Living with Windows 10: One Week Later
Last Thursday I installed Windows 10 on my custom built PC (aka The WinBeast). Over the past several days, I’ve recorded some notes and observations about Microsoft’s much lauded OS. Without ado, here they are:
1. The Windows 10 desktop is appealing and easy on the eyes. The light icons on dark interface does a great job of putting focus on my open apps and windows.
2. Windows Mail is nice, but there is no method of seeing a unified inbox – which is exceedingly frustrating to me. I have four email accounts and I have to go into each one separately to check my email.
3. Edge is my go-to browser. It’s fast and I prefer its minimalistic, clean interface. I haven’t felt the need to install Chrome or Firefox on it.
4. I still haven’t figured out how to excise Skype from my Taskbar. Short of visiting the Task Manager to quit it, Skype is like the house-guest who never leaves.
5. File Explorer’s icons are pleasing to my eye, but there are still visual inconsistencies throughout Windows 10 that need to be addressed.
6. Cortana’s voice recognition is impressive. As such, I’ve started using it more.
7. My biggest beef with Windows has finally been addressed. It is much, much easier to find and tweak control panel settings.
8. The Windows Store selection is disappointing. Where are the killer third party productivity apps? (Aside: Flipboard for Windows is brilliant.)
9. There were no driver conflicts when plugging in new accessories (printer, microphone, etc.) but I did have some initial hiccups in getting Windows 10 to recognize a new 1TB Western Digital SATA hard drive. A visit to the BIOs was needed first.
Complaints aside, I’m optimistic about Windows 10. I enjoy using it and look forward to seeing what future updates will bring.
-Krishna
Antoine
August 6, 2015 at 7:22 amHey here Krishna.
For Skype, just right-click on the Skype icon on the taskbar and select Quit Skype. No need to go in Task Manager.
My biggest beef is the fact they keep telling me I can integrate Skype into their new and shiny Messaging App while the actual app hasn’t been made available yet… lol
Krishna
August 6, 2015 at 1:36 pmThanks, Antoine. Try as I might to right-click and select Quit, the app refuses to do so. :(
Tony J
August 6, 2015 at 7:40 amHi,
Skype is incredibly annoying in that it just doesn’t seem to want to go away, but if you right-click on it you should see an option near the top to “Quit Skype”. Click that then after a few seconds (enough to make you think it hasn’t worked), it’ll ask if you really want to quit, as you wont’ get messages etc if you do. As if you hadn’t already realised that!! That should close Skype, then use a program such as CCleaner to edit your startup programs to stop it automatically starting again each time you re-start Windows.
Our biggest problem when my wife upgraded her laptop was that the desktop seemed to go into a constant refresh state. This was resolved by un-installing Norton’s antivirus software then re-installing that afresh.
Hope you enjoy Windows 10! :-)
grahamf
August 6, 2015 at 12:04 pmIn Skype:
Tools-> Options:
In General – General Settings tab: [] Start Skype when I start Windows
In Advanced – Advanced Settings tab: [] Keep Skype in the taskbar when I’m signed in.
At any time you can right-click the icon in the notifications tray and hit quit.
Can’t help you with Mail. I only use a Outlook account, and my gmail account (required for certain things) is set to forward it’s few emails to the Outlook.
Krishna
August 6, 2015 at 1:38 pmhi Graham:
Oddly enough, I’ve tried right-clicking the icon in the notifications tray and it doesn’t seem to quit the app. I’ve even applied the settings you’ve posted, but it doesn’t take. I’ll see if a reboot clears the issue.
Krishna
August 6, 2015 at 2:09 pma reboot did the trick!
Matt
August 7, 2015 at 10:59 amOne thing I’ve learned with Windows of all versions…when in doubt, reboot!
Michael
August 14, 2015 at 8:14 amI always give my customers the same spiel, don’t use computer integrated mail, use a webmail provider (gmail, outlook/hotmail are the ones they usually go to) and store your mail that may need backing up on computers that are reliably backed up and off site. Hard drive goes kablooey and its there when you log in.