As a long-time Windows geek, I’ve always loved and relied on keyboard shortcuts. They’re incredible! Like a collection of secret handshakes that can quickly perform useful tasks and dramatically speed up whatever you’re doing on your computer. And yes, keyboard shortcuts are rather secret. Windows doesn’t provide a coach that guides you through the hundreds of keyboard shortcuts you might find handy. They’re just… there. In the background. So, you usually have to seek them out or find out about them the old-fashioned way: by talking with other PC geeks and reading helpful articles like this one. Let me show you the greatest and most practical keyboard shortcuts I actually use all the time. 1. Launch File Explorer If you’re like me, you use File Explorer a lot. With a keyboard shortcut, it’s always close at hand — simply press Windows key + E to launch a new File Explorer window whenever you need one. Related: Useful File Explorer tips to keep under your belt 2. Go straight to Task Manager You probably know the basic Ctrl + Alt + Delete keyboard shortcut, but if you’re using it to open Task Manager, there’s actually a better way: instead, use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut. Related: How to access the old Task Manager in Windows 11 3. Open the Settings app Want to change a setting in the operating system? You usually have to do it through the Settings app. Instead of searching the Start menu, there’s actually a keyboard shortcut you can use: Windows key + I. Then, you can search directly in the Settings app for what you need. 4. Dig through clipboard history Chris Hoffman / IDG Did you know that every time you copy an image or text to the clipboard, Windows keeps a running history of it all? The usual Ctrl + V keyboard shortcut only pastes the last thing you copied — but if you want to paste something you copied much earlier, you can! All you have to do is pull up the clipboard history with the Windows key + V keyboard shortcut. (If you’ve never opened it before, you’ll be prompted for permission to activate the feature.) What’s nice about the clipboard history is that you can even pin certain copied items to the panel, making them quick to find in the future. 5. Insert emojis anywhere Chris Hoffman / IDG Love ’em or hate ’em, emojis have become part of modern communication — and Microsoft knows this, which is why Windows makes it easy to input emojis in nearly any application. All you have to do is press the Windows key + Period or Windows key + Semicolon keyboard shortcuts. Then, use the search field to find the emoji you want (or just scroll through to browse). 6. Type with your voice Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows lets you input text with your voice in nearly any application. To pull up the voice typing interface, just press Windows key + H. You’ll see a floating window (on Windows 11) or a bar (on Windows 10). This feature is called Voice Typing. You can use the settings menu in the window/bar to activate features like automatic punctuation. (By default, you’ll have to speak words like “period” while you dictate text.) Related: I wrote this article using Windows voice typing When Microsoft got rid of the Start menu in Windows 8, they at least had the courtesy to throw a bone to power users: a hidden “power user menu” with quick access to various system settings. And even though Windows 10 brought back the Start menu — which persists into Windows 11 — the power user menu never went away. To open it, press Windows key + X (or right-click the Start button). 8. Lock your computer To protect your computer from unauthorized access — especially in an environment like an office or campus — you should lock your computer whenever you step away. To quickly lock your PC, simply press the Windows key + L keyboard shortcut. 9. Control sound settings Chris Hoffman / IDG If you have multiple sound output devices (e.g., speakers, headphones, wireless earbuds) or multiple sound input devices (e.g., laptop microphone, headset, external microphone), you probably switch between them a lot. Well, you don’t have to dig deep into the Settings app to change between them. You can actually just press the Ctrl + Windows key + V keyboard shortcut to pull up the sound settings menu. It’s also a shortcut to adjusting system volume and per-app volume (using the sliders) and a quick way to pop into the Sound section of the Settings app (by clicking More volume settings). This feature is new to Windows 11, so isn’t available on Windows 10. 10. Snap windows The Snap feature is an essential window management tool for multitasking on Windows 11. You can easily “snap” app windows to edges of the screen using your keyboard. For starters, use Windows key + Left arrow and Windows key + Right arrow to snap the currently focused window to either the left half or right half of the screen. Similarly, use Windows key + Alt + Up arrow and Windows key + Alt + Down arrow to snap windows to the top half or bottom half of the screen, respectively. You can also use shortcuts to move windows to quadrants of the screen. For example, after snapping a window to the left half (using the above keyboard shortcut), keep holding the Windows key and tap the Up arrow to snap it to the top-left quadrant. 11. Activate Snap Layouts Chris Hoffman / IDG As if Snapping itself wasn’t useful enough, Windows 11 also has an additional Snap Layouts feature that makes it easier to snap windows into various configurations. To activate Snap Layouts, use the Windows key + Z keyboard shortcut. You’ll get a pop-up with numbered options — simply press the associated number key to choose that window layout. You can also see Snap Layouts by hovering your mouse pointer over the Maximize button of a window. Or, drag any window to the center-top edge of the screen to see Snap Layout options. 12. Toggle between windowed and full-screen modes in PC games Many PC games offer both windowed and full-screen modes. If you want to switch between them, it can be quite a hassle to navigate to the game’s settings menu, especially if you do it often. Here’s a faster way to switch between windowed and full-screen modes in many PC games: just press Alt + Enter. This doesn’t work in every game, but it does work in many of them. It’s the first thing I try whenever I want to switch between full-screen and windowed modes. 13. Jump between virtual desktops Windows 11 has a feature called Task View that lets you create “virtual desktops” that you can switch between. A virtual desktop is like a separate instance of “the” desktop, and each virtual desktop can hold its own set of running app windows. There are several keyboard shortcuts for the Task View experience, such as Windows key + Tab, which makes it easy to create new virtual desktops, delete existing ones, and jump between them. But once you’ve created a few virtual desktops, an even easier way to switch between them is to use the Windows key + Ctrl + Left arrow and Windows key + Ctrl + Right arrow keyboard shortcuts. 14. Move windows between monitors Do you have a sprawling workstation setup with multiple monitors? You can move windows from one screen to the next by pressing Windows key + Shift + Left arrow (to move the currently focused window to the left display) or Windows key + Shift + Right arrow (to move the currently focused window to the right display). On Windows 11, File Explorer has changed a lot from what it was before, particularly with a streamlined context menu. But some options are only found in that classic, old-school context menu. Rather than first opening the context menu and then selecting Show more options (or even hacking your registry with a workaround), you can actually just use a keyboard shortcut to quickly open the old context menu right away: hold down the Shift key while right-clicking in File Explorer to see the classic context menu. This feature is new to Windows 11, so isn’t available on Windows 10. 16. Edit text faster The Ctrl key is one of my favorite underutilized tricks when it comes to fast text editing. In short, holding down Ctrl makes most keys act on entire words rather than individual characters. For example, Backspace deletes the previous character, but Ctrl + Backspace deletes the previous word. Another example, Left and Right arrows move the cursor by one character, but Ctrl + Left arrow and Ctrl + Right arrow moves the cursor from word to word. And it works with the Shift key, too. By holding Shift, you can highlight text as the cursor moves — so, if you want to quickly highlight multiple words in a row, just hold Ctrl + Shift and then tap the Left and Right arrows. (Try holding Shift with the Home and End keys to highlight entire lines of text with just a few keystrokes!) 17. Reopen a closed browser tab All the modern web browsers — including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge — let you quickly reopen tabs that you’ve closed. It’s easy to remember, too: if the Ctrl + T keyboard shortcut creates a new tab, the Ctrl + Shift + T keyboard shortcut reopens the last closed tab. 18. Alt + Tab in reverse Alt + Tab is one of the most iconic Windows keyboard shortcuts. But, if you have a lot of open windows to cycle through, it may make more sense to cycle in reverse sometimes. In that case, just press Shift + Alt + Tab to go backwards through the list of open windows. And that’s not all: while the Alt + Tab dialog is open, you can also use the arrow keys to instantly jump to the selected thumbnail’s window. 19. Rename files quickly Want to quickly rename a file? With a file selected in File Explorer, just press F2, type the name, and press Enter. I like to navigate between files using the arrow keys, then use the F2 key to quickly rename them. Or better yet: after pressing F2 and typing a file name, press the Tab key (instead of the Enter key) to immediately start renaming the next file in the folder. 20. Save a screenshot as a file Chris Hoffman / IDG The built-in Windows screenshot tools have gotten better, but sometimes you want to skip the tools and immediately save as an image file. To save a screenshot to disk without all the intermediate steps, press Windows key + Print Screen. Your screen will flash as Windows saves the screenshot. After that, you’ll find the screenshot in the Screenshots folder inside your user account’s Pictures folder. Related: How to take smarter screenshots in Windows More Windows productivity tips Honestly, as useful as these keyboard shortcuts are, they’re only scratching the surface of what’s buried in Windows. I’m always hunting down useful tips and features to share with the readers of my free Windows Intelligence newsletter! Be sure to check out this unusually hidden shortcut that works in the Task Manager, too. It blew my mind last year. Even for a grizzled PC geek like myself, there’s always more to discover in Windows.

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is a great all-rounder, and is now 30% off at Amazon

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. TV apps can now poke users for in-app ratings and reviews, thanks to Google Aditya Tiwari Neowin @TheLazyAvenger · May 21, 2025 06:32 EDT It has been years since apps and services have relied on user feedback to improve themselves. Android, one of the biggest operating systems out there, already lets you submit Google Play ratings and reviews through pop-ups displayed inside mobile apps. At its I/O 2025 developer conference, Google announced that the same functionality is now coming to TV apps. The search giant is extending its In-App Rating and Reviews API to TV, allowing developers to prompt users for ratings and reviews directly from Google TV apps. "Ratings and reviews are essential for developers, offering quantitative and qualitative feedback on user experiences," Google said in a blog post. "Users can now see rating averages, browse reviews, and leave their own review directly from an app's store listing on Google TV." When interacting with in-app ratings and reviews, you can select a rating using the remote's D-pad or send a notification to your mobile device and complete the review. You can post an optional written review through your TV using Gboard's on-screen voice input or by typing from your phone. You can submit reviews for other device form factors using your phone by selecting the desired device chip when posting an app rating or writing a review. Lastly, the "Not now" button comes to the rescue if you aren't in the mood to pen down your thoughts about an app. Since the new change is optional for developers, you might not see review prompts in all the apps right away. Google said it is crucial to "first carefully consider the best time to request a review prompt" and figure out "optimal moments within your app" to request user feedback. Prompts for in-app ratings and reviews should appear when the "UI is idle to prevent interruption of ongoing content." Developers should identify successful user journeys, such as finishing a TV show season or a movie. On the flip side, they should avoid bad experiences like playback errors and buffering. Google also announced the Android 16 update for TVs at the conference, and its latest beta is now available to developers. The new update brings improvements to media playback speed, HDMI-CEC reliability, and performance optimizations for 64-bit kernels. It also supports the open-source spatial audio format Eclipsa Audio and MediaQualityManager API, which gives developers control over selecting profile pictures. Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed

Starfish Space plans to perform the first commercial satellite docking in orbit with its Otter Pup 2 mission, aiming to connect to an unprepared D-Orbit ION spacecraft using an electrostatic capture mechanism and autonomous navigation software. NASASpaceFlight.com reports: This follows the company's first attempt, which saw the Otter Pup 1 mission unable to dock with its target due to a thruster failure. The Otter Pup 2 spacecraft will be deployed from a quarter plate on the upper stage adapter of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, placing it into a sun synchronous orbit altitude of 510 km inclined 97.4 degrees. The target will be a D-Orbit ION spacecraft which will simulate a client payload, which is not equipped with a traditional docking adapter or capture plate as you might see aboard a space station or other rendezvous target. Instead, Starfish Space's Nautilus capture mechanism will feature a special end effector connected to the end of the capture mechanism. This end effector will enable Otter Pup 2 to dock with the ION through electrostatic adhesion. "An electromagnet will be integrated into the end effector and will be used as a backup option to the electrostatic end effector, to dock with the ION through magnetic attraction," the company notes. The goal is to eventually commission its Otter satellite servicing vehicle to allow for servicing of previously launched satellites. The company's first Otter missions include customers such as NASA, the U.S. Space Force, and Intelsat, with the goal of flying those missions as soon as 2026. [...] Following the thruster issues on the first mission, this flight will feature two ThrustMe thrusters, which use an electric propulsion system based on gridded ion thruster technology. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An expert character artist shows how to take your character illustration to the next level.

Google announced a host of AI-powered updates to its Search products yesterday, with a major focus on “richer and more vivid” designs. “We’ve been working really hard to up the level of craftsmanship within Google search,” said Rhiannon Bell, Google’s VP of Search UX. At its annual I/O developer conference in California, CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled what he called “a total re-imaging of Search” which with 8.5 billion daily enquiries, brings “AI to more people than any other product in the world.” The new tools announced yesterday include: AI mode and Deep Search, which allow deeper queries, follow-up questions, and let users create “an expert-level fully-cited report” in minutes. Search Live which lets users talk back-and-forth with Search in real time through your camera. AI agents to help with tasks like booking tickets. A data visualisation tool which uses AI Mode to “analyse complex datasets and create graphics that bring them to life.” These will allow users to create custom-built charts and graphs and will roll-out first for sports and finance queries – to compare two stock prices over time, or two teams’ win ratios, for example. The new AI tools are available from today in the US, but Google couldn’t yet confirm when they will be available in the UK. Bell, a British design leader who has been based in San Francisco for the past two decades, said it was a big moment for the brand. “This technology is allowing us to do things that we could have only dreamed of before,” she says. “Bringing the Search product and the AI capabilities together is a phenomenal product and design opportunity.” https://d3faj0w6aqatyx.cloudfront.net/uploads/2025/05/Deep-Search-AI-Mode.mp4 But she explained, there are also a raft of design challenges her team must consider when implementing AI into Google’s product suite. “This technology is incredibly powerful and we are bringing that power into people’s lives,” Bell explained. “I think we have a responsibility to make sure that it is really accessible. “We’re moving so fast, and this technology can do so many things, I do worry sometimes that we’ll over-complicate things. And so we have protocols around making sure we’re keeping certain aspects of what Google’s really good at – at in terms of its core simplicity – as sacred as possible.” Bell said there was “a constant dialogue” between the design leaders to ensure they are “staying true” to the Google Search product. https://d3faj0w6aqatyx.cloudfront.net/uploads/2025/05/Complex-Analysis-Data-Visualization-AI-Mode.mp4 Alongside this simplicity, Bell also explained the team was focused on creating more crafted UX across the new tools. “I really wanted to make sure that we were bringing the vividness, the variety, and the visual richness of the open web to the foreground,” she said. This will show up in the way images are displayed and organised, Bell said, as well as new shopping experiences and specific design elements like the eclipse – a new waveform that appears when users are speaking with the AI tools. https://d3faj0w6aqatyx.cloudfront.net/uploads/2025/05/Search-Live-AI-Mode.mp4 The wave goes up when people speak to their device, and down when the AI model is responding, and Bell says it’s designed to create “synergy” across different touchpoints in a visually pleasing way. More broadly, Bell says she understands designers’ anxiety around AI and what it might mean for the profession. But she is optimistic around the opportunities for skilled designers to translate AI into usable, and exciting, interfaces. “I feel like UX is actually having a bit of a moment,” she says. “Our role in shepherding this technology to people everywhere is so important. It’s not going to happen without us. “AI is changing our discipline, but I think it’ making us more capable. And I think the nuances of user experience design, and that dialogue with users, are very hard to replicate.” Other announcements at I/O included Google Flow, a new AI filmmaking tool, and a new version of its image-generation tool Imagen. The new model is said to be “significantly better at spelling and typography.” Google also unveiled its new Google Glasses, which use Android extended reality (XR). The tech giant will partner with eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to design glasses that people “want to wear all day.” The move echoes Meta’s collaboration with Ray-Ban on its XR glasses. https://d3faj0w6aqatyx.cloudfront.net/uploads/2025/05/Agentic-Capabilities-AI-Mode.mp4

On the surface, the towering pile of fake banknotes stacked in the window of a glistening skincare store could be interpreted as a marketing stunt, but behind the glass, the message is serious. The Cost of Influence – a new physical installation created by Uncommon for The Ordinary – was designed to highlight the hidden fees consumers pay for celebrity endorsements in the beauty industry, not tucked away in the ingredients list but embedded in the price. The campaign, live during the brand's flagship relaunch, makes The Ordinary's positioning crystal clear: no inflated costs, no gimmicks, just science-backed skincare. "What the industry is trying to keep under wraps is the complete opposite of transparency," says Joe Sare, art director at Uncommon. "Brands are paying significant sums of money for celebrities to endorse their products and passing those costs onto the consumer. So, we decided to reveal this 'secret ingredient' to the world, to reinforce the brand's commitment to being truly open." Far from a traditional ad campaign, the team leaned into something more visceral that people could touch, feel, and share. At the heart of the installation is a cold, almost sterile stack of imitation cash, deliberately stripped of the polish we might associate with retail window dressing. "A huge pile of money feels quite cold, and at first glance, it could almost look like a pile of rubbish," Joe explains. "Then, your eyes are drawn to the words on the window that explain what you're seeing, and the penny drops – no pun intended." The display's impact lies in its tension: blending stark visual simplicity with an idea that demands a second thought. Uncommon consciously leaned into that duality. "While the installation was physical, we went into the process with social virality in mind," says Joe. "We did play around with other, more intricate ways of showing the money – it flying around in a box, shapes other than the pile, making it interactive – but we landed on this execution as the most honest and impactful way of telling the story." On the glass, bold copy spells out that one of the most expensive ingredients in many beauty products is influence. Alongside the pile are tongue-in-cheek "price tags" assigning monetary values to fictional endorsements—the going rate, perhaps, for a 'celebrity serum' or moisturiser marketed by your favourite A-lister. Rather than preaching or pointing fingers, the tone is playful and inclusive. "We're ultimately on the audiences' side," says Marco Del Valle, Planning Director at Uncommon. "This isn't about judging them for buying other brands, but revealing something to them that they likely were not aware of." For a brand like The Ordinary – whose identity is rooted in radical transparency – the message isn't an opportunistic call-out but a reflection of its founding values. "The Ordinary is not anti-celebrity," Marco continues, "but it is against using unnecessary, bolt-on ingredients that ultimately cost customers more… and often the most expensive ingredient is a celebrity endorsement." That clarity of perspective helped shape the creative direction. According to the Uncommon team, the collaboration was genuinely collaborative—not just signed off but co-authored. "They're a dream to work alongside," says Joe. The entire team has such a strong sense of what the brand stands for and a deep passion for bringing that to life. We were on the journey together at every stage… from the creative to the messaging. It's a true partnership." The work also taps into a broader shift in what audiences want and expect from brands, especially in beauty and wellness, where the mood is turning from aspiration to honesty. "We've always set out to build the brands people wish existed," says Marco. "And for us, a big part of this is doing work that uncovers and/or addresses real cultural tensions. Every single category has multiple tensions and untold stories within it – the world of beauty is no exception." What's striking is how the piece walks the line between creative expression and brand activism without slipping into moralising. Instead of issuing a lecture, it sparks a conversation, both on the high street and online, where its simplicity proved especially shareable. According to Joe, most passers-by stopped to take pictures, with social sentiment "overwhelmingly positive." For Uncommon, it marks another step in its evolution as a studio that blends brand storytelling with cultural critique. As Marco puts it: "We are living in an increasingly fragmented, hyper-visual reality. Social media has shortened our attention spans and increased the need for brands to create thumb-stopping content. "On top of this, in the current socio-economic climate, consumers are becoming more discerning about the companies they choose to engage with. They're looking for brands with depth, brands that stand for something." In that sense, The Cost of Influence is a provocation, holding a mirror up to an industry and nudging us to question what we're buying into.

Better than a good gun 3D model is only an animation of the gun being disassembled, which is exactly what Julen Araujo let us feast our eyes on.The Mauser C96 model, also known as "broomhandle," unpacks in a beautifully satisfying animation thanks to Araujo's talented hands.You can see his other works with "a totally correct amount of polys" on X/Twitter. There's not only weapon art, so be sure to check it out even if guns are not your thing.But if you are into weapons, check out this unusual Tribuzio gun, a cool LEGO Glock, and a rifle made of wood.Ron FrölichYulong HuangIvan GusevJoin our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.

Bethesda has announced that Doom: The Dark Ages has become developer id Software's "biggest launch" in the company's 34-year history dating back to 1991.The game reached 3 million players, and did so seven times faster than Doom Eternal. Bethesda did not share any sales numbers, however, nor do we know how much was spent on development, marketing, and other expenses. Developers are known to closely guard these kinds of details, which makes it challenging to unpack the overall success of a given game.Another key thing to consider here is that Doom: The Dark Ages launched on Game Pass, whereas the previous games in the trilogy, Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal (2020) did not. According to Ampere Analysis, of the 3 million total players for Doom: The Dark Ages, 2 million came from Game Pass.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Details about the upcoming Spiral Abyss in Genshin Impact have leaked, with Version 5.7 promising to have a somewhat easier endgame than previous updates. Despite not having a map expansion, Version 5.7 is set to debut two new Genshin Impact characters, a game mode, and the next chapter of Dainsleif's storyline. While it will be a dry patch in terms of Primogem income, it should keep players entertained until Mare Jivari opens its doors in Version 5.8.