Keyboard shortcuts I learned from my cat

My cat Mira Perfect, and he’s never done anything wrong. She also loves walking on her laptop keys, whether they are hers or mine MacBook And my wife Kathy Windows PC.

You might think that walking on laptops is an example of Mira doing something wrong. She doesn’t agree. However, we both learned a lot about how our computers work because of this. Every time you pass through our keyboards, you run into some new and confusing keyboard shortcuts. I wonder how you did it, but then I discovered the keyboard shortcut by searching on Google. Here’s what I learned.

Meera is hiding important things

Several times Mira passed through my keyboard and caused most of the windows to disappear. This makes me panic – is my work done? – until I click on the dock icon and realize that everything is still there. What happened?

It could be a few things. On Mac keyboard shortcut Command-Option-H Hides all windows except the current window. Or maybe Mira swapped the virtual desktops in Mission Control, and it worked He controls–Left/right arrow keyand can make it appear as if all my windows have disappeared.

Mira has implemented this trick on PC as well. Windows–, (comma) hides all windows while Windows-Ctrl-Left/Right Arrow Key Switch virtual desktops. So, there are all kinds of ways for Mira to create anxiety while also teaching us more about how our computers work. lovable.

Meera takes a screenshot

I take screenshots on my Mac constantly, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to me when Mira was able to activate Leadership-Transformation-4 To start taking a screenshot of a specific area on my screen.

But I didn’t realize I could do the same thing on PC: Windows + Shift + S It’s a keyboard shortcut for that, apparently. Now I know this, I use it all the time.

Mira switches the dock somehow

I usually like to hide the dock on my Mac, but Mira doesn’t seem to agree. Once I walked over the keyboard and stopped hiding it. She seemed to have pressed on Command-Option-Dwhich toggles between hiding the ribbon or not.

I can imagine this would be even more confusing if you’re the type who never hides the dock – where did it go? Some may want to be able to switch this around quickly, so I’m glad Mira showed me how to do it.

Mira teaches me about accessibility

Sometimes Myra passes over Kathy’s laptop and the keyboard doesn’t work anymore. Honestly, I’ve researched this extensively, and I have no idea how Mira pulled this off.

But there are a group of keyboard shortcuts that change the way typing works in Windows. Press on Convert A five-time key on Windows, for example, enables Sticky keysan accessibility feature that changes how modifier keys such as Control, Alt, and Shift work. With this feature turned on, pressing Shift applies the Shift key as if it were pressed, which can result in uppercase typing. It’s useful for people who can’t press multiple keys at once, but is confusing when enabled by a cat. Clicking Shift a second time turns off Shift lock, and you can disable the feature by clicking Shift five more times.

Another accessibility feature is triggered when Mira sits on the right shift key for five seconds—Filter keys. This feature, intended for people with hand tremors, makes the system ignore short, repeated key presses. It’s a useful feature, and I’m glad it’s there, but turning it on accidentally is confusing.

It’s always fun to realize that your computer can do something you didn’t know it could, even if the way you learn it is a little confusing. So I’m grateful to Mira, in a way, for showing me these keyboard shortcuts. But I’m also working on training her to stop walking and sit at my laptop. Maybe someday.