Windows 10

Windows 10

Introduction

Windows 10 the last version of Microsoft Windows is an operating system developed for personal computers. Windows 10 was unveiled officially on September 2014 but became available only on July 29, 2015. Windows 10 was developed with an aim to unify the operating system of all Microsoft Windows products in to one and to bridge the gap between PCs, tablets and smartphones. Windows 10 uses the universal application architecture which is an expansion of Microsoft Windows runtime platform developed for Windows 8. It can be said due to this, Windows 10 make possible  Microsoft Windows to be used everywhere. Window 10 is a combination of many features from Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows 8 and it can also be said as an extended version of 8 as almost all the problems faced in Windows 8 has been rectified. All the features have been improvised in this last version of Microsoft Windows. We will begin with first, how to upgrade your Microsoft Windows 7 & 8 to Windows10 freely. Then we will check what all features it has. 

How to upgrade your Windows 7 & 8 to Windows 10?

Microsoft has announced in their statement that the Windows 10 will be free for Windows 7 & Windows 8 user. Windows 10  has become available from July 29. Microsoft  also specified it as the last version of  Microsoft Windows and after that it will remain as ‘service’ to its user. After this, Microsoft will be working only to improve the features of  Microsoft Windows 10. To know whether you are eligible for the update and how you can upgrade check the steps given below.

Eligible for upgradation to Windows 10

1. Windows 7 or 8.1 user (Enterprise edition not eligible)
2. Windows 8 user has to upgrade it from 8 to 8.1

Windows 10 has two editions Home and Pro. The Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 (Home Basic, Home Premium) and Windows 8.1 will be upgraded to Windows 10 Home and Windows 7 (Professional, Ultimate) and Windows 8.1 (Pro, Pro for Students) will be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.

The system requirements while upgrading Windows 10 are given below:

• 1 GHz , SoC Processor
• 2GB for 64-bit RAM, or 1 GB for a 32-bit version
• 20GB for 64-bit OS , 16GB for a 32-bit OS Hard disk space
• 1024x600 p display

Upgrade to Windows 10

If you are using anyone of this operating system it will be easier for you to get your free Windows 10 upgrade.  If you don’t know which version just check it in Microsoft website. Before going for upgrade use the downloadable tool ‘Upgrade Assistant’ giving the compatibility report indicating whether you can directly proceed or any kind of remedies to be done before starting the upgradation. 

In your desktop you can see a windows logo as shown in the figure. Click the logo and start the installation process.  If you are not seeing the logo, try running windows update and install all the required for your Windows.The ‘Windows update’ logo can be found in control panel.

Note: - Please back up your computer in case if anything goes wrong.

 What Windows 10 has stored?

With the procedure given above, Windows 10 will be installed. The features of Windows 10 are given below:-

1.Start menu with live tiles

Yes, the start menu is back and with a little twist. For Windows 8 the start menu was dropped and instead live tiles were used. In Windows 10 the live tiles is attached to the start menu. The start menu can be resized and modified according to the user requirement.

• If you don’t want live tiles which occupy the right- hand portion of the start menu then

• Select the tile
• Right click it
• Select the option ‘Unpin from Start’
• Remove all the tiles using this option

This will leave a lot of blank space in the Start menu. Resize it using the mouse pointer.

• Resize and move live tiles

• To resize the tiles just select the Resize option and choose the size you want and to move click, hold and drag it to the required position.

In start menu,’ All apps’ lets you access to all the applications in your system if you want you can pin the required application to the start menu. The Start menu works same as that it was in Microsoft Windows 7. The personalization of start menu can be performed. Go to settings, choose personalization and finally select the start and set the options as per required. 

2.Quick Action menu

Quick action menu bar is available in the notification panel. It is the replacement of charms in Microsoft Windows 8. If you are not able to see it go to settings, choose systems and select the notification and actions tab. select the turn your system on and off and enable the action center.  You can even customize the menu by selecting ‘quick action’. Four options will be there and as per your requirement you can select the quick action toggle.

3.Cortana

Like Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google Now, Crotana is Microsoft's virtual assistant. Cortana is activated by Voice search hotword. For that, in the Cortana icon, click the Notebook icon , then Settings and finally Learn my voice button. The Cortana can be used for

• Notify you on your mails
• Track and notify your calendar
• Dictate message to send to your contact.
• Can be set to listen to you

4.Virtual Desktop

'N' number of virtual desktops can be opened and each will have its own privacy and individuality. To create a new desktop, select the new task view button and in that you can see all the apps you have opened. Select the app and drag it to new desktop button.

5.Windows Snap

This feature is an upgradation of Microsoft windows7 snap feature. Click the thumbnail which you want to snap will fill the space. It can be used for splitting the screen and 3 or 4 applications can be snapped to the corner.     

6. Wi-Fi Sense

It automatically gets connected to the trusted Wi-Fi hotspots. The passwords won’t be shared and the network will be shared without compromising the network safety. Please set the settings in such a way that only the people you prefer to share your network can have the access. 

7.Windows Hello and Windows Passport

This feature is for providing extra security to your system. Your face and finger print will be used as password. But these won’t work in normal PCs, you required to have sophisticated camera and fingerprint scanner.

8.Microsoft Edge

It is a new browser developed by the Microsoft. It is developed keeping in mind all the drawbacks of the Internet Explorer. Cortana is incorporated with this. Using webnote user can write on a webpage and share their remark through mail or OneNote. In reader mode, you can read all the contents without any ads. You can pin your website in the Edge’s start menu using pin to start. Do not track is disabled in Edge which you can enable if you want. No way to import bookmarks from other website right now but it will be updated in the coming months.

9.Movies & TV and Groove Music

For entertainment purpose, you can use this to play music or video from existing or download from them Microsoft’s stores. Xbox live give you a whole new gaming experience in your PC. To improve the gaming experience the graphics has been updated by the new version of DirectX and WDDM.

10.Photos app

It is a simple application when compared to Adobe Lightroom which scans your photos and keep OneDrive account for them. It has also the provision for automatically enhancing the pictures.

• Hidden Screen Recorder App
• Syncing of all files to cloud storage service. OneDrive.
• Easy to create and restore backup for full Windows 10.

These are some of the features you can see in Windows 10. Other than that the drivers will be updated automatically. The Storage space in PC can be analyzed without using any third party. There is also provision to shift from PC mode to tablet mode. Many countless features to make this as an ultimate Windows has been added and also the features are made in such a way that they can be used in any devices. Thus a gap between the devices has been bridged.  

While using Windows 10 the things you can disable is given below

• Wi-Fi sense:  The passwords won’t be shared but it will remain encrypted in the Microsoft Servers. So if you don’t like this you can disable this by going to settings, network and internet, Wi-Fi and finally manage Wi-Fi settings. If you want to disable it fully add ‘_output ‘to SSID.
• Bandwidth Sharing for Updates: When you use Windows Update, it will be updated to other user through you. So to avoid that disable this
• Disable Get to know you
• Disable targeted ads
• Disable app-access to your location, microphone and webcam
• Disable unwanted background apps

Features that you will miss

• Media center
• Windows 7 desktop gadgets
• Antivirus application 

Additional Devices Required

• High quality camera like Kinect for Windows or Intel’s RealSense for Windows Hello, logs your PC through face recognition or fingerprint.
• High-fidelity microphone array for speech recognition 
• BitLocker
• Wi-Fi Direct Printing

Conclusion

Windows 10 is flexible, adaptable, robust and customizable. With the last version of Microsoft Windows, Windows will become a service and support its customers.