Windows 10: Tips & Tricks

That is a better list thanks *Biggrin

 

Well, they seemed to have fixed one thing!
I can, once again type into the forum here on one monitor while scrolling an open document of sorts on the other monitor. The focus doesn't change but both monitors remain active! *Smile
Hadn't been able to do that since Build 9841.

 

Search is an art - Windows search is still looking to mature.
Simple cmd directory listings to animated characters to SQL (less technical users had a really hard time
- some was just habit ms-search:MyNovel.doc, and some was configuration (natural language)). It didn't help that the help fell short.

Every iteration had to be learned, Win7 had a steep learning curve because it had so much power.

Search in Win10 uses the Bing desktop engine combined with Bing on the Web. The algorithms are fairly good - the presentation to the user is terrible. I've only played a bit with Win10 search, but the options on the taskbar search (my stuff, the web) are getting closer to a decent user interface. Still needs work - as Mike said "What's so hard about Do not search web seems pretty freaking clear *Smile

When MS realizes that not everyone wants the popular trending news or that not all users are use social media, then they might have a really nice tool. But it is simple to setup configuration options for users who want a choice.

This is a sandbox and MS is trying out a bunch of different presentations - when things get closer to RTM, they'll have lots of pieces to choose from and build upon.

Since Win10 is in flux, I don't expect the tutorial section to be much different. What is now might not be tomorrow, why spend too much time on a tut when it might be useless by the time Win10 hits RTM. Things that are tips and tricks in a certain preview build might not be tutorial material.

Everyone seems to be having a good time here, the exchanges are keeping me chucking *chuckle *chuckle

Now I have to go search the tutorials before I write my next tip *Tongue

Bill
.

 

I found a couple more do not allow web search jewels
Don't search the web or display web results in search *Tongue
Admin templates/ system/ windows components/ search.

Edit which didn't do jack sheet *Tongue

 

Good point Bill.
I was going to make a tutorial about 'How to get Cortana working properly' but, I can't get Cortana working properly enough to make a tutorial about how to get Cortana working properly! *Tongue

 

FWIW
I left feedback in the taskbar section of the feedback app
Group policy is useless .... mostly capitals *Tongue

 

IMO, the "Dog Search" (XP) was easier to use than any of the later Windows searches.

 

Edwin,

Have you tried this:

Hey Cortana, how do I get Cortana to work properly.

 

IMO, the "Dog Search" (XP) was easier to use than any of the later Windows searches.


Much easier, but not as powerful.
The search agents in XP had a straight forward input dialog and changing of the scope of the search was simple. It took a while to adjust to the more powerful search options in Win7 (maybe search 4.0 in Vista - I don't recall).

After a while I found Win7 search extremely useful (after figuring out that it was filename ext:filetype, not filenameDOTfiletype). - I was also glad to no longer hear the pouch barking, panting, or scratching *Wink

 

,

Have you tried this:

Hey Cortana, how do I get Cortana to work properly. Hehe, yeah, fetches nothing but Cortana related Phone problems. *Sad

 

This may not be the right place for this; but here goes anyway: does anyone know if there is a way to sync my iphone calendar with the one in 10 somehow?

 

You might get better response by starting a thread with your question, like this one: calendar sync?

Not sure which sub-forum this fits, maybe in
Windows 10 Help Forums -or-
Network and Sharing - Windows 10 Forums

I started this thread so people could post tips / tricks they found. If you find the answer - you can post that tip / trick here *Wink

Bill
.

 

This isn't really a tip or a trick but this new Start Menu has got me baffled, so I did an experiment.
I'm thinkin that this new Start Menu is still only half baked, for one; in the second place, I'm thinkin it's running off of some immersive engine of it's own, either that or the tiles (the elements) are merely cached elements or something like that.
So anyway, I went and hid the whole damn C: Drive, and sure enough, in the old Start and Resizable UI's everything disappeared! (including 'Search' and it's annoyances-for those who wish to experiment *Wink )
The only things that remained were Store, Settings and Desktop, of course.
But, when I went back to the 'Expandable UI', everything was a mess; I could move tiles around, etc. but none would invoke an app!
So, yeah..., there's probably a reason in there somewhere why nothing is working properly on the new Start Menu yet.
That's all! *Wink

 

Pin All Users Start menu to Quick access
Navigate to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Right click the Programs folder
Pick Pin to Quick access
Pin your private start menu to the Quick access
Navigate to %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Right click the Programs folder
Pick Pin to Quick access
Unfortunately Win10 doesn't combine the two menus in a single presentation.

If you pin both, you'll have two Programs folders pinned - don't be tempted to rename them.
You'll rename the actual folder and your Start Sreemenu will be fubar - oops! Just rename it back to Programs.

Note: Be very careful with Quick access pins - you're working on live folders, not links.
I deleted one and the actual folder was deleted *Sad
Always use Unpin from Quick access - ALWAYS!

Side note: Folder options, General tab -> Privacy :

show options,
control what is presented in Quick access.
Clearing both boxes and pressing Clear File Explorer history [Clear] removes objects from Quick access.

I would expect pinned objects to remain - they're pins, not recent or frequent.

 

IMO, the "Dog Search" (XP) was easier to use than any of the later Windows searches.


Much easier, but not as powerful.
The search agents in XP had a straight forward input dialog and changing of the scope of the search was simple. It took a while to adjust to the more powerful search options in Win7 (maybe search 4.0 in Vista - I don't recall).

After a while I found Win7 search extremely useful (after figuring out that it was filename ext:filetype, not filenameDOTfiletype). - I was also glad to no longer hear the pouch barking, panting, or scratching *Wink Expecting people to learn arcane code words means the average user is not likely to benefit from the increased power.

A similar situation occurs with the Command Prompt, PowerShell and the Terminal in Linux.
For a lot of tasks, the CLI is far more powerful than the GUI.
OTOH, imagine how many people would still own PCs, tablets and phones, if they had to use a CLI instead of a GUI.