All posts by Paul Stradling

News

Tech News : Shocking Suggestion From Alexa

A mother took to Twitter to complain that Alexa had suggested to her 10-year-old daughter that she play a game that involves touching the prongs of a live plug with a penny!

Playing

The mother, Kristin Livdahl (of Minnesota, USA), was reported to have been doing physical challenges indoors on Boxing Day with her 10-year-old daughter because of inclement weather outside, when her daughter asked Alexa, via the Amazon Echo, for another challenge.

The Penny Challenge

To her mum Kristin’s horror, as outlined in her Tweet, Alexa’s suggestion, which it had “found on the web”, was something called the “penny challenge” which is reported to have been circulating on TikTok and other social media platforms last year.

According to Kristin Livdahl’s tweet, the suggestion offered by Alexa was: “Here’s something I found on the Web. According to ourcommunitynow.com: The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.”

Thankfully, as Livdahl reported “I was right there and yelled, ‘No, Alexa, no!’ like it was a dog. My daughter says she is too smart to do something like that anyway.”

Extremely Dangerous

As reported by USA Today, comments from a Fire Marshal about a case where two high school students had tried the challenge (reported in The Providence Journal) highlighted how the challenge causes “sparks, electrical system damage, and in some cases fire.” 

Metals conduct electricity and, therefore, touching a live metal plug prong with another metal object held in the hand can result in serious physical harm such as burns, electric shock and potentially death.

Amazon Says Sorry

Amazon is reported to have apologised and offered help to Livdahl and stated that it had fixed the problem as soon as it became aware of it. Amazon has also stated that it will continue to advance its systems to prevent any similar responses in the future.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This is a damaging story for Amazon, and it was incredibly lucky that nobody was hurt. The story highlights how AI and algorithms can’t exercise judgement in the same way that a human can. It also illustrates how the Internet, apps, and the IoT can be dangerous for children and young people and how tech companies need to increase their efforts and their investment to make the digital world safer for young people. Parental oversight and control are also clearly still important elements in making sure that risks are minimised and that there is always a fail-safe in place.

News

Tech News : Fewer and Less At CES

It has been reported that the rapid spread of Omicron has led to more tech companies cancelling in-person appearances at January’s CES® technology industry trade show.

CES®

CES® is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association which is due to take place in Las Vegas 5 – 8 January. Due to Covid, last year’s CES® was held as a virtual event instead.

Some Big Names To Attend Virtually Instead

Although the in-person event is to ahead with around 2200 companies having in-person representatives present, some very high-profile tech companies have pulled-out of sending representatives in favour of attending virtually instead. The rapid rise in Covid (Omicron) cases is the given reason for in-person being swapped for virtual attendance.

Companies that have announced that they will not be sending in-person representatives to CES® so far include Amazon, Facebook, Google, Intel, and Microsoft, and, also just announced, chip maker AMD and PC manufacturer MSI. It has also been reported that Smartphone company OnePlus has cancelled an in-person event that was due to be held in Las Vegas on the same dates as CES®. It should be noted, however, that despite some big companies pulling out of in-person representation, 60 new exhibitors had been added in recent days.

Omicron

In the US (at the time of reporting), the country has just recorded a record-breaking seven-day average of Covid cases which has exceeded 267,000. The highly infectious Omicron variant now accounts for 59 per cent of new infections in the US, a massive jump up from 23 per cent just a week earlier. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the big technology companies are not willing to take the risk.

Rules For Attendees

Attendees to the show must be fully vaccinated, wear masks and have tested themselves for Covid within the 24-hour period prior to entering one of the exhibition venues. There will, of course, also be social-distancing measures in place at CES®.

Covid Has Changed Big Tech Events

Covid has changed how big tech events have been held over the last two years.  For example, London Tech Week Connects back in June 2020 and CES® in January 2021 were held as fully virtual events, whereas London Tech Week in September 2021 was held as a hybrid of virtual and in-person events.

Value of Virtual

Although January’s CES® is going ahead as a physical, in-person event, those tech shows that have been held virtually in recent times have highlighted some of the advantages of virtual. For example, with most people now used to using platforms such as Zoom, attendances at virtual events are high. Also, virtual attendees find that they can network with more people and not needing to be physically present offers convenience, less hassle, less expense (e.g., no long flights or quarantines and uncertainty or hotel bookings required). Virtual events can also mean that some much higher profile speakers may be available.

Not Great For The Hospitality Industry

Unfortunately, fewer in-person appearances from big companies and attendees perhaps changing their minds as Covid cases rise rapidly is bad news, not just for the event organisers and workers (e.g., for productions crews) but also for hotels and surrounding businesses.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Event organisers can, of course, hold entire tech events virtually, or as a hybrid of virtual and in-person, but with the event already booked and organised, costs incurred and a lot at stake, high profile companies opting out of in-person attendance is likely to be a blow for CES® organisers. It could lead to others pulling out and may discourage attendance at the show. There is also the uncertainty now of the effects of a rapidly spreading variant on attendance and what pressure this may put on the organisers, and how it could affect the success of the show. It may be expected in the post-pandemic world that big events will have at least some virtual elements to them but cancellations for in-person attendees is bad for hotels and other bricks and mortar businesses that would normally benefit. Some businesses pulling out of in-person attendance, however, may benefit other exhibitors who may now be able to get a place at the show, possibly at favourable rates.

News

Featured Article : Wonders of OneNote

In this article, we look at what OneNote is and what it can do, plus we look at some of the competing programs available.

OneNote

Microsoft’s OneNote is a cross-functional notebook app/note-taking program that is part of the Microsoft Office Suite, along with programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. OneNote can be used for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. Users can create multiple ‘notebooks’ about different topics. The notebooks can be of any size with any number of sections and pages. Within each notebook users can gather together notes and mixed media such as drawings, screen clippings, audio commentaries/recorded audio notes, and embed Excel sheets. Users can also insert online videos, links, and add different types of files. The notes can be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network.

Also, important notes can be highlighted with ‘To-Do’ tags, and the OneNote app allows users to annotate their notes, using a stylus or a finger.

Synced

Saving OneNote notebooks in the cloud (e.g., on Microsoft’s OneDrive), means that a user can open OneNote on any device connected to their Microsoft Office account and their notebooks will always be in synced across devices – phone, tablet, PC, or laptop.

What Can You Use OneNote For?

OneNote is great for collecting together research information, for note-taking, and information storage for personal or business use.

Benefits of OneNote

Just some of the key benefits of OneNote include:

– Flexibility and variety. Notebooks can be made to any size and multiple different types of media can included.

– Clarity. A better collection of information and files from multiple sources can give a clearer, more detailed holistic views of a topic which is also easier for others to understand.

– Better collaborative work. The ability to share Notepads can improve the quality of collaborative work.

– Cost efficient and familiar. Since OneNote is already part of the Microsoft Office/365 suite, there are no extra costs to using it, all team members already have the program and will be familiar with Microsoft programs, so no extra training costs.

Similar Programs/Competitors

Some more popular examples of the many similar, competing programs to OneNote include:

Evernote

The Evernote is a free app or browser extension and is OneNote’s main competitor. Like OneNote, Evernote allows users to create notes, and collect together all kinds of media (e.g., text, drawings, videos, scans, PDFs, documents photographs, and audio recordings). Evernote also allows users to create and assign tasks inside their notes with due dates, flags, and reminders.

One of its big advantages, apart from the fact that it is free, is that it offers the ability to save web content (web-clipping) i.e., web pages can be put into notebooks including text, screenshots, parts of articles and images (as thumbnails).

One possible drawback compared to OneNote is that Evernote limits free users to syncing across just two devices (across Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS).

Bear

Bear is a flexible notes app for Apple devices and the app extension allows users to Grab images, text, files, and clip web pages. Bear also supports sketching, drawing, and Apple Pencil (and other styli), allows users to create notes with Siri and iOS Shortcuts, and allows Apple Watch users to dictate and append to recent notes. The pro version gives the user access to attractive themes. Bear (Pro) also now allows users to encrypt individual notes and lock Bear with Face/Touch ID.

Zoho Notebook

Zoho Notebook is a free, (ad-free) digital note-taking tool / note-taking app that works across devices and operating systems and offers an online suite of tools such as a word processor, an image and audio creator, and organiser. This app allows users to create, copy, move and share colourful ‘Note Cards’ and to organise ideas and information. Zoho Notebook also offers web-clipping so users can clip text, images, and entire articles from the web and save them to Notebook. This app also syncs to the cloud and across devices so it’s always backed-up and up to date.

Simplenote

Another popular, free digital note-taking app (and browser extension) is Simplenote for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux. Users can write, preview, and publish notes in Markdown format as well as, for example, sharing a to-do list, posting some instructions, or publishing their notes online. Notes are automatically backed up and synced in real time with each change, and users can add tags to find notes quickly with instant searching.

Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper is a free online document workspace, where users can organise and display text, media, and files all in one place. Paper lets users collaborate with others and access their Paper docs from anywhere. The app includes task management tools that allow users to assign to-dos, add due dates and mention people from within the doc itself.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

In these days of remote and hybrid working, with much of the workforce now used to digital, online, cloud-based collaborative working, better digital note-taking apps such as OneNote have come into their own. The flexibility of OneNote and the fact that it’s already part of and compatible with the Microsoft suite of programs and tools is a big plus. Being able to create shareable Notebooks that contain a wide range of media enable business users to save time, create a more holistic and detailed picture of a topic that can lead to better quality work, and the organising tools e.g., To-Do Tags make it very practical. Having notes that can be backed-up in the cloud and synced across devices also adds value and fits in well with new working practices. There are, of course, many other note-taking apps that offer similar features and benefits, many of them free, and businesses can choose to use whichever best serves their needs. Microsoft’s OneNote, however, is one of the leading apps in terms of features and it may be the case that many businesses have not tried it or used it to its fullest extent yet.

News

Tech Insight : What Is DuckDuckGo?

In this tech insight, we look at what DuckDuckGo is, what features it offers, and why businesses may consider using it.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-centred search engine / privacy browsing app, which is available as a download for mobile devices and a Chrome extension. The company, founded in 2008, also plans to launch a desktop browser for macOS laptops and desktops soon.

Most Downloaded Browsing App On Android

In a recent blog post, DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, said of the search engine’s popularity, “We’re now the most downloaded browsing app on Android in our major markets (and #2 on iOS behind Chrome), we’re averaging more than 100 million searches a day, and our most recent survey showed 27 million Americans (9 per cent) use DuckDuckGo.”

Privacy

DuckDuckGo retains a user’s privacy by not saving the user’s browser history, forcing sites to use encrypted connections, blocking cookies and trackers (including ‘hidden trackers’ before they load), and by stopping a user’s searches being sold to third parties for profiling and advertising.

DuckDuckGo uses Smarter Encryption which utilises a list of millions of HTTPS-encrypted websites, which has been generated by continuous crawling the of the web instead of crowdsourcing, thereby keeping it current. Also, DuckDuckGo’s Smarter Encryption enables users to be extra-secure in their browsing by being able to detect unencrypted, non-secure HTTP connections to websites and then automatically upgrading them to encrypted connections.

Features

Some of the extra features recently announced by DuckDuckGo include:

– A beta release of Email Protection, a free email forwarding service that removes trackers in a user’s email and protects the privacy of a personal email address without asking the user to change email providers.

– A new App Tracking Protection (beta) feature in the Android app that blocks third-party trackers like Google and Facebook lurking in other apps.

– A revamped search results page.

– New animation options to the “Fire Button”, the button used to clear all tabs and browsing data with one tap.

– The addition of a “Fireproofing” prompt which gives users the choice to keep certain sites logged-in between Fire Button burns.

Partnership With EFF Helps HTTPS Everywhere Extension

Also, a recent partnership formed with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in April 2021 has lent DuckDuckGo’s Smarter Encryption rule sets to the HTTPS Everywhere browser extension, thereby giving it extra security. This extension for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera encrypts user communications with many major websites.

Other Private Browsers

Other private browsers and search engines include:

– Epic Privacy Browser.  This is a secure web browser that blocks ads, trackers, fingerprinting, crypto mining, ultrasound, signalling, and offers free VPN (servers in 8 countries).

– Tor.  This browser uses a distributed network (randomly selected nodes) to anonymise the user’s IP address. Tor also encrypts traffic.  This makes it incredibly difficult for a user’s web traffic to be traced and very difficult for users to be tracked unless they reveal their IP address by enabling some browser plugins, downloading torrents, or opening documents downloaded using Tor.

– Brave. This is a free, open-source web browser, based on Chromium that blocks ads and trackers and allows users to use a Tor in a tab to hide history, and mask location from the sites a user visits by routing a user’s browsing through several servers before it reaches its destination.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Not every user wants a high level of privacy for most daily use, but for business users, the security of knowing that you’re not being tracked and that there is a high level of privacy protection by default may be an attractive and useful part of company security measures. Also, using a trusted app/extension/desktop browser may be a highly convenient way to get greater peace of mind and ensure that all reasonable measures are being taken to cover the many angles of security and privacy.  For many businesses, it’s likely to be a case of a combination of privacy solutions, e.g., VPNs and secure browsers being used as and when required in a way that is compatible with daily working practices, authorised, approved, and recommended by the company and other relevant stakeholders.

News

Security Stop-Press : Beware Of ‘Child In Need’ WhatsApp Scam

Action Fraud and WhatsApp have warned people to be on the lookout for a ‘child in need’ scam operating in the UK that has recently resulted in parents being conned out of £50,000. The con involves scammers targeting parents via WhatsApp, claiming to be one of their children and using different excuses to ask for a transfer of money e.g., the need to pay a big bill and being frozen out of their banking app, or similar.

News

Tech Tip – How To Run Older Programs Using the Windows 10/11 Compatibility Mode

If you’d like to run favourite but no longer compatible versions of older programs, apps, and games (legacy software) on Windows 10/11, try using ‘Compatibility Mode’.  Here’s how.

To enable legacy software that worked on old versions of Windows on your current Windows 10/11:

– In the search box on the taskbar, type the name of the program or app you want.

– Select and hold (or right-click) it, and then select ‘Open file location’.

– Select and hold (or right-click) the program file, select ‘Properties’, and then select the ‘Compatibility’ tab.

– Tick the box for “run this program in compatibility mode for” and select the old version of Windows from the dropdown list.  You can run the ‘Compatibility Troubleshooter’ first if you wish.

News

Autonomous Electric ‘Roboats’ In Amsterdam

The Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) has announced that it is testing the world’s first fleet of driverless, battery-powered, autonomous boats on Amsterdam’s Waterways.

‘Roboat’

The tests involve battery-powered, autonomous boat prototypes, dubbed ‘Roboats.’  These prototypes are the result of three years of research, building up from 1:4 and 1:2 scale prototypes to the full-size versions. The research is part of a joint program between AMS and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Floating Dumpsters

One of the first full-size prototypes is a floating dumpster which could, if introduced full-time, play a key role in clearing Amsterdam’s canals from waste and improving the city’s waste separation rates. This is because the inconvenience of the current process of having to take different types of waste to distinct locations has discouraged residents from separating waste correctly, but a dumpster coming to them could help turn things around. Using a fleet of autonomous dumpster ‘Roboats’ could also speed up waste collection not just in Amsterdam, but in other water-based cities, where there is a real need for both infrastructural improvements and a nimble waste collection system.

Taxis Too

With Amsterdam’s 60 miles of canals stretching across the city, another anticipated use that is being tested with ‘Roboats’ is water taxis that could help to achieve the concept of “smart urban mobility”. These taxis could prove to be a much more environmentally friendly (no emissions like combustion engines), and enjoyable way to get around the city, particularly for tourists.

Canals Being Used As Goods And Passenger Transportation Routes Again

Udo Kock, the former Deputy Mayor of the City of Amsterdam sees a commercial version of the Roboats (in ten years’ time) creating a situation where “Amsterdam’s canals could again be used intensively for goods transport. Just like three centuries ago.”

How They Work

The autonomous boats use Laser Image Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for localisation and mapping so that the on-board computer can constantly compensate for external factors that influence the boat’s direction (wind, current and waves) and sail along a specific route while avoiding obstacles.

Roboats also use ‘automatic docking’ whereby they can autonomously steer and latch themselves to appropriate docking stations using two opposed-pairs of robotic arms which can be deployed to securely grab onto the stationary poles of a dock or the sides of another Roboat.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

For many organisations, and for the city itself, an existing extensive network of canals coupled with a 24/7, all-year round, efficient (autonomous) transportation service could represent a real opportunity for goods and passenger transportation.

Also, the busy port of Amsterdam where there are lots of vessels, quays and piers is a great place to test and improve the safety with autonomous systems to ensure that the commercial product, when it is ready in several years’ time, is highly effective, safe, and provides maximum value for organisations that use them.

The fact that Roboats are lithium battery-powered and, therefore, don’t emit greenhouse gasses like petrol-powered road vehicles makes them an ideal, sustainable, environmentally friendly urban transportation method for the city’s future.

News

Tech News : TikTok More Popular Than Google

Cloudflare’s Radar, which monitors Web traffic, has revealed that TikTok has now overtaken Google to become the world’s most popular online destination.

TikTok

Cloudflare has reported that back in 2020, the google.com domain was the undefeated leader in its ranking and was top from September to December, whereas TikTok.com was only ranked #7 or #8. TikTok first grabbed the top spot as the no.1 global destination in February 2021 (for a day), by August was leading the rankings on most days, and then from October onwards. TikTok now has more than one billion active users.

Why?

Some tech commentators have noted that the most likely reason for social video platform TikTok’s huge surge in popularity, which saw it become the first non-Facebook mobile app to Reach 3 billion downloads globally by July, was the search for entertainment during the pandemic lockdowns (Sensor Tower figures).

TikTok hosts a variety of short videos, covering different genres (e.g. comedy, dance, politics, and food) and some of the attributes and factors that have helped it to become so popular include:

– It is convenient and many people say it’s easier to edit and upload content in TikTok than in other competitor apps/platforms e.g., Instagram or Snapchat.

– It’s a visible space with a familiar format of funny, positive video clips for Gen Z, who spend a lot of time on their phones. TikTok’s short clips appeal to the younger generation’s shorter attention spans.

– It gives ‘ordinary’ people the tools to creatively express themselves and take part in current discourse.

– It provides a place for brands to experiment with their messages in entertaining ways, and a way for TikTok itself to discover popular new ways to expand its brand even more (e.g. the popularity of food and recipe video clips), leading to the proposed launch of ‘TikTok Kitchen’ in March next year.

– It has a content-rewarding algorithm that’s helped to drive meme culture, and TikTok’s algorithms can learn user preferences and customise the video feeds to their users, thereby helping it to keep users interested and engaged.

– It makes good use of music, which is particularly appealing to young age groups, and enables TikTok videos to be shared on Instagram, thereby boosting usage/download rates.

Troubles

Although TikTok is riding high in the popularity ratings it has suffered setbacks and criticism along the way, including:

– A temporary ban in India.

– Worries about links to the Chinese state and allegations that it may have discriminatory content censorship standards that are decided by the Chinese government.

– A US counter-intelligence investigation and an investigation by (Israeli) Check Point over possible backdoors and security vulnerabilities that the platform may have.

– Worries from child advocacy groups that the app may pose a risk to children.

– Criticism from Reddit CEO/co-founder Steve Huffman that TikTok, once installed, is like a kind of ‘spyware’ that’s always listening.

– A £4.3m fine after Musical.ly was found to have knowingly hosted content published by under-age users.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

TikTok, the most popular app in the world, has clearly been boosted by the search for entertainment, comfort, and connection by a generation separated by the restrictions of the pandemic. It also, however, taps into (and appeals to) GenZ’s needs and gives them something that they value in terms of the ability to express themselves and have fun in a convenient way. For brands, it has provided insights, a testing ground, and a way to reach young audiences with news and creative message styles and for TikTok itself, while providing a great way to continuously learn about its audience to enable it to grow and stay appealing, as well as finding its own new opportunities. For TikTok’s competitors e.g., Snapchat, TikTok’s huge growth surge is proving to be a major threat.

News

Tech News : Control Incoming Calls With Google Voice

Google has announced that users of its Google Voice service can now set custom rules for how incoming calls are handled.

What Is Google Voice?

The ‘Google Voice’ service allocates users a phone number for calls, texts, and voicemails. This number can be used for domestic and international calls from a web browser, or mobile device. Users in the US can choose their own number.

Advantages

Some of the main advantages of the service are that users aren’t tied to a physical device to make and receive phone calls, text messages (U.S. only), or access voicemail, so can place and receive calls from anywhere. Also, setting up and managing the service is relatively easy and users can, for example, forward calls to any device and have spam calls silently blocked.

Custom Rules

Google has announced that Google Voice users can now easily create rules for how their incoming calls through the service should be handled. The new options allow users to route incoming calls in ways that Google says would be most efficient to their business workflows and productivity, including granular settings for specific contacts.

The new custom rules mean that users can now:

– Forward calls from specific contacts to their linked phone numbers or directly to voicemail.

– Opt to screen calls from specific contacts.

– Set custom voicemail greetings for specific contacts.

– Apply rules for all a user’s contacts or specific groups within contacts.

How?

To create the custom rules, users can visit voice.google.com (browser-based site, not mobile app), click on “Settings” (the cog symbol, top-right), click on “Calls” and choose “Create a rule.” Here users can enter or search for the contact(s) they want to create a custom rule for.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Handling phone calls in the right way is vital to businesses in terms of saving time, improving efficiency, taking advantage of opportunities, and presenting the right image to customers. The ability to set custom rules for exactly how calls are handled (even down to specific contacts or groups of contacts) can really give businesses much more control, convenience, and can save time and hassle. The fact that rules can be added/changed quickly and easily via a browser offers businesses an easy way to be flexible and to respond quickly to changing situations regarding certain contacts, new marketing campaigns and more. The ability to set these new custom rules could be a real value-adding addition to the Google Voice service.

News

Featured Article : A 21 Shortcut-Key Salute

A knowledge of keyboard shortcuts in Windows can save time and help users to make the most of the many helpful features of their operating system. With this in mind, and with 2021 coming to a close, here are 21 helpful keyboard shortcuts to take into the coming year.

1. Use Win + V to copy multiple snippets to the clipboard and paste them as necessary. Firstly, set up clipboard history by hitting Win+ V and clicking ‘turn on,’ or go click the Start button, type ‘Clipboard,’ and click Clipboard settings. Once this is set up, when you need to copy some text, it will be saved in the clipboard so it’s just a case of hitting Win + V to bring up the list and then paste where needed.

2. Use Win + Ctrl + D to set up a virtual desktop. This creates a completely fresh desktop space for when you want to close down all those windows and switch to leisure mode. You can switch between the different virtual desktops using Win + Ctrl + Left/ Win + Ctrl + Right, and see thumbnails of each virtual desktop by using Win + Tab.

3. Hit Alt + Space to launch a shortcut menu for an active window from which you can re-open closed tabs, add open pages to favourites, and more.

4. Easily find your mouse cursor on the screen in Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows by double-pressing Ctrl. This triggers the ‘Find My Mouse’ feature which dims the screen light to spotlight the cursor. PowerToys features are available in the 0.49 update from Microsoft’s PowerToys GitHub.

5. Use the Windows key + Period/(Full-Stop ‘.’) or semicolon (;) to open the emoji panel.

6. Use Windows key + PrtScn to take a full screenshot, or the Windows key + Shift + S to choose to select a section of the screen. This can be annotated and shared (see our tech tip) using ‘Snip & Sketch’.

7. Hit the Windows key + I key to save time in opening the Settings panel.

8. Using Alt + Tab and the tab or right, left, up and down arrows to provide a fast and easy way to see and switch between your open apps. Ctrl + Alt + Tab allows you to see all open apps.

9. Use the Windows key + Alt + R to manually start and stop recording your screen activity. You can also switch on the microphone to record comments.

10. Clicking on Windows key + T takes the focus to the foot of your screen and allows you to cycle through the apps displayed in the taskbar. Using the Windows key + (number) will open the apps in corresponding position in taskbar e.g., adding 1 will open app closest to left in taskbar.

11. Use the Windows key + S to access a selection of your recent main apps and recent documents.

12. Use Windows key + X to open a quick link menu that gives fast access to a list of common functions.

13. Use Windows key + Tab to get a full task view of your current windows plus a whole scrollable timeline of things you’ve been working on recently. This can be a very helpful feature for finding recent work documents.

14. To quickly clear and restore your screen, use Win + M to minimise all windows and Win + Shift + M to restore all minimised windows.

15. To take a closer look at something on your screen, use Win + Plus (“+”) to zoom in using Magnifier, and Win + Minus (“- “) to zoom back put again.

16. To check on processes and performance issues, open the Task Manager by using Ctrl + Shift + Esc.

17. Get a fast view of your latest emails, alerts, and notifications by using Windows + A to open the Action Centre.

18. Skip to the beginning of each paragraph e.g., in a Word document by using Ctrl + the down arrow key.

19. To quickly snap an app e.g., your browser over to the left or right-hand side of the screen use the Windows key + Left arrow key and the Windows key + Right arrow key.

20. To open File Explorer use Windows key + E.

21. You may know that Ctrl + Z can undo an action such as deleting a file, but you can also use Ctrl + Y to redo the action.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Anything that saves time and makes work easier on your PC/device can save money and improve efficiency for businesses. Remembering just a few of the many shortcuts built-in to Windows can make a big difference over time and businesses may want to find fun ways to share tips about shortcuts and/or include them in company training and resource files to get some benefits from employees using them as they discover how certain shortcuts can be applied to make their daily tasks easier.