Eight things you need to know

So now that you have Windows 10 installed, here are a few things to look forward to with the new operating system.

New Start Menu

It’s a little strange to be hyped up by the Start Menu, since it has been a feature of every modern Windows since Windows 95.

However, it was because Microsoft removed this feature in Windows 8 in favour of the clunky Modern UI that we’re rejoicing that the Start Menu is back.

Of course, it’s not a complete move back – the new Start Menu combines the Start Menu shortcuts we’ve seen in Windows 7 with the Live Tiles of Windows 8.

It’s a good compromise between the two – you can pin or remove Live Tiles from the Start Menu and you’ll still have access to many of the options of older Windows.

tablet mode

If you have a tablet, you should switch to the more finger- friendly Tablet mode in Windows 10.

Tablet mode makes everything easier to tap and enlarges the Start Menu to fill the entire screen, making it work like the Windows 8 Modern UI.

To do this manually, tap on the Action Centre icon in the system tray and then tap on the Tablet mode icon to make the switch.

Windows 10 can also automatically switch between Tablet mode and Desktop mode, but this is dependant on whether the keyboard and associated hardware conforms to Windows 10’ s standards.

On our older tablet, for example, the auto- switching didn’t work and we had to manually switch modes every time we detached the keyboard.

Microsoft Edge

Hardcore Chrome and Firefox users will probably not be too excited about this, but Windows 10 finally features a completely new web browser.

Called Microsoft Edge, this browser has a minimalist design and offers a few nifty features which some will find quite useful.

Chief amongst these features is the ability to annotate and draw on any webpage directly using any available input method be it finger, stylus, touchpad or mouse.

Edge then allows you to save the webpage along with the annotation as a bookmark or even send it to someone – as long as they have Windows 10, they’ll be able to open the webpage with the Edge browser and view your doodles.

Strangely enough, Edge doesn’t actually replace Internet Explorer – Microsoft’s infamous browser can still be found on Windows 10. Don’t ask us why.

High DPI support

Gone are the days when our desktop PCs ran at a maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. Today, even notebooks with small screens have a resolution as high as 2,560 x 1,600 pixels or higher.

Microsoft has actually supported high DPI ( dots per inch) displays for quite some time and offers scaling for icons and text to make them easier on your eyes.

However with Windows 10, Microsoft has taken it one step further by automatically scaling the desktop for each display depending on the pixel density.

This even works if you have multiple displays connected to your PC – but you can, of course, change the scaling level for each connected display manually by right- clicking on the desktop and choosing Display Settings.

The real problem with desktop scaling, however, is with third- party applications. If they are not updated to support scaling, icons and menu items will still be rendered very small on high resolution displays.

However, many Adobe applications like Photoshop CC already support scaling so menu items and toolboxes will scale accordingly.

Snap your windows

One of the features we use very often with Windows 7 and 8 is the Snap option where you can drag a window to the right edge of your screen and another to the left and have them fill equal halves of the screen.

Not everyone is aware that Windows 7 and 8 can do this, but once you start using it, you’ll wonder how you have lived without it.

With Windows 10, Microsoft has taken this a step further by doubling the number of windows you can snap to the edges. Just drag the windows to one of the four corners of the screen to have Windows resize them automatically to fit a quarter of the screen.

Cortana comes to the desktop

Virtual personal assistants are all the rage these days and Microsoft has brought Cortana, which was first introduced on Windows Phone devices, to the PC.

With Cortana on Windows 10, you can ask all kinds of questions in natural language and it will show relevant results form Bing, its search engine.

You can also use Cortana to search for files in your PC by just naming the file or specifying the date and time.

Unfortunately, there is a catch – Cortana isn’t officially available outside of a limited number of countries. This means that while you can type out your searches, voice command won’t work.

However, like with Windows Phone, the trick to get it to work is simple – you just have to change the PC’s region to the United States.

To make Cortana available, go to Start Menu > Settings > Time & Language and change your region to United States and the main language to English ( United States).

Once you do that, the search bar at the bottom will extend to reveal a microphone icon. If it doesn’t, use the search bar to look for “Cortana & Search Settings” and turn the feature on from there.

This workaround isn’t ideal and let’s hope we don’t have to do it for long. Microsoft executives at the launch said that they are currently working on bringing Cortana to other regions, although they did not give a specific date for Malaysia.

the Xbox app

One of the more interesting features of Windows 10 is that it comes with the Xbox app.

While it doesn’t exactly run Xbox One games on your PC, it has a nifty feature that allows you to stream games from the Xbox One console to your PC just like how you can stream Play Station 4 games to a PS Vita.

For it to work you have to connect both the Xbox One and PC to the same WiFi network, and follow these steps:

1. Connect an Xbox One controller via USB to the PC you want to stream to and set it up. Windows 10 already has drivers for it.

2. Start the Xbox One app on this PC and sign in to your Xbox Live account ( or create one if you don’t already have one).

3. Turn on the Xbox One and go to Settings > Preferences and turn on “Allow game streaming to other devices”.

4. Go to the Xbox app on the PC and click on Connect.

5. When you start a game from the Xbox One you will be given the option to stream the game in the Connect menu on the Xbox One.

task View and virtual desktops

Virtual desktop ( also known as multiple desktops) has been a feature on Mac OS X and Linux for years and it finally makes an appearance on Windows 10.

The feature allows you to extend your single desktop into many virtual ones so that apps don’t have to clog up one screen.

On Windows 10 you will find a Task View button on the taskbar – click it and you'll be taken to Task View which will show you thumbnails of all your running apps.

On the bottom right hand corner of your desktop you'll see an Add Desktop button which will allow you to add a second desktop screen. Once you have created an additional virtual desktop, you can drag apps into it.

Knowing a few keyboard shortcuts for switching between virtual desktops can make you a real Windows power user, so here are a few handy shortcuts:

To launch Task View: Windows Key + Tab.

To create a new virtual desktop: Window Key + Ctrl + D

To switch between your virtual desktops: Windows Key + Ctrl + Left/Right