Windows 10 Hacks

June 12, 2020 CNET

Source: CNET
Let us look at some of the Windows 10 hacks that will make using your laptop every day
faster and smoother.
1. Secret “Start” Menu – We all know about the start menu that comes up when hitting the windows button on your keypad or on clicking the Windows icon on the bottom left corner of the screen. Other than this there is a secret second start
menu that can be accessed either by right clicking the Windows icon or just pressing Windows key +X.

2. Taking screenshots – Easiest way to take screenshot of the screen is hitting the
Windows key+Print screen key and the picture gets automatically saved to the Pictures>>Screenshots folder. To just capture a specific portion of the screen hit the Windows key+Shift+S to open a tool called Snip and sketch, which allows you to click and drag and create a screenshot that is saved to the Clipboard

3. View 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.
4. 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.
5. Taskbar Windows shortcut – To open programs pinned to your task bar we need to use the keyboard shortcut Windows key+ [Number Key] with the number key corresponding to the position of the program in the task bar. For example, Windows+3 will open the 3rd program pinned to the taskbar.