GETTING HANDS-ON
We test the latest early-access version of Windows 10
People who skipped Windows 8 have nothing to fear—you’ll feel right at home.
So, how does Windows 10 actually perform when used on a day-today basis? Well, we’ve been part of the Windows Insider program, which has given people early access through various phases of the development. This review is based on version 10.0.10074 (build 10074) of the OS, released on 29 April.
The great news is that even in the prerelease builds, Windows 10 is fast and stable. There are some problems we’ve experienced, of course, but these have either been ironed out, or—as with some speed issues concerning the new Start menu and Cortana—will surely be fixed for the final version. We hope. Anyway, here are the key features to get excited about.
THE NEW USER INTERFACE
People who skipped Windows 8 have nothing to fear—you’ll feel right at home. In basic use, Windows 10 is not a million miles from Windows 7. You’ve still got the Start menu (though it’s fundamentally changed) and key functions are all accessed from the Taskbar, which has a flat, functional feel. The design feels refined—windows borders are smaller, for example—but the innovations are subtle.
If you did immerse yourself in Win8, there’s a little problem in that Charms have been removed. Microsoft said they were the future. They aren’t. All the former Charms functions are contained in a new Notifications Center, launched from the Taskbar and designed to match the Notifications setup in Windows Phone.
Previously a work in progress, the Notifications Center is now both usable and powerful. A raft of individual settings (called Quick Actions) includes standard stuff, such as toggling Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Location on and off, but it’s great to have. You can also get to Settings here, as an alternative to the Start menu, as well as switch into Tablet Mode. In the Settings app, you can select which Quick Actions appear in the Notifications Center, as well as which apps can send you Notifications.
START AGAIN
The Start menu is very Win8.1-like in that it features Live Tiles for at-a-glance information in apps. These were largely redundant for many Windows 8.1 users, mainly due to the lack of decent apps, but that seems likely to change. It remains to be seen, however, how useful this can be (we’ve used it a few times for looking at the weather and emails, but little else).
The remainder of the Start menu is much more like Windows 7, with controls for turning off your PC and restarting it, as well as most-used apps and the ability to scroll through all your apps in alphabetical order through an All Apps menu. File Explorer, Documents, and Settings are also present.
The Start menu can be enlarged for touch devices, via a control in the topright, so it’s more like the Windows 8.1 Start screen. It can also be resized to your taste. And, in case you were wondering, the Power User Menu is still there—just rightclick the Windows logo. Once again, you can minimize everything by clicking in the far right-hand corner of the Taskbar.
File Explorer has been given a little bit of a makeover. You now have a Quick Access area to which you can pin and unpin any folders you want to access regularly. In the "home" screen of File Explorer, you can also see Frequent Folders and Recent Files. It’s much more helpful now.
APPS
Microsoft is going big on so-called universal apps, the company’s great hope being that developers will develop their apps once, to work across Windows 10 on PC, mobile, and Xbox, too—essentially, on every screen size. This is known as the Universal App Platform, or UAP.
These are replacing what, in Windows 8 and 8.1, were known as Metro apps or Modern UI apps. They’re different from desktop apps, but now co-exist with desktop apps on the desktop. They also have Live Tiles that live in the Start Menu.
Microsoft doesn’t want to repeat the mistake it made with Windows 8— assuming that developers will flock to the new OS—and so it’s making it easy for developers to convert existing Android apps, while Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 now also supports Objective C (which is used to create iOS apps) and can compile it to universal apps.
WINDOWS APP STORE
There’s also a new Windows Store to come. This is still at the beta stage (in the Preview builds, Microsoft has included the original Store as the beta doesn’t function completely yet). As well as a revamped design, the new store will house desktop apps as well as universal apps.
Like universal apps, desktop apps installed from the Windows Store will be managed from there, so theoretically, they’ll install quickly (without you doing anything more than clicking once to download/install), they can be uninstalled without hassle, and—crucially—they will be sandboxed from the rest of the system, à la universal apps. Devs will use an Application Virtualization (App-V) container to package their desktop apps for the Windows Store.
Organizations will also be able to deploy apps from their own versions of the Windows Store. This is all managed from the Business Store Portal, which will manage software licenses, centralized payment info, and more.
We mentioned before about universal apps coexisting on the desktop—that’s meant Microsoft has had to find a new way to control them because the Windows 8 and 8.1 Charms are no more. This has meant a new menu bar in the top-left, as well as standard minimize, maximize, and close icons on the top-right. These apps can now be resized however you want.
Thankfully, the quality of the built-in apps so far is much better. There’s a new Photos app that provides you with a complete back catalog, as well as editing and filter capabilities. Mail actually works now, and has some pretty useful features. Sport and News are also improved experiences, even if they still feel a little on the superfluous side. Best of all, these apps all start up nice and quick, too.
TASK VIEW
There has always been Alt–Tab—well, since Windows 3.x, anyway—to switch between open apps. But over the last two decades, Microsoft has regularly dabbled with various other methods, from the Taskbar (Win95), to Windows Flip (Vista), and the swipe on Windows 8.
Now we have Alt–Tab and a new thing called Task View. This takes you to an app overview where you can use your mouse to select the app you want. It’s pretty clever. In any mode of Win10, there’s always an icon for it on the Taskbar.
But there’s something else Task View can do: multiple desktops. An icon in the bottom-right enables you to add another desktop, so you can have one screen
for your email perhaps, and another for Photoshop. This is a nice new feature, but it’s about time, considering it’s been on Macs since 2009.
Apps can be open in more than one desktop, but you can’t switch into windows that are on another desktop. Things are kept nicely separate. Alt–Tab only works within the desktop you’re in. The only way to switch desktops is to go into Task View and select another open desktop. From here, you can also close desktops.
SETTINGS
If you used Settings in Win8 or 8.1, you’ll know how half-baked it was. You basically opened it, realized you couldn’t do what you wanted, and went to the Control Panel.
Well, the Control Panel is still there in Windows 10. And if you’re a technical user, you’ll come across it from time to time— for example, to disable a network adapter. But for most of us, you’ll never see it. Settings is now a far more comprehensive solution, much more logically arranged. In early Windows 10 builds, it still seemed unfinished, but pretty much everything you’ll need is now there, separated into nine distinct areas. You can also search in Cortana for a setting, and you can search within the Settings app, too.
SEARCH AND CORTANA
Rather than being at the bottom of the Start menu as in Windows 7, Search now has its very own home on your Taskbar. That’s because Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant, is incorporated, and you can control it by voice.
Search, unfortunately, still needs a bit of work when it comes to finding things on your own PC. Microsoft is so keen to integrate potential web searches into the Cortana results that often you need to click again to find a file on your PC—a "search my stuff" option appears at the top of the menu.
This is especially the case when you’re hunting for a generic file name, such as "holiday." As with previous versions of the operating system, you can tap the Windows key and immediately start typing to search.
Cortana can display "at a glance" information that’s of interest to you, while you’re able to create and view reminders, see stocks, and much more, depending on how much input you give it.
Cortana is also being incorporated into Microsoft Edge, the new browser for Windows 10.
TABLET MODE
Microsoft is hoping a lot of tablets are sold in the coming years. Originally named Continuum, Windows 10’s Tablet Mode is clever because it’s automatic—detach the keyboard and the desktop prepares itself for touch, the Start menu becomes the Start screen, and apps appear full-screen. The Taskbar also changes to be more touchfriendly—the icons are more spaced-out, while the pinned app icons don’t appear at all. You cycle through them in Task View.
If you want, you can toggle between Tablet Mode and non–Tablet Mode yourself, via the settings at the bottom of the Notification Center.
AEROSNAP
One reason why Windows 7 was such a great OS was that it brought us something else, AeroSnap. The ability to snap windows to the sides of your screen might seem small, but it’s something many Windows users use every day. Windows 8 got it a bit wrong, as Modern UI apps could only be snapped in certain ways, but Windows 8.1 improved on this.
Windows 10 gives us something else: four-way AeroSnap. You can have four applications, one in each corner of your desktop. If you’ve got a laptop screen, this isn't too efficient, but if you’ve got a 27-inch panel, it might just be the ticket. In early builds, it worked as well as an umbrella in a hurricane, but now it’s pretty good. You’ll get used to it quickly.
HELLO AND COMMAND PROMPT
New systems that ship with Windows 10 and support biometric security hardware will enable you to use a fingerprint, face scan, or iris scan to log into Windows and apps, websites, and networks. This is called Windows Hello.
There’s a new Command Prompt, too. Small beer, you might say, but you’re now able to properly select text and copy and paste in and out. Ctrl–V really will work. Text also reflows as the window is resized.
EARLY VERDICT
Essentially, Windows 10 is still a work in progress. But as unfinished work goes, it’s stunning. There are several reasons why we think it will be a success. There’s the welcoming arms Microsoft is holding out to developers (if Microsoft can’t make this work, it’s a problem). Then there’s the fact it will be a free download for consumers.
But above all, there’s the fact that, as an operating system, it justworks. If Windows 8 was the steepest learning curve imaginable, Windows 10 is like meeting a great friend you once knew, but they’ve bought some fancy new clothes, and you really do approve.