Microsoft launched the next version of Windows. Not Windows One, not Windows 9, but Windows 10, which combines the reborn Start menu with Windows 8’s colorful live tiles and adjusts its behavior depending on how you’re using your device.
This is TechWreck Exclusive review with the Windows10 (Technical Preview).
The revamped Start Menu: clean, intuitive
I’m not wholeheartedly in love with the new Start Menu. Aesthetically, it looks like someone surgically conjoined the Windows 7 and Windows 8 experience. Move past that inelegance, however, and it’s darn useful. On the left, there’s a list of frequently used apps, along with shortcuts to PC settings, as well as your documents and pictures folders. At the bottom, there’s a shortcut to launch an “all apps” view.
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| The Windows 10 Start Menu fues Windows 7 icons and Windows 8 Live Tiles. |
A new Windows world: Task view, virtual desktops, and ALT-TAB
One of the Microsoft executives I talked to referred to the new “task view” as a “poor man’s multimonitor setup.” I can understand why.
Virtually all Windows users use ALT-TAB to quickly shuffle between windows. It’s a great way to move from one task to the next. That capability is still available in Windows 10.
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| Using Alt-TAB to cycle through windows isn’t that different than Windows 8, but you can see more of what each window holds. |
Snap snaps with Snap Assist and windowed apps
And what about Snap, the nifty little feature that fills half of a Windows 8 screen? That’s been improved as well. Every app in Windows 10 can be dynamically resized in a window, although it remains to be see how well this works in practice.
In Windows 8, apps can be snapped by clicking the Windows key and the left or right arrow, snapping them to the left or right of the screen. That fills half the screen. With Windows 10, up to four apps can be snapped per screen, maximizing your productivity.
What’s neat, though, is that once you snap an app, Windows 10 suggests another, similar app that you might want to snap next to it, from a small collection of windows. The feature is intended to save you the hassle of hunting about through menus to actually construct a virtual desktop. Time will tell whether these suggestions will prove useful, but it’s a good start.
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| Snap a document to one side of the screen, and Snap Assist will suggest some others. |
