TAKE CHARGE OF
THE START MENU
RESIZE THE START MENU
You can manually resize the Start menu
as you would any other window. Just grab
an edge and drag it to the new size. You
can only resize it up or down, left or right.
There’s no option to drag it diagonally.
ADD LIBRARIES
By default, the Start menu only displays
links to the Settings app and File Explorer.
To display Libraries in the Start menu, head
to “Start > Settings > Personalization >
Start” and click the “Customize list” link.
REARRANGE TILES
You can move tiles around the Start
menu in much the same way you could in
Windows 8.1. Just click, hold, and drag. If
they’re Microsoft tiles, you can also resize
them in one of the four preset sizes. If
they’re tiles you’ve pinned yourself, there
are two preset sizes.
HIDE YOUR RECENTLY
OPENED PROGRAMS
If you don’t want the Start menu to show
your recently opened programs and files,
head to “Settings > Personalization >
Start” and uncheck the “Store and display
recently opened programs in the Start
Menu” option.
NAME TILE GROUPS
By default, the Start menu arranges all
of your tiles within two groups: “Life at a
glance” and “Play and explore.” Click their
titles to rename them. If you’ve pinned tiles
of your own, hover over the area above them
and click the two parallel lines to give that
group a new name.
ADD YOUR APPS AND
FOLDERS TO TILES
Right-click any of your folders and select
the “Pin to Start” option to create a tile for
it within the Start menu. Then follow the
previous steps to rename and reposition it.
You can also do the same for any app that is
listed under the “All apps” menu.
There are stacks of customization options to get the Start menu exactly how you want it.
SIGN OUT
OF WINDOWS
If you need to sign in
as another user, bring
up the Start menu and
click your name, which
is displayed right at the
top. This brings up a
menu that includes the
option to sign out and
then back in again as
another user.
WINDOWS DESKTOP
AND FILE EXPLORER
NEW APP SWITCHER
Press Alt + Tab to switch between open
windows and apps. You’ll see thumbnails of
programs that are running—cycle through
them using the Tab key.
MULTIPLE INTERFACES
Windows 10 automatically changes the
interface based on the type of device you’re
using, thanks to Continuum. The OS also
detects screen size and tailors the display
accordingly.
PIN FOLDERS
You can manually pin folders for quick
access. Just right-click any folder, and
choose “Pin to Quick access.” To remove a
folder from Quick Access, right-click and
choose “Unpin from Quick Access.”
REORDER ALL OF YOUR
PINNED FOLDERS
To change the order in which folders are
listed in the Quick Access view, simply
select a folder and drag it above or below
the other listed folders.
TURN OFF THE QUICK
ACCESS VIEW
Open File Explorer, then select “View >
Options from the Ribbon.” In the “Folder
Options” window, click the “Open File
Explorer to” drop-down menu at the top and
select the “This PC” option.
PEEK INSIDE DESKTOPS
Bring up the Task View and hover over a
virtual desktop to view all windows running
Take a speedy tour through your open apps with [Alt]–[Tab].
Get organized
with multiple
virtual
desktops.
> System > Multi-tasking > Virtual
Desktops” and select the “All desktops”
option from the drop-down menu.
DECLUTTER YOUR TASKBAR
If you don’t use virtual desktops or use the
keyboard to switch between them, you can
hide the Task View icon by right-clicking the
Taskbar and deselecting the “Show Task
View button” option.
MAKE TASKBAR OPAQUE
Go to “Start > Settings > Personalisation
> Colors” and disable “Make Start,
Taskbar and Action Center transparent”
to remove the see-through effect in favor of
an opaque background for the Start menu
and Taskbar.
PUT THE RECYCLE BIN ON
THE TASKBAR
Instead of always poking around the
Explorer or minimizing open windows to
find the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop,
you can now simply right-click the icon
and then pin it to the Start menu as well as
the Taskbar.
DISABLE NOTIFICATIONS
TEMPORARILY
Avoid distraction by temporarily disabling
notifications from Action Center. Just rightclick
the Action Center icon in the Taskbar
and head to “Hide notifications for” and
choose between one, three, or eight hours.
ADD MULTIPLE DESKTOPS
You can now add multiple virtual desktops.
To do this, click the “Task View” button on
the Taskbar, then click “New desktop.”
You can add as many as you like and scroll
through them if they extend beyond the
space on your desktop.
inside it. Click the app preview from
the Task View to bring that window straight
to the top.
MOVE A WINDOW TO
ANOTHER DESKTOP
To move windows, bring up the Task
View and drag an open window from the
current desktop straight into the desktop
you want to move it to. Alternatively, you
can drag a window to the “new desktop”
button to create a new virtual desktop
for the window. If you have a high-resolution
monitor, right-click the Taskbar and go
to “Properties.” Then use the “Taskbar
buttons” menu to select the “Combine when
Taskbar is full” option.
VIEW APPS FROM ACROSS
MULTIPLE DESKTOPS
By default, the Taskbar displays windows
and apps from the current desktop. To
change this, head to “Start > Settings
> System > Multi-tasking > Virtual
Desktops” and select the “All desktops”
option from the drop-down menu.
DECLUTTER YOUR TASKBAR
If you don’t use virtual desktops or use the
keyboard to switch between them, you can
hide the Task View icon by right-clicking the
Taskbar and deselecting the “Show Task
View button” option.
MAKE TASKBAR OPAQUE
Go to “Start > Settings > Personalisation
> Colors” and disable “Make Start,
Taskbar and Action Center transparent”
to remove the see-through effect in favor of
an opaque background for the Start menu
and Taskbar.
PUT THE RECYCLE BIN ON
THE TASKBAR
Instead of always poking around the
Explorer or minimizing open windows to
find the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop,
you can now simply right-click the icon
and then pin it to the Start menu as well as
the Taskbar.
DISABLE NOTIFICATIONS
TEMPORARILY
Avoid distraction by temporarily disabling
notifications from Action Center. Just rightclick
the Action Center icon in the Taskbar
and head to “Hide notifications for” and
choose between one, three, or eight hours.
ADD MULTIPLE DESKTOPS
You can now add multiple virtual desktops.
To do this, click the “Task View” button on
the Taskbar, then click “New desktop.”
You can add as many as you like and scroll
through them if they extend beyond the
space on your desktop.
SETTINGS & TWEAKS
BYPASS SIGN-IN
To log straight into Windows, type
netplwiz into the Cortana search bar. This
will bring up the User Accounts window. In
the Users tab, deselect the “Users must
enter a username and password to use
this computer” option.
SELECTIVELY SYNC
FOLDERS WITH ONEDRIVE
OneDrive is now more flexible and userfriendly.
To customize the folders that it
syncs, right-click the icon in the notification
area, select “Settings,” switch to the
“Choose folders” tab, and click the “Choose
folders” button, to select which cloud
folders you want to be available locally.
ACCESS FILES REMOTELY
Under the Settings tab, if you toggle the “Let
me use OneDrive to fetch any of my files on
this PC” option, then you can easily access
any of the files that you’ve stored in the cloud
from any other computer connected to the
web, simply by logging into the OneDrive
website (www.onedrive.com).
BRING THE APP ICONS BACK
Tablet Mode hides the app icons in the
Taskbar, but you can bring them back for
faster access. Right-click “Tablet Mode” in
Action Center and click “Go To Settings.”
Here, disable the “Hide app icons on the
Taskbar when in Tablet Mode” option.
DISABLE TASKBAR SEARCH
If you don’t use the Taskbar search that
often and would rather preserve the space
for something else, right-click the Taskbar,
select “Search,” and select “Show search
icon” to replace the bar with a smaller
magnifier icon, or “Disabled” to remove it
from the Taskbar entirely.
CHANGE SIGN-IN OPTIONS
To switch to an alternative login mechanism,
head to “Start > Settings > Accounts > Signin
options.” From here you can replace the
password with an easier-to-remember fourdigit
PIN or a picture password, if you prefer.
HELLO WINDOWS
The “Hello” sign-in feature logs you in
without a password. It cleverly uses
biometric authentications, such as your
face, iris, or finger, to know who you are. You
can set it up by heading to “Start > Settings
> Accounts > Sign-in options.”
CUSTOMIZE PRIVACY
Head to “Start > Settings > Privacy.” Here,
you can manage general, app-specific, and
hardware-specific privacy options, as well
as individually define which apps can access
the connected hardware.
DISPLAY A LOGIN MESSAGE
Type secpol.msc in the Run
window and head to “Local Policies >
Security Options.” Find “Interactive
Logon: Message title for users attempting
to log on,” plus “Interactive Logon:
Message text for users attempting to log
on.” Right-click these, hit “Properties” and
type in your message.
CHANGE YOUR
COMPUTER NAME
Head to “Start > Settings > System >
About” and click the “Rename PC” button.
You’ll have to restart your PC to bring this
change into effect.
CHANGE NOTIFICATION
CENTER ICONS
To customize the quick action icons that
are displayed in the Notification Center,
head over to “Start > Settings > System
> Notification & actions,” and then click
the four icons displayed to select a different
icon from a drop-down list.
PEER-TO-PEER
UPDATES
Microsoft now lets
you download updates
using peer-to-peer
technology. The option is
enabled by default, but
you can tinker with the
setting. Head to “Start
> Settings > Update
& security > Windows
Update > Advanced
Options > Choose how
you download updates.”
CUSTOMIZE
SYNC
SETTINGS
To take charge of the
settings that synced
from the current
installation to your
online account, head
to “Start > Settings
> Accounts > Sync
your settings” and
disable any of the
listed settings that
you don’t want to be
synced with your
Microsoft account
CHANGE NOTIFICATION
CENTER ICONS
To customize the quick action icons that
are displayed in the Notification Center,
head over to “Start > Settings > System
> Notification & actions,” and then click
the four icons displayed to select a different
icon from a drop-down list.
KNOWWHICH APPS ARE
DRAINING YOUR BATTERY
Under “System > Battery saver > Battery
use” you can check how much energy is
SCHEDULE
RESTARTS
To restart the PC
and install updates
at chosen times,
head to “Start >
Settings > Updates
and Security >
Windows Update >
Advanced Options.”
Under the “Choose
how updates are
installed” pull-down
menu, select the
“Notify to schedule
restart” option.
EXTEND BATTERY LIFE
Limit background activity to extend battery
life, especially if the previous tip reveals
a large number of things going on. Go to
“Start > Settings > System > Battery
saver > Battery saver settings,” check
the box to enable the feature, and pick a
percentage at which you want it to kick in.
ADVANCED TRICKS IMPROVED COMMAND
PROMPT
The oft-ignored PowerShell also gets a
slew of new features to make it more userfriendly.
It now supports word wrap and you
can resize it, which also increases its buffer
size. It also has much-improved keyboard
controls for editing and selection.
ACCESS “GODMODE”
A long-time favorite of the power user,
“GodMode” unveils a Power User menu that
brings together all your system’s far-flung
settings and configuration options into one
single location. Just create a new folder
and rename it GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-
465E-825C-99712043E01C}.
GET RID OF OLD STUFF
If you have no intention of reverting to the
previous version of Windows, save disk
space by getting rid of the old OS files. Head
to “Control Panel > System and Security >
Administrative Tools > Disk Clean-up” and
tick “Previous Windows installations.”
CUSTOMIZE THE DISK
SPACE FOR PROTECTION
To customize the disk space for protection,
first launch the Control Panel and head to
“System and Security > System > System
protection.” Now click “Configure” (under
“Protection Settings”) and use the slider
next to “Max Usage” as you need to.
SPEED UP APP
LAUNCHES AT BOOT
On a fast machine, you can disable the
app startup delay. Launch regedit and
then navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_
USER\Software\Microsof t\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer.” Right-click
Explorer, select “New > Key,” and name it
“Serialize.” Under this key, create a DWORD
value called StartupDelayInMSec and set it
to “0.”
REGISTRY EDITOR!
Power users rejoice! Microsoft has finally
decided to spend some time improving
the Registry Editor. It now lets you jump
between the same entries under “HKEY_
LOCAL_MACHINE” and “HKEY_CURRENT_
USER” using a special context-menu entry.
JUMP LISTS
IN START
MENU
Save time by using
Jump Lists with
your most-used
apps. In Registry
Editor, head to
“HKEY_CURRENT_
USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Advanced”
and create a new
DWORD named
EnableXamlJump
View and set its
value to “1.” Then
restart your PC.
CREATE
A LOCAL
ACCOUNT
If you don’t want the
benefits of a OneDrivesynced
account, you
can create a standalone
offline account. Head
to “Start > Settings
> Accounts” and click
the “Sign in with a local
account instead” link.
MOUNT ISO IMAGES
You don’t need any third-party software to
browse the contents of an ISO image. Rightclick
it and hit “Mount.” The ISO images
are mounted as virtual discs and you can
access them from the File Explorer.
RESTART EXPLORER
To quickly apply changes that require
restarting the computer, launch the Task
Manager by right-clicking the Taskbar. Click
the “More Details” button and under the
“Processes” tab look for an entry named
“Windows Explorer.” Then right-click it and
select “Restart.”
JUMP LISTS
IN START
MENU
Save time by using
Jump Lists with
your most-used
apps. In Registry
Editor, head to
“HKEY_CURRENT_
USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Advanced”
and create a new
DWORD named
EnableXamlJump
View and set its
value to “1.” Then
restart your PC.
CREATE A RECOVERY DISC
Plug in a USB drive and head to “Start >
Settings” and type recovery in the “Find
a setting” textbox and select the “Create
a recovery drive” option. This will launch
a wizard that wipes the USB drive and
transforms it into a recovery drive.
CREATE A SYSTEM IMAGE
Head to “Start > Settings,” type file in the
textbox and select the “File History” tool.
Then click the “System Image Backup” link
so you can select the destination drive for
storing the backup image.
CUSTOMIZE THE POWER
USER MENU
To reorganize or remove entries in the
Power User menu, go to “C:\Users\
username \AppData\Local\Microsoft\
Windows\WinX.” You’ll notice three
folders that house entries for the
Power User menu. You can move any
of them around or remove them as per
your requirements.
ENABLE THE HANDY
ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT
By default, the built-in Administrator
account is hidden. To enable it, launch the
Command Prompt as Administrator and
type net user administrator /active:yes.
Now, logout to see the newly added
Administrator account on the login screen.
CHOOSE
DEFAULT
APPS BY
PROTOCOL
To define default
apps based on
their protocols,
head to “Start >
Settings > System
> Default apps.”
Scroll down to the
bottom and click
the ‘Choose default
applications by
protocol’ option.
START YOUR
PC IN SAFE
MODE
Hold down the Shift key
and click “Restart.”
In the Advanced
Startup screen, go
to “Troubleshoot >
Advanced options >
Startup Settings” and
click “Restart.” When
your computer restarts,
you’ll see a list of
options that includes
Safe Mode.
CUSTOMIZE AUTOMATIC
MAINTENANCE
Launch the Control Panel and head to
“System and Security > Action Center.”
Then, expand the Maintenance section and
click on the “Change maintenance settings”
link, and use the dropdown menu to select a
convenient time.
CREATE A “CLEAR
CLIPBOARD” SHORTCUT
To quickly clear your clipboard of unwanted
stuff, create a new shortcut on the desktop
by right-clicking it, and type %windir%\
System32\cmd.exe /c “echo off | clip” into
the location box. Enter Clear Clipboard as
the name, and then hit “Finish.”
