Author: Alan

So far in this book, I’ve shown you a whole raft of features and utilities that you can use to help you become more productive when using your PC, and to help you enjoy the experience more. Individually they can perhaps seem quite complex and daunting, so I want to spend some time looking at how all of this fits together, so you can create a cohesive working experience, and how you can use some of the more useful features in more depth. Getting Your Day Started Your day starts at the lock screen (see Figure 5-1). Bleary-eyed you’ll stare at…

Throughout this book, I’ve shown you settings in Windows 10 that you can change, that can make using your PC simpler, and help make you more productive. Microsoft Windows is the most highly configurable and customizable operating system there’s ever been. Literally everything from the way the desktop looks, to how long your battery lasts can be configured in some way The Settings Panel You’ll probably be familiar with the Windows Control Panel, even if just in name. It’s been the place where you’ve gone to change settings and configuration options ever since the first version of Windows was released…

How many times have you heard a story on the news about a data breach, and that a company has lost the personal data of thousands or even millions of customers? You can probably name at least one, or remember hearing of one, straightaway. These could have occurred through a malware infection or through a hack, because somebody in the company was tricked by a scammer or criminal into giving up a crucial password, or through another means such the theft of the data internally by an employee. Surely, I Just Install Antivirus… Right?! Windows 10 is the most secure…

Nobody can use a PC effectively without the ability to print, use USB and other hardware devices, or access networks and the Internet. Here we begin to deal with the more complex subjects that can appear daunting. This doesn’t need to be the case, because it’s far simpler than you might think to take control of the devices and networks you need to use. Managing Hardware Devices The Devices settings in the main panel of the Settings app are—you’ll be unsurprised to hear—where you can manage all the external hardware devices that you attach to your PC, such as printers…