The different facets of Windows 10 fall into three categories: what’s back, what’s familiar, and what’s new.
What’s back?
The Start menu is back—and it features some of the coolest, most useful improvements. Rather than just bringing the Start menu back, we revisited the idea and also made it more functional.
- Search is back in the Start menu. It performs just the way you want and expect. It can search installed apps, the Store, Programs, files, and the web. It’s a powerful tool, made even more powerful by its integration with Bing search.
- The Start menu changes size and shape to accommodate the apps and Smart Tiles you add to it. This allows you to control the amount of screen real estate that the Start menu takes up and also the functionality it offers you.
What’s familiar?
Almost everything about the Windows 10 interface is familiar, but we think there is a handful of special features you will truly come to love.
- Apps open in their own window, so you can control the space the window uses, and don’t need to worry about finding your way back to the desktop from a full-screen app. Click “Minimize” and the window retreats to the taskbar.
- Apps can be quickly pinned to the task bar or dragged to the Start menu. And remember, the Start menu grows to accommodate whichever apps are added to it.
- Live Tiles can now live in the Start menu. The tiles appear when you open the Start menu and present up-to-date information without their needing to actually open the tiles app. With them, you can easily see what the weather is like, the time and date, or anything else you care about most.
- The power button is back in the Start menu. So putting the computer to sleep, restarting, or powering down is where you expect and is easier than ever.
- Jump lists work like they did before. Via the Start menu, you can click on a folder and get a list of apps or programs to choose from.
- On-the-fly account switching allows you to quickly toggle between different user accounts as needed without having to search for the user menu.
What’s new?
Windows 10 introduces some new elements to make it even more useful than ever and is the perfect version to move Windows into the future.
- All apps, whether they’re Win32 apps or modern Universal apps, are available from the Start menu. Previously, the different types of apps lived in different places, but now you can find all of them in the same place, without needing to switch desktops.
- Windows 10 powers a variety of devices, from a Windows Phone to an Xbox console to Microsoft Surface to a desktop. It even powers completely new device categories like Surface Hub and HoloLens. It provides a nearly universal experience, no matter where you are or what you need to do.
- Possibly most exciting, Cortana is integrated with Windows 10 and the new “Spartan” browser. With Cortana, you have your own voice-activated personal assistant that can search the Internet, send email, find files, set reminders, and much more.
All of these improvements, changes, and additions make Windows 10 the perfect platform for increased productivity in the office while working remotely or while traveling. Anyone familiar with previous editions of Windows will find all the functionality they want, plus a number of new elements that will quickly become favorites.
