Launching apps with the Start menu

The Start button never strays from your desktop’s bottom-left corner. A click or tap of the Start button fetches the Start menu, which lists all of your installed apps and programs. When the Start menu appears, you click the app or program you’d like to run.

I cover the Start menu in Chapter 2, but here’s a quick step-by-step on how to open the Start menu and launch an app or program:

1. Point the mouse cursor at the Start button in your screen’s bottom-left corner.

   The Start menu appears, as shown in Figure 3-2. (If your PC is running in Tablet mode, described later in this chapter, the Start menu fills the screen.)

   The Start menu automatically lists names of your most recently accessed apps and programs in the left column. To the right, a column displays tiles of popular apps installed on your computer.

2. If you see your desired app or program listed on the Start menu, click it.

   Click a name or a tile, and the app or program rises to the top of your desktop, ready for action.

3. Don’t see your desired app or program? Click the words All Apps, displayed directly above the Start button. Then click your desired app to open it.

   When you click All Apps, the Start menu’s left column presents an alphabetical list of all of your apps and programs. That leaves you with several choices:

   • If you spot the name of your app or program, click its name to open it.
   • If you don’t see your desired app’s name, scroll down the list of names by clicking in the bar just to the right of the names.
   • If your app doesn’t appear on the list, chances are good that it’s not installed on your computer. To download it, visit the Windows Store, which I cover in Chapter 6.

You can also fetch the Start menu by pressing the key on your keyboard or tablet.

After you’ve opened an app or program, you’ll eventually want to close it, a task I cover in Chapter 4. (But here’s a spoiler: To close an app, head for its upper-right corner and click the little X, shown in the margin.)

I explain more about the Start menu, including how to customize it to meet your needs, in Chapter 2.

Jazzing up the desktop’s background

To jazz up your desktop, Windows covers it with a pretty picture known as a background. (Many people refer to the background simply as wallpaper.)

When you tire of the built-in scenery, feel free to replace it with a picture stored on your computer:

1. Click the Start button and choose the Settings link.

   Windows 10’s Settings app appears.

2. Click the Personalization icon (shown in the margin).

   The Settings app’s Personalization section opens to the Background page.

3. Click any one of the pictures, shown in Figure 3-3, and Windows quickly places it onto your desktop’s background.

   Found a keeper? Then you’re done; your change takes place immediately. Or, if you’re still searching, move to the next step.

4. Click the Browse button to see photos inside your Pictures folder.

   Most people store their digital photos in their Pictures folder. (I explain browsing folders in Chapter 4.) If you’ve chosen to sync pictures taken by your tablet or smartphone with OneDrive, they appear in your Camera Roll folder.

5. Click different pictures to see how they look as your desktop’s background.

   When you find a background you like, you’re done. Exit the program with a click in its upper-right corner, and your chosen photo drapes across your desktop.

Here are some tips on changing your desktop’s background:

• Options listed on that page’s Choose a Fit drop-down menu let you choose whether the image should be tiled repeatedly across the screen, centered directly in the middle, or stretched to fill the entire screen. The Tile, Fill, and Fit options work best with small photos, such as those taken with cellphones, by repeating or enlarging them to fit the screen’s borders.

• The new Microsoft Edge web browser can easily borrow almost any picture found on the Internet for a background. Right-click the website’s picture and choose Save Picture from the pop-up menu. Microsoft sneakily copies the image into your Pictures folder, where you can choose it as a background in Step 4 above.

• If a background photograph makes your desktop icons too difficult to see, splash your desktop with a single color instead: After Step 2 of the preceding list, click Colors from the Personalization window’s left pane. When the colored squares appear, click one to splash it across your desktop.
• To change the entire look of Windows, choose Themes from the Personalization window’s left edge in Step 2. Then click Go to Theme Settings from the Personalization window’s right pane. Aimed at heavy-duty procrastinators, different themes splash different colors across the various Windows buttons, borders, and boxes. I explain more about themes in Chapter 12. (If you download any themes offered on the Internet, check them with antivirus software, covered in Chapter 11.)

Toggling between Tablet mode and the desktop

Some people work with Windows 10 on a tablet; others prefer a desktop. Still others prefer a tablet that can double as a desktop by adding a keyboard and mouse. Making your tablet work like a desktop PC can introduce a problem, though: Tablets work best with your fingertips, but the desktop is best controlled with a mouse and keyboard.

To please both camps, Windows 10 lets you toggle Tablet mode on and off. Turning on Tablet mode, for example, makes all of your apps and programs fill the screen. (The Start menu runs full screen as well.) Tablet mode also subtly increases the spacing between your menus and icons, making them easier to tap with fingers.

In many cases, Window 10 notices how you’re working and automatically turns Tablet mode on and off when necessary. (Microsoft calls that special sense Continuum.) But if you find Windows 10 working in the wrong mode, follow these steps to toggle between Tablet mode manually:

1. Click the Taskbar’s Action Center icon.

   The Action Center icon lives near the right edge of the taskbar, that strip running along the bottom of every screen.

   The Action Center pane appears, shown in Figure 3-4.

2. Tap the Tablet Mode button along the bottom left of the Action Center pane.

   When the Tablet mode button is highlighted with color, Tablet mode is on; when the button’s color disappears, Tablet mode is off and the desktop behaves normally.

   To fetch the Action Center pane quickly on a tablet, slide your finger in from the screen’s right edge. The Action Center pane appears, letting you quickly tap the Tablet mode toggle.

Dumpster diving in the Recycle Bin

The Recycle Bin, that wastebasket icon in the upper-left corner of your desktop, works much like a real recycle bin. Shown in the margin, it lets you retrieve the discarded desktop files you thought you’d never need.

You can dump something from the desktop — a file or folder, for example — into the Recycle Bin in either of these ways:

• Simply right-click the unwanted item and choose Delete from the pop-up menu. Windows asks cautiously if you’re sure that you want to delete the item. Click Yes, and Windows dumps it into the Recycle Bin, just as if you’d dragged it there. Whoosh!
• For a quick deletion rush, click the unwanted object and poke your Delete key.

Want something back? Double-click the Recycle Bin icon to see your recently deleted items. Right-click the item you want and choose Restore. The handy little Recycle Bin returns your precious item to the same spot where you deleted it. (You can also resuscitate deleted items by dragging them to your desktop or any other folder; drag ’em back into the Recycle Bin to delete them again.)

The Recycle Bin can get pretty crowded. If you’re searching frantically for a recently deleted file, tell the Recycle Bin to sort everything by the date and time you deleted it: Right-click an empty area inside the Recycle Bin and choose Sort By. Then choose Date Deleted from the pop-up menu.

To delete something permanently, just delete it from inside the Recycle Bin: Click it and press the Delete key. To delete everything in the Recycle Bin, right-click the Recycle Bin icon and choose Empty Recycle Bin.

To bypass the Recycle Bin completely when deleting files, hold down Shift while pressing Delete. Poof! The deleted object disappears, ne’er to be seen again — a handy trick when dealing with sensitive items, such as credit-card numbers or late-night love letters meant for a nearby cubicle dweller.

• The Recycle Bin icon changes from an empty wastepaper basket to a full one (as shown in the margin) as soon as it’s holding any deleted file or files.
• The Recycle Bin holds only items deleted from the desktop. It doesn’t retain information deleted from Start menu apps.
• Your Recycle Bin keeps your deleted files until the garbage consumes about 5 percent of your computer’s available space. Then it purges your oldest deleted files to make room for the new. If you’re low on hard drive space, shrink the bin’s size by right-clicking the Recycle Bin and choosing Properties. Decrease the Custom Size number to purge the bin more quickly; increase the number, and the Recycle Bin hangs onto files a little longer.

• The Recycle Bin saves only items deleted from your own computer’s drives. That means it won’t save anything deleted from a CD, memory card, phone, MP3 player, flash drive, or digital camera.

• Already emptied the Recycle Bin? You might still be able to retrieve the then-trashed-now-treasured item from the Windows File History backup, covered in Chapter 13.

• If you delete something from somebody else’s computer over a network, it can’t be retrieved. The Recycle Bin holds only items deleted from your own computer, not somebody else’s computer. (For some awful reason, the Recycle Bin on the other person’s computer doesn’t save the item, either.) Be careful.

Shrinking windows to the taskbar and retrieving them

Windows spawn windows. You start with one window to write a letter of praise to your local taco shop. You open another window to check an address, and then yet another to ogle an online menu. Before you know it, four windows are crowded across the desktop.

To combat the clutter, Windows provides a simple means of window control: You can transform a window from a screen-cluttering square into a tiny button on the taskbar along the bottom of the screen. The solution is the Minimize button.

See the three buttons lurking in just about every window’s top-right corner? Click the Minimize button — the button with the little line in it, shown in the margin. Whoosh! The window disappears, represented by its little button on the taskbar at your screen’s bottom.

To make a minimized program on the taskbar revert to a regular, onscreen window, just click its icon on the taskbar. Pretty simple, huh?

• Can’t find the taskbar icon for the window you want to minimize or maximize? If you hover your mouse pointer over the taskbar button, Windows displays a thumbnail photo of that program or the program’s name.
• When you minimize a window, you neither destroy its contents nor close the program. And when you click the window’s name on the taskbar, it reopens to the same size you left it, showing its same contents.

Switching to different tasks from the taskbar’s Jump Lists

The Windows taskbar doesn’t limit you to opening programs and switching between windows. You can jump to other tasks, as well, by right-clicking the taskbar’s icons. Right-clicking the Microsoft Edge icon brings up a quick list of your recently visited websites, as shown in Figure 3-6. Click any site on the list to make a quick return visit.

Called Jump Lists, these pop-up menus add a new trick to the taskbar: They let you jump quickly to previously visited locations, letting you work faster.

Jump list items work any time. Even if you haven’t opened your browser, for example, you right-click its taskbar icon and jump to a listed website.

Clicking the taskbar’s sensitive areas

Like a crafty card player, the taskbar comes with a few tips and tricks. For example, here’s the lowdown on the icons near the taskbar’s right edge, shown in Figure 3-7, known as the Action Center. Different items appear in the Action Center depending on your PC and programs, but you’ll probably encounter some of these:

• Minimize Windows: This small strip hidden against the taskbar’s far-right edge instantly minimizes all open windows when you click it. (Click it again to put the windows back in place.)

• Time/Date: Click the time and date to fetch a handy monthly calendar and clock. If you want to change the time or date or even add a second time zone, click the Time/Date area and choose Adjust Date/Time, a task I cover in Chapter 12.

• Location: Your computer is currently sharing your location with an app, often seen when checking maps or other location-specific apps.

• Bluetooth: Click this to see your options for connecting wirelessly with Bluetooth, commonly used with mice, keyboards, and speakers.

• Safely Remove Hardware: Before unplugging a storage device, be it a tiny flash drive, a portable music player, or a portable hard drive, click here. That tells Windows to prepare the gadget for unplugging.

• Action Center: Click this to fetch the Action Center, which keeps you up-to-date on your e-mails and appointments, as well as your computer’s performance.

• Wired Network: This appears when you’re connected to the Internet or other PCs through a wired network. Not connected? A red X appears over the icon.

• Wireless Network: This appears when your PC is wirelessly connected to the Internet or other network. The more waves you see on the icon, the more powerful your wireless signal.

• Volume: Click or tap this ever-so-handy little speaker icon to adjust your PC’s volume, as shown in Figure 3-8. (Or double-click the word Mixer to bring up a mixing panel. Mixers let you adjust separate volume levels for each program, so you can keep Media Player’s volume louder than your other programs’ annoying beeps.)

• Task Manager: Coveted by computer technicians, this little program can end misbehaving programs, monitor background tasks, monitor performance, and do other stuff of techie dreams.

• Windows Host Process: This dismally named icon delivers an even worse message: Your newly plugged-in gadget won’t work, be it your printer, scanner, music player, or other item. Try unplugging the device, running its installation software again, and plugging it back in.

• USB: Click this before unplugging a USB drive, so Windows knows to stop using it.

• OneDrive: When your computer is synchronizing its files with OneDrive (your Internet storage space), a moving line travels beneath this icon.

• Power, Outlet: This shows that your laptop or tablet is plugged into an electrical outlet and is charging its battery.

• Power, Battery: Your laptop or tablet is running on batteries only. (Rest your mouse pointer over the icon to see how much power remains.)
• Arrow: Sometimes the taskbar hides things. If you see a tiny upward-pointing arrow at the start of the taskbar’s notification area, click it to see a few hidden icons slide up and out. (Check out the later “Customizing the taskbar” section for tips and tricks on whether icons should hide.)

You can pick and choose which notification icons should always be visible by clicking the Start button, choosing Settings, clicking the System icon, and choosing Notifications & Actions from the right pane. On the left, click Select Which Icons Appear on the Taskbar. A new window appears, with sliding on/off toggles for all of the icons. (I like to leave them all on.)

Opening the Action Center

The taskbar’s right edge is often stuffed with icons. Unless you’ve memorized the chart in this book’s previous section, they’re pretty mysterious. Well, just click the Action Center icon, and then the Action Center pane appears, as shown in Figure 3-9, and demystifies that area by giving you more details about both your computer and your personal information.

The Action Center lists information about your latest e-mails, for example, as well times of upcoming appointments, and other notifications. It also provides a list of four handy buttons along the bottom:

• Tablet mode: Click or tap this button to toggle Tablet mode. (When it’s colored, you’re in Tablet mode, which works well only on touchscreens.)
• Connect: This tells Windows to start searching for something you’ve connected, often wirelessly. Choose this after you turn on a wireless monitor or Bluetooth speakers, for example.

  Note: Click here to fetch OneNote, an app for taking notes in text, pictures, sound, and video.

• All Settings: This brings up the new Windows 10 Settings app, a huge panel of organized switches, which replaces most of the Control Panel found in older Windows versions. (You can also reach the Settings app by clicking the Start button and clicking the word Settings.)

Although the Action Center’s bottom usually shows only four buttons, click the word Expand over the right-most button to reveal hidden buttons. The available buttons vary according to your particular model of computer or tablet.

Keep these things in mind to reap the most benefits from the Action Center:

• The Action Center sometimes goes overboard, reminding you about an appointment from yesterday. To remove an item, point at it and then click the X that appears in its upper-right corner.
• To clear everything listed in the Action Center, click the words Clear All in its top-right corner.

• Tablet owners can quickly fetch the Action Center by sliding their finger inward from the screen’s right edge.

• To customize the Action Center’s bottom buttons, click the All Settings button in the pane’s bottom-right corner. When the Settings window appears, click the System section and click that section’s Notifications & Actions link. When the Notifications & Actions window appears, you see your four current buttons listed along its top; click or tap any button to choose its replacement from the pop-up menu.

Customizing the taskbar

Windows offers a whirlwind of options for the lowly taskbar, letting you play with it in more ways than a strand of spaghetti and a fork.

And that’s especially important if you don’t care for the new Start menu: By stocking the taskbar with icons for oft-used programs, you can avoid unnecessary trips to the Start menu.

First, the taskbar’s left edge comes preloaded with icons for three apps: Microsoft Edge (the new Windows 10 web browser), File Explorer (your file browser), and the Store app (for downloading apps and programs). Like all your taskbar icons, they’re movable, so feel free to drag them to any order you want.

If you spot a favored program’s icon or tile on the Start menu, right-click the icon and choose Pin to Taskbar from the menu along the window’s bottom edge.

For even more customization, right-click a blank part of the taskbar and choose Properties. The Taskbar Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-10.

Table 3-1 explains the dialog box’s options, as well as my recommendations for them. (You need to remove the check mark by Lock the Taskbar before some of these options will work.)

Feel free to experiment with the taskbar until it looks right for you. After you’ve changed an option, see the changes immediately by clicking the Apply button. Don’t like the change? Reverse your decision and click Apply to return to normal.

After you set up the taskbar just the way you want it, select the Lock the Taskbar check box, described in Table 3-1.