ISSUE383|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2020 97
I
fyou’vejustmadethejumpto
Windows10,oryou’restill
debatingwhethertomakethe
movefromWindows7,you’llfindthere’s
alottolikeaboutthenewoperating
system,particularlywiththemostrecent
May2019update.Thislatestversionof
Microsoft’soperatingsystemfixesalotof
issueswitholdersoftwareandintroduces
somesmartnewfeatures.Here’s our
rundownofWindows10’sbestfeatures.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Gotaproblemwithyourcomputer?
Notrouble.Withthelatestversionof
Windows10,therearenowalotmore
troubleshootingtools.ClickontheStart
menuandgotoSettings,Update&
Security, Troubleshoot.Here,you’llfind
alonglistoftoolsthataredesignedto
findandfixproblemsautomatically,
fromWindowsUpdatetorecording
audioandnetworkissues.Ifyou’re
havingaproblem,checkoutoneof
thesetoolsfirst.
PAUSE UPDATES
IfyougototheUpdatessectionofthe
Settingsmenu,you’llseethatyounow
havetheoptiontopauseupdatesforup
to35days,andyoucandeferthebig
updates(whicharegenerallyreleased
twiceayear)forupto18months.This
takesawayoneofthebiggestissues
withWindows10–thatitwouldupgrade
youtothelatestversionregardlessof
whetheryouwantedtoornot.
VIRTUAL DESKTOPS
VirtualDesktopsareagreatwaytoboost
productivityonyourWindows10
computer. Ratherthanhavingasingle
desktop,youcanhavemultipleones,for
exampleonewithyouremailclientand
webbrowser,andthenonewit
photo-editingsoftware.Youcanthen
switchbetweenthedesktops,lettingyou
keepeverythingneaterandavoiding
havingtoomanyopenapplicationsona
singledesktop.
To useVirtualDesktops,press
Windows-Tabandyou’llseethe
desktopslistedatthetop.Youcanuse
theNewdesktopbuttontoaddanew
one,andyoucanhoveroveranexisting
oneandpressthe‘x’togetridofone.
Clickanydesktoptoswitchtoit.
Youcanalsousekeyboardshortcuts
toswitchbetweendesktops.Press
Ctrl-Windows-Left/RightArrowtomove
betweenthem.
HIDDEN STARTMENU
Right-clicktheStartmenuandyougeta
secretmenuthatpopsup.Thishas
shortcutstolotsoffeaturesthatyoumay
finduseful,suchasSettings,Disk
Management,Powershell(theterminal
fortypingincommands)andTask
Manager.It’safarquickerwayofgetting
throughtheoperatingsystem.
SHOW DESKTOP
Isyourdesktoptooclutteredwith
windows?Youcangetridofthemalland
showtheplaindesktopquicklywiththis
littletrick.Justmoveyourmousecursor
tothebottom-rightofthescreennextto
kandclick.Allofyourwindows
denimmediately, soyoucansee
desktopanddowhatyouneedto
here,suchascopyingafileor
emptyingtheRecycleBin.
To bringeverythingback
again,justrepeatthe
procedureandallyouropen
applicationswillpopupjust
wheretheywerebefore.
HAKE AWINDOW
ujustwanttofocusonasingle
tion,youcandothateasily,too.
Justleft-clickandholdawindowwiththe
cursor,thengiveyourmouseagood
wobble,shakingthewindowaround.
Thiswillcauseallotherwindowstogo
away,andyou’releftwithfocusonjust
theonethatyouwant.
WHATABOUT WINDOWS XP?
The evenolder Windows XP is still popular,with nearly3%ofusers
using this 18-year-old operating system, according to the latest stats.
Some of the options that we recommend for Windows 7apply to
Windows XP,although thelatter operating system hasn’tbeen
supported for amuch longer time, so there’snow less choice when it
comestosecurity software: AVGFreeand Avast Free aretwo decent
options,but there’snoKaspersky or Norton softwareavailable.
As such, it’shardtorecommend still using Windows XP seriously if
you’regoing to go online, as it is not asafe operating system. Any computer
running Windows XP has far morelimited upgrade options, too: you could install Windows7,
althoughmoving from one unsupported OS to another isn’taparticularly good idea. Currently,
Windows XP computers areinteresting from an historical point of view,like an old games console,
but offer little forthose whowant modern computing.
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ABOVE:Windows10
makes it easier to find
and fix issues with
your computer
GETTING THE MOST
OUT OF WINDOWS10
