CPU Usage, Cores, and Other Information

There’s a really easy way to see what your CPU is doing in Windows 10

1. Press Start
2. Type ‘Task Manager’ and select the App to launch it.
3. If you see ‘More Details’ in the bottom left, click it. If you see ‘Fewer Details’, skip this step.
4. Click on the ‘Performance’ tab.
5. Click ‘CPU’ in the left options.
6. The Base speed, Sockets, Cores, and Logical Processors will be listed.

Applies To: Windows 10

Windows 10’s Task Manager is hugely improved over older operating systems. You can see much more information about the components of your computer, including how long it’s been on for (the Up time):

If your computer feels like it’s running slow, it’s worth checking the CPU, Memory and Disks to see if they’re running high (90% or more), and then go into the details tab to work out what process is causing the high usage.

Windows Central have a great detailed guide on how to do this.

Copying and Pasting information is a quick way to manipulate data to however you want it. Often you’ll find a right click menu option to ‘Copy’ or ‘Paste’ data, but if you learn to use the keyboard shortcuts you’ll find it’s much quicker to do.

When the Clipboard is referenced, it means the temporary area your data is stored, ready to be pasted. Traditionally, this data wasn’t visible and you’d need to paste to see what was there, and any other copy would overwrite old information. Newer versions of Windows 10 however, have a Clipboard History option you can turn on under settings:

Once on, you can use Winkey + V to bring up a window showing the history of what you’ve put in the clipboard.

If you’re just learning to use keyboard shortcuts, remember that you don’t have to press both keys at the same time instantly – you can hold down Ctrl, then tap the letter ‘C’ while still holding Ctrl to copy, then release both keys.

There’s also more you can do than the simple Copy (Ctrl + C) and Paste (Ctrl + V):

Ctrl + X will Cut rather than Copy, meaning it will remove the highlighted data and move it to the clipboard.

Ctrl + Shift + V will paste text copied without formatting – for example it won’t use the font of the source data.

If for some reason you can’t use or don’t like Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, you can instead use ‘Ctrl + Insert’ to Copy, and ‘Shift + Insert’ to paste.

Looking for more shortcuts? Check out Microsoft’s full list here.

Although you can still use the Print Screen button to take a screenshot of everything you can see across all monitors, or Alt + Print Screen to take a screenshot, this will purely add that image to the clipboard. You’ll then need to paste it somewhere to have a copy of it to work with and save.

Originally, Windows 10 had the Snipping Tool (and at the time of writing, it’s still there), but for a while, Snipping Tool has has this notice advising that it will be replaced by Snip & Sketch. If you have Windows 10 1607 or later, you have Snip & Sketch.

Once you’ve taken a screenshot, it will immediately be available on the clipboard too, so you’re able to paste it straight into a document, email or anywhere else that will accept clipboard images.

You can also just launch Skip & Sketch to then use the ‘New’ button, or the drop down arrow to trigger a delayed snip in 3 or 10 seconds time.

Also, if you’re wondering – is it ‘Screen Shot’ or ‘Screenshot’ – both are acceptable according to dictionary.com.

The Network and Sharing Center can be a bit hard to find in Windows 10, and there’s several ways to find it. The quickest way is by following the instructions above.

The Network and Sharing Center is part of the classic Windows Control panel, and being replaced by the more modern Network area of Settings:

If you don’t have the latest version of Windows 10, you can use Microsoft’s Update Assistant to try to download and install it.

Microsoft’s list of Windows 10 versions and update history is available here.

Microsoft Home and Microsoft Pro can be bought directly from Microsoft here.