5 lesser-known Home windows 11 options I...

Windows 11
boasts quite a lot of

useful tools and tricks
that customers can simply entry while not having to put in extra apps or software program. In the event you’re new to Home windows 11 or desperate to discover contemporary methods to make the most of Microsoft’s newest working system, you are in the appropriate place.

In the event you’re seeking to work together seamlessly together 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. Under are 5 lesser-known (and underrated) instruments that I depend on each day to reinforce my Home windows 11 expertise and workflow.

5

Cellphone Hyperlink

Ship texts and make calls out of your PC

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

In the event you’re coming from macOS, the Home windows Cellphone Hyperlink instrument is the same expertise to utilizing iMessage in your Mac. If you wish to entry your telephone’s messages and notifications in your PC, make calls, or share information,

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 comply with the setup directions. You possibly can then join your smartphone to your PC by way of Bluetooth and customise the notification settings accordingly.

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

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Take the right screenshot

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Subsequent up is a instrument I depend on most whereas utilizing Home windows 11: the Snipping Tool. In the event you’re unfamiliar with it, it is primarily used for taking screenshots. I take advantage of 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 to seize. You may as well use the Snipping Software to take display recordings, which I continuously do at any time when I must doc one thing occurring on my pc, comparable to when troubleshooting a difficulty.

To open the Snipping Software, press the Print Display screen (PrtSc) key in your keyboard. Alternatively, you’ll find it utilizing Home windows search. As soon as it is open, within the high bar, you possibly can select to take both screenshots or recordings. There are additionally 4 totally different modes you possibly can select from: rectangle, window, full display, or free type. I take advantage of rectangle mode once I must seize a particular a part of my display, and I take advantage of full display once I wish to take a screenshot of my complete display, comparable to when taking part in a recreation.

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3

Digital Desktops

Nice for separating work and leisure

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

One in every of my favourite Home windows 11 instruments flies beneath the radar for a lot of customers, although 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. In the event you continuously use your PC for work and leisure, this can be a nice method to separate the 2.

I at all times have two digital desktops working: one with all my work functions open, comparable to Slack, Photoshop, and Chrome, and one other with all of the apps I take advantage of in my downtime, comparable 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 possibly can click on the overlapping rectangles within the taskbar after which choose New Desktop. On the Digital Desktops display, you possibly can handle all of the apps you may have opened on a selected desktop and transfer apps between your totally different desktop environments. You may as well rename them to make them simpler to maintain monitor of. If you wish to swap between totally 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

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

To make use of Snap Layouts, hover over the Maximize button on an app to see totally different structure choices. Alternatively, once you seize a window, you possibly can drag it to the highest of your display to view varied Snap Format decisions. The structure I typically use divides two apps evenly on my display, which I discover particularly useful whereas researching, as I can break up my display 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 most important monitor. The variety of structure decisions obtainable is determined by the scale of your show. I take advantage of two 27-inch screens, and Home windows offers me with 9 totally different Snap Format choices on every. Nonetheless, on my 16-inch Asus Zenbook laptop computer, I solely get 5.

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1

Dynamic Lock

Hold your PC protected

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

You probably have a behavior of strolling away out of your pc with out locking it, this instrument can assist defend your PC from prying eyes. It is known as Dynamic Lock, and it really works by routinely locking your PC once you distance your self from it by detecting the Bluetooth connection out of your telephone. In the event you work in an workplace constructing, this characteristic may be particularly useful in case you overlook to lock your PC.

To allow Dynamic Lock, navigate to Settings > Accounts > Signal-in choices > Dynamic Lock. If 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 have to to pick your telephone as a Bluetooth gadget once more for it to work.

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