You've Been Using Your Laptop Trackpad Wrong And Missing Half Its Powers

Those two glass inches can do far more than move a cursor, if you know the gestures.

Most people use a laptop trackpad for one thing. Point, click, repeat. But that smooth little pad is packed with hidden gestures that can whip you between apps and desktops faster than any menu ever could.

Try swiping with three fingers to flick between open windows, or pinching with your thumb and fingers to zoom a photo. Two fingers scroll, a three finger tap can look up a word, and a four finger swipe leaps between whole desktops.

You can browse and customise every one of these in your trackpad settings, turning gestures on and off until they match how your hands actually like to move. It is a five minute setup that pays you back every single day.

Learn even two or three of these and your laptop suddenly feels quicker and smoother. The hardware was capable all along. You were just tapping one tiny corner of what that patch of glass could really do.