10 tech tips you didn’t know

Every year, computers, smartphones, tablets and digital cameras become more efficient, which is great if you know how to get the most out of them. Today’s 10 tips should get you started.
 

1. Save time when scrolling. Instead of clicking on the scroll bar to move up and down on a page, click the space bar. This jumps the page down. Hold Shift and the hit space bar to jump back up the page.
2. When filling out your address in online forms, use the tab key to jump into the next box. When it comes to filling in your state, instead of selecting your state from the list, just hit the first letter of your state until it appears.
3. Make text on your computer screen bigger or smaller by holding Ctrl + or Ctrl – (If you’re a Mac user, press the Command key instead of Ctrl). If you have a Mac laptop or trackpad, you can make your screen larger by using the pinch and zoom method.
4. When typing on your smartphone, instead of putting in the full stops yourself, finish the word and hit the space bar twice. This automatically puts in the full stop and starts a new sentence.
5. On your smartphone, to redial the last person to whom you spoke, simply hit the call button once and it will paste the last number you called into the box. Hit call again to dial.
6. Sitting through the voicemail instruction recording can be a pain. Skip it by hitting the trigger key. This will take you straight to the beep, after which you can record your message. Note that the trigger key will be different depending on the service provider, the most common ones are #, * and 1.
7. You don’t have to use online dictionaries. Use Google to search for word definitions by typing the word ‘define’ followed by the word you want to search. As you type, you’ll notice that the definition will appear before you’ve even hit search. This device can also be used to translate currencies, units of measurement and even flight details. For example ‘type inches in 32cm’ and the equation comes up in a pop-up box.
8. Save time when highlighting. Instead of dragging the mouse across the piece of text you want to highlight, just double click the word you want to highlight and it will be selected. Also, if you triple click, the whole paragraph will be highlighted. Once you’ve highlighted text you want to remove, you don’t need to hit delete or backspace, just type over it.
9. Shutter-lag is the time between when you press the camera button and the moment the camera snaps. Cameras take this time to focus the lighting. Never miss a photo op again with this trick. Remove the shutter lag by pre-focusing the camera with a half-click on the shutter button. Hold it down then take the photo when you’re ready.
10. When giving a slide presentation, audiences can easily be distracted from what you’re saying by the images and text on your screen. Make them refocus on you by hitting the B or W keys to blackout or whiteout the screen until you’ve finished speaking. Hit the B or the W again to unblank the screen.  

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