Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “10 Tips for Windows Power Users”.
You think you know everything about Windows, Uh, yeah. Well, think again: maggot. We got tips, hot tips, tech tips, 10 tips for all you Windows, power users out there. And we’re not telling you a thing.
Until we tell you, MSI sponsored this video and we’re going to be going through our tips on their Summit E13 Flip Evo, their first laptop with wifi 6E and up to 20 hours of battery life and their Crosshair 15, with up to 11th Gen Intel Core i7 Processors and RTX 3060 GPU’s. ( gentle music, ), ( metal, clanks, ), (, upbeat music, ). Everyone knows at least one or two keyboard shortcuts that they use all the time.
But whenever you’re watching someone else use Windows, there’s a good chance that they’ll use one that you don’t. This resource, which we’ll have linked down below lists every Windows shortcut, but we’ve got some favorites. Windows. Print screen saves directly to your screenshots folder.
Windows E opens up File, Explorer. Windows. I opens the settings app why the went with I we’ll never know, but it’s handy and Windows. Tab opens up task view just to name a few..
Did you know that instead of control alt delete, you can press control shift escape to directly open Task Manager without taking a detour to the lock screen, And did you know that you can create new virtual desktops with Windows, control D and then swap between these desktops? With Windows, control and the arrow keys, Ah, that’s actually tip number two, whether you lost your second monitor in that last round of budget cuts or you just plain love. Min-Max in your productivity. Multiple desktops are a game changer. In less than a second, I can go from researching and writing up a report to collaborating with my colleagues to touching up some photos for the company website that beanie’s looking good Chase lttstore.com. And, of course, those who work hard, usually Play hard, am I right So the second, your lunch break starts or any other break bam. You are instantly playing your favorite game, catching up on Reddit and chatting it up in your favorite Discord.
Server.. Note that the more applications you want to keep open at a time, though, the more system memory, you’ll need. So for heavier users, I’d recommend the version of the E13 Flip Evo, with 32 gigs of LPDDR4x memory.. Now, let’s customize our desktop, whether you like multiple desktops or just one, I’m sure we can all agree that it should look its best.
Now decades ago. The in thing was custom, pointers and different, sound themes for your Windows, alerts. And guess what It’s totally still a thing.. Your pointer can change size, color and shape to just about anything and Windows alerts can be swapped on a per type basis., So you will never again be confused about whether a USB device was plugged in or removed. “, Hello Linus. You are quite good at plugging me, in.”, Another handy feature for the minimalists out.
There is the ability to hide, desktop icons and the task bar for that ultra clean, look or to save your old LED display from unsightly burn in.. For those of you wanting an even more custom experience check out Rainmeter., It’s a third-party app that adds custom widgets, like weather, clocks or usage meters, all in whatever style you can find one that matches the gaming aesthetics and RGB of the Crosshair 15, or something more Muted, if you prefer., You can even make one yourself. Speaking of making it yourself. We made our own screwdriver. And once it’s ready, we’re going to have a full video on the process, get subscribed. So you don’t miss it..
If you want to customize a bit more, but you prefer to stay within the Microsoft product suite, there are some really cool, add ons in PowerToys and Microsoft. Garage.. A lot of the functionality of FancyZones, which is one of my personal favorites, is built into Windows. 11.
Now, but it still offers an outstanding degree of control over the snapping functionality and appearance of your Windows.. Awake is helpful if you want to keep your power and sleep settings, but put them on pause for a little while say to ensure that a render completes overnight and Keyboard Manager lets you make your own keyboard shortcuts and remap keys. PowerRename is handy for renaming files In bulk. – And there are a few others with more in the works., So be sure to check it out and choose the right PowerToy for you.. Another handy tool, particularly for those of you working from home with multiple computers, is Mouse Without Borders which is available through Microsoft, Garage. With it, you can use the same mouse and keyboard for up to four computers over your network and even copy text and drag and Drop files between them., Now that our desktop is ready. Let’S talk pins.. I can’t count how many tasks bars.
I’Ve seen that are still using whatever stock pins Windows comes with., Even ones they couldn’t possibly use. This is prime real estate, guys for one click shortcuts to whatever apps used, frequently. Chrome, Discord, Steam Excel anything you’re, pretty much guaranteed to open after restarting your PC should be pinned and don’t feel limited to just left clicking on those pins.
Many applications have shortcuts in the context menu so that you can right click and launch Steam, Big Picture or Steam VR directly going from asleep to gaming in seconds.. You can open recent Word: documents change your status on Microsoft Teams. The works.
Pinning is also super handy in File. Explorer. Quick access at the top will keep your recent files and folders ready for you, but for privacy reasons I prefer to disable this automatic behavior and create my own pins.. It’S particularly useful, if you have a lot of different server paths that you might have trouble remembering go there once pin the folder and never search for it. Again. Also check this out..
You can move them around to your heart’s content with a simple drag and drop. “, But Linus ,”, you might say “. I don’t want all those icons cluttering up my pristine task. Bar.. Can I just search for them ?”? Well, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.. The good news is yes.. The Windows 11 search function is both accurate and responsive. I mean yes, this is a fast machine with a high-performance SSD, but still finally, PC users are getting a taste of what Mac.
Folks have been enjoying for over 15 years with Spotlight.. The bad news is that, if you’re not on Windows 11, it’s still terrible., It does work for many installed apps, so you can at least stay clutter-free by searching for every app you want to open, but I’ve seen all kinds of undesirable behavior.. I mean look at this. I searched for Explorer seems like an appropriate keyword to bring up File Explorer and it pulls up Microsoft, Edge thanks Windows.
Guess I’ll use my hot key next time.. It’S also pretty bad for anything file specific offering useless web results, even when you’ve already downloaded the file, and it’s sitting in your local drive. So be gone to the depths of hell. Windows 10 search glory to Windows, 11 search, our new savior.
Tip number seven.. Your mouse has three buttons. Well often more these days actually, but who’s keeping track.. These tips are for the main three..
Let’S start with the forgotten button that no one pays proper attention to.. I mean yes, we all know that the middle wheel can scroll up and down, but it’s also got a click which is handy for opening and closing tabs in third-party applications, like Chrome and Firefox. Ooh and here’s one of my personal favorites left clicking File Explorer. If you already have a window open, just minimizes and maximizes it over and over again terrible, but middle click and bam as many new instances of File Explorer as you could ever need.
Now most of you probably use right click all the time, but did you know That you can right click and drag to open up a context menu in File Explorer. Take your zipped file for example. Right click on it. Hold that drag it over here and extract directly to where you’ve dragged to saving valuable fractions of a second.. As for our trusty left, click holding shift or alt, while you left click and drag, will change how you’re highlighting text, which can be particularly useful in Word or other text editors.. You can also double click to highlight a word and triple click, to highlight an entire paragraph if you’re in a hurry.
Pro tip by the way modern trackpads, like these ones, support these same interactions., One finger is left, two is right, three is middle click, and if You swipe with all four fingers. You can slide over to a second of your multiple desktops. Now you know. Another area where Apple is killing it and Microsoft is catching up, is phone integration, but at least there’s progress.
These days you can sync your Android phone to your PC, so you can use your favorite mobile apps and even send SMS messages and make Calls from your desktop. Making a to-do list in notepad that you want to take with you just transfer it over before you get up and you’re good to go sort of honestly. It’S still kind of basic, but at least for those of us who are pretty much tethered to our computers. It’S nice to finally be able to come home and put the phone down for the night.. Now some folks might leave this out, but there is a lot more to Task Manager these days than just processes and services, particularly the Performance tab..
And while there are better tools for monitoring this sort of thing like Hardware Info, when you need to quickly check. If your memory is running at the right, speed or in dual channel mode or you need a quick and dirty look into your CPU usage and GPU usage, look no further.! It’S especially useful when you’re trying to troubleshoot someone else’s PC without being able to remote in since just about anyone and their dog can figure out how to open up Task Manager and navigate through its tabs.. I mean good luck, trying to get your grandma to install hardware info and parse this..
It’S even gotten more and more useful over the years with the Users tab introduced with Windows XP, and then that came in handy for me, a lot., My mom always used to leave crap open in her instance, and my performance would suck so I’d have to go In and check and I’d see that anyway, the Services tab showed up in Windows, Vista and more recently we got GPU usage, including temperatures, meaning that now anyone can diagnose a thermal issue that is slowing down their games., Just whatever you do make sure you hit the More details button that they added with Windows – 8. ( grunts ). Now I wouldn’t really know anything about this, but I can imagine that if I had friends I might run into a situation where their banking app isn’t working. So they need access to my computer.. Well, fear, not! It is easy to make what’s known as a kiosk account for guests that only has access to a web browser. Just set up another account, go to account settings on admin and set up assigned access..
If you want to be extra careful, you can also encrypt your own files by right clicking on the file or folder selecting properties, advanced encrypt contents to secure data.. Your key is tied to your account password though so. This is really only handy for multiple users sharing a single PC.. You can always hide files and folders by the way for a little bit of extra stealth., But most people who are going to be digging around probably already know about show hidden files.. On the other hand, if you’re forever alone, like many of us, this won’t be a problem unless your computer gets stolen., Speaking of which backups Windows’s own integrated backup system, isn’t the best. Acronis’ solution, which we made a sponsored video about recently, is absolutely better, but anything Is better than what most people do, which is nothing.
Windows has an image, backup function that should be your foundation.. It’S just a bit of a pain to find look in Control, Panel System and Security File, History and then click on the small bottom left System, Image. Backup link click, Set Up Backup and follow the instructions either saving it to an extra drive or elsewhere on your network.. The best way to use this is to also have a third air gap or non network connected copy of your OS and files on something like an external USB drive.. So that way you will basically never have to worry about ransomware or malware again.. Another perfect example of somehow progress also makes things.
Worse is Microsoft’s compulsive desire to hide useful features that people shouldn’t have to go digging around for, for example, the old Control Panel from way back in the Windows, Vista days is still around., It’s just hidden under an All Control Panel options, dropdown. That is really easy to miss.. Now, most average users shouldn’t need most of the stuff.
That’S in here, but you’re, a power user.. You needed new tools, power, option, storage, spaces and device manager.. You need them all in one easy to find location. Speaking of stuff, the average user wouldn’t need. Another useful Windows feature is the command prompt, but that’s actually not the tip..
Did you know that you can change transparency with control shift scroll wheel? It sure makes inputting lines that you’re copying from a website easy when you’re working with limited screen space like on one of these fine MSI laptops. Did. I mention MSI sponsored this video Thanks, guys. We’ll have affiliate links to them down below.
And one last thing about Windows, especially if you’re a power user. It can end up getting a little confused.. Maybe your USB port stopped working or your PC thinks your camera’s in use when it’s not whatever the case, don’t be afraid to just back up your files and run the included reset tool. A clean will fix just about any issue, and, unlike the old days it doesn’t require you to re-install your drivers, re-register your product key or any of that junk..
You know, what’s not junk This segue to our sponsor MSI.. The experience of using Windows is great. On a modern high performance machine like one of these. For productivity, the Summit E13 Flip features unrivaled CPU computing ability in same class, laptops.
Seriously up to 28 Watts of power in this puppy.. It’S the first laptop equipped with wifi 6E with up to 20 hours of battery life with its 70 watt hour battery.. It’S quiet under 35 decibels in balanced mode to meet World Health Organization, noise guidelines and it supports the MSI pen with support for MPP 2.0, and it can work as a presentation. Remote.
They’ve also got an MSI USBC docking station to go with it. And for gaming. The Crosshair 15 can be equipped with up to an 11th Gen Core i7 processor and RTX 3060 GPU.. It’S got a brand new chassis design, with a kind of tough titanium, gray metal, styled shell to resemble weaponry.. It’S got their Cooler Boost 5 dedicated thermal solution with two fans and six heat pipes., And the heat pipes are thinner than ever, allowing it to fit in this nice compact chasis. Want more tech tips, maybe check out our video on “ How Motherboards Work Turbo Nerd Edition ,”, that suggestion alone is another tech tip free of charge.
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