Everyday use
The desktop
The taskbar at the bottom holds Start, search, Task View, your pinned and running programs, the tray icons and the clock. Right-click the taskbar for its settings, or open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
- Click a program's button to bring its window forward, again to minimize it.
- Shift+click or a middle click on a running program's button opens another window of it.
- Right-click a button for its menu: pin or unpin it, Report a problem, close its windows.
Start lists every program, Windows or Linux. Type to search programs and settings. Right-click a program to pin it to Start or the taskbar, run it as an administrator, open its file location, or set it to start at sign-in.
The look
Settings > Personalization chooses the look as a whole (Themes: Classic, Rounded, Horizon, Glass) or each part on its own -- window frames, Start, the taskbar. Mixing parts makes the theme "Custom".
Background offers a picture, a solid color, a picture lit through the glass where the pointer is, or Living glass: the picture as stained glass in the project's colours, each window outlined by its own leaded border. Moving backgrounds stop on battery saver and under full-screen programs.
Files
Your files are in your home folder, which is also your Windows profile: Documents, Pictures, Downloads and the rest are the same folders whichever kind of program you use. File Explorer (Win+E) shows them.
- Tabs: Ctrl+T opens one, Ctrl+W closes one, Ctrl+Tab moves between them. Each tab remembers its own back and forward.
- Ctrl+N opens another window.
- USB sticks and discs appear under This PC with a drive letter.
Terminals
- Terminal (Start, or Win+X > Terminal) holds PowerShell, Command Prompt and other shells in tabs and panes: Ctrl+Shift+T opens a tab, the + button's arrow chooses which shell. PowerShell or Command Prompt started any other way -- Start, a shortcut, a program -- opens as a Terminal tab too, as on Windows 11. To have them in console windows of their own instead: Terminal's Settings > Default terminal application > Console window.
- Linux Terminal (Start) is the Linux side's shell, with tabs as well: Ctrl+Shift+T a new tab, Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V copy and paste, and a right-click for Copy, Paste and the tab commands.
- In a console window, drag to select; a right-click copies the selection (or pastes, when nothing is selected); Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V work too.
Power
Settings > System > Power & sleep sets when the screen turns off and the PC sleeps, what the power button does and -- on a laptop -- what closing the lid does, on battery and plugged in: Do nothing, Sleep, Hibernate or Shut down. The power button and the lid are the same for everyone on the PC, so changing them needs an administrator. Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options leads there too.
Screen and sound
Settings > System > Display sets the resolution, the scale, Night light and the Display orientation (Landscape, Portrait, and both flipped). On a tablet or a convertible with an accelerometer the screen turns as you turn the PC; Rotation lock keeps it as it is, and the orientation list can then be set by hand. The touch screen and the pen turn with it.
A USB device plugged in or taken out plays a short sound, as on Windows. Settings > System > Sound > Device sounds turns it off.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| Win | Start |
| Win+E | File Explorer |
| Win+R | Run |
| Win+I | Settings |
| Win+X | The quick menu (Terminal, Device Manager, ...) |
| Win+L | Lock |
| Win+D | Show the desktop (again: the windows back) |
| Win+M / Win+Shift+M | Minimize all / bring them back |
| Win+Left / Right / Up / Down | Snap a window to a side, maximize, restore |
| Win+Tab | Task View |
| Win+Ctrl+D / Win+Ctrl+F4 | New virtual desktop / close it |
| Win+Ctrl+Left / Right | Go to the previous / next desktop |
| Alt+Tab | Switch windows |
| Win+H | Voice typing |
| Win+Shift+S, Print Screen | Snipping |
| Win+Plus / Win+Minus / Win+Esc | Magnifier in / out / off |
| Win+Ctrl+O | On-screen keyboard |
| Ctrl+Shift+Esc | Task Manager |
| Ctrl+Alt+Del | The security screen (lock, sign out, Task Manager) |
| Ctrl+Alt+Backspace | Start the Windows side again (see below) |
| Ctrl+Alt+F1 ... F9 | Text consoles; Ctrl+Alt+F1 returns to the desktop |
When something hangs
- Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) ends a program: select it and press End task. A program that does not close when asked -- Windows or Linux -- is ended after a few seconds.
- Ctrl+Alt+Backspace ends all of your Windows programs at once and brings the desktop back. Linux programs and other people's sessions are not touched. Use it when the desktop itself stops answering.
- Ctrl+Alt+F2 gives a text console where you can sign in and look around, even when the desktop is frozen.
Voice typing
Win+H types what you say into the program in front, offline -- nothing leaves the computer. Set it up (and test the microphone) in Control Panel > Speech Recognition.