I think in times of chaos it's good to find our sense of control.

So with that in mind, here's an homage to my favourite key on the Windows keyboard: Ctrl.

I don't know how many people know these tips. They may be common knowledge. If so, don't @ me bro.

And yes, I'm fine, don't worry.

My favourite place for Ctrl is Word. I think of it like a super mover- whatever you'd do normally with a key, add Ctrl and it does it EVEN MORE.

Super useful for editing documents.

E.g.

Left and right keys = move one letter left and right...

Ctrl + left/right = move one WORD left and right

Up and down = move up / down a line...

Ctrl + up/down = move up / down a PARAGRAPH

Yes I have more

Home = start of line
Ctrl + Home = start of doc

End = end of line
Ctrl + End = end of doc

These keystrokes are of course made extra useful in combination with Shift, to select stuff.

So, Ctrl + Shift + Right will select words to the right.

Ctrl + Shift + Down will select everything to the end of the paragraph.

Then you can hit Delete if, for example, whatever you've written is SO GOOD it just can't be seen by mortals.

And Ctrl +C / X / V for copy / cut / paste, of course - classic *chef's kiss*

Web browser (or at least, this works in Firefox)

Ctrl + click on link = opens link in new tab, regardless

Ctrl + Shift + T = opens your most recently closed tab (cannot tell you how many times this has saved my life)

Do these work with Cmd on Mac? Pfft dkdc

A worrying admission- I've been waiting a while to share my love for Ctrl, but now feels like as good a time as any.

The joy of finding new ways of doing things that are better than how we used to do it, seems like one positive to come out of all this madness.

What about you?