Thanks, for the encouraging emails about last week’s article on W10 Steps Recorder and Snipping Tool. Some of you even sent me some examples along with a question or two. I appreciate it, especially when I know how to help you out!
Today we will look at something that may already be on your computer which is Fast Start Up. Modern W10 computers can take a while to start up from cold so guess what this feature does? You got it, it allows it to start up faster. Now it may already be set to on but let us check. Press your Windows key on the keyboard or click the menu button on the left side of the taskbar. Now type, “Power & sleep,” then click the “Power & sleep settings” link. A window will pop up on your screen; scroll down the windows and click on “Additional power settings.” Now select, “Choose what the power buttons do” and look toward the bottom of the new window at the Shutdown settings. If the checkbox for “Turn on fast startup (recommended)” is checked you are good to go and already have it set correctly. Many computers come set this way. If it is not checked, at the top of that window click on “Change settings that are currently unavailable.” Now you may check it and a couple of others. I would make sure that Hibernate is NOT checked. It is not a fun thing to deal with on a day-to-day basis, in my opinion. Once done click the save changes button. If interested in hibernation check this information (dblclx.com/hibernate).
Next, a quick way to get to many settings you may want to access on your W10 computer. This is sort of like a hidden menu in W10. Very simply right click on the start menu icon on the far left of your taskbar. You will get a menu of items that you may sometimes need to quickly get to. You can click on each to look around but unless you are aware of what you are doing, you may want to just “look.” The first item is “Apps and Features” which, among other things, will allow you to delete applications. Again, you can always look around at anything but change nothing if you do not intend to. Use Google to find out about different things.
Now a quick way to see more information on your desktop. Let us pretend that you have two applications opened at the same time on your computer and you want to easily view them at the same time. You could click on the border of each one and resize it, then go to the other one and straighten it out so you could see both. However, there is an easier way to do this. Click on one of the applications to make it “active” then tap the windows key on your keyboard and one of the arrow keys. The right arrow key will send it to the right side of the screen and the left…you figured it out. Also, try the Windows + up arrow. Windows + the down arrow will minimize the window to the lower area and then again it will minimize the application. If you minimize it with the key combo you will need to use your mouse to click on it in the taskbar to resize it. Try the key combination several times until you get how it works and it helps you. You can also do it with more than two apps and split it into quarters if you wish.
