Using Your Windows 10 PC-If You've Used Windows Before
- Windows 10 for Windows 8/8.1 Users
- Windows 10 for Windows 7 Users
- Windows 10 for Windows XP Users
- The 10 Most Important New Features of Windows 10
- Windows 10 Updates for Windows 10 Users
Learn how to do your current tasks on a new Windows 10 computer.
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This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
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In this chapter, you find out how to do your current tasks on a new Windows 10 computer.
Windows 10 for Windows 8/8.1 Users
Windows 10 for Windows 7 Users
Windows 10 for Windows XP Users
The 10 Most Important New Features of Windows 10
Windows 10 Updates for Windows 10 Users
Windows 10 is the latest version of Windows, the operating system from Microsoft that’s been driving personal computers since the late 1980s. Windows 10, released in 2015, is a considerable improvement over the previous version (Windows 8) and a worthwhile upgrade if you’re using any older version of Windows.
Windows 10 for Windows 8/8.1 Users
The Windows operating system has been around for more than 30 years now. Version 1.0 of Windows was released in November of 1985 and has gone through numerous small and more significant revisions since then.
Prior to Windows 10 there was Windows 8, released in 2012. (Microsoft skipped the Windows 9 title.) With Windows 8, Microsoft attempted a complete overhaul of the operating system’s interface and operation, in order to better compete in the burgeoning touchscreen tablet computer market. These changes included deprecating the traditional desktop, removing the Start button and Start menu, and forcing users to use touch gestures instead of the mouse and keyboard.
Unfortunately, these changes ill served the billions of people using traditional desktop and notebook computers, and was met by widespread resistance—and anemic sales. Microsoft tried to reverse some of the damage with the rapid release of Windows 8.1 in 2013, which brought back the Start button (but not the Start menu), but the other changes weren’t significant enough to make much of a difference.
Fortunately, Microsoft learned from its mistakes and changed things dramatically (for the better) with Windows 10. This latest operating system is a worthy successor to the much-beloved Windows 7—and to Windows 8, of course.
If you’re a Windows 8/8.1 user, what will you find new in Windows 10? Lots! Here’s a short list of the most important changes:
The Start button is back, as is the Start menu. Click the Start button and you see a new and (really) improved version of the Start menu, with all your installed programs listed.
Programs pinned to the Start menu now appear as resizable tiles, some of which display live information without having to be opened.
Windows boots directly to the desktop.
The much-despised Start screen from Windows 8 is no more. If you’re using Windows 10 on a tablet or other smaller device, you instead see a full-screen version of the new Start menu, complete with a slightly different version of the taskbar.
Also gone is the Windows 8 Charms bar, used to configure many system settings. These system settings (and more) are now accessible from a new Settings window, which also replaces much of the functionality of the traditional Control Panel. (Although the Control Panel remains—well-hidden—in Windows 10, you’ll probably use the Settings tool instead.)
Although you can operate Windows 10 with touch gestures, you don’t have to. Everything you need to do you can do with your mouse and keyboard.
The full-screen Modern apps from Windows 8 have been rewritten to appear in resizable windows on the traditional desktop.
There’s a new Action Center, accessible from the taskbar, that displays important system messages and key system operations.
Traditional system search has been replaced by the Cortana virtual assistant, which functions similarly to Siri on an Apple iPhone. You can operate Cortana with the keyboard or with voice commands.
There’s a new web browser, called Microsoft Edge, that’s faster and more streamlined than the old Internet Explorer—and that adds several new features, as well.
There are even more new features, including some nice changes to the interface design, but that gives you a feel of what’s new and different. If you’re still running Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, you want to upgrade to Windows 10—which should be a relatively easy and painless process. See the Microsoft website for details.
