Working with Windows 10

By Paul Woods, National Manager – Business Productivity Services, Data^#3

With Windows 10 launched at the end of July, we’ve now had a couple of weeks to play around with and adjust to the new operating system.

It’s clear that Windows 10 offers some great technical and enterprise features however, this article will focus on some of the user interface changes that have been designed to help make your workday more productive and efficient.

Like many of you, I wear different hats on different days – sales manager, onsite customer consultant or even post-graduate student! Regardless of which hat I’m wearing, Windows 10 offers three key improvements that have already changed the way I work, including:

1. Snap Assist
   

   Whether it’s a Word document, Excel spreadsheet or Internet browser, we’ve been able to ‘snap’ an application window since Windows 7. However, the new Snap Assist feature in Windows 10 makes it even easier to manage your application windows.

   As well as allowing you to snap up to four windows at once, Snap Assist now presents all your open applications on the side of your screen. Simply click on one of the thumbnails to snap that application in the free space. Nice!

   

2. Edge Browser
   

   I’ve been a Firefox/Chrome user for a long time, mainly because I find Internet Explorer is always just a little bit slower than the rest of the competition. Edge changes that.

   Not only is browsing the web a lot faster with Edge, simple things like native PDF viewing is vastly improved. What’s more, the tight integration with OneNote enables me to scribble on web pages and then save those notes into my OneNote notebook. That means less switching between programs, less copying and pasting and more time to get stuff done.

   

3. Tablet Mode
   

   I love my Surface Pro 3 however, without a keyboard, the traditional start menu was cumbersome and fiddly. The new Windows 10 user interface has rectified this situation.

   Working in tablet mode is now a breeze, regardless of whether the keyboard is folded back or disconnected. This simple change in user interface has greatly improved usability, irrespective of the type of task I’m working on.

Simple. Intuitive. Efficient.

All in all, I’ve been extremely happy with these simple, yet effective new features of the Windows 10 user interface. They’re already having a positive impact on the way I work.

As I spend more time using Windows 10, I’ll be sharing more of my favourite features, as well as tips on how you can improve productivity with the new operating system.

Click here to learn more about Windows 10.