Windows 10 All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 3

Working with Libraries

In This Chapter

Understanding Libraries

Customizing and working with Libraries

Building your own Libraries

Windows 8.1 brought several infuriating changes to Windows 8 — I’d list the privacy-busting Smart Search (see Book III, Chapter 6) “feature” as the worst culprit. Smart Search is now part and parcel of Cortana.

In the same infuriated breath, I’d have to mention Microsoft’s attempt to make it difficult to use Libraries.

Libraries were a key selling point for Windows 7: They really do make it easier for you to organize and maintain your files. The feature continued untarnished in Windows 8. Unfortunately, Microsoft decided to stunt and bury them in Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 has nothing to make them easier to use. If I were a more cynical soul, I would guess that MS is trying to get you to use OneDrive — and pay the piper for cloud storage.

It’s silly, really, because Libraries are the single best way to incorporate SD card storage and external hard drives into your everyday Windows life. When Libraries are set up with the Public folders activated ...