How to Hack

WINDOWS10s

SECRETSETTINGS
Want to improve Windows 10 without messing up your PC?

COVER E Wayne Williams reveals how to make Microsofts operating

R
system look and work exactly the way you want
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5 - 18 October 2016

How to hack Windows 10s secret settings

y now youre probably quite familiar with Windows

10, even if you waited until the end of the free
upgrade period to start using the new operating
system. Were also willing to bet that there are things you
dont like about it, or that you think could be done better
or more like they were in a previous version of Windows.
The good news is that you dont have to put up with
these niggles, because you can easily tweak Windows 10

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to elevate it from a good operating system to a great one.

You wont need to pay for extra hardware or software, or
(aside from one tweak) mess around in the Registry, either.
In this feature, we reveal the most useful hacks for
improving and customising Windows 10. Over the
following pages, youll learn how to change the way
Windows 10 looks and works, disable features you hate
and restore functions that you miss.

RESTORE THE FEATURES YOU MISS

Bring back Desktop Gadgets

Windows 7 lets you place floating

gadgets, such as clocks, calendars,
photos, news feeds and system
monitors, on your Desktop. This feature
was removed from Windows 8 onwards
due to what Microsoft describes as
serious vulnerabilities, but lots of
people liked gadgets. If youre one
of them, you can get the feature
back by installing the third-party
tool 8GadgetPack (8gadgetpack.
net). Despite its name it works
fine with Windows 10, although,
annoyingly, some of the 50+ gadgets
available arent compatible with the
Anniversary Update at least until
8GadgetPack itself is updated.
Another alternative is Gadgets
Revived (gadgetsrevived.com).
Download the sidebar and then choose
some gadgets to put in it. Youll find a
Control Panel option for Gadgets
Revived under Appearance and
Personalisation, Desktop Gadgets.

Restore the Windows Experience

Index
Windows Experience Index, or WEI
for short, is a basic benchmarking
tool in Windows 7 (and Vista) that
rates the performance of your PC
and gives it an overall score out of
10, as well as individual scores for
your computers processor, memory,
graphics, gaming graphics and

Get back Windows Media Center

Microsoft dropped Media

Center from Windows 10,
replacing it with an
optional, expensive and
very basic DVD player.
However, you can restore
this useful software by
installing an unofficial
new release called WMC
for Windows 10. This is
available to download for
free from Google Drive in
32-bit (bit.ly/wmc32-407)
You can restore Windows Media Center
and 64-bit (bit.ly/wmc64to Windows 10 by installing WMC
407) editions. Because
the WMC files are rather large, Google Drive cant scan them for malware, so
before you install either version its worth checking the download with your
antivirus program or VirusTotal (www.virustotal.com) to make sure its not
harbouring anything nasty (both were clean at the time of writing).
Extract the WMC folder to your system drive and open it. Right-click
_TestRights.cmd and choose Run as administrator. Then right-click Installer.
cmd and select Run as administrator again. Exit when prompted. When you
want to run the program, you can either search for Media Center or launch it
through Windows Accessories in the Start menu. For easier access, pin WMC to
Start or your taskbar.

primary hard drive. WEI isnt the most

informative benchmarking tool around,
but it helps you identify which areas
of your system are the weakest and
would benefit most from an upgrade.
Microsoft dropped WEI from
Windows 8 and later versions, but you

Floating Desktop gadgets were last seen in Windows 7, but you

can bring them back by installing 8GadgetPack

can perform the same function by

installing ChrisPC Win Experience Index
4 (www.chris-pc.com). Download the
software and run it to find out how your
system performs but make sure you
decline the bundled RelevantKnowledge
junk during installation.

Benchmark your PC to find out how well it performs, and how

your various components measure up

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CHANGE THE WAY WINDOWS 10 WORKS

Limit Microsofts data gathering

Windows 10 spies on its users in two

ways. The first is that it collects data
about how you use the operating
system (how you speak or type, for
example) to improve the way Windows
responds. However, it also reports
telemetry data back to Microsoft. This
includes details of your hardware, how
long you spend using Windows, details
of any crashes and other information
that could prove useful to the company.
If you dont like the idea of your data
being collected like this, you can limit
the amount of telemetry information
Windows passes back to Microsoft by
clicking Start and opening Settings.
Open the Privacy section and scroll
down to Feedback & diagnostics. Here
you can set how and when Windows
asks you for feedback, and change what
device data it sends to Microsoft. This
option will probably say Full
(Recommended) by default. You cant
disable it completely, but you can switch
it to Basic, which stops your PC sending

Stop Windows 10 sending data

about your activities to Microsoft

diagnostics data and

enhanced insights about
how you use the apps
installed on your PC and
how stable they are.
If you want even greater
control, you can use Spybot
Anti-Beacon (bit.ly/antibeacon407) to adjust a host
of hidden telemetry settings
in Windows 10. See our Mini
Workshop below to find out
how to use the program.

Stop Windows 10
spying on you

As well as addressing
Microsofts telemetry
gathering, you might want to
take control of other details
Windows 10 records. The
Privacy section of Settings
contains lots of options that you can
enable or disable, but theyre spread
over numerous categories. This
confusing arrangement makes it much
harder to find everything, let alone work
out what you should be changing. For
total peace of mind, youll want to make
sure you dont miss anything important.
Thankfully, there are plenty of
third-party apps that gather all the
privacy settings together, making it
easier to find and disable those you
dont like. Try O&O ShutUp10 (bit.ly/
shutup407) or Windows 10 Privacy
Fixer (bit.ly/privfix407), both of which
list all the privacy options from across
Windows 10 in one place.

O&O ShutUp10 makes it easier to find and

change your privacy settings in Windows 10

Skip the Windows 10 login screen

If youre the only person who uses your

PC, you can save time by setting it to
bypass the Login screen and boot to the
Desktop. Open the Start menu and type
run. Press Enter, and type netplwiz
into the Run box. Click OK and highlight
your account. Untick Users must enter a
username and password to use this
computer. Click Apply, then enter your
password twice and confirm it.
To check that it has worked, reboot
your PC and it should go straight to the
Desktop. If you want to restore the
Login screen, repeat the process but
tick the Users must enter a username
and password to use this computer box.

MINI WORKSHOP | Block telemetry gathering using Spybot Anti-Beacon

1

2
1

Spybot Anti-Beacon was designed

to block telemetry tracking in
Windows 10, but it works in earlier
versions, too. You can install it or use
the portable version if you prefer. Run
the program, and it will tell you that no
protection has been applied yet. 1
Click Show options 2 if you want to
view advanced details.

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5 - 18 October 2016

From the Show options screen, you

can choose what to block. Click the
Immunize button 1 and the software
will block all the telemetry elements (or
just those you selected), leaving your
computer fully protected. 2 Click Undo
3 if you want to roll back the changes
and allow telemetry gathering again.

The Optional tab 1 displays other

items you can block. Click the
Apply button next to an item to block
it 2 or Undo 3 to reverse a change.
Dont block something unless you
know exactly what it does, because
this might cause a feature you use to
stop working. The Log tab 4 lists all
the changes youve made.

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How to hack Windows 10s secret settings

CHANGE THE WAY WINDOWS 10 LOOKS
Customise the Start menu

There are several ways to customise

Start in Windows 10, but the easiest
is to use Windows own settings.
Click Start, open Settings then click
Personalisation and select Start.
From here you can change the
number of tiles that appear in Start
and toggle suggestions (essentially
adverts) on or off. You can also
show your most used and recently
added apps, and switch between a
Start menu and a Start screen.
Whats more, you can choose which
folders such as File Explorer,
Settings, Downloads Pictures, and
Network appear on Start.

MINI WORKSHOP

Replace Windows 10s Start

menu with Classic Shell

compatible with Windows 10 and

the highly sophisticated Start10
(bit.ly/start10-407), which costs
$4.99 (3.82). A free 30-day trial is
available, but make sure you reject
the offer to install Fences when
installing the software.

Tweak the Windows 10

Taskbar

There are plenty of changes you

can make to the Windows 10
taskbar too. To access Windows
own controls, right-click the taskbar
and go to Settings. The window
that opens includes options to lock
the taskbar, hide it in Desktop or
tablet mode, use small taskbar
buttons, show badges on buttons
(to indicate that you have unread
messages, for example) and choose
a different location for the bar (left,
right, top or bottom). You can also
combine taskbar buttons, choose
which notifications appear and if

Once youve installed Classic Shell, click

the Start button and youll see that
the Windows 10 menu has been replaced
by a Windows 7-style one. Instead of
tiles, youll see a list of programs 1 and
a sidebar showing common file locations
and Windows settings. 2 You can
search for programs and files here. 3
3

An easy way to hack the Start menu is

to change Personalisation settings

If you want to make more

advanced changes such as
replacing Windows 10s Start menu
with a Windows 7-style version
the excellent Classic Shell tool
(www.classicshell.net) is ideal. This
free program lets you apply dozens
of customisations read our Mini
Workshop on the right to find out
how to use it. Other useful
customisation tools include IObit
Start Menu 8 (bit.ly/sm8-407)
which, despite its name, is fully

2
Windows 10 gives you greater control
over the taskbar than ever before

you have more than one monitor

attached to your PC specify which
screens the taskbar appears on.
If youd like to go further than
Windows 10s options allow, try 7+
Taskbar Tweaker (bit.ly/7tt407).
This free program was originally
designed for
Windows 7, but it
works with all later
versions of
Microsofts
operating system,
including Windows
10 Anniversary
Update. All the
programs tweaks
are presented on a
single screen, with
categories that
include Taskbar
Items, Grouping
and
Combining,
Take complete control of your Start menu
and Other. You can
using the paid-for program Start10

To customise the new menu, right-click

the Start button and select Settings.
Classic Shell offers three different
customisable Start menu styles, 1 and
you can even replace the default Start
button with an alternative. 2 Adjust the
menus behaviour under Basic Settings 3
and customise its look under Skin. 4

3
4

As well as replacing the Start menu,

Classic Shell lets you customise File
Explorer. To do this, click the Shell button 1
or, if it isnt there, the down arrow under
Options, 2 and select Classic Explorer Bar.
You can change the navigation pane style 3
and other options, such as breadcrumbs. 4

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41

Enable the dark theme

Make more extensive changes to your

taskbar using 7+ Taskbar Tweaker

use the program to apply a range of

advanced hacks, such as hiding the
Start and Show Desktop buttons, and
reserving empty space on the taskbar.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update comes

with a dark theme that completely
changes the look of the operating
system, including the Start menu and
apps. To switch to this smart new
theme, click Start and open Settings.
Click Personalisation, then click the
Colours option on the left. Scroll to the
bottom and youll see an entry that says
Choose your app mode. Change this
from Light to Dark, then turn off the
options Make Start, taskbar, and action
centre transparent, Show colour on
Start, taskbar, and action centre and
Show colour on title bar.
This change isnt applied to every
program or feature in Windows some,

Windows 10s new dark theme gives the

OS a smarter, if more sombre, look

such as File Explorer, remain in light

mode. But it certainly looks stylish.

DISABLE THE FEATURES YOU HATE

Remove Cortana from your
PCs Lock screen

The Windows 10 Anniversary Update

puts Cortana on your Lock screen so
that you can use the personal assistant
without needing to sign into or unlock
your PC. If you never use Cortana, this
change will seem pointless and perhaps
even
annoying,
but
disabling
the feature
is easy.
Just click
the
Cortana
button
next to
Start,
Change Cortanas settings
choose
to stop it appearing on
Settings
Windows 10s lock screen

and flick the Lock

screen toggle to Off.

Disable Cortana
completely

Microsofts personal
assistant Cortana is
useful for lots of things,
such as searching the
web, setting reminders,
identifying a song thats
playing, performing
calculations and
checking the weather,
If you cant stand Cortana, disable it completely
but if you have no use for
it, or you prefer to search for things in
Group Policy Editor. This is available in
the more traditional way, you can
the professional versions of Windows
disable the feature. In the Anniversary
10 but not the Home edition.
Update, Microsoft made Cortana much
To curtail Cortana in the professional
harder to kill by removing the Off
versions, click Start, type gpedit.msc
switch in Cortana and search settings,
and hit enter. Navigate to Computer
but you can disable it anyway using the
Configuration, Administrative
Templates, Windows Components,
Search. Locate the Allow Cortana
option and double-click it. Select
Windows 10 comes bundled with some apps youre never likely to use, such as
Disabled, then click Apply and OK to
3D Builder, Groove Music, Candy Crush Soda Saga and Feedback Hub. To
turn off the feature.
remove any you dont want, go to Start, Settings, System and select Apps &
Windows 10 Home users will need to
features on the left. Select
apply a Registry tweak (the only one in
an unwanted app and click
this feature!) instead. Click Start, type
the Uninstall button for it.
regedit and press Enter. Navigate to
You can remove unwanted
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
apps in bulk by using IObit
Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows
Uninstaller 6 (bit.ly/
Search. Right-click Windows Search and
uninstaller405). Select
select New, Dword (32-bit) Value. Call
Windows Apps on the left,
this AllowCortana, then double-click it.
then click the Windows Apps
Set its value to 0 and click OK.
heading and pick the ones
you dont want. Click
Hide the Windows Defender icon
Uninstall to remove them all.
Some users who upgrade to the
Well be taking a closer
Anniversary Edition report seeing a new
look at uninstalling
icon for Windows Defender appear in
Use IObit Uninstaller to get rid of any Windows 10
unwanted software in next
the System Tray. If you dont want it
apps you dont want
issues cover feature.
there you can get rid of it in one of two
ways. The first is to right-click the

Uninstall unwanted apps

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5 - 18 October 2016

How to hack Windows 10s secret settings

taskbar and select Task Manager. Click
the More Details button, then click the
Start-up tab. Select the Windows
Defender notification entry, click the
Disable button and restart your PC (or
log off and back on again). When
Windows restarts, the icon will be gone.
The other option is to click Start and
type icons. Click Select which icons
appear on the taskbar and disable the
icon from there.

Remove your empty agenda

from the clock

If you click the taskbar clock in

Windows 10 Anniversary Update, youll
see a calendar and daily agenda below
that. If you dont use the calendar app
and never schedule events in Windows,
the feature serves no purpose, and
being reminded of your empty agenda
every day may even prove depressing.
You can easily banish this element by
clicking the Hide agenda option in the
bottom-right corner, or if you prefer you
can remove it entirely.
To do this, click Start, Settings and
select Privacy. Click Calendar on the
left-hand side and, in the right-hand
pane, toggle Let apps access my
calendar to Off. Now when you click the
clock, the agenda will be gone.
Its worth pointing out that some
apps, including People, require access
to the calendar to work properly, so
bear this mind if you use any of them.

Nothing on the agenda today? Then why

not get rid of the agenda altogether?

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THE RISE OF WINDOWS 10

According to official figures from Microsoft
(bit.ly/wintrends407), Windows 10
accounted for 39% of the global Windows
market in June, just behind Windows 7,
which had 46%. In the UK and US, the share
was even higher, with Windows 10 on 51%
and 50% respectively, versus 36% and 38%
for Windows 7. Those figures are for PC and
tablet but not phone. Microsoft records
Windows installations, so the figures
include PCs that havent been sold yet, and
ignores older versions, such as Vista and
XP. However, with three more months to
factor in since June, Windows 10 may
already have overtaken Windows 7 globally,
which is a massive achievement.
The figures are at odds with those from
NetMarketShare (netmarketshare.com),
however, which records usage rather than
installations, and places Windows 10 at 23%
globally in August, dwarfed by Windows 7
on 47%. XP still has around 9%.
Whichever figures you believe, Windows
10 is doing well and, surprisingly, the recent
switch from free to paid hasnt had much of
an impact on the new operating systems
growth at least not yet.

Pause automatic updates

Windows 10 automatically downloads

updates in the background. Thankfully,
the Anniversary Update lets you set
Active Hours to stop the OS installing
updates and restarting your system
while youre busy. Open Start, and click
the Settings button, then go to Update
& security and specify your Active
Hours there.
You can also pause
updates through the
Command Prompt. Rightclick the Start button and
select Command Prompt
(Admin). Type net stop
wuauserv and press Enter,

NEXT ISSUE

UNINSTALL

ANYTHING

COMPLETELY

Remove every trace of programs,

plugins and other PC tools that
you no longer want or need

Microsofts figures
for June 2016 (Globally)

46%

39%

Windows 7

Windows 10

13%

Windows
8.1

2% Windows 8

then type net stop bits, and press

Enter again. Finally type net stop
dosvc. Press Enter, then close the
window. To resume downloads, open
Command Prompt (Admin) and type
net start wuauserv, and Press Enter.
Type net start bits and press Enter
again. Finally, type net start dosvc,
press Enter and close the window.

You can hack Windows 10 to stop it

downloading updates automatically

on sale Wednesday 19 October 2016

PLUS...

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