Network opens (what else?) the Network folder, where you can see a map of your home or office network and make changes to the settings. This command opens the HomeGroup window ( HomeGroups). It lets you see what’s on other computers on your home network, so that you can shove folders and files back and forth without running all over the house with a flash drive. HomeGroup is Microsoft’s name for an easy file-sharing system. You’ll find much more on photos and music in Chapter 8.

In fact, whatever software came with your phone, digital camera, or MP3 player probably dumps your photos into, and sucks your music files out of, these folders automatically. As you can probably guess, the Music, Pictures, and Videos folders are intended to house them-and these Start menu commands are quick ways to open them. Microsoft assumes (correctly) that most people these days use their home computers for managing digital music, photos, and video collections. Up pops a list of items like File Explorer, Settings, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, HomeGroup, and Network, so that you can turn on or off the ones you like (bottom). Finally, click “Choose which folders appear on Start” (middle). In the Settings window (top right), choose Personalization. For convenience, let’s call them the left side and the right side.įigure 1-6. You can add other important folders to your Start menu. The Start menu ( Figure 1-4) is split into two columns.

Tap to open the Start menu (or to close it!). If you feel that life’s too short, however, tap the key on the keyboard instead, or the button if it’s a tablet. If you’re the type who bills by the hour, you can open the Start menu ( Figure 1-3, lower left) by clicking it with the mouse. But it’s still called the Start menu, and it’s still the gateway to everything on the PC. In Windows 10, as you’ve probably noticed, the word “Start” doesn’t actually appear on the Start menu, as it did for years now the Start menu is just a square button in the lower-left corner of your screen, bearing the Windows logo ( ). Just about everything you do on your PC begins-or can begin-with your Start menu. It lists every useful piece of software on your computer, including commands, programs, and files.

That’s why the Start menu is so important ( Figure 1-4). They may as well bear a sticker reading, “No user-serviceable parts inside.” The vast majority of them are not for you they’re support files, there for behind-the-scenes use by Windows and your applications. Windows is composed of 50 million lines of computer code, scattered across your hard drive in thousands of files.

Windows 10 taskbar locked up