Windows 10 Configuration

Activating system protection by Recovery

Visit Recovery options in Windows 10 and follow the steps below to make sure that the system protection by recovery is activated:

English: follow the steps in Restore from a system restore point and make sure that Turn on system protection option is activated for the C:\ drive

Français: suivez les instructions dans Restauration à partir d'un point de restauration système et vérifiez que Activer la protection du système est sélectionnée pour le disque C:\

Displaying the Computer icon on the desktop

This will allow you to access your disks more conveniently/quickly. Follow the steps below and move the Computer icon (This PC or Ce PC) to the top left of the screen, and the Recycle Bin icon to the bottom left

Show desktop icons in Windows 10

Configuring folders and shortcuts

If you have followed the steps above to display the Computer icon on the desktop, you should now be able to easily access your disks!

The most important folders

You should have most of your files in the two following folders (create them if they don't exist yet):

Local HOME FOLDER: <some_disk:>\Users\<your_login>

This is where you keep your work. Do not put this folder on the C:\ system disk/partition (unless you have only one partition on the computer)

This folder is different from your Windows User folder! ⇒ C:\Users\<your_login>

Documents on your desktop are located in C:\Users\<your_login>\Desktop

Remember to make a backup of this folder regularly!

You can use a Backup program to save your work

Local SCRATCH FOLDER: <another_disk:>\Scratch\<your_login>

The place where you store your temporary files, installation programs, etc…

It's OK to put this folder on the C:\ drive if you have enough space

Remember to clean this folder from time to time, especially if you need some disk space

Creating folder shortcuts on the desktop

Local folders

Use the file explorer to go to your local Home folder inside the Users folder (<a_disk_different_from_C>:\Users\<your_login>), click on the small folder icon at the left of the bar displaying the folder location, and drag the icon on the desktop. This will create a shortcut that you can rename Home Local

Do the same thing to create a Scratch Local shortcut on the desktop, pointing to <a_disk_different_from_C>:\Scratch\<your_login>

Note: if you install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Ubuntu later, you can also create a Home WSL shortcut to your local Linux home directory in \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<your_login>

Folders on the LSCE servers

When your computer is connected to the LSCE network, open the file explorer, copy paste \\dfshost\dfs\home in the location field and press <Return> to display the content of your Linux home directory. Grab the folder icon at the left of the location field, drop it on the desktop and rename it Home Linux.

Do the same thing with \\dfshost\dfs\scratch01\<your_login> and create a Scratch Linux shortcut

You can access other LSCE remote disks by starting from the \\dfshost\dfs location and navigating to the disk you are interested in

Displaying hidden folders

Follow the steps in Show hidden files (Windows 10)

In the View tab, you should also uncheck the option Hide extensions for known file types

Checking power settings and activating hibernation

You may want to use different settings for a desktop that is always connected to a power source and the LSCE network a laptop where you want to spare the battery You can also spare a laptop's battery by disabling Wifi and Bluetooth when you don't need them

Go to the Power panel: Win+I ⇒ System ⇒ Power and sleep

Check/choose when the screen and PC should go to sleep

If you have to maintain a network connection (ssh, VcXsrv, etc…) you have to set up the options so that the computer will never go to sleep (at least not when it's connected to a power source, for laptops!)

Select Never in the Sleep pull-down menu

Go to Additional power settings ⇒ Choose what the power button does ⇒ Change settings that are currently unavailable

Select when the computer should sleep, hibernate or shutdown, depending on buttons/keys you use

If you have a laptop, it's really useful to enable Hibernate when you press the Sleep button of the laptop (Fn key and the function key with a moon logo).
When your laptop is in Sleep mode, it will still use some of the battery, but no power is required for the Hibernate mode.

More details

Tech note: if you want to save space and remove the hibernation file (C:\hiberfil.sys) on a desktop because you know that you will never use hibernate, you can just type powercfg -h off in a cmd shell (powercfg -h on to re-activate). You should always use hibernation on a laptop, for performance reasons

Using keyboard shortcuts

You can save some time by learning Windows keyboard shortcuts

Working with virtual desktops

Creating a new (virtual) desktop

Using virtual desktops

Keyboard shortcuts

Open Task view: Win + Tab

Cycle through the virtual desktops: Win + CTRL + left or right arrow

Hint! On a laptop, you can swipe left or right with four fingers on the trackpad to go to the previous/next desktop

Create a desktop: Win + CTRL + D

Close current desktop: Win + CTRL + F4

More about Windows shortcuts

Restoring applications' settings from another computer

Thunderbird

Firefox

Configuring eduroam

Follow the steps on the LSCE Eduroam WiFi page

Activating Microsoft Office update

It seems that you will not automatically receive Microsoft Office updates. You have to manually activate this

Adding useful applications

Visit the Installing extra applications for Windows 10 and get what you need

Configuring WSL to use Ubuntu on your computer

Follow the steps on the Windows Subsystem for Linux, and Ubuntu page

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