5 Home windows 11 settings I instantly change on any new PC

Each time 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 general enjoyment of the OS.

Do not get me mistaken, Home windows 11 has some

excellent features
proper out of the field. Nevertheless, sure default settings and options may be exceptionally annoying and detract from the person expertise,

with Copilot
and the usual notification settings being key examples. All these settings may be simply adjusted — you needn’t obtain a third-party app or modify any registry settings — and are accessible to any Home windows person.

5

Change your default browser

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

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

By default, once you boot up Home windows 11 for the primary time, Microsoft units Edge as your default browser. Whereas I respect Microsoft’s modifications over time to Edge, it is nonetheless not so good as Chrome or different well-liked browsers like Firefox. One of many first issues I do on any new PC after setting it up is immediately obtain Chrome to interchange Edge.

To alter 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 may be redirected to your new default browser as an alternative of Edge everytime you click on on a hyperlink. In the identical default apps menu, it’s also possible to change different default apps for Home windows 11, resembling your media participant for video information, which I at all times swap to VLC media player as an alternative 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 ideas Microsoft

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Home windows 11 can ship a variety of notifications that rapidly turn out to be overwhelming or distracting once 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 cut back them to remain extra centered and declutter your notification middle.

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

Close to the underside of the notifications web page, you may discover Further settings. Whenever you click on that, you may see three choices for Home windows that I like to recommend turning off, considered one of which supplies “ideas and recommendations when utilizing Home windows” that I discover irritating. My philosophy for Home windows is, if I want to search out one thing out, I will look it up, in any other case I do not want Home windows consistently 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 a giant half within the AI revolution with Copilot, its AI chatbot. With Home windows 11, Microsoft has positioned Copilot entrance and middle within the taskbar for customers to expertise. If you happen to’re not all in favour of AI or don’t desire it getting in the best way, 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 would possibly not have an effect on your potential to make use of it in applications like Phrase or Excel if you wish to use it there.

You probably have a PC with a devoted Copilot key on the keyboard, it’s also possible to rebind it to one thing else. To take action, obtain the Microsoft PowerToys app from the Home windows Retailer. Whenever you open PowerToys, go to the Keyboard Supervisor submenu, then choose Remap a key to vary the Copilot key to one thing else.

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You may as well reposition the Begin button again to the left

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

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

Fortunately, should you’d choose to see the Information Widget gone too, it is easy to eliminate. To take action, head to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and switch off Widgets to disable it. It would then disappear out of your taskbar for good. If you happen to’d choose to maintain the Information Widget round simply to see the climate in your taskbar, however not have it open once 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

Regulate privateness settings

Management how Microsoft makes use of your knowledge

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Each time I arrange a brand new laptop computer or carry out a recent set up of Home windows 11, my first intuition is to regulate my privateness settings. This offers me management over how and when Microsoft accesses my private knowledge. I’m notably against focused promoting, particularly in Home windows, which is why I deal with adjusting the settings to cease apps from utilizing my promoting ID. You are able to do this too by going to Settings > Privateness & Safety > Normal and disabling the choice that enables apps to point out customized advertisements utilizing your promoting ID.

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

Moreover, underneath Diagnostics & suggestions, I disable Tailor experiences, which lets Microsoft use your diagnostic knowledge to “improve your product experiences with customized ideas, advertisements, and suggestions.” That is a giant no thanks for me, so I additionally turned that off. If you happen to’re seeking to enhance the efficiency of your PC, then there are additionally settings you can disable to just do that.

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