If you don’t care much for Windows 10, you’re not alone. A lot of people have problems with it. The good news is that there are a few little things you can do here and there to make it work better. You don’t have to go to coding bootcamp just yet; these tweaks are something anyone can do.
Change the start menu – The start menu is one area of Windows 10 that many people really seem to dislike. Luckily, you can customize it with third party software such as Classic Shell and Start10. The latter is designed to “restore the quick links to core system functionality”. Classic Shell has had tens of millions of downloads over the past six years.
Remove search bar/task view button or cortana from taskbar – If the search bar or Cortana bar is taking up too much space at the bottom of the screen, you can simply remove it. Just right-click anywhere on it, point to Search Cortana, and then select “Show Search Icon” to remove the box itself and just have an icon displayed. For Cortana, just select “Hidden” to remove it from the taskbar entirely.
Learn useful keyboard shortcuts – Windows 10 is a lot easier to navigate when you know some keyboard shortcuts. Hold down ALT+TAB to view new task window view. Hit ALT+TAB for a second to switch to the most recent window. Create a new virtual desktop with WIN+CTRL+D. Realize that you need a search box after hiding it in the previous tip? Just press down the Windows K and S at the same time. Windows key+comma gives you a temporary view of the desktop (for as long as you hold the keys down). WindowsCentral.com offers a complete guide to shortcuts.
Turn of Windows P2P – Don’t like sharing your bandwidth with other Window users, or vice versa? Just turn the feature off. PcWorld.com describes the P2P sharing as “one of the more intriguing changes”. Go to Settings / Updates and Security / Windows Update / Advanced options / Choose How Updates Are Delivered. Either turn the slider to Off or leave it on and choose the “Only PCs on my local network” button.
Keep tablet mode – If you prefer tablet mode, you can keep it permanently. Go to Settings / System / Tablet Mode / When I Sign In and then in the dropdown menu, select the “Tablet Mode” option.
Quickly open and view the properties menu – In File Explorer, if you need to check the properties of any program or file, simply hold the ALT key and double click on the icon. It will immediately bring up that object’s properties menu.
Easily Play XBOX One on PC – This is one of the nicer features of Windows 10. Its integration with Microsoft gaming allows users to play XBOX One games on the computer. Have the XBOX app running on the PC and your console on at the same time. Both obviously should be connected to the same internet network. Select the XBOX One symbol when it appears on the computer. Warning: there might be a bit of lag on graphics-heavy games.
Remove all live tiles from Start menu – Prefer a cleaner Start menu? Get rid of the live tiles on the right-hand portion of the menu. Simply right-click on them, one by one, and click “unpin from start”.
Once you get used to Microsoft 10, you will be comfortable doing more advanced tasks like practicing design and coding. It’s a good OS for learning to program and code. If you’ve been taking an online course like www.austincodingacademy.com, you can play around with apps like Visual Studio and Code Writer.