Best 10 hidden features

Windows 10 isn’t all Cortana and the Start menu. Mark

Hachman reveals the best features under the hood

W indows 10 has offificially been

unleashed upon the world, but Insiders have lived with the

operating system for months and know things the newbies don’t. Insiders have even created their own mascot, a ninjacat with a

variety of trusty steeds, to symbolise their

pioneering, adventuresome spirit.

We’ve been playing with Windows 10 for a while now. Let’s follow the ninjacat deep

within the bowels of Windows 10, where

narwhal guides are eager to point out tasty bacon features you might otherwise

miss. We think these 10 are some of the

most useful, productive, hidden gems you’re going to find.

Put the web (and desktop) in your toolbar

You can make your desktop toolbar even more powerful with a few tweaks in a

configuration menu, adding a web address

bar and desktop links.

Click the toolbar, and right- click in any unused space you can find. Select the

‘Toolbars’ tab. Here you can check off one of three options: Address, Desktop and Links. With the address bar, you can quickly type in a website and launch your browser. Links allows you to do the same, but via

saved bookmarks. Instead of launching your desktop directly, the Desktop link brings up folders and other locations on your PC.

You might not want the extra clutter, but it can be pretty handy.

Which apps take up the most room?

Hidden away within Settings > System

Storage is a list of the drives on your PC. Click one, and you’ll receive a andy breakdown of how much space pps, photos, videos, and more take p on that particular drive. Click each subcategory to get even more detail.

We think you’ll find the list of apps the

most useful of all of these. It’s a great way to keep tabs on what’s using up storage space, so you can quickly decide which ones to delete.

Mail’sM hidden Clutter feature M Microsoft filters out spam, but also places em mails it doesn’t think you’ll care about

in n a ‘ Clutter’ folder, a feature that is now

in ncluded in the Mail app. It’s found under

th he ‘More’ subheading. If an important email has mistakenly been placed in this folder, drag it into the inbox. Over time, Clutter will learn which emails are important. Microsoft will also email you periodically about what’s gone into the folder.

Go away, Cortana

Yes, there’s a toggle to turn off Cortana, and you’ll probably want to ensure your information is erased from the Microsoft cloud, if you decide you want Windows 10 to preserve your privacy wholesale. But if you just want to erase Cortana’s memory and turn it off, go to Settings > Privacy > Speech, inking & typing, and click the ‘Stop getting to know me’ button.

Pay for Solitaire

olitaire has long been one of those idle ursuits for anyone with a lot of time on heir hands. But for some reason Microsoft ow thinks that Windows 10 users will pay,

monthly, for premium Solitaire. It fififirst tried ut premium Solitaire features in Windows

8, and now they’re back. Plus, they still pop

up only when you try to access the daily Challenges. (An M&M’s video ad appeared when I tried them out.) Technically, this is a

‘feature’, but we’ve stretched the defifinition

of the term for this one.

Solitaire challenges

If you manage to make it past the ads in Windows 10’s Microsoft Solitaire Collection app, check out the Daily Challenges. This is serious business.

Not only is someone at Microsoft coming up with these things, you get special e-currency as a reward for completing them, though we’re not sure what this does. And in the future, there will be leaderboards. Big things are coming, we tell you.

Background app manager The background manager allows you

to tweak the settings for apps that run in the background. After all, do you

really need all the hidden ads in your

web browser connecting to the internet

when you’re not actively using it? It’s

something to keep in mind.

Battery use

With Windows 10 running on both computers

and smartphones, we’re seeing a lot more

bile aware’ applications. Case in point: the ery management applications, hidden

in Settings > System > Battery saver. The ery- saver mode isn’t the most useful tool , though. You can now see a breakdown attery use, which reveals what apps and ces are using up the most power.

Edge’s advanced options

One of the best things about Edge is its settings menu, which allows you to turn

on or off useful features. To access it, click on the ‘…’ icon in the upper- right corner.

Next, click Settings and scroll down to the Advanced Settings menu. You’ll fifind these

options, which you may tweak at will. ( Yes,

we’ll be turning off Adobe Flash.)

Fast startup

Windows 10 should come preconfifigured to enable fast startup, where certain system

files are written to a master fifile, resuming them rather than restarting the entire system.

Microsoft ays this helps cut boot times to about 60 percent of what they were. J