We’ve also shown you where it is within the larger Windows 10 User Interface (UI). This time we’ll dig deeper into the Start menu, to give you an idea of how it’s similar to the Windows 7 Start menu, and how it’s different. Getting to it is easy; it’s the little white Windows flag in the lower-left corner of the screen. Click or press it to bring up the Start menu. Two that we want to point out are especially useful: Desktop, which is the bottom item, which will minimize all open windows and show your desktop; and Task Manager, which can shut down programs that are causing your computer to hang (both functions are available elsewhere, too, but they’re also here.)
File Explorer. This provides access to your hard drive and includes recently-opened items, frequently used folders, and Quick Access to the important stuff. (Years ago I wrote a tutorial on developing a folder system for your PC. The information is still as relevant now as it was then, and the steps are the same.) Settings. This is roughly equivalent to the Control Panel in previous versions of Windows. It provides information on and allows you to change, things like your background, updates, user access, and other “plumbing” aspects of Windows 10. So from now on, think “Settings” instead of “Control Panel.” Power. This is the same three settings as always: Sleep, Shut Down, and Restart. And yes, it’s glorious that it’s back here, easy to get to again (a big failing of Windows 8). All Apps. Click this to see all the applications on your computer, listed alphabetically. It’s similar to how it worked in Windows 8.
Microsoft also puts “helpful” items at the bottom of this list, like “Get Started” tutorials, or programs (Skype, in this case) that it thinks you should install. They can be moved around in that section of the menu, resized, have the live updating turned off, and Pinned to the Taskbar, just like in Windows 8. But in Windows 10, they know their place and stay there. There is one other resizing option, but I don’t like it for anything but a touchscreen-only device. If you go to Settings/Personalization/Start and then press the button for “Use Start full screen,” the Start menu will cover the entire display. In that case, it’s similar to the way Windows 8 worked, and most of us don’t want to go back to that.
