Windows Hints, Tips and Tricks

Click here to see Tips and Tricks for Windows 7 & 8

The Windows 10 Collection

The Windows Key, the one to the left of the Space Bar, is very handy for quickly accessing many useful  things.

Tapping the Windows key will toggle between the Windows Desktop and the Start Menu.

Using the key in combination with some other keys makes for shortcuts to many useful operations. You need to hold down the Windows key and then just tap the other key.

Here are a few of the combinations and their effects:

and the ‘E’  key will open Windows Explorer where you can get access to all the files and programs on your computer

and the ‘Q’ key will bring up a Search window where you can search all the stuff on your computer and, if you are connected, stuff on the Internet

and ‘U’ will take you to the Control Panel Ease of Access Center
 

and ‘I’ brings up the Windows 10 Settings App
 

and ‘P’ brings up the Projects app where you can choose between the various display options

and ‘A’ is for the Action Center
 

and ‘S’ is for the Search Window, it’s the same as Windows key and ‘Q’
 

and ‘D’ is a toggle where all open windows will minimize, used again the widows will reopen

and ‘H’ opens the Share app - you can choose to share what is on the screen at that time

and ‘K’ opens the Connect app – handy if you are connecting to Bluetooth devices

and ‘L’ brings up the lock screen where everything is hidden until you log in again

and ‘X’ brings up a list of shortcuts to many useful Windows options
 

and ‘M’ causes all open windows to minimise
 

and ‘R’ opens a Run box – useful for entering advanced activities
 

and any of the 4 Cursor Keys is best discovered by you just trying it out

Find a program – the easy way

Tap the Windows key  and immediately start typing the name of the program. After 2 or 3 letters a list of the best matches appears. I wanted to start Microsoft Word so I typed W and O (the first 2 letters of Word) and this list appeared.

Now I can simply click on the program I wanted or if I wanted the top selected program a simple tap on the Enter key will do the trick.

Taking a Screenshot or how to save a copy of the current screen

This operation involves the PrintScreen (prt sc) key on your keyboard. On my keyboard the key has prt sc key on it, it is on the top row near the pause/break key and just above the backspace key.
To take a Screenshot you hold down the Windows key and then tap the PrintScreen key.

The screen will briefly darken to show the Screenshot has been taken and saved.

You will find the new image in the Pictures Directory in a Folder called Screenshots.

The picture will also have been copied by the computer and can be pasted into programs like Word, Publisher, Paint or Photoshop. Here’s a Screenshot of this screen:

See what is using the space on your hard drive

Windows 10 brings with it a new interface for viewing the contents of your hard drive, making it much easier for you to see how all of those gigabytes are being used.

From the Settings app, click or tap on System, pick the Storage option and choose the drive you want to take a closer look at — the next screen breaks up used storage space into pictures, documents, videos, email, music and so on, provided all of this content is saved into the appropriate folders. Click or tap on a particular entry in the list for more details.

Tap the Windows key and then Settings

Next click System

And then click Storage

Click one of the drives, eg. This PC (C:)

Click one of the categories, eg. Apps & Games:

Now you can click on any of the Apps and maybe Move, Modify or uninstall it

The Move Button be alive (not ghosted) if the App can be Moved to another Drive

The Modify Button will be alive if the App can be modified

The Uninstall Button will be alive if the App can be uninstalled

Enable God Mode in Windows 10

You will need to have administrative privileges on your computer to be able to do this trick

First select the all the text on the following line (drag across it or try a triple click) and copy it (Ctrl/C)

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Next right-click on an empty space on the Windows 10 desktop and choose New > Folder

Rename the New Folder with the copied text, use Paste (Ctrl/V} and hit enter

Finally the new folder will be named GodMode, double click it to get quick access to all the control panel settings

How to check if your system account has administrative privileges:

Click the Start Button and immediately type user

Click the User Accounts entry

            Your Account should show Administrator after your name

Turn off File Explorer's Quick Access view

When you open File Explorer in Windows 10, it defaults to a new Quick Access view that shows your most frequently accessed folders and recently viewed files. If you’d rather File Explorer defaulted to the “This PC” view found in Windows 8, here’s how.

Open File Explorer, then click View and then Options.

A Folder Options window will open.

Click the “Open File Explorer to:” drop-down menu at top, then select the “This PC” option.

Click OK and you’re done!

Next time you open File Explorer Quick Access will be gone.

Limit notifications!

The fewer notifications you enable, the less impact it will have on your performance (and battery life on tablets and laptops).

To disable them, click on the Start button and click on Settings.

Go to System and Notifications and settings.

Turn off dynamic color adaptation

The new Windows user interface tries to automatically adjust the color of the window frame and taskbar to the desktop wallpaper. However, there’s a bug which could increase CPU usage quite drastically and reduce your overall performance when this is enabled.

If you feel your PC is running slow, try the following: go to the Start menu and click on Settings. Next, head over to Personalization. Then go to Colors and switch off Automatically pick an accent color from my background.

Managing the tiles on the Start Menu

You probably don’t need most of the tiles on your Windows 10 Start Menu, I suggest you remove all the tiles you won’t use and this will leave room for ones that could be more useful.

To remove a tile right click on it and choose Unpin from Start and it’s gone, simple really.

Click on the All apps option on the left and near the bottom of the Start Menu and scroll down the list. If you see a program or app that you want easier access to then right click it and choose Pin to Start, easy eh?

Another way to add tiles to the Start Menu is from the desktop, just right click ant shortcut and choose Pin to Start.

There’s a way to add Folders to the Start Menu too - from Windows Explorer you can right click a Folder and choose Pin to Start.

The tiles can be moved around by clicking and dragging and they can be organised in groups. For instance you could put all your Office programs together and then give this group a name; just hold the mouse pointer in the blank area just above the group and then click to reveal the Name Group box.

Each tile can be resized if you like, just right click on the tile and choose the Resize option. You will notice that tiles that are connected with Apps will have four sizes to choose from (Small, Medium, Wide and Large), while tiles that are shortcuts to programs only have two sizes (Small and Medium).

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