Top Ten Best Features In Windows 10

Windows 8's successor is here and it's looking pretty snazzy. I reserved it for free months ago and after completing the download yesterday I can gladly say that it is both far superior to Windows 8 and quite possibly Microsoft's finest operating system yet. This list compiles the features that are a part of the new Windows 10.
The Top Ten
1 The Start Menu

One of the biggest complaints about Windows 8 was the unnecessary removal of the "Start" menu button. Well, that mistake has been gloriously undone. It's right back in the lower left corner of the screen where it belongs and it's new and improved (it's now a hybrid of the old Start Menu we haven't had since Windows 7 and the Metro Start Screen from Windows 8 (the screen with all the tiles) - it is how it should have been in the first place, basically). There are a few new tiles added to keep things fresh, new, and convenient (of course), and you are given the ability to remove the tiles from the menu, all together, to revert it back to its original format (if it so pleases you). All in all, this change is definitely the best of the bunch!

This is probably the best thing ADDED to Win10 but I honestly do not like it much... I mean it's pretty cool but it lacks the linear and simple design of Win 7 and before. It is not nearly as simple to do the same thing and is very uncomfortable in many ways. As for the touch start screen that has been improved a lot and is actually usable in desktop unlike its predecessor... (Plus the menu still fits with tablets and other touch devices...)

2 Windows Edge

For years Internet Explorer has been falling further and further behind web browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox. Well, Microsoft has bounced back with it's replacement for the dying browser, and it's a big improvement. It's simplistic design makes it considerably speedier, slicker and much easier to maneuver through. It's all new rendering engine provides us with a lot of new features that range from pop up help from Cortana (Microsoft's version of Siri) during internet searches, digital inking tools that allow you to highlight and mark up anything on a page and share it instantly (not to mention a quick-cropping option that saves your cropped portion of the page instantly), and a really nifty new "Reading View" option where you can de-clutter any page and just focus in on the text and pictures (the stuff you actually came to see) of that particular page. This feature also can stash away these very pages for you to return to later. Wow. There are guides for all of these things, by ...more

3 Cortana

Microsoft's handy little assistant (previously only on Windows Phone 8.1) has now entered the world of PCs with Windows 10, where she (or it - whatever sounds less creepy) basically takes control of the system's searching functions. If you're familiar with Apple's "Siri", you'll have very little difficulty imagining what Cortana can do. There are really too many things to say about her and the services she provides so I will allow you to find it all out for yourselves. Believe me, she offers a lot.

4 The New Windows Store

The all-new Windows Store has improved upon its predecessor by re-configuring itself to better suit the Windows 10 desktop format. So, now it actually opens in a desktop window and is more mouse-friendly (unlike the Windows 8 store which was designed exclusively for touchscreens). It's also appropriately condensed to a more suitable size. I was not a fan of using the Windows Store back in its old format, but I am thinking I might actually use it now thanks to its improved layout.

The old Windows Store was the worst! Now that the new one is here, they need to start caring about it more and inviting/advertising for more game companies to make stuff there.

The best windows store. Only bad thing is the menu.

5 Continuum

Windows 10 has not forgotten about all you touchscreen users (me included - my laptop is a touchscreen one). The new "Continuum" feature allows you to switch between the regular interface and a considerably-more touchscreen-friendly one (much like Windows 8 - which was designed for touchscreen interfaces). It all depends on how you're using your device (again, like Windows 8). So feel free to go crazy with your fingers and touchscreen the hell out of your computer/tablet.

6 Unified Settings

Before, with Windows 8, your devices' settings were slip in half. Half of the settings were with your desktop's Control Panel, and the other half were on the Metro Start Screen (I know - confusing). Now, your devices settings are (mostly) all kept together under the new "Settings" app. From what I know there are still a few things that require a visit to the Control Panel, though. Still, it's close enough.

7 Better Core Apps

The "core" apps I am referring to are the apps like "Calendar", "Photos", and "Mail" that performed key functions back with Windows 8. Now, they've been revamped. They respond faster when you poke or click on them and can fit many more useful things on screen while remaining finger-friendly. Of course, each app has enhanced features that are specific to their respective functions so you'll need to look them up individually for more information.

8 Task View

I have a few tech-oriented friends that make frequent use of "virtual desktops" (more than one desktop operating at once) and now the power to make use of them has come to Microsoft 10. You can go back and forth between multiple "desktops" of applications in whatever way you choose to organize them. It's sort of complicated, but from my friends' point of view it is very useful.

9 Action Center

Receiving notifications in Windows 8 was as much a pain in the neck as it was helpful. You'd receive a small square bubble on your screen that would come and go in a flash and remain irretrievable after disappearing. Now, notifications are collectively archived in what is called the "Action Center" (or "Centre" - for us Canucks, eh) and are always accessible. The Action Center also houses a host of very useful quick-action buttons. You can instantly activate Bluetooth, swap into a special tablet-oriented mode, and much more.

10 The Error Message
The Contenders
11 The Xbox App

I am a PlayStation guy so I will likely have very little to do with this app but I do realize how awesome it sounds. You will have to look this one up yourself also to get an idea of how it works. If they had a PS4 App I would have been all over that.

12 Task Switcher
13 Virtual Machines Built-In
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