The Settings utilities provide an updated and consolidate user interface to many of the older Windows utilities. In this video, you’ll learn about Updates and Security, Personalization, Privacy, System, and more.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 includes a settings app. And although the settings app is not quite the same as the control panel, you’ll find a number of features that are in the control panel have now been integrated into the settings app. The UI within the settings app is designed to make things easier to configure and easier to find inside of Windows. You can find the settings app in the Windows menu, either by searching for the settings app, or finding it in a list of available applications.
When you start the settings app, it’ll be a view that looks very different than the older control panel. You can see that system, devices, phone, network and internet, and other options are all available in the lower half of the settings app. The Windows setting includes a number of different options for the time and the language being used inside of Windows. By default, Windows will try to set the time automatically, either from time servers that are inside of your own network or some available on the internet.
This is especially important if you’re working in an environment with a lot of different Windows systems using active directory. Your system needs to be synchronized with the same clock that’s used for active directory, and that synchronization needs to have a tolerance of at least five minutes. This is also where you would tell Windows where your time zone happens to be so that everything is synchronized and updated properly, depending on where you happen to be in the world. And if you are somewhere else in the world, you may need to set language settings for Windows. And all of that is also available under the time and language setting option
We often tell you how important it is to make sure that your operating system stays up-to-date with the latest security patches. And fortunately, Windows includes the ability to automatically provide these updates on your system through the update and security settings option. Under that option, you’ll find the Windows Update feature that tells you if you’re up-to-date or not. And it tells you if there’s any updates that need to be added to your system.
You can also modify when these updates are applied. You may not want Windows to apply security patches in the middle of a work day. Instead, you may want to tell Windows to wait after 5 or 6 o’clock to install any updates.
Many corporate environments restrict the personalization options you might have available. But if you’re using Windows at home, you can make extensive changes to the user interface. All of these can be changed under the Windows setting under personalization. This allows you to change colors, the typefaces, and other aspects of the user interface inside of Windows. For example, you can change background settings, colors, the lock screen configuration, overall themes for the operating system, and much more.
In the control panel. We had the programs and features option that allows us to modify what applications might be installed. Inside of the settings app, you can go to the Apps option, which gives a list of all of the applications that are installed, and allows you to uninstall or move where an application might be. You can also modify Windows features from the screen. So if you’d like to add or remove particular features, such as fonts, services, or other types of protocols that can be supported, that can all be done from the apps option.
One of the challenges we have with any operating system is making sure that our personal data remains safe. In Windows, we can make those configuration changes within the settings app under the privacy option. Inside of those options, you can enable or disable a particular advertising ID so that it can provide more customized advertising. You can change the language that’s shared with others so that you’re able to see advertising in your native language.
You can change how Windows tracks different apps that are launched, and you can enable or disable how Windows provides suggested content inside of the operating system. You can also enable or disable the speech recognition function. This can be important for privacy because this audio is sometimes sent to a third party service to provide additional processing.
The system option allows you to modify a number of features within Windows, starting with the display option. You can modify display options such as the resolution or scaling of your screen. You can change the way audio is output, or change whether you would like to mute or unmute the audio. You can also change the way that Windows notifies you of features. You can enable or disable the notifications, and then change whether those notifications are seen on the lock screen.
The settings app also allows you to manage devices. These are any types of devices that might be connected to your system. This might be a mouse, a keyboard, a printer, or any other type of hardware. For example, you might want to change some of the settings used by your mouse and which buttons or wheels might perform different functions within the operating system. You can also change the way your keyboard is used in the operating system. And if you use a stylus, you can make configuration changes that make it easier to write on the operating system itself.
Most of us make extensive use of the network, so under the settings you have the network and internet options where you can make changes to any of your network configurations. This is one of the first places you’ll go if you’re concerned about connectivity because this will tell you whether you’re able to connect to the internet or if you’re having a problem. And if you need to make changes to any of the IP address configuration settings, they can all be found under the network and internet link.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 have extensive hooks into the Xbox gaming ecosystem. Not only are there games available on an Xbox console, but you can often play PC games and connect to cloud-based Xbox games through the Xbox application in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Under the settings app, you can modify the gaming options to enable an Xbox Game bar that’s available when you’re playing a game on your system. This allows you to capture video from your games and share information with all of the friends that you might have on your gaming network.
You can log in to Windows using a Microsoft account or using a local account on that system. Inside of the settings is an accounts option, which allows you to manage and configure all of those settings. This also allows you to configure an email application that your application will use if you ever click on a link that needs to send an email.
You can also tell Windows how you would like to log into the system. Would you like to use a personal identification number? Would you like to use a traditional password, or do you have a security key that you could use along with this setting? If you need to make this login process more secure, you’ll find all of those settings under the accounts option.