Windows 11 basics for beginners

Windows 11 moved a lot of things for no obvious reason, which is disorienting if you had finally got comfortable with Windows 10.

Here is where everything went, and what to change first.

Where things moved

The Start button is in the middle now. If that bothers you, it can go back to the left: Settings, Personalisation, Taskbar, Taskbar behaviours, Taskbar alignment, Left.

Right-click menus are shorter. Windows 11 hides most options behind “Show more options” at the bottom. Holding Shift while right-clicking gives you the old full menu directly.

Settings replaced Control Panel, mostly. Control Panel still exists for some older options: press the Windows key and type control panel.

Search is the fastest route to everything. Press the Windows key and start typing the name of whatever you want. This works for settings, programs and files, and it is faster than hunting through menus. If you learn one habit, learn this one.

The first things to change

Make everything bigger. Settings, System, Display, Scale. Set it to 125% or 150%. This is the single best change for readability and almost nobody is shown it. There is more in the screen readability guide.

Turn off the advertising. Windows 11 shows suggestions, tips and promoted apps, which look like system messages and are not. Settings, Privacy and security, General: turn all four toggles off. Then Settings, Personalisation, Start: turn off recommendations.

Turn off the widgets and news feed if you find them distracting. Right click the taskbar, Taskbar settings, and switch off Widgets.

Set your default browser the first time you are asked, and stop being nagged about it.

Turn off notification interruptions. Settings, System, Notifications, and switch off everything you did not specifically want. Most people have twenty apps permitted to interrupt them and asked for none of it.

Things worth knowing exist

Snap layouts. Hover over the maximise button at the top right of any window and you get options for arranging windows side by side. Genuinely useful and easy to miss.

Virtual desktops. The taskbar button that looks like two rectangles gives you multiple separate desktops. Useful for keeping work and personal separate.

Windows Security is your antivirus. It is built in, it is on, and it is good. You do not need to pay for anything extra. See do you need antivirus.

File History and OneDrive. Set up one or the other so your documents exist somewhere other than this computer.

The shortcuts worth learning

Just five. These save more time than anything else.

• Windows key: opens Start with search ready. Type what you want.
• Windows key + E: opens File Explorer to find your files.
• Windows key + L: locks the screen. Useful when stepping away.
• Ctrl + Z: undoes the last thing you did. Works nearly everywhere and rescues people constantly.
• Ctrl + F: find something on the current page or document.

Two more if you are comfortable: Ctrl + C to copy and Ctrl + V to paste.

The Microsoft account question

Windows 11 pushes hard to have you sign in with a Microsoft account, and on Home editions it is difficult to avoid during setup.

What it gives you: settings that follow you between machines, OneDrive backup, and password recovery if you get locked out.

What it costs: an account, and more of your activity tied to it.

For most home users, signing in is the path of least resistance and is genuinely convenient. Just make sure it uses a strong unique password with two-factor authentication, because it will also be the key to your files.

Updates

Leave automatic updates on. This is the single most important security measure available, and it matters more than any antivirus product.

You can control when it restarts: Settings, Windows Update, Advanced options, Active hours. Set those to when you actually use the computer and it will stop rebooting mid-sentence.

If your computer will not run Windows 11

Windows 11 has stricter hardware requirements than Windows 10, and a lot of perfectly functional machines are not eligible.

If yours is not, and Windows 10 is no longer receiving security updates, you have a genuine decision: replace the machine, or move it to something else such as Linux, which runs happily on hardware Windows has abandoned.

Do not simply keep running an unsupported version connected to the internet. That is the one option that is not safe.

If it all feels unfamiliar

Being disoriented by Windows 11 after years of Windows 10 is completely normal and it is not a reflection of your ability. The changes were made for reasons that had nothing to do with you.

An hour spent setting it up properly, with the scaling right, the advertising off and the notifications quietened, makes an enormous difference. It is a common first session in lessons for seniors and help for adults.