51 Brilliant Windows 10 Tips and Tricks So far

So, Without any more useless info, here goes the list of secret windows 10 tricks for you.

Also Read : 101 Best Hidden Computer Tricks you don’t know yet

Table of Contents

You can open My computer By pressing Windows key + E

Use new Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts

Though Windows 10 is the upgraded version of Windows, a lot of keyboard shortcuts have been retained from the previous version, but certain new shortcuts which are specific to Windows 10 features are added.

  1. Windows + A: Brings up the Action Center
  2. Windows + C: Brings up cortana
  3. Windows + I: Brings up the settings menu
  4. Windows + Ctrl + D: Adds new Desktop
  5. Windows + Ctrl + left arrow/right arrow: Switch between Desktops

 

Find out which app is eating up more space with windows 10 storage sense

windows-10-storage-sense

Press windows key + PrintScreen , and screenshots will be automatically gets saved in your PC

The screenshot of your current open windows which you are viewing in your monitor gets automatically saved in pictures/screenshots folder once you hit windows key and Printscreen key together.

Hide folder Completely By Command Prompt

In order to hide a folder, first of all browse to the location in which the folder is residing.

Now, do a shift + Right Click and click on open command prompt window here.

command-prompt-hide-windows-10
Now, In command prompt (CMD) type this command

attrib +s +h "Folder name"

As soo as you hit enter , your folder will be hidden. Now, no one can see this hidden folder , just by checking show hidden folder and files in windows PC.

command-prompt-hide-windows-10-1
To show the folder, open CMD as mentioned above and type given below command



attrib -s -h "ItemName"

Disable access to USB ports, so that no one can steal data through USB from your PC

Do You want to protect your data so that no one can take it  out from your PC via a pen drive, Then here are steps to block usb ports. You can reenable whenever you want.

1. In search box search RUN. You can also press windows key + r.
2. Now, type regedit in it to open registry editor.
3. Once it browse to the follwoing location given in next step
4. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor
5. In the right area, double click on Start.
6. In the Value Data box, change the value to 4.
7. Finally Click on OK.
8. Close Registry Editor and restart your PC.
9. To re-enable access to your USB ports, enter 3 in the Value Data box in Step 6.

disable-usb

To open 3rd item on Taskbar just press Windows key + 3 and so on …

nth-icon-taskbar

To Highlight and focus on Taskbar items use Windows key + T

taskbar-select

 

Also if you middle click on any taskbar icon, it will open a fresh window of it

Pressing Windows + Arrow keys maximizes or minimizes videos

Window+UP = Maximize window

Window+DOWN = Minimize window

Window+LEFT = Set the window to the left half of your screen

Window+RIGHT = Set the window to the right half of your screen

Spy on your Child’s Online activity. Get detailed email report every week of his visited websites

For this create a child account on your windows PC. Go to your Microsoft account and make sure its turned on.

child-account

 

Record your screen By pressing Windows key + G and starting game bar

game-bar

Your Windows 10 calculator can do a lot more than simple calculation

calculator

 

Read web pages distractions free with Reading View in Microsoft Edge

If you want to get rid of any annoying advertisements or unwanted recommendations, use “Reading View” option.

edge-reading-view

Share A Web Link Or Web Screenshot in Microsoft edge

final

Use Edge Browser Note Taking Feature to annotate to web pages

edge-web-note-icon

Get email Notification with sound in Windows 10 Details

 

To quickly change the case (upper case / lower / sentence case ) of text in Microsoft Word, select the phrase, then hit Shift + F3.

To declutter Start Menu Just go to Settings->Personalization->Start and uncheck everything

declutter-start

To remove password login , just search netplwiz in windows 10 taskbar

Now, disable the checkbox saying user must enter a username and password.

disable-password-login

You can create an alarm or use stop watch. Just search alarm in windows 10 taskbar search

alarm

To Disable spying in windows 10, just turn off everything in privacy settings

Press windows key + i and go to settings control panel. Once there, click on privacy.

privacy-settings

 

Now go on each and every item in the left panel and turn off each and everything, unless it is utmost important to you.

off-privacy-settings

Just save your Powerpoint presentation in .PPS instead of .PPT, your file automatically  starts in slideshow mode Once you open it.

 

If you save an Excel file as an .XLSB , it will compress the size by upto 75%

 

In Microsoft Excel, to highlight the whole column (vertical), use Control + Spacebar , and to  highlight the whole row (horizontal) use Shift + Spacebar .

 

Double Click on top left of any open window to close it.

double-click-window

Redirect any folder to another folder

You can change downloads, My document or any other default windows folder to another location with this hack. Just, right click on the desired folder and click on Properties, then choose location. Now change the folder location to any other folder.

change-location

 

View Expanded Send to Menu by pressing shift while right clicking on any file

 

Just search these hidden tools in windows 10 search box. I bet you don’t know half of them

  • Reliability Monitor : With this single tool you can view your PC problems history.
  • Resource Monitor : Analyze your system performance
  • Performance Monitor : Use it to find resource eating culprit processes
  • netplwiz : Opens the Advanced User Accounts window.
  • lusrmgr.msc : Opens the Local Users and Groups Manager.
  • gpedit.msc : Group Policy Editor.
  • mrt : This tool helps you in cleaning some of the most popular malicious software from your Windows computer.
  • ncpa.cpl : To access all your Network Adapters, you can use this Run command.
  • powercfg.cpl : Power Options.
  • appwiz.cpl : Access the Programs and Features window to uninstall your installed programs.
  • devmgmt.msc : Windows Device Manager to manage all your hardware devices.
  • sysdm.cpl : Access the System Properties window.
  • firewall.cpl : Manage or configure your Windows firewall.
  • wuapp : Check, manage and configure all your Windows update settings.

 

Just search Problem steps recorder in the search box. Use it to record your screen activity with steps for contacting support.

steps-recorder

Just run cipher /w:driveletter:\foldername in Command prompt to ensure permanent deletion of deleted files in that folder

Most people do not know that when they delete files on their windows PC, they do not get deleted fully. They can be recovered easily with data recovery programs. So if you are giving your laptop for a fix to a service provider, make sure to run this program to overwrite free space, to ensure deletion of your sensitive file.

For example you have a sensitive file in a folder named pics in D drive. then run the given below command to ensure permanent deletion of files.

cipher /w:D:\pics

cipher

If you want to overwrite entire free space in entire D drive, just run cipher /w:D.

You can also Open start Menu by Pressing Ctrl + Esc

 

You can create a Keyboard shortcut for opening any application

Just right click on the application shortcut and click on properties. Now, put the desired shortcut in the field as shown in the image.

shortcut-hotkey

You can use Your notepad as a Diary with automatic time stamps

Just write .LOG at the top of your Notepad file in Capital letters. Now whenever you will open it and write your entries, time and date will be automatically get printed along with it.

NOTEPAD-DIARY

You can Transform any folder into recycle Bin. Just rename the folder as Your Folder name.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

You can Cut / Copy and paste here. All the files in the original recyle bin will also be reflected here.

Create a Shortcut on your Dekstop to lock the screen

Just right click on desktop anywhere and create a shortcut. Now put rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation in the location. Now whenever you will double click on it, your PC will get locked instantly.

Rename Multiple Files at Once

Just select all files in a folder and press F2 key. Now rename the single file and all your files will be renamed with extensions (1), (2) and so on appended with it.

rename-multiple-folder-at-once

Watch and Enjoy star wars movie right there in your CMD window

Just run telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl. in your CMD.

Note: – Before that you have to enable Telnet in your PC. Search Turn windows feature on or off in your search box. Click on the Turn windows feature on or off.

Now, enable telnet.

enable-telnet

Now,  Open Command Prompt and enter telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl. and press enter.

Now, enjoy the movie. Just for fun.

starwars-min

 

You can change any Windows OS password without knowing current password

Just open command prompt as admin and Run the command net user. This will show you the list of usernames. Now run net user user_name new_password . The password will straightaway get changed. Details.

Change item in the send to menu

Just open run command and enter shell:sendto in it. Now go and paste the shortcut of the item you want to include in the send to menu.

sendto-menu-windows-1

 

Create run command for any program of your wish

Just create the shortcut of the program and paste the shortcut in System32 folder. Now, just type the shortcut name in run box and it will open instantly.

system32-run

Run Systeminfo in your command prompt and see all useful info of your PC

 

Force Kill any program instantly, For e.g. to kill firefox run taskkill /f /im firefox.exe in run box

 

If you want to run a program as administrator Just Press CTRL + Shift + Right Click

Do a right Click while keeping CTRL +Shift Key pressed The run as administrator will be there in the context menu.

Pressing Shift + Right Click will give an option to open command prompt window there

For example if you have to enter a folder path in Command prompt, then just go to the respective folder and do a shift + Right click there and open command prompt window here option will be seen.

Open God Mode in Windows 10 and access all settings at one place

Most of you may know this, just create a folder named God.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and access god mode by opening that created folder.

god-mode-windows-10-min (1)

Enable Item Checkboxes to easily select and delete files

In file explorer, just click view and check item checkboxes

item-checkbox-min

Restrict PC usage of an account on your Windows PC

For restricting PC usage timings of an account on your windows PC, just open command prompt ad admin and enter code given below.

net user username /Sa-Su,7pm-8pm

Block Particular websites on your PC

Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc on your computer. Now, Copy the file to your desktop, open it with a notepad editor and add two lines in the bottom of the file.

127.0.0.1      www.websitename.com



127.0.0.1      websitename.com

Now, save it and copy and paste it back to etc folder.

hosts-filepng

No, one can open the website, unless you remove these two lines again.

Disable USB Port in your windows PC, so that no one can steal data out

  • Press windows key + r and type regedit in it.
  • Now go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM – > CurrentControlSet – > Services -> UsbStor
  • Now, change the value of start to 4.

disable-usb

Automatically shutdown windows after a desired time

Suppose you are watching a movie and do not know when you will fall asleep.

in this case just press windows key + r and type the code given below in run command box.

shutdown –s –t 600

shutdown-auto

Your PC will automatically shut down after 600 seconds, i.e. 10 minutes. you can change 600 to whatever time you wish your pc to shutdown.

Note:– To cancel this process just type shutdown -a.

View wifi password if you forgot it

Right click on wifi network connection icon in network connections.

2

 

Click on the option called Wireless Properties as shown in the image below.

3



Click on Show Characters box in order to get your current password.

4

You can create a keylogger for yourself with a simple script . Details

keylogger

Create a Shortcut to shutdown your Desktop

Right click on your desktop and create a new shortcut paste Shutdown -s -t 00 in location of the drive field.

shortcut

Save time and Go Directly to a particular settings in Windows 10. just copy and paste these in run command box

Press windows key + r to open run command and paste any one of the command given below to directly go to a particular windows 10 settings.

directly-open-setting-mouse



Battery Saver ms-settings:batterysaver
Battery use ms-settings:batterysaver-usagedetails
Battery Saver Settings ms-settings:batterysaver-settings
Bluetooth ms-settings:bluetooth
Colors ms-settings:colors
Data Usage ms-settings:datausage
Date and Time ms-settings:dateandtime
Closed Captioning ms-settings:easeofaccess-closedcaptioning
High Contrast ms-settings:easeofaccess-highcontrast
Magnifier ms-settings:easeofaccess-magnifier
Narrator ms-settings:easeofaccess-narrator
Keyboard ms-settings:easeofaccess-keyboard
Mouse ms-settings:easeofaccess-mouse
Other Options (Ease of Access) ms-settings:easeofaccess-otheroptions
Lockscreen ms-settings:lockscreen
Offline maps ms-settings:maps
Airplane mode ms-settings:network-airplanemode
Proxy ms-settings:network-proxy
VPN ms-settings:network-vpn
Notifications & actions ms-settings:notifications
Account info ms-settings:privacy-accountinfo
Calendar ms-settings:privacy-calendar
Contacts ms-settings:privacy-contacts
Other Devices ms-settings:privacy-customdevices
Feedback ms-settings:privacy-feedback
Location ms-settings:privacy-location
Messaging ms-settings:privacy-messaging
Microphone ms-settings:privacy-microphone
Motion ms-settings:privacy-motion
Radios ms-settings:privacy-radios
Speech, inking, & typing ms-settings:privacy-speechtyping
Camera ms-settings:privacy-webcam
Region & language ms-settings:regionlanguage
Speech ms-settings:speech
Windows Update ms-settings:windowsupdate
Work access ms-settings:workplace
Connected devices ms-settings:connecteddevices
For developers ms-settings:developers
Display ms-settings:display
Mouse & touchpad ms-settings:mousetouchpad
Cellular ms-settings:network-cellular
Dialup ms-settings:network-dialup
DirectAccess ms-settings:network-directaccess
Ethernet ms-settings:network-ethernet
Mobile hotspot ms-settings:network-mobilehotspot
Wi-Fi ms-settings:network-wifi
Manage Wi-Fi Settings ms-settings:network-wifisettings
Optional features ms-settings:optionalfeatures
Family & other users ms-settings:otherusers
Personalization ms-settings:personalization
Backgrounds ms-settings:personalization-background
Colors ms-settings:personalization-colors
Start ms-settings:personalization-start
Power & sleep ms-settings:powersleep
Proximity ms-settings:proximity
Display ms-settings:screenrotation
Sign-in options ms-settings:signinoptions
Storage Sense ms-settings:storagesense
Themes ms-settings:themes
Typing ms-settings:typing
Tablet mode ms-settings://tabletmode/
Privacy ms-settings:privacy