Two early-release sample chapters from Windows 10 Inside Out
We have two early-release sample chapters from Windows 10 Inside Out by Ed Bott, Carl Siechert, and Craig Stinson to share! In these chapters, you will find information on using Windows 10 and securing Windows 10 devices.
Chapter overviews and full chapter download links are provided below.
This chapter covers the following topics:
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- An overview of the Windows 10 user experience
- Navigating Windows 10
- Using Windows 10 on a touchscreen device
- Managing and arranging windows
- Cortana and search
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Regardless of your upgrade path—from Windows 7 or from Windows 8.1—your day-to-day experience changes significantly with Windows 10.
The things you expect Windows to do on your behalf—launching programs, arranging windows on the screen, switching between tasks, finding files, setting notifications, interacting with cloud services, communicating with other people—are basically the same. But the steps you take to accomplish those tasks are different.
The change is more striking if you’re moving from a conventional PC or laptop to a touchscreen device. Even if you still have access to a keyboard and mouse or trackpad, the addition of touch fundamentally changes how you interact with Windows and with apps. With a phone or small tablet added to the mix, you have still more options to explore.
In this chapter, we look at the things you tap, click, drag, and drop to make Windows do your bidding. Some, like the taskbar and notification icons, are similar enough to their predecessors that you might miss subtle but significant changes.
Our coverage also includes a section on the unique ways to interact with a tablet running Windows 10. And, of course, we introduce Cortana, the first Windows feature that can literally speak for itself.
A disclaimer, right up front: in this chapter, we are writing about a user experience that is evolving from month to month and that will continue to do so even after the initial release of Windows 10 on July 29, 2015. The screen shots and step-by-step instructions you see here are based on that initial release. It’s not only possible, but practically certain, that some of the features we describe here will change in the months after we send this book to the printer as Microsoft delivers on its promise of “Windows as a service.”
If you see subtle differences between what’s on these pages and what’s on your screen, that’s the likely reason. We hope our descriptions make it possible to incorporate those changes into your learning.
Download the complete chapter here.
Chapter 7: Securing Windows 10 Devices
This chapter covers the following topics:
- Understanding security threats
- What’s new in Windows
- Monitoring your computer’s security
- Staying on top of security updates
- Blocking intruders with Windows Firewall
- Preventing unsafe actions with User Account Control
- Encrypting information
- Using Windows Defender to block malware
- Stopping unknown or malicious programs with SmartScreen
We don’t mean to be scaremongers, but they are out to get you. Computer attacks continue to increase in number and severity each year. And while the big data breaches—the loss of millions of credit card numbers from a major retailer or the loss of millions of personnel records from the U.S. government—command the most media attention, don’t think that the bad guys wouldn’t like to get into your computer too. Whether it’s to steal your valuable personal data, appropriate your computing resources and bandwidth, or use your PC as a pathway into a bigger target with whom you do business, there are plenty of actors with bad intent.
According to the 2015 Internet Security Threat Report, published by Symantec, 60 percent of all targeted attacks struck small and medium-sized organizations. Like individuals, these organizations often do not have the resources to invest in security—making them juicy targets.
In this chapter, we examine the types of threats you’re likely to face at home and at work. More importantly, we describe some of the more significant security improvements made in Windows 10—many of which are in layers you can’t see, such as hardware-based protection that operates before Windows loads. Then we explain how to use the more visible security features, including Windows Firewall, User Account Control, BitLocker, and Windows Defender.
Download the complete chapter here.