Windows Help & Advice - UK (2020-03)

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Focus on what matters

in Windows 10

“Ifapps,reminders,suggestionsandannouncements

aremakingit hardtoconcentrate,it’seasytomake

Windowsa calmerandquieterplace”

n anidealworld,ourtrainsof

thoughtwouldwhooshat

highspeeduntilthey

reachedtheirdestinations.

Unfortunately,intherealworld,

trainsofthoughtarea bitmorelike

realtrains:they’reeasilyinterrupted

andoftenarrivea lotlaterthan

they’resupposedto.If you’refinding

it hardtofocusonwhatyou’redoing

whenyou’reinWindows,thegood

newsis thatWindowsitselfcanhelp.

Inthistutorialwe’lldiscoversome

ofthelittlechangesthatcanmakea

reallybigdifferencetotheway

Windowsfeels.We’lldiscoverhowto

stopWindowsinterruptingyouwith

supposedlyhelpfulsuggestions,how

toautomaticallyentera specialDo

NotDisturbmodeandhowto

ensureyoudon’tmissanything

important.We’llalsodiscover

distraction-freewritingappsas

wellastheservicethatstopsyou

sneakingontosocialmedia.

1 Shakeit off

Are youropenappsdistractingyouorjusttakingupscreen

space? Shakethemoffwitha flickofyourfingerormouse.Simply

select andholdthewindowyouwanttofocusonandgiveit a

little shakebackandforth.Alltheotherappswillgetoutofthe

way by minimisingthemselves.Above,we’vegivenourbrowsera

shake – you’llseeallourotherappshavehiddenthemselves.

2 Make it quieter

Focus Assist – formerly known as Quiet Hours – is a really

useful Do Not Disturb mode. To use it, open Settings, click System,

and select Focus Assist. You’ll now see three options: off, priority

only and alarms only. Off disables Focus Assist, Priority only shows

notifications from apps you’ve added to your Priority List, and

Alarms disables everything but important alarms.

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Step-by-step Eliminate distractions easily

Anyonecandoit

Straightforward

Trickyin parts

Windows 10

Windows8.1

Windows^7

At a glance

Skill level...

Suitable for...

42 |^ |^ March 2020