Your clipboard only remembers one thing at a time. Or at least, that's what most people think. Win+V unlocks a scrollable history of everything you've copied recently, so you can paste that email address you grabbed three steps ago without hunting it down again.

You do need to switch it on first. Head to Settings, then System, then Clipboard, and toggle Clipboard History on. Do it once and you'll wonder how you managed without it.

1. Go to Settings > System > Clipboard and enable Clipboard History (one-time setup).
2. Copy multiple items as normal using Ctrl+C throughout your session.
3. Press Win+V anywhere to open the clipboard history panel.
4. Click the item you want, or use arrow keys and press Enter to paste it.

Tiling windows manually is slow and slightly maddening. Snap Layouts do the same job in seconds. Pin two windows side by side, or divide your screen into four, without touching the mouse more than once.

The hover trick is the bit most people miss. Move your cursor over any window's maximise button (the square icon, top right) and a grid appears. Click a zone. Done. The other open windows then offer to fill the remaining space automatically.

1. Click on the window you want to position.
2. Press Win+Left or Win+Right to snap it to the left or right half of the screen.
3. Press Win+Up or Win+Down from a snapped position to move it to a corner quadrant.
4. Alternatively, hover over the maximise button at the top of any window to reveal the Snap Layout grid, then click your preferred zone.
5. Windows 11 will prompt you to fill the remaining zones with your other open windows.

One desktop for work, one for personal browsing, one for that side project you keep meaning to get back to. Virtual desktops let you separate your open windows into distinct workspaces and flick between them in a keystroke. No more burying things or minimising everything just to find the window you actually want.

1. Press Win+Ctrl+D to create a brand new virtual desktop.
2. Press Win+Ctrl+Right or Win+Ctrl+Left to cycle between your desktops.
3. Press Win+Tab to open Task View, where you can see all desktops and their windows at once.
4. In Task View, drag windows between desktops, or right-click a window thumbnail and choose Move To.
5. Press Win+Ctrl+F4 to close the current desktop (any open windows move to the previous one automatically).

Print Screen still exists, but it's a blunt instrument. Win+Shift+S is the precision version. It lets you grab exactly the region you want, a specific window, a freeform shape, or the full screen, and drops the result straight onto your clipboard. From there you can paste it immediately or open it in Snipping Tool to annotate.

1. Press Win+Shift+S. The screen dims and a small toolbar appears at the top.
2. Choose your capture mode: rectangular snip, freeform, window, or full screen.
3. Drag to select the area you want to capture (or click a window for window mode).
4. The snip copies to your clipboard immediately. You can paste it into any app with Ctrl+V right away.
5. Click the notification toast that appears in the bottom-right corner to open the snip in Snipping Tool for annotation and saving.
6. For screen video recording, press Win+G to open Xbox Game Bar and use the Capture widget.

Clicking the taskbar to switch windows is fine. It's also slow. Alt+Tab is faster by a margin that adds up surprisingly quickly across a full working day. Hold Alt, tap Tab to cycle through every open window, release when you land on the one you want. That's it.

Win+Tab does a similar job but keeps the overlay persistent so you can take your time. Useful when you've got a lot on the go and need a moment to find the right window.

1. Hold Alt and press Tab once to open the switcher overlay, showing thumbnails of all open windows.
2. Keep holding Alt and press Tab repeatedly to move forward through the list.
3. Add Shift (so Alt+Shift+Tab) to cycle backwards if you overshoot.
4. Release Alt to switch to the highlighted window.
5. For a persistent view, press Win+Tab instead. Use arrow keys and Enter to select, or just click a thumbnail.

Everyone knows Ctrl+Z. Fewer people realise it works in File Explorer too, letting you reverse a file rename or an accidental move. And Ctrl+Y brings anything back if you change your mind about undoing it. Together they're a proper safety net.

1. After any unwanted change, press Ctrl+Z to undo it.
2. Press Ctrl+Z repeatedly to step back through multiple actions in sequence.
3. Press Ctrl+Y to redo the last undone action (some apps use Ctrl+Shift+Z instead).

Scrolling through a long document or webpage to find a specific word is a genuine time sink. Ctrl+F opens a search bar instantly in almost every app you can think of: browsers, Word, PDF viewers, File Explorer, even most code editors. Type what you're looking for and it jumps there.

1. Open any document, webpage, or supported app.
2. Press Ctrl+F to open the Find bar or dialog.
3. Type your search term. Matches highlight in real time as you type.
4. Press Enter or the down-arrow button to jump to the next match. Add Shift to go to the previous one.
5. Press Escape to close the Find bar when you're done.

Sometimes you just need everything out of the way. Win+D minimises every open window in one go and shows the desktop. Press it again and everything comes back exactly as it was. Tidy.

It's worth knowing the difference between Win+D and Win+M. Win+M also minimises everything, but it's a one-way trip. There's no second press to restore. Win+D is the toggle, so it's almost always the better choice.

1. Press Win+D to minimise all open windows and reveal the desktop.
2. Press Win+D a second time to restore all windows to exactly where they were.

Win+E opens File Explorer from wherever you are, no clicking required. And once you're in, Ctrl+F jumps the cursor straight into the search box so you can start typing a filename without navigating a single folder. Two keystrokes and you're searching.

1. Press Win+E to open a new File Explorer window.
2. Navigate to the folder you want to search in, or stay at the top level for a broader search.
3. Press Ctrl+F (or Ctrl+E) to focus the search box in the top-right corner.
4. Type your query. Use filters like type:, date:, or size: to narrow results further.

Typing a long email or set of notes is slow. Win+H opens a floating voice typing toolbar and lets you dictate into any text field on your PC. It's genuinely accurate, works system-wide (not just in specific apps), and gets out of the way the moment you press the shortcut again.

1. Click into any text input field: a document, an email, a search box, anything.
2. Press Win+H to open the voice typing toolbar.
3. Wait for the microphone icon to activate (it pulses when ready), then speak clearly.
4. Your words appear at the cursor in real time.
5. Say "stop listening" or press Win+H again to finish.