These 20 Windows 10 tips cover the customization, performance, and privacy settings every PC user should know — from setting any image as the desktop background and using Windows key + S to search, to disabling startup apps, turning off background apps, and limiting telemetry under Diagnostics & feedback. Most also apply to Windows 11.
Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2). Tips marked with a note also apply to Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: May 4, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Personalization is one right-click away — desktop backgrounds, taskbar layout, dark mode, and pinned items are all configurable without third-party apps.
- The biggest performance gains come from disabling startup apps and background apps — both live in Settings and take less than a minute each.
- Privacy and telemetry settings need attention on every fresh install — General privacy, Diagnostics & feedback, Activity history, and Delivery optimization all default to Microsoft-friendly settings.
- Windows key + number opens pinned taskbar apps — one of the fastest keyboard shortcuts in Windows that almost no one uses.
- Most of these tips also work on Windows 11 — the menu paths differ slightly, but the same toggles exist in Settings > Personalization and Settings > Privacy & security.
Windows 10 reached its official end of mainstream support cycle in late 2025, but it still runs on a huge share of PCs and remains the best choice for older hardware. The settings below are the ones I rely on every time I set up a Windows 10 machine in the repair shop, and they hold up just as well on Windows 11. If you are still on Windows 10, also see my guide on enabling free Windows 10 Extended Security Updates to keep getting security patches.
1. Set Any Image as Your Desktop Background
Right-click any image in File Explorer and choose Set as desktop background. To run a slideshow, open a folder of images, press Ctrl + A to select all of them, right-click any one, and choose the same option. To control how often the image rotates, right-click the desktop, choose Personalize, and adjust the slideshow timer in the dropdown. Works the same on Windows 11.
2. Switch Between Light and Dark Mode
Open Settings > Personalization > Colors and pick Light, Dark, or Custom from the “Choose your color” dropdown. The accent color you pick below applies to the Start menu, taskbar, and title bars when you tick the boxes for those surfaces.
3. Use Windows Search Like a Power User
Press Windows key + S to open Windows Search instantly without touching the mouse. Type any app name, file name, or system setting and press Enter to launch it. This is faster than navigating menus for almost everything — try it for Device Manager, Services, or Control Panel.
4. Customize the Taskbar Search Box
Right-click the taskbar, hover over Search, and pick from Hidden, Show search icon, or Show search box. The same context menu lets you toggle Cortana, Task View, and the News and interests widget. On Windows 11, the equivalent toggles are in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
5. Lock, Unlock, and Auto-Hide the Taskbar
Right-click the taskbar and toggle Lock the taskbar to allow or block dragging it to a different edge of the screen. To hide the taskbar entirely until you mouse over it, open Taskbar settings from the same right-click menu and turn on Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode.
6. Pin Apps to the Taskbar
Right-click any app in the Start menu or in File Explorer and choose Pin to taskbar. You can also drag and drop an executable file onto the taskbar to pin it. Click and drag pinned items to reorder them.
7. Open Pinned Apps With Windows Key + Number
This is one of the most underused Windows shortcuts. Hold Windows key and tap a number from 1 to 9 to launch the pinned taskbar app at that position. If Notepad is the fourth pinned item, Windows key + 4 opens it. Pressing the number again switches to the open instance, and pressing it twice in a row launches a second window.
8. Manage and Resize Start Menu Tiles
Right-click any app in the Start menu to Pin to Start or Unpin from Start. Right-click a tile and choose Resize to switch between Small, Medium, Wide, and Large. Hover the cursor over the corner of the Start menu and drag to resize the entire menu. Note: this section applies to the Windows 10 Start menu — Windows 11’s redesigned Start menu does not support tiles.
9. Turn Off Notifications
Open Settings > System > Notifications & actions and toggle Get notifications from apps and other senders off to silence everything. To keep some apps and silence others, leave that master toggle on and disable individual apps in the list below. On Windows 11 the path is Settings > System > Notifications.
10. Free Up Space Automatically With Storage Sense
Open Settings > System > Storage and turn on Storage Sense. Click Configure Storage Sense or run it now to set how often it runs and how aggressively it cleans temporary files, the Recycle Bin, and the Downloads folder. For a deeper cleanup, see my guide on how to clear up space on Windows 10/11.
11. Prevent Accidental Tablet Mode Switches
If you are on a desktop or non-touch laptop, open Settings > System > Tablet and set When I sign in to Use desktop mode, and When I use this device as a tablet to Don’t switch to tablet mode. This locks Windows 10 in desktop mode regardless of accidental input. Tablet mode does not exist on Windows 11.
12. Set Default Apps
Open Settings > Apps > Default apps to control which app handles email, music, photos, video, and the web browser. Scroll down for Choose default apps by file type if you need fine-grained control over a specific extension like .pdf or .mkv.
13. Disable Startup Apps for Faster Boot
Open Settings > Apps > Startup and switch off everything you do not actively need at boot. Each toggle shows an “impact” rating (Low, Medium, High) so you can prioritize. Disabling Spotify, Discord, Steam, and OneDrive at startup typically shaves 10-30 seconds off boot time on a budget laptop.
14. Tighten Privacy Settings
Open Settings > Privacy > General and turn off all four toggles. The “advertising ID” toggle is the most important — it stops Windows from giving an advertising-tracking ID to apps. Read each description before flipping a switch; nothing here breaks Windows.
15. Limit Diagnostics and Telemetry Data
Under Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback, set diagnostic data to Required diagnostic data (the lowest available setting). Turn off Improve inking and typing, Tailored experiences, and View diagnostic data. Click Delete under “Delete diagnostic data” to clear what Microsoft already has.
16. Control Activity History
Under Settings > Privacy > Activity history, uncheck both options that store and send activity history. If you have signed in with a Microsoft account, click Manage my Microsoft account activity data to clear the cloud copy. For a registry-based approach that survives Windows updates, see my guide on disabling Activity History via Regedit.
17. Stop Background Apps
Open Settings > Privacy > Background apps and toggle Let apps run in the background off. This is one of the biggest performance wins on a low-spec PC because Microsoft Store apps stop using CPU and bandwidth when you are not actively using them. For Windows 11, see my dedicated guide on disabling background apps on Windows 11 via Regedit.
18. Pause Windows Updates
Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Click Pause updates for 7 days, or open Advanced options and pick a date up to 35 days out. This is useful when you want to skip a problematic update temporarily — see my guide on uninstalling Windows updates and clearing the update cache if a bad update already installed.
19. Uninstall a Problem Windows Update
Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history, then click Uninstall updates at the top. Pick the offending update from the list and click Uninstall. Note that Microsoft does not allow uninstalling security updates, only feature and quality updates.
20. Turn Off Windows Update Delivery Optimization
Open Settings > Update & Security > Delivery Optimization and turn off Allow downloads from other PCs. This stops Windows from using your bandwidth to upload updates to other PCs on the internet — a meaningful win on slow or capped connections. For a regedit-based approach, see disabling Windows Update Delivery Optimization via Regedit.
Bonus Tip: Use Windows Troubleshooters
Open Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters. Windows includes built-in troubleshooters for the most common issues — Internet Connections, Audio, Bluetooth, Printer, Windows Update, and more. Run the relevant one before resorting to deeper troubleshooting.
Want a One-Click Setup Instead?
If you would rather not click through every settings page on every fresh install, my free open-source tool Winhance applies most of these privacy and performance tweaks at once on Windows 10 and 11. It can disable telemetry, turn off background apps, lock down advertising IDs, and remove preinstalled bloat — all reversible.
For a fresh install that arrives already configured, UnattendedWinstall uses an autounattend answer file to apply the same kind of customization during Windows setup itself. Both tools are free and open source.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do these Windows 10 tips also work on Windows 11?
Most of them do, with minor menu differences. The biggest exceptions are the Start menu tile customization (tip 8) and Tablet mode (tip 11), both of which Microsoft removed in Windows 11. Privacy, performance, and update settings all moved to Settings > Privacy & security and Settings > System on Windows 11 but offer the same toggles.
Will turning off background apps break anything?
It will stop Microsoft Store apps from receiving notifications and live tile updates while they are not open. Mail, Calendar, and Weather apps will not pull new data until you launch them. If those features matter to you, leave them enabled individually instead of disabling the master toggle.
How do I undo these changes if I do not like them?
Every setting in this guide is reversible from the same Settings page where you changed it. There are no registry edits or hidden configuration files involved. If you want a single restore point before making changes, search for Create a restore point in the Start menu and create one — you can roll back to that point if anything goes wrong.
Is Windows 10 still safe to use in 2026?
Mainstream support for Windows 10 ended in October 2025. It still works, but it no longer receives free security updates by default. You can extend security support for free via the consumer Extended Security Updates program — see my walkthrough on enabling free Windows 10 ESU.
What is the single most impactful tip on this list?
Tip 13 — disabling startup apps. On a budget laptop with 4-8 GB of RAM, disabling four or five autostarting apps typically halves the time from sign-in to a usable desktop. It costs nothing and breaks nothing.
