5 helpful Home windows 11 options I remorse not utilizing sooner

I’ve used Windows 11 for years, but I am nonetheless shocked by how usually I discover new features I did not find out about earlier than. To be truthful, Home windows 11 is sort 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 lately began using have considerably boosted my productiveness and improved how I handle my PC, they usually might do the identical for you, too. These options are constructed into Home windows 11 and can be found free of charge, so that you needn’t set up any further software program to start out utilizing them. My solely want is that I would discovered them earlier.

Clipboard historical past

Maintain monitor of all the things you have copied to your clipboard

The primary characteristic I need to spotlight known as Clipboard historical past. In case you do lots of copying and pasting each day — whether or not for messaging apps, emails, spreadsheets, or picture modifying — that is a simple approach to hold monitor of all the things you have copied so you’ll be able to entry it later. I am unable to rely what number of occasions 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 worthwhile productiveness device for copying a number of gadgets directly with out dropping 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 prior to now 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

Mechanically preserve your system’s storage

Subsequent up is Storage Sense, a built-in Home windows 11 device that mechanically frees up disk area in your system drive (the C: drive) with out deleting any necessary recordsdata. Storage Sense deletes gadgets comparable to short-term system recordsdata, recordsdata in your Recycle Bin, and outdated Home windows set up recordsdata. 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 sensible, easy, and it helps hold your PC freed from pointless recordsdata.

Relying in your PC setup, Storage Sense may already be enabled however not configured. To show it on and regulate the settings, go to Settings > Storage and toggle on Storage Sense. If you click on on Storage Sense, a menu with varied 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 area, however you’ll be able to 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 suppose I am accumulating sufficient pointless recordsdata to justify each day or weekly runs.

Moreover, you’ll be able to configure it to mechanically delete recordsdata out of your Recycle Bin. Once I checked mine, I nonetheless discovered recordsdata from 2024, so I set it to delete recordsdata from the bin after 60 days. You may as well set Storage Sense to mechanically delete recordsdata out of your Downloads folder as effectively, which is helpful for clearing out setup recordsdata you have most likely downloaded for putting in apps and now not want.

Shake to reduce

Tidy your desktop in seconds

This characteristic is a nifty one, and if in case you have a behavior like mine of preserving a number of Chrome cases open directly and working a number of totally different applications concurrently, that is a simple approach to decrease 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 all the things 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 helpful approach to tidy up my desktop and have some enjoyable. Sadly, it is not 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 need to give attention to, shake it, and all of the home windows behind it will likely 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 linked 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 regulate the amount in your PC even sooner, with no need to press a button in your keyboard or open the fast settings menu.

All you must do is solely hover your mouse cursor over the amount icon in your system tray and scroll up or down to boost or decrease your PC’s quantity. That is it. It is easy, but I’ve discovered it to be the quickest approach to regulate my system quantity on the fly. It is saved my eardrums just a few occasions when a video or music is immediately performed at a particularly loud quantity. This characteristic ought to work by default with out enabling any settings. Nevertheless, in case you encounter points with it, or it is not working, the issue can probably be resolved by going to Settings > Bluetooth & gadgets > 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 recordsdata on my PC a lot sooner. By default, the Home windows Search index is about to Basic, which implies Home windows Search solely appears to be like for recordsdata in your Paperwork, Photos, and Music folders, in addition to your Desktop. So, in case you retailer recordsdata elsewhere in your PC, like on a secondary drive, Home windows Search will not discover them, which might be fairly irritating.

Fortunately, Enhanced Home windows Search fixes this downside as a result of enabling it permits Home windows Search to index all of the recordsdata in your PC, making the search characteristic really helpful. To do that in your PC, go to Settings > Privateness & Safety > Search > Discover my Recordsdata. From there, change the search index from Basic to Enhanced. If you allow Enhanced, it’ll take a while for Home windows to index all of the recordsdata in your PC, particularly if in case you have hundreds of recordsdata, so you could be affected person because it does this. In case you’re on a laptop computer, I like to recommend plugging it in, as a result of it might drain the battery whereas indexing.