Windows 10 Portable Genius

YOUR NO-FLUFF, FAST-PACED GUIDE TO EVERYTHING WINDOWS 10

This handy, jargon-free guide is designed to help you quickly learn whatever you need to know about Windows 10. Perfect for novices and experienced users alike, you'll get tips, tricks, and savvy advice on how to install programs, set up user accounts, play music and other media files, download photos from your digital camera, go online, set up and secure an email account, and much, much more.

* Shows how to perform more than 150 Windows tasks, including working with files, digital images, and media; customizing Windows; optimizing performance; and sharing a computer with multiple users
* Covers installing and repairing applications, system maintenance, setting up password-protected accounts, downloading photos to your computer, and staying safe online

With concise, easy-to-follow instructions, and its small, portable size, this is the ideal, on-the-go guide for Windows 10 users everywhere.

PAUL MCFEDRIES is the president of Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company. He has written more than four dozen books that have sold more than four million copies.

Fun, hip, and straightforward, the Portable Genius series gives forward-thinking computer users useful information in handy, compact books that are easy to navigate and don't skimp on the essentials. Collect the whole series and make the most of your digital lifestyle.

Acknowledgments iii

Introduction x

CHAPTER 1 HOW DO I CUSTOMIZE WINDOWS? 2

Working with Settings 4

Opening the Settings app 4

Synchronizing settings

between PCs 6

Accessing an app’s settings 6

Customizing the Start Menu 7

Pinning an app to the Start menu 7

Arranging and sizing Start menu tiles 8

Customizing Start menu settings 9

Customizing the Taskbar 10

Pinning an app to the taskbar 10

Customizing taskbar settings 11

Customizing the taskbar’s notification area 13

Customizing the Lock Screen 15

Changing the Lock screen background 16

Adding an app to the Lock screen 17

Extending Your Desktop with Multiple Monitors 18

Setting Up Multiple Desktops 20

Adding a new desktop 20

Switching to another desktop 21

Moving an app to a different desktop 22

CHAPTER 2 HOW CAN I MAKE THE MOST OF SURFING THE WEB? 24

Taking Advantage of Tabs 26

Opening a link in a new tab 26

Creating a new tab 26

Customizing the new tab page 26

Navigating tabs 28

Duplicating a tab 28

Pinning a tab 28

Controlling which tabs appear at startup 28

Closing tabs 30

Saving Your Favorite Pages 30

Adding a page to the Favorites list 30

Working with the Favorites bar 31

Opening a page from the Favorites list 33

Maintaining favorites 33

Customizing Edge 34

Changing the Edge search engine 34

Changing the theme 35

Setting the default zoom level 36

Customizing the toolbar 37

Customizing the font 39

CHAPTER 3 HOW DO I MAXIMIZE SENDING AND RECEIVING EMAIL? 42

Managing Mail Accounts 44

Adding an account 44

Changing the account name 46

Deleting an account 47

Setting Options for Incoming Messages 47

Customizing account sync settings 48

Combining the Focused and Other tabs 49

Grouping messages individually 49

Controlling notifications 50

Switching between accounts 51

Setting Send Options 51

Creating a signature 51

Setting the default message font 52

Changing your message priority 54

Running the spell-checker to eliminate message errors 55

CHAPTER 4 CAN I USE WINDOWS TO MANAGE CONTACTS AND APPOINTMENTS? 58

Managing Your Contacts 60

Adding contacts from an existing account 60

Creating a contact 62

Viewing contacts 64

Editing a contact 65

Assigning a photo to a contact 65

Creating a new contact from an electronic business card 67

Filtering your contacts 68

Linking multiple profiles to a contact 69

Deleting a contact 70

Tracking Your Events 71

Viewing your calendar 71

Adding an event to your calendar 72

Creating a recurring event 73

Adding an event reminder 74

Setting up an online meeting 74

Customizing your calendar 76

CHAPTER 5 WHAT OTHER DAY-TO-DAY TASKS CAN I PERFORM? 78

Finding Stuff on Your PC 80

Viewing your timeline 80

Searching your PC 80

Configuring the Cortana Voice Assistant 83

Controlling your PC with Cortana 84

Making Video Calls 85

Configuring Skype 85

Calling someone using Skype 86

Dealing with an incoming Skype call 86

Working with Maps 87

Giving Maps access to your location 87

Displaying a location on a map 88

Getting directions to a location 90

Checking the Weather 93

Checking your weather forecast 93

Checking another city’s weather forecast 95

CHAPTER 6 HOW DO I MAX OUT THE WINDOWS IMAGE TOOLS? 96

Getting Images into Your PC 98

Importing images from a smartphone or digital camera 98

Scanning an image 99

Taking a picture or video with your PC camera 101

Viewing Your Images 103

Using File Explorer to view your images 103

Using the Photos app to view your images 104

Starting a slide show 106

Enhancing Your Images 107

Cropping an image 107

Applying a filter 108

Adding a vignette effect 110

Repairing Your Images 111

Rotating an image 111

Straightening an image 111

Adjusting the light 112

Adjusting the colors 114

Enhancing image clarity 115

Getting rid of red eye 115

Fixing small flaws 116

CHAPTER 7 CAN I SHARE MY COMPUTER? 118

Sharing Your PC via User Accounts 120

Creating a user account 120

Switching between accounts 122

Changing your user account picture 125

Changing the account type 126

Deleting an account 127

Sharing Your PC with a Child 127

Adding a child to your PC 128

Setting restrictions on a child’s account 128

Sharing PC Resources 132

Sharing a document or folder 132

Switching to advanced sharing 134

Sharing a folder with other users on the network 135

Protect your shared folders with advanced file permissions 136

CHAPTER 8 HOW CAN I GET MORE FROM A TABLET PC? 138

Working in Tablet Mode 140

Controlling Windows with Gestures 141

Understanding gestures 142

Using gestures to control Windows 142

Inputting Text with the Touch Keyboard 143

Displaying the touch keyboard 143

Selecting a touch keyboard type 144

Using the touch keyboard 145

Entering text using the handwriting panel 147

Configuring the touch keyboard 149

Setting Power and Battery Options 149

Monitoring battery life 150

Setting the power mode 150

Adjusting screen brightness 151

Switching to Battery Saver mode 151

Creating a custom power plan to improve battery life 152

Checking out more ways to save energy 153

CHAPTER 9 HOW DO I WORK WITH DOCUMENTS? 156

Editing Documents 158

Creating a new document 158

Saving a document 158

Opening a document 159

Changing the text font 160

Finding text 162

Replacing text 164

Inserting special symbols 165

Saving a copy of a document 167

Taking Notes with OneNote 168

Creating a OneNote notebook 168

Adding pages and sections to a notebook 168

Adding and working with text notes 170

Adding an image to a notebook page 172

Working with notebook lists 173

Working with Files 175

Selecting a file 175

Changing the file view 176

Previewing a file 176

Copying a file 178

Moving a file 178

Renaming a document 179

Creating a new file 180

Deleting a document 181

Extracting files from a compressed folder 183

Specifying a different app when opening a document 185

CHAPTER 10 WHAT ARE SOME WAYS TO ENHANCE PC SECURITY? 188

Enhancing Sign-In Security 190

Creating a strong password 190

Updating your account password 191

Creating a picture password 192

Signing in with a PIN 193

Setting up a fingerprint sign-in 194

Locking Your PC to Prevent Others from Using It 195

Locking your computer 196

Configuring your PC to lock automatically 196

Enhancing Your Privacy 198

Making the Start menu more private 198

Controlling your private information 199

Stopping an app’s notifications 201

Clearing your activity history 201

Resetting your computer to preserve privacy 202

CHAPTER 11 HOW DO I INCREASE INTERNET PRIVACY AND SECURITY? 204

Making the Web More Secure 206

Avoiding viruses 206

Opting to never save a site’s password 208

Deleting a saved website password 208

Making the Web More Private 209

Deleting your browsing data to ensure privacy 209

Turning on private browsing 211

Preventing ad sites from tracking you online 211

Enabling strict tracking prevention 212

Preventing sites from requesting your location 213

Enhancing Email Security and Privacy 215

Avoiding viruses in email 215

Preventing messages from opening automatically 216

Thwarting web bugs by blocking images in messages 216

Avoiding phishing scams 217

CHAPTER 12 HOW DO I MAINTAIN WINDOWS? 220

Performing a Few Maintenance Chores 222

Scheduling automatic maintenance 222

Checking hard drive free space 223

Deleting unnecessary files 225

Safeguarding Your Files 226

Keeping a history of your files 226

Restoring a file from your history 227

Creating a system image backup 228

Using the Windows Recovery Environment 229

Understanding the Recovery Environment’s tools 229

Accessing the Recovery Environment 230

Working with a Recovery Drive 233

Creating the recovery drive 233

Booting your PC using the recovery drive 234

Working with Restore Points 235

Creating a system restore point 235

Reverting to an earlier restore point 235

Index 238