“Hey, how come no one told me that sooner?” Try this if you have a Windows PC. Before you restart, hold down the Shift key. Keep holding until the machine powers up, then click Continue. This will shut down all the processes running for a true reboot.
5 things you didn't know your keyboard's Shift button can do
More than 2 billion people visit YouTube monthly, and more than 500 hours of content are posted every minute. Finding precisely what you want can be challenging, and that’s where shortcuts come in. Tap or click here for Kim’s advice on saving time on the world’s most popular video hosting site.
We often cover keyboard shortcuts and tricks to help you browse and work more efficiently. But today, we’re going to shift our focus, so to speak, on just one.
The Shift key is a modifier key, mainly used to type capital letters and the symbols at the top of other keys. But it can do so much more. Here are five more ways to use the second-largest key on your keyboard.
1. Reverse the action of other keys
The Shift key helps you work backward in that it reverses your other commands. Here are some examples:
- Ctrl+Z = undo; Shift+Ctrl+Z = redo.
- Space = scroll a webpage down; Shift+space = scroll a webpage page up.
- Ctrl+Tab = next tab; Shift+Ctrl+Tab = previous tab.
- Alt+Tab = next app; Shift+Alt+Tab = previous app.
- Ctrl+T = open new tab; Shift+Ctrl+T = re-open last closed tab.
2. Scroll sideways
You use your mouse wheel to scroll vertically on webpages and documents, but did you know you could also scroll horizontally? It’s easy with the Shift key:
- Hold Shift and scroll your mouse wheel to move horizontally on webpages and apps that support horizontal scrolling. It works great for those extra-wide spreadsheets.
RELATED: Google Sheets shortcuts to double your productivity
3. Highlight text
Start by placing your cursor at the beginning or end of the section or word you want to highlight, then do any of the following:
Here are 7 Windows key shortcuts you'll use everyday
Keyboard shortcuts make our lives easier, but they’re not always so obvious. Did you know the Shift key does more than just capitalize letters? It actually reverses your other keyboard shortcuts! Tap or click here for five ways to use the Shift key that you may not know about.