There are many hidden gems built right into most Windows versions (Windows 10, Windows 11, etc). Some are only available in the pro versions (i.e., Windows 11 Pro), while others are in all versions. If you are unsure which version of Windows you are running, try using the first item below, winver. For all of these, click on the windows start menu icon located to the left of your other toolbar icons (in the Windows 10 family you will see a slightly tilted window on the very left bottom corner of your screen, while in the Windows 11 family, the squared windows icon is, by default, on the left side of the other items in your task bar, but not necessarily all the way to the left – depending on how many items you have in the toolbar.).
- To find the version of your Windows, use the built-in winver.exe application or download a zip of it here: winver
- To troubleshoot problems on your system, try “sfc/scannow.” The sfc.exe tool is built into Windows, or you can download a zip of it here: sfc
- The built-in system information tool is one of the most powerful information tools. You can access it simply by typing “system information” after clicking the Windows icon in the toolbar. You can also download a zip version of the tool here: msinfo32.
Some other programs you may or may not realize are on your system are:
- If you prefer Internet Explorer over MS Edge, you may need to turn on IE mode in MS Edge. When MS Edge starts, click the 3 dots in the top right corner and click “Reload in Internet Explorer mode.” If you want to revert to Edge, return to the same spot and click “Exit Internet Explorer mode.”
Settings you may wish to change:
- I usually change the toolbar search to only show the search icon. This takes up way less space.
- Right-click on the search area
- Highlight “Search”
- Select “Show search icon”
- Alternatively, if you never plan on using search and you need the space, select “Hidden,” and the search icon will disappear – to get it back, do the opposite of the previous step
- Generally, I make the taskbar icons as small as possible. To do this:
- Right-click on an empty portion of the taskbar
- Select Taskbar Settings
- Find the item marked “show small taskbar buttons”
- Turn this on by sliding the button to the right, turning it blue
- If you want the desktop icons to be small as well:
- First, right-click on the desktop and select “View”
- Select “Small icons”
- Next, to make the icons even smaller
- Make sure your desktop is viewable
- With a mouse handy
- Click on the desktop
- hold down the Ctrl key
- Use the mouse scroll function to change the size of the desktop icons.
There are more settings to change, but too many to go into here. If you are interested, send me an e-mail at t.zucker@gmail.com.