5 helpful Home windows 11 options I...

I’ve used Windows 11 for years, but I am nonetheless shocked by how usually I discover new features I did not learn about earlier than. To be truthful, Home windows 11 is kind of a complete desktop working system with many customization options and settings, so it is easy to miss some useful instruments and options hidden in its menus.

Whether or not you are new to Home windows 11 or have been utilizing it for some time, these options I’ve just lately began using have considerably boosted my productiveness and improved how I handle my PC, and so they may do the identical for you, too. These options are constructed into Home windows 11 and can be found at no cost, so that you need not set up any extra software program to begin utilizing them. My solely want is that I would discovered them earlier.

Clipboard historical past

Maintain monitor of every little thing you have copied to your clipboard

The primary characteristic I wish to spotlight known as Clipboard historical past. For those who do lots of copying and pasting each day — whether or not for messaging apps, emails, spreadsheets, or picture enhancing — that is a simple method to hold monitor of every little thing you have copied so you possibly can entry it later. I can not depend what number of instances I’ve copied a picture or hyperlink to incorporate in my notes or ship to somebody, solely to overlook to truly do it after which lose it. So, Clipboard historical past has been a lifesaver and a precious productiveness software for copying a number of objects directly with out shedding any of them.

Clipboard historical past is not enabled by default in Home windows 11, so to activate it, go to Settings > Clipboard and toggle on Clipboard historical past. After doing that, press Win + V (win is the Home windows key), and your Clipboard historical past will seem, permitting you to click on on something you have copied previously to recopy it. To clear your Clipboard historical past at any time, merely click on the Clear all button. If you wish to save a copied merchandise, click on the pin icon on it to pin it.

Storage sense

Routinely preserve your system’s storage

Subsequent up is Storage Sense, a built-in Home windows 11 software that robotically frees up disk house in your system drive (the C: drive) with out deleting any essential information. Storage Sense deletes objects akin to momentary system information, information in your Recycle Bin, and previous Home windows set up information. What I like about Storage Sense is that it automates all these duties for you, eliminating the necessity to ever run Disk Cleanup manually. It is good, easy, and it helps hold your PC freed from pointless information.

Relying in your PC setup, Storage Sense would possibly already be enabled however not configured. To show it on and alter the settings, go to Settings > Storage and toggle on Storage Sense. While you click on on Storage Sense, a menu with numerous choices will seem, permitting you to customise when it runs and what it clears. By default, Storage Sense prompts solely when your system drive is low on house, however you possibly can change this to run weekly, each day, or month-to-month. I set mine to run as soon as a month as a result of I do not assume I am accumulating sufficient pointless information to justify each day or weekly runs.

Moreover, you possibly can configure it to robotically delete information out of your Recycle Bin. Once I checked mine, I nonetheless discovered information from 2024, so I set it to delete information from the bin after 60 days. You may also set Storage Sense to robotically delete information out of your Downloads folder as properly, which is helpful for clearing out setup information you have in all probability downloaded for putting in apps and not want.

Shake to reduce

Tidy your desktop in seconds

This characteristic is a nifty one, and when you’ve got a behavior like mine of preserving a number of Chrome situations open directly and operating a number of totally different packages concurrently, that is a simple method to reduce all of them immediately to clear up your display. The characteristic known as “Title bar home windows shake,” and it permits you to shake your at the moment lively window to reduce every little thing behind it.

This characteristic has been obtainable on Home windows since Home windows 7, when it was first launched as Aero Shake. I’ve discovered it to be a useful method to tidy up my desktop and have some enjoyable. Sadly, it isn’t enabled by default in Home windows 11. To activate it, go to Settings > Multitasking and toggle on Title bar window shake. Then, simply seize any window you wish to concentrate on, shake it, and all of the home windows behind it is going to be minimized, saving you the difficulty of minimizing every one individually. It is each a time-saver and enjoyable to make use of; what’s to not love?

You will want a mouse related to your laptop computer for this to work

If there’s one factor I always do on my PC, it is adjusting the system quantity, whether or not I am in a gathering, listening to music, watching a video, or enjoying a recreation. This lesser-known characteristic permits you to alter the amount in your PC even sooner, without having to press a button in your keyboard or open the fast settings menu.

All it’s a must to do is solely hover your mouse cursor over the amount icon in your system tray and scroll up or down to lift or decrease your PC’s quantity. That is it. It is easy, but I’ve discovered it to be the quickest method to alter my system quantity on the fly. It is saved my eardrums just a few instances when a video or music is instantly performed at an especially loud quantity. This characteristic ought to work by default with out enabling any settings. Nevertheless, in case you encounter points with it, or it isn’t working, the issue can probably be resolved by going to Settings > Bluetooth & units > Mouse and enabling Scroll Inactive Home windows When Hovering Over Them.

Enhanced Home windows Search

Discover any file in your PC sooner

Lastly, the final characteristic I like to recommend enabling is Enhanced Home windows Search. It has saved me lots of time by serving to me discover information on my PC a lot sooner. By default, the Home windows Search index is ready to Traditional, which implies Home windows Search solely seems to be for information in your Paperwork, Footage, and Music folders, in addition to your Desktop. So, in case you retailer information elsewhere in your PC, like on a secondary drive, Home windows Search will not discover them, which may be fairly irritating.

Fortunately, Enhanced Home windows Search fixes this drawback as a result of enabling it permits Home windows Search to index all of the information in your PC, making the search characteristic truly helpful. To do that in your PC, go to Settings > Privateness & Safety > Search > Discover my Information. From there, change the search index from Traditional to Enhanced. While you allow Enhanced, it would take a while for Home windows to index all of the information in your PC, particularly when you’ve got 1000’s of information, so it’s essential be affected person because it does this. For those who’re on a laptop computer, I like to recommend plugging it in, as a result of it might drain the battery whereas indexing.