Work Smart by Microsoft IT

Exploring Windows 10
Windows 10 is designed to please both touch and mouse users. Its also
designed to be intuitive for users of both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1,
incorporating the best of both worlds to enhance your experience and help
you be more productive.
The Start menu is back, putting all your apps, settings, and files just a few
keystrokes, clicks, or taps away. Cortana helps make things easier for you and
keeps you up to date. Microsoft Edge, the new browser in Windows 10, is
designed to deliver a better web experience. Its also easier to find and switch
between open apps, keep them organized, resize and reposition them, keep
track of notifications, and access frequently used system settings.

Topics in this guide include:

Start menu

Task View

Snap
enhancements

Cortana

Microsoft Edge

Virtual desktops
Window behavior for modern apps

Notification center

For more
information

2 | Exploring Windows 10

Start menu
Windows 10 brings back the familiar Windows desktop and Start menu from
Windows 7. The Start menu is enhanced with resizable tiles and other new
capabilities to help you be more productive.
From the Start menu, you can:

Lock your computer, change your account settings, or sign out.

Quickly access your apps (both traditional Win32 and modern), documents, pictures, and
settings.

Shut down your computer, restart it, or put it to sleep.

Search for apps, settings, and files, and search across the web.

Immediately launch advanced system tools such as Power Options and Disk Management.

Display the Start menu

To display the Start menu:

Select the Start

button on the far left of the Windows Taskbar.

OR

Press Windows logo key on the keyboard.

3 | Exploring Windows 10

Lock your computer, change your account picture, or sign out

1

On the Start menu, select your user name in the upper left corner of the menu.

1. Choose the option you want: Change account settings, Lock, or Sign out.

Quickly access your apps, files, and settings

In the left pane of the Start menu, immediately
below your user name, youll find the following:

Links to your most-used and recently added

Links to File Explorer and Settings

A Power button

An All apps buttonselect it to display a list

Select an app to launch it. Press and hold (or rightclick) the app to choose from a broader range of
options, which, depending on the app, may
include the following:

Open

Run as administrator

Uninstall

Pin to Start

Pin to taskbar

Remove from this list

apps

of all your apps.

4 | Exploring Windows 10

Shut down your computer, restart it, or put it to sleep

1

On the Start menu, select Power.

Select the option you want: Sleep, Shut down, or Restart.

Search for apps, settings, and files, and search across the web
Start typing in the search box to the right of the Start button to search across
the following locations:

Apps on your PCincluding both traditional Win32 and modern

Settings

Filesincluding your documents,

videos

Apps in the Windows Store

Popular Bing searches on the Web

pictures, music, and

When initial search results are

displayed, you can:

Select My stuf to find results for

photos, videos, and music across
OneDrive.

apps, settings,
your PC and

Select Web to be taken to a full

results.

list of Bing search

5 | Exploring Windows 10

Tiles
In the right pane of the Start menu, youll find tiles for some common apps.
To move a tile, just drag it to another position.

You can drag tiles to rearrange them within the right pane of the Start menu.

You can also drag apps between the tile view and the app list view.

Right-click a tile to display a menu for performing other actions with that tile.
Depending on the app, these actions may include:

Unpin from Start

Pin to taskbar

Uninstall

Run as administrator

Open file location

Resize a tile

Turn live tile of

Tiles in the Start menu are divided by category. To rename a category divider,
select it and enter the new name for that category.

Quick Access menu

The Quick Access menu provides access to advanced system tools such as

6 | Exploring Windows 10

Power Options, Device Management, Command Prompt, Task Manager, and

Control Panel.
To display the Quick Access menu:

Right-click the Start

button.

OR

Press Windows logo key+X on the

keyboard.

7 | Exploring Windows 10

Cortana
Cortana is your personal digital assistant in Windows 10. She gets to know you
and helps you get things done, letting you interact with her in a way thats easy
and natural. She can search the web, find things on your PC, show you the local
news and weather, and provide reminders based on time or location. Just tell
Cortana what you want, and shell be there to help you out.
NOTE: To get the most out of Cortana, you must be signed in with your Microsoft
account. More information on Cortana is provided in a separate Work Smart
guide.

8 | Exploring Windows 10

Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge (formerly Project Spartan) is the new browser in Windows 10. Its
fast, compatible, and built for the modern webdesigned to work the way you
do and help you get things done through easy sharing, reading, discovery, and
more.
NOTE: More information on Microsoft Edge is provided in a separate Work Smart
guide.

To launch Microsoft Edge, select the Microsoft Edge

Windows Taskbar.

button on the

9 | Exploring Windows 10

Task View
Many users know that you can press ALT+TAB to switch between running apps.
In Windows 10, we added a Task View button to the Windows Taskbar to make
this feature more discoverable. Virtual desktops (a new feature described on the
next page) are also managed through the Task View.

Within the Task View, tap

or click an app to select
it.

Task View

Display the Task View

To display the Task View:

Select the Task View

button on the Windows Taskbar.

OR

Press Windows logo key+Tab on the keyboard.

Switch between open apps using the Task View

To switch between open apps using the Task View:

Select the thumbnail for the app you want within the Task View.

10 | Exploring Windows 10

Virtual desktops
Windows 10 adds support for virtual desktops, so you can keep your open apps
better organized. For example, if you need to research travel plans for an
upcoming business trip while at work, you could create a second virtual desktop
that contains the apps youre using to research and plan your trip.

Creating a new virtual desktop

To create one or more new virtual desktops:
1

Select the Task View

button on the Windows Taskbar.

Select New desktop near the lower-right corner of the screen.

11 | Exploring Windows 10

Switching between virtual desktops

To switch between virtual desktops:
1
2

Select the Task View

button on the Windows Taskbar.

Select the thumbnail for the virtual desktop you want.

Moving an app from one virtual desktop to another

To move an app from one virtual desktop to another:
1

Select the Task View

button on the Windows Taskbar.

Point to the virtual desktop thumbnail containing the app you want to move. This action displays
thumbnails for all open apps within that virtual desktop.

Right-click the thumbnail for the app you want to move.

Select Move to, and then select the virtual desktop into which you want to move the app.

12 | Exploring Windows 10

Closing a virtual desktop

To close a virtual desktop:
1

Select the Task View

button on the Windows Taskbar.

Point to the thumbnail for the virtual desktop you want to close, and then select the Close
button that appears in the upper-right corner of the thumbnail.

NOTE: When you close a virtual desktop containing open apps, those apps are
moved into the virtual desktop that you created most recently.

13 | Exploring Windows 10

Window behavior for modern

apps
In Windows 10, we improved how windows works for modern apps. You can now
minimize, maximize, resize, and position modern apps on your desktop, just as
you can with traditional Win32 apps. We also eliminated the Charms bar that
was in Windows 8.1, relocating functionality such as Search, Share, Print, and
Settings for modern apps to their respective title bars instead.

Minimizing, maximizing, and closing modern apps

Window behavior for modern apps can be controlled by selecting the dedicated
window controls displayed on the far right of the apps title barjust like for
Win32 apps.

14 | Exploring Windows 10

Accessing charms functionality in modern apps

With Windows 10, you no longer need to go all the way to the right side of your
screen to access the charms for an app. Now you can just select the Menu
button on the far left of the apps title bar to do things like search, print, or
change settings. The options you see will vary by app.

15 | Exploring Windows 10

Snap enhancements
Windows 10 includes several enhancements to Snap, making it easier to
manipulate the layout of open windows on your desktop. These enhancements
include:

Consistent Snap behavior across traditional Win32 and modern apps.

Snap Assist, which makes it easy to snap additional windows after the first one.

Four-quadrant Snap, which enables you to fill your screen with four apps in a two-by-two
configuration.

Snapping two windows side by side

To arrange two windows side by side on the screen:
1

Drag the title bar of a window to the left or right side of the screen, until a half-screen outline of
the window appears.

Release the mouse (or lift your finger) to snap the window into position.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other window, using the other side of the screen.

16 | Exploring Windows 10

Snap Assist
When you snap an app to the left or right, Snap Assist displays thumbnails of
your other open appsjust select one to snap it to the other half of your screen.

Quadrant snap
To arrange four windows in a two-by-two configuration on the screen:
1

Drag the title bar of the first window to the left or right side of the screen near a corner, until a
quarter-screen outline of the window appears.

Release the mouse to snap the window into position.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other three windows, using the other corners of the screen.

Notification center

17 | Exploring Windows 10

Windows 8.1 enabled you to see notifications from apps, which appeared as
toasts above the notification tray at the lower right of the screen. However,
after a notification timed out, it was lost forever. Windows 10 remedies this with
its new notification center, which is similar to the notification center that was
introduced in Windows Phone 8.1.
Within the notification center, youll find:

A persistent list of notifications, so that you can view and address them at times of your
choosing.

Links for performing quick actions, such as turning Wi-Fi on or of.

Notifications

Quick actions

Opening the notification center

To open the notification center, select
the notification center icon in the
notifications area at the far right of the
Windows Taskbar.

18 | Exploring Windows 10

For more information

Windows
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Microsoft IT Showcase
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IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. 2015 Microsoft
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