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How to Customize Windows 10

Customizing the Taskbar

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    Open Settings and click Personalization. To open Settings, click the Start menu icon, then click the gear icon that represents Settings.
  2. Click Taskbar. You'll see this in the menu on the left side of the window.
  3. Toggle the switches on and off to customize your Taskbar. You have several options including
    1. Lock the taskbar, which, when enabled, makes the taskbar unmovable and uneditable. If disabled, you can click to resize it, and drag it to other areas of your screen.
    2. Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode, which sets the taskbar to slide down when it's not being used.
    3. Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode, which sets the taskbar to slide down and hide in when it's not in use when your computer is set to tablet mode.
    4. Use small taskbar buttons, which makes the buttons and icons smaller on your taskbar.
    5. Show badges on taskbar buttons, which enables or disables the feature that allows app icons in your taskbar to display notifications.
  4. Click the drop-down menu under "Taskbar location on screen." You can reposition the taskbar in this menu or you can click and drag the taskbar if it isn't locked. You can position it on the left, right, top, or bottom of your screen.[1]
  5. Click the drop-down menu under "Combine taskbar buttons." By default, this is set to always combine and hide labels. You can change it to either "When taskbar is full" or "Never."
  6. Click Select which icons appear on the taskbar. These are the icons that appear in the notification area on your taskbar. You can change this or leave it to its default settings.[2]
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    Right-click on the taskbar for more options. You can select Search > Hidden to hide the search bar icon, which you don't actually need, since pressing the Windows key and typing will immediately bring up the search function. There are many more customization features available from this menu when you right-click the taskbar including whether or not to show the Cortana icon.[3]
    1. There are many different customization options for everything in Windows 10. For more information on changing settings, see How to Change Your Default Apps in Windows 10 and How to Change the Windows 10 Language.

Changing the Desktop Background

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    Click the Start Menu icon
  2. and click the Settings icon
    . This will open Settings in a new window.
  3. Click Personalization. You will find this next to an icon of a desktop and a paintbrush.
  4. Click Background. You'll find this in the menu on the left side of the window.
  5. Click the drop-down menu under "Background." Three options will appear next to your cursor.
  6. Select Picture. This sets your background to a picture if it isn't already selected.
    1. Select Slideshow if you want your background to filter through images. You'll be able to set the frequency that the desktop changes pictures by clicking the drop-down menu under "Change picture every…"
  7. Click Browse under "Choose your picture." You can either pick a default picture or choose one from your computer.
    1. If you opted to display a slideshow under "Background," then you will browse for picture collections instead of a single image.
  8. Double-click the file to select it. You can also single-click the file then click Choose picture instead.
  9. Choose a fit. Click the drop-down menu under "Choose a fit." These will change the look of the picture on your desktop. You can choose Fill, Fit, Stretch, Center, and Span.

Changing System Colors

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    Open Settings and click Personalization. To open Settings, click the Start menu icon, then click the gear icon that represents Settings.
  2. Click Colors. You'll see this in the menu on the left side of the window.
  3. Click the drop-down under "Choose your color." You'll see a preview of the colors used in the preview window above.
  4. Select Light, Dark, or Custom. "Light" and "Dark" will change the colors automatically, but the "Custom" setting will take a few more steps.
    1. If you've picked "Light" or "Dark" settings, you can stop here. If you've picked "Custom," continue to the next steps.
  5. Select a mode for "Choose your default Windows/app mode.'" The next 2 prompts verify how your Windows and apps work. For example, if you pick "Light" under Window and "Dark" for apps, you'll see white, light new windows (like your Settings window and taskbar) and dark apps (like your Internet browser).
  6. Enable or disable the switch next to "Transparency effects." This will alter the looks of your Windows elements; toggle the switch to preview what each setting will look like.
  7. Select "Automatically pick..." or select an accent color from the suggestions. You can either have Windows 10 automatically set an accent color, or you can pick from the suggested colors. You'll see this accent color used in various areas around Windows 10, and if you don't like it, you can always change it.
  8. Select where to apply your accent color under "Show accent color on the following surfaces." Click to check or uncheck the boxes for "Start, taskbar, and action center" and/or "Title bars and window borders."

Customizing the Lock Screen

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    Open Settings and click Personalization. To open Settings, click the Start menu icon, then click the gear icon that represents Settings.
  2. Click Lock screen. You'll find this in the menu on the left side of the window. The Lock screen is what pops-up every time you need to sign in.
    1. It defaults to using Windows Spotlight and searching for stunning photographs, but you can change this to a static image.
  3. Click the drop-down menu under "Background." Three options will appear next to your cursor.
  4. Select Picture. This sets your background to a picture if it isn't already selected.
    1. Select Slideshow if you want your background to filter through images. You'll be able to set the frequency that the desktop changes pictures by clicking the drop-down menu under "Change picture every…"
  5. Click Browse under "Choose your picture." You can either pick a default picture or choose one from your computer.
    1. If you opted to display a slideshow under "Background," then you will browse for picture collections instead of a single image.
    2. You also have an option to enable or disable the toggle for "Get fun facts…"
  6. Double-click a picture to select it. You can also single-click the image file, then click Choose picture.
    1. You can change the apps that appear on your lock screen by clicking the icons under "Choose one app to show detailed status on the lock screen" and "Choose which apps show quick status on the lock screen."
    2. To disable the sign-in background and use your desktop background, click to turn off the switch next to "Show lock screen background picture on the sign-in screen."

Changing Themes

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    Open Settings and click Personalization. To open Settings, click the Start menu icon, then click the gear icon that represents Settings.
  2. Click Themes. You'll see this in the menu on the left side of the page.
  3. Click Get more themes in the Microsoft Store. If you have themes on your computer already, you'll see them displayed and have the option to select from them or find a new one in the store.
  4. Select the theme you want. As you scroll through the Microsoft Store, you'll see that most, if not all, of the themes are free.
    1. Clicking on a theme opens its details.
  5. Click Get. You'll find this next to the title of the theme. If you've already purchased the theme, you might see and need to click "Install" instead.
  6. Click Apply. You'll find this where you saw "Get" or "Install" and your Settings will reopen.
  7. Click to select your new theme in your Settings window. You should see it under the "Change theme" header.
    1. Once you select the theme, you'll see the color settings change as a custom color is applied with a theme as well as some new images for your desktop background.

Customizing the Start Menu

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    Open Settings and click Personalization. To open Settings, click the Start menu icon, then click the gear icon that represents Settings.
    1. You can open the Start menu and drag and drop the edges to change the size of it and the layout of the tiles.
  2. Click Start. You'll see this in the menu on the left side of the window.
  3. Toggle the switches on and off to customize your Start menu. You have several customization options, including
    1. Show more tiles on Start, which adds or removes the fourth column of tiles that fits up to 8 small tiles in a row.
    2. Show apps list in Start menu, which adds or removes tiles for apps that you've pinned to the Start menu. However, you can still find these apps if you click to see All apps.
    3. Show recently added apps, which adds or removes a list of your recently added.
    4. Show most used apps, which adds or removes a list of the apps you use most.
    5. Occasionally show suggestions in Start, which adds or removes recommendations from the Microsoft Store.
    6. Use Start full screen, which shows your Start menu in full screen if enabled.
    7. Show recently opened items in Jump Lists on Start or the taskbar and in File Explorer Quick Access, which you can edit to further customize by clicking Choose which folders appear on Start.
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