Windows 10 was officially released on July 29, 2015 and anyone with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 for free . We have therefore seen, in another article, that you can download download Windows 10 to install it as an update and then also with a clean installation.
After playing a bit with the new Microsoft operating system, we can give some more details to find out what has changed since Windows 8.1, how Windows 10 behaves and what new functions have been put in place to make the most used operating system in the world better.
First of all, it has finally been discovered why it is called Windows 10 and not Windows 9 as everyone would have expected.
The problem of the name Windows 9 was related to the programming codes of external programs where Windows 9x was intended to be Windows 95 or Windows 98.
To avoid confusion, from the software point of view, between the new and the older versions of Windows, the name Windows 10 was chosen.
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Below we see, therefore, the most important changes and the best functions visible immediately in Windows 10.
1) The new Start menu of Windows 10, explained in another article, is a mix between the Start of Windows 7 and that of Windows 8.1.
Who wants to find the applications of the store can click the start button on the bottom left which, compared to Windows 8.1, is very different and, finally, allows you to also launch programs, as you do in Windows 7.
The biggest news of Windows 10 is therefore the Start menu, similar to the traditional one, with the addition of interactive panels of the applications of the Microsoft store.
Application tiles can be moved with the mouse, locked or resized to make them smaller or larger.
If you don't want to use these apps, the various buttons can be removed by pressing the right mouse button.
In the start menu you can browse the complete list of programs or click on one of the icons to access the main parts of the operating system (documents, images, music etc.).
The search bar allows you to search for programs or to search the internet directly.
If you want to reactivate the Windows 8 Start screen, you can right-click on the taskbar, go to the properties and, in the Start Menu tab, remove the cross at the first " use Start Menu ... " option.
In the new build there is the possibility to expand the menu to make it full screen, useful in tablet mode.
2) The Windows 10 Settings menu has changed with several options to better configure the system, both in tablet mode and in desktop PC mode and, unlike in Windows 8, it is based on icons.
In the Windows 10 settings menu there are many new options especially related to updates, privacy, network connection and personalization.
3) The connection between the computer and external audio and video devices connected via wireless that support technologies such as Bluetooth and Miracast has been made simple.
4) The other change that is noticed in Windows 10 is the fact that, by launching an application from the Store, these opens in a window that can be resized.
The application windows, which always open in full screen in Windows 8, can therefore be resized and moved on the screen as you would with a program or folder window.
If you move the windows to the four corners of the screen, they will automatically occupy the same space.
5) The Windows 8 Charms Bar, the one that appears by moving the mouse to the top right of the screen, is gone.
6) On the Windows 10 Preview taskbar we find two new buttons : the search bar and the double square.
The search opens a window listing recent searches and allows you to search your computer for anything quickly.
Finally Microsoft with Windows 10 has made searching for files on your computer a painless thing.
The search bar can also be used to activate Cortana, the Windows 10 voice assistant to which you can ask questions verbally, speaking into the computer microphone.
The button with the double square instead looks a bit like that of Android smartphones and, in fact, it is used to switch from one window to another .
In the open task view, you can switch from one desktop environment to another by pressing the " Add to desktop " bar.
This works is that of virtual desktops, to open multiple windows in separate environments in order to be more orderly.
7) Even if you don't notice right away, another improvement concerns the command prompt which now supports copying and pasting using the Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V keys.
8) The explorer resources, that is the folder windows, of Windows 10 is not very different from that of Windows 8, except for the bar on the left which has a Home button to access frequent folders and favorite paths.
9) Internet Explorer in the application version no longer exists, replaced by the new Microsoft Edge browser, described and explained in another article.
Internet Explorer remains in the desktop version but hidden in Edge.
10) The Windows 10 Notification Center can be opened by pressing the message icon at the bottom right, near the clock.
From the notification center, you can receive alerts sent by apps such as Swiss Post or Skype and receive advice on what to install and how to use your computer.
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