Mine is using the arrow keys to navigate typed text while writing and editing. It helps speed things up, versus having to move your hand to the mouse to navigate.

Use the Up and Down Arrows to move/jump vertically.

Left and Right Arrows to move/jump horizontally.

Combine Left or Right Arrow with Shift to be able to select text. Use Up or Down Arrow with Shift to quickly select whole/nearly whole sections of text.

Combine Control with Left/Right Arrow to jump whole words to more quickly move to where you want to type.

  • moe93@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    66·
    9 days ago

    To navigate to the previous folder

    cd -

    To reissue the previous command with a prefix. For example:

    cat /root/.ssh/authorized_keys # Will fail without privilege

    sudo !!

    To use the argument of the previous command. For example:

    tac ~/.ssh/authorized_keys # oops, misspelled cat

    cat !$

    • owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
      26·
      9 days ago

      Oh dang, I never knew about the !! shortcut. I especially like it for the sudo example, because when it complains I don’t have permission, I can basically yell at it.

      • davidgro@lemmy.world
        21·
        9 days ago

        I’ve seen posts suggesting adding the following to your .bashrc:

        alias fuck='sudo $(history -p \!\!)'
    • hornywarthogfart@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      13·
      9 days ago

      The - works with git branching as well for those who didn’t know. git checkout - will switch to the previously checked out branch so it effectively toggles between your two most recent branches.

    • Luc@lemmy.world
      2·
      8 days ago

      Not sure if you’re aware that tac is not a typo but reverse cat, as in, it works like cat but prints the last line first. I use this semi-regularly

      sl, now, that’s a typo. Nobody wants a free choo choo

    • macniel@feddit.org
      32·
      9 days ago

      That’s not even a life hack. That’s literally policy, at least where I work at :)

      • davidgro@lemmy.world
        16·
        9 days ago

        Not everyone knows the keyboard shortcut though. I bet you can find people hunting for it using the mouse every time.

        • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radioEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          At my old job (tech support), I watched a new hire once highlight text, right click for the context menu, and click “copy”. And then right-click to hit “paste”. Every time. They didn’t know a single shortcut for anything. It was maddening to watch.

          I gave em a lot of help because they were clearly not particularly tech savvy, but it made me wonder how the hell they got through the interview process with such a limited skillset.

        • Rusty@lemmy.caEnglish
          5·
          9 days ago

          How can people not use shortcuts? If that shortcut wouldn’t exist, I would create it using Autohotkey

      • spittingimage@lemmy.world
        5·
        9 days ago

        None of these comments are life hacks. When did using a documented feature built into your software become a hack?

      • Szyler@lemmy.world
        2·
        7 days ago

        With open shell to replace the start menu:

        Windows - > right right enter for shutdown.

        Wibdows - > right right up up enter for hybernate

    • shplane@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      7 days ago

      If anyone left their computer unlocked at my old job, the entire office was getting an email about how much you love Justin Bieber

  • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.me
    36·
    9 days ago

    Keyboard shortcuts in general.

    • Alt + left right (previous/next page in browsers)

    • Windows + 1 (2, 3, …) on Windows and KDE focuses the window at that position in the taskbar

    • Alt + Tab to switch windows (hold shift to go backwards)

    • Windows + Tab to switch windows within the same application (like, all browser windows if you’re in a browser)

    • Alt + 1 (2, 3, …) on Windows/Linux usually selects the corresponding tab

    • Ctrl + Tab to cycle through tabs like Alt-Tab does for windows (hold shift to go backwards)

    • In most browsers or things with a URL/go to bar, Ctrl+L will focus that. No need to click the address bar, Ctrl+L, example.com, Enter.

    • In Discord and Slack, you can press Ctrl+K to open a box to quickly type a channel/DM name to go to it quickly

    • If you have them, the Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys are actually pretty useful. Press Home instead of scrolling all the way back up.

    • F1 is usually help

    • F2 is usually rename

    • F3 is usually search

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zipEnglish
      12·
      9 days ago

      F6 - goto and highlight the URL bar in a browser

      ctrl + F5 - clear cache and reload the tab

      F11 - super full screen browser

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
      5·
      9 days ago

      I’ll add some mouse ones: if you have thumb buttons they are next/previous page.

      Mouse wheel down clicking on a link opens it in a new tab.

      Mouse wheel down clicking on a tab label closes the tab (no need to hunt for the little x).

  • Bahnd Rollard@lemmy.world
    35·
    9 days ago

    Microsoft has never fixed the sticky keys replacement cheese to unlock a PC you have physical access to. Ive done it up to W10, never tested it on W11.

    1. Get a Windows recovery USB.

    2. Boot into the recovery menu and open the command prompt.

    3. Navagate to system32 and make a copy of the cmd.exe file (for a backup)

    4. Copy the sticky_keys.exe and have it overwrite cmd.exe, then reboot.

    5. On the login screen, smash the shift key until the command prompt appears and for some reason (because no user has logged in yet) it has admin permissions, so you can reset local passwords.

    6. Once your logged in as a local admin, copy the backup of cmd.exe back so noone is none the wiser (except the security software that knows you messed with something)

    • feannag@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      17·
      9 days ago

      That… Seems like a pretty massive vulnerability. Like obviously that can be locked down by each user or administrator, but still…

      • Sheldan@lemmy.world
        8·
        9 days ago

        It is, we used the same just with the accessibility button in earlier Windows Versions to troll one another in school. Thing is, if encryption is enabled it won’t work.

        • Züri@lemmy.ml
          2·
          9 days ago

          Not having the disk encrypted is the same as writing the password on the frame of the screen.

          • Bahnd Rollard@lemmy.world
            7·
            9 days ago

            Exactly, bitlocker or disk encryption prevents this from working and because you need some means of editing the file system outside of the user permissions, also physical access is required. At this point your are pretty much authorized to unplug the box and walk out of there with it (even if your not supposed to).

    • ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip
      4·
      9 days ago

      This seems like a lot of work to bypass a password on an unencrypted drive. You can access all the files using a bootable Linux drive.

      • Kornblumenratte@feddit.org
        3·
        9 days ago

        They are already using the Windows recovery disk. This is not about accessing the disk, but to access the OS with admin rights.

    • Krudler@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      8 days ago

      I used to use a boot CD with a password eraser. I think the last time I used it was win 7 though

  • TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    32·
    8 days ago

    Are you serious? arrow keys instead of clicking? let’s take it further:

    shift+arrow highlights letters
    ctrl+arrow skips entire words
    ctrl+shift+arrow highlights entire words
    home/end jumps to start/end of line
    ctrl+home/end jumps to start/end of text box
    ctrl+shift+home/end jumps to start/end of textbox and highlights it
    um, do you need me to explain what ctrl+xcv do? or ctrl+zy? or ctrl+asdwerfgop?

    isn’t this just basic typing? didnt yall learn this in the 90s??? how are you all on the internet right now

    wait til you hear about how i swipe texted all this

  • hansolo@lemmy.today
    32·
    9 days ago

    Find a Linux distro you like and install it instead of Windows.

    Use LibreOffice, not MSOffice

    Ditch Google, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

    Tech walled gardens are insane asylums. Leave them.

  • zxqwas@lemmy.world
    29·
    9 days ago

    Vim takes your keyboard shortcuts to the extreme. If you can be bothered to learn it.

    • Jarix@lemmy.world
      1·
      8 days ago

      True. But also if you are going to use arrow keys to navigate you will want to also know where your scroll lock key is because it’s almost useless unless you use arrow key navigation

  • Bitflip@lemmy.ml
    19·
    9 days ago

    Ctrl+r on bash and zsh (possibly others) for quickly recalling anything you’ve typed before

    • hornywarthogfart@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6·
      9 days ago

      This is a huge one for me. For those who don’t know, this brings up the rev-i-search utility which allows cycling from most recent to oldest commands executed. It also supports partial finds so if you did ‘cd’ it would cycle the most recent change directory commands.

      The forward search (in case you’re somewhere in the history stack) is ctrl+s and operates the same except crawls the command history forwards.

      I use these constantly in my normal workflow and they save a ton of time.

      • Mr. Satan@lemmy.zip
        3·
        8 days ago

        I use zsh autosuggestion and syntax highlighting plugins it gives me usable history search and completion functionality.

    • thatradomguy@lemmy.world
      3·
      9 days ago

      less configuration needed

      Would say that GNU/Linux is actually *more * customizable than Windows which then requires more config. For a techie like me, not a downside as I can figure it out… but wouldn’t say this is true for all distros even with vanilla Gnome compared to Windows or something like ZorinOS. IMO, GNU/Linux still takes the cake on this one unfortunately.

      • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        8 days ago

        Yeah, I understand the mindset behind “if I tell people Linux is easy, they might actually switch.” Getting people to switch means overcoming a lot of social inertia. But the issue is that this makes you an unreliable source when a newbie inevitably runs into issues. They’ll be more likely to go “eh I was told it was easy but this isn’t. I guess it’s just not for me.”

        Providing a realistic outlook may make Linux sound less appealing, but it will mean those who do try it are more likely to stick with it.

    • kadaverin0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      3·
      8 days ago

      I don’t know shit about Linux but I’ve been using Mint for the last year with no problem. It’s pretty idiot-proof and I haven’t had any issues with software since gaming is largely solved on Linux and Adobe can eat my ass.

  • JamonBear@sh.itjust.works
    17·
    9 days ago

    Using ublock origin picker to remove everything useless. Like, Youtube suggestions, everything but download button on ddl websites, useless footers/headers on news, etc…

    • thermal_shock@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      9 days ago

      Just getting people to switch away from chrome to get ublock origin is a major hack all itself and completely changed the way you use the internet.

  • jaschen306@sh.itjust.works
    15·
    9 days ago

    Yay, nobody said my favorite hack.

    While browsing on the web and you want to “open link into a new tab”, click using the mouse wheel like it’s a regular left or right click.

    It’s great for researching.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    15·
    9 days ago

    Keyboard shortcuts for everything. Mousing to a menu is a waste of time in any app you use daily.