Introduction to Windows 10 Desktop Mode

So, it seems like Microsoft has now released a new update for Windows 10 desktop mode this time. Err…This is not an update, it’s an upgrade. At least that’s what Microsoft says as for now.

Last time Microsoft released an Upgrade (Windows 8 and 8.1), most people were quite irritated due to the laggy and RAM eating performance of Windows 8.

Microsoft, however, stated that it was supposed to be fast than Windows 7. But the only thing better was the Windows 8 boot time.

Even people criticized windows 8 for its new Metro, which was actually awesome for tablets and convertibles, but for a laptop or a Desktop? Nah… Just think, you have an HD 1080p resolution monitor of 32”, and all of your space is getting consumed with a Start Menu. Yeah. It was Nightmarish.

Besides, let alone the fact that the updates of Windows 8 kept it on a forever boot loop and extreme system crashes. You could, however, install third-party apps, to get the old start menu back like the Start Menu 7 for all the versions of Windows 10 desktop mode.

But no matter how many third-party apps you used, combined together, they could not suffice with the crashes that used to happen; especially because of the updates. I can conclude that most of you may even be familiar with the following screenshot.

You could, however, turn off the updates and stop windows 8 from crashing, but that would again stop you from a lot of necessary Security and Compatibility updates, which is again a mess of mental peace. Popular Course in this categoryAll in One Software Development Bundle (600+ Courses, 50+ projects)600+ Online Courses | 3000+ Hours | Verifiable Certificates | Lifetime Access
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Yeah. 2 years back when I installed Windows 8, I got quite irritated especially with the smiley above, because I started seeing that most likely every other day. It seemed to be more of that of taunting smile on me for the crash, than cry.

And that was my main reason to switch from Dual Booted Windows 10 desktop mode and Linux to Full Time Linux. But with the new Windows 10 desktop mode rolling, let’s see if that changes the dice.

Windows 10 desktop mode Looks

This is something most windows 10 new desktop users will be happy with. The default UI theme is black in nature. The Metro Start Menu is gone. Now you get your old start menu back, similar to that of Windows 7 which does not eat up your whole monitor.

Instead, you get a combination of a start menu of Windows 7 and Windows 8 all inside one start menu.

Yeah, they look cool and far better from Windows 8 since they don’t lag, unlike the Metro UI. Even the animations and themes are quite decent I would say. Some people still prefer the Windows 8 Start Menu.

So for them, the Live Tiles are still available. However, for people wanting Metro UI, they still can have their Windows 8 Start Menu back (which takes up the whole screen) without installing any third party apps.

No wonder, with all the bad vibes it got because of Windows 8, it has kept a lot of options open this time. And this part of the Windows8 start menu comes extremely handy when you have a small screen convertible of the tablet. And the best thing about windows 10 new desktop is you can resize the start menu a per your wish.

The annoying forced hot corners have been removed here and a new action center has replaced the old notification center. This way here it collects all the alerts and stuff.

Multi-tasking

Multitasking with windows 10 new desktop just got easier. Seems like Microsoft has gone through a lot of Mac and Linux stuff to get it all right together. Microsoft has introduced a new feature known as the Snap.

Here, you can drag a window to the corner of a screen, and make it use half the size of your screen, similar to that of Windows 8, but with a much better and smoother experience.

But again, unlike Windows 8, all the remaining apps will be shown in the remaining half of your screen which is quite good if you ask me. This way you can arrange a lot of things if you are using an Extended or a Multiple Desktop Environment.

If you have a tablet or a touchscreen Convertible, you can even swipe from the left side of the screen to bring a list of all of the open applications.

Besides the Snap feature, Microsoft has also introduced a new feature known as the Task View. This seems to me more like that of a Mission Control feature which we have on the Mac.

With Task View, you can display all the open windows 10 new desktop on a single Screen. With all of these things in the picture, it seems like Microsoft has more focused on Multi-tasking and wants its users to do the same and with ease.

Virtual Desktops

Yes. This seems unusual. Many of the Linux users and most tech-savvy people using windows 7 may be knowing this. Linux and Mac both have virtual Desktops. If you don’t know what that means, have a look below.

Image Source: microsoft.com

In Linux, this is called a Workspace. If you are a Mac User, the most likely you will be knowing this as well. Even this feature has been introduced in the Windows 10 desktop mode. People using windows 7 may be used to using third-party apps to force these multiple desktops, but again, who can rely on third-party apps.

With these things in mind, Microsoft has again improved Multi-tasking with this feature. But unlike Mac, where you can easily switch between desktops with just a 3-finger swipe (on the trackpad) to right or left, you cannot do the same thing in Windows 10 desktop mode.

You have to specifically press the Windows key, the Control key and the left or right button depending on which you need.

Internet Browsing and Voice Control

In this category, Microsoft has introduced two new Applications. And Edge browser instead of the default internet explorer for windows 10 desktop mode and Cortana. Yes! It’s the bloody awesome Cortana.

Edge

Edge is totally different from the old Internet Explorer. It consists of a lot of Windows 10 desktop mode new features from modern browsers like Chrome and has loads of things built-in.

If that’s not enough, it allows people to even customize itself. First, look at the windows edge, and you will seemingly recognize the properties are grasped from Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Its run fast has sleek animations and runs at par in HTML5 support with its competitors. And seems like Microsoft has focused a good amount of time on the Security of the Web Browser.

One look and you will recognize a lot of hideous features have been removed. Features like ActiveX, the ugly Silverlight, VBScript, and other malware-attracting stuff. You even get a switch to manually turn off the Adobe Flash Player.

It has a lot of apps built in like chrome, like the PDF Reader and stuff. As of now, the edge does not have support for extensions, but it’s been promised by Microsoft, that it will be in the near future.

Cortana

Raise your hands who don’t know Cortana. Ok, I don’t see anyone with their hands up. And that’s exactly how much Cortana is Famous. If you don’t know about Cortana, then you probably must live with all your doors closed.

Cortana is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) or Voice control developed by Microsoft. So, far we only saw it in the Windows 10 Phones like the Lumia.

But now, it’s been introduced to Desktops as well. Cortana is not just voice control. If you are bored, you can even talk to Cortana. Yeah. It is that smart. For e.g. If you ask it ‘whose your father?’, you will get an answer like Bill Gates with a lot of explanations from it. It’s more like Siri on Mac and Android’s Google Voice.

You even get an option of “Hey, Cortana” similar to that of “Hey, Google” in Android. You can use Cortana to send messages and short emails, write voice-based descriptions and even create an email from scratch without even touching your mouse. You can also get weather reports, take down notes and search browser similar to that of Android.

Ok! Lots of Good things. What’s the Catch?

Yeah. Though there are a lot of good things about windows 10 feature update here, there is hardly any catch here. Most of you may have downloaded a Windows 10 feature updates for free. But it isn’t really free. If you notice properly, you may see some ads on Metro-tiles every now and then. Maybe advertisements are the price for getting Windows 10 feature updates for free.

There are a lot of other about Windows 10 features, which are not fully functional. Photos app is still laggy. Though Media Centre is gone, the new Windows 10 player cannot play mkv and DVD files which are quite irritating.

One has to switch to VLC in the end. It’s even quite difficult to manage playlist in the new Music App now name as Groove. There is another feature for convertibles where one can switch from mouse to touchscreen which is known as Continuum, but it still has hardware issues.

Conclusion

So, the question is to be, or not to be. In our case, it’s to install or not to. Frankly speaking, I would surely give it a try. Since I will always prefer Linux over Windows 10 feature update, I would, however, give it a try by dual booting my desktop. Microsoft has come a long way ahead and has put a lot of Milestones in Place.

Though Windows 10 is still in its young age, it’s good to see it giving competition to Mac, if not Linux. At least it’s easy and will always be to use Windows 10 instead of Mac until unless you are a programmer and a tech-savvy guy.

First Image Source: pixabay.com

Introduction to Windows 10 Desktop Mode