Restore classic [Alt]+[Tab] switcher

Restore classic

[Alt]+[Tab] switcher

Press [Alt]+[Tab], and Windows 10

displays a list of thumbnails for all open

windows. If you’d rather stick with the

old look, press [Win]+[R] and type

‘regedit’ to open Registry Editor. Browse

to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_

USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\

CurrentVersion\Explorer. Now select

‘Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value’.

Name it AltTabSettings. Double-click

the value and set it to 1. Now restart

Explorer from Task Manager to restore

the icon task switcher

Replace Windows Media Center

Windows Media Center has also been

dropped from Windows 10. There are

plenty of free alternatives, but our

personal recommendation is Kodi

(www.kodi.tv), which also has a built-in

DVD player. If you have a TV tuner

attached to your PC for watching and

recording live television, then you’ll

also need NextPVR (www.nextpvr.com)

along with the CCCP pack (http://www.

cccp-project.net/).

Visit http://kodi.wiki/view/NextPVR for

a guide to pairing NextPVR with Kodi.

Watch DVDs on your PC

Windows Media Player loses the ability

to play DVD video in Windows 10 (as

it did in Windows 8 before it). You can

purchase Microsoft’s Windows DVD

Player for £11.59 from the Store, but

why do that when VLC Media Player

allows you to watch DVDs – including

non-region 2 discs – for free?

Just download and install it from

www.videolan.org/vlc. Before you play

any movies, open the Video menu and

choose ‘Deinterlace > Automatic’ to

improve the picture quality.

Bypass login

If you’re the only user of your PC

and you’d like to boot straight to the

desktop without having to enter your

password each time, here’s what to do.

First, press [Win]+[R] to open the Run

dialogue box, then type netplwiz and

press [Enter]. Make sure your user

account is selected, then untick ‘Users

must enter a username and password to

use this computer’ and click ‘Apply’. Enter

your user password and click ‘OK’ twice.

Windows will also require you to enter

your password after your PC wakes from

sleep. If security isn’t an issue, click ‘Start

> Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options’

and change the ‘Require sign-in’

dropdown menu to ‘Never’.

Restore Briefcase

It had niche appeal, but the Briefcase was

one of the earliest tools for keeping data

synced between two locations. While it’s

been removed from Windows 10 (and 8),

you can get it back again with a Registry

tweak. Download the required file from

http://winaero.com/blog/wp-content/

uploads/2012/09/Briefcase.zip.

Double-click it to open it, then

double-click Windows 8-Enable Briefcase.

reg. Click ‘Run’ followed by ‘Yes’ twice,

then restart Explorer via Task Manager to

restore its features. Note, it doesn’t work

well with User Account Control, so don’t

create Briefcases inside any

administrator-protected folders.

Restore Windows Photo Viewer

Microsoft has replaced Windows Photo

Viewer with the Photos app, but it’s

possible to restore it as an option when

setting the default app for photos. It’s a

convoluted process – see ‘Method 4’ at

www.askvg.com/tip-restoring-windowsphoto-viewer-as-default-in-windows-10/

but, the site provides a ready-made zip

file containing the required Registry

entries. Download this to your hard drive,

then open it to access the .reg file within.

Double-click this and choose ‘Run’

followed by ‘Yes’ (twice) – to make

Windows Photo Viewer an option again.

Bring back Gadgets

There are many good reasons for leaving

Gadgets alone – some can pose a security

risk after all – but if you’ve upgraded from

Windows 7 and can’t live without them, you

can restore them using 8GadgetPack

(http://8gadgetpack.net), which also works

in Windows 8/8.1. Not only does it restore

full Gadget functionality, but you gain

modern improvements such as support for

high-DPI screens, allowing you to resize

your gadgets for larger displays.

Customise the Start menu

Alternatively, take the time to make the

Start menu your own using the

‘Personalisation > Start screen’. Click

‘Choose which folders appear on Start’ to

pin folders to the Start menu. You can

also resize the Start menu to alter its

height and width – just click and drag on

its top or right-hand edge to do so. Drag

it to the right to add columns to display

more of your tiles on-screen at once. You

can then pin apps from the ‘All apps’ list

here (right-click the app and choose ‘Pin

to Start’), then drag them into groups or

whatever order you choose.