Quick Tips for Windows 10: The Master List

Sometimes, it's the tiniest tasks that make the biggest differences. Here's the index page of all the Quick Tips we've run to help you improve your Windows 10 experience.

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Quick Tip: What are the minimum specs for Windows 10? — Here are the published minimum specs for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update - Version 1607 - that was just released on 02 August 2016.

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Quick Tip: How to enroll in the Office 365 Insider Fast Ring — Microsoft is planning to open up a Fast Ring for Office Insiders that would give testers access to the same builds that Microsoft employees were using each week. Here's how to get on it.

Quick Tip: Go Here To Find Out When The Next Windows 10 Build Is Coming — The key is to know where to look for those tips and they actually come from a very obvious source - the head of the Windows Insider Program - Dona Sarkar.

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Quick Tip: How to change your default search engine in Microsoft Edge — Microsoft Edge has tried a a couple of different methods for changing the default search engine in Microsoft Edge over its short existence and this quick tip will walk you through the current implementation of this feature.

Quick Tip: How to Import Favorites into Microsoft Edge from other Browsers — Edge can import favorites from popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Here's how.

Quick Tip: Clearing Browser Cache and Using Back Button Browsing History in Microsoft Edge — We have already told you about using the Paste and Go & Paste and Search features plus How to Customize Favorites Bar and Pin Tabs and today we want to make sure you know about two other options for your browsing in Microsoft Edge.

Quick Tip: How to Use Paste and Go & Paste and Search in Microsoft Edge — It is also nice to see a few smaller tweaks make it into the browser that are not earth shattering in their complexity but add a little convenience to the experience. Here's how to use them.

Quick Tip: How to Customize Favorites Bar and Pin Tabs in Microsoft Edge — Two other tweaks for customization that are included in the latest version of Microsoft Edge include the ability to pin tabs so they are persistent between browser sessions and the option to display favorites in your Favorites Bar by just showing their favicon instead of an icon and the shortcuts name/title.

Quick Tip: Customize the Microsoft Edge Start Screen and Tabs in Windows 10 — One feature that has actually been in Microsoft edge since the early days is the ability to customize your Start Page and New Tabs that you open while browsing.

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Quick Tip: How to Change or Remove the Email Signature in the Windows 10 Mail App — The Mail app that is part of Windows 10 automatically includes an email signature at the bottom of any outgoing emails you send. However, it is very easy to either turn this signature off or to change the text from the default Sent from Mail for Windows 10. 

Quick Tip: How To Activate SMS Sync Between Windows 10 Devices with the Skype Preview — The very popular feature has finally made its return for all Windows 10 devices.

Quick Tip: How To Add a Printer in Windows 10 — Windows 10 is capable of recognizing and automatically adding printers on your home network that use the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol.

Quick Tip: How to turn off Enhanced Notifications for Windows Defender — These alerts can be customized in many ways including prioritizing the order in which they appear in the Action Center or how many alerts are allowed for each app/system. 

Quick Tip: How To Place an App Shortcut on Your Windows 10 Desktop — You can now place a shortcut to apps from the Windows Store on the desktop instead of just in the normal spots like the Start Menu and Taskbar. Here's how.

Quick Tip: How To Customize Mobile Notifications on Your Desktop — This new capability between Cortana and the updated Action Center in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update now pushes notifications from your mobile device running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

Quick Tip: Extend Display Time for On Screen Notifications — Windows 10 has a very robust notification system that includes the Action Center and interactive notifications. You can control how long you see those notifications.

Quick Tip: Turn off Get Office App Notifications in Windows 10 — You can use the built in Notifications & actions settings to prevent any further announcements from Get Office.

Quick Tip: How to Push Android Phone Notifications to Windows 10 with Cortana — If you are an Android mobile device user using Windows 10 as your desktop operating system, you can easily push any notifications from your phone to the Windows 10 Action Center.

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Quick Tip: Customize Default Storage Locations for Files and Apps on Windows 10 — Windows 10 can take advantage of those storage locations by letting you store files in cloud-based storage accounts instead of on the system drive. Here's how.

Quick Tip: How To Pick Default Storage Locations in Windows 10 Anniversary Update — You can select the default locations for many of the data types that you manage on your Windows 10 system.

Quick Tip: Locate Action Center & Windows Ink Icons in Windows 10 Anniversary Update — Microsoft changed two key things about the Taskbar and System Tray for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update as it relates to the Action Center and Windows Ink Workspace.

Quick Tip: How to Complete Upgrades Without Logging in on Windows 10 Anniversary Update — If you have ever upgraded Windows 10 in the past to a new major update then you know after your system reboots following the install process there are still items to be updated after you log back into the system after the upgrade. This new setting in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update deals with that delay.

Quick Tip: How to use Windows Defender Offline in Windows 10 Anniversary Update — There is now an option in the latest update to Windows 10 which allows you to scan your system when it restarts to help remove some malicious software.

Quick Tip: How to Turn on Dark App Mode (Theme) in Windows 10 Anniversary Update — Microsoft has included a new Dark App Mode that will display your first party apps and system pages in a dark theme instead of the default white color.

Quick Tip: How To Set Unique Wallpapers for Each Monitor on Windows 10 — There is a customization that allows anyone with a multi-monitor system to actually assign a different wallpaper to each screen as their wallpaper.

Quick Tip: How to turn off Twitter Direct Message Receipts on the Web, iOS and Android — You must go turn this feature off in your Twitter settings otherwise anyone who sends you a DM will be able to track when you read the private message.

Quick Tip: How To Disable Cortana in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update — Cortana does not have an On/Off switch in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update but you can disable her tracking features by signing out of your Microsoft Account in Cortana's Notebook.

Quick Tip: How To Remove Your Email Address from the Lock Screen in Windows 10 — Did you know that anyone could walk up to your locked Windows 10 PC or tablet and quickly grab your email address? If you head into Windows Settings>Accounts>Sign-in options and then scroll down to Privacy near the bottom of the settings page you can remove it very quickly. 

Quick Tip: How To Turn Off Recently Used Files & Folders Display in Quick Access — There is a customizable feature in File Explorer called Quick Access and it allows you to pin shortcuts to folders from your local system, OneDrive and network directories for quick access in File Explorer.

Quick Tip: Use the Maps App in Windows 10 to Easily Measure Distances — The updated official Maps app on Windows 10 integrates one of the big new features in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Inking, into its set of tools and one of those options is the ability to draw a line between two points and find out what that distance is.

Quick Tip: Control Sync Options Between Windows 10 Devices — Sync Settings are all on by default if you log in with your Microsoft Account. There is a however, a master switch to turn all syncing on or off plus the ability to control six different areas for devices you want to share those settings.

Quick Tip: How to turn Windows Update Delivery Optimization Off in Windows 10 — Here are the steps to turn off Delivery Optimization for Windows Update or, if you have previously turned it off, you can use the steps to turn it back on.