Windows 10 For Dummies

Andy Rathbone is author of all previous editions of Windows For Dummies. His expertise has helped millions of Windows users since the first edition of the book published over 20 years ago. Andy answers reader questions and shares his tech insight at www.andyrathbone.com.

Introduction 1


About This Book 2


How to Use This Book 3


Touchscreen Owners Aren’t Left Out 4


And What about You? 5


Icons Used in This Book 5


Beyond the Book 6


Where to Go from Here 6


Part 1: Windows 10 Stuff Everybody Thinks You Already Know 7


Chapter 1: What Is Windows 10? 9


What Is Windows, and Why Are You Using It? 10


What’s New in Windows 10? 12


Should I Bother Upgrading to Windows 10? 14


What’s So Different About Windows 10? 16


Why Does Windows 10 Keep Changing? 17


Can My Current PC Still Run Windows 10? 18


The Different Flavors of Windows 10 19


Chapter 2: Starting with the Start Menu 21


Being Welcomed to the World of Windows 22


Understanding user accounts 24


Keeping your account private with a password 25


Signing up for a Microsoft account 27


Figuring Out the Windows 10 Start Menu 29


Toggling between Tablet and Desktop mode 32


Launching a Start menu program or app 33


Finding something on the Start menu 35


Viewing, closing, or returning to apps 36


Getting to know your free apps 38


Adding or removing Start menu items 41


Customizing the Start menu 42


Exiting from Windows 46


Temporarily leaving your computer 47


Leaving your computer for the day 48


Chapter 3: The Traditional Desktop 51


Finding the Desktop and the Start Menu 52


Working with the Desktop 53


Launching apps with the Start menu 55


Jazzing up the desktop’s background 56


Toggling between Tablet mode and the desktop 58


Dumpster diving in the Recycle Bin 60


Bellying Up to the Taskbar 61


Shrinking windows to the taskbar and retrieving them 63


Switching to different tasks from the taskbar’s Jump Lists 64


Clicking the taskbar’s sensitive areas 65


Opening the Action Center 67


Customizing the taskbar 69


Setting Up Multiple Desktops 71


Making Programs Easier to Find 74


Chapter 4: Basic Desktop Window Mechanics 75


Dissecting a Typical Desktop Window 76


Tugging on a window’s title bar 77


Navigating folders with a window’s Address bar 79


Finding commands on the Ribbon 80


Quick shortcuts with the Navigation Pane 82


Moving inside a window with its scroll bar 84


Boring borders 85


Maneuvering Windows Around the Desktop 86


Moving a window to the top of the pile 87


Moving a window from here to there 87


Making a window fill the whole desktop 88


Closing a window 88


Making a window bigger or smaller 89


Placing two windows side by side 89


Making windows open to the same darn size 90


Chapter 5: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Cloud 91


Browsing the File Explorer File Cabinets 92


Getting the Lowdown on Folders 96


Peering into Your Drives, Folders, and Other Media 97


Seeing the files on a drive 97


Seeing what’s inside a folder 100


Creating a New Folder 101


Renaming a File or Folder 103


Selecting Bunches of Files or Folders 104


Getting Rid of a File or Folder 105


Copying or Moving Files and Folders 106


Seeing More Information about Files and Folders 108


Writing to CDs and DVDs 111


Buying the right kind of blank CDs and DVDs for burning 111


Copying files to or from a CD or DVD 112


Working with Flash Drives and Memory Cards 115


OneDrive: Your Cubbyhole in the Clouds 116


Setting up OneDrive 117


Changing your OneDrive settings 120


Opening and saving files from OneDrive 122


Customizing OneDrive for different devices with OneDrive Files On Demand 123


Accessing OneDrive from the Internet 126


Part 2: Working with Programs, Apps, and Files 129


Chapter 6: Playing with Programs, Apps, and Documents 131


Starting a Program or an App 132


Opening a Document 134


Saving a Document 136


Choosing Which Program Should Open Which File 138


Navigating the Microsoft Store 141


Adding new apps from the Store app 142


Uninstalling apps 145


Taking the Lazy Way with a Desktop Shortcut 146


Absolutely Essential Guide to Cutting, Copying, and Pasting 147


The quick ’n’ dirty guide to cut ’n’ paste 147


Selecting things to cut or copy 148


Cutting or copying your selected goods 149


Pasting information to another place 151


Chapter 7: Finding the Lost 153


Finding Currently Running Apps and Programs 153


Finding Lost Windows on the Desktop 155


Locating a Missing App, Program, Setting, or File 156


Searching with Cortana 159


Setting up Cortana for the first time 160


Turning off Cortana 163


Finding a Missing File inside a Folder 164


Finding Lost Photos 166


Finding Other Computers on a Network 167


Chapter 8: Printing and Scanning Your Work 169


Printing from a Start Menu App 170


Printing Your Masterpiece from the Desktop 172


Adjusting how your work fits on the page 173


Adjusting your printer’s settings 175


Canceling a print job 177


Printing a web page 178


Troubleshooting your printer 180


Scanning from the Start Menu 181


Part 3: Getting Things Done on the Internet 185


Chapter 9: Cruising the Web 187


What’s an ISP, and Why Do I Need One? 188


Connecting Wirelessly to the Internet 189


Browsing the Web with Microsoft Edge 191


Moving from one web page to another 194


Making Microsoft Edge open to your favorite site 195


Revisiting favorite places 197


Finding things on the Internet 198


Finding More Information with Cortana 199


Saving Information from the Internet 201


Saving a web page 201


Saving text 202


Saving a picture 202


Downloading a program, song, or other type of file 203


Chapter 10: Being Social: Mail, People, and Calendar 205


Adding Your Accounts to Windows 205


Understanding the Mail App 207


Switching among the Mail app’s views, menus, and accounts 208


Composing and sending an email 211


Reading a received email 213


Sending and receiving files through email 215


Managing Your Contacts in the People App 217


Adding contacts 219


Deleting or editing contacts 220


Managing Appointments in Calendar 221


Chapter 11: Safe Computing 225


Understanding Those Annoying Permission Messages 225


Staying Safe with the New Windows Defender Security Center 226


Avoiding and removing viruses 228


Avoiding Phishing Scams 231


Setting Up Controls for Children 232


Part 4: Customizing and Upgrading Windows 10 235


Chapter 12: Customizing Settings in Windows 237


Finding the Right Switch 238


Flipping Switches with the Windows Settings App 239


System 240


Devices (Adjusting mice, keyboards, scanners, and other gadgets) 246


Phone (Android, iPhone, and Windows) 250


Network & Internet 250


Personalization (Changing your PC’s look and feel) 250


Apps 255


Accounts 258


Time & Language 258


Gaming 259


Ease of Access 259


Cortana 260


Privacy 261


Update & Security 261


Chapter 13: Keeping Windows from Breaking 263


Backing Up Your Computer with File History 264


Finding Technical Information about Your Computer 268


Freeing Up Space on Your Hard Drive 270


Setting Up Devices That Don’t Work (Fiddling with Drivers) 272


Chapter 14: Sharing One Computer with Several People 275


Understanding User Accounts 276


Changing or Adding User Accounts 277


Adding an account for a family member or friend 278


Changing existing accounts 282


Switching Quickly between Users 283


Changing a User Account’s Picture 285


Setting Up Passwords and Security 287


Signing in with Windows Hello 289


Chapter 15: Connecting Computers with a Network 291


Understanding a Network’s Parts 292


Setting Up a Small Network 294


Buying parts for a network 294


Setting up a wireless router 295


Setting up Windows computers to connect to a network 296


Sharing Files with Your Networked Computers 298


Setting your home network to private 298


Sharing files and folders on your private network 301


Accessing what others have shared 303


Sharing a printer on the network 305


Sharing with Nearby Sharing 306


Turning on Nearby Sharing 306


Sharing files with Nearby Sharing 308


Part 5: Music, Photos, and Movies 311


Chapter 16: Playing and Copying Music 313


Playing Music with the Groove Music app 314


Handing Music-Playing Chores Back to Windows Media Player 317


Stocking the Windows Media Player Library 320


Browsing Windows Media Player’s Libraries 323


Playing Music Files in a Playlist 326


Controlling Your Now Playing Items 327


Playing CDs 329


Playing DVDs 330


Playing Videos and TV Shows 330


Creating, Saving, and Editing Playlists 331


Ripping (Copying) CDs to Your PC 333


Burning (Creating) Music CDs 334


Chapter 17: Fiddling with Photos (And Videos) 337


Dumping a Camera’s Photos into Your Computer 338


Taking Photos with the Camera App 342


Viewing Photos with the Photos App 343


Viewing your photo collection 344


Viewing photo albums 346


Viewing a slideshow 349


Copying digital photos to a CD or DVD 350


Part 6: help! 353


Chapter 18: The Case of the Broken Window 355


Toggling between Tablet and Desktop Mode 356


The Magic Fixes in Windows 357


Resetting your computer 357


Restoring backups with File History 361


Windows Keeps Asking Me for Permission 366


I Need to Retrieve Deleted Files 367


Fixing Broken Apps 368


My Settings Are Messed Up 368


I Forgot My Password 370


My Computer Is Frozen Solid 371


Chapter 19: Strange Messages: What You Did Does Not Compute 373


Add Your Microsoft Account 374


Choose What Happens with This Device 374


Did You Mean to Switch Apps? 375


Do You Want to Allow This App to Make Changes to This Computer? 376


Do You Want to Save Changes? 376


Threats Found 377


How Do You Want to Open This? 378


We’re Not Allowed to Find You 378


Reconnect Your Drive 379


There Is No Email Program Associated to Perform the Requested Action 379


You Don’t Currently Have Permission to Access This Folder 380


Chapter 20: Moving from an Old PC to a New Windows 10 PC 381


Hiring a Third Party to Make the Move 382


Buying Laplink’s PCmover program 382


Visiting a repair shop 384


Transferring Files Yourself 385


Chapter 21: Help on the Windows Help System 389


Getting Started with Windows 10 390


Contacting Support 391


Microsoft’s paid support options 392


Microsoft’s free support options 393


Part 7: The Part of Tens 397


Chapter 22: Ten Things You’ll Hate about Windows 10 (And How to Fix Them) 399


I Don’t Want Windows 10! 399


Windows 10 Keeps Changing! 400


I Want to Avoid the Apps! 401


Pruning apps from the Start menu and your PC 401


Telling desktop programs, not apps, to open your files 402


I Want to Avoid the Desktop! 403


I Don’t Want a Microsoft Account 404


Windows Makes Me Sign In All the Time 405


The Taskbar Keeps Disappearing 406


I Can’t Line Up Two Windows on the Screen 406


It Won’t Let Me Do Something Unless I’m an Administrator! 407


I Don’t Know What Version of Windows I Have 408


My Print Screen Key Doesn’t Work 409


Chapter 23: Ten or So Tips for Tablet and Laptop Owners 411


Turning on Tablet Mode 412


Switching to Airplane Mode 413


Connecting to a New Wireless Internet Network 414


Toggling Your Tablet’s Screen Rotation 415


Adjusting to Different Locations 416


Backing Up Your Laptop Before Traveling 417


Accessing the Mobility Center 418


Turning Calculator into a Road Warrior Tool 418


Index 421