Whether you’re new to Microsoft’s operating system or an avid Windows user, you’ll no doubt be familiar with app ecosystems that let you install customize apps on your Windows 10 computer. These “bloated” apps are just the tip of the iceberg.
With each new version of Windows, the company continues to add more customize options for users who want to personalize their desktop experience. In this blog post, we’ll present you with six ways to customize your default apps in Windows 10.
You may be wondering how you can customize your default apps in Windows 10. After all, it’s a standard feature that’s present on every other operating system. However, there are some key differences between the way the two operating systems handle the customization process.
Here are six ways to customize your default apps in Windows 10.
Control Panel
The Control Panel is one of the most feature-rich areas of Windows. From here, you can enable or disable system features, change device power settings, and view and manage installed apps.
You can also access the “ Apps” section by searching for “Windows apps” or “Apps & features” in Control Panel.
You can then go about customizing your default apps in a few different ways.
Task View
If you’re looking to personalize the way that you access apps in Windows, you can enable “task view” in Control Panel. With this feature, you can see at a glance which programs are running on your computer—all without taking your hands off the keyboard.
Here’s how to turn on the task view in Control Panel.
Find the “Apps” section in Control Panel.
probabilities that Windows spotting this one as the default program will change your default app. If you see this, add or remove apps from the list to customize your defaults as you see fit.
Live Tiles
If you’re looking to personalize your Windows 10 Start menu, you can choose from a variety of tile backgrounds, color schemes, and sizes in the “Live tiles” section of the Control Panel.
With this functionality, you can choose between a standard 16×16 tile, a large 24×32 tile, and a large 50×50 tile.
Start Screen
You can pick from a range of backgrounds and tiles in the “Start screen” section of the Control Panel.
With this section, you can choose from a variety of different designs, including classic Windows themes, modern-looking tiles, and custom backgrounds.
You can also enable an app counter to see at a glance which apps are using your computer.
All Apps
If you want to be able to access every app in your default library with a single click, you can enable “All apps” in Control Panel. This will show you all the apps that are currently running on your computer as well as any apps that you’ve recently installed.
You can then remove apps from this section if you don’t want to keep them on your computer.
Keyboard Shortcuts
If you’re looking to personalize your default apps, even more, you can enable “keyboard shortcuts” in Control Panel. This feature shows you which key combinations can be used to perform different tasks, such as “press R to run the Run app.”
You can also launch a menu of applications by holding down the “control” key and clicking on the app you want to use. This will open it up in a new window or tab.
Choose Default Apps by File Type
If you have a lot of files to organize and folders to browse, you can set a default application for organizing them in Windows 10. You can choose an app that’s specific to that file type, or you can choose a general-purpose app, like Windows itself.
You can even group similar types of files together, so that they’re easy to find, such as photos and videos, or music and documents.
Choose Default Apps by Protocol
If you don’t want to go with the default apps in Windows 10, you can also create a list of “protocols” that doesn’t contain the default apps. This way, if you ever need to use something from the default apps, you can easily switch to a different one without having to go through the trouble of removing it from the “all apps.”
Set Defaults by App
If you don’t want to manually select every app when you launch it, you can set a default app for each service in Windows 10. This way, when you launch a service programmatically, you don’t have to pick an app from the Start menu to get to the same thing.
Conclusion
The various ways you can personalize your default apps in Windows 10 are both impressive and intimidating at the same time.
You can personalize each individual app or you can choose to use a single central location to store and access all your favorite apps. When it comes to customization, you can either go for a few minor changes here and there or a more ambitious change that will have a massive impact on your computer’s operation.
After all, if you’re going to spend some time customizing your computer, you might as well make it fun and interesting. After all, it’s unlikely that you’ll come across a completely custom Windows 10 installation any time soon.
