Five Useful Tips and Tweaks to Make Windows 10 Run Better

Every new operating system needs configuring to suit an individual user’s preferences and here are five tweaks of Windows 10 that many will find useful

Change the default File Explorer page to "This PC"

The default setting for File Explorer opens in the so-called Quick Access view. Many people prefer to display This PC(once known as My Computer) instead. Here is how to get File Explorer to show This PC when it is opened.

1. Open a new File Explorer window.
2. Click “View” in the ribbon.
3. On the right side of the ribbon, click “Options” to open the Folder Options dialog.
4. Under the tab “General” is the entry “Open File Explorer to:” In the drop-down menu on the right, choose “This PC.” An example is shown in the graphic below.
5. Click OK.

Remove Task View from the taskbar

The taskbar can quickly get crowded and one way to add some room is to remove the Task View button.

1. Right-click an empty spot on the taskbar.
2. In the context menu that opens, uncheck “Show Task View button”.

You can get the button back anytime by putting the check back. You can also always open Task View with the keyboard shortcut Winkey+Tab

Remove the search box or turn it into an icon

Another way to make room on the taskbar is to configure the search box. It can be removed or shown as an icon.

1. Right-click an empty spot on the taskbar.
2. In the context menu that opens, place the mouse pointer on the entry “Search”.
3. As shown in the graphic below, a menu will appear with choices to hide or make the search box an icon. Put a check by the one you want.

Disable Cortana

Not everybody wants to use the new digital assistant and search function called Cortana. By default, Cortana is present on the taskbar but it is easy to disable. A previous tip gave one way to turn Cortana off. Here is another.

1. Click in the search box that is present on the taskbar on the left of the Windows start button.
2. In the box that opens, click the gear settings icon that is on the left side.
3. A settings dialog box will open. An example is shown below.
4. Move the slider for Cortana suggestions to “Off”

Limit searches to the local computer

Doing a search using the box in the task bar will search the web with Bing as well as searching your computer. To avoid online searching, go to the same settings dialog box described above for disabling Cortana and move the slider to “Off “ for the setting “Search online and include web results”.

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