Any new computer operating system will have things you want to change and Windows 10 is no exception. In fact, it may have more than the usual quirks and unwanted settings since this is a work still in progress. Here are three of the things that new users may want to check out.

Change the default web browser from Microsoft Edge

Most people will probably use the default express mode to upgrade their system. When they do, they will find that the default web browser has become the new Microsoft offering called Edge, no matter what had been set as the default browser before the upgrade. Your previous browser is still there but it’s been bumped. Returning it as the default is easy, however, and here is the procedure.

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. Choose “Settings”.
3. In the left pane, select “Default apps”.
4. Scroll down in the right pane until you see “Web browser”
5. A Microsoft Edge icon is probably shown under the “Web browser” entry.  Click or tap this and a list of possible browser options will be displayed. The graphic below shows an example. Your previous browser should be in the list.  Click the entry for your old browser to set the default browser back to your previous choice.

Enable System Protection and System Restore

It isn’t a perfect backup system by any means but System Protection with its ability to create restore points is a very useful feature. For some reason it is often disabled in upgrading to Windows 10. There are a variety of ways to access the settings for System Protection but here is one way to turn it back on.

1. Enter “system protection” (without quotes) in the search box on the left side of the taskbar.
2. At the top of the dialog box that opens, click “Create a restore point”.
3. The System Properties window will open. Select the tab “System Protection”.
4. The left image in the graphic below shows the System Protection settings. Click the button “Configure”.
5. A second window will open as shown on the right side of the graphic below. Click the button on the left side of “Turn on system protection”.
6. Under “Disk space usage”, move the slider to your preferred setting.
7. Click “OK”. The second window will close.
8. In the System Properties window, click “OK” and it will close.

Configure the privacy settings

Windows 10 has a lot of different privacy settings to contend with. For one thing, Microsoft wants to know a lot more about you than it has in the past and they really, really want you to have a Microsoft account. And, by the way, they want to sell you things from their shiny new online store. That said, here is how to configure many of the privacy settings.

1. Open the Start menu and select “Settings”.
2. Click or tap “Privacy”. 
3. The window shown in the first graphic below will open. As can be seen in the list in the left pane, there are a host of settings. The settings shown in the right-side pane are General settings and are just the beginning. For example, another group of settings is “Speech, inking, & typing” and these are shown in the second graphic below. Here is where you can turn off Cortana if you choose. Otherwise, she will start collecting all sorts of information about you. Some will find the Cortana digital assistant very useful but others may not.

There are quite a few more privacy settings and they are too many to discuss here but a  detailed discussion of all the privacy settings can be found in this article.

 

And there you have it- three important areas to check after upgrading to Wondows 10.

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This tips section is maintained by Vic Laurie. Vic runs several websites with Windows how-to's, guides, and tutorials, including a site for learning about Windows and the Internet and another with Windows 7 tips.

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