Windows 10 Tips & Tricks

Tips and Tricks for Windows 10 will be a dynamic listing of useful items, so check back often  If you have an item to add, please let me know.  
(Note: Win = the key with the windows icon)

Copy Files Maintaining Original Creation Date
If you copy files from your camera to your hard drive or any other location using the copy command, you will discover that the Creation Date of the files is assigned the current date and time.  If you wish to maintain the original date so, for example you know when a photo was taken, use the existing (but little known) windows command robocopy.  Syntex is the same as copy.

Display Selected System Apps
The right edge of the task bar is called the System Tray.  This can contain certain icons, such as Action Center, Network, Battery and other system apps. Some of these items are 'hidden' unless currently active and can be seen by clicking on the up arrow to the left of the System Tray.

 

When you click on this arrow, a pop-up window of all system apps are displayed.  If you want any of these to always be displayed in the System Tray, just click and drag the selected icon to the System Tray.  

 

You may also hide any icons in the System Tray by click and dragging into the pop-up window.

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Customize the Action Center (30Nov15)
Have you noticed the Action Center, that icon to the left of the Time and Date in the taskbar.  If you click on it you may find a bunch of options that are useless if you are on a PC. Turns out you can select the top 4 items and only display them.

1. Open Settings   ( Win-I)
2. Click on System : Notifications & actions
3. Click on each of the 4 icons at the top of the window and select items you find useful (for example Brightness, VPN, Project, Wifi)
4. Close the Settings window
5.  Click on the Action Center and choose Collapse (if more than 4 icons are showing)

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Create a Start Shortcuts Folder in your Documents Folder  (30Nov15)
Many of the features of Windows 10 require you perform them on Shortcuts of the actual files. This folder may be used to keep all of these shortcuts is one place, so you can readily access them. You might also want to Pin to Start (right-click:Pin to Start) this folder.

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* Pin Any Program, Document, Folder, or Shortcut to Start Page (30Nov15)
* Remove the "-Shortcut" text from created shortcuts 

Microsoft does not provide this capability in all cases.  Go to the Download link in the menu at the top and download and run the selected files.  This will modify your registry to accomplish the desired effect. You will receive warnings as you install, but this is simply because you are modifying the registry.

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Pin Any Document to Taskbar (30Nov15)

Is there a specific document you use all of the time. For example, I like to keep a Notes file handy to jot down info quickly. Rather than place this on the desktop, I have pinned it to the taskbar so I can quickly open it anytime.

1. Create shortcut to document and move to your Start Shortcuts folder
2. Right-click on the shortcut, select Properties , type  explorer   to the beginning of  the Target field.
3. Change Icon to appropriate one
4. Click OK
5. Right click on shortcut and Pin to Taskbar
6. Arrange the order of the Taskbar icons as you desire by left-click dragging them.

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Pin Control Panel Item to Start Page   (30Nov15)
Sometimes there are Control Panel items we like to access easily by creating a tile on the Start Page. For example, I like to be able to check Windows Defender easily. Here's how to do it:

1. Open Control Panel (Right-click bottom left or Win-X, then select Control Panel
2. Right-click on desired item and Create Shortcut on Desktop
3. Drag into Start Shortcuts folder
4. Right-click on shortcut and Pin to Start

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Display Currently Installed  Version of Windows 10   (30Nov15)
What update do you currently have? Simple:
Press Win-R  and type winver in the text box.  A window will pop up to show you.

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Windows 10 Hot Keys

Open or close Start Page

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Windows Key , plus:

A          Notifications / Action Center

D          Hide/Show Desktop  (also may click in bottom right of screen)

E          Explorer

F          Search in Files

H          Share

I           Settings

K          Open Media Connect

L          Lock Screen

M         Hide Active Apps

P          Open Media Connect Presentation Mode

Q          Search

R          Run

S          Search Everywhere

U          Access Center

W        Start Menu

X         Quick Link menu (also may right-click in lower-left of screen)

Tab      Show desktops, cycle through open apps with arrows
Right Arrow      Snap window to right half of screen

OR normalize left-snapped window OR move right-snapped window to left

Left Arrow        Snap window to left half of screen

OR normalize right-snapped window OR move left-snapped window to right

Up Arrow          Maximize window OR snap half-window to one-quarter window)
Down Arrow     Minimize window OR snap half-window to one-quarter window

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+Ctrl+

D                      Add a virtual desktop
Right Arrow    Switch between virtual desktops you’ve created on the right
Left arrow        Switch between virtual desktops you’ve created on the left

F4                    Close the virtual desktop you’re using Go to: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/keyboard-shortcuts for a complete listing.

Create Web Shortcut Tiles - a Windows 10 Update

UPDATE 30NOV2015
Being able to create tiles to go to your primary websites on your Start Screen is a great feature.

With the introduction of Windows 10 Update 10586*, the Internet shortcuts from all browsers pinned to the Start Page now operate properly. To create a tile of your favorite webpages, you may now:

1. Open the Start Shortcuts folder in Documents you previously created (or create one now)
2. Go to the web page desired
3. Click-drag the small icon to the left of the web address (url) in the browser address bar  into the Start Shortcuts folder
4. Install Pin Shortcut Files to Start Screen from the Download menu above, if you have not previously done so.
5. Right click on the web page shortcut, and select Pin to Start
6. Position the new tile as preferred on the Start Page by click-dragging 

*Easily tell what version of Windows 10 you are running:  Press Win-R and type winver

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Being able to create tiles to go to your primary websites on your Start Screen is a great feature.  In Windows 8.1, this simply required either using OblyTile, or creating a URL shortcut and Pin to Start.

Unfortunately OblyTile utility does not work on Windows 10 (yet). And Windows 10 has a problem that it does not switch to the desktop view to display the web page if your browser is launched using a url shortcut Tile from the Start Screen.

Please note that this only works with programs, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome...NOT with Microsoft Apps, like Edge.

The following is an alternative method that will enable you to create properly functioning web tiles. The steps to do this may seem complex, but they only need be done once and really look more complicated than they are.

Initial Setup

1. Create a new folder in your Documents folder called Start Shortcuts.
2. Find your browser's file in the Program Files or Program Files(X86) folder.  An easy way to find this if you've already pinned your favorite is find the tile of your default browser, right click and select Open File Location, then repeat the right-click:Open File Location on the displayed shortcut.
3. Create a shortcut of your browser in the Start Shortcuts folder by Alt-Click Dragging the file found in #2 to the Start Shortcuts folder. This shortcut will become your template for the web tiles you will create.

Create Shortcuts

1. In the Start Shortcuts folder, create a shortcut of the template created above by Alt-Click Dragging the template to a blank space in the folder. 
2. Rename this new shortcut with the name you want for the tile; ex: Gmail
3. Right-click on this shortcut and select Properties
4. Open your web browser to the page you wish to have as a web tile.
5. Select the entire web address in the address field (not the Google search field) and copy with Ctrl-C
6. Put your cursor in the Target field of the shortcut properties and press the End key to move to the end of the field.
7. Enter a space by pressing the space bar and paste the web address with Ctrl-V
8. If you want to add a custom image to the tile, create an icon file and select using the Change Icon... button, as described below in Adding a custom image in the tile below
9. Click OK
10. Double-Click on the newly completed shortcut and be sure it opens the correct web page.
11. Right-Click on the shortcut and select Pin to Start
12. Go to the Start Screen and move the new tile from the bottom of the screen to the location of your choice.
13. Repeat for additional web tiles as desired.

Adding a custom image in the tile

In Windows 8.1, this was an easy task using ObleTile. Until there is an equivalent program for Windows 10,  you must use or create an .ico file to attach to the shortcut. There are a selection of Icon Files in the Download area of this site. Otherwise, you may create your own ico file.

1. Download Greenfish Icon Editor Pro from http://www.snapfiles.com/downloads/gficoneditor/dlgficoneditor.html . My experience is that this free program is very safe to use.
2. Open Greenfish Icon Editor Pro
3. Find an image you wish to use for your tile. This can be jpg, png or any other standard graphics format.  It should be close to square to fit nicely in the tile.  If don't have one, you may google  tilename image for the tilename you are creating, and to find and save a suitable image.
4. Open the image file you've selected into Greenfish by dragging the file on the open program.
5. If the file size is greater than 256 x 256, you will need to reduce it. Select Icon:New Page and then type in: 124x124 and Square.
6. Choose  File:Save As and Icon Files (ico) and store in the Start Shortcuts folder
7. If you've already pinned your tile to the Start Screen, the simplest way to add the image is, with the shortcut you've created, Unpin from Start, right-click Properties:Shortcut:Change Icon, save with OK, and again Pin to Start.

Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

Data Mining is big business. Seems like everyone wants to know everything about you. It appears that Microsoft is no different.

The DEFAULT installation settings for Windows 10 have you agree to provide all kinds of information to Microsoft that is NOT to your advantage.  I don't want to say they are using deceptive practices; you make your own decision.

To protect your identity and information, it is my recommendation that you NOT agree to these settings.Here's what you can do:

1) Don't use a Microsoft Account as your computer Sign-In ID.  

You can use a local account, like you've always done in the past with Windows. But MS doesn't make it easy or obvious. And if you choose to go to the Store app, you may have to log in with a Microsoft account. Be careful... they will try to get you to change your sign-in procedure then too.

#1 – Select “...doesn't have an email address”

#2 – select Add a user without a Microsoft Account

#3 -Choose your preferred User ID and password

If you already setup the Microsoft Sign-in Account, you can change it to Local using: Settings:Accounts.

2) Turn off  the switches on the 2 pages of agreements when you first install.  

You will be presented with the following 2 pages of agreements, where the switches are set to ON. I'd recommend turning ALL of them off.

Select Customize Settings...NOT Use Express Settings

Turn OFF all of the switches

Turn OFF all of the switches (You may wish to leave the SmartScreen setting on)

In general, when you come to a new page, READ BEFORE YOU AGREE. 

BUYER BEWARE!