Out of the bevy of impressive goodies that the fresh from the oven
Windows 10 boasts, the lock screen is one of the most useful. The
lock screen appears just before the login screen (the one where you
enter your account credentials), every time you start up Windows 10,
and is a core component of the overall Windows 10 experience. But is
it just there for eye candy?
Not at all pals, as the Windows 10 lock screen is far more powerful,
and most importantly, customizable than it appears to be. It can
serve up app notifications when you’re not using your PC, display
your favorite images, and do a heck of a lot more stuff like that.
Intrigued already? Head over to the other side of the jump, as we
run down the listing of 8 ways to customize lock screen in
Windows 10.
1. Display Your Favorite
Image As Background
We all use a wide variety of images
as wallpapers for our desktop. Some prefer to have a group family
photo set as a desktop background, while others prefer a
minimalistic image. But the desktop is not the only place where you
can put up your favorite picture. In fact, Windows 10 lets you set
just about any photo as your lock screen background. You can either
choose an image from the set of default wallpapers, or specify your
own. This can be done via the Personalization
sub-module of the modern style Settings app. To see the details,
click here.
2. Play A Slide Show Of Images
There are countless incredible
backgrounds available out there that you can use as desktop
wallpapers. And when it comes to family photos, the choice becomes
even tougher, because all of them are equally awesome. Probably this
is the reason that Windows 10 doesn’t restrict you into using only
one image as the background on the lock screen. That’s right. You
can specify a bunch of your favorite background images and have them
play on the Windows 10 lock screen as a slide show. The only thing
is that the images need to be in the same folder. Click this link to
find out more.
3. Show Notifications From Multiple Apps
The modern (earlier known as metro)
apps are one of the most incredible features of Windows 10, having
been introduced with its predecessor, Windows 8. These apps include
goodies like live tiles, real-time notifications, and much more.
However, you can only receive notifications from these apps when
you’re using your computer, right? Nope, as the lock screen is here
to the rescue. That’s because you can choose up to seven modern
apps, and have them display quick status notifications on the lock
screen. Read this tutorial to see how.
4. Display Detailed Information From A Modern App
The quick status notifications
displayed from multiple modern apps are all well and good, but there
are times when you need a little bit more detail. There are times
when you don’t just want to know the number of upcoming calendar
appointments, but also the associated information (e.g. location,
time) about those appointments as well. For all those times, the
Windows 10 lock screen has you covered. You can specify one app that
can display detailed information on the lock screen, via the
Personalization sub-category of the Settings app. However, it’s
important to know that only a handful of modern apps can be selected
from. Read this write-up to see how you can do it.
5. Show Helpful Tips About Windows
Although Windows 10 is one of the
most user friendly Operating Systems ever, there might be users out
there for whom the endless slew of features it offers can get a
little too overwhelming, and probably even a bit confusing. Probably
this is the reason that the Windows 10 lock screen can display
random helpful usage tips about the Operating System, every time you
start up your computer. So every time you see the lock screen, you
find some useful information. However, if you’d like to have this
functionality disabled, this article is your friend.
6. Display Alerts Regarding Upcoming Alarms, Reminders, And
More
Thanks to the multi-faceted
productivity machines that they are, our computers have single
handedly replaced a whole bunch of daily use gadgets. So if you want
to set up a reminder, there’s no need to write it on a sticky note
and paste it on the fridge. Similarly, there’s no need to set the
alarm if you have to leave early next day. All you need is a Windows
10 powered machine. And the best part is that you don’t even need to
be actively logged in to it for these. That’s because the Windows 10
lock screen can display important alerts regarding upcoming alarms,
important reminders, and even incoming VOIP calls (from supported
apps such as Skype). Click here to see how you can enable this
feature.
7. Change The Time Display Format
There’s a bunch of useful information
that the Windows 10 lock screen shows, and the current system time
is one of them. However, by default, Windows 10 only displays the
time in the 24 hour format. And while that’s not much of an issue,
there might be folks out there who prefer the more common 12 hour
format. If you’re one of them, you’re in luck, as a nifty little
portable app called Lock Screen Customizer lets you do just that.
Originally intended for Windows 8.1, Lock Screen Customizer works
just fine for Windows 10. Using it is really simple. Once you run
the utility, all you have to do is click on the 12 hours option
under the Time Format setting, and hit the Apply these settings to
the default Lock Screen link. You might need to restart the PC for
the changes to take effect. Lock Screen Customizer can be downloaded
here.
8. Disable The Lock Screen
The pointers discussed so far clearly
illustrate the usefulness and extensive customizability of the
Windows 10 lock screen. However, even with all of that, some users
might just want to straightaway go to the login screen, skipping the
lock screen altogether. Not a problem, as Lock Screen Customizer,
the application discussed in the previous step makes it super easy
to disable the lock screen in one click. To do so, simply launch the
application (preferably with administrator rights), and click the
checkmark against the Disable Lock Screen setting under the Logon
Settings sub-section.
Wrapping Up
The Windows 10 lock screen is not just a gorgeous looking visual
feature, but includes a ton of functionality as well. And as
seen above, there’s no limit to how much you can customize it. So
try all of the above mentioned steps.
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