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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
To navigate to the previous folder
cd -
To reissue the previous command with a prefix. For example:
cat /root/.ssh/authorized_keys # Will fail without privilege
sudo !!
To use the argument of the previous command. For example:
tac ~/.ssh/authorized_keys # oops, misspelled cat
cat !$
Oh dang, I never knew about the !! shortcut. I especially like it for the sudo example, because when it complains I don't have permission, I can basically yell at it.
I've seen posts suggesting adding the following to your .bashrc:
alias fuck='sudo $(history -p \!\!)'The - works with git branching as well for those who didn't know. git checkout - will switch to the previously checked out branch so it effectively toggles between your two most recent branches.
cd -... Wow, I can't believe I never knew about this. I should read more man pages.
!! Is useful too, never knew. Thanks!
Windows+L every time I leave my desk.
That's not even a life hack. That's literally policy, at least where I work at :)
Not everyone knows the keyboard shortcut though. I bet you can find people hunting for it using the mouse every time.
At my old job (tech support), I watched a new hire once highlight text, right click for the context menu, and click "copy". And then right-click to hit "paste". Every time. They didn't know a single shortcut for anything. It was maddening to watch.
I gave em a lot of help because they were clearly not particularly tech savvy, but it made me wonder how the hell they got through the interview process with such a limited skillset.
Keyboard shortcuts in general.
Alt + left right (previous/next page in browsers)
Windows + 1 (2, 3, ...) on Windows and KDE focuses the window at that position in the taskbar
Alt + Tab to switch windows (hold shift to go backwards)
Windows + Tab to switch windows within the same application (like, all browser windows if you're in a browser)
Alt + 1 (2, 3, ...) on Windows/Linux usually selects the corresponding tab
Ctrl + Tab to cycle through tabs like Alt-Tab does for windows (hold shift to go backwards)
In most browsers or things with a URL/go to bar, Ctrl+L will focus that. No need to click the address bar, Ctrl+L, example.com, Enter.
In Discord and Slack, you can press Ctrl+K to open a box to quickly type a channel/DM name to go to it quickly
If you have them, the Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys are actually pretty useful. Press Home instead of scrolling all the way back up.
F1 is usually help
F2 is usually rename
F3 is usually search
F6 - goto and highlight the URL bar in a browser
ctrl + F5 - clear cache and reload the tab
F11 - super full screen browser
Microsoft has never fixed the sticky keys replacement cheese to unlock a PC you have physical access to. Ive done it up to W10, never tested it on W11.
Get a Windows recovery USB.
Boot into the recovery menu and open the command prompt.
Navagate to system32 and make a copy of the cmd.exe file (for a backup)
Copy the sticky_keys.exe and have it overwrite cmd.exe, then reboot.
On the login screen, smash the shift key until the command prompt appears and for some reason (because no user has logged in yet) it has admin permissions, so you can reset local passwords.
Once your logged in as a local admin, copy the backup of cmd.exe back so noone is none the wiser (except the security software that knows you messed with something)
That.... Seems like a pretty massive vulnerability. Like obviously that can be locked down by each user or administrator, but still....
Does bitlocker solve this issue?
Yes, it does. Only affects unencrypted systems.
It is, we used the same just with the accessibility button in earlier Windows Versions to troll one another in school. Thing is, if encryption is enabled it won't work.
Nobody tell this man about vim
Vim takes your keyboard shortcuts to the extreme. If you can be bothered to learn it.
And for those who can't be bothered, opening vim is like the digital version of a finger trap.
Are you serious? arrow keys instead of clicking? let's take it further:
shift+arrow highlights letters
ctrl+arrow skips entire words
ctrl+shift+arrow highlights entire words
home/end jumps to start/end of line
ctrl+home/end jumps to start/end of text box
ctrl+shift+home/end jumps to start/end of textbox and highlights it
um, do you need me to explain what ctrl+xcv do? or ctrl+zy? or ctrl+asdwerfgop?
isn't this just basic typing? didnt yall learn this in the 90s??? how are you all on the internet right now
wait til you hear about how i swipe texted all this
They tought us on typewriters in the 90s. Wait until you hear about how I changed an ink ribbon, son.
Find a Linux distro you like and install it instead of Windows.
Use LibreOffice, not MSOffice
Ditch Google, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
Tech walled gardens are insane asylums. Leave them.
Using the arrow keys for exactly what they’re made for isn’t a hack lol
Ctrl+r on bash and zsh (possibly others) for quickly recalling anything you've typed before
Using ublock origin picker to remove everything useless. Like, Youtube suggestions, everything but download button on ddl websites, useless footers/headers on news, etc...
Just getting people to switch away from chrome to get ublock origin is a major hack all itself and completely changed the way you use the internet.
Keyboard shortcuts for everything. Mousing to a menu is a waste of time in any app you use daily.
Set up three WireGuard network interfaces on a VPS then accept traffic from your end devices to route through the three double hop VPN tunnels to a country with better privacy laws. Install an ad and tracking blocking DNS server to block all nefarious hostnames as well as more granular blockers for your browsers.
Yay, nobody said my favorite hack.
While browsing on the web and you want to "open link into a new tab", click using the mouse wheel like it's a regular left or right click.
It's great for researching.
Ctrl + shift + esc brings up the Windows task manager directly instead of the menu you get when you press ctrl + alt + del
Just remember that ctrl+alt+del is a system level interrupt that should always work as long as the kernel is running. Ctrl+shift+esc is not, and won't work in some situations like being used inside a fullscreen frozen program.
Custom autocompletes/corrects. Just figure out a non-word (i.e. something that you wouldn't want to use without autocorrecting) that's easy to remember and set it up frequently used snippets of text. Some examples:
Anyway there are a ton of things I use it for, those are just a few examples. Saves me a lot of time.
You can do this on Macs at a system level, on Windows you can do it on some programs but it seems to have to be set up on each one which is worthless.
Far from most used, but very handy: ctrl+win+shift+b
It restarts the graphic subsystem, which can help recover from situations where game crashes or similar cause visual issues.
if you're concerned about how much you need to move your hand, then you'll probably love (neo)vim
My favorite windows shortcut is 'Windows+shift+left/right' to move an application between monitors. Very helpful for moving games around or snapping without have to use a mouse.
What you just described is the most gen-Y always used PCs but never knew dogshit about it thing ive heard.
Regarding that, Wait until you learn you can use strg to move beetween words.
Actually use Home and End keys to get to the start and end of text.
Ctrl + F for searching text. Very useful.
Alt + Tab for window switching.
Linux + USB drive to switch away from Windows.
To be pedantic, keyboard shortcuts aren't hacks. That's the intended use of the thing, and long lists of keybaord shortcuts exist so that people can find the ones that work for them and use them. Just because most people don't do it doesn't make it a hack.
My favorite keyboard shortcut is Super/Windows key and spacebar switches keyboard languages. That's not a hack, though.
Closer to a "hack" is going into an android phone with ADB and disabling bloatware manually.
Recently had to help a relative who still uses windows, so here's a freebie from Linux:
You can use super + number to launch any pinned program on the taskbar. For example let's say you have your browser right of the start button and file explorer on the next spot right, pressing super+1 launches the browser and super+2 the explorer
Edit: super = windows logo key
I was surprised that many people didn’t know this magical ✨ shortcut
Ctrl + Shift + t
Cmd + Shift + t
If you accidentally closed a tab in a browser, it will reopen it. Most browsers also lets you open closed tabs one after the other.
It is easy to remember to since it is just a shift away from new tab shortcut
Ctrl + t
Cmd + t
Win + E to open a file browser window
Safe: Use text expansion for trivial yet long texts like your emails, addresses, etc. to almost eliminate errors in those texts. Espanso is something I use on Linux Mint, while macOS supports text expansion natively. I am yet to find something that fills the gap on NetBSD, but I almost exclusively use emacs on those machines, which has native support for snippets.
Unsafe: Remove USB drive without ejecting it. :P
Contrived yet neat: With special software (BetterTouchTool on macOS) or keyboard firmware (QMK and ZMK, which is what I use), one can use Spacebar as a layer key (SpaceFn, as it makes Spacebar behave as a Fn key) to unlock neat shortcuts like navigating using HJKL, add macros, remap hard to reach keys on to the home row, etc. There are other things that can be done such as one-shot modifiers which make typing less straining.
P.S. The snark in the comments here is surprising. Everyone starts somewhere. Let us be welcoming.