“How come no one told me?” That’s what you’ll think if you don’t know this tip. On your Mac, click on a file and hit Return. Now, you can type in a new name. On a PC, click, wait a beat, then click again. Done!
Panic fast, fix faster
ChatGPT
You’ve got 13 seconds to undo, unplug, swipe or save your digital dignity. That’s your window to salvage your glitchy app, that accidental “Reply All” email or your phone freezing mid-sentence.
Don’t scream, at least not yet.
☕ 1. Spilled something on your laptop? Flip it upside down. Immediately. Don’t sit there staring at the mess like it’s a Greek tragedy: “Oh, Zeus! How could I have done this to me?”
Unplug, flip and do not power it on to “check.” That’s how things get fried.
✉️ 2. Sent the wrong email? Hit “Undo” in Gmail, you’ve got five to 30 seconds.
Set your undo window to the max in Settings > See all settings > Undo Send > Save changes (you’re welcome).
Now, when you accidentally write “Hey, dummy” instead of “Hi, Debbie,” you’ve got time to recover.
💻 3. Closed the wrong browser tab? Know the magic keys. Ctrl + Shift + T (Windows) or Command + Shift + T (Mac). This miracle combo reopens your last closed tab like nothing ever happened. A true tech time machine.
📱 4. Phone glitching? Hard restart. Hold the buttons like your digital life depends on it.
- Android: Press and hold the power button for about 30 seconds. Easy, right?
- iPhone: Press the volume up button, then the volume down button. Do this quickly, one after the other. Now, press and hold the side power button until you see the Apple logo pop up.
🗑️ 5. Deleted a file you actually needed? Check the trash. It’s almost always there unless you shift-deleted. In which case … yikes. For Android, open Google Photos > Collections > Trash to recover any photo or video. On iPhone, look in Photos > Recently Deleted under “Utilities.” Remember, you have 30 days before they disappear forever.
🎯 The moral of the story is that you’ve got a tiny window to save yourself from disaster. When tech goes sideways, don’t freeze. Act fast.
DNA? Do Not Ask: After last year’s data breach leaked info from 7 million customers, 23andMe is bankrupt but still legally obligated to pay out. If you were a customer affected by the breach, you’ve got until July 14 to file a claim. Hope your genetic trauma came with receipts.
Protect your Word doc: Got sensitive info you’d rather keep private? Lock the file with a password. Go to File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password. Enter and confirm your password, then click OK and Save. Just don’t forget it, because Microsoft can’t recover it for you.
🗂️ Show file extensions in Windows: By default, Windows hides the suffixes at the end of file names (like .jpeg, .mp4 or .exe). You’ll want these visible, so you don’t accidentally open a malicious file that looks like a photo but is actually an executable. To turn them on, open File Explorer > View > Show > File name extensions.
📁 Change where Chrome saves downloads: Want your files to land somewhere other than the default folder? Go to Settings > Downloads > Location > Change and pick where they should go. Or if you’d rather choose each time, go to Settings > Downloads and toggle on Ask where to save each file before downloading.
What those F keys actually do: On Windows, press F11 in most browsers to toggle full-screen mode. F2 renames a selected file or folder, and F3 searches within the open app. Alt + F4 closes your current window, and F5 refreshes a page or document. Pretty handy once you know them.
🍏 Rename multiple files on Mac: Got a folder full of random file names like IMG_2348? Select them all with Cmd + A, right-click and choose Rename. In the drop-downs, pick Format, then Name and Index and type something like “Hawaii” under Custom Format. Set Start numbers at 1, and hit Rename.
🗑️ Quickly trash it: On Windows, choose a file and hit Ctrl + D to delete and send it to the trash. On a Mac, that’s Cmd + Del. (Bonus: Cmd + D on a Mac duplicates the file.)
Finders keepers: Looking for a file? Hit the Windows key and start typing its name. That’s it. On a Mac, hit Cmd + space bar and start typin’. So simple and saves so much time.
📁 Mac save shortcut: Working in Pages and don’t want to dig through folders to save your file? After hitting Command + S, a save window pops up. If you already have a Finder window open where you want to save it, just grab the folder icon in its title bar and drag it into the Save window.
📂 Open files fast: Press Ctrl + O (Windows) or Command + O (Mac) to instantly launch the file dialog in most programs. Even better? Select multiple files and use this shortcut to open them all at once. It’s a real time-saver.
🔒 Lock your Word doc: Need to keep sensitive info private? Microsoft Word lets you lock it down with a password. Just go to File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password. Enter your password, confirm it and click OK. FYI: Don’t forget the password! Microsoft can’t recover it for you.
▶️ Caption that: Subtitles help grab your viewers’ attention, especially when their sound is off. For longer clips, create an SRT file. Open a text editor and write, “00:00:01,000 → 00:00:05,000” (Hours:Minutes:Seconds,Milliseconds). Type your caption below each one and save it with a .srt extension.
🛏️ Fluffing the case: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s lawyer filed a court brief written by AI with nearly 30 fake legal citations. He blamed “paraphrasing” before admitting he didn’t fact-check at all. File this under absolutely not how you want your court case to go.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Reopen an unsaved Word doc. Go to File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents. Nice.
📂 Size matters: Use Excel often? Save big files in an .XLSB format instead of .XLS. The file size will shrink by up to 75%. Nice one!
Two heads = better than one: In Google Docs, look for the star-shaped icon next to your pic that says Ask Gemini. Click to open a sidebar and check out its writing tools. If you want to mention another file in your prompt, type @.