Windows 10 2021: A Complete Guide to Microsoft Windows 10 with the Latest Tips and Updates
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WINDOWS 10
2021
A Complete Guide to Microsoft Windows 10 with the Latest Tips and Updates
Carson Hill
Copyright
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
Printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
© 2021 by Carson Hill
Table of Contents
Copyright
CHAPTER ONE
Windows 10: What is new now?
Windows 10 installation Steps on your computer
Updating the Windows 10
How to stop PC from updating (pausing updates temporarily)
How to ensure your computer restarts to install updates at a convenient time
How to remove an already installed update
How to see installed updates
ACTIVATING WINDOWS 10
Linking Microsoft account on Windows 10
Various methods of activating Windows 10
Buying license for Windows 10
How to activate Windows 10 using a digital license
Activating Windows 10 using a Product Key
REINSTALL WINDOWS10
How to free up space with Storage Sense on your computer
How to reinstall Windows using Installation Media
Clean install of Windows 10 using installation media
How to Reset Windows 10
CHAPTER TWO
Using the Taskbar in Windows 10
How to change the taskbar settings
How to lock and unlock the taskbar
How to change the location of the Taskbar
View the battery status of your PC on the taskbar
How to rearrange taskbar button
CHAPTER THREE
DRIVERS AND DEVICES
How to add a device to your PC
Installing a Printer on Windows 10
Adding a local printer
How to connect the shared printer to another computer
How to install the latest driver for your PC
What to do if the printer driver doesn’t install
Updating Drivers in Windows 10
Fixing Sound problem in Windows 10
Pairing a Bluetooth device in Windows 10
To pair a Bluetooth headset, speaker, or other audio device
To pair a Bluetooth keyboard, mouse, or other device
To pair a Bluetooth printer or scanner
To pair a Bluetooth device using Swift Pair
Fix Bluetooth problems in Windows 10
How to install and use a Scanner in Windows 10
Install or add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth scanner
How to check if your scanner has been installed
Scanning a file or picture using the Windows Scan app
CHAPTER FOUR
NETWORK AND INTERNET IN WINDOWS 10
Using and connecting to a Wi-Fi network on Windows10
Fixing your Wi-Fi connection issues in Windows10
Network troubleshooting on your computer
Setting up Wireless network for Windows 10
Setting up the modem and Internet connection
How to find the password of your network
Finding your IP address
How to use Remote desktop on Windows 10
Use your PC as a mobile hotspot
Cellular settings for Windows10
CHAPTER FIVE
FILES AND STORAGE IN WINDOWS 10
Locating your documents in Windows 10
What has changed in File Explorer
How to share files in File Explorer on Windows 10
How to send email
How to hide files and folders
How to show your hidden files and folders
One Drive in Windows10
Install and setup One Drive
Access and manage files on your OneDrive
How to back up your documents, pictures and folders in OneDrive
CHAPTER SIX
Enhancing security with the Windows security
Manually run a malware scan
Using the Quick Scan feature for Windows security
ABOUT AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
Windows 10: What is new now?
Windows 10 is the succession of the Windows 8.1 operating system developed by Microsoft and intended to continue the Windows NT Family of operating system. The MS Windows 10 Operating System was launched for public utilization on 29th day of July, 2015.
There are recent updates on this Operating System that allow users; customize their personal computers, be more creative with their PC and increase the Windows security.
Find below the new updates that have been made to the Windows 10 OS;
Select your favorite color for Windows: You can select between the light mode option or Dark mode option to make your apps stand out in Windows. To do this, proceed with the prompts below;
At the bottom left, tap on the Start ( icon that looks like window pane) icon and tap Settings
Select Personalization and click Color .
Choose either the Dark mode or light mode under the “Choose your color” option.
Note: In the above screenshot, you will see the “You need to activate Windows before you can personalize your PC” prompt, this means that you will not be able to personalize your personal computer if you are yet to activate your Windows. Don’t forget that choosing your desired color for Windows is among the ways you can personalize your PC. In the later part of this guide, you will learn about ways you can activate your Windows 10.
Keep regular tabs on your website tabs: If you’ve got a webpage you usually frequent, you can pin that website on your taskbar for quick reference. From the taskbar, hover the mouse over the website you have pin to see a quick preview of all the tabs that you have opened. In Microsoft Edge (the default browser in Windows), you can pin your most visited website to the taskbar by following the steps below on your Microsoft Edge browser;
Navigate to Settings and more… or press the Alt + F shortcut on your keyboard when the Microsoft Edge browser is open.
Click on More tools and select Pin to taskbar .
Jump between pages of websites you have opened using the “Alt + Tab” shortcut:
With your fingers, you can press the Alt key, and click on Tab to flip through all the pages you have opened on Windows and on tabs that you have opened in Microsoft Edge browser. Once the pages are displayed, you will be able to move between opened tabs with the aid of the Tab key. Remove your hand from the Alt- key once you have seen the page you want to open.
Go Passwordless with Microsoft account on your PC: Improve your device’s security by removing the password when you are signing in to Windows on Microsoft accounts on your computer. To do this, follow the steps below;
At the bottom left, click on the Start ( icon that looks like window pane) icon and tap Settings
Click on Accounts , tap on the Sign-in options , then enable (ON) the “Require Windows Hell
o Sign-in for Microsoft accounts
Access Notification settings from the Taskbar: To decide where your notifications will show up and ways to sort them out, click Notification at the bottom right-side of the screen and tap Manage Notifications displayed on the taskbar.
Deploy the Snip & Sketch feature to capture, mark up and share pictures: The Screen sketch feature is now referred to as Snip & Sketch. Launch the Snip & Sketch to take a snip of what is on your PC’s screen or to mark up an existing image and share it. From the Search space (located at the bottom left anywhere you are on the screen), enter Snip & Sketch (you will start getting suggestions of what you are looking for before you finish typing the word), then choose Snip & Sketch from the result displayed to launch the app. For quick snip, use any of your fingers to click on the Windows logo key + Shift+ S. The screen of your computer will get dark and the cursor will be displayed as cross. Select a point and left-click the cursor. Then proceed to highlight that area that you wish to capture by moving the cursor. The captured area is displayed right on the screen. The snipped image will be saved to temporal memory area called clipboard, and will be ready for pasting into a document or an email. If you wish to edit the snipped image, click on the notification that shows just after you have made your snip. The Snip & Sketch app gives options to save, copy, or share and also has a pen, eraser and a highlighter, all with variable line widths. Alternatively, you can also download the Skitch App from https://www.techspot.com/downloads/5705-skitch.html. The Skitch app for Windows is best for markup, screenshot and to annotate images with arrows, text and shapes. Many of the screenshots you will see in this guide were taken from my PC using the Skitch App for Windows.
Make items and stuffs on your PC’s screen get bigger: If it is only the text on the screen that you plan to make bigger, click on Windows logo , click on Settings , select Ease of Access , tap Display and just adjust the slider you will see under “ Make Texts bigger.” If your plan is to get everything bigger (and not just text), you will see a drop-down menu under “ Make everything bigger” where you can choose an option.
Increase the visibility of the pointer: If you are finding it difficult to identify the pointer on the screen, you can decide to change its color or make it a little bigger or very big to improve visibility. To do this, click on Windows logo , click on Settings , select Ease of Access and choose Cursor & Pointer.
Use Emoji anywhere you are on keyboard: You can express your feelings wherever you are, and however you wish to, by using the Emoji on your keyboard. To bring the Emoji panel on keyboard, click the Windows pane + Period (.)
Windows 10 installation Steps on your computer
System Requirement for Windows 10 installation on PC
Be reminded that if your computer doesn’t meet the specifications highlighted below, you won’t be able to install the Windows 10 Operating System or you might not really have a good experience on Windows if you find your ways around the whole installation process. The following are the basic requirements for installing Windows10 on your computer;
- Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or System on a Chip (SoC)
- Random Access Memory (RAM): 1 Gigabyte memory will suffice for 32bits computers, and 2 Gigabyte memory is okay for 64bits computers.
- Size of Hard drive: 32 Gigabyte or more.
- Graphics card: DirectX 9 graphics card or later version with WDDM 1.0 driver.
- Display: 800 X 600
- Stable Internet connection: Downloading features and updates require stable internet.
Updating the Windows 10
In Windows 10, you can opt to get information about updates, and how you desire to be get such updates. This is to get your PC running securely and smoothly. To manage options, click on the Start menu, navigate to Settings , select Update & Security and click on Windows Update .
Having issues installing Windows Updates?
There may be more than one reason why your computer is unable to update to the most recent edition of Windows 10. The tips below might help you troubleshoot your computer where it is unable to install updates. However, before you start anything at all, make sure that your computer is plugged to a stable source of power and connected to a good internet. Also, before you carry out any of the tips below, ensure you backup your files properly. You can slot in a USB drive inside your computer to copy your important files – this is a simple backup strategy.
- Free up spaces on your drive to run update: It might be that your computer doesn’t have enough space left. For an update on a 32bits computer, you need about 16BG of free space, and 20GB free space for a 64-bit operating system. If your computer has a small hard drive, you might have to insert a USB drive to update your computer.
- Restart your computer to apply the updates you have installed: Sometimes, updating your Windows may require that you restart your computer to begin the process. Before you restart your PC, make sure to save all your works and close all the applications you opened. To restart your PC, click on the Windows logo , tap Power and choose either Update and restart or Update and shutdown.
- Run the Windows update once again: Even if some updates have been downloaded, more updates may still be available for downloading. To check which update is left to be downloaded and then download them, go to Settings , tap Update & Security , click on Windows Update and click on Check for Updates. Proceed to download and then install any new update.
- Detach any external hardware from your computer: Some hardware plugged into your computer is not essential for basic function of the computer. Remove these external hardware and try running the update again to see if the problem can be resolved.
- Update important third party hardware: If you have previously added hardware to your device, you can check for third-party driver updates and installation instructions from the website of the hardware manufacturer. Update any driver, and you can then try running the updates again to check if the issue can be resolved.
- Check for errors on the device manager:
Enter device manager inside the search box on your taskbar, and then click on Device Manager from the prompted result.
In the pop-up window, check any device that has a yellow exclamation mark next to it. (You might need to choose each to see the devices list.) Click on the name of the device.
Click on Action , and then select any of the options: Update driver or Uninstall to fix the errors.
How to stop PC from updating (pausing updates temporarily)
While it is not possible to pause updates completely because updating your Windows helps to keep your computer safe and secure, updates will need to be installed and downloaded eventually, regardless of your update settings. You can pause the updates temporarily from being downloaded and installed by following the steps below. Be reminded that once the pause limit has been exceeded, you will have to install the latest updates before you will be able to pause updates again.
In the October 2020 Update (version 20H2) of the Windows 10, or in version 1809 for Pro Edition or Enterprise Edition, Click Start > Settings >Update & Security >Windows Update . And then select any of the options below;
- Choose “Pause updates for 7 days .”
- Click on “Advanced options .” Then, within the Pause updates section, click on the drop down menu and indicate a date that you want the update to resume.
How to ensure your computer restarts to install updates at a convenient time
To finish installing your update, your computer will need to restart. Windows will attempt to restart your PC when you are not using your computer. If it cannot restart, you will be asked to schedule the restart at a more convenient time. Or you can even schedule the restart at any time you want by following the steps below;
Click “Start ” > “Settings ” >Update & Security >”Windows Update ” > Windows Update .
Click Schedule the restart and select a more convenient time.
Active hours can be set to ensure
that automatic restarts is scheduled for updates only and it takes place when you are not using your computer.
How to remove an already installed update
Follow the steps below if you wish to remove any update that you have previously installed;
- Click Start button > navigate to Settings >Update & Security >Windows Update >View Update history and then click on the Uninstall Updates option
- Choose the update that you wish to uninstall and then tap Uninstall.
How to see installed updates
You can view which update has been installed and when the updates was installed from the update history. In addition, you will be able to remove some updates that you think you don’t need, although it is not advisable you remove installed updates unless there is a need for it. To remove installed update, follow the steps below;
Click Start > Settings >Update & Security >Windows Update > Windows Update View Update history
Note: It is recommended that you keep your computer plugged into power source when you are not using it. This way, you can be assured that the computer will complete the update even when updates are installed outside the battery active hours. Windows update don’t necessarily use more battery power than other system processes.
ACTIVATING WINDOWS 10
The purpose of activating Windows 10 is to make sure your copy of Windows 10 is actually authentic and that your copy of Windows has not been used on more devices than the terms of the Microsoft Software License allows.