Personalize Your Working Environment in Windows 10

Practice tasks

The practice files for these tasks are located in the Win10SBS\Ch02 folder.

Configure the Start screen and Start menu

Perform the following tasks:

1. Open the Settings window, display the Start screen personalization settings, and locate the toggle button for the full-screen Start screen. Set the toggle button to On (or leave it on if it already is).
2. Display the Start screen and note the organization of tiles and tile groups on the screen.
3. Display the Start menu on the full-screen Start screen, and observe the configuration of the menu items.
4. From the Start menu, return to the Start screen personalization settings. Set the toggle buttons for the Most Used app list, Recently Added app list, and jump lists to Off.

5. Configure the Start menu to display only these folders:

   • File Explorer
   • Settings
   • Documents
   • Downloads
   • Pictures
   • Network
6. Display the Start menu to observe the results of the changes.
7. From the Start menu, return to the Start screen personalization settings. Turn off the full-screen Start screen.
8. Display the partial-screen Start screen, and drag the corner of the screen until it is at its minimum size.
9. If a vertical scroll bar appears, scroll down to display the hidden tiles.
10. Return to the Start screen personalization settings, and implement the Start screen configuration, lists, and folders that you like best.

Manage Start screen tiles

Perform the following tasks:

1. Display the Start screen, and observe the configuration of the existing tiles.
2. Move a Start screen tile from an existing tile group and use it to create a new tile group. Set the tile size to the largest size it supports.
3. Move another tile into the new group, and set its size to Small.
4. Name the new tile group Practice Tiles.
5. Move the Practice Tiles group to the upper-left corner of the Start screen.
6. Rename the Practice Tiles group as Favorite Apps.
7. Arrange and resize the tiles on your Start screen to suit the way you work.

TIP

In Chapter 4, “Work with apps and notifications,” you’ll add more tiles to the Start screen.

Set the desktop background and system colors

Perform the following tasks:

1. Open the Settings window, and display the color personalization settings.
2. In the Choose a color section, set the three toggle buttons to On.
3. Return to the Settings window, and display the background personalization settings.
4. Set the desktop background to a solid color of your choice. Then set the desktop background to the Background01 image located in the practice file folder. Configure the background settings to display the image in the center of the screen.
5. Minimize all open windows to show the desktop and observe the change. Notice that the background color you set in step 4 surrounds the image.

6. Return to the background personalization settings. Configure the background settings as follows:

   • Display a slideshow of the images in the practice file folder.
   • Display the images in a random order, with the image changing every minute.
   • Choose the fit option that will display all the images at full-screen size without affecting the image aspect ratios.
7. Minimize all open windows to show the desktop and observe the change.
8. Expand the Start screen. Notice that the desktop background is visible through the Start screen and taskbar.
9. Wait for the desktop background to change. Notice that the accent color on the taskbar and other interface elements changes with the background image. Locate the source of the accent color for each new background image.
10. Return to the Settings window. Configure the desktop background and accent color as you want them.

Configure the taskbar

Perform the following tasks:

1. Check whether the taskbar is locked. If it is locked, unlock it.
2. Move the taskbar to the left edge of the screen.
3. Configure the taskbar to display small buttons and to hide when it isn’t active.
4. When the taskbar is hidden, point to the edge of the screen to display it. Then stretch it to twice its current width.
5. Hide the Task View and Touch keyboard buttons.
6. Move the taskbar to the top of the window.
7. Display the Desktop toolbar on the taskbar. Hide the toolbar name and link labels. Then size the toolbar so that three icons appear on the taskbar and the rest are available on a menu at the right end of the toolbar.
8. Configure the taskbar to display large buttons, and to never combine taskbar buttons.
9. Create a custom toolbar that links to the contents of the Ch02 practice file folder. From the toolbar, open the Background05 image. Then open the Background07 image. Verify that a new taskbar button appears for each image.
10. Close the Desktop toolbar, and remove the custom toolbar from the taskbar.
11. Configure the taskbar content the way you want it, and then lock the taskbar.

Apply and manage themes

Perform the following tasks:

1. From either the Settings window or Control Panel, display all the themes that are installed on your computer.
2. Apply the built-in Flowers theme.
3. Connect to the Themes webpage, and locate a theme that you like. Download and apply the theme.
4. In the Colors pane of the Personalization settings page, change the system color. Then return to the Personalization panel, and note that the unsaved theme reflects your changes.
5. Save the customized theme in the My Themes section of the Personalization panel as MyCustomTheme.
6. Remove a theme (either the theme you downloaded or your custom theme) from the My Themes section of the Personalization panel.