5
WINDOWS APPS AND THE WINDOWS STORE
The Windows Apps
One of Microsoft’s fundamental design principles for its so-called Modern apps (that is, apps created for Windows 8/8.1/10, in contrast to the so-called Desktop apps, which precede Windows 8) is “content before chrome.” That is, the typical interface that these apps use is characterized by an overall style that places content front and center, and where chrome—including window borders, menus, scrollbars, and icons—is hidden or minimized, relegated to the edge, or eliminated altogether.
For the most part, Modern apps adhere to the following guidelines:
Clean layout—App interfaces are characterized by a generous amount of open space, so you won’t find lots of graphical knickknacks such as lines, boxes, and borders. These interfaces are also visually simple, so you won’t find color tricks such as gradients and blurs. The result is that the content gets some room to breathe.
Uncluttered interface—Apps have lots of white (or black or green or whatever) space surrounding the content. Most apps achieve this look by not leaving commands, navigational aids, and other features displayed full-time. Instead, apps “leverage the edge” by placing commands and features out of sight or minimized. One common interface feature is to display a menu of icons down the left side, or sometimes across the top, as shown in Figure 5.1. Clicking the Menu icon (the three-line “hamburger” icon in the top-left corner) expands the menu to show the command names, as shown in Figure 5.2. Many Modern apps also use the See More icon, the three dots at the upper right of Figure 5.1, to display extra commands or interface elements, and a gear-shaped Settings icon, as shown at the lower left of Figure 5.1.
Figure 5.2
Clicking the “hamburger” icon expands the menu to show the command names.
Typography conveys hierarchy—Traditional programs use boxes and lines to separate sections and establish interface hierarchies. Modern apps use typographical indicators—particularly text size, weight, and color—to convey boundaries and hierarchies.
Direct content interaction—In most apps, you manipulate the content itself by performing taps, drags, zooms, and swipes directly on an item. Wherever possible, an app doesn’t offer separate controls for manipulating content.
These were Microsoft’s design goals for Modern apps, at least. Over the past few years, we have noticed a trend toward more cluttered layouts as originally very simple apps such as Maps have been expanded with more and more features.
To see the list of apps on your computer, click Start, and then scroll down the Start menu. As of the Anniversary Update, there is no longer an icon labeled All Apps that you need to click before you can scroll through the full list. It’s now always there just below your most-used apps.
In the following sections, we list the default apps that come with most freshly installed copies of Windows. You can easily add more free and paid apps from the Store app. Also, your PC manufacturer may have added apps we don’t describe, and in a corporate environment, you may find more or fewer apps installed. There are some games and apps that are really just advertisements that we don’t describe here. Finally, Microsoft fairly frequently adds and modifies apps via Windows Update, so, apps may well change over time (hopefully getting ever more useful, but, you never know). All this is to say: Read this list, but check your copy of Windows to see what you actually have.
To launch these apps, you can click Start, scroll down to find the app, and then click the app’s icon. But that’s the hard way! It’s easier to type the app’s name (or even just a few letters of the name) into the taskbar’s search box and then select it from the results. Or, if you have a microphone on your computer and have enabled Hey Cortana, just say, “Hey Cortana, open the ______ app,” and that should do it. And remember, if you use an app all the time, right-click its icon in the taskbar and select Pin to Taskbar/or Pin to Start so you’ll have instant access to it in the future.
Alarms & Clock
The Alarms & Clock app (it’s new in Windows 10) is the home of all things temporal. With this app, you can do the following:
Set alarms—Select the Alarm tab to create alarms that ring at specified times and frequencies.
See times in other locations—Select the World Clock tab to add one or more clocks that show the time in different locations around the world.
Count down a specified interval—Select the Time tab to set a time in hours, minutes, and seconds and then count down to 0 from that time.
Time an event—Select the Stopwatch tab to start a timer. You can also get split times along the way by clicking or touching the Laps/Splits icon (the flag).
Calculator
Many of the Modern apps offer only a minimal set of features, but that’s not the case with the new Calculator app (which replaces the venerable Desktop version). It comes not only with very good Standard and Scientific calculators, but also a nice Programmer calculator that offers a bit-toggling keyboard and Boolean operations such as OR, XOR, NOT, and AND, and a new date calculator. You also get a full set of converters for things like volume, length, weight, and temperature.
You switch between these modes by selecting the Menu icon in the top-left corner, as shown in Figure 5.3. Widen the Calculator window to see the History “adding machine tape” and Memory panel.
Figure 5.3
The new Calculator app offers four calculator types and some converters.
The Memory tab is worth looking at, too. Like most electronic calculators, the Calculator app can save numbers on a sort of scratch pad, using MS (memory save), M+ (memory add), M- (memory subtract), MR (memory recall), and MC (memory clear). If you expand the window and select the Memory tab, the MS button lets you save multiple values. Click any saved value to recall it into whatever calculation you’re doing. This is a handy tool, as it lets you save multiple intermediate values as you work.
Calendar
Calendar (shown earlier in Figures 5.1 and 5.2) is the scheduling app for Windows 10, enabling you to create events for meetings, appointments, get-togethers, and all-day tasks such as conferences and vacations. By default, Calendar displays events from four calendars:
Your personal calendar associated with your Microsoft account. These events use a green background.
noteYou control the calendar display by clicking an account under the mini-calendar and then clicking a calendar to toggle its events on and off. If you don’t see the mini-calendar, select the Menu icon in the upper-left corner.
A Birthday calendar that displays birthdays from contacts associated with your Microsoft account. Birthdays appear with a red background.
A Holidays calendar that shows prominent holidays from your location (for example, a U.S. Holidays calendar if you’re located in the United States). Holidays use a pink background.
A generic calendar for all other events. These items appear with a blue background.
You can also add other accounts to Calendar so you can, for example, view your Gmail calendar directly from the Calendar interface. Click the Settings icon (the gear) at the bottom of the screen, and then click Manage Accounts to open the Manage Accounts pane. Click Add Account, click the account type, and then fill in the details.
To change the calendar view, select one of the five views that appear along the top of the window: Day, Work Week, Week, Month, or Year. Whichever view you choose, note that you navigate by clicking the Next and Previous arrows, which are downward- and upward-pointing in Month view, and right- and left-pointing in the other views. (If you don’t see these arrows, move your mouse pointer over the Calendar screen.) If you’re using a touchscreen, you can also navigate the Calendar view by moving down and up in Month view, or right and left in the other views. The Today button scrolls today’s date back into view.
To add an event, click the day of the event in Month view, or click the time the event occurs (on the day it occurs) in Week, Work Week, or Day view, or just click the + at the left side of the window. Then fill in the event information in the box that opens.
By the way, as of the Anniversary Update, the clock icon at the right end of the taskbar now includes a calendar. If you click the taskbar clock, you’ll see the time, calendar, and your scheduled events. Click an event or the add event (+) icon to jump right into the Calendar app.
Camera
If your PC or tablet has a built-in or connected camera, you can use the Camera app to take a photo or record a video:
Take a photo—Select the Camera app on the Start menu, and then either click or tap the screen or select the Camera icon to take the photo.
Record a video—Select the Camera app on the Start menu, select the small video icon to switch to Video mode, and then select the large Video icon to start recording. When you’re finished, select the Video icon again.
Photos and videos you shoot with the Camera app are stored in your user account’s Pictures folder, in the Camera Roll folder.
Finally, you can also select the Settings icon (the gear) to configure various options, which vary depending on your camera. For example, you can choose a photo aspect ratio, a video resolution, and you can display a framing grid within the camera window.
Connect
The Connect app lets your PC, tablet, laptop, or other device act as a remote screen for another device, such as a Windows or Android phone, that supports Miracast technology. Both devices must have Wi-Fi adapters that support WiFi Direct but don’t need to be connected to a wireless network or router. Run Connect on your PC, and then instruct your phone to cast to it. Now you can use the big PC screen (and keyboard) as a more convenient interface to your phone.
Cortana
Selecting the Cortana app is the same as clicking in the taskbar’s Search box. This gives you an alternative way to access Search (or Cortana, if you use it) if you’d prefer to remove the Search box from the taskbar to gain more room for pinned apps. Here are the steps to follow to remove the Search feature from the taskbar:
1. Right-click an empty section of the taskbar.
2. Select Cortana or Search.
3. Select Hidden. If you want extra room on the taskbar but prefer to keep easy access to the Search feature, select Show Cortana Icon or Show Search Icon, which replaces the text box with a small Search icon.
Feedback Hub
This app lets you send feedback about Windows 10— comments, suggestions, and bug reports—directly to Microsoft. The app was originally provided only to Windows Insiders, people who have volunteered to test and evaluate new Windows features, but as of the Anniversary Update, the app is now installed on all copies of Windows.
tip
if you’re a Feedback fanatic, use Windows Logo+F to take a screenshot and open the Feedback Hub with one keystroke. If you create a new feedback item, the screenshot will be attached automatically.
If you decide to send feedback, we suggest that you first spend some time searching the Feedback Hub for the issue you want to report, using various different phrasings. If you find that someone else has already reported your issue, click Upvote. The more “me too” marks a feedback item gets, the more likely it will get attention from Microsoft. You can also add comments to the entry. But, creating a new, duplicate report just diffuses their attention. If you think an issue really does need a new feedback report, select the best matching categories you can, and to the extent possible provide exact steps for reproducing the problem.
Films & TV
You use the Movies Films & TV app (formerly titled Movies and TV) to play the digital videos that are on your PC, to purchase or rent movies, or to purchase TV show episodes. The main screen is divided into three tabs:
Explore—This section lets you check out commercial video content in three categories: Trailers, Films, and TV.
Purchased—This section displays movies and TV shows that you’ve purchased or rented.
Personal—This section displays your videos. To view a video, select it, and the playback begins immediately. Move the mouse to display the playback controls (see Figure 5.4), which include the Pause/Play button, a scrubber to scroll through the video, a volume control, a full-screen control, a command to play the video on a connected device, and a zoom feature.
Figure 5.4
Move the mouse during video playback to see the controls.
Get Help
The Get Help app provides guidance and links for contacting Microsoft for support with Windows, Microsoft hardware and software products, and Microsoft online accounts. Be aware that in most cases, Microsoft support will cost you. Free support may be available under certain limited circumstances, such as support for assistive technologies for people with disabilities.
caution
If you receive an unexpected phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft telling you that he has detected a problem with your computer, hang up! (Or, have some fun with the caller for a while, and then hang up.) It’s a scam. Microsoft never calls customers out of the blue.
Groove Music
You use the Groove Music app to play the music that’s on your PC. Note, however, that you can no longer use Groove Music to purchase new songs or albums. The Groove Music window is divided into three main sections that organize your music by Albums, Artists (see Figure 5.5), and Songs. You can also choose Now Playing to see your current music and New Playlist to create a playlist of songs.
Figure 5.5
You can organize your music collection by artists, as shown here, or by albums or songs.
The Mail app is an extremely simple mail client that offers only the most basic functionality: sending messages, responding to messages (Reply, Reply to All, or Forward), moving messages to different folders, and deleting messages. We discuss this app in detail (such as it is) in Chapter 16, “Windows 10 Internet Communications.”
For more coverage of the Mail app, see “Working with Email,” p. 331.
Maps
The Maps app is a simple mapping program. When you first start the app, it asks whether it can use your location, as shown in Figure 5.6. To get the most out of Maps, you’ll want to select Yes.
Figure 5.6
The Maps App toolbar lets you zoom and orient the map.
Besides enabling you to peruse the map, the Maps app also offers the following features:
Search for a location—Click the spyglass icon at the upper left, and then type the address or name of the location you want.
Display your current location—Select Show My Location to have the map zero in on your present location. (If this doesn’t work, see the steps that follow this list.)
Get directions to a location—Select the diamond icon at the upper left, specify a starting point (the default is your current location) and a destination (you can include stops on the way to your destination), and specify the method of travel (car, transit, or walking).
Change the map view—Select Map Views and then click Aerial (that is, satellite) or Road (traditional map diagram) view. The Traffic switch lets you overlay traffic data onto the map. Routes shown in green have good traffic, routes shown in orange have some traffic, and routes shown in red have heavy traffic.
tip
You can also use Maps while you’re offline, as long as you download the map you want before you disconnect. To download a map for offline use, click the Map app’s See More icon, click Settings, and then click Choose Maps. (You can also open the Settings app, click Apps, and then click Offline Maps.) Click Download Maps and then select the map you want.
To get the most out of Maps, you should make sure your PC has the Windows Location platform turned on:
1. In the taskbar’s Search box, type location.
2. In the search results, select Location Privacy Settings. The Settings app runs, opens the Privacy window, and selects the Location tab.
3. Make sure that Location for this Device and Location Service are on and that you’ve set your Default Location.
You also need to give Maps (and other apps) permission to use your location. In the Settings app’s Location tab, scroll down to the Choose Apps That Can Use Your Precise Location section and set the switch to On for each app you want to access your location.
Messaging
This app, which was introduced in Windows 10 Version 1511, appears to be intended to let you send text messages to people on your contact list. As of the Creators Update, it’s still not functional enough to bother using.
Microsoft Edge
The Microsoft Edge app is brand new. (It’s not just a scaled-down version of desktop Internet Explorer.) Besides standard web browsing (that is, typing a new address, clicking links, and using the Back and Forward buttons to navigate your session history), you can save favorites, save a site to the reading list, annotate web pages (see Figure 5.7), and then share those annotations with friends. We discuss Microsoft Edge in Chapter 15.
Figure 5.7
Microsoft Edge lets you annotate web pages.
Mixed Reality Portal
In Microsoft lingo, mixed reality refers to a hardware platform that combines virtual reality, augmented reality, and holography. Headsets that support mixed reality—such as the Microsoft HoloLens—will combine real and virtual worlds, virtual objects, and holograms to create immersive games and apps.
The control center for all this in Windows 10 Creators Update is the Mixed Reality Portal, where you can set up your mixed reality-compatible headset and access your mixed reality apps.
OneDrive
The OneDrive “app,” reached from the Start menu, actually does nothing more than open File Explorer and display your Microsoft account’s OneDrive folder, which you use to send files from your PC to your OneDrive. To manage OneDrive itself, use the OneDrive icon in the taskbar.
OneNote
One of the nice surprises in Windows 10 is the inclusion of a simplified but still useful version of the OneNote note-taking app. Many of us keep paper notebooks handy for jotting down these random bits of data, but we live in an electronic age, so wouldn’t it be great to be able to jot down stray bits of information in a digital format?
We’re happy to report that the answer to that question is, “You can!” The electronic version of your paper notebook is OneNote, which enables you to quickly and easily record just about anything that you’d normally scribble on a piece of paper. With OneNote (see Figure 5.8), you can do all that and also much more:
Paste pictures, clip art, and text
Insert links to websites
Organize data into tables
Share your notes with other people
Figure 5.8
Use the Windows 10 version of OneNote to write notes; create to-do lists; and save websites, photos, and much more.
Paint 3D
Paint 3D is a major update to the venerable Paint program that has shipped with every version of Windows since Windows 1.0 was released way back in 1985. As the name implies, Paint 3D lets you build models in three dimensions instead of just two, as shown in Figure 5.9. You can build cubes and spheres, add text and effects, and much more. Have fun!
Figure 5.9
The new Paint 3D takes the old Paint program into the third dimension.
People
The Windows 8/8.1 version of the People app was arguably the most ambitious of the default apps because it acted as the social networking hub for your Windows PC by connecting to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Alas, all that functionality has been removed from the Windows 10 version of People. Now the app is just a competent contacts manager that can store a wide variety of information about each person, including name, company name, email address, web address, street address, phone number, and job title. People gets significantly more useful when you add other accounts to it, such as your Gmail or iCloud contacts.
Photos
The Photos app is the Windows 10 home for all your PC’s photos. The Photos app offers some useful editing tools that enable you to perform basic photo fixes, such as cropping and rotating, adjusting brightness and contrast, and fixing the tint and saturation.
The main Photos section is called Collection, and it organizes the photos from your user account’s Pictures folder by month. You can scroll up and down through the images, or you can click an image to view it full-screen and then use the left- and right-arrow keys to navigate the rest of the photos.
Click the screen to display the photo tools: Zoom, Rotate, Draw, Edit, Share, and Print. (You can also click See More to access the following commands: Slideshow, Open With, Copy, Set As (which displays three subitems: Set as Lock Screen, Set as Background, and Set as Photos Tile), View Actual Size, and File Information.) When you click Edit, Photos displays its editing tools, as shown in Figure 5.10.
Figure 5.10
Display a photo, click the screen, and then click Edit to see a decent collection of photo editing tools.
Settings
You use the Settings app to customize and configure many Windows 10 features and options. See Chapter 24, “Tweaking and Customizing Windows.” We cover many individual Settings items throughout the book as we cover the features that they control. You can launch the Settings app from the Start menu’s app list, though it’s easier to use the Start menu’s Settings (gear) icon,
Skype
This app, which was added by the Anniversary Update, lets you make and receive Skype video calls. You can use the app to add contacts to your phonebook, accept or decline contact requests, search the Skype directory, invite people to a video call via email, and more. At present, this is just a preliminary version of what we expect to become a full-featured Skype app.
Sticky Notes
The Windows 10 Anniversary update brought a refresh of the old Sticky Notes app. It’s now a Modern app. If you have a touchscreen, the easiest way to launch it is to touch or click the Windows Ink Workspace icon in the notification area of the taskbar and then select Sticky Notes. Without a touchscreen, to launch it from the Start menu you’d have to scroll down to Windows Accessories and then open that folder. It’s easier to type stick in the taskbar’s search box and select the app from the results. If you end up using Sticky Notes a lot, pin the app to your taskbar.
The Sticky Note app displays a yellow square onto your screen that you can type into and move around. It “sticks” around and comes back even if you sign off and back on, just like a real 3M Post-It Note would if it was were stuck to your monitor. Click + to add a new note. This is one of those apps that you can go ten years without ever using, but once you start, you can’t imagine how you lived without it.
One of the interesting features of this refreshed Sticky Notes app is that, with your permission, Cortana can read the contents of your notes and can automatically assist you in completing the tasks that the sticky notes discuss. For example, if you type (or write with a pen), “Call Mom tomorrow,” Cortana will recognize that the word tomorrow means you’re scheduling something and will automatically offer to add “Call Mom” to tomorrow’s calendar. This feature is called Insights, and it’s enabled by default. To disable it, click the More (...) icon on the Sticky Notes app, then the Settings (gear) icon, and then switch Insights off.
Store
You use the Store app to access the online Windows Store and browse and purchase new apps and media for your Windows 10 PC. The main Store screen is divided into five tabs: Home, Apps, Games, Music, Films & TV, and Books (see Figure 5.11). On each tab, there are links for Top (selling) and Featured items, and a Collections link that gathers items into premade collections (such as sports apps). The user interface of the Store app changes fairly frequently.
Figure 5.11
The Windows Store offers apps, games, music, movies, and TV shows.
Clicking an item displays its details, including its user rating, price, description and features, user reviews, permissions, and more. See also “Installing Apps from the Windows Store,” later in this chapter.
Tips
This simple app just displays a collection of tips for using Windows 10. Click the Browse Tips tab to see the tips organized into various categories, including Get Connected, Microsoft Edge, and Ease of Access.
View 3D
You use the View 3D app to open and interact with 3D models. The app supports five 3D model file types: 3MF (3D Manufacturing Format), PLY (Polygon File Format), OBJ (3D Object Format), FBX (Filmbox), and STL (Stereolithography).
Voice Recorder
If you have a microphone connected to your PC, you can use the Voice Recorder app to create and save simple voice recordings.
Weather
tip
To change the default location (that is, the city that appears on the Weather app’s live tile and that appears first when you launch the Weather app), select Menu, then Settings, and be sure the General tab is displayed. Check the Default Location option and use the text box to type the location you want to use as the default. If you’re traveling and you want Weather to always use your current location as the default, check the Always Detect My Location option instead.
The Weather app is a straightforward weather forecast program. When you first start the app, it asks you to specify a default location. If it’s the local forecast you’re after, start typing your city and then select it in the list that appears. You’re pretty much done, but you can also add other places to the Weather app:
1. Select Menu in the upper-left corner, and then select Favorites. The Favorites screen appears.
2. Click Add (+). Weather prompts you to enter the city name.
3. Start typing the name of the city you want to add.
4. When you see the name of the city in the list that appears, click it. Weather adds the city to the Places screen.
Windows Defender Security Center
In Windows 10 Creators Update, Windows Defender has been revamped as a full-featured security tool. No longer confined to just squashing spyware, Windows Defender now targets all malware and also manages the firewall (now renamed Windows Defender Firewall).
The place to configure all things Windows Defender is the new Windows Defender Security Center. We take you through the various features and settings in this app in Chapter 31, “Protecting Windows from Viruses and Spyware.”
To learn more about Windows Defender Security Center, see “Checking Your Computer’s Security Settings,” p. 701.
Xbox
The Xbox app lets you play compatible Xbox and PC games and connects you to your Xbox account. It can also mirror the display of your Xbox console, record, and edit game movies. The Xbox window is divided into several sections. If you click the Menu icon in the upper-left corner, the choices are as follows:
Home—This section offers an overview of your account and your friends’ activities.
My Games—The list of your installed and purchased games.
Achievements—Your and your friends’ high scores.
Game DVR—This section shows your recorded games. (You can record games on your computer by typing Windows Logo+G, if your video card is capable of it.)
Clubs—Lets you access, search for, and create gaming clubs.
Trending—Advertisements and recorded videos from social media.
Store—You can guess where this leads you. Note that some games are linked to your Xbox account and are licensed so that they can be played on any of your PC or Xbox devices.
Search—Searches for detailed information about any PC or Xbox game.
Connection—Establishes a network connection with an Xbox console.
Settings—Displays several categories of settings for your Xbox account, friends and linked accounts, notifications, recording, and network connections to an Xbox console.
At the right side of the screen is a panel used for social networking. Across its top are more icons:
Friends & Clubs—Adds and displays connected gaming friends and your gaming clubs.
Parties—This is a new feature that lets you create a group voice and text chat session with other Xbox users. Use the padlock icon to restrict the party to invited guests only.
Messages—You use this section to exchange receive messages with your Xbox friends.
Activity Alerts—This section shows alerts for all your recent activities, including likes, shares, comments, and friend requests.
Installing Apps from the Windows Store
Windows 10 comes with quite a few apps, but it doesn’t cover every base, not by a long shot. If there’s an app that you need, you can obtain the app yourself and then install it on your PC. Here are the steps to follow to install an app from the Windows Store:
tip
When you install an app, it appears on the main Start menu under the Recently Added heading.
1. On the taskbar or Start screen, tap Store. The Store appears.
2. Select the Apps tab.
3. Display the app that you want to install. See the “Store” section, earlier in this chapter, to learn how to navigate the Windows Store.
4. If it’s a paid app, tap Buy; otherwise, tap Get. The Store app shows the progress of the install as well as buttons for pausing or canceling the install (see Figure 5.12).
Figure 5.12
The Store app shows the progress of the app install and enables you to pause or cancel the install.
By default, Windows 10 stores all new apps on the system hard drive, usually drive C. If you prefer to use a different drive (say, if your system drive is getting low on disk space), you can follow these steps to specify a different app install default drive:
1. Click Start and then click Settings (the gear icon) to open the Settings app.
2. Click System.
3. Click the Storage tab.
4. Click Change Where New Content Is Saved.
5. In the New Apps Will Save To list, select the drive you want to use as the default for app installs.
Uninstalling Apps
If you have an app that you no longer use, you can free up some disk space and reduce clutter on the Start screen by uninstalling that app. Here’s how it works for apps that allow an uninstall:
1. Use the Start menu to locate the app you want to uninstall.
2. Right-click the app tile.
3. Select Uninstall. Windows 10 asks you to confirm.
4. Select Uninstall. Windows 10 removes the app.