All of us have and use windows 10 for some time now and we are sure we know a lot (if not all) of what windows have to offer.... or do we?
Here are some "unknown" tricks that can help make everyday use, a bit more fun but also make people say " Windows does that???"

1. Access a Start Menu for power users


No, it's not the "GOD MODE" link that we can put on the desktop but it's a little undocumented feature.

Windows 10 has a hidden Start Menu that contains some useful tools for Windows power users, such as the task manager, command prompt, device and disk management, and others.

To get to this menu, you’ll need to either

1.

Right-click the Windows button on the taskbar
2. Use the Windows key + X shortcut on your keyboard.

Its the fastest way to access those windows tools and no special programs needed.








2. Aero Shake: Quickly minimize all windows except the active one.



The “Show Desktop” function has been around since Windows 95, but up until now, there was no way to just minimize all windows except the one you’re looking at.
In Windows 10, all you’ll need to do is to grab the window by its title bar and give it a shake. All inactive windows will minimize, as you see on the small example above.
If you want them back, just shake again.


3. Gestures for laptop Users.



We all know the standard gestures from phones like pinching to zoom or using two fingers to scroll up and down. Those work similarly on a windows 10 laptop.
In addition to those gestures, there are a few added gestures that are Windows 10-specific.
Swipe three fingers up and you’ll see the task view
Swipe three fingers to the right / left acts like Alt-Tab
Swipe three fingers down to accesses the desktop.
Tapping three fingers on the trackpad brings up Cortana (is it's still active),
Tapping with four fingers brings up the Action Center.


4. Make Your Command Prompt Window Transparent.



We see it often in movies or various Linux screenshots, with the command windows being semi-transparent and the text in cool green colors.
You can do that too in windows 10 by simply right-clicking at the top of the window (1) to prompt a pop-up menu and choose "Properties.". Click over to the "Colors" tab (2) to see a range of personalization options. At the bottom of this tab, you'll find the "Opacity" slider (3), which allows you to see through the Command Prompt window.





4. Access or minimize your quick-start apps without using the mouse.

Use the combo [window key] + [1] to [9] to activate or minimize the corisponding programs from your taskbar.



Use the numeric keys on the top of the keyboard.




As you can see in this small demo, while the mouse is in the middle of the screen, pressing win+2 windows explorer
starts which is the 2nd icon. By pressing win+2 again it gets minimized.



I hope you will find the above useful. Feel free to share your thoughts or other tricks you might know.
source/creator:
Cyler TEAM OS

 

Last edited: Dec 12, 2020

Well... I'd just install PowerToys and SysInternal's stuff and leave it at that, maybe adding stuff like Resplendence's tools for crash dumps or DPC latency.

 

Win+E is what I use the most. It opens windows explorer with the Quick Access tab highlighted (then I pin my most used folders to the Quick Access tab) You do that by right-clicking on a folder and selecting "Pin to Quick Access".

Another cool one: Click on any textbox (like where I'm typing this comment right now) and hit Win+V... you get a list of your most recent clipboard entries. (You can open it without selecting a textbox too, then whatever clipboard entry you click will be copied to the active clipboard and you can CTRL-V paste it)

 

Last edited: Dec 11, 2020

And QuickLook. Preview images, files, audio and other things with Space Bar.
Took me longer than most to realize Win+Shift+S lets you screenshot
+1 for PowerToys. System-wide color picker is useful, especially for all you visual creatives

 

Last edited: Dec 11, 2020

i want Aero Shake for 7

 

In case anyone's interested, tips 2 (aero shake) and tip 4 (quick app launch) also work on win7.

 

That clipboard trick is AWESOME!

I love Win+E too, but I remove the "Pin to Quick Access" from context menu to sake context more efficient. (see https://www.tenforums.com/threadloom/threadloom.php?query="context menu" ).
It is easy enough to drag shortcuts there.
I remove all "Pin to..." and various ones i don't need for the same reason, and use Easy Context menu (https://www.sordum.org/7615/easy-context-menu-v1-6/) to create my own.

 

Last edited: Dec 12, 2020

I mentioned Powertoys previously but it has this cool feature that for Win+? combos you just hold the Win key and it shows what shortcuts are available.

 

"All of us have and use windows 10 for some time now..."
Not really...

But your tips are useful for those not so proficient in Windows. Thanks Gyro.

There should be a tread for power users who work with the registry, command line, powershell etc. I know Windows like the palm of my hand. That's why I use Linux for everyday work.

 

Last edited: Dec 12, 2020

Windows still exists?

 

Thanks guys! I was not aware of the screenshot tool and clipboard history and was using Screenpresso and Ditto for that purpose.
Another handy hotkey for me is CTRL + Shift + N inside of File Explorer to quickly create a new folder.

 

The biggest Windows trick for a bunch of years now is: use Total Commander (or somthing like this).