Windows 10 Academy: The Stress Free Way To Learning Windows 10 Inside & Out (2016)

Chapter 3. Using the Start Menu

A lot of users say that the Windows 10 Start Menu is quite confusing, but it’s not impossible to understand it. Here are simple steps that you could follow in order for you to use it!

1. Click the Start Menu. This will appear on the left side of the screen.

2. Click All Apps. Again, this’ll be on the left side of the screen. You’ll then see a display of all the apps installed on your computer.

3. The Power button would then allow you to rest or shut Windows down. This is found on the left column of the screen.

4. To lock the PC, just right-click your account name and then you’d see the following options: lock, change account picture, sign out. Choose lock.

5. To manage the tiles you see on the right side of the screen, just right-click on a tile, and then you’d see a menu pop up onscreen. Choose either Unpin from Start, Resize or Pin to Taskbar. Also check if there is an Uninstall option—this would come with most apps.

6. To search for an app or file, type what you’re looking for in the Search Field and you’ll see a list of choices popping up onscreen.

7. You can also pin certain items on the Start Menu. To do this, just right click on the file you’d like to see on the Start Menu and then click Pin to Start.

Accessing the Secret Menu

There is such a thing as the“Secret Start Menu”—but now, it’s not thatsecret anymore, isn’t it? Here’s how you can access it.

1. Right click on the Start icon.

2. You will then see a pop-up menu with mostly everything you can do with the computer!

3. If using touchscreen, you can access this menu by tapping and holding he start button for at least 5 to 10 seconds!

Customizing the Start menu

Of course, you could also personalize or customize the menu based on your own preferences!

1. To make a switch between the Start Menu and the Start Screen, open Settings > Personalization > Start > Start Behaviors > Use Fullscreen Start when in Desktop.

2. To customize what you’ll see onscreen, go to Settings > Customize. There, you’ll see a list of suggested apps from Microsoft. Another setting would show you setting controls for your recently opened programs, and the last one would be about Jump Listitems.

3. To change the color of the Start Menu, window borders, and taskbar, go to Settings > Personalization > Colors. If you want a brightly colored PC, just go to Show Color on Start, Taskbar, and Action Center, and it’ll happen.

4. Click Start to see whether you have all the folders and files that you need.

5. Click Start > Choose Folders to choose which folders you’d like to see onscreen.

Using Start Menu and Start Screen at the Same Time

If you need to do a lot of things at once and if you hate waiting, maybe it’s good for you to start using both the Start Menu and Start Screen at the same time! Here’s how:

1. Click Start button, followed by Settings > Personalization.

2. Click Start.

3. Choose Use Start FullScreen.

4. Click Start Screen to make Start Menu disappear.

5. Uncheck Use Start FullScreen to return to Settings.

6. Then, you can also resize the Start Menu. To do this, click Start.

7. Move cursor to the top of the Start Menu, and then drag and move it up to the top of the said Menu. To decrease the height, just drag the cursor down.

8. Increase width by dragging cursor to the right, and drag it to the left to decrease.

Changing the Log-In Screen

Another thing you can do is change the log-in screen to make it suited to your preferences. Some people find the log-in screen to be too shiny and tacky, and if you’re one of those people, you can make things easier by doing the following:

1. Go to Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen.

2. Scroll down and once the screen toggles, you’ll see Show Windows Background Picture on Sign-In Screen.

3. Turn the said toggle off so that the next time you’d log-in, you’d only see the Windows logo on the screen.

You can also tweak this in the registry by doing the following:

1. Go to Start > All Apps > Windows System > Run.

2. In the dialog box, type regedit, and then press Enter.

3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE> Software>Policies>Microsoft Windows>System in the Registry Editor.

4. Now, right click System and then click New>DWORD(32 bit) Value.

5. Change the label to DWORD Disable Log-in Background Image (without spaces)

6. Right click Disable Log-in Background Image and choose Modify.

7. Type 1 under Value Data and Click OK.

8. Press Windows Key + L together so that you’ll see a flat color background once you log in.

9. Go to Settings > Personalization > Background to tweak the color of the background, if desired.