5 lesser-known Home windows 11 options I can not r...

Windows 11
boasts quite a lot of

useful tools and tricks
that customers can simply entry with no need to put in extra apps or software program. When you’re new to Home windows 11 or desirous to discover recent methods to make the most of Microsoft’s newest working system, you are in the proper place.

When you’re seeking to work together seamlessly along with your

phone on your PC
, seize screenshots or recordings, and handle a number of home windows extra effectively, Home windows 11 gives a spread of instruments designed to perform all that and extra. Beneath are 5 lesser-known (and underrated) instruments that I depend on each day to boost my Home windows 11 expertise and workflow.

5

Cellphone Hyperlink

Ship texts and make calls out of your PC

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

When you’re coming from macOS, the Home windows Cellphone Hyperlink software is an analogous expertise to utilizing iMessage in your Mac. If you wish to entry your cellphone’s messages and notifications in your PC, make calls, or share recordsdata,

Windows 11 Phone Link
can do this and way more.

To start utilizing Cellphone Hyperlink, merely seek for it within the Home windows search bar. From there, open the app and begin the setup course of with both an Android gadget or an iPhone. Then, scan the QR code on the app and observe the setup directions. You’ll be able to then join your smartphone to your PC by way of Bluetooth and customise the notification settings accordingly.

Cellphone Hyperlink mechanically connects to your smartphone everytime you boot up your Home windows PC. I discover Cellphone Hyperlink handy for making cellphone calls on my PC and responding to textual content messages on the fly with out pulling my cellphone out of my pocket.

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Take the right screenshot

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Subsequent up is a software I depend on most whereas utilizing Home windows 11: the Snipping Tool. When you’re unfamiliar with it, it is primarily used for taking screenshots. I exploit it each day to rapidly seize the screenshots I would like for work, because it permits me to pick which a part of my display screen to seize. You can even use the Snipping Device to take display screen recordings, which I continuously do each time I must doc one thing occurring on my laptop, similar to when troubleshooting a difficulty.

To open the Snipping Device, press the Print Display screen (PrtSc) key in your keyboard. Alternatively, you will discover it utilizing Home windows search. As soon as it is open, within the high bar, you may select to take both screenshots or recordings. There are additionally 4 completely different modes you may select from: rectangle, window, full display screen, or free kind. I exploit rectangle mode after I must seize a particular a part of my display screen, and I exploit full display screen after I wish to take a screenshot of my complete display screen, similar to when taking part in a sport.

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3

Digital Desktops

Nice for separating work and leisure

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

One among my favourite Home windows 11 instruments flies beneath the radar for a lot of customers, though it is accessible on the taskbar from the second you boot up Home windows 11 for the primary time. That characteristic is Virtual Desktops, which lets you create separate desktop environments in your PC. When you continuously use your PC for work and leisure, it is a nice method to separate the 2.

I at all times have two digital desktops operating: one with all my work purposes open, similar to Slack, Photoshop, and Chrome, and one other with all of the apps I exploit in my downtime, similar to Steam, Discord, and Spotify. This characteristic not solely retains me targeted but additionally helps me declutter my desktop by displaying solely the apps I would like at that second.

To entry Digital Desktops your self, you may click on the overlapping rectangles within the taskbar after which choose New Desktop. On the Digital Desktops display screen, you may handle all of the apps you will have opened on a selected desktop and transfer apps between your completely different desktop environments. You can even rename them to make them simpler to maintain monitor of. If you wish to change between completely different desktop environments rapidly, hit Win+Ctrl +Left/Proper Arrow to navigate between them.

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2

Snap Layouts

Multitask like a professional

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

When you multitask continuously in your Home windows PC, Snap Layouts will develop into your greatest buddy for managing a number of home windows successfully on one display screen. Whereas the Snap characteristic has been obtainable since Home windows 7, it acquired a big improve in Home windows 11 with the introduction of Snap Layouts, which lets you select from varied structure choices to arrange your home windows.

To make use of Snap Layouts, hover over the Maximize button on an app to see completely different structure choices. Alternatively, once you seize a window, you may drag it to the highest of your display screen to view varied Snap Structure decisions. The structure I typically use divides two apps evenly on my display screen, which I discover particularly useful whereas researching, as I can break up my display screen between the doc I am analyzing and my notes.

I additionally make the most of Snap Layouts on my second monitor to evenly divide apps, like Spotify and Slack, whereas engaged on my essential monitor. The variety of structure decisions obtainable is dependent upon the scale of your show. I exploit two 27-inch screens, and Home windows gives me with 9 completely different Snap Structure choices on every. Nonetheless, on my 16-inch Asus Zenbook laptop computer, I solely get 5.

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1

Dynamic Lock

Maintain your PC protected

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

In case you have a behavior of strolling away out of your laptop with out locking it, this software might help shield your PC from prying eyes. It is referred to as Dynamic Lock, and it really works by mechanically locking your PC once you distance your self from it by detecting the Bluetooth connection out of your cellphone. When you work in an workplace constructing, this characteristic could be particularly useful in case you overlook to lock your PC.

To allow Dynamic Lock, navigate to Settings > Accounts > Signal-in choices > Dynamic Lock. Whenever you flip it on, Home windows will immediate you to pick a Bluetooth gadget for the characteristic to operate. Dynamic Lock is separate from Cellphone Hyperlink, so you will have to pick your cellphone as a Bluetooth gadget once more for it to work.

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