3.1 Opening the Start menu

Transcription

1 QUICK LINKS Home Search Superguide LESSONS Introduction Prerequisite Skills Chapter 1 The Beginning Chapter 2 Windows 10 on Tablets Chapter 3 Exploring Files and Folders Chapter 4 Deeper into Folders Chapter 5 Wrapping Up the Desktop Chapter 6 New Windows 10 Apps LESSON 3 - THE NEW START MENU Back by popular demand, the Start menu in Windows 10 replaces the Start screen as seen in Windows 8, at least for desktop users. In this lesson we will introduce the new Start menu and show you how to use it. 3.1 Opening the Start menu To open the Start menu at any time, simply click on the Start button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. You can also press either of the Windows logo keys on your keyboard or press the Windows button on your device, if it has one. Figure 3.1 shows the Start menu open on a typical Windows 10 PC.

2 Chapter 7 Securing Your PC and Your Data Chapter 8 Your PC Your Way Chapter 9 Networking & Internet Chapter 10 Windows Media Player Chapter 11 Troubleshooting and Maintenance Chapter 12 And Finally Figure 3.1 The Windows 10 Start menu The Windows 10 Start menu is a hybrid of the old Windows 7 Start menu and the Windows 8 Start screen. Anything you could do from the old Windows 8 Start screen or the Windows 7 Start menu you can also do here. To launch an app, just click or tap on its icon or tile once.

3 3.2 Areas on the Start menu The new Start menu is made up of several areas. We ve numbered each area in the picture below and we will discuss each section. Figure 3.2 Start menu areas

4 Area 1 Most used programs This is where your most frequently run programs will be placed. Some of these programs may have an arrow next to them. By clicking on this arrow you open the programs jump list. This usually opens a list of files that this app has recently opened. You can then click on any item in this list to open the file in the app directly. Area 2 Recently added apps Any apps that you recently installed, either from the Windows store or through the desktop will appear here. Area 3 Common tasks Shortcuts to commonly performed tasks can be seen here. You can open File Explorer (see Chapter 3), change computer settings or power down or restart your PC. We ll cover power options later in the lesson. Area 4 All Apps The all apps section allows you to browse all the applications on your PC in alphabetical order. We will look at this in more detail later in the lesson. Area 5 Tiles The live tiles shown on the right of the Start menu should be familiar to Windows 8 users. Each tile on the Start menu

5 represents a program. In figures 3.1 and 3.2 we can see a tile in the second column from the left with a picture on it and the words Alton Towers and Thorpe Park close. This is the News tile and the picture and headline relates to the roller coaster accident that was sadly in the news at the time the picture was taken. The pictures and information on the tiles are constantly changing, unlike traditional icons that usually remain static. You can pin other applications and add more tiles to this section too. We show you how in lesson If you have more tiles than will fit on the Start menu, a scroll bar will appear on the right allowing you to scroll down to see more tiles. Many tiles on the Start menu can show information. As you work with Windows 10 the Start menu will come alive. For instance, pictures from your Pictures library will appear on the Pictures tile, music recommendations may appear on the Music tile. Area 6 User account functions Go to this section to log out or switch user. We will look at that in more detail later in the lesson.

6 3.3 All apps If a program isn t listed anywhere on the basic Start menu, as seen in figures 3.1 and 3.2, you can find it under All apps (section 4 in figure 3.2). To open the All apps section you need to click on it just once. This is like opening the All programs section on the Windows 7 Start menu, or the All apps page on the Windows 8 Start screen. Figure 3.3 shows the Start menu with the All apps section open.

7 Figure 3.3 All apps on the Windows 10 Start menu Rather than a custom sorting order, as with Windows 7 and earlier versions of Windows, All apps view lets you browse your applications alphabetically. Use the scroll bar at the side (the one under the mouse pointer in figure 3.3) to scroll down the list. When you re done working with All apps view, click on Back.

8 As an alternative to trawling through the All apps view, you can use the Search the web and Windows bar that s next to the Start button and we will cover that in some detail in lesson Locking, signing out and powering down You can lock, sign out and shut down your PC from the Start menu too. To lock or sign out of your PC, click on the user account functions icon (area 6 in figure 3.2). The options shown in figure 3.4 will then appear.

9 Figure 3.4 User account functions Usually you would lock your PC if you were coming back to it in a moment, or sign out if you wanted to pass the machine to another user (we cover user accounts in lesson 37). Below the sign out option you can see Matthew Buxton. This is another user account that exists on this PC. By clicking on another account here you can switch directly to it. To shut down or restart your PC, click on the Power option in the common tasks area (area 3 in figure 3.2). The options shown in figure 3.5 will then appear.

10 Figure 3.5 Power options Selecting Sleep will put the PC into a low-power standby mode. Windows will save the status of your currently open applications and allow you to resume them later. Sleep is useful for those times when you need to step away from your computer but you know that you will need to come back and work some more an hour or two later. Waking the PC from sleep mode is much faster than starting it from cold, but sleep mode still consumes some power. It is advisable to save anything you are working on before using sleep mode. Selecting Shut down or Restart will, as you probably guessed, either shut down the PC entirely or restart it. Sometimes it is

11 necessary to restart your computer after installing new software, for instance. If there are Windows updates pending, you will see the option Update and restart in place of just Restart. That covers the basics of using the Start menu to work with your Windows 10 PC. If you re used to previous versions of Windows you will probably have noticed that Search is now part of the taskbar. Fear not as we will be looking at how you can search a Windows 10 PC in the next lesson. Back to main lesson << Previous Lesson Next Lesson >> Windows 10 Superguide (C) 2015 ACEL Systems. All Rights Reserved. Powered by WordPress. Theme by Alx.