Windows 10 All-in-One For Dummies

Woody Leonhard was one of the first Microsoft Consulting Partners and Microsoft beta testers. His monthly Q&A columns in ZD Smart Business magazine have one million readers, and he has been honored with multiple Computer Press Awards.Ciprian Rusen is co-founder and chief editor of Digital Citizen, a tech-focused blog at digitalcitizen.life. He is also the author of a number of technology books on Windows, Microsoft Office, and other topics.

• Introduction 1About This Book 3Foolish Assumptions 4Icons Used in This Book 5Beyond the Book 6Where to Go from Here 6Book 1: Starting Windows 10 7Chapter 1: Windows 10 4 N00bs 9Hardware and Software 12Why Do PCs Have to Run Windows? 12A Terminology Survival Kit 17What, Exactly, is the Web? 21Getting inside the Internet 22What is the World Wide Web? 24Who pays for all this stuff? 25Buying a Windows 10 Computer 26Inside the big box 29Inside a touch-sensitive tablet 32Screening 36Managing disks and drives 36Making PC connections 40Futzing with video, sound, and multitudinous media 44Ultrabooks and convertibles 46What’s Wrong with Windows 10? 46Chapter 2: Windows 10 for the Experienced 49If You Just Upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 50A Brief History of Windows 10 52Exploring the Versions of Windows 10 55The Different Kinds of Windows Programs, Er, Apps 56What’s New for the XP Crowd 60Improved performance 60Better video 62A genuinely better browser is emerging 63Cortana 63Other improvements 64What’s New for Windows 7 Users 65Getting the hang of the new Start menu 66Exploring new stuff in the old-fashioned desktop 68What’s New for Windows 8 and 8.1 Users 69What’s New for All of Windows 70The Start menu 70Microsoft Edge 71Search 73Cortana 74Virtual desktops and task view 75Security improvements 76Game mode and Xbox 77Other Windows 10 apps 78What you lose 79Do You Need Windows 10? 80Chapter 3: Which Version? 83Counting the Editions 84Buying the right version the first time 87Narrowing the choices 87Choosing 32 Bit versus 64 Bit 89Which Version of Windows Are You Running? 91Book 2: Personalizing Windows 95Chapter 1: Getting Around in Windows 97Windows’ New Beginnings 98A tale of two homes 99Switching to tablet mode and back 102Navigating around the Desktop 103Keying Keyboard Shortcuts 109Chapter 2: Changing the Lock and Login Screens 113Working with the Lock Screen 114Using your own picture 115Adding and removing apps on the lock screen 118Logging On Uniquely 120Using a picture password 120Creating a PIN 124Windows Hello 125Bypassing passwords and login 126Chapter 3: Working with the Action/Notification Center 127What is the Action Center? 128What, Exactly, is a Notification? 129Working with Notifications 131Working with Settings Shortcuts 133Chapter 4: Controlling Users 137Why You Need Separate User Accounts 138Choosing Account Types 139What’s a standard account? 139What’s an administrator account? 141Choosing between standard and administrator accounts 141What’s Good and Bad about Microsoft Accounts 143Adding Users 145Changing Accounts 148Changing other users’ settings 148Changing your own settings 153Switching Users 154The Changing Environment 154Chapter 5: Microsoft Account: To Sync or Not to Sync? 157What, Exactly, is a Microsoft Account? 158Deciding Whether You Want a Microsoft Account 159Setting Up a Microsoft Account 161Setting up a Hotmail/Outlook.com account 163Making any email address a Microsoft account 164Stop Using Your Microsoft Account 166Taking Care of Your Microsoft Account 167Controlling Sync 168Chapter 6: Privacy Control 171Why You Should Be Concerned 172Privacy Manifesto 174The past: Watson to WER 175Customer Experience Improvement Program 175Feedback & Diagnostics tab and DiagTrack 176Denial ain’t nuthin’ but a river 178Knowing What Connections Windows Prefers 179Controlling Location Tracking 180Blocking all location tracking 183Blocking location tracking in an app 184Minimizing Privacy Intrusion 185Book 3: Working on the Desktop 187Chapter 1: Running Your Desktop from Start to Finish 189Tripping through Windows 10’s Three Personas 190Working with the Traditional Desktop 192Changing the background 193Cleaning up useless icons and programs 195Mousing with Your Mouse 196What’s up, dock? 197Changing the mouse 199Starting with the Start button 201Touching on the Taskbar 204Working with Files and Folders 205Using File Explorer 207Navigating 208Viewing 210Creating files and folders 211Modifying files and folders 212Showing filename extensions 212Sharing folders 215Using the \Public folder 216Recycling 218Creating Shortcuts 219Keying Keyboard Shortcuts 221Sleep: Perchance to Dream 222Chapter 2: Personalizing the Start Menu 225Touring the Start Menu 226Modifying the Start Menu 228Changing your picture 229Manipulating the Most Used section 230Controlling the left-side lists 230Circumnavigating the Start apps list 233Resizing the Start Menu 235Changing Tiles on the Start Menu 236Organizing Your Start Menu Tiles 238Add, add, add your tiles 238Forming and naming your groups 239Chapter 3: Personalizing the Desktop and Taskbar 241Decking out the Desktop 242Resolving Desktop Resolution 247Setting the screen resolution 247Changing the size of text, apps, and other items 249Using magnification 250Putting Icons and Shortcuts on the Desktop 252Creating shortcuts 253Arranging icons on the desktop 255Tricking out the Taskbar 258Anatomy of the taskbar 259Jumping 259Changing the taskbar 261Working with the taskbar 263Chapter 4: Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox 265Which Browser is Best? 267Considering security 268Looking at privacy 269Picking a browser 270Setting a browser as your default 272Using Internet Explorer on the Desktop 274Navigating in IE 275Changing the home page 282Dealing with cookies 283Why you should stop using IE 285Customizing Firefox 286Installing Firefox 286Browsing privately in Firefox 288Bookmarking with the Fox 290Changing the default search engine 292Adding Firefox’s best add-ons 294Optimizing Google Chrome 295Installing Chrome 296Navigating in Chrome 297Searching on the Web 300Finding what you’re looking for 301Using Advanced Search 303Pulling out Google parlor tricks 305Referring to Internet Reference Tools 305Internet speed test 306DNSstuff 306Monitis Traceroute 307Down for everyone or just me? 308The Wayback Machine 308Chapter 5: Hey, Cortana! 309The Cortana Backstory 311Make Cortana Respond to “Hey, Cortana” 312Setting up Cortana 316Using Cortana Settings 317Useful or Fun Commands for Cortana 320Chapter 6: Maintaining Your System 323Rolling Back with the Three Rs 324Creating Password Reset Questions 326Establishing password security questions 327Using password recovery questions 329Making Windows Update Work 330Maintaining Drives 331What is formatting? 331Introducing hard-drive-maintenance tools 332Running an error check 332Defragmenting a drive 334Maintaining Solid-State Drives 335Zipping and Compressing 336Compressing with NTFS 338Zipping the easy way with compressed (zipped) folders 340Book 4: Using the Built-in Windows 10 Apps 343Chapter 1: Using the Mail and Calendar Apps 345Choosing a Mail/Calendar App 347Comparing email programs 348Comparing Calendar apps 352Choosing the right package 353Drilling Down on Windows 10 Mail 354Creating a new message 358Searching for email in the Mail app 361Mail Settings 361Adding a new email account 362Setting extra options 364Avoiding Calendar App Collisions 365Adding Calendar items 367Struggling with Calendar shortcomings 368Beyond Email 369Chapter 2: Keeping Track of People 371The Contact List in Windows 10 372Putting Contacts in the People App 373Adding accounts to People 373Editing a contact 377Adding people in People 379Putting a Contact on the Taskbar 380Alternatives to the Win10 People App 382Chapter 3: Zooming the Photos App and Beyond 385Discovering What the Windows 10 Photos App Can Do 386Touring Photos 386Editing Photos 389Setting Settings 392Adding Photos 394Importing Pictures from a Camera or an External Drive 394Working with Albums 395Storing and Managing Photos Online 395Chapter 4: Noting OneNote 401Getting Started in OneNote with or without a Pen 402Setting Up Notebooks, Sections, Pages 403Embellishing on a OneNote Page 407Sending to OneNote 409Setting Settings 411Chapter 5: Maps, Music, Movies — and TV 413Making Maps 414Basic map functions 414Navigating with the Maps app 417Taking a map offline 418Get Your Groove Music On 420Getting Your Music and Movies into the Apps 422Running around the Groove Music App 425Finding music and playlists 427Running around the Movies & TV App 428Book 5: Connecting with the Windows 10 Apps 431Chapter 1: Introducing Edge 433A Walk through Microsoft Edge 435Working with the Immersive Reader 439A Sampler of Edge Settings 440Adding Edge Extensions 445Chapter 2: Using Skype in Windows 10 449Signing Up with Skype 450Making First Contact 454Adding a Contact 455Settings 458Making Group Calls 459Recording Calls 460A Few Tips from Skype-ologists 461Exploring Skype Alternatives 463Chapter 3: Navigating the Microsoft Store 467Checking out What a Universal Windows App Can Do 469Browsing the Microsoft Store 472Searching the Microsoft Store 475Updating Your Microsoft Store Apps 476Chapter 4: Games, Games, and Games 479Searching the Store for Games 481Enabling Game Mode 483Using the Game Bar 484Testing Your Connection to Xbox Live Services 486Bringing Back the Classics 487Book 6: Socializing and Sharing from Windows 10 491Chapter 1: Using OneDrive 493What is OneDrive? 494Setting Up a OneDrive Account 496The Four States of OneDrive Data 498Changing the States of OneDrive Data 505Sharing OneDrive Files and Folders 506Chapter 2: Getting Started with Facebook 509Choosing a Facebook App 511Signing Up for a Facebook Account 512Choosing basic Facebook privacy settings 516Interpreting the Facebook interface lingo 520Building a Great Timeline 521Using the Facebook Apps for Windows 10 525Chapter 3: Getting Started with Twitter 527Understanding Twitter 528Setting Up a Twitter Account 532Tweeting for Beginners 536Beware hacking 536Using the @ sign and Reply 537Retweeting for fun and profit 538Direct Messaging 538Hooking Twitter into Windows 539Chapter 4: Getting Started with LinkedIn 541Signing Up for LinkedIn 542Using LinkedIn for Fun and Profit 546Book 7: Controlling Your System 549Chapter 1: Settings, Settings, and More Settings 551Introducing the Settings App 553Spelunking through the Control Panel 556Putting Shortcuts to Settings on Your Desktop 558God Mode 562Installing New Languages 563Chapter 2: Troubleshooting and Getting Help 565Troubleshooting the Easy Way 566Troubleshooting the Hard Way 567Tackling installation problems 567Problems with installing updates 571System Stability and Reliability Monitor 580Windows Sandbox 582Tricks to Using Windows Help 583The problem(s) with Windows Help 584Using different kinds of help 584How to Really Get Help 585Snapping and Recording Your Problems 588Taking snaps that snap 588Recording live 590Connecting to Remote Assistance 593Understanding the interaction 593Making the connection 594Limiting an invitation 598Troubleshooting Remote Assistance 599Getting Help Online 600Chapter 3: Working with Libraries 603Understanding Libraries 604Making Your Libraries Visible 604Working with Your Default Libraries 608Customizing Libraries 610Adding a folder to a library 611Changing a library’s default save location 613Creating Your Own Library 614Chapter 4: Storing in Storage Spaces 617Understanding the Virtualization of Storage 618Setting Up Storage Spaces 621Working with Storage Spaces 625Storage Space Strategies 626Chapter 5: Taking Control of Updates and Upgrades 627The Case Against Windows Automatic Update 628Terminology 101 629The Great Divide: Home versus Pro 631Keeping Your Windows 10 Machine Protected From Updates 632Postponing Windows 10 Updates 636Keep Up on the Problems 637Stopping Windows 10 Updates from Rebooting Your PC 638Chapter 6: Running the Built-In Applications 641Setting Alarms & Clock 642Getting Free Word Processing 645Running Notepad 645Writing with WordPad 647Taming the Character Map 650Calculating — Free 651Painting 653Chapter 7: Working with Printers 657Installing a Printer 658Attaching a local printer 659Connecting a network printer 661Using the Print Queue 663Displaying a print queue 663Pausing and resuming a print queue 664Pausing, restarting, and resuming a document 665Canceling a document 666Troubleshooting Printing 667Catching a Runaway Printer 669Book 8: Maintaining Windows 10 671Chapter 1: File History, Backup, Data Restore, and Sync 673What Happened to the Windows 7 Backup? 674The Future of Reliable Storage is in the Cloud 674Backing Up and Restoring Files with File History 676Setting up File History 676Restoring data from File History 680Changing File History settings 683Storing to and through the Cloud 686Considering cloud storage privacy concerns 687Reaping the benefits of backup and storage in the cloud 688Choosing an online backup and sharing service 689Chapter 2: A Fresh Start: Restore and Reset 693The Three R’s — and an SF and a GB 694Resetting Your PC 697Resetting Your PC to Factory Settings 701Starting Fresh 703Restoring to an Earlier Point 704Enabling System Protection 706Creating a restore point 706Rolling back to a restore point 708Entering the Windows Recovery Environment 710Chapter 3: Monitoring Windows 713Viewing Events 714Using Event Viewer 714Events worthy — and not worthy — of viewing 716Gauging System Reliability 718Chapter 4: Using System Tools 723Tasking Task Manager 724Task Manager Processes 726Task Manager Performance 727Task Manager App History 728Task Manager Startup and Autoruns 728Task Manager Details and Services 731Managing Startup Apps from Settings 732Installing a Second Hard Drive 733Running a Virtual Machine 736Book 9: Securing Windows 10 745Chapter 1: Spies, Spams, and Scams Are Out to Get You 747Understanding the Hazards — and the Hoaxes 748The primary infection vectors 749Zombies and botnets 751Phishing 754419 scams 758I’m from Microsoft, and I’m here to help 7610day exploits 762Staying Informed 763Relying on reliable sources 764Ditching the hoaxes 764Is My Computer Infected? 766Evaluating telltale signs 767Where did that message come from? 767What to do next 769Shunning scareware 771Getting Protected 773Protecting against malware 773Disabling Java and Flash 774Using your credit card safely online 775Defending your privacy 777Reducing spam 779Dealing with Data Breaches 781Chapter 2: Fighting Viri and Scum 785Basic Windows Security Do’s and Don’ts 786Making Sense of Malware 790Deciphering Browsers’ Inscrutable Warnings 793Chrome 793Firefox 795Chapter 3: Running Built-In Security Programs 797Working with Windows Security 798Adjusting Windows Security 800Running Windows Security manually 802Controlling Folder Access 804Judging SmartScreen 806Booting Securely with UEFI 810A brief history of BIOS 810How UEFI is different from/better than BIOS 811How Windows 10 uses UEFI 813Controlling User Account Control 813Poking at Windows Defender Firewall 816Understanding Firewall basic features 817Speaking your firewall’s lingo 818Peeking into your firewall 819Making inbound exceptions 820Chapter 4: Top Security Helpers 825Deciding about BitLocker 826Managing Your Passwords 829Using password managers 829Which is better: Online or in-hand? 830Rockin’ RoboForm 831Liking LastPass 832Keeping Your Other Programs Up to Date 834Blocking Java and Flash in Your Browser 835Fighting Back at Tough Scumware 838Securing Your Communication with PIA 839What’s a VPN? 840Setting up a VPN 841Book 10: Enhancing Windows 10 843Chapter 1: Working Remotely with Windows 10 845Enabling Remote Desktop Connections 846Connecting with Remote Desktop Connection 847Connecting a Second Monitor 849Installing a Webcam 851Adding Clocks to the Taskbar 852Chapter 2: Using Android, iPhone, and Kindle with Windows 10 855What, Exactly, is Android? 856Getting clear on Android 858Making Windows talk to your Android phone or tablet 858Linking an Android Smartphone to a PC 860Linking an iPhone to a PC 863Turning a Smartphone into a Webcam for Your PC 864Running iTunes on Windows — or Maybe Not 865Deciding whether to use iTunes for Windows 866Installing iTunes 868Setting up iTunes 869Moving files from Windows 10 to an iPhone 870Controlling Windows 10 from an iPhone or iPad 872Wrangling E-Book Files 873Introducing popular e-book formats 873Reading e-book files on your PC 874Organizing your e-book files with calibre 875Getting Media from Your PC to Your Kindle 878Emailing books from your PC to your Kindle 878Receiving emailed books from a friend 879Adding music to your Kindle 881Chapter 3: Getting Started with Gmail, Google Apps, and Drive 883Finding Alternatives to Windows with Google 884Setting Up Gmail 888Moving an Existing Account to Gmail 892Using the Google Apps 894Moving Your Domain to Google 898Chapter 4: Using Web-Based Outlook.com (nee Hotmail) 903Getting Started with Outlook.com 904Bringing Some Sanity to Outlook.com Organization 909Handling Outlook.com Failures 911Importing Outlook.com Messages into Gmail 913Weighing the Alternatives 915Chapter 5: Best Free Windows Add-Ons 917Windows Apps You Absolutely Must Have 918File History 918VLC Media Player 919LastPass 920Recuva 921The Best of the Rest — All Free 922Nextpad (Notepad replacement) 922Ninite 923Revo Uninstaller 924Paint.net 9257-Zip 925qBittorrent 926Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or 927Other interesting free software 927You may not need to buy Microsoft Office 928Don’t Pay for Software You Don’t Need! 929Windows 10 has all the antivirus software you need 930Windows 10 doesn’t need a disk defragger 930Windows 10 doesn’t need a disk partitioner 930Windows 10 doesn’t need a Registry cleaner 931Windows 10 doesn’t need a backup program 931Don’t turn off services or hack your Registry 932Index 933