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Working with the New Desktop

The desktop is what you see after you start your computer and log on. It's your virtual workspace, and you must master it to begin using your computer faster and smarter. Click the Task View button to display the Task View panel or press the Windows logo key + Tab. The Task View panel shows a preview of each desktop and allows you to easily add, remove or switch between desktops. With this panel open, you can:

Add a desktop simply by clicking the New Desktop option. Although you can have many desktops, the desktop space is more manageable when you have between one and nine desktops.
Switch between desktops simply by clicking the desktop you want to open.
Delete a desktop simply by right-clicking it and then selecting the Delete button (an X in the upper right corner of the desktop preview).

Optimizing Interface Performance

Windows 10 supports visual effects animations, fades and translucent selection rectangles. The Windows 10 desktop with these features enabled is pretty, but like any cosmetic, their value depends on many factors.

On older or less powerful devices, you will want to use less of the pretty stuff; using fewer system resources makes Windows more responsive. The same is likely to be true for that new netbook or tablet PC you just bought.

You can optimize the desktop for the way you want to work by following these steps:

Type SystemPropertiesAdvanced in the Search box, and then press Enter to open the System Properties dialog box with the Advanced tab selected. (You can get to the same dialog box through Control Panel as well. Click System And Security and then click System. In the left pane, click Advanced System Settings.)
Tip: Although there are many shortcuts you can use to access the various tabs and options of the System Properties dialog box, you need not know or remember them all. Instead, pick one technique you like, put it to memory, and use it. The technique mentioned in this step. If the Advanced tab isn't the one I want to work with after opened the dialog box, simply click the tab want to use, rather than trying to remember that SystemPropertiesComputerName opens the Computer Name tab, SystemPropertiesHardware opens the Hardware tab, SystemPropertiesProtection opens the System Protection tab, and SystemPropertiesRemote opens the Remote tab.

If command memorization isn't your thing but you'd still like a quick and easy way to access System Properties, try this: Type
SystemPropertiesAdvanced in the Search box. Right-click
SystemPropertiesAdvanced in the results, and then click Open File Location. In File Explorer, right-click SystemPropertiesAdvanced and then select Pin To Taskbar. Now the System Properties | Advanced Tab shortcut is available on the taskbar. Whenever you want to access it, simply click the related icon on the taskbar.
In the Performance section, click Settings to open the Performance Options dialog box. You can now:
- Select Adjust For Best Performance to get rid of all the pretty stuff, or select Adjust For Best Appearance to enable all the pretty stuff.
- Select or clear individual visual effects.
Save your changes by clicking OK twice to close both dialog boxes.

The visual add-ons that have the biggest effect on performance include:

Animate Controls And Elements Inside Windows: Controls the slow-fade effect on buttons and tabs in dialog boxes. When off, buttons glow and tabs open without animation.
Animate Windows When Minimizing And Maximizing: Determines whether squeezing or stretching animation is used when minimizing or maximizing windows. When off, Windows pop into position.
Animations In the Taskbar: Controls animations associated with jump lists, thumbnail previews, and sliding taskbar buttons. When off, no animations are used.
Fade Or Slide Menus Into View: Controls whether menus fade or slide into view. When off, menus snap open without delay.
Fade Or Slide ToolTips Into View: Controls whether tooltips fade or slide into view. When off, tooltips snap open without delay.
Fade Out Menu Items After Clicking: Controls whether menu items fade out after clicking. When off, the item selected opens without delay.
Slide Open Combo Boxes: Controls the animations associated with drop-down list boxes. When off, drop-down lists snap open.

Mastering Desktop Essentials

Like a real workspace, the desktop can get cluttered. Programs that you run and folders that you open appear on the desktop in separate windows, and all these open windows can quickly make it difficult to get to the desktop itself. To quickly declutter, you can rearrange open program and folder windows by right-clicking an empty area of the taskbar and then clicking one of the following viewing options:

Cascade Windows: Arranges the open windows so that they overlap, with the title bar remaining visible.
Show Windows Stacked Resizes: the open windows and arranges them on top of each other, in one or more columns.
Show Windows Side by Side: Resizes the open windows and stacks them side by side.

To get to the desktop without decluttering, use the small, blank button on the far right of the taskbar. This button is called the Show Desktop button. You can temporarily hide all open windows by clicking the Show Desktop button. Click the button again to unhide the windows and restore them to their previous state. Alternatively, right-click the taskbar and select Show The Desktop or Show Open Windows as appropriate.

Tip: Another way to hide or show open windows is to press the Windows logo key+D.

The Task View is also handy for working with the desktop. As I told you earlier, you use Task View to add, remove and switch between desktops. When you click the Task View button, you see a preview of each open window on the active desktop.

In the Task View preview mode, you can:

Bring any window to the front simply by clicking on it.
Close any window by hovering over it and then clicking the close button in the upper right corner of the window.

Note: You hover by moving the mouse pointer over a screen element. If you must hover and click, you move the mouse over the element and then click the button or option. With a touch screen, you simply need to tap the element and then tap the button or option.

You can store files, folders, and shortcuts on the desktop for quick and easy access. Any file or folder that you drag from a File Explorer window to the desktop stays on the desktop. Rather than placing files or folders on the desktop, you can add a shortcut to a file or folder to the desktop by following these steps:

Click the File Explorer icon on the taskbar to use File Explorer to locate the file or folder that you want to add to the desktop.
Right-click the file or folder. On the shortcut menu, point to Send To, and then click Desktop (Create Shortcut).

You can also add system icons to the desktop. By default, the only system icon on the desktop is the Recycle Bin. You can add or remove system icons by completing the following steps:

Right-click an empty area of the desktop, and then click Personalize.
In the left pane of the Personalization window, click Themes and then in the main pane under Related Settings, click Desktop Icon Settings. This opens the Desktop Icon Settings dialog box.
Add or remove icons by selecting or clearing their related check boxes and then clicking OK to save your changes.

Some of the desktop icons can be renamed by right-clicking the icon, clicking Rename, typing the desired name, and then pressing Enter. For example, you could rename Recycle Bin as Trash Barrel by right-clicking Recycle Bin, clicking Rename, typing Trash Barrel, and then pressing Enter.

If you no longer want an icon or shortcut on the desktop, right-click it, and then click Delete. When prompted, confirm the action by clicking Yes. Each icon has special options and uses:

Accessing computers and devices on your network: Double-clicking the Network icon opens a window where you can access the computers and devices on your network.
Accessing Control Panel: Double-clicking the Control Panel icon opens the Control Panel, which provides access to system configuration and management tools.
Accessing hard disks and devices: Double-clicking the This PC icon opens a window from which you can access hard disk drives and devices with removable storage.
Accessing the System page in Control Panel: Right-clicking the This PC icon and clicking Properties displays the System page in Control Panel.
Accessing File Explorer: Double-clicking the folder icon for the user's files opens your user profile folder in File Explorer.
Connecting to network drives: Right-clicking the This PC icon (or the Network icon) and selecting Map Network Drive allows you to connect to shared network folders.
Managing your computer: Right-clicking the This PC icon and clicking Manage opens the Computer Management console.
Removing deleted items: Right-clicking the Recycle Bin icon and clicking Empty Recycle Bin permanently removes all items in the Recycle Bin.
Restoring deleted items: Double-clicking the Recycle Bin icon opens the Recycle Bin, which you can use to view or restore deleted items.

Now that you know how to add items to the desktop, try this:

Create a custom Show Desktop button that you can place anywhere on the desktop, open Notepad.exe, type the commands below, and then save the file on the desktop as Show.scf.
```
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=Explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop
```
Now double-click the related icon to display or hide windows on the active desktop.

Stretching the Desktop

Increasingly, desktop PCs and laptops support multiple display devices, allowing you to add a monitor to increase your desktop space. Not only is this a relatively inexpensive way to make your computer more useful, it can also boost your productivity.

Here's an example: You connect two monitors to your computer, or add a monitor as an additional output for your laptop. By placing the screens side by side and enabling multiple displays, you effectively stretch your desktop space and make it possible to view programs and files open on both screens at the same time. This allows you to have multiple windows open all the time-some on your primary screen and some on your secondary screen.

As Windows 10 supports multiple desktops, each of these multiple desktops would also then stretch across the multiple displays. Here, the desktops provide the virtual space and the displays provide the physical space.

Typically, if a computer supports multiple displays, it has multiple display adapter connectors. For example, if a desktop PC has three display adapter connectors (two digital and one analog), it likely supports at least two monitors; if a laptop has additional display adapter connectors (digital or analog), it likely supports at least two monitors.

You can confirm the number of supported displays by checking the technical specifications for your display adapter on the manufacturer's website. To determine the type of display adapter on your computer, right-click an empty area of the desktop, and then click Screen Resolution. On the Screen Resolution page, click the Advanced Settings link. The adapter type listed for your display adapter shows the manufacturer name and model information, such as NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980.

Getting a computer that supports multiple monitors to stretch the desktop across two monitors is best handled as follows:

With the computer shut down (and not in the sleep or hibernate state), connect the monitors to the computer, and then turn on the monitors.
Next, start your computer and log on.
Troubleshooting: The logon screen should appear on one of the monitors (although not necessarily on the one directly in front of you). If the logon screen doesn't appear, turn off both monitors in turn, and then turn the monitors back on. If a monitor has multiple modes, such as analog and digital, wait for the monitor to switch to the appropriate mode or manually configure the mode by using the monitor's configuration settings. You may need to wiggle the mouse or press keys on the keyboard to get the monitor to sense the appropriate mode.
Right-click an open area on the desktop, and then click Display Settings to open the Display page in Settings.
Click Detect to have Windows display the identity number of each monitor. With two monitors, the displays are numbered 1 and 2. By default, Display 1 always includes the Start menu, taskbar, and notification tray.
Confirm the display order. Windows doesn't know how you've placed the monitors on your desktop. Instead, it assumes that the primary display device is the first one connected and the secondary display device is the second one connected. It also assumes that the second display is to the right of the first display, which allows you to move the mouse pointer to the right to go from the desktop on the first display to the desktop stretched to the second display.
You can tell windows how your monitors are oriented in several ways. If Display 2 is on the left side of Display 1, click the representation of the Display 2 desktop on the Screen Resolution page, drag it to the left past the Display 1 desktop, release the mouse button, and then click Apply. The orientation should now show Display 1 on the left and Display 2 on the right; you can confirm proper configuration by clicking the Identify button. To reverse this procedure, perform the same steps, but drag to right instead of to the left.

If you identify and orient the displays incorrectly, moving from the desktop on one monitor to the stretched desktop on the other monitor won't be logical. For example, if Display 2 is physically located to the right of Display 1, but you've incorrectly configured the displays, you may not be able to access the stretched desktop on Display 2 by moving the pointer to the right. Instead, you may need to move the pointer to the left, past the edge of Display 1's desktop, and vice versa.

After you've connected an additional monitor and oriented it properly, working with multiple monitors is fairly straightforward. When you stretch the desktop across two displays, the resolution setting of both displays determines how large the desktop is. If Display 1's resolution is 1920 x 1080 and Display 2's resolution is 1920 x 1080, the effective resolution is 3840 x 1080.

When you maximize windows, they fill their current display from edge to edge. You can click on windows and drag them from the desktop on one display to the stretched desktop on another display. After you click and drag a window, size it as appropriate for the way you want to use it. For many programs, Windows remembers where you've positioned a window when you close it; the next time you open the window, it appears positioned on the appropriate display, as you last worked with it. However, some programs won't remember your preferred monitor, either by design or because the program isn't appropriate for multiple displays.

Any wallpaper you've selected as the background for your desktop will appear on all your displays. Whether you choose a picture position of Fill, Fit, Stretch, or Center, you see a duplicate of the background on each display.

If you want different pictures to appear on each display, you must create pictures at the appropriate resolution, store them in an appropriate folder (such as a subfolder of C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper), select them as your desktop background, and use the Span or Tile option of the Choose A Fit list. For example, if Display 1's resolution is 1920 x 1080 and Display 2's resolution is 1920 x 1080, using an art program such as Photoshop, you could combine two 1920 x 1080 images to create one 3840 x 1080 image. You would then store this image in an appropriate folder and select it as your tiled or spanned wallpaper.

The standard screensavers that come with Windows also stretch across your displays automatically. There's no need to do anything special to make this happen.