21 Cool Computer Tricks and Hacks to Impress Your Friends

So you want to check out some cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends? Worry not, we have some here.

Computers are getting more powerful with each passing year (I am tempted to say each passing month), and easier to use. If you used one at the beginning of the millennium, you know the real trouble. Computers were slow, the internet was even slower and you had to spend lots of times in front of them to learn the basics. And don’t get us started on the times before Windows OS was created. When MS-DOS was basically only OS in existence, you needed to type, a lot. For each action you wanted your computer to execute, you needed to type in a command. Accessing the file directory, installing a program, running a program, everything. So thank God, we live in times when all you need to do is click a few times to get what you want.

Even the elderly have no problems mastering the basics of computer use. Everyone’s grandma is now on Facebook and knows how to browse through YouTube videos. Personally, it is still hard for me to accept that my grandma is on Facebook, liking my pictures and commenting that I look skinny and should eat more. Now, what I’m trying to say is that everyone can master the basics. The more complicated stuff, not really. You need to know what you are doing unless you want to make your computer unusable. Even these more complicated actions can be easily managed if you know some tricks and hacks. That’s the beauty of new operating systems. Everything is centered around the user, allowing them to do more with less effort. For example, “right mouse click on the selected text and copy” will take 2 seconds. But, why do that, when you can press “Ctrl + C” and do it in a second. Maybe it isn’t the best example, but I think you know what I mean. If you are not easily impressed with computer stuff, but magic blows your mind, check out our list of 6 Easiest Coin Magic Tricks Ever for Kids.

You are probably wondering how we came up with our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends. Well, we mostly browsed through suggestions and recommendations of internet users on multiple Reddit and Quora threads. Tricks and hacks that were commonly repeated and those we thought were cool enough entered our list. Let’s take a look.

21. Turn Computer Off And On

I am not kidding you; this emerged as one of the best tricks and hacks. According to the experience of Reddit community, almost 90% of problems are fixable with this trick.

20. Automatic Computer Shutdown

Did you know that you can set the shutdown time of your computer? It comes in handy if you have a habit of falling asleep when you watch something. All you need to do is open CMD (Command Prompt) by pressing Windows Key + R and then typing in “cmd.exe”. After it opens, you type in (or paste) “shutdown -s -t 3600”. Your computer will turn off in one hour (3600 seconds). You can put any number of seconds you want If you change your mind, just open CMD again and type in “shutdown /a”.

19. Google and YouTube Funny Tricks

If your friends are not advanced users, they probably don’t know about some sweet surprises that Google hides. So, if you want to impress them, type in one of the following in the Google search box:  “do a barrel roll”, “tilt”, “Google in 1998”, “zerg rush”, “Pacman”, “blink.html”. Also if your friends love Harlem Shake (or hate, which is even better) tell them to type “Do the Harlem Shake” in YouTube search box and let them enjoy in getting their YouTube page getting shaken.

18. Let Me Google That For You

Ok, this entry on our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends may first anger your friends and then impress them. Let’s say your friend asks you some basic question like “how do you save an image from the internet on the computer” although they could Google it himself. To teach them a lesson, visit lmgtfy, type in his question, disguise it as some helpful link and the page will teach him how to use Google for basic stuff.

17. Problem Step Recorder

This is an awesome little program that comes with Windows 7 and all the newer Windows versions. You access the program by clicking on “Start” and typing “PSR” into the search box. The program comes in handy when you want to recreate a problem on the computer so you don’t have to describe it. It can be used to show the problem to the professionals who are fixing the issue, or if you want to show a friend how something is executed.

16. Moving Windows Around

I now realize this sounds a bit odd. You can use “Windows Key + arrow button” combination to quickly manipulate windows on the desktop. Left and right arrows will move the window to the side, while up and down arrows will maximize and minimize the currently active window.

15. Mouse Tricks

In Windows 7 and later Windows OS, you can easily manipulate with multiple windows at the same time. If you have 5 windows open, you can minimize them all by clicking on the top left bar of the window and shaking your mouse. The active window will remain open. Shake again and they will pop up. Also, double click on the top middle of the window will stretch it across the whole desktop, while the top left double click will close it.

14. Chrome Incognito

We are continuing our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends with trick number 14 – using “Ctrl + Shift + N” shortcut in Chrome will open up an incognito tab. This means Chrome won’t remember the user’s history and no one has to worry about leaving suspicions traces in case someone snoops up.

13. Snipping Tool

This is another practical tool for Windows users on our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends. You can start it by clicking “start” and typing “Snipping Tool” in the search box. The tool will freeze the window and enable you to take a screenshot of the whole screen or just a specific part.

12. YouTube Shortcuts

We have more YouTube tricks on our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends. If you use “space” to pause your videos, you’ve noticed that sometimes it just scrolls the screen down. So, instead, you can press “K” and your YouTube video will stop/resume every time. Also, “J” key will take the video 10 seconds back, while “L” key will forward it 10 seconds.

11. Rotate Your Computer Screen

You can do this to mess with your friends when they are not looking. “Ctrl + Alt + arrow key” combination will rotate your computer screen by 90°, 180° or 270°, depending on the key.

10. Quickly Lock Windows

Let’s say there is an emergency and you need to lock Windows in a heartbeat. You just press “Windows + L” combination and Windows is locked. This can be used for pranks as well. We’re halfway through our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends, and now, let’s see the other half.

9. Quick Zooming

Although most of you know how to zoom on the screen, there are few shortcuts and tips for doing so. Your friends will thank you after you show it to them. Holding “Ctrl” key and moving the mouse wheel up and down will zoom in/out documents, pictures, and websites. If you want to come back to the original view, just hit “Ctrl + 0”.

8. Searching the Internet from Start Menu – Windows 7

Windows 10 automatically searches the web when you write something in the Start search box, but Windows 7 doesn’t have that option by default. There is, however, the option to turn it on. First, type “gpedit.msc” in the Start search box and hit enter. Group Policy Editor will open up, and from there you need to follow these steps: User Configuration – Administrative Templates – Start Menu – Taskbar. You will find the option “Add Search Internet link to Start Menu” that you need to double-click. The screen will pop up, click on enable and voila.

7. Undo and Redo

Everyone probably knows that “Ctrl + Z” is for undoing an action in Word and “Ctrl + Y” repeats it. But, did you know that this is applicable almost anywhere? You can undo copying a file, undo delete and everything else with the shortcut. It also works on web browsers, but unfortunately, can’t undo the message on Facebook you didn’t want to send.

6. GodMode

Navigating through the control panel in Windows can be a bit confusing sometimes but we have a solution on our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends. It is called GodMode. You need to create a new folder and rename it to this: “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”. Now, all the Control Panel settings and folders are available in one place.

5. Converting YouTube Videos to Gifs

You are probably admiring all those Gifs on the internet but think it isn’t an easy task. Well, you would be surprised how easy it can be. You can make a Gif from any video on YouTube by just adding GIF in the address field in front of YouTube (like this https://www.GIFyoutube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0. Enjoy!

4. Opening Task Manager

We are continuing our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends with trick number 4 – Task Manager is always handy tool when your computer is running slow. You can check out what makes it run like that and kill unnecessary processes. The standard way to open it is “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” but you have one more step after that. There are multiple ways to open Task Manager quickly. “Ctrl + Shift + ESC” will open it immediately. Also right click on the taskbar and left click on Start Task Manager will do the same.

3. Splitting Desktop Screen

If you or your friends have a big monitor, you should use Splitting Desktop Screen function that’s up next in our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends. It enables you to have two (or even more) windows active and open at the same time. In Windows 7 this is achieved by Snap option and all you need to do is drag the window to the far left or up and it will occupy half of the screen. Do the same with other and you have two functional windows on your desktop screen. The same goes for Windows 10, but you will have more options.

2. How to See Passwords

If for some reason, you want to see actual letters and numbers instead of dots in the password box of any website, there is a little trick to it. Bring your cursor to password box, right click and left click on “Inspect Element” that will open developer console. Now just find “input type=password” and chance the word “password” with “text”.

1. Editing Text on Any Website

Ok, we saved best for last on our list of cool computer tricks and hacks to impress your friends. Pay attention! Open any website on Chrome t and then access the console by pressing “F12″ key. Enter the following:” document.designMode = “on””. Now, you will be able to edit any text that is written on the screen and take a screenshot.