The default configuration of Microsoft Windows 10 is adequate for most situations, but for many of us there is always some tweaking that can, and should, be done. And just like every version of Windows that has come before it, Windows 10 configuration settings can sometimes be difficult to locate because they reside deep down the rabbit hole of screens, control panels, and menus.

This list of 20 tips for Windows 10 will help you get a handle on your installation so that you can make it work the way you want it to work—as it should be.

From the ebook:

Check privacy
Windows 10 has a reputation, accurate or not, for invading user privacy. Microsoft is aware of this perception and has taken steps to mitigate it. If you want to see what private information about you is currently stored in the cloud, navigate your browser to account.microsoft.com/privacy and review the free dashboard located there. You can view browsing history, search history, Cortana’s notebook entries, and much more. You can also purge the information if you wish.

If you decide that you don’t want all of this private information floating around, you can click the buttons on the dashboard under each category and delete the information. For example, I don’t really want or need location information stored in the cloud since I don’t use Cortana. So I took a moment to delete that information from the cloud.

This is also a good place to go if you want to restart Cortana because she knows you too well or if the “you” she knows is not the “you” you want her to know. Personal digital assistants like Cortana work well only when the data they have collected is spot on—sometimes you just need to start over.

Optimize OneDrive
I am a big fan of OneDrive. I use it to store my writing assignments so that I can access them from anywhere. However, I really don’t need to always sync every file to every device. You can optimize the settings by changing what files and folders get synced.

Right-click the OneDrive icon in the system tray on the Windows 10 Desktop and click the Settings item. On the Account tab, click Choose Folders to get a list of folders currently being synced.