GENERAL TIPS FOR WINDOWS 10
KEEP WINDOWS FULLY UP TO DATE
01 Ah, the Windows Update. Truly the modern-day raven, rap-tap-tapping on Edgar Allen Poe’s operating system with menacing intent. Taking control of your updates is objective number one for anyone trying to optimize their PC, so jump into “Update Settings” and remember to smash that “Check For Updates” button. You can turn on auto-updates, too, under “Advanced options,” but if you have a metered connection, we advise against this, and instead recommend manual updates. You can also pause all updates for up to two weeks; useful if you want to try something in a specific version of Windows 10.
SHUT CORTANA UP
02 Get her out! For the vast majority of users, Cortana is little more than a frustration baked into the core of Windows 10. Annoying pop-ups, constant data-gathering, and forced Bing search (come on, Microsoft…) make Cortana the least helpful voice assistant in the biz, but fortunately, shutting her down is reasonably straightforward. Find the Cortana page under “Settings,” then toggle all the sliders off. To complete the process, head back out to the main “Settings” menu. Under “Privacy Settings,” you’ll find “Speech” and “Inking and typing personalization.” Turn both of these off to cut down the amount of data Cortana gathers from your typical PC usage. You can also block all apps from accessing your camera and microphone on the “Privacy” page.
DISABLE STARTUP APPS
03 We’ve all been there, booting up our PC to get a quick task completed, only to be waylaid by Spotify, Steam, Uplay, and Discord introducing themselves like the worst barbershop quartet of all time. Windows has you covered, though—the “Startup” page under “App Settings” lets you view which apps are set to start up immediately (albeit in the background) when you log into Windows, and also which ones have a higher impact on your boot times. Toggle off any of these that you want to open manually, such as Spotify or OneDrive, and your system should start up faster.
DISABLE BACKGROUND APPS
04 This one comes down to preference, and isn’t so necessary on more powerful systems with plenty of memory and high-speed storage. Under “Privacy Settings,” you can individually select which apps you want to run in the background, and disable the rest. There’s a ton of tools included with Windows 10 that you might use sometimes, but don’t ever want running in the background. Windows News? Disabled. Voice Recorder? Deactivated. Xbox Console Companion? Begone!
UNINSTALL UNWANTED APPLICATIONS
05 Speaking of stuff included with Windows 10, there’s plenty of bloatware you can just get rid of. The most obvious contender is of course CandyCrush, but if you take a trip into “App Settings” and scroll through the “Apps & features” list, you may find a surprising amount of software you never use, and
never intend to use. Click on a program to view options, and uninstall it from there. If you’re unsure what a piece of software does, always look it up online before removing it.
UPDATE DEVICE DRIVERS
06 Updating your drivers is often a handy fix for something not working with a PC, but it’s a good idea to keep your device drivers up to date whenever possible. To check for updates, right-click the “Home” button and select “Device Manager,” then right-click the device you want to update the drivers on. You can also scan for new hardware here; if you change something about your physical setup, you might need to relocate it within the Device Manager in order to update the drivers and ensure everything is working properly.
LOG IN FASTER
07 The Windows 10 lock screen is a pointless innovation. Having to swipe up or hit the spacebar before logging in slows things down a bit, and using a conventional password is slower, too. First up, assign a PIN rather than a password for logging in; four digits and no need to hit Enter, either. If your system supports it, Windows Hello is pretty speedy, too. You can even remove the lock screen altogether, going straight to the login screen upon boot. Annoyingly, how you do this is different for Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro. For Windows 10 Home edition, you need to run regedit from the “Run” prompt, make your way to “HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Policies > Microsoft” and right-click “Windows,” select “New > Key” and call it “Personalization.” Once created, right-click this key and add a new “DWORD (32-bit) Value,” with a name of “NoLockScreen.” Double click this and set the “Value” to 1. For Win 10 Pro, hit Win-R, type “gpedit” and hit Enter. Double-click “Administrative Templates,” double-click “Control Panel,” click “Personalization,” then double-click “Do not display the lock screen,” and click “Enabled.” Click “Apply,” and then “OK.” Job done. CREATE A RESTORE POINT AND RESTORE YOUR SYSTEM 11 If all hope is lost, returning to an earlier save point is the best course of action. This advice holds true for both videogames and Windows 10, although hopefully you’ll never have to use it. In the Control Panel, go through “Security and System > System > System Protection,” and you’ll open up the