Windows 10: The Missing Manual

Chapter 4. Redesigning the Desktop

Windows 10 looks a lot better than previous versions of Windows. The new system fonts, color schemes, taskbar design, typography—it’s all much clearer, more graceful, and more modern than what’s come before.

Still, these changes aren’t for everybody. Fortunately, Win10 is every bit as tweakable as previous versions of Windows. You can change the picture on your desktop, or tell Windows to change it for you periodically. You can bump up the text size for better reading by over-40 eyeballs. You can create a series of virtual “external monitors”—perfect spaces in which to spread out a bunch of apps, each on its own “screen.”

As Microsoft might say, “Where do you want to redesign today?”

Note

Customizing the Start menu is described in Chapter 1; customizing the taskbar is covered in Chapter 2.

Wallpaper, Color, and Themes

It’s fun to customize your PC (especially because it’s your opportunity to replace, at last, that huge Dell or HP logo that came as your preinstalled wallpaper). This is also yet another way to shut off some of Windows’ predefined cosmetics.

To see your design choices, right-click a blank spot on the desktop. From the shortcut menu, choose Personalize.

The Personalization page of Settings opens (Figure 4-1). It offers five tabs of options, all dedicated to changing the look of your desktop world. The Start options govern your Start menu and are described in Chapter 1; the Lock screen options and the other tabs—Background, Colors, and Themes—are ...