Windows 10 – Helpful Hints to get to know your operating system

There are so many hidden features in Windows 10 that I could really write dozens of articles on the various features.  I am highlighting the features that might be the most beneficial for most users.  There are lots of ways to personalize your experience in Windows 10 as well as make multitasking a lot easier.  If you haven’t read my previous posts make sure to check out them as well for more ideas on how to get the most out of Windows 10.  Today I will highlight some more great features.

  • Utilizing Scrollable background Apps – This is a nice feature on Windows 10 that can really be helpful when you are using multiple windows on your computer. Simply hover over them with your pointer and use your mouse wheel to scroll the page.  It will stay in the background while you do this making it easier to multitask.  This is a personal favorite of mine as I always have lots of windows open! If you are not a fan of this option you can always disable it by going to your start menu and you can click settings then click devices and go to mouse and touchpad.  After you click on that you will see a lot of nice options, but to get rid of the scrolling on the inactive Windows just turn the “scroll inactive Windows when I hover over them” to off.  Then this feature will be disabled for you.
  • Speaking of device settings, you can adjust more with your mouse and touch pad setting area- Go back to settings, then devices, then go to mouse & touchpad, click on that and under Mouse you will see a few
    options. You can change your primary button from left to right.  You can adjust how you want your mouse wheel to scroll by changing it from Multiple Lines at a time to scroll by page.  You can also adjust how many lines you scroll through with each turn of the mouse wheel.  There is a bar that you can easily adjust to scroll through more lines at a time easily and quickly.  To make adjustments to the touch pad you can adjust the delay setting so your cursor doesn’t move all around when you type.
  • Add Icons to your desktop – If you want to easily access some of your files or places on your computer just head over to Start then go to Settings then click personalization and then click Themes. From here you will click on “Desktop Icon Settings” and select the icons you want to place on the desktop.  This can make it much easier to get to things you use regularly.
  • Set up the Maps app so you can use it offline – The maps app has an offline maps feature. To set it up go to the start menu, Go to the maps application then click settings, then select download or update maps under where it says “offline maps”.  From there you will go to the settings app where you will select the continent and country you want your map downloaded from.
  • Get rid of Office Ads popping up – Having ads pop up randomly can be annoying. There is an easy way to stop the Office promotions and ads from popping up on your device.  They come through the Get office app which is installed by default with Windows 10 (even if you have the office suite it’s still there).  To get rid of this pop up ads and notifications, go to the start menu and right click on the get office app and select uninstall.  If you don’t want to get rid of it all together you can go to the start menu and then click settings, then click system and from there click Notifications and actions and disable the notifications from the get office app.

Keep an eye out for more great Windows 10 tips!