Microsoft's Windows 10 Features 2

The New Settings Menu

Control Panel is still available in Windows 10. And if you're a technical user, you will come across it from time to time. But most of us will never see it.

The New Settings Menu is now a far more comprehensive solution and much more logically arranged.

Compared to Windows 8.1, Windows 10's Settings menu is a more robust and more Control Panel-like version of the Settings charm. In the new Settings menu, you'll find some familiar prompts: System, Devices, Network & Internet, Personalization, Accounts, Time & language, Ease of Access, Privacy, and Update & Recovery.

Each category in Settings leads you into a wordy sub-menu. It's not quite as intuitive as the Control Panel was, but you can always find what you want.

What's more, you can search in Cortana on the taskbar for a setting and you can search within the Settings app itself.

Windows 10 Task View

To the right of the search box you’ll notice an unfamiliar icon. Click it and Task View will open. It’s a lot like the view you get in Windows 7 or 8 when you press Alt+Tab. You can still use Alt+Tab in Windows 10 but the short-cut for Task View is Win+Tab.

Click the new Task View button on the taskbar and you'll get an overview of all of the apps you've got open. Drag one of those apps onto the "new desktop" link, and it will be moved to its own independent workspace (a virtual desktop).

You could use one workspace just focused on work and then have a separate virtual desktop for gaming forums or playing games. In fact there's no limit to the amount of virtual desktops you can create, and each one is treated as its own little private workspace.

You can quickly flip between desktops using Ctrl+Win+left cursor or Ctrl+Win+right cursor. This is much faster than using Alt+Tab and trying to find one Word document from 20 open windows.

Unlike the situation with Windows 8.1 you can use the new-style apps from within the Desktop area. This helps Microsoft make good on its claim that Windows 10 will feel familiar to Windows 7 users.

Note: The free Windows 10 upgrade offer is only available until 29th July 2016.

Next Month: New Mandatory Windows Updates and Windows 10 Privacy Issues.