Windows 11 For Dummies. Andy Rathbone
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Название: Windows 11 For Dummies

Автор: Andy Rathbone

Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited

Жанр: Зарубежная компьютерная литература

Серия:

isbn: 9781119846499

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ appears, where you sign in with your Microsoft account. Finish by giving Cortana access to your information, which allows Cortana to check your calendar, contacts, location, and search history. Armed with that information, Cortana can manage your appointments as it assists with your life.

      As digital butlers go, Cortana lacks references from past employers, leading to a trust issue. Some people feel comfortable with robots managing parts of their lives, and others, understandably, are less comfortable with the thought.

      Seeing the Action Center and Notifications

      

Windows 11 brings big changes to the taskbar’s icon-filled right edge. Back in Windows 10, the taskbar contained an Action Center icon. A click on the Action Center fetched the Notifications pane: a panel along the screen’s right edge that listed bits of information alerting you to new email, appointments, results of security scans, and other news.

      Nestled along the Notifications pane’s bottom edge lived a list of icons that toggled handy settings. One quick click could quickly put your laptop into Airplane mode, for example; a click on the Night Light toggle dimmed your laptop’s screen for working in poorly lit areas, saving your eyes from screen glare.

      Windows 11 dumped the Action Center icon, preferring to split its job into two separate sections, as described in the following sections.

      Viewing notifications

Snapshot of clicking the time and date area to see the Notification pane, which displays current information about both your life and your computer.

      FIGURE 3-8: Click the time and date area to see the Notifications pane, which displays current information about both your life and your computer.

      They first appear as a flash in the lower-left corner of your screen, hoping your eyes will dart to it and absorb it. Then they disappear, piling up in the Notifications pane.

      Notifications can be dealt with in a variety of ways:

       Ignore them. You needn’t even look at the Notifications pane. The notifications will simply pile up unread, with no damage done. Unless it’s a reminder for a forgotten-but-upcoming appointment, a notification usually is more informational than urgent.

       Clear them all. If you grow weary of seeing a pile of notifications, click the Clear All button in the Notifications pane’s upper-right corner. Whoosh, gone!

       Close any single notification by clicking the X in its upper-right corner.

       Stop seeing a particularly nagging notification by clicking the three dots next to the X in the notification’s upper-right corner. When the drop-down menu appears, select Turn Off All Notifications from that app or program.

       To choose which apps can bug you with notifications, click the three dots next to the X in any notification’s upper-right corner. When the drop-down menu appears, click Go To Notification Settings. There, toggle switches let you choose which apps can and can’t disturb you with their latest news.

      Seeing Quick Settings icons

      

At the bottom of the Navigation pane, Windows 10 places its Quick Action icons: handy toggle switches for commonly used settings. Windows 11 shows those icons when you click the Sound or Network icons (located on the far right edge of the taskbar). And Windows 11 calls them Quick Settings icons.

      Shown earlier in Figure 3-7, these icons appear most often, although Windows 11 lets you customize them to meet your own needs:

       Network or WiFi: This displays information about your current network connections, including the internet.

       Bluetooth: When turned on, this lets your PC communicate with other Bluetooth devices within range (about 30 feet). Common Bluetooth gadgetry includes speakers, smartphones, and smartwatches. I cover Bluetooth in Chapter 12.

       Location: This lets you toggle your computer’s knowledge of your geographic location, handy when looking at apps with maps or weather reports.

       All Settings: A click here fetches the Windows 11 Settings app, a huge panel of organized switches, which replaces Control Panel found in older Windows versions. (You can also reach the Settings app by clicking the Start button and clicking the Settings icon.)

      The available icons vary according to your model of computer or tablet.

      

You can customize the Quick Settings’ bank of icons by clicking the little pencil icon in the section’s lower-right corner. When pushpins appear next to the other icons, click a pushpin to remove an icon. To add an unlisted icon, click the word Add; a pop-up list offers other icons you can add with a click on their name.

      Watching Widgets

      

Windows 11 introduces Widgets: a panel filled with news about weather, sports, world events, stocks, and other tidbits of up-to-the-minute information that already appear on our phones, websites, TVs, radios, and wristwatches.

Snapshot of clicking the taskbar’s Widgets icon, and the Widgets panel appears.

      FIGURE 3-9: Click the taskbar’s Widgets icon, and the Widgets panel appears.

      The Widgets fill themselves automatically with information gathered from the internet, and there’s not much you can do with them. Here are a few tricks, though, to make the Widgets match your interests:

       A click on the Add Widgets button lets you customize the panel with even more informational boxes: upcoming appointments, for example, current traffic information, or a to-do list.

       To СКАЧАТЬ