Expert tips for every version
WINDOWS 11
Switch on Paint’s new dark mode
Microsoft has updated Paint so you can set it to mirror your system’s screen mode (light or dark), or make it appear in dark mode permanently.
Search for and open Paint. You’ll know you’re using the latest version if you see a gear icon ( 1 in our screenshot below) at the top right. Click this to see Paint’s new settings menu. Now select Dark 2 in the ‘App theme’ options, and Paint will adopt the dark mode.
If you don’t see the cog icon, you need to update to version 11.2304.30.0 (or later) of Windows 11. Do this by opening Windows Update in Settings and clicking ‘Check for updates’.
WINDOWS 10 & 11
Stop processes from being reordered in Task Manager
If your system slows, check Task Manager to see whether you can close any background processes that are using too much RAM. This is an effective trick, but it can be hard to identify which process to close because Task Manager reorders them every second to reflect how much memory they’re using.
To stop this happening, search for and open Task Manager. Next, click ‘Memory’ ( 1 in our screenshot below) to organise your apps by RAM usage. Now hold down the Ctrl key and the list will ‘freeze’. In our example, Microsoft Edge was using 391MB 2 , so we right-clicked it then chose ‘End task’ 3 .
WINDOWS 11 INSIDER
Use your voice to log into Windows 11
In the final version of Windows 11 you have to wait until it has fully loaded before you can give spoken commands using ‘Voice access’. A recent preview version (build 22631.2129) makes Windows respond to spoken commands before it has launched, meaning you can log in with your voice.
First, search for and open the Settings menu. On the left-hand pane, click Accessibility ( 1 in our screenshot above right) and scroll down until you see Speech under the Interaction options. In the Speech menu, set the ‘Voice access’ slider to On 2 . When you do this, the voice access bar will appear at the top of your screen 3 . Next, tick the box next to ‘Start voice access before you sign in to your PC’ 4 .
When you next encounter the lock screen, you can use voice commands to enter your PIN or password. If you’re worried about being overheard, say “show keyboard”. Windows will display an onscreen keyboard with a different number assigned to each key. Speak using these numbers, rather than spelling out your actual password. Visit Microsoft’s site for more information on ‘Voice access’, including commands you can use: www.snipca.com/47349.
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LIBREOFFICE WRITER & MICROSOFT WORD
Create columns in a document
By default, Word documents present text in a single column, with t
