Make windows Better
Expert tips for every version
WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 Keep your laptop running when you close the lid
Laptops’ tiny screens, small keyboards and fiddly touchpads can make them awkward to use for anything longer than an hour. If you use your laptop as your main PC at home, you may prefer to attach it to a separate monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Problem is, once you’ve attached everything to your laptop, it will shut down or go to sleep when you close the lid. To carry on using your laptop with the lid closed, right-click the battery icon (in the system tray, bottom-right corner of the desktop), then select Power Options. On the left side of the window that opens, select ‘Choose what closing the lid does’.
In the ‘When I close the lid’ box under the ‘Plugged in’ heading, select ‘Do nothing’ (see screenshot above). We don’t recommend doing the same for the ‘On battery’ settings, since this would result in your laptop running its battery down when you close the lid. Once you’ve done this, click ‘Save changes’. When you next use your laptop with an external monitor, make sure your laptop is plugged in, then close its lid. Your laptop will now continue to run, allowing you to use it with your external monitor.
WINDOWS 10 Quickly dismiss Windows notifications
The notifications that slide in from the bottom-right corner of the desktop can be useful (such as alerting you to a new email), but if
you’re busy working they can also be a distraction. If one appears and you want it gone, simply press Windows+shift+v (we find it easier to use two hands to do this), then press the Delete key. The notification will immediately shuffle out of view, letting you get back to what you were doing. Alternatively, if you’ve had enough of the notifications altogether, you can turn them off by opening Settings (Windows key+i), clicking System, ‘Notifications & actions’, then moving the setting ‘Get notifications…’ to Off (see screenshot left).
WINDOWS 10 Make room on your taskbar
When you’ve got lots of programs open, your taskbar can get cluttered. Give it room to breathe by hiding the ‘Type here to search’ box that hogs more than its fair share. To do this, right-click an empty section of the taskbar, click Search, then select Hidden (see screenshot above). Don’t worry, you won’t lose your ability to use the Windows Search tool – simply click the Start button (or press the Windows key on your keyboard), start typing and the Search tool will appear.