Thetop33Windows10tips,tricks,hacks,andtweaks

CasperManesonFebruary18,2016
(5votes,average:5.00outof
5)

HaveyoumadetheswitchtoWindows10onyourprimaryoperating
system?Withitbeingfree,andMicrosoftpushingtheupdatetousers,
mostofyouprobablyalreadyhave.Andifyouhavent,listen.XPisdead.
Letitgo.LETITGO!LETTOGOOHOH!Sorry,wherewasI?
Oh,yeah,Windows10isawesome.Tohelpyougetevenmoreofthe
awesomeoutofWindows10,wevescouredthewebtoprovideyouwith
thetop33Windows10tips,tricks,hacks,andtweaksforyourcomputing
pleasure.Anyway,checkoutthesecooltipsandmoretoseeifyoucangetsomemorecoolfactorout
of10.

1.Enablevirtualdesktops
Forstarters,yes,Linuxhashadthisforyears.IusuallyhavesixinmytrayinKDEandmouse
throughthemlikeaboss.ButthisisWindows,anditsgreattohavethisfinally.Toturnonvirtual
desktops,Win+TabtogettheAeroview,thenclick+NewDesktopdowninthelowerright.Youcan
haveasmanyasyouwant,andswitchbetweenthembyclickingtheDesktopiconnexttothesearch
box.

2.PrinttoPDF
ThereisfinallyabuiltinPDFprinterinWindows10.ToprintanythingasPDFfile,justpickthe
MicrosoftPrinttoPDFprinter.

3.UseWiFiSensetomakegettingonlineeasy
Muchmaligned,anddefinitelymisunderstood,WiFiSenseisactuallyprettycool,whenyourenotan
enterprisesecurityadmin.ThisletsyouidentifyandshareWiFihotspotswithyourcontacts,
includingthePSKtogetontothem,soifyousetupaguestnetworkathome,haveaguestnetwork
atwork,orfindoneatyourfavouritecoffeeshop,youcansharethedetailswithyourcontacts,and
theycandothesamewithyou.Ofcourse,itrequiresthatthenetworksareeitheropenoruseapre
sharedkey.IfyourenterpriseWiFinetworkisusingPSK,youredoingitwrong!Ofcourse,youcan
turnitoff.Seehttp://windows.microsoft.com/enus/windows10/wifisensefaqifthisbothers
you.

UseQuickAccessinExplorer
FavouritesinExplorerhasreplacedtheQuickAccessmenu,anditsmuchcooler.Withseveral
optionsyoucanusetocustomizeyourexperience,youcanmakeWindows10dojustwhatyouwant.
Heresarundown.

4.OpenFileExplorerto:
ThisletsyouchoosewhethertodefaulttoQuickaccess,ortheThisPCview.

5.ShowrecentlyusedfilesinQuickaccess
TurnitoffifyoudontwanttoseetheMRUlistoffiles.

6.ShowrecentlyusedfoldersinQuickaccess
Asabove.TurnitoffifyoudontwanttoseetheMRUlistoffolders,butoddsaregoodthatwillprove
tobedeaduseful!

7.Clear
SomethingintheMRUlistyoudrathernothaveshowing?HitCleartodropthelistlikeyourbrowser
history!
Customizetheshell!
TherearenewandsubtlesettingsintheCommandPromptand/orPowerShellletsyoumakeallkinds
ofcoolcustomizationsaboveandbeyondjusttweakingcolours.OntheOptionstab,checkoutthe
following.

8.Filterclipboardcontentsonpaste
Thisistotallyawesome,especiallywhenpastingfromabrowser.Itwillswapsmartquotestostraight
quotes,andremovetabssoyourpastesarewhatyouwant.

9.Enablelinewrappingselection
Thankyoujeebus!Thisdoesexactlywhatitsays.

10.Copy/Paste
Yes,inbothPowerShellandthecommandprompt,yourCTRLC,X,andVkeysworknow.

11.Persistentcommandhistory
Youknowhowupanddownarrowsletyouscrollthroughyourcommandhistory.Guesswhat?Your
historynowpersists,sowhenyouopenashell,yourcommandsfromlasttimeareavailable.How
coolisthat?

12.Extendedtextselectionkeys
Letsyouusehome,end,shiftarrows,CTRLC,CTRLX,andCTRLVjustlikeyouareaccustomed
toinjustabouteveryothertextprogramever.Upanddownarrowsstillscrollthroughthecommand
buffer,butIdontthinkyoudreallywanttogetridofthat.

13.Wraptextoutputonresize
Okay,thisisontheLayouttab,butitsstillnew.Ifyoudohavetoresizeashellwindow,thiswillwrap
thetexttomatch.

14.Opacity
Sure,wehavehadthisinLinuxshellsforyears.Sowhat?NowwehaveitinWindows,anditsjustas
cool.Practical?Maybenot.Butstill,cool!Ilike90%.Itsdenseenoughtoread,butstillletsmesee
whatisbehindit.
Ifyoudontseethoseoptions,clearthecheckboxnexttoUselegacyconsole(requiresrelaunch)
and,well,relaunch!

15.Getmorefonts
Wanttoaddotherfontstotheshell?Metoo!Hereshow.
1.First,youhavetousemonospacedTruetypefonts.
2.LaunchregeditandnavigatetoHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Console\TrueTypeFont
3.CreateanewREG_SZandgiveitauniquenumber
4.EnterthenameoftheTruetypeFontyouwanttouse.
5.Reboottomakeitavailable.
NotethatsomeTTFswontwork.Experimenttofindtheoneyoulike.IuseUbuntuMono.
Seehttp://www.codeproject.com/Articles/30040/FontSurvey42oftheBestMonospaced
Programmingforsomeothergoodoptionsformonospacedfonts.Notallarefree,butsomegood
onesareathttp://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/list/classification/monospaced.

16.Shakeitoff
IfyouwanttodisabletheAeroshakethingthatcausesallopenwindowstominimize,theresaneasy
reghacktodoso.
1.LaunchregeditandnavigatetoHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows.
2.CreateanewkeycalledExplorer
3.CreateanewDWORD(32)namesNoWindowsMinimizingShortcuts
4.Setitto1.

17.Disablethestartupdelay

Ifyourmachineisscreamingfasttoboot,usesanSSD,andisotherwisearocket,youcangeteven
morespeedbydisablingthestartupdelaythatWindowsincludesbydefaulttokeepfromovertaxing
yourhardware.
1.Launchregeditandnavigateto
CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Serialize
2.CreateanewDWORDnamedStartupDelayInMSec
3.Setitto0.

18.Backgroundscrolling
Checkitout.Youcanmouseoveranotherwindowsandscrollitwithoutclickingonitfirst,stealing
focusfromyouractivewindow.Thatsdeadusefulwhenonewindowisinstructions,andtheotheris
theshellyouaretryingtoentercommandwithin!
Checkoutallthesekeyboardshortcuts
Someofthesearetriedandtrue,butsomemaybenewtoyou,andallworkgreatinWindows10.

19.WindowsKeyAlaunchestheActionCenter
20.WindowsKeyIlaunchestheSettingsApp
21.WindowsKeyXlaunchesthePowerUserMenu
22.WindowsKeyRlaunchestheRundialog
23.WindowsKeyTabbringsupthetaskview
24.WindowsKeyRightUpmovestheactiveapptotopright
quadrant
25.WindowsKeyCtrlLeftorRightnavigatesacrossyourvirtual
desktops
26.WindowsKeyCtrlDcreatesanewvirtualdesktop
27.WindowsKeySbringsuptheDailyGlanceforweather,news,
sports,etc.
28.WindowsKeyCtrlF4closestheactivevirtualdesktop
29.WindowsKeyUpandDownsnapstheactiveapptotoporbottom
ofscreenormaximizesit.
30.GetbackmoretaskbarbylosingtheSearchbar

Cortanaiscoolandallthat,butifyoudontusetheAskmeanythingbox,youcanbuybackalotof
taskbarrealestatebyturningthatoff.Hereshow.
1.Rightclickthetaskbar.
2.ChooseCortanaoptions
3.RemovethecheckboxnexttoShowsearchbox.

31.LastActiveClick
Myfavouritehackinthislististhisone.ImayhaveadozentabsopeninIEatanypointintime.IfI
clickonanotherapp,thenhavetogetbacktothetabIwasonandclickontheEicon,itpopsupall
theopentabsandeventhewindowssoIhavetofigureoutwhichoneIwason.Withthishack,ifI
justclick,ittakesmebacktoexactlythetabIwason.Thisworksthesameonotherappstoo,soifI
hadseventeenWorddocsopen,itwouldjusttakemerightbacktothelastoneIwasactiveinwhenI
clicktheicon.
1.Openregeditandnavigateto
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
2.Createanew32bitDwordcalledLastActiveClick.
3.Setitto1.
4.Profit!

32.Findthehiddenimages
Thelockscreenandlogonscreenhavesomereallycoolimages,whichasitturnsout,bydefault
bothrotateANDchange.SeemsMicrosofthasaCDNthatupdatestheseimagesbasedonwhatyou
clickthatlikeornot.Wanttosaveoneormoreofthoseimagesforfutureuse?Hereswheretheyare
hiding!
1.OpenExplorerandbrowsto
%localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.ContentDeliveryManager_[customstringof
characters]\LocalState\Assets\
2.Copyallofthefilestoanewdirectory.
3.Openacommandpromptinthatdirectory.
4.Runthiscommand
ren*.**.png[enter]
5.Browsethroughthemandfindtheonesyoulike!

33.BatterysaversettingsletyougeteverysinglemAoutofyour
battery
TheBatterysaversettingscanhelpextendyourlaptopsbatterylifewhenyoureat32Kfeetandnot
infirstclass.GotoSettings,Batterysaver,andmakesureitissettocomeon.Youcanadjustwhenit
doescomeonbasedonestimatedbatteryliferemaining,andwhatitdoestohelpextendthings,like
reducingthescreenbrightnessandlimitingtheappsthatcanruninthebackgroundanddopush
notifications.SincethoseneedCPUandWiFitowork,limitingthethingsrunninginthebackground
canreallymakeadifference.
Withsomanycooltweaksandhacks,youshouldhavefoundsomethingneatandnewtohelpyou

pimpyourdesktop,butIamsurewemissedsomeofthebest.Soifyouhaveafavouritehackor
tweakthatmakesWindows10yourpawn,leaveacommentandletusknowwhatyouvedone.
Thanks!