Setting up Windows 10 - HELP!!

[dreamshark]

 Okay, my new laptop is here and it powers up and connects to my network. Now what? Although I am far from computer-illiterate I completely fall apart when I have to learn a new OS, or a new interface to a program I used to be really good at using until they "improved" it.

I determined via trial and error that I actually did not need a Microsoft login in order to boot up Windows 10. Since they seemed to be working really hard at wheedling me into creating one, I infer that it will do them more good than it will do me and I am skipping past all that. I don't need their cloud-based subscription model version of Office, since I have a nice hard copy of Office 2010 that I expect will work just fine. So unless the OS starts  trying to deactivate itself in 30 days, I don't think I need to create a Microsoft login at this late date. I seem to have made it all the way from Windows 95 to Windows 10 without one, so let's see if I can keep up the streak. 

But first.... WTF???  Some kind of browser opened up (helpfully hardwired to deliver me to the Microsoft home page) but there is nothing to identify what this browser is. I assume it's whatever they are calling Internet Explorer these days, right? Should I use this thing, or just download Chrome and Firefox, like I always do?

But before I start installing software, I need to customize this thing so I can find my way around. The first thing I need to do is get the basic tools onto the desktop: Control Panel, My Computer, and a shortcut to the hard drive. I already know (from trying to help a friend with her computer) that they not only made a point of hiding the file system in Win10, they renamed My Computer to something else to make it extra hard to find. What was it... My PC? This PC? 

Comments

[dreamshark]

so very not helpful. Whoever you are, please go away.

[sraun]

The browser is called Edge. Download Chrome or Firefox - the Edge you've got is orphanware, and the next version will be based on Google's rendering engine.

I always just put a short-cut to File Explorer on my Desktop.

[dreamshark]

Thanks. I figured out how to put the basic icons on my desktop (This PC, Control Panel, Network) but have not located File Explorer yet.

Do you know if there is a quick way to position to that handy search box in the lower left corner?

[redbird]

File Explorer is lurking under "Windows System" on the long list of applications that comes up on the left when you click the white windows icon on the lower left.

[dreamshark]

OMG, that's it? That little file folder icon that just shows one panel of files at a time? THERE IS NO TREE VIEW. This is totally unacceptable. Just when I was starting to admit that I kind of liked some aspects of Windows 10 I am now bitterly disappointed and ... well, kind of gobsmacked that there hasn't been the same kind of revolt about this that there was about the general unusability of Windows 8 (and before that, Vista).

Fortunately, somebody seems to have put together a 3rd-party fix for this fiasco called OldNewExplorer.

[sraun]

The File Explorer I use in Win10 has a tree view pane and a contents pane. I'll have to look at that on Monday and get back to you.

[dreamshark]

I installed OldNewExplorer which works beautifully. With that taken care of I may actually learn to like Windows 10. Chances are that is what you are using.

[sraun]

I am almost certainly using something installed by default on Windows 10 - it's my work computer.

[sraun]

And I was right - I'm using the default File Explorer. It's got a "View" tab, the choices you make there are sticky. I have the Navigation Pane active, layout set to Details, File name extensions and Hidden items both checked.

[dreamshark]

Well, now that I've installed OldNewExplorer I can't see the old format any more, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't letting me do what I wanted to do. I don't just want to see a list of folders in the left-hand pane with the content of the selected folder on the right. I want to be able to expand folders into subtrees (in the left pane) down to whatever level I desire, and do it in more than one part of the tree at the same time.

[sraun]

I regularly expand the tree down to whatever subdirectory in at least two places simultaneously using the default File Explorer.

[dreamshark]

I may have just been unable to find the setting for that. Googling around, I see mention of some new settings at the bottom of the pane that had to be selected to enable the tree view.

Well, it's working very nicely with OldNewExplorer, but if I'm helping someone else set up a new PC I'll persist a little longer on tweaking the settings. Thanks.

[sraun]

Are you asking if there's a keyboard short-cut to put you into the Win10 search box? If so, Google suggests WindowsKey = S.

[dreamshark]

Yes, that seems to be correct. I was confused by the multiple names that MS likes to use for that search box and their sincere efforts to blur the differences between searching for apps on your computer and searching the web.

Turns out that Lenovo's beautiful touchpad offers an even easier shortcut: one 3-fingered tap. I've never been able to get used to touchpads in the past, but this one is so superior to any that I have ever used that I may not need the Bluetooth mouse I was thinking of ordering.

[marahmarie]

Just found out one three-fingered tap opens the search box on my laptop, too (Elitebook Pro 840 G1). Maybe that's a universal thing? Kinda cool if so.

[dreamshark]

Until you commented on this thread and I revisited it I had completely forgotten about the 3-fingered tap! Thanks for the reminder. Most of the time I use my computer in a docking station, so I don't even see the touchpad. But when I visit my daughter in Oregon I actually use my laptop as a laptop, and I'm going out there again in 2 days.