7 methods I arrange Home windows 11 for a greater expertise

Once you decide up a brand new Windows 11 laptop or carry out a recent set up of Home windows 11 on your PC, it is not completely good proper out of the field. Whereas Microsoft has packed a whole lot of nice options into Home windows 11, making it work higher for you requires a couple of easy changes that, over time, will make utilizing it extra satisfying and productive.

Whether or not it is adjusting the look of Home windows 11 or making a couple of adjustments to the taskbar and Start Menu, listed below are seven methods I arrange Home windows 11 for the very best person 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 straightforward 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 modify the colours of Home windows

I exploit 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 need it to look interesting. Thankfully, with Home windows 11, Microsoft has included a wealth of customization choices to assist personalize the feel and appear of Home windows to your liking. In fact, the basic choices can be found, akin to altering your desktop background, however there are additionally a couple of distinctive methods to make Home windows extra private.

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

I additionally prefer to personalize the lock display, which you are able to do below Settings > Personalization > Lock display. There, you may set your individual background for it, or go away it as Home windows Highlight, which randomly selects totally different landscapes world wide to function your lock display if you check in to your PC.

I like to recommend exploring all of the totally 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 value 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’ve got put in are pinned to the Begin Menu, and the default look is cluttered with suggestions for recordsdata or applications you’ve got lately opened. If you happen to open tons of various recordsdata a day, as I do, then the suggestions within the Begin Menu aren’t significantly useful.

Thankfully, you may modify the Begin Menu to show extra pinned apps as an alternative of suggestions. To do that, go to Settings > Personalization > Begin and choose Extra Pins as an alternative of the Default possibility. To pin put in applications to your Begin Menu, merely seek for them, right-click them, and choose Pin to Begin. I’ve all of the apps I exploit most frequently right here, which I do not essentially want on my taskbar, akin to Photoshop and sport launchers aside from Steam, like Xbox and Epic Video games. Pinning applications to the Begin Menu is a handy solution to open them rapidly, moderately than having to seek for them every time or use a desktop icon. It makes urgent the Home windows Key value 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 solution to improve your Home windows 11 expertise. By default, Microsoft pins a couple of apps to it, such because the Home windows Retailer and Microsoft Edge. If you happen to’re like me and by no means use Edge or the Home windows Retailer, unpinning them can release area on your taskbar and make it look much less cluttered.

I like to recommend pinning the apps you employ most regularly 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 at all times 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.

If you happen to’re coming to Home windows 11 from Windows 10 and have been utilizing Home windows for a very long time, you may discover that the taskbar is now centralized as an alternative of being positioned to the left, because it at all times has been. If you happen to don’t love Home windows 11’s macOS-like centralized taskbar, you may 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 an alternative of Heart. There may be additionally an possibility below the Alignment settings to routinely cover the taskbar for those who want to cover it when it is not in use.

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4

Allow Clipboard historical past

Simply discover any hyperlink or textual content you’ve got copied

Copying and pasting is among the mostly used options on any PC. Nevertheless, holding observe of all of the hyperlinks or textual content you’ve got copied can generally change into overwhelming for those who’re sending a lot of them all through the day. That is why Clipboard historical past is among the greatest options you may allow on Home windows 11. It is not turned on by default, however if you activate it, it retains observe of the whole lot you’ve got copied to your PC’s clipboard. If you happen to’re looking for a hyperlink you copied earlier or a chunk of textual content, you may confer 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’ve got lately copied. You’ll be able to pin totally different gadgets to your Clipboard historical past for simple entry. You’ll be able to clear your Clipboard historical past anytime by merely clicking the Clear all button.

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3

Scale back the variety of startup apps

Have Home windows 11 boot smoother

If you happen to’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 routinely 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 onerous disk drives (HDDs), and having too many apps begin without delay can decelerate Home windows throughout startup.

To make Home windows boot sooner and smoother, you may cut back the variety of apps that open routinely 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 may right-click and disable startup for any apps you do not want operating when Home windows boots up. I at all times disable Copilot and Xbox, as I do not want them operating 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 sources by not having apps run within the background unnecessarily.

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2

Unencumber space for storing

Clear up your storage gadget for future wants

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

To view all of the applications you’ve gotten put in and uninstall any you do not want, go to Settings > Apps > Put in Apps. If you happen to spot any apps you now not require, you may click on the three dots on the correct to uninstall them. Even if in case you have an SSD, I believe it is value doing this, as a result of even an almost full SSD can decelerate, and it is at all times good to have free area out there for future wants.

If you happen to’re on a brand new Home windows 11 PC, I nonetheless suggest doing this as nicely, because it’s an incredible 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 at all times 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

Swap your default browser

Sorry not sorry Microsoft Edge

Lastly, the very last thing I like to recommend when organising Home windows 11 to reinforce your expertise is to alter 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 gotten 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 achieved, any hyperlinks you click on will open within the browser you’ve got chosen as an alternative of Microsoft Edge.

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