Windows 10 Settings (Device)

This is the second settings section on this PC settings. It contains settings for mostly external device connections such as mouse, printer, scanners, USB etc.

(i) Bluetooth and other Devices

In the Bluetooth and other devices section page, the first option is used to add Bluetooth and other devices. When you click on the plus sign, a dialog box with heading Add a device will be displayed. There you will find options to which you can choose the kind of devices you want to add. You will see Bluetooth and the types of devices which you can use it for. You will also see the wireless display and everything else option.

The next option is the Download over metered connections. When this option is checked (turned ON) it can attract extra internet data charges from downloading driver software for new devices that you are adding. To prevent this, you can turn this option OFF by unchecking the box

At the right side of this page, under the related settings you will find the link Device and Printers. If you click on the link, it will take you to another page in the control panel section which you can also see other settings for devices and printers. Not to worry, I will also teach you everything you need to know in the control panel in this windows 10 soon.

The next link: Sound and Display settings have already been explained in the previous section of this Windows 10 settings tutorial.

(ii) Printers and Scanners

This section page contains options for adding and viewing printers and scanners.

Under the heading (Add printers and scanners) section, you will see the option for adding printers and scanners to your computer system. On clicking on the plus sign, your PC will start searching for available printers and scanners that are connected to your PC device.

After searching, if there is a printer or scanner, it will show, but if there is none, it won't show any printer and scanners. Also after the searching, a link The printer I want wasn't listed will appear. You can click on this option if the printer you searched for was not displayed. The link will take you to a dialog box to help you find your printer by other options.

Under the heading (Printer and Scanners) section, the list of printer and scanners you have added are shown there. If you click on any of them, you can see options to Open Queue, Manage and Remove Device.

The next option is to allow your windows manage your printer by making your default printer the one you mostly use at that location.

The last option here is Download over metered connections. When this option is checked (turned ON) it can attract extra internet data charges from downloading driver software for new devices that you are adding. To prevent this, you can turn this option OFF by unchecking the box.

At the right side of this page, under the related settings you will find the link Print server properties. On clicking this link, you will be taken to a dialog box which you will find printer server properties such as forms, ports, drivers, security and advanced settings. In due time, you will learn how to use these settings in the advanced tutorial of using a computer or the how-to tutorial section.

The next option is the Run the troubleshooter. When this link option is clicked, it shows a dialog box which starts detecting problems or finding out issues to fix in the printer.

(iii) Mouse

This page contains settings for your mouse (or touchpad for laptops).

The first option is used to set or change your primary button. The primary button is usually used to click, double-click and open something in your computer system.

The next option is the cursor speed. This is how faster you can move your pointer from one point to another. You can increase the speed by moving the range slider to the right or decrease it by moving it to the left.

The next option is used to set how to roll the mouse wheel to scroll. That is on scrolling upwards or downwards, how many screens can it scroll pass at a time.

The next option is also similar to the previous option above. It is used to set how many lines to scroll at once.

And the last option is used to turn ON/OFF scrolling inactive windows when you hover over them.

On the right side of this page, under the heading Related settings, there is a link Adjust mouse and cursor size. On clicking this link will takes you to the Ease Access settings page which I will explain to you in the cause of this tutorial. You will also find the Additional Mouse Options link. On clicking this link, takes you to another page where there are also other settings for the mouse.

(iv) Touchpad

The touchpad settings page contains setting option for touchpad sensitivity. That is the ability of touchpad to quickly respond to touch from your thumbs. The ability to quickly repond to signals. The selection options for touchpad's sensitivity includes the low, medium, high and most sensitivity.

(v) Typing

Typing is one of the most frequent things you will always do while learning how to use a computer. This typing section contains buttons for enabling and disabling typing and spelling options and others.

Under the heading (Spelling), there are two options. The first option is used to ON/OFF Auto-correct misspelled works. The second option is used to ON/OFF Highlight misspelled words.

Under the heading (Typing) section, you have three options there:
first is to show text suggestion as you are typing, second is to add space after you choose the text suggestion and the last one is to add period (full stop) after you double tap the space bar.
You can enable and disable these option by turning the button ON or OFF.

Under the heading (How AI has helped you) section, there is a link Typing insight. When you click this link, it will take you to another page, where you can turn ON/OFF typing insights and see how windows is using AI to help you type by autocompletion, suggesting words, saving of keystrokes, spelling correction and swipe words.

In this same page, under the heading (Touch Keyboard) section, you will see four options for you to turn ON/OFF depending on the one you want. The first option is to play key sounds when typing, the second option is to capitalize the first letter of each sentence, the third is to use all uppercase letter when only when you double tap shift and the last option which is the fourth one is to show the touch keyboard when your computer system is not on tablet mode and when there is no keyboard connected to your computer or laptop.

Under the heading (Hardware Keyboard) section, you have two familar options which are to show text suggestions when you are typing and autocorrect misspelled words when you are typing.

Under the heading (Multilingual Text Suggestion) section, you have only one option to show/hide (turn ON/OFF) text suggestions based on the language you are typing in. For example, if you are typing in Chinese or French, it will only show text suggestions based on Chinese or French.

And the last heading in this page which is the (More Keyboard settings) section, has two links which are: Make my keyboard focus easier to see - if you click this link, it takes to the Ease of Access settings page, where you can perform these settings. (This settings page will be treated shortly in this computer basics tutorial).

The Advance keyboard settings - this link when clicked on, takes you to the advance keyboard settings page where you can set (or override) the default input method, switch input methods by selecting the options available for you, and you can also choose not to automatically close emoji panel after an emoji is entered.

(vi) Pen and Windows link

In this settings page, there are only two headings and few setting options here.

Under the first heading (Handwriting) section, you can use the first option to select the type of font you want to use, when using handwriting. The next option is to check (ON) the write in the handwriting panel with your fingertip. (This option can only work for screen touch laptop devices).

Under the heading (Work Ink Workspace) section, there is only link option which is the Learn about windows ink. This option link, when clicked takes you to the tips page and displays windows ink that you can learn. (Note that you need to have internet connection for the page to load and open).

As a quick recall, remember we still have the Get Help and Give Feedback links at the right side of this page, so in case you want more or you want to give feedback for that particular page setting you are on, you can use these links. Personally, I rarely use them, but it can be helpful in most cases.

(vii) Autoplay

Autoplay are actions that are automatically taken when a device is connected to your computer system. In this autoplay settings the first option is to turn ON/OFF autoplay for all media and devices

Under the heading (Choose Autoplay Defaults) section, are list of devices and their selection option below, which you can use to set what default action should be taken when such device is connected to your system.

For example: The Removable Drive has the following selection options:

• (a) Take No Action - this does nothing when the any removable drive is connected.
• (b) Open folder to view files (File Explorer) - it means that as soon as a removable drive connected, it will automatically load file explorer to view its files.
• (c) Ask me every time - the selection option brings out a message box, to ask you what you want to do with the removable drive you connected.
• (d) Configure storage settings - has to do with where storage settings of the removable drive.

Another example: Which is the Memory card, also has its own selection options such as: Play videos, Import Photos, Take No Action etc. Every similar device has its own selection options which you can use depending on the one you prefer for your autoplay.

Before moving to the last settings in this Devices settings section, at your right side of this autoplay page, under the related settings, there is a link Default App settings. When you click on this link, it will take you to the App settings section. Do not worry about this for now, as I will also teach you everything in that settings section in this windows 10 settings tutorial. It is best if you take everything step by step without jumping back and front, as this will make you to easily understand everything with ease.

(viii) USB

USB settings page has only one option for you to enable/disable (turn ON/OFF) which is to notify you if there are any issues connecting to USB Devices. In module one of this computer basics tutorial when looking at storage devices, I gave full details of what USB devices are, so if you have mistakenly forgotten the brief explanation of USB device, you can kindly go back and read it up, it won't take you up to few minutes. Then you can come back and continue from here.