Keyboard Shortcuts I Learned From My Cat

My cat Mira he is perfect, and has never done anything wrong. He also likes to navigate the laptop keys — all mine MacBook and my wife Kathy Windows PC.

You might think that walking on the laptop is an example of Mira doing something wrong. He doesn’t agree. And, in any case, we’ve all learned a lot about how our computers work because of it. Every time they go through our keyboards they trigger a new, confusing keyboard shortcut. I wonder how they did it, but then I find a shortcut by Googling around. Here is what I learned.

Mira Hides Important Things

A couple of times Mira has run over my keyboard and caused many of my windows to disappear. This scares me—is my job gone?—until I click on the port icon and realize that everything is still there. What happened?

It can be several things. On Mac it’s a keyboard shortcut Command-Option-H hides all windows except the current one. Or maybe Mira switched desktops in Mission Control – what’s up with that Controlling–Left/right navigation keyand it would look like all my windows are gone.

Mira also removed this cheat from PC. Windows–, (but) hides all the windows when Windows-Ctrl-Left/Right arrow change virtual desktops. So there are all kinds of ways to make Mira worry while teaching us more about how our computers work. Beloved.

Mira Takes a Screenshot

I take pictures on my Mac all the time, so it was no surprise to me when Mira was able to start. Command-Shift-4 to start taking a picture of a specific place on my screen.

But I didn’t realize I could do the same thing on PC: Windows+Shift+S it’s a keyboard shortcut, apparently. Now I know this, and I will always use it.

Mira Turns the Dock, in a way

I usually like to hide the port on my Mac, but Mira apparently doesn’t agree. Once he walked on the keyboard and stopped being hidden. Apparently he pushed Command-Option-Dwhich changes whether the bar is hidden or not.

I can imagine this being very confusing if you’re the type of person who doesn’t hide a port – where did it go? Some may prefer to make this change faster, but I’m glad Mira showed me how to do it.

Mira Teaches Me About Presence

Sometimes Mira goes through Kathy’s laptop and the keyboard stops working. To be honest, I’ve researched the story a lot, and I don’t know how Mira pulled it off.

But there are keyboard shortcuts that change the way typing works in Windows. Pressing the Shift The five key on Windows, for example, helps Sticky Keysaccessible feature that changes how modifier keys such as Control, Alt, and Shift work. With this feature, pressing Shift will set the Shift key as if it were saved, which will allow you to type all caps. It’s useful for people who can’t press multiple keys at the same time, but confusing when assisted by a cat. Pressing Shift a second time turns off Shift lock, and you can disable the feature by pressing Shift five times.

Another feature that activates Mira when she holds the right shift key for five seconds—Filters. This feature, designed for people with hand tremors, causes the machine to briefly ignore and repeat the press. It’s a useful feature, and I’m glad it’s there, but it’s a bit annoying to accidentally turn on.

It’s always fun to discover that your computer can do things you never knew it could do, even if the learning curve is a little confusing. So I’m grateful to Mira, in a way, for showing me keyboard shortcuts. But I’m also working on teaching him to stop walking and sit on my laptop. Maybe one day.