How to Add, Remove, and Customize Tiles on the Windows 10 Start Menu

Many things have changed with the Start menu from Windows 7 to Windows 10. If you skipped Windows 8, you may be in for a quite an adjustment, particularly when it comes to Start menu “tiles”. We want to talk about how to add, remove, and customize them.

RELATED ARTICLE

Getting to Know the New Start Menu in Windows 10
The Start menu in Windows 10 is a blend of the old menu found in Windows 7 and the oft-reviled...[Read Article]

We’ve already introduced you to the basics of the new Start menu, but there’s quite a bit more to it. The Start menu has what are commonly referred to as tiles. Tiles can be added, removed, resized, and animated. These animated tiles are known as “live tiles” and can be used to convey useful and pertinent information, such as headlines, updates, and so on.

Windows 8.1 users will be no doubt be familiar with Start tiles and how to use them, but new users, that is to say users who skipped Windows 8 (upgrading from Windows 7, Vista, or even XP), may be in for a bit of an adjustment.

Here you see the new Start menu. On the left are folders, settings, and shortcuts. On the right, are app tiles, which usually open Windows Store apps.

Right-click on a tile and you will see options, the first being “Unpin from Start”, which will obviously removes the tile from the Start menu.

If you want to pin or repin an app then click or tap the “All apps” button, long-press or right-click the app you want, and select “Pin to Start”.

In addition to pinning to Start, you can pin or unpin from the taskbar, and uninstall the app.

You can also resize tiles to better fit within your scheme. Your choices are (usually) small, medium, wide, and large. Some tiles may not have all those sizes available.

Here we see the difference (from the previous screenshot) between wide and large.

Live tiles might be cool to some, but to many of the rest of us they’re just a flashy animated distraction. You can turn off live tiles, which will convert them to a static tile.

In the following example, we see a large, static tile which has been long-pressed (such as if you’re using a touchscreen) to reveal touch controls. In the top-right corner, you can unpin the tile.

Press the button in the lower-right corner, and you’ll have access to the other options, including resize, live tile, pin/unpin from taskbar, and uninstall (available under “more options”).

The ability to pin and unpin from the taskbar means you’ll be able to access favorite Windows Store apps from the taskbar, instead of having to open the Start menu every time.

To remove it, you can either right-click on the taskbar and unpin the item, or use the “Unpin from taskbar” option detailed previously.

The last option is “Uninstall”, which will prompt a dialog requiring you to confirm you’re ready to uninstall the “app and its related info.”

With all that out of the way, the last thing to consider are how your icons are arranged. You can click or long-press and grab tiles to move them around and rearrange them as desired.

You can also click the two lines at the top-right corner of each group to name it. So for example, if you have a lot of games installed, you can arrange them all together and then name the group “Games” or you can name your Office and other similar apps “Productivity” or something else appropriate.

The new Start menu is different, but that doesn’t mean it’s terribly difficult or frustrating. For the most part, the main functions are the same as in Windows 8.1, which is to say you can resize, rearrange, and remove tiles.

Of course, the ability to turn live tiles off is going to appeal to quite a few people who just want their Start menu to be functional and simple.

If you have any questions or comments you’d like to contribute, please leave them in our discussion forum.

Share:

Read More

How to Use and Configure Cortana on Windows 10

Cortana is billed as more than a simple search feature. It’s supposed to be a full-fledged personal assistant much like Siri is on Apple iOS devices. Here are the basics of setting up Cortana and using it on your new Windows 10 computer.

To use Cortana properly, you’re going to have to enable some privacy settings that we’ve previously discussed, most notably you have to enable the Privacy setting in “Speech, Inking, & Typing”.

Additionally, Cortana require access to your location, which you might have turned off if youread our earlier article.

Once Windows is “getting to know you” and location is enabled, you can start using Cortana though keep in mind, from this point you’re sending Microsoft a great deal of personal data, which is then stored in the cloud. If you’re leery of sharing personal information such as calendar events and contacts, speech patterns, and typing history, then Cortana may not be right for you.

What Cortana Can Do

Cortana is your do-it-all helper, which can deliver sport scores, weather, news, as well as help out with navigation, setting reminders, and more.

Cortana can be accessed by clicking the search feature on the taskbar.

You can adjust the search bar by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting the style you prefer.

In all our examples, we’ll be using the search box. It’s important to keep in mind that if you have Cortana enabled and you hide it, it will still be active and you can still use it.

When we click on the search box, Cortana will pop open. It will display pertinent information based on your interests and hobbies.

You can also ask it facts and have it perform tasks.

If you click on the “Notebook” icon along the left edge, you’ll be able to further configure Cortana, specifically the information it provides to you.

You can change the name Cortana uses to address you or how it pronounces it, and you can edit your favorite places, which are your “home, work, and other saved favorite locations.”

Cortana may remind you a bit of Google Now because the information it shows are broken down into cards. Cards are divided into twelve categories.

For each category, you can turn cards off or on, which means that if you don’t want to see Cortana tips, you simply turn the tip cards off.

Some tip cards can be configured beyond simply turning them off or on. For example, the “Eat & Drink” card allows you to receive recommendations from Foursquare, add an atmosphere, and so on.

Cortana will also let you add reminders, which can be managed and sorted by time, place, and person.

Finally, if you wish to provide feedback you can submit your ideas, likes, or dislikes to Microsoft as well as include a screenshot if you prefer.

Take some time, go through all these items, particularly the Notebook cards. As you can see, Cortana is highly configurable, but there’s obviously quite a few things you may not use or need to see. For example, you may not have any use for finance info, or maybe you don’t do a lot of traveling.

Beyond that, however, there are other vital settings you can configure, which we’ll talk about in the next section.

Cortana’s Settings

Cortana’s general settings can be configured from the Notebook tab. The first item you can attend to is simply turning it on or off. This won’t affect the privacy settings you’ve already enabled, so, if you don’t want to use Cortana any longer, you can also turn off Speech, Inking, & Typing as well as Location, if you prefer.

Note also, there’s a link to manage cloud data, which you should probably clear out if you decide to forgo the whole Cortana experience.

Cortana can also be activated using your voice. When you say “Hey Cortana” it will react awaiting your next command. You can further configure this to respond best to anyone or just you, but in order to do that, Cortana will first need to learn your voice.

We mentioned earlier that Cortana acts and functions a lot like Google Now. To that end, it can be configured to detect tracking info such as for flights or presumably packages. You can also let it “pipe up” occasionally to give you thoughts and greetings in the search box. These won’t be obtrusive but you may just want it to leave you alone.

Finally, at the very bottom of the settings are further options to manage your Bing SafeSearch settings and other privacy settings.

Take your privacy seriously because Microsoft is asking you to surrender a lot of personal information so that Cortana can work as intended. If you’re not planning on using Cortana then we heartily believe you should not only disable it, but turn off the aforementioned privacy settings.

Share:

Read More

How to Set Up and Configure User Accounts on Windows 10

Windows 8 introduced Microsoft accounts, which are essentially roaming accounts that allow you to sync settings and files from computer to computer. Today we want to discuss what Windows 10 brings to user account management, and the options available to you.

In the old PC settings on Windows 8.1, you were limited to three options, but in Windows 10, those options have been expanded to five and things have been rounded out quite a bit.

To access the Accounts settings, you first need to open the Settings and click or tap “Accounts”.

In the Accounts group, the top-most option is “Your account”, which lets you among other things, manage your Microsoft account, change your profile picture, and more.

Managing your Microsoft account must be done online. You cannot do so locally (though you can still have a local account, which we’ll explain shortly).

A Microsoft account allows you to sync your settings and basically roam from computer to computer. Your apps, profile picture, color choices, and more are uploaded to the cloud so wherever you log into next, it appears as you left it on the previous device. This obviously shares a lot of information with Microsoft and it may very well be a bit overkill for some users.

Luckily, if you simply want to maintain an account locally, you can still do that. Simply click the link “Sign in with local account instead” to create one.

You won’t need an email account or phone number or anything else, you’ll simply be prompted for a user name and password. To actually switch to the local account, you will have to sign out of your Microsoft account, so make sure you save anything you might have been working on before you do that.

Beyond being able to create a local account on the “Your account” page, you can create a new profile picture if you have a camera attached.

Finally, if you want to add more Microsoft accounts, or a work or school account, then you can do so using the links found at the bottom of the “Your account” page.

We’ll briefly cover the basics of adding work or school accounts, but in the meantime we’re going to take a look at Windows 10’s sign-in options.

Sign-In Options

The sign-in options will let you define whether you’re required to sign in again when the PC wakes from sleep mode or not at all. This is also the place where you can change your account password, which is very good to know.

You can make your life a bit easier when signing into your Windows 10 computer by adding a PIN but this method is inherently less secure so we urge caution when enlisting this method.

You can add a picture password, which means that you can use a favorite photo and assign a series of swipes, circles, and other gestures, which will then act as your password. This final method works a lot better if you’re using a touchscreen.

Finally, if your computer comes with a fingerprint or card reader, you may see sign-in options for those as well.

Work Access

The “Work access” option probably isn’t something most users are going to use, but we’ll cover it briefly just so you’re aware of it.

This option lets you connect to a computer at work or school so you can access its resources like apps, network, and email.

You will need to provide your work or school account credentials to get started.

To use this option, you’re likely going to need assistance from your tech support representative at your work or school, and as such, they will be able to explain it more thoroughly and tell you exactly what needs to be done.

Family & Other Users

Want to quickly add family members and other users to your computer? The “Family & other users” settings is where you can do that.

Note, if you have children and you want to allow them to use the computer, you can add them here and assign them a child’s account, which can then be monitored by Microsoft Family Safety. Doing so will let you make sure your kids only view appropriate websites, observe curfews and time limits, and use games and apps that you’ve explicitly allowed.

You can also add other users who aren’t family members to your PC. They will then be able to sign in as needed with their own accounts, which means you won’t have to share an account with them.

Finally, there is the assigned access option. With this option, you can restrict an account so it only has access to a single Windows Store app. Think of this as a sort of kiosk mode. To sign out of the assigned access account, you will need to press “Ctrl + Alt + Del”.

Assigned access is probably most useful if you want to limit a child to a game or educational program or in such a case where you might want to force users to use a single app, such as restaurants where you order using a menu app on a tablet, or perhaps to let people fill out a survey. In cases such as this, assigned access would be ideal.

Sync Your Settings

Finally, there’s the “Sync your settings” option, which we’ve covered previously so we won’t spend a great deal of time on it.

Syncing your settings goes hand-in-hand with using a Microsoft account and you can either completely disable syncing, or toggle off its various options one by one.

While the new user account settings in Windows 10 aren’t too terribly different from Windows 8.1, there are enough changes therein that merit a closer examination. You still have the option between a Microsoft account or local one, and there are still three sign-in options, but it’s safe to say new users who skipped Windows 8 will want to bring themselves up to speed as soon as possible.

Share:

Read More

How to Stop Windows 10 From Uploading Updates to Other PCs Over the Internet

Windows 10 includes a new peer-to-peer download feature for updates and Windows Store apps. By default, Windows will automatically use your PC’s Internet connection to upload updates, hiding the option to disable this five clicks deep in the operating system.

You can continue to use peer-to-peer updates on your local network, but you may not want to waste upload bandwidth to help reduce MIcrosoft’s bandwidth bills. This is especially true if you have data caps on your Internet connection.

Disable the Updates

RELATED ARTICLE

What You Need to Know About Windows Update on Windows 10
Windows Update has seen a lot of changes on Windows 10. The biggest is a more aggressive approach to getting... [Read Article]

You’ll find this setting where all the other Windows Update settings now exist, in the Settings app. Open it by clicking the Start button and selecting “Settings” at the bottom-left corner of the Start menu.

In the Settings window that appears, click (or tap) the “Update & security” icon.

Click the “Advanced options” option at the bottom of the Windows Update pane.

Scroll down to the bottom of this pane again and select “Choose how updates are delivered.”

Select the option you prefer under “Updates from more than one place.” We recommend just selecting “PCs on my local network” here.

• Off: This disables the peer-to-peer update feature entirely. Updates will only be downloaded from Microsoft’s servers, and won’t be uploaded to anywhere.
• PCs on my local network: This is the best option. With this enabled, you’ll benefit from peer-to-peer updates on your home or work network. This means faster downloads and less download bandwidth used. You’ll only have to download the updates once and they’ll be shared amongst all your PCs. Your PC will never upload updates over the Internet.
• PCs on my local network, and PCs on the Internet: This option is the default, although it probably shouldn’t be. With this enabled, Windows 10 will upload updates from your PC to other computers over the Internet. These computers would normally just download updates from Microsoft, but Microsoft will save on bandwidth because they’re getting some updates from your Internet connection.

You Can Also Set Your Connection as Metered

You could also set your current Wi-Fi connection as “metered.” When you set a connection as metered, you’re telling Windows it’s a connection with restricted data — such as a mobile data connection or a Wi-FI hotspot from a smartphone you’re tethered to. Windows won’t upload updates on a metered connection — it won’t even automatically download Windows updates.

To set your current Wi-FI network as a metered connection, open the Settings app and navigate to Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Advanced options. Activate the toggle under “Set as metered connection.” The current Wi-Fi network will become a metered connection.

This isn’t necessary if you’ve already disabled peer-to-peer updates in general. It will also prevent your Windows 10 PC from sharing updates with other computers on the same local network.

Peer-to-Peer Updates Explained

RELATED ARTICLE

How to Deal With Internet Bandwidth Caps
Some Internet service providers have harsh restrictions on the amount of bandwidth you can use in a month, charging you... [Read Article]

Peer-to-peer updates are actually a great feature — on your local network. Download the update once and all your computer can share it. Bandwidth on your local network should be plentiful. This actually saves you both time and reduces how much data you have to download, as you won’t have to download the updates five times if you have five Windows 10 PCs at home.

Microsoft acquired Pando Networks back in 2013. Pando Networks was a peer-to-peer media distribution company, and used a modified form of BitTorrent to distribute data. It hasn’t been confirmed, but Microsoft-watchers believe Windows 10’s peer-to-peer downloads are based on this technology. As with BitTorrent, Microsoft states “the download is broken down into smaller parts” and “Windows uses the fastest, most reliable download source for each part of the file.” In BitTorrent parlance, Windows 10 is “seeding” updates on your PC’s Internet connection with the default setting.

Windows 10 isn’t the first software product to play this game. A variety of PC game companies, notably Blizzard Entertainment, distribute games and patches with a peer-to-peer downloader that uses BitTorrent in the background to speed up downloads, sharing your Internet connection with other people downloading. However, these are generally more conspicuous — it isn’t a hidden feature enabled in the background that’s always running.

If MIcrosoft’s servers are being slammed, the distributed nature of the updates can ensure they reach more people faster. This will also help Microsoft save on bandwidth bills, as they’re passing on some of the upload bandwidth they’d need to pay for to their customers’ Internet connections.

---

According to MIcrosoft, this feature is named “Windows Update Delivery Optimization.” Microsoft says it also uses your computer’s Internet connection to upload universal apps you’ve downloaded to other PCs over the Internet, so it isn’t just about Windows updates. This isn’t made clear in the Settings app itself, but only on Microsoft’s website.

For more information, consult the official Windows Update Delivery Optimization FAQ on Microsoft’s website.

Share:

Read More