Table of contents for Volume 3 2017 in Maximum PC Specials

Windows 10 may have been with us for a while, but in the last year we have seen the arrival of both the Anniversary Update and the Creators Update. Many loyal Windows users favored Windows 7 over Windows 8, and so Windows 10 sought to pick the best elements of both operating systems and it has won over users with ease. Windows 10 is brimming with settings that can be tweaked, tools that you can use to get a better performance and apps that will make using your PC a lot of fun. In this edition of Windows 10 Power Tips, we will show you everything from installing Windows 10, in-depth tutorials on how to use the Core Tools, and how to customize Windows 10 more to your liking. We…

The Windows 10 installation process is designed to be quick – the whole OS was built to have as small an installation footprint as possible – and with a modern SSD-equipped PC can be a swift and relatively painless process. There are ways, however, of speeding the process up, which is useful if you need to install Windows on multiple machines. Products such as DriverEasy (www.drivereasy.com) will scan your hardware after the install process is complete, and find any missing drivers for your hardware automatically. While Windows has a large database of device drivers for peripherals, it’s not 100% perfect and obscure cameras, scanners or other external devices can fox its automatic detection. If you’ve got multiple machines with identical hardware to install Windows on, consider using an imaging program…

Learn how to… 1 Pinned tabs Pinning a tab in Edge turns it into an icon you can use to get one-click access to your favorite sites and services 2 Top sites Edge can automatically recommend sites it thinks you might want to see. Of course, you can remove any ones that you don’t want to see in this area 3 News Feed Microsoft’s MSN news service provides an up-to-date feed of the day’s top stories. It’s like the MSN start page of old 4 Favorites folder Use Edge’s tree view to expand and collapse folders of Favorites – handy for bookmarks 5 Action icons In addition to the icon for the hub, the Edge browser has icons for web clipping, for sharing and for changing browser settings TIME TAKEN…

Learn how to… 1 Categories You can switch between the main store sections by clicking on these titles at any time 2 Download Click this button to download and install the app on your PC. If it reads ‘Free’, you’re in luck! 3 Guidance This is symbol is part of the Store’s parental guidance rating. Be sure to check it if you’re buying a game for a minor 4 Account The Windows Store can be customized by accessing options relating to your user profile, using this button 5 Movies and music Music can be purchased by album or by track, while TV series are available to buy as a seasons or by episode titles at any time 6 Reviews Unsure if the app is for you? Don’t forget to check…

Learn how to… TIME TAKEN 5 minutes For Windows 10, Microsoft has replaced the long-serving Windows Media Center suite with the Films & TV app. This is a sleek, simple-to-use hub that has been designed to make it easier to build, sort and watch your library of downloaded videos. It also has a few nifty features so you can stay current with your favorite TV episodes, even if you spend a lot of time commuting or away from a Wi-Fi point. You can link up to five different Windows 10 devices to your account and when you stop watching, it’ll bookmark your place for later, even if you return to it on a different machine. One thing you can’t do is watch DVDs with the Film & TV app –…

Learn how to… TIME TAKEN 10 minutes With Windows 10 you get a newlook desktop that combines the best bits of Windows 7 and Windows 8, so you’ll feel right at home when you fire it up for the first time. Because it’s so familiar you’ll be up and running with your new operating system in next to no time. Of course, there’s plenty that’s different, but Windows 10 is designed to make your computing life easier and even more streamlined than ever before. In this tutorial, we start the journey by looking at the new Start menu, and see what has changed and what you’ll find familiar from previous versions of Windows, and most crucially, how to improve it so that your Windows 10 experience is the best it…

These days, we consume our media – from music and photos to movies and TV – on a variety of devices in various locations. However, digital media is both liberating and yet constricting at the same time. If you’ve built up a library and want quick and easy access to it from any location, then you need a media server. A media server allows you to collect your media together in one location – your PC’s main storage, a USB-attached drive or even a network-attached drive – and can access it from just about any smart device – other computers, phones or tablets, even the set-top box or smart TV in your living room. It provides you with a consistent experience wherever you happen to be, and allows you to…

The fact that Windows 10 was offered as a free download (for the first year, anyway) has helped, but the response to new features such as the return of the Start menu and new Desktop, has also been very positive. If you have Windows 7 or Windows 8 then installing Windows 10 is pretty straightforward, it is available to purchase as a download through the Microsoft website and installing it is very simple thanks to its step-by-step guide. The whole update process can around an hour depending on the age of your computer. Naturaly, some people have been holding back, waiting to upgrade once the new system has clearly proved itself. Whether you’ve been waiting to see how others got on with it before you take the plunge, or whether…

Learn how to… 1 Switch view Click these buttons to move between viewing available, installed and hidden Windows updates, plus review your update history 2 Controls These perform the following actions: check for updates, download only, install, remove, hide/unhide and copy to clipboard 3 Update repository Choose which update repository to search – in most cases the ‘Default’ choice is best 4 Configure updates Click here to tweak automatic updates in Windows 10 Pro after you’ve followed step of the guide 5 View updates In addition to the icon for the hub, the Edge browser has icons for web clipping, for sharing and for changing browser settings 6 More info All applicable updates based on your viewing choice are displayed here. Tick the box next to each to select them…

Learn how to… 1 Access settings The lock screen looks pretty but you can switch the picture. Press [Windows]+[I], click ‘Personalization’ and select the ‘Lock screen’ menu – the first things you see are your options for replacement images. 2 Add image You don’t have to stick with the classy images Microsoft has provided. You can stick a picture of your other half, cat or favorite pot plant on the lock screen instead – set Background to ‘Picture’ then click the ‘Browse’ button to choose the image you want to use. 3 Change icons At the bottom of the lock screen you’ll see a few quick updates about happenings on your PC. You can see more, though. On the ‘Lock screen’ menu, you’ll find options that enable you to change…

Learn how to… 1 Search You can find friends, relatives and your favorite brands and topics by typing their details here. A dropdown menu appears when you start typing to reveal the closest matches 2 Favorites The left side of the app contains tabs for all your favourite Facebook sections – from your News Feed and Events to Apps, Friends and more 3 Notifications You can quickly see who’s updated their status or commented on your own by clicking on the Notifications icon in the top bar to reveal its dropdown menu 4 Profile Need quick access to your Facebook Profile? Clicking the down arrow to the right of your profile picture reveals all – including shortcuts to your Privacy settings and other regular settings 5 Trending Facebook curates its…

Learn how to… 1 Collection This holds your images, arranged in reverse chronological order 2 Albums This is where the app separates your photos into several basic folders, starting with Camera roll, Saved pictures and Screenshots 3 Date search For a quicker search, click the date to bring up a list of the months when you’ve imported your photos 4 Settings You can alter settings such as what image shows on the Start menu tile, where the app looks for pictures and whether it auto-enhances 5 View, edit, share Click on an image to enlarge it. You can also share, print or make it your background, plus use the editing tools 6 Import and select These buttons offer quick ways to import more photos, check for new photos to be…

1 Start menu Windows 8 introduced a screen full of icons and tiles that looked more tailored to a tablet than a PC, but Windows 10 rolls back to something more usable. If you’ve got a tablet, there’s a whole Tablet Mode too. The Anniversary update in 2016 tweaked the Start menu, all of your installed apps now appear in a list on the left for example. 2 Cortana Microsoft’s digital assistant (a rival to Apple’s Siri) will search for things on your computer and the internet, add events to your calendar. She’s named after a videogame character who blows up a lot of aliens, and while we can’t guarantee she’ll do the same on your PC, she’s a handy addition to your Windows PC all the same. 3 Snapping…

Sometimes the worst can happen and you’re left with a PC that doesn’t operate well. Whether you know the cause or not, restoring the system back to a point at which it worked, or reinstalling the operating system altogether, can soon have your machine back to its old self. Windows 10 offers you a few options for how you reinstall your OS. If you suspect that it is a newly installed device or application that is causing the problems, you can then use System Restore in order to roll your PC back to a point before you installed the pesky peripheral or program. If, that is, you have enabled it, because Microsoft turns this feature off by default. Just head over to Control Panel rather than Settings, then System and…

Learn how to… 1 Switch apps When you launch TaskView, you can see all your apps. Just click on anything to switch to that window 2 Drag to new desktop When you’ve more than one desktop, you can drag windows between the desktops – here we’re moving this PDF to Desktop 2 3 Different spaces All your desktops are shown here at the bottom of the TaskView screen. Hovering over any will display a red X icon so you can close the desktop 4 Launch TaskView The TaskView icon resides on the taskbar between your search bar and your normal app icons 5 Add a desktop To add a virtual desktop, click the + icon in the bottom right TIME TAKEN 10 minutes TaskView is one of the key new…

Learn how to… 1 File menu You can open a new File Explorer window from the File menu. Some power user tools are also tucked away here 2 Navigation pane The left-hand pane lists pinned and root folders, local drives, cloud storage and networks in a tree view 6 3 its own window Recent files The Quick Access view automatically displays files that you worked on and the folders you accessed most frequently 4 Search bar Type a search term into here to filter the files and subfolders that File Explorer shows in the active window 5 Folder options This lets you adjust a number of behaviors, such as whether each folder should open in 3 its own window 6 Customize toolbar This button lets you show/hide the ribbon interface…

Learn how to… 1 App settings The quickest way to configure an individual app’s behavior is to right-click it and choose ‘Go to notification settings’ 2 Priority levels Notifications appear in three tiers: ‘top’ is assigned to a single app, while others are configured to ‘high’ or ‘normal’ 3 Response options Click a notification to access it through its app. You can click the arrow to view it in detail or ‘x’ to dismiss it when read 4 See more You can now view all outstanding notifications for a selected app by simply clicking the ‘See more’ link here 5 Quick Actions You can now rearrange all of your Quick Action buttons, not just those on the first row, handy! 6 Control notifications Switch off notifications for apps, programs and…

Learn how to… TIME TAKEN 10 minutes The Anniversary Update introduced a whole raft of security updates to make Windows even more safer than ever, but there are still some settings you need to tweak, and which give Microsoft access to your PC. While there is nothing particularly sinister at play here, some cynics might say this is the price we pay for getting a free update. However, it’s easy to change the settings so you can only share the information that you want – and if you don’t want to share anything, we’ll show you the changes you need to make. It doesn’t take long to tweak Windows 10’s privacy settings, so let’s get started. 1 General Privacy Click here to see general privacy settings in the Windows 10…

Your media is now, all being well, ready for action, so the next step is to install your media server. The step-by-step guide below reveals how to download and install Emby Media Server on your Windows 10 PC. It’s a straightforward enough process, and once complete, Emby will launch as a background service so you’ll barely notice it. When you come to set up and manage your server going forward, you’ll do so through your web browser. By default, Emby won’t start with Windows, so if you’d like to have it launch automatically so your media is always accessible when your PC is switched on, navigate to the ‘Settings’ section of the Emby dashboard and tick the ‘Run server at startup’ box. Once up and running, we recommend adding your…

Learn how to… TIME TAKEN 45 minutes HomeGroups are Microsoft’s solution to the tricky task of sharing files, printers and devices over networks. Once set up, they make it easy to choose what to share with others, plus access shared content from across your network, all without having to log onto shared folders or get bogged down in tricky network settings. Once set up, you can easily browse the contents of other people’s PCs through File Explorer – just expand the HomeGroups entry in the left-hand pane to get started. There’s more good news too: HomeGroups don’t lock out other platforms, so MacOS and Linux users can access any folder you share with your HomeGroup – they’ll appear as regular shared folders, and you’ll need your Windows username or Microsoft…

Learn how to… 1 Choose your pen You have a choice of three nibs – pen, pencil or felt tip. Tap one to choose a color and set the brush sizeorder 2 Rub out mistakes Select the eraser, then tap on an unwanted part of the sketch – it’ll be wiped automatically 3 Use the ruler Tap the ruler button to place the ruler on the page, then drag and rotate into position to draw clean, straight lines 4 More controls These buttons let you disable or enable touch and pen input, undo or redo the latest changes and crop the image 5 Start from scratch Tap the bin icon to wipe the screen and start your image from scratch – if you tap it by mistake, simply tap ‘Undo’…