You likely spend a lot of your time using an internet browser at work. With so many hours spent online, it helps to know a few shortcuts and tips you can use to make your work more productive. Follow these tips and tricks to get the most out of your browsing experience.
Note: These tips and tricks are designed for use on Google Chrome, which has nearly two-thirds of the browser market share.
Web browsers come with many great built-in features. However, you can customize your performance with extensions and plugins that make the browsing experience your own. There are extensions available to improve productivity, block ads, manage tabs and connect directly to other applications. Chrome makes it easy to manage these tools by typing chrome://plugins or chrome://extensions into your address bar.
What Do I Do About a Slow Network Connection?
To save RAM, be sure to install the Data Saver extension, which compresses and optimizes web pages before they load. Also, make sure you have the most current version of Chrome installed. Look for the vertical dots to the right of the address bar to turn from green to yellow to red to indicate how out-of-date your browser is. Go to the address bar, type in chrome://help and follow the prompts.
Can I Simplify Moving to Different Web Addresses?
Several years ago, Google made the address bar a far more powerful part of your browser. You can start typing in search terms in the address bar (known also as the Omnibox) and Google will display popular results. You can also type in a website or a portion of the website and find the most common results. There's no need to type the "https://www." portion of the web address in most cases.
How Can I Move Within a Web Page Faster?
If you're on a page with lots of fields, use the Tab key to move quickly from one field to another. To move backward among fields, use Shift+Tab. A similar approach can be used to move from button to button (helpful if filling out an online form or survey). Click Tab or Shift+Tab to move among buttons, and use the space bar or hit enter to select. Here are a few other page navigation tricks:
- Press Alt+D or Ctrl+L to move your cursor to the address bar
- Hit the Ctrl key and + or - to increase or decrease the page text. Ctrl + 0 resets to the original
- F5 or Ctrl+R lets you refresh or reload the page
- Want to find text on the page? Hit Ctrl+F
- If you're looking to open your bookmarks, press Ctrl+B
How Do I Maintain My Privacy?
There are several things to do to protect your privacy while browsing. The first is to use Chrome's incognito mode. To open an incognito window, click on the three vertical dots or press Ctrl+Shift+N. The browser will not keep track of your browsing history or store any browsing cookies. You can also delete your browsing history by clicking on the three dots and selecting More tools > Clear browsing data.
Who Can Help Me Optimize My Technology?
Data Magic Computer Services is the leading provider of managed IT and security services for businesses in the metro Dallas area. To learn more about how Data Magic Computer Services can help your company get the most out of its technology investments, contact us today.
