target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_6dcbdba5-ead3-5ac8-a429-7cc07de8caaa.png" alt="Remember"/> Here’s the big picture, from the Windows 7 perspective: Windows 10 has a desktop, and it’s more or less analogous to the desktop in Windows 7. It doesn’t have a Windows 8/8.1–style Metro view. Doesn’t need a Metro view: The gadgets (or Metro apps or Windows 10 apps) now behave themselves and run in resizable windows on the desktop.
In Windows 10, you can switch from a finger-friendly view of the desktop to a mouse-friendly view and back. The finger-friendly view — called Tablet mode — has larger app tiles, opens the apps at full-screen, and hides most of the text. It takes three clicks to change modes. Or you can plug or unplug your keyboard on a 2-in-1 such as the Surface Pro, and Windows 10 will ask if you want to switch modes.
Here’s the ace in the hole: Programmers who write programs for Windows 10 app can have their gadgets run, with a varying amount of modification, on Windows 10 for PCs, Windows 10 for tablets without a keyboard, Windows 10 running on mobile-phone-like ARM chips (primarily from Qualcomm) and even Xbox One. At least, that’s the theory. It remains to be seen how it works in practice.
The only way you can get these new gadgets/Windows 10 apps is through the Microsoft (formerly Windows) Store, so — again, at least in theory — they should be well-vetted, checked for malware, and generally in good shape before you can install them.
Exploring new stuff in the old-fashioned desktop
You’ll notice many improvements to long-neglected portions of the Windows 7–style desktop. For example, if you copy more than one file at a time, Windows actually keeps you on top of all the copying in one window. Imagine that.
A new and much better Task Manager rolls in all the usage reporting that’s been scattered in different corners of Windows (see Figure 2-8). The new Task Manager even gives you hooks to look at programs that start automatically, and to stop them if you like. Some serious chops. See Book 8, Chapter 4.
FIGURE 2-8: The new and greatly improved Task Manager.
Taking a cue from iPad, Windows 10 also offers a one-stop system restore capability. With Reset This PC, you can remove apps and settings and keep personal files, or wipe everything and reset Windows 10 to its factory defaults and files. It's like it pulls in a brand-spanking-new version of Windows 10. See Book 8, Chapter 2 for more details.
Backup gets a major boost with an Apple Time Machine work-alike called File History. You may not realize it, but Windows 7 had the capability to restore previous versions of your data files. Windows 10 offers the same functionality, but in a much nicer package — so you’re more likely to discover that it’s there. See Book 8, Chapter 1. Unfortunately, Windows 10 drops the capability to create whole-disk ghost backups — you need to buy a third-party program such as Acronis if a full backup is in your future.
Power options have changed significantly. Again. The new options allow Windows to restart itself much faster than ever before.
What’s New for Windows 8 and 8.1 Users
You’re joking, right?
Windows 10 is a no-brainer if you already have Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.
Okay, I’ll backtrack a bit. If you’re a big fan of the tiled Metro side of Windows 8 or 8.1, you probably won’t be happy with Windows 10, at least at first. There’s no Charms bar, the taskbar always takes up part of the screen, Metro apps aren’t completely immersive because they have title bars, and the full-screen tablet mode in Windows 10 isn’t exactly comparable to the Metro side of Windows 8.
But if you use a mouse, even a little bit, or the desktop side of Windows 8/8.1, there’s absolutely no question in my mind that you’ll be happier with Windows 10.
Here’s what you’ll find when shifting from Win8 to Win10:
The Start menu — need I say more?
Big new features (detailed in the next section), along with a bunch of small tweaks really make life easier. Even in tablet mode, you’ll find all sorts of things to love about Windows 10.
Windows 10 apps are updated and greatly improved, although Windows 10 has only a few more apps than Windows 8.
OneDrive is built-in and it works better. You don’t need to install a separate app.
Windows 10 is, in many ways, what Windows 8 should’ve been. If Microsoft had been listening to its experienced Windows customers, Windows 8 never would’ve seen the light of day.
What’s New for All of Windows
Permit me to take you on a whirlwind tour of the most important new features in Windows 10 — of which there are many.
The Start menu
Unless you’ve been living on an alternate Windows desktop, you know that Windows 10 sports a new Start menu, with shortcuts on the left, a list of all your apps and programs in the middle, and Windows 8–style tiles on the right.
Figures 2-2 and 2-6 earlier in this chapter show the Start menu. In Figure 2-9, I show you the Start menu with the phone-dialer style index; you get to it
