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WINDOWS 10

FOR SENIORS 2022

A TO Z MASTERY GUIDE ON MICROSOFT WINDOWS 10 FOR


MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY

JOE WEBINAR
Copyright © 2022 JOE WEBINAR
All Rights Reserved
This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form,
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—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as
provided by United States of America copyright law and fair use.
Disclaimer and Terms of Use
The author and publisher of this book and the accompanying
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author and publisher make no representation or warranties with
respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of
the contents of this book. The information contained in this book is
strictly for informational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply
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Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCING WINDOWS 11
PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF WINDOWS
FEATURES OF WINDOWS 10
WINDOWS 10 EDITIONS
WINDOWS 10 REQUIREMENTS
CHAPTER TWO
INSTALLING WINDOWS 10
CREATING BOOTABLE USB WITH WINDOWS 10
INSTALLING WINDOWS 10
UPGRADING TO WINDOWS 10
CHAPTER THREE
GETTING STARTED WITH WINDOWS 10
CORTANA
TASK VIEW
TASKBAR
STATUS BAR
NOTIFICATIONS BAR AND QUICK ACCESS MENU
START MENU
MICROSOFT APPSTORE
CONTROL PANEL
SETTINGS
CHAPTER FOUR
MANAGING FILES AND FOLDERS
MOVING A FILE INTO A FOLDER
RENAMING A FILE OR FOLDER
DELETING A FILE OR FOLDER
ORGANIZING YOUR FILES
CHAPTER FIVE
MESSAGING/OUTLOOK
GETTING STARTED
ADDING AN ACCOUNT
THE INTERFACE
MESSAGING/EMAIL
READING YOUR EMAILS
HOW TO COMPOSE AN EMAIL IN OUTLOOK
CHAPTER SIX
NETWORK AND CONNECTIVITY
ENABLING YOUR NETWORK AND INTERNET CONNECTION
RESETTING YOUR NETWORK SETTINGS
CONNECTING DEVICES
ADDING A LOCAL PRINTER
LINKING YOUR ANDROID OR IOS DEVICES TO WINDOWS 10
SOME BASIC NETWORK CONFIGURATIONS
CHAPTER SEVEN
MICROSOFT EDGE
OPENING THE BROWSER
GETTING STARTED
USING THE EDGE BROWSER
CHAPTER EIGHT
ACCOUNTS
ACCESSING YOUR ACCOUNTS SETTINGS
CHANGING BETWEEN MICROSOFT AND LOCAL ACCOUNTS
CREATING A NEW USER ACCOUNT
REMOVING AN ACCOUNT
CHANGING USER ACCOUNT TYPE
CHAPTER NINE
TROUBLESHOOTING
WINDOWS TROUBLESHOOTERS
CHAPTER TEN
SOME WINDOWS 10 TIPS AND TRICKS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ENHANCING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
FREEING SPACE ON YOUR HARD DRIVE
YOUR PHONE APP
TURNING OFF BACKGROUND APPS
INTRODUCTION
The Windows 10 Operating System has been out for more than a couple of
years Now. However, there are still questions on how to perform certain tasks
in which settings to use within the operating system. Whether you are new to
Windows 10 or just having upgraded from an older operating system,
recently purchased a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed, or like
many others that have become frustrated with the Mac operating system from
Apple and have finally made the switch to a Windows computer.
In this guide, I will go over the basics and give you a tour of Windows 10 to
get you started with using the operating system.
This guide will present everything in simple terms as I will go over the
basics, show you some features of Windows 10 and how they work, and later
on, we will dig deep into the settings and how to perform simple tasks for
Windows 10.
Since this is more of a beginner's guide it is intended for brand new users of
the operating system to learn the absolute basics.
Let's dive right in.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCING WINDOWS 11
Windows 10 which is one of the versions of the Microsoft Windows
operating system for PC was released in May 2015. Like previous versions of
Windows, you may be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Windows 10
also comes with a lot of features and improvements over previous versions.
In this chapter, we’re going to be doing an introduction to Windows 10 and
we're going to look at the exciting features of Windows 10, its requirements,
editions, and how to get you started with your Windows 10 machine.
Previous Versions of Windows
Microsoft Windows which is the most commonly used operating system for
PCs was first released in 1985 and over the years there's been a release of
different versions of Microsoft Windows. Below is a summary of the
different versions of Microsoft Windows and their specific features including
the date of release.
After the initial release of Windows 1.01 in 1985, Microsoft's way of
constantly improving led to the release of Windows 1.02 in early 1986 and
Windows 1.03 in late 1986. In 1988 and 1989 they released versions 2.10
and 2.11 respectively.
In 1990, Windows 3.0 was released, and two years later in 1992 they made
certain updates to the previous version and this led to the release of Windows
3.1.
Windows NT 3.1 was released in 1993. This was constantly being modified
as some features were added and removed, leading to the release of different
NT versions until early 1995 when they released Windows NT 3.51.
In August 1995, Windows 95 version was released and 3 years Later in
1998, Windows 98 version was released, with a second edition being
released in 1999.
In 2000, the Windows ME version was released. This version did not record
much success so it wasn't out in the market for so long, as it had to be
discontinued.
Windows XP
Let me take you back to the Year 2001. A time before YouTube, Twitter, and
Facebook, a time when just over half of American adults use the internet. It
was that year when the world saw the introduction of Windows XP. Its
release marked a new beginning for both Microsoft and computer users as a
whole. It introduced the most stable Windows NT to home users for the very
first time, marking an end to the MS-DOS-based Windows 9X era. This had
Microsoft simplify the Windows product line by positioning XP as a single
release of Windows with both consumer and professional editions and the
name itself signified something new. While most Previous versions of
Windows relied on the version number or release year for its official name,
Windows XP was short for “eXPerience”.
Windows Vista
In 2007 Microsoft officially released Windows Vista. This version didn't
perform so well as so many users complained bitterly about it and most of
them downgraded to XP. Let’s just say the reception wasn’t great. The major
complaint about this version was how bloated it was and still underdelivered.
But at the end of the day, it was still trying to revolutionize the windows
upgrading system as we know it transitioning towards the smoother, smarter,
and more media-based versions of windows we use today.
Windows 7
Microsoft Windows 7 operating system was released in October 2009.
Windows 7 had a similar look and feel to the previous Windows version,
Windows Vista and although it used the same type of hardware and software
drivers, it was noticed that Windows 7 had an improved performance over
Windows Vista. In Windows 7 there are some new features such as Libraries,
Homegroup, and the pinned taskbar at the bottom of the screen. There are six
editions of Windows 7 and these include Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic,
Home Premium, Ultimate, Professional, and Enterprise.
Windows 8
Microsoft Windows 8 operating system became available in October 2012,
and it introduced a brand-new user interface Over Windows 7. One of the
most notable features of this interface is that Microsoft removed the start
button from the bottom-left part of the desktop.
Windows 8.1
An update to the previous version called Windows 8.1 was released in
October 2013, nearly a year later. This was a free update to Windows 8 and
wasn't considered an upgrade. Microsoft considered it as a complete stand-
alone version of Windows. Mainstream support for Windows 8 and 8.1 ended
in January 2018, but Microsoft is having extended support provided for
these versions through January 10th, 2023. There are three different editions
of Windows 8/8.1. The base edition is called the Core Edition; there is also a
Pro Edition and an Enterprise Edition.
Windows 10
Microsoft released Windows 10 in July 2015. This version of Windows is
designed to be a single platform that works on desktops, laptops, and mobile
devices. Anything that you would run windows on, would run Windows 10.
During their first year of release, Microsoft was upgrading everyone who
owned Windows 7 and everyone who owned Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.
One of the reasons they did this was to get as many people as possible on
Windows 10 which they are now referring to as a service. Instead of having a
new version of Windows that is released every couple of years, Microsoft
will simply be updating Windows 10. So, you will always see updates to the
operating system and these updates will continually be to Windows 10 as the
base operating system in years.
As we proceed, let's take a look at the features of Microsoft Windows 10, its
requirements, editions, and any other information you need to get started with
the Microsoft Windows 10 Operating System.
Features of Windows 10
Windows 10 is all about correcting the mistakes of Windows in the past.
When Windows 8 was unveiled in 2012 two particular things bugged users
the most. One is that both the touch interface and the old desktop mode
wrestled for users' attention and it was very confusing. The second pain point
was the unceremonious removal of the start menu, both of which have been
addressed in Windows 10. Now when you boot your computer it will bring
you straight to the familiar desktop environment and there at the bottom left-
hand side of your screen sits the start menu.
So, what's there to love about Windows 10, let's find out.
Adaptability
Windows is now smart enough to figure out what device it is running on. On
convertible devices for example, When you switch to Notebook in tablet
mode the experience will change to one that is optimized for touch. When
you connect a smartphone running Windows 10 Mobile to an external
monitor with a keyboard and mouse it will scale up like you were on a laptop.
Cortana
This is a virtual assistant built into the operating system. It is very helpful as
It can search the web or your computer, remind you of appointments and
events, answer random questions and even tell you a joke.

Action Center
In the smartphone-dominated world, notifications are part of everyday life, so
why shouldn't we be able to get them on our computers too? On Windows 10,
swiping in /clicking the right using your touch cream or your truck part will
bring out the Action Center that displays notifications like emails and other
notifications.
Windows Snap
In this age of multitasking, there is power in window management. It's like
taming the Beast. and this is something that Windows does pretty well.
Windows snap is improved in Windows 10. You can now arrange up to four
windows side-by-side and you will even get suggestions of which opened
windows to document.
Edge Browser
Microsoft's new browser called Edge replaces Internet Explorer. The browser
is cleaner, snappier, and more modern. It has a couple of features Like
distract-free reading and the ability to annotate web pages by drawing on
them.
Xbox streaming
You can now stream Xbox games to your windows computer and play with
your controller. Also, you can play multiplayer games with your Xbox and
PC.

Free
Windows 10 is completely free as long as you have a legit version of the
previous versions such as Windows 7, 8, or 8.1. To find out how you can
upgrade, read on as the next chapters cover these aspects.
Windows 10 Editions
Windows 10 comes in different editions. Now the question you may be
asking is which one should you buy? Would you go for the Home or Pro?
What about the Enterprise edition?
I will talk about the differences between these editions, and I'll also talk
briefly about the extra versions you may not have heard of.
For general use, most users don't care whether they're using the home or Pro
edition. For businesses, on the other hand, it is a very different story. If you
try a Home Edition for a business you're going to run straight into a
management and security nightmare. The most fundamental difference
between Home and Pro is the possibility to be joined to an active directory.
Active Directory is the cornerstone of most Business Networks. It provides
centralized authentication, security, management, and automation for every
device and user on the network. Do not attempt to try a Home edition on a
business network to save pennies, as this will cost you even more.
The professional management tools you get with Pro can give you more
control over different components of your operating system that might be
helpful. If you want to run management tools on your computer, then you are
going to need Pro for that as it doesn't work with the Home edition. One of
the Pro features that might interest you is the remote desktop. Both Home and
Pro do have a remote desktop for a client and can connect to a remote
computer, but only Pro can host the remote session. That means you can
connect to a Pro computer using Home, but if you're running Home edition
on a computer then you can't connect to that. If you're using Home and you
want that sort of functionality you can install third-party tools.
Windows 10 Pro supports both the older encrypting file system which works
on a per-file basis and the new BitLocker which encrypts the entire drive. In
most cases, it's the Bitlocker you want. Officially neither of these are
supported in Windows 10 Home, but that is not completely true. Windows 10
Home does support device encryption which is BitLocker, the difference is
that with the Home Edition you would not get any control over it being
turned on or off and it only supports the TPM unlock method, not the PEN.
In terms of performance, Home and Pro are the same. you are not going to
get better performance for spending the extra money to get the Pro edition.
Take that money and put in better hardware instead.
The Enterprise edition is only available through business channels, so it is
probably not an option for most home users. You cannot buy Windows 10
Enterprise outright, what you would buy is an upgraded license that assumes
you already have a Pro license, to begin with. That makes it the most
expensive option. One of the main reasons why people would go for the
Enterprise edition is for Direct Access. This creates an encrypted connection
for your device, back to the workplace as soon as the device is online, giving
you access to corporate networks. It was like having a VPN connected all the
time and it made life a lot easier for remote workers.
The Enterprise edition gives you additional ways to lock things as compared
to the pro edition. Like App Locker, for example, this allows you to restrict
applications so they can only run if they were specifically listed. You also get
the Unified Write Filter, which essentially makes your computer read-only,
and once it gets rebooted, any changes that were made are discarded.
Windows 10 Enterprise E3 and E5 are not operating systems, they are
subscriptions that happen to include a Windows 10 Enterprise operating
system, plus additional services. Those services are virtual desktop access
rights, and in the case of E5, you get advanced threat protection services as
well.
In addition to Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise you also have Windows 10
Pro for workstations and Enterprise LTSC. The Pro for workstations sits
in between Pro and Enterprise. Essentially it has the features of Pro and the
hardware support of Enterprise. If you have massive hardware requirements
and you don't want to pay the extra for Enterprise, then this is the niche
you're looking for. Enterprise LTSC stands for Long-Term servicing
channel. Do you remember in the days before Windows 10 when they got a
new version of Windows every few years and it was supported for some
time? Well, LTSC uses that same legacy servicing model. LTSC isn’t
intended for normal use, it is more for specific devices that you know aren’t
going to change. If you are building an MRI machine and you want to put
Windows 10 in it, then you don't want that expensive piece of equipment
breaking in 6 months when the next feature pack comes out. In that case, you
might want to use Enterprise LTSC.
Windows 10 Requirements
Here, we will be looking at the minimum and optional system requirements
for Windows 10. Meeting these requirements will help ensure the successful
installation of Windows 10 and will allow you to get the most out of the
operating system. So let's get started.
The first hardware requirement is the Processor. Windows 10 requires a
1GHz or faster CPU to run effectively. Windows 10 is available in both 32-
bit and 64-bit architecture and so both 32-bit and 64-bit processors can be
used with Windows 10.
Next, is the RAM requirement. For 32-bit versions Of Windows 10, you
require at least 1GB of RAM while 64-bit versions would require 2GB of
RAM.
The next requirement is the Hard Disk Space. 32-bit installs of Windows 10
require a minimum of 16GB of free hard disk space, however, if you plan on
installing the 64-bit version, you should update to 20GB hard disk space.
The next requirement is the Graphics card. Windows 10 requires a graphics
card that is compatible with DirectX9 or later. DirectX9 was originally
released back in 2002, so the majority of modern graphics cards should
support this. Furthermore, the graphics card would require a WDDM 1.0 or a
better driver. WDDM Or Windows Display Driver Model became the
principal graphics card driver for Windows systems with the release of
Windows Vista in 2006, so most modern graphics cards should support this.
The final minimum requirement to look at is the Monitor resolution.
Microsoft insists on running Windows 10 on a monitor that supports a Super
VGA resolution or higher. Super VGA has a screen resolution of
800X600. The Super VGA standard was first developed back in the late
1980s and as such, it will be hard-pressed to find a display device that doesn't
support this standard.
These are the minimum system requirements for Windows 10. But you
should also know that there are some optional system requirements.
However, certain features of Windows 10 can only be used if you have the
necessary hardware, software, or other requirements in place to support it.
Let's have a look at some examples of these features.
The first feature we would look at is Cortana. Cortana is a brand-new feature
for Windows 10 and it is essentially a personal assistant. It is designed to help
the user accomplish tasks such as finding files, managing calendars, and
setting reminders. When instructing Cortana to complete a task the user must
type the instruction in using a keyboard. However, Cortana can also receive
vocal instructions, that is, the user can instruct Cortana to complete a task
simply by talking to Cortana. This will require a microphone to work.
Another feature of Windows 10 is Windows Hello. Windows Hello provides
new ways for the user to sign in to Windows 10 using biometrics such as Iris
or fingerprint scanning, or facial recognition. Essentially, Windows Hello
offers an alternative to using passwords; however, to use Windows Hello
your device would require special hardware such as fingerprints or Iris
scanner, and special cameras for facial recognition. If your device does not
include such hardware, you cannot use Windows Hello.
The next feature is the Touch Screen. Just like its predecessors Windows 8
and Windows 8.1, Windows 10 is fully optimized for touch. Most tasks that
can be completed using a keyboard and mouse in Windows 10 can also be
completed with touch. However, this will require hardware devices such as
tablets or touch screen monitors to work. If you do not have these devices
you will have to use a keyboard and mouse.
Next, we have BitLocker. BitLocker first made its appearance in Windows
Vista and allows you to encrypt your computer's hard disk; however, to use
BitLocker, your computer or device must have a special hardware chip Called
a TPM chip installed on the motherboard. BitLocker can be used with TPM
1.2 or TPM 2.0 chips. If your device does not have one of these chips
BitLocker can still be used but will require a USB flash drive instead.
The next feature is Client Hyper-V. This first appeared in Windows 8 and
Windows 8.1. It is a feature that allows the user to build and run virtual
machines on their Windows 10 computer. However, to use client Hyper-V
you will need to meet a few hardware requirements. First of all the feature is
only available for 64-bit versions of Windows 10. Also, to use client Hyper-
V effectively the user must ensure that their Windows 10 computer has an
extra 2GB of RAM. Since 64-bit versions of Windows 10 require 2GB of
RAM to simply install the operating system, if you plan to use Client Hyper-
V, you should ensure that your device has at least 4GB of RAM. In addition,
Client Hyper-V requires a processor that supports SLAT or Second Letter
Address Translation. If your computer's processor does not support SLAT,
you cannot use Client Hyper-V.
The last feature we will look at is Secure Logon. This provides a more
secure way to log on to a Windows computer. With Secure Logon the user is
required to press the CTRL+ALT+DEL key combination, to access the
Logon screen. If you are using Windows 10 on a regular desktop or laptop
computer with a keyboard, this is not a problem. If however, you are running
Windows 10 on a tablet that does not have a keyboard, this can cause some
issues. To use Secure Logon on a tablet without a keyboard, the tablet must
have certain buttons; that is, the tablet must have a power button and a
Windows button. This is because, on tablets, the Secure Logon history is
involved by pressing the windows button and the power button at the same
time. If your tablet does not have these buttons or a keyboard, you cannot use
Secure Logon.
CHAPTER TWO
INSTALLING WINDOWS 10
To install Windows 10, you need to ensure that the device or computer meets
or exceeds the minimum system requirements.
In this chapter, I will show you how to install Windows 10 on your PC or
laptop. Before we proceed, I would like to explain something about Windows
installation that you should note. Windows 10 is available in UEFI and
LEGACY Boot Modes; and 32-bit and 64-bit versions. 32-bit versions are
for computers that have 32-bit CPU and 32-bit version Windows can
recognize a maximum of 4GB of RAM. The 64-bit version can be installed
into most computers and is recommended for every new computer. Windows
10 64-bit version can recognize up to 128 GB of RAM. The Windows 10 Pro
and Enterprise can recognize up to 512 GB of RAM.
After installing, Windows 10 automatically installs most of the drivers but If
you're doing this on your laptop, before installing it will recommend you to
download the drivers manually from your laptop's manufacturer's website.
Creating Bootable USB with Windows 10
To create a bootable USB with Windows 10 you need access to a Windows
computer and a minimum of 4GB of USB.
To download Windows 10, open your browser and go to the Microsoft
website; microsoft.com. On the Microsoft website, select the “Download
tool now” button to download a media creation tool.

After the download is finished, insert the USB and run the Media
Creation Tool.
To get started, select the “accept'' button, and on the next window, select
“Create Installation Media for another PC”.
In the next window, select your preferred language, the edition of
Windows 10, and below that, you can choose between the 32-bit and 64-bit
versions. Click “next” to proceed.
On the next window, select USB flash drive. Select “Next”, and again
“next” to start with creating a bootable USB. Now the Media Creation Tool
will automatically download and create a bootable USB.
After creating the USB, just select “Finish”.

Next, visit your laptop manufacturer's website and download the drivers.

After downloading the drivers, open the USB Windows tab, create a new
folder and name it drivers or other. In this folder, copy your PC or laptop
drivers.
Now let's move on to the installation process.
Installing Windows 10
Insert the USB with Windows 10 and start your PC or laptop.
During startup keep pressing a Boot mini-buttons and in some cases, it's the
F12 button on the keyboard. Every laptop has its specific Boots mini-buttons
so you just have to figure out the one that works for your laptop.
In the boot window, choose which boot mode to use. The UEFI Kingstone is
a UEFI Boot Mode and just Kingstone is a Legacy Boot Mode. So, you
will choose the one that applies to your PC.

On the first screen select “Next”, and on the next screen click “install now”.
And on the next screen, windows 10 will ask to enter the serial key here you
can enter the serial key or you can do it later after installing the window.

On the next screen, you can choose which edition of Windows you want to
install and click “Next”.

Accept the license terms and click “Next” to proceed.

On the next screen select “Custom: Install Windows Only”.


In Windows boot manager, select the disk and select “New” to create a new
partition and install the window.

If you want to create more partitions in the same disk then select “New” and
enter the size of the partition, but in Megabytes. You can create more
partitions in one disc. After creating your partition or partitions, select your
primary partition and go “Next” to start installing the windows.

During the installation process, the windows will reboot several times and do
not turn off or restart your computer manually.
In the installation process, windows will ask for personal settings,
information, and to create a computer account.

After this, the windows will start to search, download and install some basic
drivers automatically.
After this, you can continue with your customization install your favorite
games and other things.
Upgrading to Windows 10
I will show you how to upgrade from previous versions, especially Windows
7 to Windows 10. You may have heard that Microsoft has officially ended its
support for Windows 7. This means they want you to upgrade to Windows
10; it will be more secure, safer, and even faster to use. If you have an older
PC or laptop running Windows 7, you have two options: the first one is to go
to Microsoft website and buy Windows 10 Home Edition or use the second
option, which is to get a free upgrade offer from Microsoft.
So, I will take you step-by-step on how to upgrade to Windows 10 from
Windows 7.
Start by going to the “Download windows 10” website or Microsoft
website.
Next, click the “download tool now” button, then click “Run”.

Read the Applicable notices and license terms, then hit Accept.
After which a window will pop up asking you what you want to do. Choose
the “Upgrade this PC now” option and press the “Next” button and this will
automatically begin downloading Windows 10. You will see a series of
Windows pop up. You just have to be patient while Windows is running this
process of installation.

When the upgrade is complete, a Windows setup window may prompt you to
enter your Windows product key, however, it might not as well.
After the key is entered, the setup tool will check for updates, and then a
“ready to install” Window will appear, showing that you are installing
Windows 10 and keeping your files and apps. When you are ready, press the
install button.

You will see a blue screen installing Windows 10, after which your computer
will restart and install updates.
Now you are officially upgraded, you have Windows 10 running on your PC.
CHAPTER THREE
GETTING STARTED WITH WINDOWS 10
The windows 10 operating system has been out for a couple of years now but
some users still have questions on how to perform certain tasks and which
settings to use within the operating system. Whether you are new to Windows
10, having just upgraded from an older operating system, or recently
purchased a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed, in this chapter I
will go over the basic settings and give you a tour of Windows 10 to get you
started with using the operating system.

When you log into Windows 10 you will see your desktop. You will have
your main window with the bar covering the bottom of the page. That is
where you will find the start menu on the far left, the Cortana bar, task view,
the taskbar, the status bar, and notifications. we will look at this later but first,
let's look at the primary window.
You have your wallpaper in the background and on your primary screen,
most software that you installed will put a shortcut on your desktop. If you
happened to install software that doesn't, I will show you a quick way to add
a shortcut to your desktop.
To add a shortcut, go to the Cortana search bar at the bottom, type in the app
you want into the search bar, right-click on the app and select “Open file
location”.

Find the icon, right-click, hover over “send to” then click on “Desktop
(create shortcut)”. Now you see the shortcut for the app. You can move the
icons wherever you want.
Also in the main window, if you right-click, you have several choices. In
view, you can change the size of the icons, you can sort them by name, size,
item type, or date modified.
If you select “Next desktop background”, you can change your wallpaper.
For “New”, you have several options which include adding a new folder to
your desktop. If you select “display settings”, here you can make changes to
your display. If you select “personalize”, it will open up the personalization
options. I will go into more details later on these as we proceed in this
chapter.
Now let's take a look at the bottom bar.
Cortana
This is similar to Google assistant. It can also be used to search your
computer.

You can either click on the microphone or you can use the word “hey”
followed by the word “Cortana'' to ask your questions.
If you go down to the settings icon, to be able to use your microphone to get
the assistant to respond to the keywords you have to turn it on.
Task View
To the right of Cortana is Task view where you can add a virtual desktop
layout.

So, for example, if you work from home, you can have a desktop one to be
your workspace and in desktop two, everything associated with your work
and you can add new desktops by selecting the plus sign.
Taskbar
To the right of the Task view, is the taskbar. This is where you can pin some
of your favorite programs. Pinning from your desktop is easy, as you can
simply go over to your desktop, grab a program and drag it down to the
taskbar. This will pin it to the taskbar.

To remove programs just right-click on the icon on the taskbar and select
“unpin from taskbar”. You can move this icon around if you want to.
Status Bar
To the far right is the status bar. You can choose what is visible and what is
not. If you select the up arrow, it will show you the programs that are visible
in the status bar.

To move one of those items to the status bar, you can click and drag it down,
and to remove an item from the status bar, you can just click and drag it up.
Notifications Bar and Quick Access Menu
Here is where you will find your notifications. So, if you click on
notifications they will show up in this bar if you have any.

And in the quick access menu, you can see your network, settings, Bluetooth,
VPN, and others.
Start Menu
One of the most controversial aspects of Windows 10 is the Start menu. If
you left-click, you get the new start menu.

If you right-click you get the menu that looks like the Classic Start menu
found on Windows 7 or older.

Here, you can quickly access many features and settings. In this chapter, we
will focus on the primary start menu by left-clicking on the Windows icon.
Along the left, you’ll see programs listed in alphabetical order. If you select
any of the letters, you can quickly jump around the list. Right-clicking, you
have the option to pin the selected program to the Start menu which will
make the program appear to the right. Where it says “more”, you have the
option to pin to your taskbar, rate and review, and share, and you can also
uninstall the program from here.

To the right, are tiles of your applications. If you right-click a tile, you have
several options, most notably, the ability to resize tiles. You can even move
the tiles around if you want to.
Along the far left on the start menu is where you will find the file explorer,
which is where you can access files and folders on your computer settings,
and below that is power where you can restart, shut down or put your
computer to sleep.

We will look at more on settings later.


Microsoft Appstore
Just like iOS and Android Microsoft has its app store for Windows. You can
find it in the least by selecting the Microsoft store in the list. If you plan to go
here often, I recommend you pin it to your taskbar. When you open it up on
your homepage you will find featured items.

Along the top, you will find categories that include apps, games, movies and
TV, and books. If you know what you're looking for you can search.
To install any app, select “Get” to the far right.
If you select the menu icon, you have the options to view download and
updates, Store settings, your library, with other account information.
Control Panel
If you’ve used older versions of Windows, you should be familiar with the
control panel; which you can still access by typing “Control panel” into the
search bar or you can ask Cortana.

Here you can still access many of the settings for your computer. Since
Microsoft is slowly phasing out the control panel, we will focus on the
primary settings app for Windows 10.
Settings
You could ask Cortana to open settings or you could just go to the Start menu
and select the settings icon.

With settings open, I'll move quickly through each of these categories,
highlighting options that might be of interest to you.
System
We will go through these in order starting with System.
Display

This is where you can rearrange and change settings for your monitors. You
can change the order of your displays by selecting a number and dragging it
to the left or the right. A core feature introduced is night-light which can
reduce the blue light on your screen at night; which studies claim can make
you sleep better.
Notifications and Actions

In notifications and actions, you can add or remove quick actions which
show up when you select notifications. If you scroll down the page, you can
turn on or off which apps are allowed to send you notifications.
Power and Sleep
This is where you can set your power settings. For more options, select
“Additional power settings” and select the plan that works best for you.
Storage
This is where you can see your storage. Storage sense is something you can
leave to automatically free up space.
Tablet Mode
This is useful for those of you that have a Microsoft Surface or similar device
that can be used as a tablet.
Multitasking
This is where you can perform some settings in the Snap and Virtual desktops
so there is no need to turn any of these settings off.
Devices
For devices, most of these are self-explanatory.

In “Bluetooth and other devices”, you can see what's connected to your
system or add devices.
In “Printers and scanners”, it will show you what’s connected to your
system.
The “Mouse settings” is where you can change your mouse settings.
In “Typing'', I would suggest leaving this turned on, especially if you don't
want to make mistakes with spelling.
In “USB”, make sure the notify button is checked so you get notified if there
are any issues with USB devices.
Phone

If you select phone, you can link an Android or iPhone to be able to work
continuously between your PC and phone with compatible apps. For some of
you, this is a feature that might be useful.

Network and Internet


This is where you can see your network status, set up Wi-Fi, and other
options.
Personalization
This is where you can make changes to the overall look of Windows 10. You
can set the background to be a slideshow with just a single picture or solid
color. You can browse your computer for other pictures that you would prefer
to have as your background. You can set how often the picture gets changed.
Under the Color tab, you can automatically have the system pick an accent
color based on your background.
If you scroll down this page, you can change your default app mode to either
light or dark mode.
When you are on your lock screen the default pictures are going to be from
Microsoft. If you want to change that you can choose your picture or use your
slideshow.
“Themes” is a great way to personalize Windows 10. You can get additional
themes from the windows store and they are a lot to choose from.
If you need more screen space and you want to get rid of the taskbar, when
you click on “off”, it automatically hides the taskbar in desktop mode.
Apps
When you head into the apps category, you will see a listing of all the
software and apps on your system. This is a good place to uninstall software
that you no longer need. So just find the program that you want to get rid of,
then select “uninstall”.
“Default apps” as the name implies is a good place to set defaults for email,
maps, music players, and so on. When you first install Windows 10,
Microsoft Edge would be your default web browser on your system. To
change any of the defaults, just choose another app that is listed.
Time and Language
This is an area where you can simply perform changes to your date, time,
region, and language.
For some of you, the Text-to-speech settings may be useful to change the
voice to one of the three listed and to change the speed. Some YouTubers use
text-to-speech to narrate their videos.
Gaming

In gaming, if you don't plan to record or broadcast gameplay, you may want
to consider turning the game bar off.
Ease of Access
This is where you would go if you have difficulty hearing, seeing, or working
with your keyboard or Mouse. Just select one of the categories on the left that
you think will help you out and adjust the settings.
Privacy
In the privacy settings, there are a couple of settings that might be useful for
you to increase your privacy. In general, you can turn off “advertising ID'',
then go down the left pane to “Speech inking and typing” and you can turn
off speech services and typing suggestions. If you turn the second item off,
you won't be able to speak to Cortana.
Update and Security
The last settings category is “Update and security”. The only settings in this
category that you may have to change are in Windows update.
Here, you can see your updates that are available and awaiting restart that
will happen outside your active hours. If you don't want your system to
restart when you are actively using your computer, select “change active
hours” and select the hours you do not want Windows to automatically
restart your computer. If you want to specify a time for windows to restart, to
finish installing updates, go to “Restart options” make sure it is toggled on,
and select the time and day. Below that, you will see “Show more
notifications”.
It is typically a good idea to leave this turned on just in case you forgot that
you had scheduled a time to restart your computer; the notification will allow
you to delay the restart if needed.
CHAPTER FOUR
MANAGING FILES AND FOLDERS
In this chapter, we will be talking about the importance of organizing your
files in Windows 10. We will cover the structure of window files and folders
in general, so you can become familiar with how the operating system works.
We will also look at how you can use your “personal” folders to organize
your files and you will also see how to Prevent some apps and programs
which you have installed from messing with your file organization.
Working With File Explorer
The first thing you should do is to open the File Explorer which you can
easily access by its icon on the taskbar. If you want to open it up and it's not
down there at the taskbar, then you should go over to the Windows key or
Start menu and type in “File Explorer” in the search bar. From here, you can
right-click and Pin to the taskbar if you choose.

In your file explorer, at the top, you will find the ribbon. This is broken
down into tabs, where you have the File tab, Home tab, Share tab, and View
tab.
Below the ribbon, it is broken into groups such as Clipboard, Organize, New,
Open, and Select. All these buttons would help you do different things inside
the file explorer. Let's take a look at the file explorer itself.

You will see the address bar, and this tells you exactly where you have
navigated so far in File explorer.
At the left corner of the file explorer, Which is the navigation pane, you’ll
find some basic folders which you have on your PC such as Desktop,
Documents, Download, Music, Pictures, Videos, and others.
If you want to create a new folder in your File Explorer, quickly go back to
the Home tab at the top, click “New” and then click on the “New folder”
option. From here you can give your folder a name and press “Enter” to save
it. This is one way to create a folder.
Another way to create a folder is to go anywhere on the blank space of the
screen, right-click, go to “New” and then choose “Folder”.

The third way to open up a new folder is by going up to the very top left in
your file explorer page, and you will find the file icon right there; this is the
“New folder” icon. When you click it, you can type your folder's name, and
press the “Enter” button to save the new folder.
Moving A File Into A Folder
If you want to move a file to a folder, one of the ways to do this is to click
and drag the file and move it right into the folder.

Another way to move a file into a folder is to use the copy and paste method.
Here, what you would do is just simply right-click on the file you wish to
copy, and then you either click on “Cut” or “Copy”, after which you click on
the folder that you want to drop this copied file into, right-click on it and then
click on the “Paste” option, and this automatically drops your copied file into
the folder. Keep in mind that if you copy a file or folder it only makes a copy
of that particular file and folder, and retains the original file or folder, but if
you cut a file or folder, it removes that file/folder from its original location
and places it in the new location.
Renaming A File or Folder
To rename a file or folder, all you have to do is right-click on the file or
folder, and go right down to “Rename”.

Another way to do this in your file explorer is to go to click on the file or


folder you wish to rename, go to the Home tab and click the “Rename”
option right there. Also, if you click on a folder or file and you wait for a few
seconds before clicking on it again, you will notice that it highlights the name
of that folder/file and you can rename it from here as well.
Deleting A File or Folder
You can delete a file or folder by right-clicking the file or folder and clicking
“Delete” or you can just click on the file or folder and click on the delete
button on your keyboard.
Organizing Your Files
First, you're going to open up File Explorer and before you do anything else,
I want you to click “This PC” and navigate to your “C drive”.

Make sure you click “View” on the ribbon up there in file explorer and make
sure the “Hidden items” box is checked. This is to ensure that you can view
anything even if it was hidden.
In your “C drive”, you will notice there are so many folders in there. At the
very bottom is the Windows folder which has everything for your operating
system files. You do not have to touch this folder at all, but it's just helpful to
keep in mind what goes in there. We will cover the User's folder shortly.
ProgramData is for the operating system type functions and sometimes there
is data from programs and applications in your computer that are in there.
Next, you have two program files as well. The first program files folder is
generally for 64-bit Windows applications and the second one with X86 is for
32-bit applications. Just know that if you install an application like Google
Chrome or Firefox or some kind of Media Player, they will reside in these
folders. If you download a Windows 10 app, it goes into the Windows
folder. You might have a few other folders such as the PerfLogs folder; you
don't have to worry about those. This chapter will focus on the User's folder
where you'll be doing the majority of your organizing. So, if you open up
“Users”, you will notice there are a few folders here. There is a hidden folder
called Default, there is a public folder, and then another folder that is named
by the name which you used to sign in to your computer.

In the hierarchy of Windows, at the top level are the Users folder which leads
to your folder. Why I think this is a good place to organize your files is that
as a user all your stuff is found in one location, so if another user signs on,
they’ll have an entirely different folder with their name and all their
“personal” folders.
The “Download” folder is some sort of a place where you keep files
temporarily. Under the “Music” folder you can save local copies of your
music collection, you can choose to organize them by genre, or artist.
Another advantage of using these “personal” folders, for example, the music
folder, is that some items such as iTunes will automatically use the music
folder as a directory and this helps with media applications to find your
collection more easily. Under “Pictures”, you can have folders that include
your pictures including wallpapers (if you want to change your desktop
background) or your Camera Roll from photographs you might have taken
with this device and some pictures you may have saved from a different
location or browser. Under “Videos”, you can have some videos saved for a
project or your different categories of videos. In your “Documents” folder,
you can store all the documents on your PC for easy access. The main point
here is to get comfortable with your “personal” folder and figure out what
works best for you.
If you go back to “This PC”, you will see all the hard drives even though
your operating system isn't necessarily installed on that. So, for example, if
you click “Files”, this is another hard drive you may find on your computer.

You will notice that you have program files X86, Users, and other folders
very similar to what you have on the C drive and this makes things a little bit
easier when things are in parallel; so if you move a directory to another hard
drive it's easily matched and you can easily figure out where things are.
Another thing I like to talk about is being mindful of programs’ default save
and install locations. By default, some apps may want to install things such
as games, and others in a particular directory. You might find that you want
to use a different hard drive to save your game. For example, you may have a
larger hard drive that is a dedicated game drive. Just keep in mind that you
can do things like go on to settings and pick directories for some programs.
CHAPTER FIVE
MESSAGING/OUTLOOK
In this chapter, we are going to look at Microsoft Outlook software. Outlook
is best known for email but it can also do other things such as Calendaring, it
has a to-do list, and some other things which we would look at.
Getting Started
To locate outlook on your windows computer just search for Outlook.

There are different versions of outlook. There is one for Office 365 but if you
have other versions of Outlook, they work very similarly as they would
probably have the same features.
Adding an Account
With Outlook started up, the first thing it would require you to do is to put
your email address. It is possible to add more than one account to Outlook, so
let's take a look at how to add an account. Type in your email address and
click Connect.
Next, it will require you to include your password. You will get another
window stating that the account has been successfully added.

At this point, you can add another email address such as your Gmail account
using the step above and this would set up your Gmail account in Outlook.
Sometimes this doesn't work, so if you have any trouble with it you can go to
“Advanced options” and choose “Let me set up my account manually”.
Click “Done” and it should take you into your Outlook account.
The Interface
In Outlook there is a lot to look at so let's talk about what you are seeing.
First of all, Outlook is considered to be part of Microsoft Office, so if you're
used to PowerPoint, Word, or Excel, you’ll recognize some tabs and ribbons.
Just like in those other programs, if you want to find a setting that is related
to one of these tabs you click on the tab.

So if you want to see all the folder settings, you can click on “Folder” and
the ribbon changes to give you information about folders.
For sending and receiving, you click on the “Send/Receive” tab and you get
information on the ribbon about send/receive.

Most of your common options are on the Home tab and in the Home ribbon,
you will notice that each of the Ribbons have some groups such as a “Move”
Group, “Delete” group, a “Respond” group, and others. There is one tab that
is special and different and that is the “File” tab.
When you click on “File” it takes you to what's called the backstage view.
This is kind of a behind-the-scenes view of your account settings.

Earlier I gave you a glimpse into how to add a second email account into
your Microsoft Outlook. If you ever want to do that again, just click on the
File tab, it takes you to backstage view, and then just click “Account
settings” and it lets you add a new email account.
In the lower-left corner of Outlook, this is what we call the navigation bar.
What it does is that it shows you different tools that are built into Outlook.
So, the most commonly-used Outlook is Email. When you click on it you
will see your email address here at the left and you can read your emails and
send emails.

The second symbol is the Calendar. This is another tool that is built into
your Outlook program.
Next to that, we have Contacts which is a list of people that you know
perhaps people that have emailed you.

And then next to that, we have a To-do List and you can add items to your
to-do list just by clicking and typing, then tap “Enter” on the keyboard and
it adds an item into the To-do List. You can set things like a due date, start
date, and other details.
So, this navigation bar is how you switch from one Outlook tool to the next.
This chapter will be focusing more on email.
Messaging/Email
To ensure that you are in the email area of Outlook you should see at the left
your email address.

If you’ve set up more than one email with Outlook you should be able to
scroll down and see those other email addresses too. You will also see the
“Favorites” area. By default, the “Inbox” is in “Favorites” and so are the
“Sent” folder and the “Deleted” folder; so those are the favorites that are
there by default, but you can add other things to favorites too.
You can decide to set up some folders for your email. There is probably more
than one way to do so, but the most common way to add a folder is to find the
email address that you want the folder to be connected to and then you right-
click over that email address, choose “New Folder” and then just give it a
name. So any email that comes in relating to that folder you can put it into
the folder.
When you have folders, when you click on a folder It changes the view in the
rest of the Outlook. If you click on Inbox, it shows you the emails in your
inbox and it picks one of those and puts it in front of you so that you can read
that email. One thing to watch out for as you use Outlook is that you would
probably notice a lot of arrows in Outlook.

For example, Favorites has an arrow next to it, and if you click that arrow
whether on purpose or accidentally, it will collapse all the items underneath
Favorites and hide them; you can review them again by clicking the arrow
again. The same thing is going to happen with your email address; so, all of
your sub-folders that are in your account will become hidden when you click
that arrow, if you click it again, they will be viewed again. You will also see
some small arrows on the ribbons. Anytime you see a little arrow, that means
that there are additional options that you could use if you click on the arrow.
So, watch out for those little arrows, they're powerful but also easy to
overlook if you're not on the lookout for them.

You can click on the folder to read the email that is in it. If you look over the
lower right corner of Outlook you can see that it says “All folders are up-to-
date” and then “Connected to Microsoft Exchange” (in this illustration).

Those are important messages that tell you that you are getting updates. If
you have recently deleted something out of the folder or put something into a
folder at this point it's completely up-to-date and that change has been
synched, and because I am connected to Microsoft Exchange (In this case),
you know that if a new email has been sent to me, I will get it momentarily.
Reading Your Emails
If you have some emails to read you will notice that day it looks a little off. if
you look closely there are some broken images. By default, Outlook doesn't
want to download pictures, so if you want to view the email as intended by
the sender you might have to click the button that says “download pictures”,
it loads the pictures in and you can be able to see them.

As you're reading your email, if you need to you can adjust the width of the
different parts of your screen, you can make the list of all your emails a little
bit wider, with the actual window where you read the email and that will
make that wider and same with the panel at the left. You can adjust it so that
it's Wider or narrower.
What if you have a couple of emails on your lists? It might be useful to sort
them in different ways and we have a tool here to do that. You can sort by
date and that is typically the way it is by default.

If you want to, you can arrange by who sent the email alphabetically, you can
also sort it by the subject of the email, but in most cases, I think you would
want to arrange or sort by the date. You can also click and show only unread
emails; that helps you to focus on items that you haven't seen yet. In addition
to sorting, you can also search.
How to Compose an Email in Outlook
If you want to compose an email or reply to an email, all you have to do is to
go up to the Home tab and click “New Email” or “Reply”.

If there is more than one person that was included in the email you want to
reply to, you could click “Reply All” and everyone involved would get your
reply. At this point, you can type your message, you can include attachments
if you would like and there are a couple of ways to do that. When you're
composing your message, you should get a Message tab and a message
ribbon and there you will find the “Attached file” option.
You can also attach using the attach tool on the right. As you're composing
your email you can use all of the typical fonts and formatting options that you
find in most Microsoft Office tools. When you're ready to send the email
click the send button and your message has been sent.

Even though you can be intimidating for a lot of people I hope that this
chapter has helped you to become more familiar with it and that you
understand the basics of how to get started using Microsoft Outlook.
CHAPTER SIX
NETWORK AND CONNECTIVITY
In this chapter, we are going to look at some basic operations such as sharing
files and folders between computers over a network, how to enable your
network and an internet connection, how to reset your network settings,
connecting devices, adding a local printer, linking your android or IOS
devices to windows 10 and some basic network configurations.
Sharing Files from Your Computer over a Network
Let’s begin by clicking on “Start”, and then Settings.

Proceed to Network and Internet. Once you click there, the first thing you
should check is the type of network you have and you may have a public
network. These are the default settings on Windows 10 and you may need to
change that to a private network, so this would work.
Go to “Change connection properties”
And choose “Private” as your network profile.
Hit the back button, scroll down and click “Network and sharing center”.
You can confirm here that you have a private network, go over to “Change
advanced sharing settings”.

There are several groups here, including settings for Private (which is your
current profile), Guest or Public, and All Networks; we are concerned with
the Private group at this point and the “All Networks”.
In the Private Network settings, confirm that you “Turn on network
discovery” and that the checkbox below, which is “Turn on automatic
setup of network-connected devices” is also chosen. Lastly, ensure to
“Turn on file and printer sharing”.

In the “All networks” area, you have several options. With regards to Public
folder sharing, “Turn on sharing so that anyone with network access can
read and write files in the public folders”. Under File sharing connections,
generally speaking, “Use the 128-bit encryption” is recommended, but if
you have trouble setting up the network, you may be using older type
encryption on the device that you are trying to connect with, in which case
you may want to come back and “Enable file sharing for devices that use
40 or 56-bit encryption”. For password-protected sharing, make sure to
“Turn off password protected sharing”. If you have it on, you will have to
set up the same users on each computer, so you turn it off to reduce the
complexity of this process. Now, you can hit “save changes” and close the
window.
You may be prompted to restart your computer when you change some of
those settings. If you are prompted, of course, do so, so that everything can
be properly enabled.
Now, you are at the step where you need to share actual files or folders on the
computer. So, you will go to your file explorer which is generally found on
your taskbar, but if you don’t find it there, you can click on “start” and then
scroll down to Windows System and open File Explorer from there.
You can share any of the folders in there; the most typical area to share
would be your Documents folder. So, right-click on that folder, go down to
“Give access to” and then choose “Specific people”.

In the window, click on the little drop-down, choose “Everyone” and click
on the “Add” button. You will notice that “Everyone” appears in the list
below and the permission is set to “Read”. In an environment where you are
trying to share files so each person can edit or manage them, then you have to
click on the little down-arrow and give them “Read/Write” access. Now, you
can go ahead and click on “Share”.

Once you’ve done that, you are going to see a path that includes the name of
your computer and the full path to the shared folder. You can record that or
note it because it is useful, once you are on the computer that you want to
receive the files through, and once you’ve done that, go ahead and click on
“Done”.
Now let’s move over to another computer, so can see how you can access
those files.
Go to the “Network and Sharing Center” in the new computer and what we
want to confirm here is the network profile. If it is a Work network, it is fine,
but if it was a public network, you have to change it to a private network.
Once you have confirmed that you are on an appropriate network, go over to
your File Explorer. Each file Explorer has an address bar at the top and what
you want to do there is put a double backslash and then the name of the
computer that has the files you have shared and hit “Enter”.
All things being normal, you should get the first folder in the path to the
document that you have shared.

You can open this folder to access the document you want. If you make
changes to this folder or file, if you go into the same folder on the previous
computer, you can see the changes you made in the other computer.
For consistency, you can map this folder on your computer, so it is easy to
access this file whenever your network is on.
What you need to do is click on the address bar to get the document’s
address, right-click and copy that.

Next, go down to “This PC”, click on the computer tab at the top, go to
“Map network drive” and choose Map network drive.

In a new window, you will be required to choose a drive and below that, you
can right-click in the “Folder” and click “Paste”.
Make sure to check in the box that says to “Reconnect at sign-in” and when
this is chosen, click on “Finish”. In your File Explorer, you can see the new
drive.
With these steps, you have shared and mapped a folder on your Windows 10
machine, accessible to any other computer on that network.
Enabling Your Network and Internet Connection
For whatever reason you might have lost your internet connection, you might
see right down at the taskbar that you have no connections available online
and if you try to open up any web browser, you may be getting a “Server not
found” alert.

A quick way to fix this is to head over to your Start button, type in “Network
and Sharing Center” and click on it.

This opens up a window, and on the left side of this window click on
“Change adapter settings”.

You will see that your Ethernet connection is disabled and when you click on
that, you will see some options appear at the top. If there is an option to
“Enable this network device”, left-click on it.

At this point, you can see that your internet connection is being restored. If
for some reason you need to “diagnose the connection” you can click on that
option.
If you go back to your browser, you can see that you have internet access
again.
Resetting Your Network Settings
If you are facing any problems with the internet on your Windows 10
operating system and you have tried every type of troubleshooting and the
problem still exists, then it’s time to reset your adaptors. It is important to
note that resetting your network adaptors means that the configuration goes
back to the default configurations. Before you begin, go through all your
important network settings and note them down so you can reset your
network settings after you are done with the network reset.
That being said, let’s get started with resetting all network adaptors in
Windows 10.
What you need to do is to click on the Windows Start button and then go to
the Settings, then go to “Network and Internet”.

Under “Status”, scroll down till you find the last option which is the
“Network Reset” option, and click on it.
In the Network Reset window, you will see an important message which I
suggest you read, after which click on “Reset now” and click on “Yes”.

This is going to reset your network and you will get a message saying your
Windows will shut down and restart in a given time. You can wait for the
stipulated time windows to automatically shut down or you can reboot your
operating system manually if you don’t want to wait.

After automatically or manually restarting your Windows Operating system,


once you are logged on to your system, your network adaptors will be reset.
Connecting Devices
If you go to “Settings”, “Devices” and take a look at “Connected devices”,
you will see all the devices that are connected to your computer that are not
printers or scanners (printers and scanners have their options separately).

So, anything that is connected through your network or USB will appear here
and the fact that you see the devices here shows that they should be working
correctly.
From here, you can perform other operations such as removing a device, and
in some devices, some options allow you to change or modify the devices
connected to your computer.
To add a device, click on the corresponding button at the top and it will
search and connect to available devices.
You have the “Download over metered connections” option and once this is
off, it means there’s no update of any drivers when you are on a connection
that has limited data. So, if you are on mobile data, for example, the drivers
won’t download.
Related settings refer to “Devices and Printers” which gives you the devices
and printers that are connected and available in your computer and “Device
Manager” which allows you to access the drivers of your connected
devices.
Adding a Local Printer
To add a local printer to your Windows 10 computer, start by opening up the
Start button and typing “Devices”. The best match that comes up should be
“Devices and printers”, so you left-click on that to open it up.

Next, you will see an option to “Add a printer”, click on that and it is a good
chance that your printer would be detected automatically.

I recommend that you turn on your printer at this time and make sure it is
plugged in and good to go.
However, if you do not have any printers updated on the list, click on the
button that says “The printer that I want isn’t listed”.
At this point, if you have an older printer, you can select the first and
corresponding option. If you want to add a local printer with manual settings,
you can select the last and corresponding option. If you have the IP address
for the printer, you can select the corresponding option or if you are using
your Bluetooth printer, you should select the corresponding option as well.
In this illustration, we are adding a local printer and after clicking on the
corresponding option, click “Next” to proceed.
In the next window, you will be asked to choose a printer port. Select the
option to “Use an existing port” and select “Next”.
If you have the disk for the printer software, you can select the “Have disk”
and then it will ask you where to locate the disk.
I recommend you go through the manufacturer’s side and if you select an
option from the manufacturers and look on the right side, you should be able
to find most printer makes and models that are currently being used
nowadays. You can also search the Windows update for the most updated
driver software.
Once you’ve selected the correct manufacturer and the printer, select “Next”.
You can change the printer’s name if you want and select “Next” one more
time and it should begin installing the printer. This should be a quick process.
After your printer has been successfully installed, I would recommend you
print a test page to make sure it works and that is it.
Linking Your Android or IOS Devices to Windows 10
The Windows 10 Phone App helps carry out some important functions of
your phone such as sending messages, making and receiving calls, receiving
notifications, and accessing your photos, without removing your phone from
your pocket or bag. With this app feature, you can access the messages,
photos, notifications of your smartphone and also make phone calls.
If you do already have this feature on your computer, you can get the “Your
Phone” app from Microsoft App Store.
When you open the app, Windows will want to know your phone type. Click
on either the Android or iPhone button as it applies to you and click the
“Continue” button to proceed.

Now, you will be required to sign in with your Microsoft account. Enter your
sign-in details to continue.
You may get a window telling you to “Use this account everywhere on
your device”. Click “Next” to continue.
This may take some minutes to set up after which your Phone app comes up.
Now, you will need to link your smartphone.
In your Google play store, search for “Your Phone Companion” and install.
After installation, sign in with your Microsoft account.
Allow the app to access the photos, media, files and other permission of your
phone and press “continue”.
Now, go to your computer and you will see that your computer is trying to
connect with your phone. This will require one more permission on your
smartphone, so go to your smartphone and click on “Allow”.
You will get a notification that your phone and PC are linked.
You have successfully connected to your computer. From your PC, you can
now access your smartphone.
Some Basic Network Configurations
To get to the Network configurations, you have to select “Settings”, select
“Network and Internet”.

Go to “Ethernet” and “Change adapter settings”.


Then right-click to that local menu and select “properties”.

Select “Internet Protocol Version 4” and click on “properties”.


Most of these actions will be done automatically because when the options to
“Obtain an IP address automatically” and “Obtain DNS server address
automatically” are selected, you don’t have to write anything in the added
fields below.
However, sometimes you will have to set the network configuration
manually. First, you’ll enter the expected IP address of your computer. If
you are not sure if it has already been used, open your command prompt and
ping this address: 10.251.251.199.

If there’s no answer or you get something similar to what we have below,


then we assume that the address is okay.
Next, you have to provide your “Subnet mask”. Commonly, it consists of
three numbers of 255 and one number of 0 (255.255.255.0).
Next, you will enter the address of the default gateway. It can be the address
of your home router or modem.
The first DNS server can also be the address of your home modem. You can
also use the address of your Google DNS server or numbers of 8.
Save the configuration when you are done.
Next, in your command prompt, ping “google.com” to check if it works. If
what you get is similar to what we have below, then it means everything is
okay. If there is no answer, you should check your configuration again to find
out the problem. The reason could be the wrong address of the default
gateway with the DNS server.
CHAPTER SEVEN
MICROSOFT EDGE
This chapter will cover Microsoft Edge and everything that you will need to
know to get started with this internet browser.
Let's get started.
Opening the Browser
On your Windows 10 desktop screen, you’ll first check to see if you have
Microsoft edge on your computer. You can check this on your computer by
pressing the Windows key or clicking the windows icon in the bottom left
of your screen and you should see Edge pop up somewhere in the Start menu.
If you just bought your Windows 10 computer it is going to be pre-installed
on your computer because it is a Microsoft computer. Another way to do this
is to type in “Edge”, you will see that the Microsoft Edge pop up and you
will notice that it says “Microsoft recommended browser”. This is because
you are running Windows 10 on your computer and Microsoft wants you to
use their browser for your computer. So, let's go ahead and get started with
this program.
Getting Started
Edge was created in 2018 and it was the successor to Internet Explorer
which was Microsoft's previous internet browser and Windows launched it
using the same rendering engine as Google Chrome so, you are going to see a
slight similarity.
When you first open up Microsoft Edge, you're going to see a screen and it's
going to ask you to choose Edge as your default browser. Depending on if
you like it or not that is when you can choose it if you want to use it by
default over something like Chrome or Firefox.
Using The Edge Browser
At the top left, you are going to see that there is an option which is for “Tabs
that you have set aside” as well as “Set these tabs aside”.

So let's say that you open up a few tabs, what this does is this basically would
hide your tabs for later on, for use within the future. If you click on the button
that says “Set these tabs aside”, it is going to hide that tub and the only way
that you can do that again is if you go over to the option that says “Tabs
you’ve set aside”, you can see the tabs you had initially set aside and if you
click on the Tab it is going to open it back up.
On the home screen, you will see a back and forward button, these are
basically or every internet browser in the same spot.
You have your Refresh button that refreshes your page.
You also have your Homepage button and if you click on it, it will take you
from wherever you are back to your home screen.
Next is where you are going to type in a search word or enter a web address.
whenever you type in a word or a web address you will notice it searches
using the Bing search engine. Bing search engine is just like any other
search engine like Google Or Yahoo. The reason that Edge uses the Bing
search engine is that it is owned by Microsoft.
If you search for something you will see the address URL as well a few
options to “Bookmark” or add the page to your favorites. The button after
that is your “Favorite’s Hub” and if you click on it you can see all of your
favorites as well as anything on your Reading List, Books, your internet
History, and your Downloads, and you can change the settings for that menu
right there.

Finally, there is also a Note feature and this is where you can make some
notes in Edge. You can choose a pen color and if you want to show someone
some information from a particular page, you can just circle that and then
save it.
That way you can send it to someone or if you want to quickly move the
information to another spot in your computer you can easily do that. You also
see a “Share” option and if you click on that it will give you some options on
how you want to share; either by copying the link or if you want to share with
Cortana.

You will see that everything else looks like a normal web browser. You also
have the “Tab previous” button and when you click on it, it will show you
what's going on in every tab.
In your home tab, you can always add a few changes if you do not like the
default settings information. The information-sharing area is based on what
you’ve searched for in the past for the most part and it will customize your
feed over time.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ACCOUNTS
In this chapter, we are going to cover the basics of managing User accounts.
First of all, I'm going to give you some basic account settings, then I will
show you how to change an account from a local account to Microsoft
account. We will also look at creating a new account and I'll also show you
how to delete a user account from your Windows 10 device.
Also, if you want to change the password to your PC, add another user to
your PC and perform other account settings, these Would be covered in this
chapter as well.
Accessing your Accounts settings
Having logged into your PC the usual way, to see your settings click on the
Start menu and go up to Settings, and in the windows settings home screen
click on “Accounts”. By default, you will see that you are in your local
account as an administrator. As an administrator you can do a lot to manage
your device; you can do things like create other users and even delete other
users from the device. Generally speaking, you do not give administrator
privileges to all users of the device. A straightforward way of making sure
that someone doesn't do too much damage to your PC is to not let them be an
administrator.

Just under your name and account type information, you will see an option
that says to “Sign in with a Microsoft account instead”. If you want to
switch to a Microsoft account that is where you click to do it. At the bottom
of the screen is a list of options for getting a profile picture for your account.
You can use the camera, you can browse, or you can use one of the existing
apps on the device camera or gallery and their libraries photos to access a
picture that you can use as an account picture. Bear in mind that we are still
looking at your details under “Your Info”. If you go to the “Email and app
accounts” tab, you will see the account that you use on your device.

If you want to access a system at work or school, you can use the
corresponding option.
And if you go right to the last option, you can “Sync your settings”. If you
are using a Microsoft account, you can decide here whether you want to sync
the settings with other devices on which you are logged in with that
Microsoft account.
You can Sync the theme you are using, your web browser settings, password,
language preferences, and other Windows settings. One of the advantages of
using a Microsoft account is that you can Sync those settings between
multiple devices to which you are logged in using that Microsoft account.
The next option I want to show you is that of “Family and other people”.
This lists the other people that can use your device. If you want to see your
family here, you have to sign in with your Microsoft account to do that.
Please note that the only reason you can see all the accounts and managed
these accounts would be because you are an administrator on your device. If
you are a standard user on a device then you wouldn't be able to change
settings for other users.
Another important thing to look at is the “Sign-in options” tab. If you've
been for a while, your computer will go to sleep. If it's gone to sleep, do you
need to enter your password again? To get it out from sleep and active,
you've got two options at the top. You have the option to sign in when the
PC works up from sleep or you have the “Never” that requires you just
move your mouse to wake it up from sleep without entering your password.
There are then some options for sign-in, the most common one being the
password option. Under that, you have an option that lets you change your
account password.
One of the options that are available now on some devices is Windows Hello
and this uses some kind of biometric or associated method of letting you log
in such as facial recognition. If that is available on your device it will tell you
here.
The other sign-in options are Pin and Picture password; so, you can log in
with a pin instead or you can use a picture password.
Changing Between Microsoft and Local Accounts
If you are logged in using your Microsoft account and you would want to
change that to a local account, the first thing to do is to locate your account
settings in the settings app.
Under the “Your info” tab you have two important settings. One of them is
to “Manage my Microsoft account” which lets you log in to Microsoft to
manage your Microsoft account in the usual way. Also, if you are using a
Microsoft account on a Windows 10 PC, you will have to go through a
verification process. But if you want to switch to using a local account, you
should click on the option that says “Sign in with a local account instead”.

First of all, it needs to verify that it is you and this will require you to put in
the password to your Microsoft account.
What happens next is that you have the opportunity to set up your local
account and this requires putting in your username and a password.

Once you have signed out and finished, you'll be logging in next time with
your local account.
To switch back to your Microsoft account go to your account settings and
under the “Your info” tab, click on “Sign in with your Microsoft account
instead”.
What you need to do next is to put in details of your Microsoft account, sign
in, and you are back to having your Microsoft account again. If you want to
switch from a local account to a Microsoft account but you do not have a
Microsoft account there is an option to create one.
Creating A New User Account
Ensure you are logged in as an administrator, go to “Family and other
people” in your account settings, and click on “Add someone else to this
PC”.

You have some options when you do this. One of the options is to specify the
person's email address or phone number. That email address may be a
Microsoft account email address or it could be some other email address. If
you do not have the person's details you can click on the button that says “I
don't have this person's sign-in information”.
In this case, you would have to set the user off with a local account. When
you click on that it will take you to another window that will help you get
started with creating an account for the user. In this case, click on the button
that says to “Add a user without a Microsoft account”.
In this situation, all you are going to do is put in the username and enter a
password. Once the account is set up, you can tell the user his login details to
enable him to log in and set up whatever other information he wants to set up.
Click on “Next” and the new user account is now set up with a local account.
If you want to see someone's Microsoft account and you know the person's
email address or phone number then you could fill in the appropriate boxes in
the sequence.
Removing An Account
Still logged in as an administrator, under the “Family and other people” tab,
if you click on a particular account, you will see two important options; one
of which is “Remove”, and if you want to remove that user's account you just
click on it.
Changing User Account Type
The other thing that you can do is to change the account type.

This account type refers to the difference between a standard account and
an administrator account.
If you want to make that user an administrator you would select
“Administrator” and click on “OK” and that user becomes an administrator
on this PC.
CHAPTER NINE
TROUBLESHOOTING
In this chapter, we will look at how to resolve problems in your Windows 10
computer by running Windows Troubleshooter.
In the search bar on your Task menu, type in “Troubleshoot” and open
Troubleshoot settings.

You will see that there are three recommended troubleshooting options;
“Run the troubleshooters automatically; don't notify me”, “Run
troubleshooters automatically; then notify me”, and the third one, “Ask
me before running troubleshoot”.
You can then see if there are any troubleshooters that Windows recommend
that you run right now. You can click to view the troubleshooting history
and then there is a button, “Additional troubleshooters”.
Windows Troubleshooters
The Bluetooth Troubleshooter finds and fixes any problems with Bluetooth
devices.

With the “Incoming connection” Troubleshooter you can find and fix
problems with incoming computer connections and the firewall.

If your keyboard is giving you trouble then run the Keyboard


Troubleshooter.
Should you be facing problems with your wireless and other network
connections, then your Network Adapter Troubleshooter is your go-to.
If you are having power problems, the Power Troubleshooter is your go-to.
This one is especially good for laptops that are experiencing short battery life.

If you are having issues running older programs on your Windows 10


platform, the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter is an excellent
resource.

The “Recording Audio” Troubleshooter will help you with any microphone
or sound control issues.
If you're having problems with finding things on Windows search, then the
“Search and Indexing” Troubleshooter is your go-to.

The “Share Folders” Troubleshooter is something that you could use if you
are having issues with accessing files and folders on other computers.
If you are using Cortana or other speech recognition programs, then start with
running the Speech Translator.
If you are having problems with playing videos, then you can find and fix
problems in the Video Playback.
If you are having troubles with the Windows Store Apps, then run the
Windows Store Apps Troubleshooter.
If you need help with finding and fixing problems with connecting to the
internet or the websites, run the “Internet Connections” Troubleshooter.

You can find and fix problems with the “Playing Audio” Troubleshooter.
Finding and fixing problems with printing can be solved with your Printer
Troubleshooter.
Lastly, if you just downloaded a Windows update and you're not able to run it
or if you're having troubles with Windows updates, then run the Windows
Update Troubleshooter.
There is a way to view more Troubleshooters. Go to “All items” in the
Control Panel, go to “Troubleshooting”, click on “View all” and you will
see a few other troubleshooters show up.

There is one other important troubleshooter, but it is not listed in either


location, and that is the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter. It still
exists but to use it, you need to take a few extra steps.
Open the command prompt, run as administrator, type in the letters shown
below, and hit “enter”.
You will see a dialogue pop-up, and this will allow you to run the Hardware
and Devices Troubleshooter.
CHAPTER TEN
SOME WINDOWS 10 TIPS AND TRICKS YOU
NEED TO KNOW
In this chapter, we will cover some tips and tricks in Windows 10 that can
make a difference for you and improve your user experience. Some of these
are new, some have been there for a while, but they are a bit hidden.
Let’s take a look.
Multitasking in Edge

Most of us have multiple applications open at the same time when we are
working. The fastest way to switch between these apps is to use the shortcut
Alt+Tab. But this handy shortcut only worked for apps, not for the mini tabs
we usually have opened in our internet browser; but that’s changed now.
When you press Alt + Tab with Edge open, you will see your browser tabs
right alongside your other apps in the task’s structure. This is so convenient
because this way you can quickly jump to specific tabs in Edge.
There are also some settings to customize your experience: click on the
Windows Start button, Settings, then click on system and select Multitasking.
With this setting, you can choose whether to show all or to only show your
last 3 or 5 browser tabs, so that you don’t overload the task’s switcher. With
the last option (Open Windows only), you can turn off this feature in case
you can’t get used to it. However, this feature is nice, especially if you have a
lot going on your PC.
Enhancing System performance
Not many know this. Windows 10 has a performance mode that you can turn
on to ensure that your hardware is running at peak performance. But most
people will never see it because it is only enabled by default for workstations.
To enable it, click on the Windows Start button and select Settings. Then
click on system, and then “Power and sleep”. On the right of the screen,
you’ll see additional power settings which will take you to the Power options.
Usually, you will see these power plans: “Balanced”, “Power saver” and
“High performance”.

The one we are looking for is not here, so let’s activate it. Click on the
Windows Start button and type in the command prompt, then type in the
command as seen below, hit “enter” and that’s it.

Next, close the window and go back to “Additional settings” in Power and
sleep settings, and now, you can enable the “Ultimate performance plan”.
This mode will essentially disable all power-saving features in exchange for
the best possible performance.
I don’t recommend using this all the time because it will prioritize
performance over energy efficiency, but for projects where you want to use
additional help, it may come in handy and you can always change back to the
balance plan afterward.
Freeing Space on Your Hard Drive
With the Windows feature called Storage Sense, you can automatically get
rid of temporary or unnecessary files. Another thing to like about this is that
it also works with OneDrive; it looks through your locally available files in
OneDrive and moves them to “Online only” if you haven’t opened them for
a certain time frame. This way you can release a lot of space locally while
your files are safe in the cloud.
Click the Windows button and type in “storage settings”. On the screen, you
can turn on Storage Sense, then you can configure it to your needs. By
default, Storage Sense only runs if you are low on disk space. You can
change it to the option that best suits you. Then you decide how to handle
temporary files.

Under Locally available cloud content, you can free up space by moving
your files to Just online and not local on your device.
When you are done, click “Clean now” and let Windows clean up the clutter
for you.
Your Phone App
This app has been around for a while but not many know of it. It lets you use
your phone without touching it. For example, you can read and send text
messages from the comfort of your PC or send messages with WhatsApp or
any other messaging app which could be a productivity boost for you,
especially if you are typing faster on the keyboard than with your phone.

With the app, you also get instant access to your photos; you can just drag
and drop them into other office apps and start using them. You also get
access to all the apps on your phone, plus, you can make and receive calls on
your PC.
Turning Off Background Apps
Each app that is running in the background is draining your battery and
making your computer slower. The background apps can continue to perform
actions even if you don’t have them open. It may make sense for some apps
like your Email and Calendar to update in the background, but for most of
them, it is not necessary. Please note that preventing an app from running in
the background doesn’t mean that you cannot use it, it just means that it
would not be running in the background when you are not using it.
To change the settings, click on the start button, go to Settings, select
“Privacy” and then scroll down to background apps. You can either turn off
background apps completely up there or you can scroll through the list of
apps and disable each, depending on what you want.

While you are in here, you can also check out the other privacy settings that
are under Apps and Windows permission; for example, which apps can
access your camera, microphone, and so on, or in Activity history, double-
check what is being recorded and share it with Microsoft, recording your
usage of apps and services. Just go through and think about which data you
want to share and which permission you want to give to apps because most of
it is going to be turned on by default which may not be in your interest.
These tips will be helpful to get the most out of Windows 10.

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