What are the best features of Windows 10?

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Some of you may remember a thread from a while ago in which my computer was slowly dying. Well, now I've got a new one and, it being a new one, it's installed with Windows 10. So far I like it (with Classic Shell installed), although I've had a few niggles here and there and it's difficult to tell how much of the speed improvement is due to upgrading from Windows 7 and how much is due to now having an SSD, a much faster processor, 8 times as much RAM, and it just plain being a new install.

There's a few things which are definite improvements over 7 - the Task Manager is much better, searching is much improved, and I like little cosmetic things, like being able to have the desktop be a slideshow and have Windows automatically choose a highlight colour from whatever's currently on display. But, on the whole, it's mostly the same-old same-old, as far as I'm concerned.

Most of the additions seem rather pointless to me:

Cortana is useless - I can search my files using the search function, and I don't want to use either Edge or Bing to search the web. So it seems like a less efficient way to do things that I can otherwise do for myself.

Ink seems to be little but a toy. I can perhaps see the utility of directly being able to annotate screenshots, but this is only just a little more convenient than hitting Print Screen and opening Photoshop - and I don't think I've ever had actual cause to do it, anyway.

Most of the little apps seem pointless (unless there's configuration stuff that I'm missing). The news app seems like a nice idea, but seems to only get news from Bing, which would not be my choice. The weather app might be a nice idea, but it seems to be, if anything, a little quicker just to hit the "Weather" bookmark on my toolbar and be taken to the Met Office's prediction, rather than one from a source that I don't know. OneNote seems like an interesting idea in terms of converting handwriting to text, but I've heard that it's terrible at doing so, it's not something I'd really use as a desktop user, and I don't have and am not about to get a Microsoft account so I can't actually use it, anyway. And so on.

But I'm sure that's not the whole of it. I've looked through several "10 best features of Windows 10" articles, but most have made me think "so what?" or "why would I want that?"¹, rather than "that seems useful/cool".

So, can anybody tell me what there is new in Windows 10 (or any build above 7, so long as it's in 10 too) that I ought to give a try? Bear in mind that I'm fairly ungregarious and have never seen the point of a smartphone or tablet, so am likely not at all interested in any facility or application which could be described using terms like "sharing", "connectivity" or "integration".

¹If anybody can explain the point of virtual desktops, I'm listening, but it just seems to me to be a less efficient way to switch between applications.

 

[rjh01]

One thing I do like is in the bottom left corner is a box marked "Ask me anything". You can put in certain commands and the appropriate program will start. For example type Outlook and you can start Microsoft Outlook. Type in settings and you get offered the Settings box.

One minor improvement (10.1) is click on windows and the list of installed programs will be shown.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

¹If anybody can explain the point of virtual desktops, I'm listening, but it just seems to me to be a less efficient way to switch between applications.

If you've already bought an Oculus Rift, you've got to use it for something besides porn, right? At least this looks impressive and you can show it to Grandma.

One thing I do like is in the bottom left corner is a box marked "Ask me anything". You can put in certain commands and the appropriate program will start. For example type Outlook and you can start Microsoft Outlook. Type in settings and you get offered the Settings box.

Almost like it... finds things for you.

 

[John Jones]

The networking seems faster on my home network, and it has updated drivers. Like the OP, I don't get the hoopla over Cortana.

The best thing Win 10 has going for it is that it's not Win 8.0. I still can't believe they made that mess.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

The best thing Win 10 has going for it is that it's not Win 8.0. I still can't believe they made that mess.

Yeah, pretty much the top of all those lists I mentioned above is "it's got a Start Menu!" which isn't a "Windows 10 is great!" point, but a "at least it's not Windows 8!" point instead.

 

[commandlinegamer]

If you've already bought an Oculus Rift, you've got to use it for something besides porn, right?

Are you talking about virtual desktops or virtual reality.?

The former has been around a long time on Unix and Linux desktops, but only recently has been built-in to Windows (third-party solutions were previously available).

You can of course just use the taskbar to manage your open programs, but I prefer virtual desktops as they allow me to group windows specific to a particular job I'm doing.

One desktop might have a browser in it, another a data recovery task, another photoediting tools, etc. And I've used them for almost as long as I've used PCs.

 

[elgarak]

It still runs pretty much the same 3rd party applications that Win 7 ran.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

You can of course just use the taskbar to manage your open programs, but I prefer virtual desktops as they allow me to group windows specific to a particular job I'm doing.

One desktop might have a browser in it, another a data recovery task, another photoediting tools, etc. And I've used them for almost as long as I've used PCs.

But can you explain the advantage?

It seems to me that if I want to switch programs without virtual desktops I can hit ALT + Tab and click on the program I want while holding it down, or hit WIN + Tab and just click on what I want. With virtual desktops I have to hit WIN +Tab to go into task view, then click on the desktop I want, then click on the program I want, or press WIN + CTRL + an arrow key to cycle through desktops, then hit ALT + Tab or WIN + Tab in order to get to the program I want. It just seems to add more keystrokes, and thereby make things less efficient.

I'd love it if I could find a better way of working, so if you can explain what the advantages are I'd be grateful, because at the moment I can only see negatives.

 

[elgarak]

But can you explain the advantage?

It seems to me that if I want to switch programs without virtual desktops I can hit ALT + Tab and click on the program I want while holding it down, or hit WIN + Tab and just click on what I want. With virtual desktops I have to hit WIN +Tab to go into task view, then click on the desktop I want, then click on the program I want, or press WIN + CTRL + an arrow key to cycle through desktops, then hit ALT + Tab or WIN + Tab in order to get to the program I want. It just seems to add more keystrokes, and thereby make things less efficient.

I'd love it if I could find a better way of working, so if you can explain what the advantages are I'd be grateful, because at the moment I can only see negatives.

If that were the only ways how to switch programs and desktops, you would be right. There are other ways; which exist on Windows, I do not know.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

If that were the only ways how to switch programs and desktops, you would be right. There are other ways; which exist on Windows, I do not know.

Looking at "how to use Virtual Desktops on Windows" articles it seems that the only way I've missed is by hitting WIN + Tab to get to Task View and rather than clicking on the desktop I want to switch to, hovering the mouse over it instead, which brings up the programs open on that desktop and then clicking on that. So exactly the same as clicking on the desktop and then the program only without the click.

And still not a single article can tell me what the advantage of using them is.

 

[elgarak]

Looking at "how to use Virtual Desktops on Windows" articles it seems that the only way I've missed is by hitting WIN + Tab to get to Task View and rather than clicking on the desktop I want to switch to, hovering the mouse over it instead, which brings up the programs open on that desktop and then clicking on that. So exactly the same as clicking on the desktop and then the program only without the click.

And still not a single article can tell me what the advantage of using them is.

As commandlinegamer said, it's to reduce clutter. Instead of having all open windows filling up the one and only desktop, you can move the ones belonging together to achieve a certain work result into one, and move all distracting ones out of sight.

If the tool and it's UI are done right, you can easily switch between different work tasks (I don't mean tasks in the computer sense, I mean the real life work tasks the computer is a tool for) that require more than a single program to do.

Whether the UI on Windows is done right, I cannot tell; I don't use Windows as my main OS. I'm on a Mac, and the multiple desktops help me a great deal to organize and concentrate on my work.

It's a work organization tool.

You don't have to use it if you don't linke it. No one forces you.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

As commandlinegamer said, it's to reduce clutter.

I don't get why "clutter" is a problem on a desktop. It's not a physical space. If I'm doing a task that requires multiple open programs I can switch between them either using WIN + Tab to get to the Task View and click on whatever one it is I want to use, or I can just cycle through them with ALT + Tab. The latter is the quicker and make "clutter" irrelevant, as it cycles through them in order of last used. So if I've got 10 programs open but only need to keep switching between three of them, ALT + Tab will do that. Since that's the quickest way to cycle between them on a desktop that they're the only programs open on, I don't understand what is gained.

Can you explain what's beneficial about having those programs on a different virtual desktop?

You don't have to use it if you don't linke it. No one forces you.

This is a silly straw man. I'd love to implement something that improves my workflow. I just don't understand how this would, and nobody seems to be able to explain why it's helpful.

 

[elgarak]

I don't get why "clutter" is a problem on a desktop. It's not a physical space. If I'm doing a task that requires multiple open programs I can switch between them either using WIN + Tab to get to the Task View and click on whatever one it is I want to use, or I can just cycle through them with ALT + Tab. The latter is the quicker and make "clutter" irrelevant, as it cycles through them in order of last used. So if I've got 10 programs open but only need to keep switching between three of them, ALT + Tab will do that. Since that's the quickest way to cycle between them on a desktop that they're the only programs open on, I don't understand what is gained.

Can you explain what's beneficial about having those programs on a different virtual desktop?



This is a silly straw man. I'd love to implement something that improves my workflow. I just don't understand how this would, and nobody seems to be able to explain why it's helpful.

If you don't get it, you don't need it.

You work differently than us. That's fine.

 

[SleepingWeasle]

Set up one desktop how you want it.
Use Win + CTRL + Right
Set up the second desktop
Use Win + CTRL + Left or Win + CTRL + Right to switch between desktops, or add new desktops.
This works when you are not in tablet mode.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Set up one desktop how you want it.
Use Win + CTRL + Right
Set up the second desktop
Use Win + CTRL + Left or Win + CTRL + Right to switch between desktops, or add new desktops.
This works when you are not in tablet mode.

Yes, I put that in my post above. But...why?

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

If you don't get it, you don't need it.

You work differently than us. That's fine.

This is basically saying that my impression of it is correct. Thank you.

 

[SleepingWeasle]

Concerning "But...why?"
For me, it's most useful when doing multiple tasks that each require several windows open at the same time. For example, when designing a new part, I have Rhino opened full-screen on one desktop. On the next desktop, I have several windows opened and snapped showing several standards and tolerances I need to reference. On the next desktop I have my original notes snapped to 1/4, pictures displayed in 1/4, and the matching manual I'm writing snapped to 1/2. I don't just need to see any one window, but multiple windows relating to one another. But that's just how I prefer to work. As said above, if it doesn't work for you, don't use it, nothing wrong with that.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Concerning "But...why?"
For me, it's most useful when doing multiple tasks that each require several windows open at the same time. For example, when designing a new part, I have Rhino opened full-screen on one desktop. On the next desktop, I have several windows opened and snapped showing several standards and tolerances I need to reference. On the next desktop I have my original notes snapped to 1/4, pictures displayed in 1/4, and the matching manual I'm writing snapped to 1/2. I don't just need to see any one window, but multiple windows relating to one another. But that's just how I prefer to work. As said above, if it doesn't work for you, don't use it, nothing wrong with that.

I can definitely see the advantage if you need to switch between one application and the simultaneous display of several applications. You're right, though that that doesn't apply to me.

Thank you. You are the first person to ever demonstrate that the idea has utility, albeit one that is inapplicable in my case.

 

[paulhutch]

The best feature of Windows 10 is mainstream support for the current version until 2020 and extended support (generally only security patches) until 2025. Win7 ended mainstream support in 2015 and extended support ends in 2020. For Win8.1 it's 2018/2023.

Also if you accept the free new editions of Win10 as they are released the support life lengthens further, theoretically forever. A final support factor is that Microsoft has announced that new processor and chip set features will only be added to Win10 editions.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Yes, I understand that. That's part of why I upgraded. I'm talking more about applications and features.