There are several ways you can make Windows 10 more bearable/comfortable.
I like the start screen because I’ve organized mine: got rid of everything MS had put on it and just put my stuff in groups that make sense to me. It’s essentially just like most people used to have their desktops but with some structure to it.
If you have it set to be a start menu, that might be annoying. I would encourage you to instead get Stardock or something and give yourself a win7 program menu.
Tip #1 – Start -> Search
Pressing the Windows key or clicking Start opens the menu/screen but it also opens an input box. This isn’t always obvious to everyone. You don’t have to click anything at this point – just type, and it will search for what you’re typing.
e.g Hit Start and type cmd.
Tip #2 – Start +
Few people know that you can access the items on your taskbar based on their position. My left-most icon is my browser, and I can launch it with the keyboard by pressing Windows+1. The next icon is my email, that’s Windows+2. The third is Windows explorer, that’s Windows+3. And so on.
Tip #3 – Hidden taskbar, crouching start.
I keep my taskbar auto-hidden for a little extra screen space, and the annoyance of having to mouse for it is gone for me now because pressing Start brings it up along with the Start menu/screen.
Tip #4 – Pin
Tap Start and type calc. The top entry will be “Calculator”. Right-click on it. Your options will include Pin (or unpin)to Start, and Pin(or unpin) to Taskbar. If you have the option to Pin to Start go ahead and do it. Then try moving the tile to someplace you’d like.
Try right-clicking the tile and see what your options are.
Most things that have icons – from Control Panel to Folders can be pinned to the Start Menu or Task Bar. Have folders hidden 300 deep somewhere? Pin ’em.
I use a combination of things pinned to the Taskbar (for Tip #2) and everything else pinned to the start menu.
The beauty of this: My desktop now has very little stuff on it – a few folders organizing data, files, etc. I actually keep urgent bookmarks on the right side of my screen – something I couldn’t do before because of clutter.
The taskbar is less cluttered, just stuff I want to access with a Windows key and develop muscle memory for.
Everything else is nicely grouped and organized on the Start Menu.
As much as I hate live tiles, I actually make use of several of them on the left-most side: News, Weather, Mail, and Photos. These form a great little change-of-context summary if I want to look to the top left of my screen when pressing the button, and I ignore them otherwise.
Tip #5 – Windows Keys
There are a whole bunch of things that I’ve learned have Windows Keys associated with them, that I make heavy use of.
My favorites:
Windows + D => hide windows and show Desktop Windows + H => screensHot + sHare this window (!!!) Windows + I => Settings Windows + R => Start -> Run Windows + S => [Cortana] Search Windows + W => Windows Workspace (checkout Screen Sketch!)
Misc/useful ones:
Windows + A => Action Center Windows + E => Explorer Windows + G => Game Bar (when a game is running) Windows + L => Lock (avoid pressing if you don't know your password) Windows + T => Cycle thru taskbar items Windows + U => Accessibility options Windows + X => Alternate Start Menu
Recent Comments