You may be familiar with using Print Screen to take a screenshot (or Alt + Print Screen for a specific window).
This isn’t a Windows shortcut I use all the time, but it’s useful to have in your back pocket just in case.
This command actually resets several things on your PC, and you’ll hear a small beep and see your screen go dark for a brief moment. Sometimes, there’s an issue with your graphics card driver.Ĭtrl + Windows + Shift + B will reset your graphics card drivers.
Screen going blank? Games rendering with weird colors? There are a slew of graphical issues and bugs you may encounter with PC games, and they become even more frustrating if you’ve forced a game to quit or switched out of the active window. But this could save your game without forcing it to quit. It’s possible your game will quit entirely, or it won’t recover. Right-click, select Analyze wait chain and attempt to end the lowest process in the chain. Switch to the CPU tab and find your game. Alt + Tab out of the game and open Resource Monitor ( Windows + S, search for Resource Monitor). If your game is frozen but you have control over your PC otherwise, you may be able to save it.
To force any app to quit, including games, use Alt + F4. I actually use a program called SuperF4, which is an even more powerful version of Alt + F4 (and one of the first apps you should install on a new gaming PC). Games freeze sometimes, and there’s no recourse but to close the app. This shortcut is particularly useful when your cursor is locked to the game window, which happens quite a bit. In those cases, I use Alt + Enter first to window the game before trying to move it to another display. Sometimes games won’t switch if they’re in full-screen mode, though. That’s all you need to do with multiple monitors in most cases. Windows Key + Shift + Left or Right arrow will move your window to another screen in the direction you choose. One of the more frustrating issues is when a game launches on a display you don’t want it to, and you don’t have an option in-game to choose which display you want. Multi-monitor setups are prone to issues, especially for PC gaming. Alt + Enter is a lifesaver in these cases.
The problem is that the graphics settings will occasionally reset after an update, causing my window to freak out when I Alt + Tab or launch in a small corner on my monitor. Destiny 2 doesn’t play nicely when you use Alt + Tab while you’re running in full-screen mode, so I run it in borderless mode instead. I’ve encountered these issues dozens of times, most recently in Destiny 2. It’s fine for navigation or if you’re playing a game that doesn’t have an option for window mode, but I mainly use it to fix problems that can come up with exclusive full-screen mode and bizarre window placements. This is another simple one that I use all the time: Alt + Enter. This shortcut will force a window to enter full-screen or vice versa.
Force a game into full screen (or a window) Simple as it may be, Alt + Tab should be the best friend of every PC gamer. If you want to close a window from this view, you can hit Delete, as well. In games, it’s useful for quickly switching out of a full-screen application, especially if you need to check Discord or pull up game tools in your browser.īeyond the shortcut itself, you can hold Alt to keep the windows up and continually press Tab to cycle between them. If you don’t know, this shortcut allows you to toggle between windows and bring the selected one to the foreground. Toggle and quickly close windowsĪlt + Tab is a staple for any PC user, not just gamers. I’m focusing on shortcuts that are helpful while playing games, so make sure to read our roundup of five helpful Windows shortcuts for getting around your machine in general. Force a game into full screen (or a window).