Windows 10 start menu;
At computer support services we have really fallen in love with Windows 10!
With the truck load of fixes and improvements, you will really notice the benefits when moving from both Windows 7 and 8.1.
Take the new start menu. Gone is the start screen from Windows 8 when you are using a standard keyboard and mouse. Disconnect the keyboard and mouse to use a touch screen and an updated and cleaner start screen returns to make touch first access more efficient. The new start menu shows a list of your most commonly used or most needed applications and utilities on the left. On the right it shows a few live tiles for quick access to weather, news, music, the Windows store, search and photos. At a glance seems to be the main objective here.
Speaking of at a glance, we just love the new quick access view in Windows explorer. It shows commonly used files on the bottom of the screen and commonly used folders at the top. It’s the largest time saver to come to windows since search came to the start menu in Windows Vista.
When notification centres came to mobile phones we wondered how we ever kept track of everything without them. With notifications in Windows 10 you’ll think the same. Jump to them quickly by pressing windows and A or swipe / drag in from the right of your screen.
Another great time saver is virtual desktops. By far our favourite feature. This has been available in Gnome in Linux for example for at least ten years or more. We are delighted that this feature has finally made its debut in Windows. When you are working on a complicated task and you have twelve notepad windows open but someone comes to your desk needing help with something else very quickly, don’t lose your place. Press control windows and d to create a new virtual desktop. Switch to it by using control windows and right arrow. Now continue working away. When you’re done, hit control windows and F4 to close that desktop. Or, if you need to get back to what you were originally working on, press control, Windows and left arrow and your original virtual desktop along with all the windows you had open will come into focus again.
Along with virtual desktops came a new task switcher view. Press Alt and Tab as usual to cycle between applications. However if like us you tend to have twenty or more windows open at one time, alt and tab can be quite cumbersome. Try Windows and tab instead. Unlike alt and Tab you can release the Windows and Tab key combination and then either click or use the arrows to find the window you want to switch to. With Windows and Tab you can also switch to different virtual desktops. A really nice tip here is if you want to move directly to a window open on another virtual desktop, arrow over to your virtual desktop and press space. Then arrow over to the window on that virtual desktop that you want to move back to and hit enter.  If you had just arrowed to the virtual desktop and pressed enter you would have moved to the window that you were in last. These little features are what make windows 10 so fantastic.
There are plenty of sites around the web that will give you comprehensive lists of Windows 10 features and tip. Try www.thorrott.com for example.