By Marilyn Vinch

How many different programs do you use on your PC? Most of us tend to wander between Word and Explorer (or other web browser of choice) with just the occasional dip into Excel when absolutely necessary. Perhaps you use Outlook for your email and maybe, just maybe, you use a media player for movies and music.

It seems a pity. Today’s personal computers are so powerful and yet most are used to just a fraction of their full potential. They’re capable of so much more: whether you want it to improve the way you work, or open up new strategies and hobbies, there’s probably a program hidden in there that can help you do it.

In fact, the Windows 10 operating system comes with Microsoft’s most powerful and versatile package of programs so far. With a new emphasis on its personal assistant app, Cortana – their version of Siri – every element has been tweaked to make the day-to-day business of using your PC simpler while adding a whole level of functionality to the top end stuff.

So on one hand, doing things as straightforward as logging in now takes fewer precious seconds. Windows Hello enables you to sign in using face or fingerprint recognition. Microsoft reckon this cuts log-in time by around four seconds – okay, it doesn’t add up to much, but we’ve all felt the frustration of tapping in a password when really we want to get straight online.

And more complex stuff like screen recordings, creating and saving maps, and chatting with Microsoft’s support agents are made much more powerful by – respectively – Game DVR, Maps, and Contact Support.

So if you want to get a better handle on what your PC is actually capable of doing, you might want to look through this new visual guide from STL. If you’re using Windows the same way you did ten years ago, you really aren’t getting full value for your money!

 

About Marilyn Vinch