PCWorld Sep-15

WE MAY AS well refer to Windows 10 as a date, or an hour, as much as an operating system. It’s a moment in time. A month from now, it will have changed, evolved, improved. But right now? Microsoft has shipped an operating system that was meticulously planned and executed with panache, but whose coat of fresh paint hides some sticks and baling wire. There’s a lot to cover, so feel free to dive in. Note that this review is not, and will never be, the review of the final version of Windows 10. Microsoft may have frozen its core operating system in advance of the July 29 launch, but the OS and its apps will be updated continually over their lifespan—which, in the case of Windows 10 itself, will…

MICROSOFT BEGAN INSISTING on a login password with Windows 8, as an additional safeguard against losing your data. With Windows 10, Microsoft is raising the bar. During the installation process, you’ll be asked for your Microsoft username and password, the key that unlocks your data within Microsoft’s ecosystem. But instead of using that password to log in every session, Microsoft will encourage you to use a 4-digit PIN—treating your PC, essentially, as a credit card. You’ll still have the option of using a password, but a PIN is a much simpler option. A second option, Microsoft Hello, is both simpler and more secure. Using biometric security—either a fingerprint or your face—Hello will log you in, automatically. Fingerprint readers are fairly rare outside corporate machines, but the depth cameras needed for face recognition…

DESPITE MICROSOFT’S EFFORTS to meld the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8 into Windows 10, some aspects of the new operating system are unfamiliar. Windows 7’s desktop gadgets are gone, for example. In Windows 8.1, you could access the Settings by swiping in from the right to expose the Settings charm. Microsoft killed off the Charms in Windows 10, and settings can be found in multiple places. Let’s say you want to select a Wi-Fi hotspot to connect to. In Windows 8, you would swipe in from the right to expose the Settings charm. In Windows 10, you can click the little Wi-Fi or networking icon in the bottom right corner. Job done. But wait: To the right of the Wi-Fi icon is the Notifications icon. Click it, and it…

POSSIBLY THE MOST significant addition to Windows 10 is Cortana, the digital assistant that made its debut in Windows Phone. The first thing you should do is tap the Ask Me Anything search field in the lower left and set up Cortana. Yes, Cortana noses into all aspects of your digital life—your calendar, location, interests, email, and more—but it’s worth it. On Windows 10’s lock screen, you can set up several apps to display minimal or detailed information. But tapping Cortana at the beginning of each day provides a terrific summary of what you need to know: the weather, relevant news, local interests. Just make sure you manually connect to your Office 365 account, if you can, to surface relevant work-related information. Oddly enough, my HP Spectre x360 lacked a microphone of…

WORKING WITH WINDOWS 10’s virtual desktop mode or Task View takes some work. It’s a bit intimidating in the sense that the Windows 8 Start screen was: It’s an unfamiliar interface, and it requires some effort to use efficiently. In the end, though, it pays off. You’re probably used to opening up as many apps as will fit in a window, with the remainder either unopened or minimized to a desktop. If you want to work with more apps at the same time, you invest in another monitor. Task View doesn’t necessarily minimize those unused apps; it just hides that entire screen of apps, keeping everything the way it was. This has two practical advantages. Say you have a nicely ordered screen of apps: a spreadsheet in one corner, email in another,…

WINDOWS 10 ALSO introduces Microsoft Edge, a browser that Microsoft has touted as the answer to the demands of the modern Web. When I initially wrote our review, I had very mixed feelings about Edge, both aesthetically and functionally. Still do. Part of the issue, for me, is that Edge doesn’t feel finished. And it’s not, clearly, as support for Firefox-style extensions won’t arrive until later this fall. That means Edge has some breathing room, though, as Microsoft can either tweak its functionality or let third-party developers step in. To begin with, Edge’s UI looks spartan even compared to Chrome’s. When you start Edge or load a new tab, you have a choice of loading a bare search bar, or a bar accompanied by a few icons of frequently accessed pages,…