- 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
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
The 10 Most Important New Features of Windows 10
Now that you know what’s new and different in this latest version of Windows, let’s take a more in-depth look at the most important new features in Windows 10.
1: Back to the Desktop (Goodbye, Start Screen)
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The biggest mistake that Microsoft made with Windows 8 was trying to apply a single interface paradigm to all possible devices—and then picking the wrong interface. Microsoft assumed that tablets would obliterate desktop and notebook PCs, developed a touch-based, full-screen interface that worked fine on those touchscreen devices, but then forced that interface on all traditional PC users. Bad decision.
The biggest change in Windows 10 is the abandonment of the entire touch-based approach. When you boot Windows 10 with a traditional PC, you’re booted directly to the desktop. There’s no Start screen (which is how you had to open apps in Windows 8), no Charms bar you have to swipe in from the right (which is where many system settings were located in Windows 8), and no “Modern” or “Metro” apps that take up the entire screen to display a minimal amount of information. You start your PC, you see the same old desktop you’ve grown to love and expect, and you’re off to the races.
If you’re familiar with Windows 7, the Windows 10 desktop looks pretty much like the one you’re used to. You’ll find a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, application shortcuts on the desktop itself, and even a Start button in the lower-left corner. (More on that in a moment.) You don’t need to touch it to make it work (although you can, on a touchscreen PC); it’s designed for use with your mouse and keyboard, just as you’re used to. In short, it’s the Windows desktop you want, with no unnecessary interference.
2: The Start Menu Returns—Better Than Ever
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Perhaps the most significant change in Windows 10 is that little piece of real estate in the lower-left corner. That’s right, the Start button and the Start menu are back!
The dumbest thing Microsoft did in Windows 8 might have been removing the Start menu, which is how we’ve all been launching programs since the advent of Windows 95 two decades ago. In Windows 8, you had to navigate to the Start screen, which took up the entire screen (of course), find your app among the dozens or hundreds displayed there, and then do the tap or click thing. There was no compelling reason for this change, nobody was demanding it, and users quite frankly despised it.
Well, Microsoft heard your complaints, and the Start menu is back in Windows 10. Click the Start button and you see the Start menu—although it looks a little different from what you were used to in Windows 7.
The Start menu now has three sections, left to right. The left section contains icons for common operations (such as Power and Settings), and the middle displays a list of all the applications installed on your system. These look different but function much like similar sections on the Windows 7 Start menu.
It’s the right side of the Start menu that’s radically different. Here is where you see any apps you’ve pinned to the Start menu, but not in the traditional list. Instead, you see a “tile” for each item. Depending on the app, a tile can be “live”—that is, it can display current information when available. If you pin the Weather app, for example, the Weather tile displays current temperature and weather conditions. The News tile displays current news headlines, and so forth.
These tiles are resizable, and the Start menu itself can be resized vertically and horizontally. The tiles create a new level of usability for the Start menu, resulting in a nice addition of Windows 8 functionality into the traditional Windows desktop paradigm.
3: Things Look a Little Different
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Microsoft always tweaks the interface a little with each new version of Windows, and Windows 10 is no different. The new color schemes result in a darker taskbar, and all the system icons have been redesigned. More important, it’s a flat interface; windows have a slight drop shadow and look as if they’re floating on the desktop. Microsoft also removed most of the unnecessary “chrome” in the interface, so there’s little to no frame around most windows.
And, in the Fall Creators Update, you get the option of displaying a Dark Theme, which makes most app backgrounds black with white text. There’s also the introduction of a new design aesthetic called Fluent Design, which makes window backgrounds look like translucent acrylic; the background also slightly changes color when you move your mouse around. These are subtle changes, but they make for a more enjoyable computing experience.
4: Take Control with the Action Center
At the far-right corner of the notification area of the taskbar is a new Notifications icon. Click this to display the Action Center, which serves multiple purposes.
First, it displays important system messages. Second, if you’re using Microsoft Outlook or a similarly compatible email client, it displays new messages in your email inbox. And third, the Action Center displays Quick Actions—tiles that link into key system operations, such as turning Wi-Fi on or off, switching to Tablet mode, and the like. It’s kind of like a quick access pane to some pretty important stuff.
5: Manage System Settings with the Settings Tool
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In all older versions of Windows, all system settings were accessible from the Control Panel. In Windows 8, that changed with some (but not all) settings accessible from a Charms bar that swiped in from the right side of the screen.
In Windows 10, the Charms bar is no more and the Control Panel has been effectively hidden. Instead, there’s a new Settings tool, accessible from either the Start menu or the Action Center, that contains just about all of your system settings. It’s the place to go to when you want to configure something about your system.
6: Windows Apps on the Desktop
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In Windows 8, Microsoft introduced a new class of applications, originally dubbed Metro (then Modern, then Windows Store, then Universal Windows Platform) apps. These apps ran full screen and were designed to be used on touch interfaces—not on the traditional Windows desktop.
In Windows 10, Microsoft has redesigned these apps —now called simply Windows apps—to appear in traditional windows on the desktop. You can resize the windows as you like and display multiple app windows at a time. You get all the functionality of these newer apps but in a desktop-friendly package—just as it should be.
7: Smart Searching—and More—with Cortana
Whereas most Windows 10 changes are evolutionary improvements, there’s one completely new technology. Cortana is a virtual assistant, much like Apple’s Siri, that serves multiple functions. You use Cortana to search for content on your PC or on the Web, and it does a good job of that, learning your behavior as it goes along. You can also use Cortana to set reminders, schedule tasks, view the latest news and weather, and such. Again, with use, Cortana learns what you like and dislike, and thus gets smarter about the options it offers you.
You can search with Cortana from your computer keyboard or speak voice commands into your PC’s microphone. Just click the search box on the taskbar or say “Hey, Cortana” into your computer’s microphone.
8: A New Way to Browse the Web
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Windows 10 features a new web browser, named Microsoft Edge. This new browser looks and feels more like the more modern Chrome and Firefox browsers and, like those browsers, supports tabbed browsing. Edge also includes a new Reading View which removes annoying ads from many web pages, and lets you mark up the pages you view with Web Notes. In addition, Edge is considerably faster than the older Internet Explorer browser, and more compatible with today’s state-of-the-art websites. It’s a great replacement for an older browser that was showing its age.
9: Improved Task Switching
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When you want to switch from one open app to another, all you have to do is press Alt+Tab. This displays all open apps as thumbnails; keep pressing that Tab button until you get to the app you want to view.
You can also display this list of window thumbnails by clicking the Task View button on the taskbar. However, this button has additional uses, as you’ll see next.
10: Mobile Device Integration
New in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is the ability to sync your Windows 10 computer with your mobile phone or tablet. This lets you read and reply to text messages from your computer, as well as share data files between your computer and mobile device. You can now start work on a document on your computer, continue working on it with your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet, and finish things up back at your PC. This feature recognizes how we use our devices today, and puts your documents and files front and center—no matter which device you’re using.
