Two Ways To Clean Laptop Screen

Laptop screens tend to collect dust, food particles and other debris that starts to look unattractive after a while. It's important to use very gentle supplies to clean your laptop screen, since the LCD surface is easily damaged. Using a microfiber cloth and a simple solution of water and vinegar will do the trick if you don't want to purchase a special screen cleaner.

1.Cleaning the Screen With A Microfiber Cloth

First, turn the computer off and unplug the power adapter and battery. Cleaning a screen that's in use can result in permanent damage, so err on the safe side and turn everything off. Don't just put it to sleep. Then get a microfiber cloth. This is made with a type of fabric that doesn't produce lint, in addition to being very soft. If you use a washcloth, T-shirt or another type of cloth, it could leave extra debris on your screen or scratch it. Avoid using paper products as well. Never use a napkin, paper towel, toilet paper or another paper product, since these are scratchy and will damage the screen. Then wipe the screen gently with the cloth. Using one sweep of the cloth should take care of any dust and loose particles on the screen. Wipe gently without exerting much pressure, since if you press too hard you could damage the screen. When you wipe with gentle circular motion, you'll be able to lift up some of the tougher spots. Never scrub the screen, or you could cause pixel burnout. Clean the laptop frame with gentle cleaning solution. If the area around the screen is dirty, you can use a standard household cleaning solution and a paper towel; just be very careful not to let it touch the screen.

2. Using a Cleaning Solution

First, turn the computer off and unplug the power adapter and battery. Since you're using a liquid to clean the screen in this method, it's important to turn off the computer and unplug it from the outlet. Create a gentle cleaning solution. The ideal solution is plain distilled water, which contains no chemicals and is gentle on the screen. Make sure you use plain white vinegar, not apple cider vinegar or any other kind. Put the solution in a small atomizer bottle. This is the type of spray bottle that you push from the top to get a fine mist, similar to a perfume bottle. Pour some of the solution into the spray bottle and screw on the top. Don't use this to spray on the screen itself, however. Apply a minimal amount of the solution to a microfiber cloth. A static-free, fiber-free cloth works best. Remember not to use regular cloth, since this could scratch the screen. Do not soak the cloth; you just want to get it moist, which is the purpose of using the atomizer bottle to wet it. A wet cloth can drip or run when cleaning the screen and the solution can weep behind the bezel and permanently damage your screen. Try applying the solution to just one corner of the cloth at a time, to make sure you don't get it too wet. Wipe the cloth against the screen in a circular motion. Rapid circular movements generally eliminate streaks. Apply a gentle and even pressure to the cloth. Use only enough pressure to keep the cloth in contact with the screen.

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Introducing the battery you can bend

Japanese paper folding inspires development of flexible battery that could transform the wearable technology industry.

The emergence of wearable technology and devices such as smartwatches and fitness bands has brought with it a need for a new type of battery, one that is flexible – and that’s exactly what researchers in the US have developed.

A team at Arizona State University turned to origami as inspiration for the design of a new lithium-ion battery, specifically a variation called kirigami, where the paper is cut as well as being folded.

Using kirigami techniques allowed the team to develop a flexible lithium-ion battery that could be stretched to 150% of its original size, without losing capability.

The team used the battery to successfully power a Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch, by sewing it into the elastic armband connected to the timepiece.

Even when the test subject flexes his arm, the watch still works.

Stretchable batteries could be sewn into fabrics – even clothing.

Hanqing Jiang, associate professor at the university, believes the battery’s versatility could change the design of wearable devices. “This type of battery could potentially be used to replace the bulky and rigid batteries that are limiting the development of compact wearable electronic device.”

The team says the battery can easily be mass produced, paving the way for more intelligent, technical clothing.

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Tips and Q&A About Clean Keyboard

Keyboards can become dirty after periods of extended use, especially if users commonly eat or smoke near the computer. If a keyboard becomes dirty enough, its performance can be affected. Common problems include dead or stuck keys and repeated characters during typing. Note that the tips and Q&A for cleaning keyboard.

Community Q&A

1.Will popping the keys off and putting them back on make them stick when I try to type?

No, you can easily put them back into place. They will not stick or fall off if you put them back on in the tracks correctly.

2.How do I repair a key that has worn away?

You could either order a replacement key, or use a correction mistake pen to write the letter on the key and cover with clear nail polish to protect it.

3.How can I clean the laptop, not the keys?

That's easy, you can get a duster and easily get in between the keys, but you may need to get your hands dirty.

Tips

1.Consider leaving the space bar in place. It is the hardest to get back on and easiest to break.

2.You can take a picture of the keyboard with a digital camera before you start pulling the keys off so that you know where they go when you're putting them back on.

3.Laptop keyboards are a bit different. It is not usually necessary to remove keys from a laptop in order to clean it.

4.The keys on a laptop can be difficult to replace, especially keys like the space bar and the Enter key, which have a separate support under them that needs to be installed along with the key. Also, removing laptop keys may damage them and they may break or become impossible to replace.

5.Some people actually wash the keyboard in a dishwasher. Don't attempt to clean a keyboard that way unless you're willing to risk losing the keyboard. If you do put a keyboard through the dishwasher, make sure the keyboard is completely dry before using it. This should definitely be avoided with wireless keyboards.

6.You can remove all of the keys from your keyboard, put them in a little closed bag

and wash them with your clothes in the washing machine. Clean the keyboard skeleton with your vacuum cleaner and a wet rag.

7.An alternative to compressed air is to use an electric hair dryer with the blower on high. It matters little if the heat is on or off. It's great for dusting, too.

8.You can put the keys in a lunch bag with water, liquid soap and shake it. This will strip the keys of the oils that make them feel greasy and makes exfoliation of the keys unnecessary if you do this often enough!

9.Remove the keys in small groups to avoid losing keys or forgetting where keys go.

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Gain Better Digital Camera Battery Life

If you've noticed your digital camera's battery power not lasting quite as long as it used to, that's not a surprise. Rechargeable batteries tend to lose their ability to hold a full charge as they age and are re-used. Losing digital camera battery power is a frustrating problem to have, especially if your "battery empty" light flashes just as you prepare to take that once-in-a-lifetime photo. These tips and tricks should help you gain a little extra digital camera battery life ...

even from an older camera battery.

Viewfinders save battery power

If your camera has an optical viewfinder (the small window at the back of the camera that you can use to frame images), you can turn off the LCD screen and only use the viewfinder. The LCD screen has large power demands.

Limit using the flash

Try to avoid using the flash, if at all possible. Continued use of the flash also drains the battery quickly. Obviously, there are some situations where a flash is required to create the photo, but, if you can shoot the picture with the flash turned off, do it to save some battery power.

Limit using Playback mode

Do not spend a lot of time reviewing your photos. The longer you have the LCD screen on -- while you aren't actually shooting photos -- the faster your battery will drain in comparison to the number of photos you can shoot per charge. Spend more time reviewing your photos later when you return home and you have a fresh battery.

Activate power saving features

Use your camera's power saving feature. Yes, I agree that this feature can be extremely annoying at times, as the camera goes into "sleep" mode when you haven't used it for a set period of time. However, it does work to conserve battery power. To achieve the most battery power savings, set the "sleep" mode to kick in as quickly as possible.

With some cameras, this can be after as little as 15 or 30 seconds of inactivity.

Reduce screen brightness

Turn down the LCD's brightness level, if your camera allows this. A brighter LCD drains the battery faster. A dimmer LCD is more difficult to see, especially in bright sunlight, but it will help extend your battery life.

Don't expect to match the manufacturer's battery life claims

Don't believe the claims of the manufacturer about how much life your batteries should have. When testing the battery life of their cameras, most manufacturers will conduct their measurements in perfect conditions, something you likely cannot recreate in real-world photography. If you're able to achieve at least 75% of the battery life that the manufacturer claims, that's a good starting point.

Newer batteries work better

To obtain the longest life from your batteries, don't fall for the myth that says you should fully drain the battery before recharging it. In reality, a battery has "X" number of hours of use in it. If you're using some of those hours to simply drain the battery, it won't last as long over its lifetime. Just use the battery normally, and charge it when the battery needs a charge or when you're done shooting.

A partial charge isn't going to significantly affect the life of the modern battery. That may have been the case with rechargeable batteries from several years ago, but it's not true with newer batteries.

Don't turn the camera on and off repeatedly

Each time you restart most cameras, the introductory screen will appear for several seconds. Although this doesn't seem like much time, if you turn the camera on and off 10 times, you'll probably lose at least a minute of battery power, which may be the difference between snapping that last great photo and seeing the "battery empty" message. Use the "sleep" mode instead, which I discussed earlier.

Consider replacing older batteries

Finally, because all rechargeable batteries tend to hold less power as they age, you may simply want to purchase a second battery and have it charged and available. If you find yourself constantly altering your photography habits to try to conserve power with an older battery, you're better off buying a second battery as a backup or an "insurance policy."

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Correct Laptop Battery

A common question we tend to hear all the time is "Why does my laptop battery run down so fast?" Below we present a fairly detailed explanation for this and provide a step-by-step guide you can follow to help you control the situation. We can use the “battery calibration” method to make the best notebook battery power . Here are two ways to correct laptop battery.

First. Standard correction method: laptop battery calibration function.

Many brands of laptops in the which have integrated battery calibration procedures, the general English saying is called “Battery Calibration”, that is, “battery power proofreading.” Directly into the will be able to complete the battery calibration operation.

1, Boot, press F2 after entering the boot screen to enter the menu; by left and right arrow keys, select to enter the power menu.

2, Into the power menu, you can see the "Start Battery Calibration" option, select it and press the Enter key to execute.

3, Then the screen will turn blue, and English tips, request the laptop's power adapter plugged into the battery. When the battery is full, the screen prompts the user to disconnect the power adapter. After the laptop began to continue to discharge the battery, until the battery is exhausted.

4, This process takes some time, and other batteries automatically shut down, and then connect the power adapter to charge the battery, but do not boot. After charging is completed, the battery calibration process is completed.

Second, Manual correction method: Let the laptop boot naturally discharged.

Some notebooks in the can not find how to find the battery calibration options. Is not such a laptop can not be battery calibrated it? Through some of our manual settings, so books in the normal discharge until the automatic shutdown.

1, Notebook in the operating system, enter the "power options." Select "Always on" for "Power Schemes" and set "Shut Down Monitor", "Shut Down Hard Drive" to the minimum time, and system standby to "Never".

2, In the "Power Options" "alarm", cancel all alarm options, the purpose is to let the battery completely depleted until the shutdown.

3, After setting, close all applications, turn off WIFI, unplug the power adapter, battery powered. Do not do anything until the battery is exhausted and shut down automatically. After the discharge is complete, connect the power adapter, the battery is full, then completed a battery calibration.

Third,In addition, if it is Windows7 users, or power management software is not good settings, you can enter the laptop's BIOS, the laptop has been open, at the same time to unplug the external power supply, waiting for the notebook to run out of power automatically shut down.

If you give the laptop battery calibration battery life is not yet obvious, it may be caused by the aging of the battery itself, if the notebook battery life is normal, it is not recommended to use the battery calibration.

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Great balls of graphene: New Samsung tech could charge phones five times faster

Samsung’s Advanced Institute of Technology has come up with another use for graphene, a material that’s part of many exciting future projects from purifying seawater to detecting cancer, this time putting it to work inside lithium-ion batteries. Scientists created a “graphene ball” coating for use inside a regular li-ion cell, which has the effect of increasing the overall capacity by up to 45 percent and speeding up charging by five times.

Any smartphone owner will know the pain of waiting for a battery to charge up, especially when time is of the essence, and even though we have effective proprietary tech available to use like OnePlus’s Dash Charge and Huawei’s SuperCharge, the recharge times never dip below an hour. If a graphene ball can speed things up in the manner suggested by the research team, that will all change.

If your phone charges up in 90 minutes now, that number will tumble to just 18 minutes if the cell inside has been given a graphene ball boost. What’s more, this doesn’t seem to affect the cell’s lifespan, with the team claiming that after 500 cycles, the enhanced battery still had a 78 percent charge retention. The graphene coating improves the stability and conductivity of the battery’s cathode and electrode, so it’s able to take the rigors of fast charging with fewer downsides.

Samsung’s research team has published a long, very technical paper about how the graphene ball works, and how it’s produced. It’s clear the technology is at the very early stages, and isn’t likely to be a major feature on the Galaxy S9 (or the iPhone 11 or any other device next year), but its potential to have an impact on future batteries inside Samsung and other phones is obvious. Who doesn’t want a faster charging, longer-lasting battery inside their favorite device?

Li-ion batteries power not only our mobile gadgets, where fast charging is a extremely helpful, but they are also used in electric vehicles, where fast charging is essential for wider adoption. Samsung says it’s possible the graphene ball technology can be scaled up from small capacity cells in our phones, to much larger batteries inside cars. The company has filed patents in the United States and South Korea for graphene ball technology, but there is no indication when or if it will reach a consumer product.

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4 Tips to Improve Battery Life

Today we talk the most important problem of today’s generation phones battery life. Nowadays phone has become our necessary for surviving in the world because today we can do anything by using phone. But the only problem we face while using mobile is the battery life of phone. Phones have come back an extended method in terms of design, camera, or perhaps processing power. However, we’ve got not seen a lot of breakthroughs once it comes to battery technology. While a number of phone makers offer “Fast charging” and “Power modes” to deal with the situation, a concrete solution is still nowhere to be seen.

So here attached the four tips to improve battery life

1.Turn down the brightness and turn off Automatic Brightness

Auto brightness is feature of phone in which phone automatically adjust the brightness of screen by using sensors. These sensors sense the surrounding area according to that it will do there work.

2.Switch off GPS whenever its not necessary

GPS is the features which is used to track yourself. This is most helpful feature. Nowadays there are so many applications which are using this feature. To get your location. GPS consumes high amount of battery because if you connect GPS your phone will connect to satellites. This is the reason you should switch on this feature whenever its require.

3.Keep the screen timeout short

Under your phone’s display settings menu, you should find an option labeled ‘Screen Timeout‘. This setting controls how long your phone’s screen stays lit after receiving input, such as a tap. Every second counts here, so set your timeout to the shortest available time.

4.Use extra power saving mode

Extra power saving mode this is new feature of phone. Almost every phone has this feature. If your phone is not having this feature you can download application from Play store. This feature will manage your usage off all the unnecessary features

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Eight things you need to know about the cloud

Confused by the cloud? Here’s all you need to know about the technology that has transformed computing.

With all the talk about ‘the cloud’ these days, you’d be forgiven for thinking that technology has somehow harnessed the weather to deliver all manner of clever applications, from catching up on missed TV programmes to keeping your important files safe.

In reality ‘the cloud’ is just a shorthand term for 'cloud computing’, which itself just refers to the idea of using someone else’s computers (usually, but not always, operated by a business) on the Internet for things we previously used our own for like storing data and running programs.

Here are eight things you need to know about the cloud.

1: The cloud is everywhere

Just like its meteorological namesake, the cloud is everywhere - or at least anywhere where there’s a computer and an internet connection.

A cloud application usually runs on multiple (sometimes hundreds) of powerful Internet-connected computers spread around the world.Not that you need to be aware of any of this - you just sign into the application using any web browser and it’s available instantly.

2. It’s incredibly powerful

The reason the cloud has caught on in such a big way is that it allows organisations to provide sophisticated applications that can be used by lots of people around the world all at the same time. And with someone else’s computers doing all the hard work, the specification of users’ computers becomes much less important.

Running an application like Microsoft Office, for example, needs a powerful PC with lots of hard disk space - something not everyone can afford. The cloud-based office suite Google Docs, on the other hand, provides much the same features, even on very low-spec PCs.

This, together with the ‘everywhere’ nature of the cloud, also makes applications much more flexible. In the past, documents and applications were locked on one computer — unless you carried them around (and risked losing them) on a floppy disk or USB flash drive.

Now, cloud applications let you access your documents and applications anywhere where’s there’s a computer with an Internet connection. That means you can use them at home, at work, at a friend’s house and even on your smartphone.

3: No-one owns the cloud

Like the Internet, the cloud isn’t owned or managed by any one organisation - it’s a collective term for a variety of applications operated by many different ones.

Of the dominant forces, Google is a major cloud player as is YouTube for video sharing. Amazon and Microsoft are also major cloud companies, along with a host of others that operate behind the scenes to make cloud applications possible. Lots of well-known applications are also cloud-based, including Flickr and BBC iPlayer. BT has it's own cloud service - BT Cloud.

4:  More and more applications are using the cloud

No one needs to use the cloud, but with so many applications now cloud-based, it can be difficult to avoid. And there are some genuine advantages to switching to the cloud.

Cloud file storage applications such as BT Cloud, for example, are a simple and effective way to keep your files safe and secure. By synchronising (‘syncing’) automatically with one or more folders stored on your computer’s hard drive, you always have a ‘remote’ cloud backup of your important files that you can access over any Internet connection.

Renting or buying video and audio from the cloud also means you don’t need to store anything on your PC, smartphone or tablet - which is great if it doesn’t have much storage space. Better still, watch a video on YouTube or use BBC iPlayer’s catch-up service and you don’t even need to wait for it to finish downloading. Instead, the video ‘streams’ from the cloud to your computer straight away, so you can enjoy it more or less immediately.

5: The cloud is generally free

Many cloud applications are free (though you’ll need an Internet connection to use them), but some require a paid subscription for a certain level of service.

BT Cloud offers from 50GB to 500GB of file storage space free to all BT Broadband customers, depending on the service they use - that’s enough for up to 250,000 photograpsh.

One attractive feature of many paid-for cloud applications is that payment is by monthly subscription, so you can pay for when you need access and stop when you don’t. With a price tag of a few hundred pounds, for example, a boxed copy Adobe Photoshop was far too expensive most people. Photoshop CC (short for Creative Cloud), however, can be downloaded for nothing and used for less than £9 a month, making it ideal for occasional home users.

6: The cloud is connected

All cloud applications need an Internet connection at some point, but not all require a constant connection - after all, mobile users can’t stay connected at all times.

Some applications even offer an ‘offline’ mode for use anywhere, and you only need go online when you want to sync the files you’ve been working on back to the provider’s cloud storage. Many don’t depend on a fast internet connection, either - although your connection speed obviously affects how quickly you can download and upload files.

Cloud-based entertainment applications usually do require a speedy connection, but most can compensate for slower ones. Netflix adjusts video quality to suit individual Internet connection speeds, for example, and will work at relatively slow data transfer speeds of just 0.5Mbit/s - although watching high-quality HD content requires 5Mbit/s. Similar speeds apply to BBC iPlayer, but it also allows you to download programmes if your connection is too slow for streaming.

7: The cloud uses data

The cloud does depend on data — and often lots of it. Watching a 30-minute BBC iPlayer programme, for example, can involve downloading around 180MB of data, and uploading files to cloud storage can involve considerably more.

This will soon eat into a home or mobile broadband tariff which has a capped data allowance. That means if you are planning to use cloud applications a lot, sign up for a broadband tariff with unlimited data. BT Broadband customers are at advantage here, as file transfers to and from BT Cloud storage are excluded from any data allowance.

8: The cloud is secure

Storing your own files and personal information on someone else’s computer has obvious security implications, but data is always password-protected and cloud application providers also use encryption to make it difficult for hackers to get at.

In many ways, however, storing your stuff in the cloud is even more secure than keeping it on your own computer. If a computer is stolen, for example, everything stored on it is stolen too. When those files are also stored on the cloud, downloading them to a new computer is simple.

Google and it's biggest rival use this approach for purchases from the app store. Although apps, music and movies are still stored on your smartphone or tablet, you can restore everything you’ve bought to another mobile device simply by signing it into your app store account.

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Make Battery Last Longer

Make Battery Last Longer

Many people buy laptops so that they can have a computer to use while they are on the move. There are all types of chargers available to help you out in this endeavor but there are also times when you are unable to use any type of power source to make use of these chargers. That is when the laptop really depends on the life and longevity of the batter.

When you have to use you laptop on the go however, you might not be about to use a car charger in some situations. This is when you need to learn how to properly conserve your laptops battery while you are using the computer. The most power-hungry part which takes probably the most power from your laptop battery is the screen. Screen takes huge power to keep the display bright. You can save huge battery power by lowering the brightness.

The second thing that you can do even right now is to make sure that the backlight on the laptop is on the lowest setting possible. The backlight really only helps when you are fighting the glare of a powerful light such as the sun. Other than that it can stay on the lowest setting and not affect what you are doing on the laptop.

Most laptops comes with built in Wi-Fi capabilities. Wi-Fi drains battery power in two ways. First if it is connected, it takes batter power to function or secondly, if it is not connected, it continues to look for networks which also takes much batter power. If you are away from Wi-Fi zone and cannot use it, you can turn off Wi-Fi.

Another thing you can do is limit the amount of programs that start up when you turn your computer. This will make more efficient use of the processor. If you have too many programs running then you will waste processing time on programs that you are not even using. This will also increase the time that the processor is at full throttle. This is when the processor drains the maximum amount of energy it can drain.

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Simple tricks to speed up your tablet or smartphone

It doesn’t take long for cutting-edge mobile devices to become all but obsolete because they run so slowly. Here are some easy ways to restore the performance of your Android or Apple tablet or smartphone.

Smartphones and tablets tend to slow down over time, and for good reason. What once were cutting edge specifications soon become yesterday’s technology, and updates to both operating systems and apps can place extra strain on processors, memory and storage space. Components that can’t be upgraded, course.

That’s not to say the only solution is to buy a better model and there are steps you can take to ensure your smartphone or tablet, (whether you own an iPad or a Tesco Hudl) lasts for as long as possible. So if a simple restart hasn’t restored your gadget to its usual speedy self, here’s what to try next.

iPad and iPhone (iOS 8)

Tip 1: Turn off visual effects

Each new version of iOS brings new visual effects that look marvellous on the very latest iPhones and iPads, but they have a habit of making older models grind to a near halt. Fortunately, most are easily disabled.

Most lurk in Settings - General - Accessibility. Start by tapping Reduce Motion to enable the option and disable the 3D effect on the lock screen and Home screen wallpaper — you’ll just see a static background image, instead.

Next tap Increase Contrast and turn on the toggle to disable the see-through effect for iOS. It won’t looks quite so pretty, but it will run faster.

Tip 2: Turn off background searching

iOS has a few tools that run in the background to make your iPhone or iPad a little slicker to use, but turning them off will increase performance.

Go to Settings - General - Spotlight Search and tap every ticked item in the list to untick it. This will disable the search option that appears when you pull down on the Home screen, but it’s worth it for the extra performance you’ll gain. Still in Settings - General, now tap Background App Refresh and switch it off at the top of the screen. This will prevent apps from updating when you’re not using them, so you may no longer get notifications for certain apps. All will work normally once you open them, however, and you’ll get better battery life, as well as improved overall performance, as a result.

Tip 3: Increase free storage space

Insufficient free storage can also slow down an iPad or iPhone, so check how much you have left. Go to Settings - General - Usage and look under the Storage section. If Available is less than 1GB, you may run into problems, so tap Manage Storage and look down the list of apps to see which are taking up the most space.

You can tap Music, Photos & Camera and Videos to delete individual files within each, but the only option for the rest is to delete the app and all the data it uses. Unless you’re very careful with your app downloads, you’re bound to have a few you never use (despite your best intentions), so get rid of them.

Tip 4: Reset all settings

As a last resort, resetting your iPad or iPhone settings can work wonders. This will undo any changes you’ve made to iOS and usually helps fix any issues with responsiveness. It won’t affect your apps or data (but make a backup just in case), but it will wipe any wi-fi passwords you’ve entered, so you’ll need to re-enter them to connect to those networks.

Android smartphones and tablets

As with all things Android, differences between versions and manufacturers make it difficult to give definitive instructions to suit all smartphones and tablets, but the steps below should work for everyone — although some minor changes might be involved.

Tip 1: Increase free storage space

Many Android devices have a memory card slot, but the operating system can only use internal storage for many of its functions. To free up internal storage, go to Settings - Apps and tap Internal Storage at the top of the screen to see which apps are using internal storage.

Tap an app and you should see buttons to Deinstall it, or to move it to external storage (sometimes shown as Move to SD Card or Move to phone). It’s also worth checking the Cache size for all apps at this point and tapping the Clear cache button for any with very large stores of these temporary files.

Tip 2: Limit visual effects

Android also has a range of visual effects to make it appear more sleek and sophisticated, but these too can affect performance.

Go to Settings - Developer options. If you can’t see this, instead go to Settings - About phone (or similar) and find the Build number section. Tap this section seven times and you should see a message along the lines of “You are now a developer”.

Tip 3: Remove widgets and live wallpapers

Widgets and animated ‘live’ wallpapers are a key feature of Android, but they can affect performance dramatically — so turn them off.

How you do this depends on your version of Android, but you can usually tap and hold a widget on the Home screen to remove it. Tapping and holding a blank area of the Home screen usually brings up the wallpaper options, too, so select a static image to remove a live wallpaper.

Five things Microsoft needs to do to make Windows 10 better

Windows 10 is working well for most people, but that’s not to say there still isn’t room for improvement. Here are our top five missing features.

Love it or loathe it, Windows 10 is here to stay.

The general consensus is that Windows 10 is a success and it’s certainly a huge improvement over Windows 8. That’s not to say it's perfect, of course, and there are still plenty of problems to iron out when it comes to getting it to work as expected.

Thankfully, Microsoft’s new approach of regular automatic updates means that any remaining Windows 10 wrinkles should be ironed out in short order, as well as bigger, major updates such as the Anniversary Update which included some new features.

Bug fixes are one thing, though, but what about fixing the features that are supposedly working as intended? Here are five of our biggest complains with Windows 10 that we’d love Microsoft to address.

1. Sort out the Start menu

Windows users worldwide breathed a huge sigh of relief when they discovered Windows 10 would come with a Start menu, but it’s not a perfect implementation.

Microsoft did improve the Start Menu in the Anniversary Update but there's still some work needed.

The Live Tiles aren’t to everyone’s taste, but they’re easily hidden to create a more streamlined Start menu. The problem then is that there’s no way to customise the list of apps that appear.

2. One interface to rule them all — please?

Microsoft has done a pretty good job of combining the bizarre split personality of Windows 8 into a single interface in Windows 10, but there are still some areas where things just don’t gel.

Above complaints aside, the Start menu works well (if you like Live Tiles), but the Control Panel is still a bit of a car crash. Any by ‘Control Panel’, we mean ‘Settings’ — err, or do we?

In fact there’s both a Control Panel and a Settings screen in Windows 10, though we’re not sure why. Settings is accessed from the Start menu and controls commonly used features. ‘Controls’ is a charitable term, though — just go to Start > Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners to see how much control you have over your printer from there…

Control Panel is hidden on the Start button’s right-click menu and is much more useful. But it still looks much like the Control Panel from Windows XP, which sticks out a bit next to Windows 10’s otherwise slick design.

3. Come back colour, all is forgiven

‘Slick design’ is open to interpretation, of course, and we’re not huge fans of the flat and colourless parts of Windows 10. Even enabling all the colour options under Settings > Personalisation has little effect on Explorer windows and other parts of the interface, which all lack any kind of personality as a result.

Microsoft did something similar with Office 2013, whose bland white interface looked like the programmers had run out of time. Thankfully, Office 2016 has largely fixed the problem and so hopefully Microsoft will put some similar colour back into Windows 10’s cheeks before too long.

4. Family settings need fixing

Windows 10 has a wide range of sophisticated features for managing multiple user accounts for other adults and children in a household, along with parental controls to help ensure kids stay safe online.

The problem is that to use any of them, you need to provide an email address for each user. That’s fine for anyone who uses email, but we doubt many PC-using six-year olds are signed up for their own email accounts. Even those that are won’t be likely to click the link in the email they’re then sent asking them to confirm they knew account details.

5. Media Centre is missing

Although people who are really interested in such things tend to use other software to power their living room PCs, Windows Media Centre was a handy freebie for those who didn’t want to spend all their spare time fiddling with a computer under the telly.

‘Was’ being the operative word here, since Microsoft removed Media Centre from Windows 10 and there so far no way to restore it. We suspect Media Centre was used widely enough to merit the overhaul needed for Windows 10 and while there are similar third-party alternatives, none work quite so seamlessly as Microsoft’s. At least Media Player is still there — much to the relief of anyone who’s confused about the two apps.