5 Home windows 11 settings I instantly change on a...

At any time when I carry out a clear set up of

Windows 11
on my desktop or arrange a brand new laptop computer, the very first thing I sort out is adjusting the Home windows settings that hinder my productiveness, privateness, and total enjoyment of the OS.

Do not get me improper, Home windows 11 has some

excellent features
proper out of the field. Nonetheless, sure default settings and options could be exceptionally annoying and detract from the consumer expertise,

with Copilot
and the usual notification settings being key examples. All these settings could be simply adjusted — you need not obtain a third-party app or modify any registry settings — and are accessible to any Home windows consumer.

5

Change your default browser

You’ll be able to change different app defaults as effectively

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

By default, whenever you boot up Home windows 11 for the primary time, Microsoft units Edge as your default browser. Whereas I recognize Microsoft’s adjustments through the years to Edge, it is nonetheless not so good as Chrome or different widespread browsers like Firefox. One of many first issues I do on any new PC after setting it up is immediately obtain Chrome to exchange Edge.

To vary your default browser, head to Apps > Default Apps > Google Chrome (or no matter your browser of alternative is) and click on Set default. With this enabled, you will be redirected to your new default browser as a substitute of Edge everytime you click on on a hyperlink. In the identical default apps menu, you can even change different default apps for Home windows 11, corresponding to your media participant for video information, which I at all times swap to VLC media player as a substitute of the default Home windows Media Participant.

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4

Scale back the quantity of notifications you obtain

I do not want notifications for suggestions Microsoft

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Home windows 11 can ship lots of notifications that shortly turn into overwhelming or distracting whenever you first begin utilizing it. If you end up receiving too many notifications, whether or not from apps or what Microsoft refers to as “Ideas,” you’ll be able to scale back them to remain extra centered and declutter your notification heart.

To do that, go to Settings > Notifications. You’ll be able to then modify which apps ship you notifications. You’ll be able to kind them by lately used, providing you with an concept of which apps you employ probably the most and may need to hold notifications enabled for. The principle apps I hold enabled are Outlook, Slack, and Discord, basically something communications-related.

Close to the underside of the notifications web page, you will discover Further settings. Once you click on that, you will see three choices for Home windows that I like to recommend turning off, certainly one of which offers “suggestions and solutions when utilizing Home windows” that I discover irritating. My philosophy for Home windows is, if I would like to seek out one thing out, I am going to look it up, in any other case I do not want Home windows always recommending me issues to do.

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3

Say goodbye to Copilot

Sorry Microsoft, I do not want it

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Microsoft is enjoying an enormous half within the AI revolution with Copilot, its AI chatbot. With Home windows 11, Microsoft has positioned Copilot entrance and heart within the taskbar for customers to expertise. Should you’re not curious about AI or don’t desire it getting in the way in which, you’ll be able to eliminate it.

If you wish to take away your Copilot out of your taskbar, merely right-click the icon and unpin it. If you wish to go a step additional and say goodbye to Copilot solely, you’ll be able to uninstall the app by going to Settings > Apps > Copilot. Then click on the three dots subsequent to Copilot and choose Uninstall. There’s a separate Copilot for Microsoft 365 apps, so this may not have an effect on your capacity to make use of it in packages like Phrase or Excel if you wish to use it there.

When you’ve got a PC with a devoted Copilot key on the keyboard, you can even rebind it to one thing else. To take action, obtain the Microsoft PowerToys app from the Home windows Retailer. Once you open PowerToys, go to the Keyboard Supervisor submenu, then choose Remap a key to alter the Copilot key to one thing else.

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It’s also possible to reposition the Begin button again to the left

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Copilot is not the one factor glued to your taskbar whenever you first boot up Home windows; the Information Widget can be there. Once you hover over the widget or click on on it, it brings up a panel with information, climate, and ads from MSN. I’ve by no means as soon as opened this widget on function, nor do I ever plan to, and it feels extra like bloatware than something helpful. If I need to see the information or the climate, I am going to verify my cellphone or look it up.

Fortunately, should you’d choose to see the Information Widget gone too, it is simple to eliminate. To take action, head to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and switch off Widgets to disable it. It’ll then disappear out of your taskbar for good. Should you’d choose to maintain the Information Widget round simply to see the climate in your taskbar, however not have it open whenever you merely hover over it, you’ll be able to change that by opening the Information Widget and going to Settings > Open Widgets board on hover and toggling it off.

Moreover, should you’d choose to maneuver your begin button again to the left nook, prefer it was on Home windows 10 and lots of previous variations of Home windows, you are able to do that underneath Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar alignment and select Left.

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1

Modify privateness settings

Management how Microsoft makes use of your information

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

At any time when I arrange a brand new laptop computer or carry out a contemporary set up of Home windows 11, my first intuition is to regulate my privateness settings. This provides me management over how and when Microsoft accesses my private information. I’m notably against focused promoting, particularly in Home windows, which is why I give attention to adjusting the settings to cease apps from utilizing my promoting ID. You are able to do this too by going to Settings > Privateness & Safety > Basic and disabling the choice that permits apps to point out personalised adverts utilizing your promoting ID.

The following privateness setting I modify is diagnostic data. Whereas sending restricted diagnostic information to Microsoft is required to maintain your gadget up to date and safe, you’ll be able to select to ship non-compulsory diagnostic information, which incorporates “information about web sites you browse, how you employ apps and options, and enhanced error reporting,” as per Microsoft. I choose to not ship any non-compulsory diagnostic information to Microsoft in any respect. To do that your self, head to Settings > Privateness & safety > Diagnostics and suggestions > Ship non-compulsory Diagnostic Knowledge, and switch it off.

Moreover, underneath Diagnostics & suggestions, I disable Tailor experiences, which lets Microsoft use your diagnostic information to “improve your product experiences with personalised suggestions, adverts, and suggestions.” That is an enormous no thanks for me, so I additionally turned that off. Should you’re trying to enhance the efficiency of your PC, then there are additionally settings you can disable to do exactly that.

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