Category: news

Running out of Windows 11 storage? Here’s how to free up disk space on your PC

 The last thing you want is a hard drive with little or no storage space. A nearly full hard drive can negatively affect your entire computer, which will inevitably slow it down and cause your applications to crash more frequently. The only fix is ​​to clean the drive and delete the large files that are taking up the most space, and Windows 11 makes it easy to get rid of unwanted files.

Instead of downloading third-party software to free up disk space, Windows 11 can configure some settings to quickly delete temporary and system files and old downloads. If you’re worried about deleting important files, don’t worry. Windows 11 will help you decide which files to delete to improve your PC’s performance.

How to Automatically Free Up Space on Windows 11

On a Windows 11 computer, go to Settings -> System -> Storage. If this is your first time accessing this setting, please wait a few seconds for your computer to analyze your data storage. Once Windows has gathered what it needs to know, you can see your total free memory at the top of the page. Below it, you’ll see a breakdown of storage, divided into Apps & Features, Temporary Files, and Others. You can also click Show more categories to see further breakdowns.

However, the setting we’re interested in is Storage Sense, which automatically frees up space on your computer when you’re running low on disk space. It does this by deleting temporary files, emptying the recycle bin, and getting rid of old downloads in the background without you having to do it manually.

To turn on Storage Sense, just turn it on here. If you click Settings, you can configure several functions:

1. Run Storage Sense: Run Storage Sense when disk space is low (default) or on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

2. Delete files from My Recycle Bin if they have existed for more than 1 day, 14 days, 30 days (default) or 60 days.

3. Delete files in My Downloads folder if they haven’t been opened for more than the following time: select Never (default), 1 day, 14 days, 30 days, or 60 days.

These Storage Sense settings can help you limit which files are deleted and when, so you don’t have to worry about any important files getting wiped from your computer.

At the bottom of the page, you can click Run Storage Sense Now to use the feature.

If you want to delete more files to free up space, use the cleaning suggestions below Storage Sense. If you click it, it will scan your system and recommend files you manually delete, such as temporary files, large or unused files, files synced with your cloud, and unused applications.

>>>>>>>>>>Laptop battery

Why does my smartphone charge slower when the battery is nearly full?

 You should have an odd question – your smartphone seems to be charging relatively quickly until it’s about 80% charged? It takes longer to reach 100%, why? This is due to the way your device handles lithium batteries.

Three stages of lithium battery charging

Lithium batteries have three charging stages, each designed to protect the battery in its most vulnerable state. these are:

1. Constant current precharge, also known as “trickle charge”

2. Constant current regulation mode

3. Constant voltage regulation mode

precharge

The first stage applies when the battery is depleted or when the battery voltage is below 3.0 V. The battery must be reactivated slowly to prevent problems caused by the battery being left in a discharged state for extended periods of time. A battery’s passivation layer is a protective layer that forms as part of a normal chemical reaction and may need to recover, and low-voltage trickle charging allows this to happen.

This pre-charge phase typically takes place around 10% of the maximum charging speed. This explains the delay in powering a fully discharged smartphone. For example, a depleted iPhone will often display a depleted battery symbol for a few minutes before reaching the necessary voltage for normal startup.

During the precharge phase, the current remains constant (but at a lower rate than in the next charge phase), while the voltage gradually increases.

Constant current charging

Once the battery reaches 3.0 V, your phone will start charging gradually faster. During this phase of charging, the current is set to a constant high rate, while the voltage is increased over time. This is the amount of time your device will charge at its fastest speed, as well as using any available fast charge modes.

This phase charges the battery to approximately 80% of capacity in the shortest time battery safety allows.

Constant voltage charging

Once the battery reaches about 80% charge, charging switches to constant voltage regulation mode. At this point, the voltage is held constant to keep the battery at maximum state of charge, while the current is slowly reduced. This prevents overcharging and avoids damaging the battery. This also means that as the charge level approaches 100%, the charging speed will slow down.

The current will continue to drop until the battery is charged to near capacity, at which point charging will stop completely. At this point, you’d better take your smartphone out of the charger.

If you leave the phone connected, the battery will discharge slightly until it reaches around 3.9 to 4 V, at which point the top-up charge will take place. The device will continue to discharge and charge as long as you connect it to the charger.

How does this affect fast charging?

You may have noticed that some smartphone manufacturers advertise that fast charging can charge your device to “50%” or “80%” in a short amount of time. This is because fast charging is conditional. If your battery is already high, fast charging is unlikely to provide much improvement.

Fast charging can only be used during constant current regulation of charging. Once you reach constant voltage regulation mode or the battery capacity is around 80% or higher, safeguards are in place to protect the battery from damage.

Overcharging the battery is a bad idea. At best it can cause damage, affecting the battery’s ability to stay charged, but at worst it can cause the battery to gradually heat up, causing bodily harm. Fortunately, modern smartphones manage the charging process for you to prevent this from happening.

How a smartphone can further protect your battery

Lithium batteries are not susceptible to the dreaded “memory” effect that old rechargeable batteries suffer from, where they “forget” their charge capacity unless fully discharged first. Lithium batteries are not foolproof, and they do lose capacity with each charge cycle over time.

The charge cycle is not just from 0% to 100%, but represents the cumulative wear and tear of the battery. For example, charging from 50% to 100% on two consecutive days uses a full charge cycle. Some smartphone makers have taken steps to avoid premature battery aging through a feature called optimized charging.

Optimize charging work by charging your device to 80% and waiting. By learning about your habits and routines, the device will be in the final stages of charging to coincide with when you’re most likely to remove the charger, such as when you wake up in the morning.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>Phone battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of your device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk

Windows 11 is draining battery – here’s how to fix it

 Is your computer dying too fast? If you’re using Windows 11, there are some tips and tricks, like preventing apps from constantly refreshing in the background or reducing the lock screen timeout, which can help extend your PC’s battery life. Here’s what you need to know!

Prevent apps from refreshing in the background

Apps on your computer run in the background and continue to work even when you’re not actively using them. For example, they can send you notifications when you receive text messages, emails or comments on social media. However, you don’t always need to refresh apps, especially when the battery is low, which is why you can stop them from doing so:

1. Open the Settings app and go to System.

2. Click Power & Battery.

3. Click on now under battery (you must unplug it).

When enabled, certain notifications and background activities will be suspended to help preserve battery life.

There are also some settings you can use to improve battery saver: you can change the battery percentage when battery saver is enabled, and reduce screen brightness when battery saver is in use.

Decrease the refresh rate of the monitor

The refresh rate is how often the image on the screen is refreshed per second: the higher the refresh rate, the smoother the action on the screen. Unfortunately for your battery, a higher refresh rate also means more power. If you don’t need a high refresh rate, you can lower it to help save battery:

1. Open the Settings app and click System.

2. Next, go to Display, then Advanced Display.

3. Finally, change the number displayed next to “Choose a refresh rate.”

Depending on your laptop or desktop, you may see different default refresh rate numbers. If you only have one refresh rate option, unfortunately you can’t lower it.

Also, it’s important to note that if you lower the refresh rate, it will affect your computer’s performance. In some cases, this can make it more difficult to perform routine tasks.

Use a dark background or theme

If your Windows 11 computer has an OLED display, it can take advantage of dark backgrounds or themes to help extend battery life. Unlike older LCD/LED displays, each pixel on an OLED display emits light individually, which means if the background is black, those pixels won’t light up and use battery.

1. Open the Settings app and click Personalize.

2. At the top of the page, select a dark theme.

There are some dark themes to choose from. Each of them dims your background and all the windows and certain apps you can use in Windows 11.

If you already have a personalized dark background, you can go to Settings > Personalization > Colors > choose your mode and choose Dark from the options that appear.

Decrease lock screen timeout

The longer the screen is on, the more energy it uses, which is why you might want to quickly turn it off when you’re away from your computer, whether it’s a few minutes or an hour.

1. Open Settings and go to System.

2. Next, click Power & Battery.

Below Power, you’ll find settings for turning off the display after a certain amount of inactivity. You can change the minutes from whatever default you have to a lower number. However, you should only change the battery power settings for the times when you need to save battery the most.

>>>>>>>>Laptop’s battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of your device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk

How to Download Android 13 Beta 2 on Your Phone Now – How-To

 Android 13 beta is currently in its second iteration, and if you want to test some unreleased features and settings, you can do so right now.

The process of installing the developer preview isn’t too difficult, but it’s not easy either. It involves unlocking developer options, downloading fairly large files, factory resetting the device, and more. Fortunately, downloading and installing the new Android 13 beta is much simpler.

The final version of Android 13 will eventually be the easiest way to get it, but it’s still months away. If you really want to get an early look at what’s to come — as long as you have a supported Android device, like a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro — you can start testing Android 13 Beta 2 right away.

Is the Android 13 beta safe to download?

While the Android 13 beta is more polished than the Android 13 developer preview, you should still expect bugs that might make your phone harder to use with this release. If you’re willing to deal with these issues, or if your device is a backup of your everyday phone, you can download the Android 13 beta. Also, make sure to back up your device before downloading the Android 13 beta, in case something goes wrong or you decide to quit the program later.

Which Android devices are compatible with the Android 13 beta?

Currently, only some Pixel smartphones support Android 13:

Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4A, Pixel 4A (5G), Pixel 5, Pixel 5A, Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro

How to download the Android 13 beta on your supported device

The easiest way to download the Android 13 beta on your phone is to go to the Android Beta for Pixel page on your computer, check if your device is supported, and sign up for the Android 13 program.

Under your Eligible Devices option, you should see if your phone is supported.

As long as you haven’t signed up for the Android 12 Beta or Android 13 Developer Preview, you’ll see the option to opt in. If you’ve signed up for the pre-releases above, you don’t need to do anything to get Android 13. You should automatically receive the update on your phone.

To sign up for the Android 13 beta, click Opt-in, then click Confirm and sign up after reading the terms and conditions. You should see a notification that your device is now in the Android 13 beta program.

You will then receive over-the-air updates on your phone. If you don’t get notifications on your phone, go to Settings > System > System Updates to check for your Android 13 update. It may take up to 24 hours to receive OTA updates.

How do I opt out of the Android 13 beta?

To exit the Android 13 Beta program, go back to the Android Beta for Pixel page, but this time click Exit. Within 24 hours, you should receive an OTA update on your phone, which will wipe all your locally saved data and give you the latest public version of Android at the time.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Phone battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to buy or replace batteries, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk

If Windows is upgraded, Windows won’t shut down! how to fix

 The lore of PCs that no longer boot after a simple update has been lost, even requiring a full format to get up and running again! Fortunately, things are very different with Windows 10: Updates are tested for a long time, well-timed patches are released every month, and traffic accidents are very rare.

But that doesn’t mean that bugs don’t happen even today: if we are one of the unfortunate users, the PC is blocked after an update or doesn’t shut down in the update screen. Below we’ll show you all the steps to take to get back up and running in no time without having to proceed with the risky disk formatting.

Force restart

If our computer stops on the “Preparing Windows, do not turn off the computer” screen for more than an hour, then there is a problem with the updater. In this case, we disregard the advice of the computer itself and press the restart key or hold down the power key for a few seconds on a stationary PC to get a forced restart or shutdown.

On the next system boot, if the problem is temporary, we will see the same screen again and probably finish the process. If the update screen is still blocked, let’s wait at least an hour to rule out any heavy updates: if the system is still blocked, we can proceed with one of the other suggestions in the guide.

Remove stuck updates

If the PC fails to boot properly due to an update error, we force restart the system three times in a row: doing so will launch the Emergency Recovery Console, which you can use to delete this pending update.

In the window that will appear, click the Advanced Options button, click Troubleshooting, then click Advanced Options again, and finally click Command Prompt to open the prompt window.

At the prompt, we type the following command:

dism/image: C:\/cleanup-image/revertpendingactions

We press Enter or Enter on the keyboard to confirm. All pending updates will be removed, so you can restart your system immediately without locking the screen again. To exit the console, go back to the first screen and press Continue .

When the system starts, Windows may ask you to install the update again: currently we can avoid installing it by blocking Windows Update, even though this process is not recommended.

boot repair

To proceed with Startup Recovery, open Recovery Console, press Troubleshoot, then Advanced Options, and finally Startup Repair.

As soon as the item is clicked, the Windows Diagnostics tool will start: at this stage we don’t have to do anything but wait to restore the settings needed to boot the operating system properly. After a few minutes of recovery attempts, the system will reboot and it can be accessed again without any blocking.

system Restore

If we had the foresight to activate System Restore before the crash, we could have solved all our problems at once by returning to a known working Windows configuration. System restore usually creates an image before the update, otherwise we would have to use one of the restore points we created.

To continue, we force restart the PC three times in a row, click Advanced Options, then Troubleshoot, select Advanced Options again, and click System Recovery. In the new screen, press the account on the PC, enter the password if necessary, and select the restore point to use in the recovery tool window. After a few minutes, your PC will be up and running again without a crash on startup.

Fully restore Windows 10

If the procedures indicated so far are unsuccessful and the system remains locked, you have no choice but to try to restore Windows, keeping your personal files. To continue in this sense, we start the Recovery Console again, press Troubleshoot again, and click Reset PC.

After pressing Reset PC, we choose to keep personal files , and we confirm the recovery operation. In the latest version of Windows 10, you will also be asked if you want to download an updated version of Windows 10 from the cloud: we also confirmed this opportunity, so you can update your system without downloading another update.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Windows battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of your device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk

How to keep your MacBook battery healthy and extend its lifespan

 The latest Apple Silicon MacBook offers incredible all-day battery life in optimal conditions. However, battery health inevitably declines with age, so how do you maintain that performance in the long term? Here are a few things you can do, check them out!

Keep Optimized Charging On

iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks can take advantage of a feature called Optimized Charging to monitor your usage patterns and adjust charging behavior accordingly. The optimal balance point for lithium batteries is between 40% and 80%. Charging to 100% or letting your battery percentage drop too low is considered bad for the battery. A fully charged battery stores a higher voltage, which puts more stress on the battery.

You can find this setting under System Preferences > Battery > Battery. Once your Mac learns your daily habits, it waits for your device to be fully charged so the battery spends less time at 100%.

If you charge your laptop overnight and go to work every day at 8am, your MacBook will wait for the last 20% or so of the top-up. If for some reason you happen to leave an hour early, you may find that your battery is not fully charged. The same applies to iPhone and iPad.

Don’t leave your MacBook plugged in all the time

It’s impossible to “overcharge” a MacBook battery while it’s plugged into a power source. If you keep it plugged in, the battery won’t overheat or damage any other components. The one exception is if you start noticing bulging batteries, a serious problem that can lead to injury.

The aforementioned optimized charging feature can keep your laptop plugged in, but it’s not foolproof. If your laptop never leaves your desk, or your schedule is particularly erratic, macOS may not be able to determine when to delay charging the battery.

That’s why it’s best not to leave the machine on the charger all the time. Ideally, you’ll want to drop the battery down to 40% before charging it to around 80% for best results. This ensures that the battery is not overstressed by the high pressure required to reach 90% or 100%.

Avoid exposing your MacBook to extreme temperatures

Generally speaking, extreme temperatures are bad for your MacBook. Extreme heat is notoriously bad for technology, and researchers have found that extreme cold can crack the metal used in lithium batteries, separating the cathode from the rest of the battery. Storing the cathode at sub-freezing temperatures “caused the battery to lose up to 5% of its capacity after 100 charges compared to batteries stored at higher temperatures.”

The solution is to make sure your laptop isn’t exposed to extreme temperatures. Don’t leave it in the car overnight in winter. MacBooks are not ruggedized laptops and are not designed for extreme weather conditions.

Consider using AlDente Pro to manage charging

If you’re really keen on preserving your MacBook battery for as long as possible, the free app AlDente might be of interest to you. The app allows you to set charging limits so that your MacBook stops falling below maximum capacity at a percentage of your choosing. By default, this is 80%.

The free version only has a charge limiter and discharge mode, allowing the MacBook to run on battery even when plugged in. This allows you to discharge the battery to a “healthier” percentage without removing the power connector.

AlDente only works with macOS Big Sur or later, and works best on most MacBooks produced in 2016 or later. Earlier laptops lost support for some features, but most post-2013 models support the all-important charge limiter feature.

Check your MacBook battery health

If you want to know the state of your battery, you can go to System Preferences > Battery > Battery and click on “Battery Health…”.

To see a more detailed look, including charge cycle counts, click the Apple logo in the upper-left corner of the screen, then click About This Mac, then click System Report on the Overview tab. Scroll down to “Power” and under “Health Information” you should be able to see the battery’s cycle count.

>>>>>>>>>>>Apple battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of your device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk

Apple: How to Drain Water from Apple Watch

 Everyone knows the latest Apple Watch is designed for everything related to water sports and fitness, and it’s an ideal smartwatch for those looking to track laps in the pool or see how far they’ve surfed . But water-based tracking for wearables also comes with a handy water feature: water lock.

The Apple Watch may be water resistant up to 50 meters, but that doesn’t mean water won’t get into the wearable when you swim, surf, or even shower. Water Lock keeps your Apple Watch locked while you’re in the water, or even squirts water when you’re done. Here’s how to use the Apple Watch’s Water Lock feature. Let’s have a look!

How to Drain Water from Apple Watch

Anyone with an Apple Watch Series 2 or newer can easily turn on Water Lock. Just like you use your Apple Watch as a flashlight, you can turn it on by visiting Control Center. Turning it on locks the screen so it doesn’t respond to inadvertent input when the user is in water, and turning it off using the Digital Crown makes it easy to squirt water from the Apple Watch’s speakers.

Below you’ll find a quick guide to turning your Apple Watch’s water lock on and off to spray water:

1. On Apple Watch, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access the Control Panel.

2. Once opened, scroll down and tap the water drop icon.

3. A water drop icon will appear at the top of the watch face.

4. To spray water, turn the Digital Crown until the display reads “Unlocked”.

5. A series of sounds will play to the clear water in the speaker. Once done, the Apple Watch is ready to use.

You can do this multiple times if the water is still there. It’s a handy feature for any swimmer and surfer, and it’s even useful in the shower. Although, Apple doesn’t recommend using its wearable in the shower because soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and fragrances can affect it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>Apple battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of your device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk

Apple: Preview new iPhone and Mac accessibility features that could seriously change lives

 Apple has revealed a slew of new innovations for its hardware with a strong push for accessibility, features that will be implemented via software updates later in 2022.

New software features developed using machine learning include door detection for users who are blind or low-vision, and a real-time captioning system for those who are deaf or hearing impaired, and Apple Watch Mirroring for those with physical and visual impairments, movement disorders, and smartwatch control via iPhone Ability.

Let’s take a deeper look at these features, starting with door detection, which, as the name suggests, allows iPhone and iPad users to locate doors when they arrive at a new place.

The feature uses lidar, so requires a device with a lidar scanner (iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 – Pro and Pro Max – phones, and various iPad Pro models), built into the Magnifier app. It can determine whether a door is open or closed, if the latter, how it opened, and the user’s distance from the door, plus it can read any signs or characters on the door.

The magnifying glass will gain a new detection mode that will play the role of door detection and will also provide features like person detection and image description.

People who are deaf or hard of hearing can access Live Captions on iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers, allowing captions to be generated on-device for everything from video chats to watching streaming content. In FaceTime, captions are automatically attributed to the person in the call, while on Mac users have the option to type in a reply and have them read it aloud in real time.

Note on device support that only supports Macs with an Apple chip, or you need an iPhone 11 or later, or for an iPad, models with an A12 Bionic chip. Initially, Live Captions will debut in beta form (and thus still in testing — Apple observes that the accuracy of captions “may vary”) only in English.

The last major accessibility revelation Apple made here was the introduction of Apple Watch Mirroring, which allows people to use their iPhone to control their watch. In other words, users can benefit from smartphone accessibility features such as voice control and switch controls when interacting with the Apple Watch, voice commands to turn on the watch, head tracking, and more.

The new Quick Actions for Apple Watch also allow users to control with simple gestures, such as answering (or ending) a call with a double-pinch gesture.

Note that you need an Apple Watch Series 6 or newer to benefit from the mirroring feature.

>>>>>>>>>>>Apple battery

All ways to turn off your iPhone, even if it’s locked

 Turning off your iPhone isn’t always easy, especially if it’s frozen or not working. In the following guide, we’ll show you all the effective ways to turn off your iPhone. These methods are different and once we learn all of them, even if the iPhone is locked or we find something wrong (such as the shutdown button is broken or stuck). Let’s have a look!

Turn off iPhone using hardware buttons

The easiest and most direct way to shut down your iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, or iPhone 12 is to press and hold the volume up key and the side button for 5 seconds, then turn it from the left as soon as the shutdown slide appears . Start the classic shutdown procedure on the right (works in any case where the iPhone is working properly).

If we have iPhone versions older than iPhone X (eg iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7, etc.), classic shutdown can be done by holding down the power button for a few seconds until the shutdown slideshow is displayed.

Shut down the iPhone from the operating system

To shut down your iPhone directly from the system, open the Settings app, go to the General menu and scroll through the list of options until you find the Shutdown item. After pressing the item, the classic shutdown slide will appear, which we can drag to the right to complete the process. Even with little use, this process helps to shut down the phone without pressing the power button, and it’s useful if we’re having hardware issues with the physical buttons.

Force restart iPhone

If our iPhone seems to be frozen or unable to turn it on or off, then it is better to learn the key combination that we can force restart any iPhone on the market. To restart a locked iPhone, we can follow these steps:

iPhone X or later: Quickly press and release the Volume Up key, quickly press and release the Volume Down key, and finally press and hold the Side key. We also release the side button once we notice the Apple logo.

iPhone 8 or iPhone SE (2nd generation): Also in this case, we quickly press and release the volume up key, press and quickly release the volume down key and hold the side key. When we see the Apple logo, we can release the key.

iPhone 7: Press and hold the Volume Down key and the Standby/Wake key at the same time. When the Apple logo appears, we release both keys.

iPhone 6s or iPhone SE (1st gen): On these phones, we press and hold the Standby/Wake button and the Home button at the same time. Once we see the Apple logo appear, we release the keys.

How to turn off a locked iPhone

The side buttons usually don’t work if our iPhone gets stuck on startup, along with the force unlock procedure seen above. In this case, we recommend that you first charge the phone by connecting it to a PC with iTunes via a cable; after about 2 hours, we can use the program to enter Apple’s DFU mode. The keys to enter this special mode are as follows:

On iPhones prior to iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Plus (with mechanical Home button): We were afraid to press the power button for about 3 seconds, and immediately after that we also held the Home button (without releasing the button) for about 10 seconds, we Release the button power and press and hold the home button for about 8 seconds.

On iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Plus (with virtual Home button): The process is the same as seen above, the only difference is that we have to use the Power and Volume Down keys instead of Power and Home .

On iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X and later: Press Volume Up once, then immediately press Volume Down once (two touches must be quick) and hold the side button until the iPhone screen goes black. When the screen goes black, release the side button and hold the side button and volume down button at the same time for about 5 seconds; after 5 seconds, we only release the side button and keep pressing the volume down button until a warning message appears on iTunes.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>iPhone battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of your phone or device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk

Windows 11 hidden features will make your computer better serve you

 These features can help you save battery and get the most out of Microsoft’s latest updates. Whether you use your computer for work or personal life, now is a great time to master some of Windows’ productivity features. These built-in tricks can help you with everything from setting up taskbar shortcuts to saving battery power. Microsoft isn’t usually as candid about its hidden features as Apple, which can sometimes make it harder to figure out how to take advantage of all that Windows has to offer. But we’re here to give you our list of hidden features you can start using today to get the most out of Windows 11. Let’s have a look!

1. Minimize every window except the active window

If your desktop screen is overcrowded with open windows, you can quickly minimize them all except the one you’re currently using. You’ll need to turn this feature on in Windows 11 by going to Settings, System, Multitasking and turning on Window Shaking in Title Bar. Just click on the title bar of the window you want to keep open to select it. Then, hold down the mouse and quickly move the window back and forth — basically shaking it. After a few quick shakes, all other open windows are minimized, leaving only the one you shaken.

2. Open the “Secret” start menu

You know that to get to the Start menu, you need to click the Windows icon at the bottom left of the screen or on the keyboard. But Windows 11 includes a little-known second Start menu, which you can access in two different ways, by pressing Windows key + X or by right-clicking the Windows icon/Start button.

3. Screenshot on Windows 11

There are at least eight different ways to take screenshots with Windows. If you want to capture and save a picture of the entire screen, the easiest way is to press the Windows key + Print Screen key, and the picture will be saved to the Pictures > Screenshots folder.

To capture only a portion of the screen, press Windows key + Shift + S to open a tool called Snip & Sketch, which allows you to click and drag to create a screenshot and save it to the clipboard.

4. Use keyboard shortcuts to open pinned items from the taskbar

If you’ve pinned programs to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen to create shortcuts, you don’t need to click an icon to open them. Instead, use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + [number keys], which correspond to the location of pinned programs on the taskbar.

5. Know how much space an app takes up

The computer starts to run slower due to lack of space. A quick way to speed them up might be to get rid of apps that take up more space than they should, especially if you don’t use them often. To see how much space apps, temporary files, and documents are taking up, navigate to Settings > System > Storage. Click Show more categories to see the full list. To find out what to throw, click Cleaning suggestions to see Windows 11 suggestions.

6. Close background apps to save battery

To control which apps run in the background and save some battery power and data, go to Settings > System > Power & Battery. Tap Battery Saver, then make adjustments to limit certain notifications and background activities while Battery Saver is on.

7. Use background scrolling for multiple windows

The feature should be on by default, but if not, go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse and toggle Scroll inactive windows to On when I hover over them. You can then mouse over the window in the background and use the wheel to scroll.

8. Show File Extensions in File Explorer

Microsoft hides file extensions by default, making it difficult for people who need to find certain types of files. To view file extensions in File Explorer:

1. Using Search in the taskbar, type File Explorer Options, and then click it.

2. In the pop-up window, click the View tab.

3. If checked, uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types box. Click Apply, and then click OK.

You can also use the File Explorer options menu to choose to show empty drives, hide files and folders, and more.

9. Use Focus Assist to reduce distractions

It’s frustrating trying to get work done when you’re constantly interrupted by notifications. You can determine how much you get with Focus Assist.

Set it up by going to Settings > System > Focus assistant. Choose from three options: Off, Priority Only (view only selected notifications from your customized priority list, and send the rest to your Action Center), and Alerts Only (hide all notifications except alerts ).

>>>>>>>>>>Laptop battery

Thanks for reading, hope it helps!

Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk