Gaming on a Windows machine is great, but not if you use it in the wrong way. You have nothing to do with the best gaming desktop, if you have to search for all kinds of functions every time. There are very useful shortcuts for that.
Your friends at WANT have taken an extra close look at the Windows operating system and found a number of shortcuts that make gaming a lot more chilling. Before you know it, you won’t be able to do without the simple shortcuts from this list.
Windows: 5 indispensable shortcuts for every gaming enthusiast
The shortcuts below are especially useful while gaming. Yet there are also a few that come in handy during (school) work. Read on and discover for example how to never again take a bad screenshot on a Windows PC.
1. Switch between different tabs at lightning speed
Alt + Tab is a nice shortcut to quickly switch between different windows. If you can’t easily find a particular window, this option helps to clear all the Windows tabs that are open. You then use the tab button to determine which window you want to open. Release all buttons and you land on the page of your choice. When gaming, the tool is especially useful to quickly switch applications when using the full screen. It saves you a lot of unnecessary clicks.
2. Opening a game in full screen
We probably don’t need to tell you that the best way to play is in full screen mode. With this shortcut a tab is immediately converted to the maximum size. All you have to do is press Alt + Enter. It is an ideal tool if you are playing a game that does not have an option for window mode on Windows.
3. Forcing a game on Windows
When games crash there’s nothing to do but close the app. Only then you have a little problem. Because the app crashes, it takes an incredibly long time before it closes. In cases like this, you press Alt+4. Windows then forces the game to stop and usually it does. There is only a more powerful version of this shortcut, namely SuperF4. This is an external app that allows you to use the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + F4 to force all games to stop immediately.
4. Take a good screenshot immediately
You probably know the term “printscreen”. A great tool that helps you take screenshots. The disadvantage however is that you have no influence at all on where the screenshot is saved and what is captured. For example, with a printscreen you often see the tabs in the screen. Therefore, use the snipping tool from now on. It is the best way to take a screenshot. Press Windows + Shift + S and select the field you want a screenshot of. Your PC will then automatically take an image. Once you’ve mastered the snipping tool, you’ll never want to do anything else!
5. Record the last 30 seconds of gameplay
We’ll close with perhaps the best shortcut for Windows: record the last 30 seconds of your gameplay. That way you record and save an impressive moment. A good example is a puzzle you just solved or that one main boss you eliminated. Before you can do this, you must first enable the feature. The video below shows you step by step what you need to do.
Once you have the feature installed, all you have to do is press Windows + Alt + G to record.