5 helpful Home windows 11 options I remorse not utilizing sooner

I’ve used Windows 11 for years, but I am nonetheless stunned by how usually I discover new features I did not learn about earlier than. To be honest, 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, they usually may 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 might discovered them earlier.

Clipboard historical past

Hold observe of all the things you have copied to your clipboard

The primary characteristic I need to spotlight is named Clipboard historical past. When you do a whole lot of copying and pasting day by day — whether or not for messaging apps, emails, spreadsheets, or picture modifying — that is a straightforward solution to preserve observe of all the things you have copied so you’ll be able to entry it later. I can not rely what number of instances I’ve copied a picture or hyperlink to incorporate in my notes or ship to somebody, solely to neglect to really do it after which lose it. So, Clipboard historical past has been a lifesaver and a helpful productiveness instrument for copying a number of gadgets without delay 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 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 gadget’s storage

Subsequent up is Storage Sense, a built-in Home windows 11 instrument that mechanically frees up disk area in your system drive (the C: drive) with out deleting any necessary information. Storage Sense deletes gadgets corresponding to non permanent 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 sensible, easy, and it helps preserve your PC freed from pointless information.

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. Once 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 area, however you’ll be able to change this to run weekly, day by 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 information to justify day by day or weekly runs.

Moreover, you’ll be able to configure it to mechanically delete information out of your Recycle Bin. After I checked mine, I nonetheless discovered information from 2024, so I set it to delete information from the bin after 60 days. You can too set Storage Sense to mechanically delete information out of your Downloads folder as nicely, which is beneficial for clearing out setup information you have in all probability downloaded for putting in apps and now not want.

Shake to attenuate

Tidy your desktop in seconds

This characteristic is a nifty one, and if in case you have a behavior like mine of conserving a number of Chrome cases open without delay and working a number of totally different packages concurrently, that is a straightforward solution to reduce all of them immediately to clear up your display. The characteristic is named “Title bar home windows shake,” and it permits you to shake your at the moment energetic window to attenuate 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 useful solution 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 deal with, 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 may want a mouse linked to your laptop computer for this to work

If there’s one factor I consistently 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 taking part in a recreation. This lesser-known characteristic permits you to regulate the quantity in your PC even sooner, without having to press a button in your keyboard or open the fast settings menu.

All it’s important to do is just hover your mouse cursor over the quantity 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 solution to regulate my system quantity on the fly. It is saved my eardrums a number of instances when a video or music is all of a sudden performed at an especially loud quantity. This characteristic ought to work by default with out enabling any settings. Nonetheless, if you happen to encounter points with it, or it is not 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 a whole lot of time by serving to me discover information on my PC a lot sooner. By default, the Home windows Search index is ready to Basic, which suggests Home windows Search solely appears to be like for information in your Paperwork, Footage, and Music folders, in addition to your Desktop. So, if you happen to 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 downside as a result of enabling it permits Home windows Search to index all of the information 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. Once you allow Enhanced, it should take a while for Home windows to index all of the information in your PC, particularly if in case you have 1000’s of information, so you want to be affected person because it does this. When you’re on a laptop computer, I like to recommend plugging it in, as a result of it could actually drain the battery whereas indexing.