GET PRODUCTIVE

[ STEP BY STEP ]

01 CLEAR YOUR WORKSPACE

Left-click and hold on the title bar of the window you want to work in, then shake the mouse left and right while holding the button down. Every other window on your screen will minimise neatly to the Taskbar, giving you some space to think. To minimise everything, click the unlabelled button at the far right of the Taskbar, or hover your mouse over it for a temporary effect.

02 USE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

One of the fastest ways to navigate Windows is with the keyboard. A shortcut can open a window or setting that would take three or more clicks of the mouse. Some of the best include ‘Win-E’, which opens a new File Explorer window, ‘Win-I’ to open Settings, ‘Alt-Tab’ to flick between open apps, and ‘Win-number’ which opens pinned apps in the Taskbar by position.

03 MORE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Move your active window around using ‘Win-arrow keys’, and minimise all but the active window using ‘Win-Home’. ‘Ctrl-Alt-Tab’ displays already-open apps for you to choose from, and while ‘PrtScn’ saves a screenshot to your clipboard, pressing ‘Win-PrtScn’ saves it to your Screenshots folder. You can also open Task Manager with ‘Ctrl-Shift-Esc’.

04 EASILY CONVERT CURRENCY

Open the Calculator app and pop out the menu using the three-lines icon at the top left. Here, you’ll find various options, including scientific and programmer calculators, plus converters for currency, mass, length, volume, angle and more. The currency converter automatically updates its rates at launch, but there’s an Update button if you need the absolutely latest figures.