How to Hack Windows 10's Secret Settings

Want to improve Windows 10 without messing up your PC? Wayne Williams reveals how to make Microsoft’s operating system look and work exactly the way you want.

By now you’re 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. We’re also willing to bet that there are things you don’t 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 don’t have to put up with these niggles, because you can easily tweak Windows 10 to elevate it from a good operating system to a great one. You won’t 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, you’ll 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 you’re 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 aren’t 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. You’ll find a Control Panel option for Gadgets Revived under ‘Appearance and Personalisation’, Desktop Gadgets.