Upgrading to Windows 10 Review

I use Windows Search all the time to speedily locate apps or files – the introduction of a search icon makes it easier for everyone to use this handy feature.  Just click Search, then type a few letters and the best match is displayed.  You can also change the settings to search the web too.

The Task View is a useful new feature, very handy when you have several apps open at one time.  You can also run several desktops at one time, which is good if you use a lot of apps at once and need to organise them into distinct desktops.  As a typical PC user, I barely used the Metro Tiles or Apps view in Win 8, instead selecting Desktop to work in the familiar view similar to Windows 7.  Microsoft originally developed tiles expecting us all to move to touch devices, however the majority of business (and personal) users continue to use a PC or laptop with a mouse and keyboard.  Even my clients who have a Surface Pro or iPad, or use their phone on the road, tend to have a non-touch device in the office that they use to perform intensive tasks like typing up large reports, calculating formulae and data analysis or building a presentation.  So, it’s a big fat relief to us all that Windows 10 takes the tiles off the desktop and pops them onto the Start menu.

The Task View is a more helpful take on tiles – instead of displaying apps you don’t really use, it displays the stuff you’re currently working on.  Plus, you no longer have to go to the top corner to close down any apps you opened in error.  This particular ‘feature’ of Win 8 was a tough one to explain to trainees – many couldn’t wrap their heads around this weird behaviour; apps they barely recalled opening were still sitting ‘open’ on a desktop that wasn’t even in view.  Task View makes much more sense, and offers a simplified approach to working with lots of apps at one time.

Some of the features I liked in older versions are still available in Win 10; right mouse clicking over any app on the Taskbar gets you a handy list of recently used files, and clicking the pin icon pins the file to the list forever.  And, you can still right mouse click anywhere on the desktop to quickly open display settings and personalise Windows.

A small change to File Explorer (formerly known as Windows Explorer) is that the Favorites list has been replaced with Quick Access – it displays your favourite locations as well as an automatically generated list of places you most recently accessed and frequent.  You can still pin favourite apps, as well as drag and drop to add to the list.

To my eyes, the biggest change is in the new internet browser, Edge.  It replaces Internet Explorer as the default web browser -it has a stripped down look-n-feel, in development it was known as ‘Project Spartan’ and it is that!  I’m sure I’ll love it in time, but I still find it a little too bare.

Edge has been designed to stop you from getting distracted by commands and menus, instead it allows you to focus on content.  Edge looks at your browsing habits and tries to provide news you’ll find interesting which can be unnerving to the paranoid amongst us, but it’s the kind of feature my Dad really enjoys.  You can still display the Favorites bar and easily change the search settings, just click on the ellipses […] and edit the Settings.