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Jamie Durham
IT Correspondent
5:00 AM 13th November 2021
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10 Time-Saving Computer Hacks You Didn’t Know You Needed – Part 1

 
photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash
photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash
As we all lead busy lives both in and out of the work environment, time is often of the essence. We want – and need – things to be as uncomplicated and straightforward as possible, so that we can cram everything we need to into our day.

Technology is one of the many areas in our society that is advancing at a rapid pace, and a lot of the devices, apps, programs, and software we use every day is designed to streamline and speed up the tasks we carry out regularly. And yet, while you may use your desktop or laptop every day with ease, there is another world of time-saving, life-changing hacks to uncover.

Jamie Durham, founder of IT firm Systemwork, shares some insight into 10 quickfire ways to maximise those minutes and make your activity online as time-savvy and enjoyable as possible.

1) Opening tabs

While opening a tab the ‘traditional’ way – by clicking the ‘new tab’ button at the top of your browser – doesn’t necessarily take lots of time, there’s a way to make this quick job even quicker. If you press Ctrl + T, you can watch the magic happen in the blink of an eye.

2) Grouping tabs

Staying on this topic, when it comes to browsers, if you’re a Google Chrome user and you’re driven mad by the catalogue of tabs open during your time online – but you know you need them all – this one’s for you. If you right click one of your tabs, you’ll have the option to ‘add tab to new group’. Once you do this, you can give your group a title and a colour, meaning you can declutter and collate all relevant tabs easily in one place!

3) Downloading images shortcut

Ok, so you’re on Google and you want to download an image – what do you do? Of course, the ‘old-school’ right click and ‘saving image as’ trick does the job, but what if I told you that by pressing Alt and clicking on the image would download it in record time? Well, it does – give it a try!

4) Navigating multiple windows

So, you could have lots of tabs open when you’re online, but what if you also have a load of different windows open too? Swapping between applications can be time consuming with all the clicking, but by pressing the Alt and Tab keys, this will display a thumbnail view of all the windows you have open, and to move from one to the other quicky, you just have to press the Tab key again – it’s a firm favourite!

5) Speeding up start-up

Are you left feeling annoyed by the length of time it takes your device to turn on and load your desktop? It could be a case of too much ‘icon clutter’. If you have lots of individual icons on your screen, it can make your computer run much slower – the trick is to organise the icons into folders and pin any apps you can to your taskbar.

I hope this handful of tips saves you some time when you next fire up your device and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the second instalment, which contains the remaining five hacks, which are equally as life-changing as these ones!