Introduction to Windows 10
Windows 10 is very similar to Windows 7 in a lot of ways. It is much more similar to Windows 7 than it is to Windows 8, and there are many things that work the same way as in Windows 7.
Desktop
Your desktop is pretty much the same as it's always been. Your shortcuts and files on your desktop behave as they always have and there isn't really anything that different about it. The task bar is still located at the bottom by default. The notable difference with the task bar is the search bar at the bottom.
If you don't like the search bar you can hide it, you will still be able to use it by opening the start menu, but it won't take up space on the taskbar all the time. To disable it right click on the taskbar, go to Search and then select the visibility of the search bar. Hidden will hide the search bar completely, Show search icon will show a magnifying glass that when clicked on will bring up the search menu, and Show search box will display the whole box, which is the default option.
You may have noticed the new addition of Task View to the task bar. This feature allows you to view all your open windows so you can see them and select which one you'd like to have in the foreground. You can disable this as well by right clicking the taskbar and clicking Show Task View button so that the check next to it goes away.
Start Menu
The familiar start menu of Windows 7 is there in Windows 10 as well. There are a few key differences, namely the live tiles that appear on the right of the start menu. These live tiles are there to show you useful information and the tiles are customizable. To bring up the start menu it is the same as before: either click on the start button in the lower left corner or hit the windows key on your keyboard.
Navigation
Navigating the start menu is much like before. You have your most used apps at the top of the start menu, and more options to navigate your computer at the bottom. You cannot directly change your most used apps, they will changed over time based on your actual useage.
- File Explorer will bring up a file explorer window
- Settings brings up your computer's settings. Note that this version of settings is different than the control panel of Windows 7.
- Power gives you the options of putting your computer to sleep, shutting it down, or restarting it. \
- And all apps shows you almost all your apps. Some apps, like Microsoft Paint are absent from this menu but you can find it if you search for them.
Customization
There is a lot of customization that you can do with the Start Menu. You cannot change your most used apps but if there is an app you want to always be in your Start Menu you can pin it to the start menu and it will show up with the live tiles. Just right click on the app in the start menu and select Pin to Start. Speaking of live times you can customize them quite a bit. To remove a tile from the menu right click it and select Unpin from start. You can also move the tiles around by clicking and holding them then drag them to where you want them. You can group the tiles together and name the groups. Some microsoft apps have live features such as news, and weather. You can enable and disable the live updating of these tiles by right clicking them and selecting either Turn live tile off or Turn live tile on.
The start menu is technically a window and you can resize it or even make it fullscreen in the settings. To access the start menu settings go to Start Menu > Settings > Personalization > Start which is at the bottom of the list on the left. From here you can choose which folders appear in the start menu. This will allow you to add folders that you access a lot such as Documents or Downloads to your Start Menu for easy access. Instead of having a blank file explorer pop up it will bring you directly to the folder listed. This way you can access your Documents as you did in Windows 7.