Windows 10: tips and tricks for Microsoft’s most powerful operating system yet

08 Mar 2024

1. Talk to Cortana

01 Cortana. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – guidelines for the use of Home Windows 10.Obstet
Cortana is Microsoft’s virtual assistant, in the vein of Siri and Google Now, and with Home Windows 10, it’s breaking out from Windows Phone onto computers, laptops, and capsules. You could turn Cortana on and tweak its settings from the Start menu, then use your voice or the hunt container at the taskbar to run Internet queries, set reminders for yourself, test the climate forecast, and more. It’s to be had within the US now and coming to other world components quickly — to test it out in advance, set the system vicinity and language to the US inside the Time and Language section in Settings.

2. Login with a finger press

Microsoft has brought a brand new characteristic referred to as Windows Hi there to its newest running gadget: it helps you to log in the usage of facial reputation, a fingerprint, or even an iris test, in case your laptop has the essential hardware attached. To exchange how you benefit from entering your device, visit the Settings app, observe the Bills hyperlink, and select Sign-in options from the menu on the left. The alternatives listed will vary depending on the various bits of tech connected to your computer. However, new laptops and computers made especially for Windows 10 must include at least some of the latest options.

3. Keep on battery use

03 battery use. JpgObserver Tech Month-to-month-pointers for using Home Windows 10. Obstet For computer customers, Home Windows 10 comes with a professional Battery saver characteristic for the first time. You may locate it within the System section of Settings (there’s also an estimate of how long your battery will likely last). You could flip the Battery saver mode on or off manually or have it kick in mechanically when your battery receives right down to a sure stage — click the Battery saver settings hyperlink to trade this stage from the default 20% and to specify certain apps which are exempt from the various power-saving functions.

4. Add more computers

04 virtual desktops. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – guidelines for using Windows 10.Obstet
Home wWindows10 brings local aid for “digital” computers — which means you can install your aWindows app across a series of desktops instead of sticking with one (the taskbar and computing device shortcuts stay constant). YFor instance, you could have one computing device for paintings and one for leisure, Cforcr tap the Challenge View button (after going to the taskbar) or press Home wWindowsKey+Tab on the keyboard to view, create, and dispose of virtual desktops. You could also click on the person app thumbnails to replace them.

5. Snap to corners

05 snapping. JpgObserver Tech Month-to-month-pointers for the use of Home windows 10.Obstet
With A theme of screen layouts and enterprise, Microsoft has upgraded the window snapping feature added with Home Windows eight. In addition to snapping Windows to either aspect of the display, You may nap them into the corners, too. To strive for t, drag an open window into the nook of the display; you additionally preserve down the Windows Key and tap the cursor keys if you select. IIf you like having your Home Windows 1tenapps precisely organized and want to make full use of your display screen’s decision, it’s a handy function.

6. Keep maps for offline use

06 Shop maps. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – tips for the use of Home windows 10.Obstet
This is a tip that’s more useful on smartphones. However, capsules and laptops can benefit it as nicely: Home windows 10 helps you keep maps for your tool if you need to lose aor records connection while you’re looking to scout out the nearby location. Head to the Settings app, then pick out system and Offline maps to choose which maps to download (every vicinity comes with an estimate of how much garage space may be taken up). You may then release and use the Maps app whether you know it or not. You may get it online.

7. Examine the difficult drive

07 hard force. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – guidelines for the use of Windows 10.Obstet
Home Windows 10 brings a new interface for viewing the contents of your tough power, making it a lot less difficult so one can see how all of those gigabytes are being used. From the Settings app, click on or tap on the device, select the storage alternative, and pick the drive you need to take a better look at — the subsequent display breaks up the used storage area into pix, files, motion pictures, email, song and so forth, supplied all of this content material is saved into the best folders. Click on or tap on the selected access in the list for extra information.

8. Restoration default app institutions

The default app for a selected record type is the one that opens when you double-click on a report saved in that layout (so Word opens for document documents, for example). The Home wWindows10 improvement method can smash a number of those institutions, and the easiest way to get them back is by starting the Settings app from the Begin menu and following the gadget hyperlink. Head to the Default apAppseb page, and you may make any important changes and reset institutions to their “Microsoft endorsed” ononesf required.

9. Get admission to the alternative Start menu

09 other Being menus. JpgObserver Tech Month-to-month – recommendations for the use of Windows 10.Obstet
Right-click at the Begin menu button to bring up an opportunity — it’s now not quite as user-pleasant. Still, it gives short access to some maximum critical regions of the gadget, the device Manager software, the command spark off the window, and the antique legacy Manipulate Panel. You can also access the Mission Supervisor, the device, and the Run box from here. This opportunity menu turned into Windows eEightaroperly, and you could also launch it by pressing Windows Key+X.

10. Flip off sharing

Ten sharing. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – pointers for the use of Windows 10. Obstet One of the more arguable new capabilities in Home windows 10 is Experience, which helps you routinely share passwords with your contacts on Facebook and Skype. The idea is they can speedily get online when they go to your home or office, but a few have expressed misgivings about the feature. To turn it off or take a more in-depth look, head into Settings’s Community & Internet sections, then choose Manipulatesettings. At the lowest of the display screen, You may flip sharing on or off for all the networks your computer regularly connects to.

11. Document films of on-screen hobby

11 Documents. JpgObserver Tech Month-to-month – tips for the usage of Windows 10.Obstet
Windows 10 comes with an on-screen interest recording function — it’s, on the whole, designed to capture your gaming exploits for sharing with the broader international. You can still use it to prepare a presentation or BbeginuyourWindows how-to video collection on YouTube. Press Home wWindowsKey+G from ithe inner aof ny app, after which check the tick box to get the game DVR application up and running. Any clips of your Wi-Fi are available in the Xbox app; use the Home wWindowsKey+Alt+Print display keyboard shortcut to shop a static screenshot in the identical vicinity.

12. Schedule Windows 10 restarts

If you’re going for walks on the home version of Home wiWindows0 (and you probably are), you don’t get a preference on whether to put in updates — they’re routinely implemented to preserve your PCPCecure and up to date. You can prevent your desktop or computer from restarting routinely while updates arrive: from Settings, click Replace & safety, and then pick Windows Replace from the left-hand aspect. Click Superior options, and you can use the drop-down menu on the top of the display screen to pressure Windows 10 to notify you sooner than any restart happens.

13. Turn off short get entry to

13 short access. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – suggestions for the use of Windows 10. In the made-over Windows 10 rReportExplorer interface (previously called Home wWindowsExplorer), a new brief gets the entry to phase that collects together these days opened documents and often used folders. You could “pin” folders here through Right-byg and select Pin to enter briefly. If you don’t just like the new characteristic, Proper-click on the short get admission to heading on the left and select alternatives — the dialog container that pops up helps you to begin Record Explorer with an overview of your Pc system (“This Pc“) instead of the quick get right of entry to a web page. You may additionally hide recently used documents and frequently used folders.

14. Get Windows 10 running on your smartphone

14 Smartphone partners. JpgObserver Tech Month-to-month – recommendations for using Home Windows 10. Obstet Microsoft is aware that Windows Phone hasn’t set the arena alight, which is why it’s making its software a great deal more like-minded with iOS and Android. To look for evidence of this, launch the Smartphone partner app (to be had in the Begin menu): it will help you get your emails, photographs, and different documents on an Android or iOS phone through apps, including OneDrive and Outlook. Pick the form of mobile device you’re using from the hole splash display, then comply with the commands to get installation.

15. Customise the Begin menu

15 Start menus. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – suggestions for using Home Windows 10.Obstet
The Start menu returns with Home wiWindows0, but it’s borrowed heavily from the Windows 8 Start screen: it’s got colorful, stay” tiles that frequently rotate to expose snippets of content from the relevant app. As with the antique Start screen, You may Personalize the new Start menu to shape yourself: Proper-click on person tiles to keep them static, alternate them in size, or eliminate them from the menu altogether. Proper-click on an app shortcut within the All Apps listing if you need to pin it to the Start menu.

16. Transfer to the touch mode

16 touch modes. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – pointers for the usage of Windows 10.Obstet
To make up for some mistakes of Home wWindowseight, Home wWindows10 has exceptional modes for capsules and completely fledged computer systems. It can Transfer among them mechanically (if you connect a keyboard dock to a tablet, for instance). You could slip among them manually if you want to click or tap the Action Centre notification icon inside the system tray within the lower Right-handbook, then pick out pill mode. Taskbars and menus are simplified to make them less complicated to apply on a touchscreen, and the Start menu returns to the entire-screen mode it utilized in Windows eight.

17. Stream games from an Xbox One

Windows machines and Xbox One consoles are friendlier than ever after the roll-out of Windows 10. One of the new capabilities is seamlessly moving gameplay from an Xbox One to Ha ome wWindows1tendesktop or PC. To get started, enable recreation streaming from inside the Xbox One set, then go to the Xbox app that’s a part of Home Windows 1 and pick Connect from the panel at the left. Pick out your console from the list to establish a hyperlink. FEachdevice wants to be on the same nearby Network. For the Flow of paintings

18. Write on the Internet

18 write on the Internet. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – pointers for the use of Home windows 10.Obstet
Internet Explorer remains a part of the historical past of Windows 10. Still, as a long way as Wwebsurfing goes, the new OS is all about Microsoft Side: the present-day browser is short, smooth, and designed with tutting-edge-day Internet in mind. One infants greater unusual function is its ability to annotate web pages — click on the Make a Web Be Aware icon (a pen internal a container). You could scribble and spotlight away for your coronary heart’s content. Pages can then be saved or shared for destiny use.

19. Study without distractions at the Net

19 reader view. JpgObserver Tech Monthly – hints for the use of Windows 10.Obstet
Another useful characteristic ushered in with the Microsoft Facet browser is the Analyzing View mode — on websites, where the mode is to be had, you’ll see an icon that seems like an open e-book on the Proper-hand side of the address bar. Click on the icon to spark off this mode, and the format of the modern web page changes, slicing out ads and different useless distractions so you can pay to attend to the primary textual content of the object. Click the icon once more, and the web page view goes back to every day.

20. Manage your notifications

Windows 10 comes with a revamped notifications machine. This is — dare we say it? — a bit harking back to Mac OS X. Right here, you get notifications approximately Windows occasions, pop-up signals out of your installed software, and updates from personal home Windows apps similar to new messages in the Mail app). To Customise what indicates up here and what doesn’t, go to Settings, system after which Notifications & actions — you’ll see. You may block signals on an app with the aid of-app foundation and apply a blanket ban. If you find the new machine too distracting, visit this display

21. Sync your Windows enjoy to other Pcs

Like Home wWindowseight, Home wWindows1tenlets sync numerous components of your Windows revel, including your desktop wallpaper and online passwords – among computer systems, so long as you operate an equal Microsoft account to check in with. From the Settings app, choose Accounts, after which you sync your settings: in the following display, we switch syncing on and stale and select the protected data. If you have a couple of Windows PCs in multiple places (e.g., home and within the office), it’s a way to retain a regular experience throughout them all.