PC Repair in Billinudgel

Do We Cover Billinudgel?

Please note: WE DO NOT WORK ON MAC COMPUTERS

I simply do not like Macs or the way they are marketed & am fortunately in a position to choose not to work on them.

Yes we do, although it would be helpful if you could let us know in advance if the property is difficult to find or get a vehicle into, as I drive a High top van (with a bit of warning I can use a more suitable vehicle).

OK,OK, enough of the "do we cover .. blah blah."

Windows 10

Getting Acquainted

Windows 8 was a disaster ... Microsoft thought we'd be using touch screens for everything & designed it accordingly (can you say 'flying cars'). Although touch screens weren't popular with most users & neither was Windows 8. (In the whole time 8 was available I only built a single PC with it on). In my opinion Windows 10 is simply Windows 8 "fixed", improved & re-branded. While I wasn't that keen on it at first, I have warmed to it & now take for granted the extra bits it offers. If you have just bought a new PC with Windows 10 on it, I hope the following hints will help you get acclimatised.



OK, so you've started your computer & you're logged in. What now?
Well, in the first picture (above) you'll see the numbered red arrows. These point out the basic tools to get about on the desktop:

1. is the start button (more on that later).
2. is the search box - If you type the name of the thing you're looking for here, Windows will do its best to find it for you & displays the results in a list of its best guesses. This works for names of files (eg pictures music or documents) & the name of programs (eg calculator, control panel).
3. is pointing at the taskbar, or more specifically the "File explorer" icon in the taskbar. File explorer is the easiest way to get at all your files & a single click on an icon in the taskbar, will open that program (allowing you easy access to the Documents, Pictures, Downloads, Music & Video folders).
4. if you click on the arrow here it shows you any hidden active icons (& you can drag any of the hidden icons down onto the taskbar to the right of them so they're always visible). I do this with my anti-virus & Usb "ejector".

The Start Button

Ok, so we click on the Start Button & the Start menu comes up. On the far left we have the Power button (Red 1). This gives you the various shutdown/restart options. The next up (Red 2) is "Settings". Yes, you guessed it, this is the new way that you can change your PC settings (add & remove users, programs, printers etc). Click on it & have a look around. If you don't like it, no problem ... you can still use the old "Control panel". I'll show you that in a while. Above that (Red 3), we have short cuts to your pictures & documents folders & then finally (Red 5) is a link to your account settings. Well OK, not quite finally, there's 1 more feature on the start button (ignoring the wonderful "metro" menu off to the right ... .which i do). If you Right mouse on the Start menu you get yet another list of things you can do. While you may not need them at the moment, you will probably need to know they're there. While we're here, let me show you how useful these can be. Let's say we wanted to use the traditional Control panel. We click on search & type "Cont". Windows does its thing & offers up Control panel in the menu. If you left click on the link, control panel opens & you can change things, like you did on windows 7 (rather than through the "settings' option above). However, if you Right mouse on it instead, we get an option "pin to task bar" & it'll appear on the end of your taskbar icons (sometimes the option is hidden behind a 'More->' link in the menu). I like to add all of my regularly used programs to my taskbar in this way, then opening any one of them is only a single click away. You can rearrange them by left clicking, hold & dragging them to where you want them along the taskbar.

Searching

Like I mentioned above, Windows lets you search for 'stuff' ... all kinds of stuff & it's really good at finding things as long as you know the name of whatever it is.
Things like:-

• Windows programs & features (like Control panel, Paint, Notepad)
• The programs you have installed yourself (like Chrome, Adobe Reader, VLC)
• Find how to do various tasks (change your password, add a user, add a printer)
• Search for your own files - as long as you have named them well (like documents, pictures, videos, music)

Now, let's say I want to change my password. All I have to do is click in the search box (yes, the bit where it says 'Type here to search' ... or you can just press the 'Windows' key, bottom left but 1 on the keyboard ) & type what you are looking for. Windows will do its best to find what you're looking for. So in our example below I type 'password' & Windows presents the results shown below.

The only catch is that you have to know the name of the thing you are trying to do .... & that comes with time (& a bit of Googling).
Next, something a bit more complex. Let's say I want to find an invoice for 1 of my customers. I type their name in 'Search' as above & Windows displays its best guess of what I'm looking for. Note to the right, it offers a few options; Open File & Open File location so even if it can't find the exact file you're looking for, it can take you to the folder where it found something similar.



The search feature is really useful, but if does rely on your having given all you files good names. Perhaps next time you go through your pictures, you could start naming them properly ('mom, dad, chris & me at Bognor 1974.jpg' obviously gives windows more to work with than Img-2564.jpg ).... well, you get the idea.

.... & everything else

Hopefully, that will get you started. If you're trying to do something not on the list above (typing your best guess in Search didn't come up with anything useful), open a browser (Eg Chrome or Firefox) & do a Google search.
For example

• How do I add a user on Windows 10
• How do I remove my password Windows 10
• How do I <...whatever...> Windows 10