Windows 11 All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Book 1: Getting Started with Windows 11 5 Chapter 1: Introducing Windows 11. 7 Taking Your First Look at Windows 11 8 Hardware versus Software 9 Must You Run Windows? 10 Which Windows Version Is Best? 13 Understanding Important Terminology 14 Buying a Windows 11 Computer 18 Looking inside your PC 21 Secure boot, TPM, and Windows 11 24 Tablets and 2-in-1s 25 Laptops, Ultrabooks, Gaming laptops 27 Displays 29 Managing disks and drives 30 Connecting your PC to other devices 34 Video, sound, and multimedia 37 Is your old PC or laptop compatible with Windows 11? 38 What You Might Not Like about Windows 11 40 Chapter 2: Seeing What’s New in Windows 11 43 Microsoft’s Design Philosophy behind Windows 11 44 Understanding the Types of Windows 11 Apps 45 Seeing What’s New for the Windows Crowd 47 A new Start menu and taskbar 48 Increased role for Settings 48 The Control Panel has shrunk 50 Improved performance 51 Better gaming 51 RGB lighting 54 Microsoft Edge 55 Copilot 56 Improved security 57 Fine-tuned virtual desktops 58 Table of Contents iii Improved window snapping and grouping 59 Widgets are back 60 Other apps and improvements 61 Discovering What Was Removed from Windows 62 Chapter 3: Windows 11 Versions 63 Windows 11 Editions 65 Narrowing your choices 66 64-bit is the new normal 68 Which Version and Edition of Windows 11 Are You Running? 69 Upgrading from Windows 11 Home to Pro 70 Understanding Microsoft 365 and Office 72 Book 2: Personalizing Windows 75 Chapter 1: Getting Around in Windows 77 Navigating Around the Desktop 78 Using Windows 11 on Tablets and Touchscreens 82 Shut Down, Sleep, Restart, Sign Out, Lock, Sleep 84 Shut down versus sleep 86 Using the Keyboard and Keyboard Shortcuts 87 Using the Mouse and Touchpad 91 Chapter 2: Logging into Windows 11 93 Signing into Windows 11 94 Changing the Sign-In Password 95 Logging in Without a Password 97 Creating a PIN 97 Changing a PIN 99 Setting up facial recognition to sign in (Windows Hello) 100 Setting up fingerprint recognition to sign in (Windows Hello) 102 Bypassing passwords 103 Personalizing the Lock Screen 104 Changing the background of the lock screen 104 Adding or removing widgets on the lock screen 107 Chapter 3: Handling Notifications and Quick Settings 109 What Exactly Is a Notification? 109 Using the Notification Center 110 Mastering Notifications 113 Disabling notifications 113 Muting notifications with Do Not Disturb 115 Enhancing productivity with focus sessions 116 Using the Calendar 119 Using Quick Settings 120 Chapter 4: Understanding Microsoft Accounts 123 Realizing Which Accounts Are Microsoft Accounts 124 Deciding Whether You Want a Microsoft Account 125 Setting Up a Microsoft Account 127 Creating an Outlook.com account 128 Making any email address a Microsoft account 130 Taking Care of Your Microsoft Account 132 Controlling What Is Synchronized with Your Microsoft Account 132 Closing Your Microsoft Account 134 Chapter 5: Managing User Accounts 135 Understanding Why You Need Separate User Accounts 136 Choosing Account Types 137 What’s a standard account? 137 What’s an administrator account? 138 Choosing between standard and administrator accounts 138 Adding Accounts in Windows 11 140 Adding a user with a Microsoft account 140 Adding a local (offline) account 142 Adding a child account 143 Changing Other Users’ Settings 145 Setting a standard account as administrator 145 Modifying the settings of other accounts 146 Switching Users 148 Removing User Accounts from Windows 11 150 Chapter 6: Setting Up Your Family 153 Comparing Microsoft Family Safety with Microsoft 365 Family 154 Adding Child Accounts to Microsoft Family 154 Setting Time Limits for Children 158 Blocking Access to Inappropriate Sites 159 Blocking Inappropriate Apps and Games 161 Chapter 7: Protecting Your Privacy 163 Handling Your Privacy in Windows 11 164 Limiting diagnostics and feedback data collection 165 Viewing the diagnostic data sent to Microsoft 167 Knowing What Connections Windows Prefers 169 Seeing Fewer Ads in Windows 11 170 Getting fewer Welcome dialogs in Windows 11 172 Controlling Location Tracking 173 Blocking all location tracking in Windows 11 174 Blocking location tracking in an app 175 Minimizing Privacy Intrusion 176 Chapter 8: Making Windows 11 Accessible 177 Increasing Text Size 178 Making the Mouse Pointer More Visible 179 Improving Text Cursor Visibility 180 Using Magnifier 181 Controlling Windows 11 with Your Voice 182 Dealing with Color Blindness 184 Book 3: Working on the Desktop 187 Chapter 1: Running Your Desktop from Start to Finish 189 Working with the Desktop 190 Changing the background 191 Switching Windows 11 themes 193 Battling dark mode and light mode 194 Setting Up Your Display 195 Switching the night light on and off 195 Enabling HDR and auto HDR 197 Setting the screen resolution 198 Changing the size of text, apps, and other items 200 Adjusting the refresh rate 201 Adjusting the display orientation 202 Adjusting the brightness 203 Working with a Mouse and a Touchpad 204 Snapping app windows 204 Configuring the mouse 206 Setting up the touchpad 207 Using Virtual Desktops 209 Moving apps between virtual desktops 210 Managing Icons and Shortcuts 211 Creating shortcuts 212 Arranging icons on the desktop 214 The Recycle Bin 215 Setting Up the Sound 216 Muting your computer 216 Setting the volume and your sound devices with Volume Mixer 217 Chapter 2: Personalizing the Start Menu 219 Touring the Start Menu 220 Right-clicking Start for the WinX menu 221 Modifying the Start Menu 223 Adding, moving, and removing pinned apps 223 Creating folders with pinned apps 224 Adding and removing Start menu folders 226 Choosing the Start Menu layout 227 Personalizing the Start menu 228 Moving the Start menu and taskbar to the left 229 Chapter 3: Exploring Search and the Taskbar 231 Searching in Windows 11 232 Searching is the fastest way to start apps 234 Filtering search results to find what you need 236 Starting apps as admin from a Windows search 237 Setting Search to index your entire PC 238 Configuring how Search works 240 Touring the Windows 11 Taskbar 242 Using the taskbar 243 Using jump lists and other taskbar tricks 244 Pinning apps to the taskbar 246 Adding and removing taskbar items 247 Adding or removing system tray icons 249 Personalizing how the taskbar behaves 250 Chapter 4: Working with Files and Folders 253 Using File Explorer 254 Navigating File Explorer 254 Viewing and opening your files and folders 256 Creating and managing files and folders 259 Using Gallery 261 Deleting files and folders 263 Searching for files and folders 264 Sorting and grouping files and folders 266 Displaying file extensions 267 Viewing hidden files 268 Managing the Home section 269 Enabling and disabling check boxes for files and folders 271 Sharing files 271 Working with ZIP Files 273 Creating a ZIP file 273 Creating more advanced file archives 274 Extracting a ZIP file 276 Right-Clicking in Windows 11 277 Chapter 5: Connecting to Wi-Fi and the Internet 281 Connecting to the Internet 282 Connecting a desktop PC to the network 282 Connecting to Wi-Fi 283 Connecting to hidden Wi-Fi 284 Connecting to Wi-Fi through WPS 286 Setting the Network Location 287 Troubleshooting Network Connections 289 Forgetting a Wi-Fi network 289 Resetting network adapters 290 Book 4: Using Windows Apps 293 Chapter 1: Browsing the Web 295 Getting to Know Microsoft Edge 296 Grouping tabs in Microsoft Edge 298 Enabling vertical tabs in Microsoft Edge 299 Changing the default search engine 300 InPrivate browsing with Microsoft Edge 302 Adding extensions to Microsoft Edge 304 Using Other Web Browsers 306 Changing the Default Browser in Windows 11 307 Chapter 2: Enhancing Your Productivity with Copilot 309 Chatting with Copilot 310 Accessing previous chats 312 Ending a chat and starting a new one 314 Using Copilot while Browsing the Web 315 Adding Copilot to Your Phone 317 Copilot Pro and Copilot for Microsoft 365 319 Chapter 3: Using the Outlook App. 321 Understanding Email 322 Setting Up Outlook 323 Adding Other Email Accounts 324 Checking Your Emails 326 Creating an email message 328 Searching for an email 330 Working with Outlook’s Calendar 331 Chapter 4: Working with Photos 335 Viewing Pictures with the Photos App 336 Adding Photos 338 Importing pictures from a camera or an external drive 338 Adding folders to the Photos app 339 Dealing with pictures from OneDrive or iCloud 341 Editing Photos 342 Using Image Creator 344 Browsing Folders with Photos 345 Chapter 5: Note-Taking with OneNote 347 Getting Started with OneNote 348 Adding Notebooks, Sections, and Pages 351 Adding Content to a OneNote Page 354 Sending Sites from Microsoft Edge to OneNote 357 Configuring OneNote’s Settings 358 Chapter 6: Storing and Syncing Your Data with OneDrive 361 What Is OneDrive? 362 Setting Up a OneDrive Account 363 The Four States of OneDrive Data 366 Configuring OneDrive 368 Adding Files and Folders to OneDrive 371 Changing the States of OneDrive Data 372 Synchronizing and Pausing OneDrive 373 Sharing OneDrive Files and Folders 375 Protecting Files with Personal Vault 376 Chapter 7: Using Widgets 379 Working with Widgets 379 Adding Widgets 381 Removing Widgets 383 Customizing Widgets 384 Removing the Feed from Widgets 385 Chapter 8: Handling Music, Movies, and Videos 387 Using Windows Media Player Legacy 388 Ripping Music from Your Old CDs 390 Setting Up Spotify 391 Using the Media Player App 393 Creating Videos 396 Chapter 9: Playing Games. 399 Searching the Microsoft Store for Games 400 Enabling Game Mode 402 Using the Game Bar 405 Setting the Default Graphics Card 406 Bringing Back the Classics 407 Chapter 10: Working with Apps 411 Taking Screenshots with Snipping Tool 412 Recording the Screen with Snipping Tool 413 Editing Text Files with Notepad 415 Using Paint 418 Creating Sticky Notes 419 Getting Weather Forecasts 421 Setting Default Apps 423 Chapter 11: Rocking the Command Line 425 Opening Windows Terminal 426 Setting the Default Profile in Windows Terminal 428 Running Commands in Windows Terminal 429 Working with Command Prompt 429 Working with Windows PowerShell 430 Book 5: Managing Apps 433 Chapter 1: Navigating the Microsoft Store 435 Understanding What a Windows 11 App Can Do 436 Browsing the Microsoft Store 437 Installing Apps and Games from the Microsoft Store 441 Discovering AI Apps in the Microsoft Store 442 Chapter 2: Adding and Removing Apps and Windows Features 445 Adding or Removing Windows 11 Features 446 Adding or removing optional features 446 Adding or removing Windows features 448 Finding Safe Places to Download Desktop Apps 449 Checking Apps for Malware 452 Uninstalling Apps 453 Chapter 3: Keeping Apps and Drivers Up to Date 455 Updating Your Microsoft Store Apps 456 Updating Programs and Desktop Apps 458 Updating Drivers 460 Book 6: Working Remotely 465 Chapter 1: Working on Your Laptop 467 Connecting and Projecting to Another Screen 468 Casting wirelessly 470 Transferring Files with Nearby Sharing 472 Enabling Nearby Sharing 472 Sharing files nearby 473 Setting Up a Webcam 476 Using a webcam shield 477 Configuring the webcam 478 Using Studio Effects 479 Creating a Mobile Hotspot 481 Using Airplane Mode 483 Chapter 2: Mastering Tools for Remote Work 485 Contacting Others Using Microsoft Teams 486 Getting started with Microsoft Teams 486 Chatting from Windows 11 487 Starting a meeting from Windows 11 489 Working Remotely with Windows 11 490 Enabling remote desktop connections 491 Connecting with Remote Desktop Connection 492 Adding Clocks to the Taskbar 494 Using Battery Saver 496 Changing the power mode 497 Lowering the carbon footprint 498 Book 7: Controlling Your System 501 Chapter 1: Navigating Windows Settings and Languages 503 Understanding the Settings App 504 Using Search to quickly find settings 506 Exploring the Control Panel 507 Putting Shortcuts to Settings on Your Desktop 509 God Mode (Still) Works in Windows 11 512 Adding Languages to Windows 11 513 Adding keyboard languages and layouts 516 Switching between languages 517 Chapter 2: Managing Windows Updates 521 Understanding the Terminology 522 Installing Updates for Windows 11 524 Making Sure You Don’t Get Updates as Soon as They’re Available 525 Postponing Windows 11 Updates 526 Improving the Download Speed for Updates 527 Getting Updates for Office (Microsoft 365) 529 Stopping Updates from Rebooting Your PC 530 Getting Information about and Removing Updates 531 Problems with Windows Update 533 Blocking Windows 11 updates 534 When is it a good time to unblock updates? 536 Chapter 3: Troubleshooting and Getting Help 537 Saying Goodbye to Windows Troubleshooters 538 Using Get Help 540 Contacting Microsoft Support from Get Help 542 Troubleshooting the Hard Way 544 Tackling Windows installation problems 544 Problems with installing updates 545 Tricks to Using Microsoft Support 551 The problems with Windows Help & Learning 551 Managing your expectations of Windows Help & Learning 552 Using Quick Assist 553 Initiating the assistance process with Quick Assist 553 Receiving remote assistance through Quick Assist 555 Experimenting with Windows Sandbox 556 Getting Better Help Online 558 Chapter 4: Managing Storage 561 Using Maintenance Tools for Your Drives 562 Formatting drives 562 Freeing up storage space with Storage Sense 564 Running an error check on a drive 565 Defragmenting a drive 567 Maintaining solid-state drives 569 Managing Your Disks 569 Changing the drive letter 570 Deleting drives 572 Creating, shrinking, or extending partitions 572 Chapter 5: Storing in Storage Spaces 575 Understanding the Virtualization of Storage 576 Setting Up Storage Spaces 578 Managing Storage Spaces 582 Storage Space Strategies 583 Removing Drives and Storage Pools 583 Chapter 6: Working with Printers 587 Installing a Printer 588 Attaching a local printer to your computer 588 Installing a wireless printer 589 Printing from Windows 11 592 Using the Print Queue 594 Displaying the print queue 594 Pausing and resuming a print queue 596 Pausing, restarting, and resuming a document 597 Canceling a document 598 Troubleshooting Printing 599 Removing a printer 601 Chapter 7: Managing USB, Bluetooth, and RGB Devices 603 Connecting USB Devices to Your PC 604 Configuring AutoPlay for removable devices 605 Removing USB devices 607 Connecting Bluetooth Devices 608 Unpairing Bluetooth Devices 611 Setting up RGB Lighting 612 Book 8: Maintaining Windows 615 Chapter 1: Backing Up Your Data 617 Using Windows Backup 617 Backing up your files, apps, settings, and credentials 618 Restoring your data and settings with Windows Backup 620 Understanding the limitations of Windows Backup 624 Backing Up and Restoring Files with File History 625 Setting up File History 625 Checking whether File History backed up your data 626 Restoring data from File History 628 Changing File History settings 630 Storing Your Data in the Cloud 632 Considering cloud storage privacy concerns 633 Reaping the benefits of backup and storage in the cloud 635 Choosing an online backup and sharing service 635 Chapter 2: Downgrading, Resetting, and Installing Windows 11 637 Rolling Back to Windows 10 638 Resuscitating Malfunctioning Windows 11 PCs 641 Resetting your Windows 11 PC 642 Resetting your PC to its factory settings 645 Installing Windows 11 on a PC 646 Personalizing your Windows 11 installation 649 Installing Windows 11 with an offline account 652 Chapter 3: Troubleshooting with Safe Mode 655 Working in Safe Mode 656 Accessing safe mode 656 Using safe mode for troubleshooting 659 Entering the Windows Recovery Environment 660 Chapter 4: Monitoring Windows 663 Using Event Viewer 664 Checking System Reliability 667 Viewing Services 670 Using Task Scheduler 672 Chapter 5: Mastering Task Manager 675 Using Task Manager 676 Starting Task Manager 677 Viewing running apps and processes 678 Dealing with Misbehaving Apps 680 Killing apps that don’t respond 680 Keeping an eye on performance 680 Getting More Info from Task Manager 683 Viewing App History 683 Managing startup programs 684 Checking out details and services 687 Personalizing Task Manager 688 Managing Startup Apps from Settings 690 Book 9: Securing Windows 691 Chapter 1: Fighting Viruses, Ransomware, and Other Malware 693 Making Sense of Malware 694 Basic Windows Security Do’s and Don’ts 696 Keeping Yourself Protected with Windows Security 701 Accessing Windows Security and following its recommendations 701 Scanning for malware 702 Protecting your data from ransomware 703 Excluding files and folders from antivirus scans 705 Running a thorough offline scan 707 Chapter 2: Enhancing Your Security 709 Working with User Account Control 710 Dealing with Microsoft Defender SmartScreen 713 Convincing SmartScreen to unblock access to websites and files 715 Adjusting how Microsoft Defender SmartScreen protects you 717 Protecting Your Data with Encryption 718 Encrypting your PC with BitLocker 719 Encrypting USB drives with BitLocker To Go 721 Encrypting Folders with EFS 723 Using Windows Defender Firewall 725 Understanding Windows Defender Firewall 726 Making inbound exceptions 728 Booting Securely with UEFI 730 A brief history of the BIOS 730 How UEFI is different from and better than BIOS 731 How Windows 11 uses UEFI 733 Accessing UEFI from Windows 11 733 Chapter 3: Protecting Your Passwords and Connections 737 Managing Your Passwords 738 Using password managers 738 My recommendations 739 Rockin’ RoboForm 739 Liking Bitwarden 740 Securing Your Communication with VPN 743 What’s a VPN? 743 Setting up a VPN in Windows 11 744 Which paid VPN services should you consider? 746 Setting Up a Proxy Server 747 Proxy versus VPN: Choosing Your Privacy Tool! 750 Book 10: Enhancing Windows 751 Chapter 1: Linking Android to Windows 753 Connecting Your Android Device to a PC 754 Linking an Android Smartphone to a PC 756 Using the Phone Link app 760 Disabling Phone Link 761 Managing Mobile Devices from Windows 11 762 Turning Your Android Smartphone into a PC Webcam 763 Chapter 2: Using Your iPhone with Windows 765 Connecting Your iPhone to a PC 766 Linking an iPhone to a PC 767 Using Phone Link with your iPhone 771 Disabling Phone Link 772 Installing iCloud on Windows 11 772 Chapter 3: Working with Hyper-V 775 Adding Hyper-V to Windows 11 776 Working with Hyper-V Virtual Machines 777 Creating virtual machines with Hyper-V Manager 778 Using a Hyper-V virtual machine 779 Chapter 4: Discovering the Best Free Windows Add-Ons 783 Windows Apps You Absolutely Must Have 784 VLC Media Player 784 Recuva 784 The Best of the Rest — All Free 786 Ninite 786 BCUninstaller (Bulk Crap Uninstaller) 787 Paint.NET 788 7-Zip 789 qBittorrent 790 Other interesting free software 790 Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive? 791 Adding Google’s Apps to Windows 792 Adding Google Drive to File Explorer 793 Making your own YouTube Music app 795 Don’t Pay for Software You Don’t Need! 798 Windows 11 has all the antivirus software you need 798 Windows 11 doesn’t need a disk defragger 798 Windows 11 doesn’t need a disk partitioner 799 Windows 11 doesn’t need a registry cleaner 801 Windows 11 doesn’t need a backup program 801 Index 803