We are going to learn 7 quick ways to make Windows 11 tips for faster and better performance. Windows 11 has been out for a few months now, and overall it’s pretty solid. But just like with a performance review at work, there are always things that you can do better.
Table of Contents
We will look at how you can change your desktop background image every single day automatically, how you can send text messages and make phone calls directly from your PC, how you can pin websites to your taskbar for quicker access. These are just a few of the examples that we’ll look at.
1. Personalize Background Picture:
First, we are going to look at how you can change your desktop background picture because this is the first thing that you will see when you log into Windows every single day.
- Right click on your desktop
- Select Personalize within the Settings screen
- Click on the option that says Background
Here we have three different options. You can just set an individual picture to be your background, and down at the bottom, you can set how you want it to fit. You can also select a solid color as your background, so if you don’t get any joy from looking at photos, this may be a good option for you. Or maybe you just care about the performance of having a solid color.
Lastly, you can also set up a Slideshow of Photos, so here you can select the folder that the photos are in. You can also choose how often you want it to switch photos and you can even set it to shuffle your photos. So this way when your kids go off to school, you won’t miss them that much because you’ll be served with a steady stream of photos of your kids. As much as you love your kids, you might just prefer to look at something else.
Back within the main personalized screen, there’s another option titled Themes. If we click into that, you can set a theme that in turn also changes your background image. You will see a few beautiful themes that come directly with Windows 11, but there aren’t that many. Luckily, if we look down just a little bit, there’s the option to get even more themes from the Microsoft Store. If you click into the Microsoft Store here, you’ll see many different beautiful themes that you can install.
Now, this reminds me the photos that I see here are far better than what I could personally take, but that didn’t stop me from pulling together an article on how you can take better photos? If all of this sounds like just too much work, you can also leave the heavy lifting to Microsoft.
2. Bing Wallpaper:
Microsoft offers something called the Bing Image of the Day, and this will automatically refresh your background image every single day with a beautiful image. Once you land on the home page, simply click on Install. Now. During the installation process, there is a check box that asks you. if you want to change your homepage to MSN.
If you don’t want MSN to be your home page, simply uncheck that box. Once you finish installing, you’ll have to restart your computer. Once you restart, you’ll see a new beautiful image as your background. Down in the bottom right-hand corner in your system tray. You will also see an icon for the Bing image of the day. If you right-click on this, you’ll have a few different settings.
3. Personalize Lock Screen:
You can also personalize what your lock screen experience looks like.
- on your desktop
- right click and then Select Personalize.
- within this screen, select the option
- select lock Screen.
Here you can choose to show a picture. You can also show a slide show and there’s also an option for Windows Spotlight. Spotlight is very similar to the Bing image of the day here. Every single day you’ll get a new beautiful image on your lock screen. Down below, you can also show additional information on your lock screen. You can show the weather, your email, or even the next calendar appointment coming up.
4. Windows Facial Recognition:
Are you tired of always having to type in a password to log into Windows? Instead, you can use your face to use this
- Open up settings
- Click on Accounts and then sign in options
At the very top, there’s the option to use facial recognition or what’s also known as Windows Hello. This will use your face to sign in to Windows. You can also toggle it on, so it automatically dismisses the lock screen when it recognizes you.
5. Dynsmic Lock:
The next one is also in Sign-in Options and this one is called Dynamic Lock. With this one, you pair your phone to your PC, so when you walk away from your PC, it’ll automatically lock it. If you combine this with facial recognition to sign you in. Now, you no longer have to sign in to your computer or sign out of your computer. Your computer does all of this for you.
6. Your Phone:
Windows 11 has even more tricks related to pairing your phone with your PC, and this one is an app called your Phone. If you go down to search on the taskbar, you can search for your phone and then launch it. If this is the first time using the app, well, first you’ll have to pair your phone to your PC. Once you pair your phone, you’ll see an interface.
You’ll be able to see all of the notifications from your phone, you can send and receive text messages, you can view all of your photos, you can even make and receive phone calls, and you can view all of your contacts. Now, if you have an iPhone, unfortunately, it does not work with your phone. But don’t worry, there’s another app that you can use.
7. Pin Website to Taskbar:
When we all use our PC, we end up spending most of our time browsing the web. The Windows Taskbar is primarily designed to help us launch apps on our computers. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could also launch websites directly from your taskbar? It turns out that it is possible, but it just requires a few steps.
- Open Google Chrome
- open website you wanna pin.
- top right hand corner
- click on the ellipsis
- click on More Tools.
- create a shortcut.
When you click it, you have a shortcut on the desktop. You want to get it on the taskbar. Click on the shortcut on my desktop. Then I’ll go down to More Options. And finally the option to pin it to the taskbar. You’ll now see a friendly face just one click away on your taskbar.
Microsoft Edge makes this even easier. Within Microsoft Edge, head to your favorite website once again. Here to click on the ellipsis in the top right-hand corner, go down to More Tools and here you’ll see the option to pin to your taskbar. So you can just get it straight from the More Tools menu.
8. Snipping Tool:
Windows 11 includes the Snipping Tool. If you haven’t heard of that, it allows you to take screenshots of an area or the entire desktop screen. It’s a really nice tool to launch it.
- go down to Search
- type in Snipping Tool (Shortcut key Windows + Shift + S)
There’s another shortcut key print screen and most keyboards have a dedicated key for this. If not you can press function key + Print Screen, it will simply take a screenshot of your entire desktop. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if you could tie this to the Snipping Tool? the Snipping Tool offers more functionality than just printing your entire screen. Well, luckily you could turn this on within Settings:
- on the left hand side, click on Accessibility,
- click on Keyboards
- print Screen key launches the Snipping Tool
- here turn it on, press print screen
- now you get access to the snipping tool.
Well, those are a few quick ways to make windows 11 even better. If you have any other tips, feel free to share them down below in the comments.
