Windows 11 Microsoft newest operating system is packed full of enhancements and features that are quite useful so coming up to help you get the most out of using windows 11.

I’ll show you tips tricks and features you'll want to use to improve your overall experience using the operating system let's get started when you first launch windows 11 you’ll notice the start menu and taskbar icons are center aligned instead of being located on the left.

 I think this looks a lot better and makes it more convenient to access your start menu and pin programs with less movement of your mouse but if you're someone that prefers the old layout with the start menu and pin programs lined to the left right click on an empty space in your taskbar and select taskbar settings scroll down to the bottom of this page and click taskbar behaviors.

Let's scroll down some more for task bar alignment click the dropdown you have two choices click on left you’ll now notice that the start menu and pin programs have been moved to the left as I said I now prefer the center alignment so I’ll switch it back feature available in previous versions of windows was the ability to minimize all windows except the one that is currently active by clicking the title bar and shaking your mouse it used to be called arrow shake button windows 11.

They now call it title bar windows shake it’s now turned off by default to turn it on let's open the settings app without using a keyboard shortcut click on start here in the taskbar and by default you should see it in your pinned apps otherwise to open it you can use the keyboard shortcut windows key plus inscroll down and select multitasking for title bar window shake if turned off click the toggle to turn it on Microsoft has made a change in windows11 that has annoyed quite a few people.

When you right click on a file it will now only show you what Microsoft deems to be the most important items in theme unknown if you want to print or access other choices you must take the extra step of clicking on show more options and what shows up looks like the old right-click menu some people have also been unhappy that Microsoft has removed the ability to pin selected folders to the start menu well.

You can still add folders to start but only those that are system folders to add system folders to start open the settings aping the left pane select personalization if you need to scroll down to start and select it then click on folders for those of you that want to see folders when you open the start menu toggle the switch on for each you have many to choose from I’ll turn on documents downloads music pictures and videos.

When you're done close out the settings apnea when you go to start you'll see those folders you turned on to the left of the power button while we're on the subject of the start menu you'll notice apps pinned by default by Microsoft that you might want to get rid of two unpin any app right click on it and select unpin from start on the flip side if you'd like to pin any app to the start menu click on all apps find it in the list after most used to list it in alphabetical order click on the header for each numbered lettered entry to quickly jump through.

The list when you find the app that you'd like top in right click on it and select pin to start click on back if you don't see it listed scroll down and you can easily move any pinned apply left clicking on it and dragging into where you want its new feature shown in another one of our videos is the ability to arrange any open windows on your screen to snap any window on your screen.

However your cursor over the resize maximize button in the upper right you’ll see various snapping templates select the zone within one of the layouts listed then select the other windows you want to snap to the layout this especially comes in handy.

If you’re on a laptop or any pc with only one monitor just like previous iterations of windows 11 also has a secondary start menu sometimes referred to as the secret start menudo open it right click the start menu icon or you could use the keyboard shortcut windows key plus here you can access your power options device manager windows terminal the task manager and a whole lot more on the right side of the taskbar where you see the internet and speaker icons when you left click on it it'll bring up your quick settings panel.

This is where you can quickly access some of the settings that you use most often like your Wi-Fi Bluetooth nightlight and others to customize this panel click the edit icon to unpin any settings buttons click the unpin icon for those that you want to remove otherwise to add new quick settings buttons to the panel here at the bottom click on add of the limited choices right now select the ones that you'd like to add to the panel afterwards click on done Microsoft really wants you to use their new features two examples are widgets and chat you'll find them pinned to your taskbar unlike programs you pin to your taskbar that can also be unpinned widgets and chat can't be unpinned.

The same way if you right click on them does nothing to remove these from your taskbar let’s open settings here on the left choose personalization scroll down and select taskbar in addition to search and task view clicking the switches for widgets iChat will remove them from the taskbar widgets is actually kind of useful.

So I’ll turn that one back on if you want absolute control of volume for each program you have opened you can now access the volume mixer from your taskbar by right-clicking the speaker icon and selecting open volume mixer you now see sliders for each program you have opened moving knees left or right will adjust the volume accordingly to reduce distractions.

The much improved focus assist will help your productivity while working playing games or some other activity to use it open the settings aping system go to focus assistive turned off you'll get notifications from all your apps.

You can set it to priority only and the setting that will give you the least distractions is alarms only this will hide all notifications except for the alarms you have set but when we scroll down the automatic rules section is where focus assist truly shines based on the activity listed.

If enabled you can set the appropriate focus assist level that suits you the best for example selecting when I’m playing agama it'll let you choose the focus level for that activity currently set to priority only I’ll click the drop down and select alarms only by default Microsoft will hide the file extensions for file types like jpeg, png, mp3 and the other popular formats.

If you'd like the file extension types to be visible click search in the taskbar and type file explorer options click on its elect the view tab in advanced settings untick the box next to hide extensions for known file types click apply and ok to exit many people don't realize this clicking apply is not necessary you can just click on ok to save your changes.

Now when looking at your files you’ll see the file extension types at the end of your file names let’s go back to the taskbar widgets panel we're discussing earlier I’m still not a huge fan but it's growing on me it lets you quickly check out the weather sports stock prices the news and a whole lot more you can add additional widgets by selecting add widgets.

But we won't go there right now it's easy enough you canal figure it out on your own to customize your existing widgets click the three dot menu icon in the upper right of the widget you can select the size to see more or less information right now it’s currently on small there’s medium and here's large thank goodness for staff and ended up winning.

The championship selecting customized widget will let you add additional variables to that widget for example in this sports widget typing NFL and clicking the plus will add additional information regarding that topic to this widget.

If you want to move any of the widgets just hover your cursor over the widget and left click and drag it wherever you want it’ll take this one and drag it to the left side if you're using a pc with the touchscreen you can change the look and theme of the touch keyboard on a side note while tempting don't ever buy a desktop all-in-one pc those things are hard you’ll find the icon to the touch keyboard in the lower right.

If you don’t see the icon right click the taskbar and select taskbar settings if the switch for the touch keyboard is off click to enable the touch keyboard let’s close this out touch or click the touch keyboard icon to make it visible in the upper left of the keyboard clicker touch the settings icon then select theme and resize I’ll close the keyboard.

Here select the theme you want I’ll go with indigo breeze after making your selection close the window now when you open the touch keyboard you’ll notice that your new theme has been applied earlier we were discussing focus assist to selectively decide to turn off or seta priority level for notifications if you find the notifications in windows11.

Just to be way too much you can turn those off altogether so let's go into settings in system select notifications are turned on by default clicking on the switch will turn them off for all apps you can also turn off notifications individually from apps and other senders as well if you want to give your eyes a breathe dark mode and night light features are still available in windows 11.

To enable dark mode let's open the settings aping the left pane select personalization then colors and choose your mode click the drop down and select dark that is so much better if you want to give your eyes more of a break let’s enable the night light by going to system and display here at the top click on the switch for night light to turn it onscreen recorders won't capture this.

But you’ll notice with it on it'll block blue light with warmer colors which is believed to help people who use their computers before they go to bed sleep better if you click into night light you can set the strength of the blue light filter and you can also schedule a time for it to automatically turn on and turnoff windows 11.

When compared to previous versions makes it a more tedious process to change the default apps for example if you want to change your default web browser open the settings aping the left pane select apothem default apposite used to be that if you wanted to change your web browser you just go to that category and select a web browser from the list now you have to find that browser in the list and there it is once selected you then have to select each file type individually of course it’s going to recommend Microsoft edge for all file types.

It can handle if you don’t want to use edge find the program in the list select it and click onto completely change the default web browser you must do this for each file type listed this is both cumbersome and time consuming shame on you Microsoft if you don't want to see unwanted ads in the apps that you use thankfully.

You can turn those off here’s how you do that open settings in the left pane select privacy and security then under windows permissions click on general for all four listed if turned on click the switch off for each themes are still a thing in windows 11 and not too much has changed to select a default theme right click on your desktop and select personalize then select themes will change your background sounds color and sometimes your mouse cursor at the same time.

The one I ‘musing right now is called Ariel beach premium to activate any other installed theme just simply click on it or if you want to find additional themes in the Microsoft store click browse themes those that say premium are also free and contain 4k images to download and install it click.