such as your name, e-mail, address, etc. To enter the Autofill values follow the steps below.

1. Click the Customize and control Google Chrome icon in the upper-right corner of the browser window.
2. Click Settings.
3. At the bottom of Settings, click Show advanced settings.
4. Click Manage Autofill settings under Passwords and forms.
5. In the Autofill settings window, click the Add new street address button.
6. Fill out all address settings you want to be saved and click OK.
7. Once complete, try out your autofill using the form below. To enter the values, click on any of the below fields and select the name of your autofill.

First name: Last name:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Phone number: E-mail:

Use the Chrome Task Manager

Since each open tab runs it its own sandbox to help with browser stability, it can be difficult to see the overall system resources being used. For example, in the Windows Task Manager you will see multiple instances of Google Chrome running for each open tab.

Use the Chrome Task Manager to show you how much memory and CPU resources each open tab and extension you have installed is using. To open the Task Manager press Shift+Esc or click on the Google Chrome menu icon in the top-right corner of the window, click Tools, and then Task Manager. If you want to get real geeky, click the stats for nerds click at the bottom of the Task Manager.

Quickly close a tab

Any tab can be closed by clicking on the x on the tab. However, there are much quicker ways to close a tab. For example, if you have a mouse with a wheel pushing in on the wheel anywhere on the tab closes the tab. The shortcut keys Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 also close the current open tab.

Bonus tip: Middle-clicking on any link also opens that link in a new tab.