7 ways I set up Windows 11 for a better experience

Once you choose up a brand new Windows 11 laptop or carry out a recent set up of Home windows 11 on your PC, it isn’t totally excellent proper out of the field. Whereas Microsoft has packed quite a lot of nice options into Home windows 11, making it work higher for you requires a number of easy changes that, over time, will make utilizing it extra pleasant and productive.

Whether or not it is adjusting the look of Home windows 11 or making a number of modifications to the taskbar and Start Menu, listed below are seven methods I arrange Home windows 11 for the absolute best consumer expertise. All these changes take lower than a couple of minutes to finish and do not require the set up of any third-party software program, making them fast and simple to do to have Home windows 11 working higher for you very quickly.

7

Customise the look of Home windows 11

Allow darkish mode and alter the colours of Home windows

I take advantage of Home windows 11 on each my laptop computer and desktop PC for work, and if I’ve to stare at my PC all day, I would like it to look interesting. Fortuitously, with Home windows 11, Microsoft has included a wealth of customization choices to assist personalize the appear and feel of Home windows to your liking. After all, the basic choices can be found, akin to altering your desktop background, however there are additionally a number of distinctive methods to make Home windows extra private.

To customise the looks of Home windows 11, go to Settings > Personalization. From there, you will see an inventory of assorted choices, together with altering your background and the colours of Home windows. The primary setting I all the time change is to change Home windows to darkish mode as a substitute of sunshine to avoid wasting my eyes. This may be discovered below Colours > Select your mode > Darkish. In that very same colour menu, you can even disable the translucent impact on Home windows and choose an accent colour of your selection to use to the taskbar and Begin Menu.

I additionally wish to personalize the lock display screen, which you are able to do below Settings > Personalization > Lock display screen. There, you possibly can set your personal background for it, or depart it as Home windows Highlight, which randomly selects completely different landscapes all over the world to function your lock display screen while you register to your PC.

I like to recommend exploring all of the completely different customization choices below Personalization, as there are quite a few decisions to fine-tune Home windows’ look to your desire.

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Making urgent the Home windows key price it

Persevering with with the theme of personalizing Home windows to your liking, editing the Start Menu is one other suggestion I like to recommend. Once you first arrange Home windows 11, not one of the apps you have put in are pinned to the Begin Menu, and the default look is cluttered with suggestions for recordsdata or packages you have just lately opened. In the event you open tons of various recordsdata a day, as I do, then the suggestions within the Begin Menu aren’t significantly useful.

Fortuitously, you possibly can alter the Begin Menu to show extra pinned apps as a substitute of suggestions. To do that, go to Settings > Personalization > Begin and choose Extra Pins as a substitute of the Default choice. To pin put in packages to your Begin Menu, merely seek for them, right-click them, and choose Pin to Begin. I’ve all of the apps I take advantage of most frequently right here, which I do not essentially want on my taskbar, akin to Photoshop and recreation launchers aside from Steam, like Xbox and Epic Video games. Pinning packages to the Begin Menu is a handy strategy to open them rapidly, slightly than having to seek for them every time or use a desktop icon. It makes urgent the Home windows Key price it.

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5

Repair the taskbar

You modify it again to the way it used to look in earlier Home windows variations

Subsequent, personalizing your taskbar is one other strategy to improve your Home windows 11 expertise. By default, Microsoft pins a number of apps to it, such because the Home windows Retailer and Microsoft Edge. In the event you’re like me and by no means use Edge or the Home windows Retailer, unpinning them can liberate area on your taskbar and make it look much less cluttered.

I like to recommend pinning the apps you utilize most often to your taskbar. For me, these embody File Explorer, Chrome, Steam, Slack, Spotify, and Discord. This ensures that the apps I depend on essentially the most are all the time entrance and middle. To pin an app to your taskbar, seek for it or, whereas it is open, right-click on it and choose Pin to taskbar.

In the event you’re coming to Home windows 11 from Windows 10 and have been utilizing Home windows for a very long time, you will discover that the taskbar is now centralized as a substitute of being positioned to the left, because it all the time has been. In the event you don’t love Home windows 11’s macOS-like centralized taskbar, you possibly can revert its alignment to the left, like in Home windows 10, 7, XP, and earlier variations. To do that, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, and alter the Alignment to Left as a substitute of Heart. There’s additionally an choice below the Alignment settings to mechanically conceal the taskbar when you favor to cover it when it isn’t in use.

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4

Allow Clipboard historical past

Simply discover any hyperlink or textual content you have copied

Copying and pasting is among the mostly used options on any PC. Nonetheless, retaining observe of all of the hyperlinks or textual content you have copied can typically change into overwhelming when you’re sending lots of them all through the day. That is why Clipboard historical past is among the finest options you possibly can allow on Home windows 11. It is not turned on by default, however while you activate it, it retains observe of every little thing you have copied to your PC’s clipboard. In the event you’re looking for a hyperlink you copied earlier or a bit of textual content, you possibly can consult with Clipboard historical past to rapidly find it.

To allow Clipboard historical past, go to Settings > System > Clipboard > Clipboard historical past. As soon as activated, to convey up your Clipboard historical past, merely press the Home windows Key + V. You may then have the ability to see all of the hyperlinks you have just lately copied. You may pin completely different objects to your Clipboard historical past for simple entry. You may clear your Clipboard historical past anytime by merely clicking the Clear all button.

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3

Cut back the variety of startup apps

Have Home windows 11 boot smoother

In the event you’ve simply arrange Home windows 11 and put in quite a lot of apps, there is a good likelihood that a few of them have mechanically determined to begin everytime you boot up your PC. Whereas most Home windows PCs now include speedy stable state drives (SSDs), some older machines nonetheless use arduous disk drives (HDDs), and having too many apps begin directly can decelerate Home windows throughout startup.

To make Home windows boot quicker and smoother, you possibly can cut back the variety of apps that open mechanically at startup. To do that, open Job Supervisor by looking for it within the search bar or by concurrently urgent Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Then, choose Startup apps from the menu on the left. You may see all of the apps that begin with Home windows, and you’ll right-click and disable startup for any apps you do not want working when Home windows boots up. I all the time disable Copilot and Xbox, as I do not want them working on a regular basis or at bootup. Even if in case you have an SSD, I like to recommend doing this, because it frees up your PC’s assets by not having apps run within the background unnecessarily.

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2

Liberate cupboard space

Clear up your storage machine for future wants

In the event you’ve simply upgraded to Home windows 11 from Home windows 10, now’s nearly as good a time as ever to contemplate cleansing up your PC’s cupboard space. In case your Home windows 11 set up is working on an HDD, this step is essential as a result of in case your HDD is almost full, it could expertise slowdowns that negatively affect efficiency.

To view all of the packages you’ve got put in and uninstall any you do not want, go to Settings > Apps > Put in Apps. In the event you spot any apps you not require, you possibly can click on the three dots on the suitable to uninstall them. Even if in case you have an SSD, I believe it is price doing this, as a result of even a virtually full SSD can decelerate, and it is all the time good to have free area obtainable for future wants.

In the event you’re on a brand new Home windows 11 PC, I nonetheless advocate doing this as nicely, because it’s an amazing alternative to take a look at any of the pre-installed apps included with Home windows, and uninstall any you do not want. The primary app I all the time uninstall on any new Home windows 11 PC is Copilot, as a result of I do not need or want any of Microsoft’s AI options.

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1

Change your default browser

Sorry not sorry Microsoft Edge

Lastly, the very last thing I like to recommend when organising Home windows 11 to boost your expertise is to vary your default browser, if you have not already. By default, Microsoft units Microsoft Edge because the default browser, and whereas it has made enhancements to Edge over the previous few years, I nonetheless discover it’s not so good as Chrome or Firefox. Within the case of Google Chrome, I like having it synced throughout all my units, whether or not or not it’s my Home windows PC, MacBook, or iPad.

To alter your default browser, guarantee you’ve got your most well-liked browser put in. Then, navigate to Apps > Default Apps > Google Chrome (or your chosen browser like Firefox) and click on Set default. As soon as that is finished, any hyperlinks you click on will open within the browser you have chosen as a substitute of Microsoft Edge.

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