Microsoft’s Windows 10 a joy to explore

  • By Sven Mogelgaard Tech Talk
  • Friday, August 28, 2015 5:40pm
  • Business

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been using some form of Windows for more than two decades.

The very first versions of Windows weren’t really more than an overlay on top of Microsoft’s DOS operating system.

Starting with Windows 95, however, it took on a life of its own and became — for all intents and purposes — an independent operating system.

Since then it has become an integral part of our computing life, running on more than 90 percent of computers worldwide.

While Windows has been wildly successful, not all versions have been loved by users.

It seems that since the release of Windows 98 Microsoft stumbled a bit after each successful version. Remember Windows ME? Windows Vista? Even Windows 8?

Now it looks like Microsoft may have another winner on its hands.

Windows 10 was released at the end of July. If you have been using recently purchased versions of Windows 7 or Windows 8, you have no doubt seen the pop-ups asking you to reserve your copy of Windows 10.

Many of my clients have told me this upgrade process hasn’t exactly been user-friendly, but once upgraded they were very happy they made the leap.

Windows 10 takes the best features of Windows 7 and 8 and merges them into a sleek, responsive operating system that any user can enjoy whether at home or at work. It even works well on tablets.

Let’s take a quick look at the obvious changes. The first thing you’ll notice is the Start button is back!

The much-maligned Tiles of Windows 8 have now been moved to the Start window. The colorful 3D Aero interface has been replaced with a sleek and flat look.

You’ll also see that Internet Explorer has been replaced by the Edge browser.

There are lots of subtle changes,too such as the fact the Control Panel is now simply called Settings.

One of my favorite additions to Windows 10 is the ability to create virtual desktops on your PC. It’s a feature I’ve been enjoying on my Mac for a long time.

If you find yourself with a lot of applications open at once, the Taskbar gets a bit crowded and it can be a bit difficult to find your applications. Now, by clicking the Task View icon on the Taskbar, you can create multiple virtual desktops, each with its own set of applications open and it’s own taskbar.

I like to have one desktop for support programs, one for writing and research, and one for email and social media. The beauty is you can set these desktops up just the way you want.

The next feature that is entirely new is Cortana. This is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Siri. You can type or speak questions and Cortana will search your PC and the Web to find what you’re looking for. You can even have Cortana remind you of upcoming events, read news headlines and update you on sports scores and much more. It can be a little quirky, but it’s still a very powerful tool.

The Calendar application has matured as well. In previous versions of Windows you were pretty much locked in to using your Outlook calendar and couldn’t sync with other calendars. Now you can use not only Outlook and Exchange calendars, but Google and iCloud as well.

But every silver lining has its cloud. Some privacy advocates have raised alarms at the amount of personal information that Microsoft collects.

Their privacy statement is over 12,000 words long, so understanding exactly what Microsoft keeps and shares can be a challenge.

You can change these privacy settings and view the privacy statement by clicking on the Setting options from the Start menu.

Under Privacy option you can change options in over a dozen categories. How you configure these settings depends on your level of trust or paranoia.

Overall, I think Windows 10 will be a big hit with both business and personal users. It has most, if not all, the features you’ll want. It automatically connects you to your favorite cloud services and simply makes it easy to use your computer, tablet or phone and easily share information between everything. Of course, being brand new there are going to be some compatibility issues. But I am pretty impressed.

If you have comments regarding this column, suggestions for future columns or just want to talk tech please visit my Facebook page at Facebook.com/millcreektech.

Sven Mogelgaard is the President and CEO of Mill Creek Technology Services. He provides affordable IT services to businesses and individuals locally and around the world. Visit www.millcreektech.guru to learn more about him and his business offerings.

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