Windows 1. 0 Review - Best PC OS Yet, But Beware of Bugs. Like Star Trek movies or San Francisco Giants' seasons, Microsoft Windows lately has been good every other version. After Windows 7 made us forget about all of our negative experiences with its predecessor, Windows Vista, Windows 8 introduced a jarring touch- centric interface that alienated millions of traditional keyboard and mouse users. Fortunately, Windows 1. Microsoft's popular platform up and takes it to new heights with a reinvented Start menu, a built- in Cortana digital assistant and strong performance. XNote Timer is a simple and easy-to-use stopwatch and timer. A few extra features make this program fun, but its best attribute may be that it's so simple to use. The debut of Windows 8 didn’t simply bring Windows into the age of touch, it also heralded the arrival of the Windows Store. The “Store” as it’s known on the. It also boasts a new interface that works well on all types of computers, from 8- inch, touch- only tablets to foldable, 2- in- 1 laptops and large- screen desktops. While Microsoft has traditionally charged anywhere from $3. Windows 1. 0 is a available as a free download for anyone with Windows 7 or 8, an offer you should take advantage of. Windows 1. 0 offers a number of significant improvements for upgraders and gives you access to a new ecosystem of . Just be sure to back up your current operating system and pack a little patience, because as with any major OS upgrade, you could encounter driver issues or bugs. New Start Menu. The biggest problem with Windows 8 was that it replaced the Start menu with a full- screen alternative. So, if you were on the desktop and you needed to launch Photoshop, you would have to go to the Start Screen and click the icon, only to return to the same environment you just left. Windows 1. 0 offers a Start menu that appears on top of the existing desktop and, for the first time ever, allows you to resize by dragging its sides. If you want a full- screen menu, you can get that too, by switching to Tablet Mode, a more touch- friendly environment, which also runs your apps at full screen. Vista Clock is a small clock gadget that stays in the systray and at your desktop. It offers exciting features: Vista Clock is a FREE Desktop Analog/Digital clock. I one gadget that’s really useful System Control 1.2 the lower left hand corner of the gadget there is a PC icon which is named timer, when you click that pulls out. Comfort Software's Free Stopwatch is, as its name suggests, a freeware stopwatch program that tracks time in hours, minutes, and seconds in increments of 0.01 second. For better or worse, this isn't your father's Start menu. Where the Window 7 and XP Start menus contain a series of static icons and expandable folders, the Windows 1. The new Start menu's right pane is a miniature version of Windows 8's Start screen, with customizable groups of tiles. Some of these are . The weather tile, for example, shows the current temperature and sky condition for your home and shows an hourly forecast, which might be enough information for you to avoid opening the app itself. As with Windows 8, you can re- size the tiles, move them around and create your own groups. The Start menu's left pane contains static shortcut icons for your most frequently used apps, along with buttons for File Explorer, Settings and Power. Clicking the All Apps icon brings up a scrollable, alphabetic list of every program you have installed. I wish there were a way to . However, you can pin apps, files and even map locations as tiles on the right side. Cortana and Search. Windows 1. 0 comes with its own version of the female- voiced Cortana digital assistant that Microsoft debuted on Windows Phone in 2. You can use your computer's microphone to ask Cortana questions or send her voice commands to perform tasks such as setting reminders or sending short emails. You can configure Cortana to listen for commands every time you say, . However, I preferred using the assistant by entering text queries with my keyboard, a method of input she also accepts. Overall, I found Cortana's speech recognition to be fairly accurate, but she often made errors or cut me off midcommand. Once, when I tried to ask, . How quickly she responds to voice queries depends on the quality of the Internet connection, because, like Siri, she needs to hit the cloud in order to interpret what you say. It's also really awkward to talk to your computer and potentially embarrassing when other people are within earshot. MORE: Change Cortana's Voice and Language. Cortana's search box doubles as search for the entire computer and the Internet, bringing you a list of local files, settings and programs, along with recommended websites, Web queries and apps from the Microsoft store. While some will find the Web and store suggestions helpful, I found them distracting and usually unhelpful. For example, when I searched for . When I asked her to . You can also ask about photos, emails, Word docs and Excel docs. When I asked Cortana to . Unfortunately, for most fact- based queries I asked, including, . Unlike Google Voice Assistant, Siri and Cortana on phones, this version of Cortana cannot take follow- up questions so you can't, for example, ask, . When I told her to . I selected . If I had Windows phone or a planned future version of Cortana that runs on Android, it would also have reminded me the next time I talked to Henry via voice or SMS. I could have also set the reminder to alert me . Unfortunately, the reminders are stored in Cortana's notebook, so they don't appear in your Outlook or Google calendars. Like Google Now, Cortana provides a series of helpful cards based on your schedule, location and habits. As soon as I clicked in her search box, I was greeted with the local weather, upcoming calendar appointments and news articles. Using the notebook section of Cortana's settings menu, I was able to see all the personal information she had stored about me, and could then correct or delete it. I noticed that she did not know I was a Yankees fan, so I added . So now, the software giant is giving power back to the people, letting you switch between mouse- friendly . However, if you like running your desktop PC in tablet mode or your tablet in desktop mode, you're always welcome to do so. When Windows 1. 0 launches on phones, Continuum will allow it to show a PC- like desktop when you attach your handset to a monitor or TV. MORE: How to Enable Tablet Mode in WIndows 1. Desktop mode shows the iconic desktop with your icons and wallpaper, a task bar that lists open programs, a Start menu that takes up part of the screen and applications that run in re- sizable, draggable windows. Tablet mode is more like Windows 8's Modern UI, with a full- screen Start menu, a back button, and applications that run either at full screen or split screen, without window bars. While I spent most of my time in desktop mode, I appreciated the finger- friendly Start screen when I used Windows 1. Just as the overall Windows user interface can change based on the device, so can the software. With Windows 1. 0, Microsoft is introducing Universal apps, a new type of program that runs on PCs, tablets and phones but changes its layout to match the form factor. While we haven't seen any third- party Universal apps as of this writing, Microsoft has built a couple of first- party Universal apps. They're like responsive websites that look different on phones and computers. For example, the built- in Windows 1. However, if you shrink the window or move to a device with a smaller screen, the program shows only one or two columns. We look forward to seeing how other apps use this functionality in the future. Some universal apps will even be able to run on Windows Holographic, Microsoft's upcoming augmented- reality platform. Notifications, Settings and Sharing. While Windows 8 made your alerts inaccessible as soon as they were off the screen, Windows 1. Action center where you can see all of your most recent notifications and choose to act on them or erase them. For example, a reminder will appear in the Action center, and you can choose to Snooze this reminder for later or Dismiss it altogether. The Action center effectively replaces the hated Charms menu in Windows 8, but you don't have to swipe or perform a hidden gesture to make this center appear; simply click the speech bubble icon in the system tray and up it pops. Below the notifications, at the bottom of the Action center, sit a series of quick- settings buttons for functions such as GPS and wireless networking. There's also a button to take you to the full Settings menu. MORE: These Windows 1. Keyboard Shortcuts Will Save You Time. Like Windows 8, Windows 1. Settings, which has the . In an improvement over Windows 8, the Settings menu now has a lot more functionality and allows you to control all the most important aspects of your computer, from the desktop theme to the language settings and display resolution. However, there are still a number of key functions that are only available in the Control Panel, including the ability to manage fonts, make a user into an administrator, and enable or disable services. Windows 1. 0 has the same Share Contract system as its predecessor, which means that you can share information from any app that is capable of sending content to any app that is installed and capable of receiving it. Where the Share function lived on the Charms menu in Windows 8, it's now a button in the various apps that can perform shares. For example, in the Bing News app, the Share button sits toward the upper left on article pages. When I clicked the Share button, I was presented with the option to share to Facebook, Twitter, Email, One. Note or the Reading List, a built- in app that stores a list of pages you want to see later. Facebook and Twitter appeared, but only because I had their apps installed. If I were to install another social networking app, it too would appear on the list of options, as long as its developer programmed it correctly. This is a huge advantage over Apple's Mac OS X El Capitan and i. OS 9, both of which allow you to share to only a limited set of services that the company has approved. So far, there are no official Google+, Linked. In or Pinterest apps, though some third- party alternatives exist. Virtual Desktops, Window Snapping. Windows 1. 0 adds a virtual- desktops feature, which is helpful for keeping your applications organized when you are doing a ton of multitasking. By hitting Windows Key + Tab, you get a list of all your open applications and the ability to add to or switch desktops. You can then organize your windows by putting, for example, all of your work applications on one desktop and your entertainment apps on another. However, there's plenty of room for improvement.
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