Jay started off his presentation by glancing at his laptop and using the new facial recognition software called Windows Hello to log into his laptop. He told us that Windows 10 is the first operating system to support facial recognition software. Jay explained that a 3D infrared camera is required which makes this new feature more secure than if only a standard webcam is used. If you prefer, you can also sign into your computer with your fingerprints or using your irises. You still have the ability to login the old way with a password or a PIN and now you can even use a picture password where you draw gestures over a picture of your choosing.
Jay informed us that Windows 10 is free for anyone running Windows 7 or higher as long as the upgrade is done within one year of Windows 10’s July 29 launch date. Once you’ve claimed your upgrade, it’s permanent and Microsoft will keep you updated for the supported lifetime of the device. Windows 10 is aimed at not having new versions and it is expected to be around for the next ten years. There will be incremental upgrade cycles to Windows 10, and every couple of months a new update will be available. You can go to the Microsoft store at the Danbury Mall and they will install Windows 10 on your computer for free. Within its first day of release 14 million people downloaded Windows 10, taking advantage of the free upgrade.
Jay was excited to tell us that the familiar Start Menu used in Windows 7 is now back in Windows 10! The new Start Menu is a combination of the classic Windows 7 Start Menu on the left and the tile-laden Windows 8 Start Menu on the right. The new Start Menu is much more customizable than it has ever been before. You have the ability to resize it, pin and unpin tiles and add the Control Panel and other special built-in shortcuts to the left side of the Start Menu. You can even remove all the live tiles and make it look just like Windows 7.
All of your software that runs on Windows 7 will run on Windows 10, except for antivirus software. Windows Defender is a real-time antivirus built into Windows 10. It will automatically scan programs you open, download new virus definitions from Windows Update and it can be used for in-depth scans. If you install another antivirus software package on Windows 10, Windows Defender will automatically be turned off because you can’t have multiple antivirus software programs running simultaneously.
Jay had a lot of fun showing us how to use Cortana, the clever new personal assistant built into Windows 10. He asked, “Hey Cortana, will I need a raincoat tomorrow? Cortana figured out Jay’s current location and gave him the local weather report for the next day. In order for this feature to work your computer needs to have a microphone that works well and you also need to turn on the setting in your computer that lets Cortana respond when you say “Hey Cortana”. You can get started with using Cortana by typing a question in the search box on the task bar or you can select the microphone icon to talk to Cortana. Jay showed us how Cortana can be used to open Excel, remind you of upcoming meetings, and it can even shut down your computer. In order for this feature to work you need to give Cortana permission to access your data.
The new control panel is almost the same as the Windows 8.1 version with a few exceptions to make it easier to use. The Action Center where you can check out all of your security and maintenance needs has been renamed appropriately “Security and Maintenance”. If you prefer to continue to use the original control panel it is still available.
File Backup is not included in Windows 10, because Microsoft realized that people were not using Windows to backup their computers. Instead, you can use OneDrive to backup all of your files. The Command Prompt has been part of Windows since the very beginning and remains one of the least changed components of the Windows operating system. You can now cut and paste from the command prompt. You also have the ability to change the font size.
Windows 10 includes Microsoft Edge, which replaces Internet Explorer as the default browser. The Edge interface has been rewritten from scratch and Microsoft claims it is the fastest browser available today. Edge gives you the ability to download articles from the internet and save it to your reading list, so that you can read the article later on an airplane when you aren’t connected to the internet. Jay said that he loves this new feature and uses it often, since he spends a great deal of his time traveling on airplanes.
Jay suggested that if you want to upgrade a Windows 7 or Windows 8 machine to Windows 10, you should be sure to plug in all the devices that you plan on using with Windows 10. The first step is to do a test to see if Windows 10 is compatible with all of your attached hardware. This can be done by finding the ‘Get Windows 10 app’ icon in the notification tray at the bottom-right corner of your screen with the white Windows logo on it. You can right-click on this icon and select the option to ‘Check your upgrade status’. On the next screen that appears, click on the icon with the three horizontal lines in the upper-left corner and select the ‘Check your PC’ option. This will let you know ahead of time if the upgrade process will be able to run smoothly for you.
Jay was peppered with numerous questions throughout his entire presentation and he did a terrific job of answering them without skipping a beat and then going back to his presentation. Thank you, Jay, for filling us in on some of the cool new features included in Windows 10. Now that we know what to expect, it just might be time to dive right in and begin using Windows 10. If you’d like to stay in touch with what Jay is currently up to, you can subscribe to his blog at blog.mir.net.