Chapter 3: Customizing and Configuring Windows 10

Windows 10 is Microsoft's latest version of its Operating System (OS) and is the most widely adopted version in use today. Unlike previous Windows OS versions, Windows 10 is continuously updated with new features and capabilities and offers new methods of deployment, management, and integration with today's cloud technologies.

This chapter introduces the second objective of this book, which is learning about customizing and configuring Windows 10. We will focus on how to configure Edge and Internet Explorer (IE) and their different sign-in options. Furthermore, we will learn how to customize the desktop and the Start menu. Of course, we will also cover working with PowerShell.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Configuring Edge and IE
• Configuring the sign-in options
• Configuring the mobility options
• Customizing the Windows desktop
• Customizing the Windows Start menu
• Working...

Technical requirements

In this chapter, you will see us use PowerShell code. This code is available at the following GitHub page: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Microsoft-Exam-MD-100-Windows-10-Certification-Guide/tree/master/Chapter03

Configuring Edge and IE

With the introduction of Windows 10, Edge is the new default browser on Windows 10. So, you might expect Edge to replace IE 11, but this isn't the case. Windows 10 still has IE 11, but it's there for legacy purposes, such as for web applications that use ActiveX components.

But how different are Edge and IE? Let's explore this in the upcoming sections.

Understanding Edge

Edge is built to be highly compatible as it has modern web standards, such as HTML5, and provides a consistent interface across different Windows 10 devices. Edge's interface is simple and touch-friendly, and it offers a safe and fast browsing experience. Edge is also available on Android and iOS devices.

One of the benefits of the integration between Windows 10 and Edge is the ability to customize Edge for your organization. You can configure these settings through Group Policy or Microsoft Intune. We are not going to look at every setting in this chapter, but...

Configuring the sign-in options

During the installation of Windows 10, if you have a working internet connection, you will be prompted to specify your Microsoft account. If you don't have a Microsoft account, then you can create one or create a local account to use with Windows 10. If you create a local account, then you can create a Microsoft account afterward and link it to the local account or to an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) account.

Microsoft accounts are primarily intended for consumers. With a Microsoft account, you can do the following:

• Access and share photos, documents, and other files, including on OneDrive and Outlook
• Download and install Microsoft Store apps
• Sync Microsoft Store apps with user-specific settings
• Sync apps between your devices

In this section, we will look at several different sign-in options for Windows 10. On the sign-in page, you will see the following methods that are available for Windows 10:

...

Configuring the mobility settings

Computers play an important part in people's daily lives. The ability to carry out computing tasks at any time and in any place has become a necessity for most users. Mobile computers are portable devices that you can use for work. They include the following devices:

• Laptops and notebooks
• Tablets

Computing devices need electrical power, regardless of whether they are in use. A priority for users of these kinds of hardware is to be able to conserve battery life. If users are on the road or in a remote location, it is important for them to know how to configure the power settings in Windows 10 to meet their needs.

In this section, we will talk about how to configure the basic power options, power plans, and presentation settings.

Understanding the basic power plans

By default, there are three preconfigured power plans:

• Balanced
• Power saver
• High performance

You can adjust and save any of these power...

Customizing the Windows desktop

After you have installed Windows 10, you can customize the user interface and personalize Windows. The user interface of Windows 10 is similar to other versions of Windows, such as Windows 7, as it has a Start menu, a desktop, and a taskbar.

To configure the desktop, click on the Start | Settings | Personalization option.

From the Personalization page, we can personalize the following options:

• Background: You can select and configure the desktop background color or image, or you can select a slideshow of images.
• Colors: You can choose a color scheme, enable transparency effects, change the accent colors on the Start menu, change the taskbar color, go to Action Center, and change the title bars and window borders. You can also choose between the light and dark default app modes.
• Lock Screen: You can select and configure a background image to display when your device is locked. Windows Spotlight displays different background images...

Customizing the Windows Start menu

Just as in earlier Windows versions, you can customize the Start menu of Windows 10. For users who have never worked with Windows 10 before, the appearance of the Start menu may be significantly different than what they were previously used to. You can configure the Start menu from the Settings app, as explained in the last section.

You can customize the application tiles that appear on the Start menu and how those tiles look and behave. When a tile is pinned to the Start menu, you can configure it from the context menu. The context menu appears when you right-click on the pinned tile:

Figure 3.16 - Context menu

The options in the context menu, shown in the previous screenshot, are as follows:

• Unpin from Start: This unpins the tile from the Start menu.
• Resize: Choose from Small, Medium, Large, and Wide. This is dependent on the app.
• More: You have several options, which are also dependent on the type...

Working with PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is a powerful tool that you can use to configure a Windows 10 device using the Command-Line Interface (CLI). PowerShell allows desktop support staff and administrators to create reusable scripts to make more complex configuration changes quickly or apply changes to multiple devices.

Windows PowerShell is an integrated shell environment that enables scriptable, flexible, and comprehensive management of Windows 10:

Figure 3.20 - The Windows PowerShell command line window

Windows PowerShell has several features that make it ideal for the local and remote management of one or more Windows 10 devices. These features are as follows:

• Windows OS integration: This is a built-in feature in Windows 10 and other earlier Windows versions, such as Windows 7 and Windows Server 2016.
• Remote management capability: You can use PowerShell to manage remote computers.
• Script-based execution: You can use PowerShell scripts...

Summary

In this chapter, you learned the differences between the new Microsoft Edge browser and IE 11, how you can configure Enterprise Mode site lists to allow selected websites to open in IE 11 for web app and website compatibility, and how you can deploy this through Group Policy or Microsoft Intune. This will help you to understand how to configure browser settings in Edge and IE 11.

In addition to this, you learned how to configure different sign-in options, such as Windows Hello face recognition, Windows Hello fingerprint reader, a Windows Hello PIN, Dynamic lock, and a picture password, as well as signing in with a security key. All the different sign-in options use a two-factor biometric authentication mechanism. Understanding these Windows security components will help you keep your devices safe and secure from potential hackers.

You also learned how to customize the Windows desktop and the Windows Start menu with manual interaction or by deploying an exported Start...

Questions

1. Can we open legacy web applications in Microsoft Edge?
2. To export the Start menu to a .xml file, is the following command correct?

   Export-StartLayout -Path \\server\share\folder\StartMenuLayout.xml

3. Can you use Command Prompt commands in PowerShell?
4. If you need help with using a PowerShell command, is Get-Help <PowerShell cmdlet> the correct command to use?

Further reading

Microsoft Edge group policies: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/deploy/group-policies/

Enterprise Mode Site List Manager (schema v.2): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49974

Passwordless Strategy: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/hello-for-business/passwordless-strategy

Customize and export Start: Layout https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/customize-and-export-start-layout

Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016: PowerShell https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/windows/get-started?view=win10-ps

The Windows Hello biometric requirements: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/device-experiences/windows-hello-biometric-requirements