10 Internet Browsing Tricks You Probably Never Knew Existed

10 Internet Browsing Tricks You Probably Never Knew Existed

The Internet Map. Photo: Internet-Map.net
The Internet Map. Photo: Internet-Map.net

Learn how to get free music downloads, access blocked websites, and optimize your internet browsing with these cool tips.

1. Get Free Music Downloads

With the use of some clever Google operators, you can easily find free music downloads online. Simply type the following in your search bar and replace “your favorite band” with the artist you’re searching for:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “your favorite band”

Google will return a list of music downloads available on public FTP and HTTP sites.

2. Access Blocked Websites with Google Translate

Go to https://translate.google.com/ and paste the blocked website URL into the “Translate From” box. Set the box language to anything other than English, and then hit the translate button.

3. Skip Boring YouTube Intros Automatically

There is a little known feature on YouTube inspired by the Wadsworth Constant that lets you skip the first 30% of any video. Just add “&wadsworth=1”to the end of a YouTube video url to skip potentially useless information.

4. Type Faster URL’s

Anything you type into the address bar of your web browser can automatically be completed with a top-level domain by using these keyboard shortcuts:

  • youraddress + (CTRL + ENTER) = www.youraddress.com
  • youraddress + (SHIFT + ENTER) = www.youraddress.net
  • youraddress + (CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER) = www.youraddress.org

5. Browser Tab Keyboard Shortcuts

Use these shortcuts to work faster between your browser tabs:

  • CTRL + T: Open new tab
  • CTRL + SHIFT + T: Open new private tab (CTRL + SHIFT + P in Firefox)
  • CTRL + TAB: Cycle through tabs
  • CTRL + SHIFT + TAB: Cycle through tabs in the reverse direction
  • CTRL + NUMBER (1-9): Switch to tab in respective position
  • CTRL + W: Close the current tab.
  • CTRL + SHIFT + T: Reopen the last tab you closed

6. Force a Webpage to Reload

To ensure you are seeing the latest version of a webpage, you can clear the internet cache and refresh the current page using CTRL + SHIFT +R. Some browsers also support CTRL + F5.

7. Open Any Link in a New Tab

You can easily open links without leaving the current webpage by using the click wheel on your mouse. If you don’t have a scroll wheel, use CTRL + CLICK.

8. Escape the Power of Animated GIFS

Animated GIFs can be fun, but can also be very annoying. You can use the ESC key to stop animated GIFs on a webpage.

9. Easy URL Highlighting

Use F6 to highlight the active URL. You can also use CTRL + L to perform the same function.

10. Make Google Tilt or Do a Barrel Roll

Typing “tilt” into a Google Search bar will return slightly skewed results. Typing “Do a barrel roll” into a Google Search bar will cause the search results to rotate 360 degrees.

Big thanks go out to brokenbonz over at reddit for getting these tips together. For even more hacks check out this thread.

You May Also Like

Related Posts