Jan's Working with Windows 10:

Step-by-Step:  Help for Windows 10

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What you will learn:

to find Help for Windows 10 to navigate to an article to recognize and reveal hidden text to navigate inside an article to use the Back button to return to a previous page to use the Virtual Agent

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Start with: Desktop and Taskbar showing

Search for Help

This section is about using Microsoft's online Help for Windows 10. Microsoft makes changes frequently, so what you see may not match the illustrations. The point is for you to learn to get around the site and to find the help that you need.

1. On the Taskbar in the Search box type windows help and support.
   Watch as search results appear while you type.

   

   The items with a magnifying glass icon are suggested keywords. Clicking on one of these will open a page of Bing results. The page will show in Edge, the browser that comes with Windows 10, even if you have set a different browser as the default browser.

   Items with the recovery icon also open Bing results but with a Microsoft page as first choice.

   Clicking the arrow at the right of a result will show a view of the Bing results page. You don't even have to open a browser window!

2. Click on the result 'windows help and support'.
   This item may be at the top of the list if it was used recently.
   The Edge browser opens and shows search results for 'windows help and support'.
   

3. Click the item 'Microsoft Support'.
   The browser changes the page to the home page for Microsoft Support.

   A new feature (2018) is Microsoft's Virtual Agent. This works best for specific questions, not for general information.
   

4. Click the Windows tile.
   The browser changes to show Trending Topics about Windows 10.

   The Trending topics list changes often since it reflects what topics are being accessed the most. The appearance of the page also can change frequently.

Problem: Did not see the results described
What Search finds will vary over time.
Solution: Click the link http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/support. Your browser opens that page.


5. Read the list of Trending topics to see what other people are interested in.
   

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Categories and Articles

1. Scroll the web page to see the list of categories below Trending topics.

2. Experiment: Expand and collapse topics
   Every line with a down arrow at the right end is a collapsed list. Click to expand the list. Click again to collapse.

   Does this page allow two topics to be expanded at the same time?

   This same behavior appears on other kinds of pages, where actual content is expanded or collapsed, not just a list of links.
   
3. 

   Click on various categories.
   Each category expands on the page to show one or more topics below. You may need to scroll to see the whole list.

   You may not have the same list of categories or topics in a category as in the illustrations.

   Note: The items in this list are web links but will not change color after you have visited that page.
   

4. 

   Click on one of the topics.
   A new page loads.

   Find a topic with a menu of its own down the left.
   

   Some of these menu items may expand to show a submenu once the new page loads.

   The illustration is about the Snipping Tool, but you may not be able to find this particular page. As new updates come out, categories and topics get revised and the old pages are no longer available. Is that a good thing? or not?

5. Click the Back button of your browser to return to the categories list.
   This button looks a bit different in different browsers:
   OR
   Use the key combo ALT + left arrow
   (Hold down the ALT key while you press and release the left arrow key.)
6. Read the one or more topics.
7. Find a topic with an image that is actually a video and play the video. Some videos or animations will start automatically. If there is an arrow in the middle of the image, click on it to start the video.
   Some of the Windows 10 Apps topics that have videos:
   • Microsoft Store > Get trusted games and apps from Microsoft Store
   • Movies & TV Help > Watch movies and TV shows
   • Apps on Windows 10 > 3D in Windows 10 > Make a 3D Doodle
   • Syncing and Saving > What's new in File Explorer
   • Syncing and Saving > One Drive on your PC
   Does it play automatically? Is there an arrow to click to make the video play?
   Can you tell what the video is demonstrating for you?
   Do you need sound to understand what the video is trying to explain?
   Sometimes it takes text to make it clear.

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Navigating Inside an Article

When an article is too long to fit into your window, how do you get to the part that is out of sight? You probably already know at least one way! There are several methods which you will find useful.

Scroll

1. Open a topic that is too long to fit in the window.
2. If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse:
   With the pointer over the article, turn the scroll wheel on your mouse.

   How many lines does the page move at a time? The default is 3.
   You can change this behavior in Settings > Devices > Mouse or in the Control Panel > Mouse > Wheel tab.

   Which way do you roll the scroll wheel to see something further down the page? Further up the page?
   

3. Drag the vertical scroll box at the right edge of the window down to shift what shows in the window.

   The height of this box shows the percentage of the article that is showing. For example, if half of the article is showing, then the scroll box is half as tall as the scroll bar.

4. Click in the scroll bar itself, but not on the scroll box or on the scroll arrows.

   How far does the page shift?

5. Click on the scroll arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar.

   How far does the page shift?

6. Scroll back to the top of the article.

Keyboard

Several keys on your keyboard can  help you navigate around the page.

1. Press the Home key on your keyboard.
   The page jumps to the top of the document.
   
2. Press the End key on your keyboard.
   The page jumps to the bottom of the document.
   
3. Press the Page Up key.
   The article shifts by the amount that will fit in the window to show text that came before what you were looking at. So for this purpose a "page" is what fits in the window, not what would fit on a paper page.
   
4. Press the Page Down key.
   The article shifts by the amount that fits in the window to show what follows the current text in the document.
   
5. Press the Up arrow key several times and then the Down arrow key several times. The arrow keys move the document by one line.
   
6. Use the method of your choice to return to the top of the article.
   
7. Read the article.

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Return to a Previous Page

If you are familiar with browsers, you have probably used the Back and Forward buttons. Let's be sure!

1. Click (multiple times if necessary) on the Back button on the toolbar until you have returned to the list of categories where you started.
   
2. Open another category and open a topic, read it, and navigate around the page using the keyboard.
3. Return to the list of categories using the Back button.
   
4. Open a new topic and read each of the articles in its list.
   
5. Experiment: Practice using the keyboard to move around the page.
   

6. Experiment: Practice opening different sections and getting back to a previous page using the links and using the Back button.

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Virtual Agent

A relatively new feature of the online Microsoft Help is the Virtual Agent. This chatbot responds to your questions in a chat window, but you are chatting with a computer, not a real person.

You will see a popup at the bottom right of many Help screens for the virtual agent.

Method 1: Get Help app

1. If necessary, return to the Help home page.

2. Click on the button Open Get Help app.
   First you see a splash screen and then the Get Help app opens in a new window. This is an app on your computer.

   Problem: The Get Help app does not open.
   Solution: Click the link, Ask the Virtual Agent, which opens a browser chat window instead.
   

   

3. Type in the panel at the bottom of the Get Help app: What's new with Windows 10.

4. Press the ENTER key.
   The virtual agent replies: Here's what I think you are asking about: Improve my PC performance in Windows 10. Is that correct?

   The virtual agent missed it!

5. Click on No.
   The virtual agent replies with a list of other things it thinks you might mean. One is exactly what you typed!
   

6. Click on What's new in Windows 10.
   The virtual agent replies with
   "See what is new in the Windows 1- April 2018 Update ..."
   You may see a different message!
   Whatever the comments, the link Find out more is what you need next.
7. Click on Find out more.
   A browser window opens to a page promoting the new update. There are videos and links to other pages on this page.
8. Scroll down and click on the Timeline video to start it.
   Does the video make it clear what this feature does? Is it better than a text explanation?

Method 2: Online Virtual Agent

1. Return to the Windows Support page in your browser.
2. Click on the link, Ask the Virtual Agent.
   A new browser window opens.
3. Enter the same text as you used before.
   You may not get the same response!
4. If the virtual agent did not suggest 'What's new in Windows 10', click on No to see what it will offer next.
5. Keep responding until you see a link for What's new in Windows 10.
   Now you have the same suggestion as the Get Help app.
   

So you have two ways to get to the virtual agent to ask questions. But this chatbot is clearly still learning how to respond to questions!