Windows 10

su 4 Aug 2019	Recently we've had two admittedly elderly desktops struggle with Window 10 updates significantly slowing the machines. In both cases Windows 10 Assistant fixed the problem. On one machine it pointed out that 8Gig free space was needed on the hard disc and there was only three, a little tidying steamed the broccoli.
th 28 Aug 2025	Zooming Sunday night with Big Al who's in Switzerland he pointed out that on his Windows update page there's an Enrol now link to extend security updates for Windows 10. We looked at ours Monday and no Enrol now on our pc but we installed the latest system update and today Enrol now has appeared. We clicked it and after the usual tangle with passwords and PINs we couldn't remember our security updates for Win 10 are extended to October 2026.
tu 6 May 2025 Windows 10	WARNING Trump isn't the only knob in the USA, Microsoft are ending support for Windows 10 Tuesday 14 October including security fixes. To see if your box will run Windows 11 download and install PC Health Check but if your box is more than five years old probably not. Maybe Trump will make the Windows 12 upgrade easier by only allowing Americans to have it.
we 22 Nov 2017	It seems that Microscoft have been pratting about with the photo viewer in the latest Win10 upgrade. The slideshow icon has disappeared but user key f5 will do it; and there's now a different response to the magnifying glass zoom so useful to know that Ctrl + mouse wheel will zoom a pic.
th 24 Aug 2017	It worried us for quite a while that the Windows 10 accent system colour kept changing all by itself on a desktop. It was happening because we'd set the background to slide show and when the graphic changed so did the accent colour. Fix it by Windows Key/Settings/Personalisation/Colours and uncheck the Automatically pick an accent colour ... box.
tu 25 Oct 2016	The thing about Windows is it's made mostly by Americans and they don't realise that in their foreign people do strange things like sometimes turn their computer off. The Windows anniversary update has made it even more difficult to turn the bloody thing off. You can still do it from the keyboard but you need to know the shortcut Windows key + X/U/U. We've also added on a desktop the shortcut described at CNet (Option 2: halfway down).
we 5 Oct 2016	The Windows 10 Anniversary Update took forever here, forced multiple reboots with the last reboot leaving a desktop hanging and we had to force our own reboot. If like us you've previously turned Cortana off annoyingly the update turns it back on and removes the on/off toggle. How-To Geek have a download (halfway down the page) that's a one click fix.
tu 12 Jul 2016 Toggle Keys	Worth repeating: turn on Toggle Keys and you'll hear a confirming higher pitched tone when you turn on Caps; Num or Scroll Lock, turn them off and you'll hear a lower pitched tone. To set Toggle Keys in Windows 10 go Windows key/Settings/Ease of Access/Keyboard/Toggle Keys-On.
sa 28 May 2016	Windows 10's picture viewer Photo Gallery defaults to slide shows in that annoying Pan and zoom Ken Burns way. If you hover your mouse top left a Change theme pull down appears so you can change to slightly less irritating transitions but there doesn't seem to be a way to change the default, that's stuck at Pan and zoom.
tu 8 Mar 2016	In Windows 10 lots of the old favourites like Control Panel aren't immediately apparent, point the mouse at the Windows button bottom left (unless you've moved the task bar) and click the right mouse button (if you're right handed) to get this useful menu.
su 10 Jan 2016	When we upgraded to Windows 10 in that American way it added a US keyboard causing ENG to appear bottom right on the task bar. (ENG lets you switch between keyboards.) No biggy but a bit annoying and another bit of the screen occupied for no reward. Removing the US keyboard is a little bit of a faff, we went Windows/C/Control Panel/Language, selected English (United States) and then clicked Remove above ... ENG gone.
we 4 Nov 2015	Windows 10 brings the gestures you know on other devices to your touchpad. Particularly useful if your touchpad doesn't have scroll bars is the two fingered swipe.
fr 9 Oct 2015	Americans eh? In Windows 10 it still takes three clicks to turn your pc off because our colonial cousins never do, it first assumes you have a US keyboard and there's no DVD player software because we're all going to have Netflix subscriptions ... except when we put Ghost World in and after a bit of clicking it did play in the Microscoft DVD player. Microscoft have really muddied the water over this but we upgraded to 10 from Win 7 and presumably got a free DVD player download. If this doesn't work for you try the free, open source and French VLC media player.
we 16 Sep 2015	A useful new keyboard shortcut in Windows 10 is Windows key + X which pops up a substantial menu of system stuff and has underlined keyboard shortcuts. You can do the same thing by right clicking what's now the Windows 10 logo bottom left and was the Start button, the same menu appears and though keyboard shortcuts are not underlined they still function.
th 3 Sep 2015	This might be a bug in Windows 10 and happened to us after we had to reinstall a scanner driver, when listing picture file in File Explorer there aren't any thumbnails. The fix is straight forward; in File Explorer click the View tab, click Options, click the View tab and make sure the first check box Always show icons, never thumbnails is unchecked.
mo 17 Aug 2015	After updating to Windows 10 and not taking advantage of the installer's offer to change the file associations (they set which app opens when you double click on a file) you'll find pictures now open in Microscoft's viewer/editor Photos. If you want the old viewer back go Settings/System/Default apps and set Photo viewer to Photo Gallery.
su 16 Aug 2015	03:11pm: We've done two backups, one to a USB drive and one to the NAS, taken a deep calming breath and about to start a Windows 10 upgrade on the main desktop here ... 05:30pm: Windows 10 installed, fairly painless though a number of forced power offs have been needed. Nothing that different from Windows 7 but still having to find our way round ...
fr 31 Jul 2015	Ah, there isn't a free Windows 10 upgrade for Vista ...
th 30 Jul 2015	Windows 10 installed at second attempt. It looks very flat and simple as is the fashion these days perhaps because it works better on a smartphone, a new browser named Edge no doubt without the definite article to prevention confusion with people called David, a thing called WiFi-Sense to manage and protect your wireless connections, and an impressive weather app which includes historical data. We're going to try updating a Vista laptop that actually is Vista next.
we 29 Jul 2015	11:25am: Waiting for the free Windows 10 upgrade on a Vista laptop, of course everything has decided to update itself to confuse the issue ... 02:25pm: Vista laptop finally updated despite Windows Upgrade's determination to install some Windows 7 upgrades ... no sign of Windows 10 won't hold our breath. 02:44pm: Ah, just found the Windows 10 download directory on the Vista laptop so the download has started ... 04:44pm: Three gig downloaded in the last three hours and still at it ... 05:29pm: The download seems to have completed at 5.2 gig but no email confirmation ... 05:40pm: The laptop seems to be Windows 7 I would have sworn it was Vista ... 08:50pm: Still no email but we tickled the install to start but it then failed with error 80240020. The Microscoft fix for this is to download again ... see you tomorrow.
th 22 Jan 2015	Microsoft Windows 10 is due this year. (April? Hold your breath?) Despite the Beeb getting a mild stiffy over augmented reality and the speech interface Cortana, surely the most relevant news for Win 7 and Win 8 users is the upgrade will be free for them during the first year of release.

Windows 7 • email us • advertise