Five things you should know about Windows 10
I have never written a review on anything other than a book or an academic paper and I am by no means a technologically with-it person. I say this now to give you fair warning. What I am is a very slightly above average user of a computer who just received her free upgrade of Windows 10. So, here are five things that I think you should know about Windows 10:
1. The start menu has returned!
I think we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Our computers just make more sense again and we don’t have to download any weird start menus which slow down our computers and generally confuse everything. Also, if you are a fan of the live tiles from Windows 8 (the demographic must be tiny) you have the option to style your start menu accordingly.
Take a moment to let that sink in and have a look at the following picture.
2. Settings
Changing settings on my laptop does tend to scare me. The reason for this is because I am never sure if I will be able to make my way back to change them back again. The Windows 10 settings menu is fantastic. It is clear, it is simple and it is easy to change the things that matter to me.
3. The aesthetic is fantastic.
As you may have noticed from the pictures, Windows 10 has an all new aesthetic. It’s darker but not overwhelming. To me, it feels awfully professional. The file explorer and settings windows are cleaner and brighter. Running in line with the clean, sleek and zen trend of recent technology – Windows 10 definitely got this right.
4. Internet Explorer has been replaced.
One of the features that come with the free Windows 10 upgrade is Microsoft Edge, Windows’ new web browser. Although this appears to be a sneaky upgrade of Internet Explorer in terms of logo it is not! (Thank goodness).
The feature of Microsoft Edge that I found most interesting and useful is called Web Note. Web Note allows you to annotate live web pages! The functionality of this tool is easily accessible, built in and intuitive. You can save your annotated pages and they are delivered straight to your OneNote. For Pomegranite this is particularly useful because we build websites. Clients could view their websites in Microsoft Edge and annotate directly onto the web page regarding changes. This will decrease confusion and save time. A lovely feature in my opinion. Here is my first try:
5. It has a tablet mode
Windows 8 was a huge flop because it bet on touch screen computing. Windows 10 has a tablet mode which would be particularly useful to users with touch screen computers. But it is optional and so Windows 10 does what Windows 8 didn’t – it considers everyone.
