Everyone loves a great makeup. No matter how well we know an app or program, we almost always have a keyboard shortcut we’ve never learned. The same goes for hardware: we can use gadgets every day without realizing their useful quirks.
A good example is Zoom, which was recently discovered for the first time by millions of Americans. Tap or click here to see the 11 best Zoom tricks you would like to know first.
During the quarantine, you may be spending a lot of time with the technology you already have, especially if you work in a home office. You don’t know, you could do things the “hard way” when you could grab the corners for free.
Not to mention the freebies, tap or click here for 15 technical updates you can get for free, including free programs that work like Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office.
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Insert the USB drive correctly the first time
Connecting the USB cable correctly seems useless. So why do we so often fail on the first try?
Here’s the secret: take any USB cable in the house. See the symbol on the other side? It’s not just the branding or the decoration. This symbol faces up if you connect the cable horizontally and if you connect the cable vertically, the USB symbol faces you. Now you know.
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Reopen the closed browser tab
It happens all the time. You have a dozen tabs open in your browser and accidentally close the wrong tab. You can open your browser history and reopen the tab from there, or you can do it with a few keystrokes.
Press Ctrl + Shift + T on the PC or Command + Shift + T on the Mac to automatically reopen the newly closed tab.
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Share the YouTube video on a specific point
If you see something in a YouTube video that you want to share at a certain moment, you can get a link that takes people directly to that moment, you can get a link that takes people directly to that moment. Click the Share button below the video. Find the checkbox below the link. It will automatically show the time the video is currently paused.
You can stay during this period or choose another time. Copy the link and share it on your favorite social media or send it to a friend. When someone views the link, the YouTube video will automatically go to the location you’ve selected.
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Search with “Site:” to find content like a ninja
A Google search can produce millions of results. Reduce it significantly by searching on just one site using Google’s Site: feature. Like this: “site: komando.com”, but omit the quotes.
A tip: you can type the search term “site: komando.com” in the address bar of your browser and you don’t have to go to Google. Again, no quotes are needed.
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Report spam and report it to scammers
Spam is downright annoying. You can block them, but it’s also nice to take action.
Submit texts to the GSMA reporting service with just a few clicks. Forward the message to 7726 (guess what that means?) Or just click “Report Spam” in your messaging app.
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Use your voice in Google Docs
I bet you already use your phone’s text-to-speech feature to dictate text messages or even emails, but did you know you can do the same in Google Docs? It’s free and works surprisingly well.
So start dictating. Voice typing also recognizes commands such as “comma”, “period” and “new paragraph”.
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Download movies from Disney Plus
Each streaming service has a different policy for downloading and watching offline video content. Netflix was a major limitation until 2016. However, Disney Plus immediately allowed this option. The download icon is located at the bottom of the menu. The Disney Plus app also allows you to download any titles that can fit on your hard drive.
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Cut out the screenshot
Screenshots are common practice, but often take more than necessary. Exposing too much of the screen in an image can compromise your safety. Instead, you can take a screenshot with precision cropping to include just what you want.
On a Mac, press Command + Shift + 5 to bring up a rectangle that you can edit as many times as you want.
In Windows 10, go to Start, type Snipping Tool in the search bar. This will give you a similar box that you can drag across the screen in any shape.
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Search for WhatsApp chats
Messages accumulate over time, regardless of the platform used. We want to find that funny quote or important address, but it gets lost in a sea of disorder. WhatsApp may be the most downloaded app of the decade, but many users don’t know that you can search for your messages just like Google.
The iOS versions have a search bar. There is a search icon for Android. Either way, look for words unique to a particular conversation to determine exactly what message you’re looking for.
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Cancel sending the email
Have you sent an email for one person at all? Gmail has the option to cancel sending an email by changing any of the settings before writing the email. Tap or click here to see the exact steps.
This message recovery allows you to edit typos, incorrect recipients, subject lines, and even forgotten attachments.
Make sure you set the setting higher than the default of five seconds. Honestly; five seconds isn’t even long enough to realize you’ve made a mistake, let alone hit the Cancel button. Fortunately, there’s an option in Gmail’s settings to pause email delivery for up to 30 seconds.