Personalization and Everyday Maintenance: Theme, Notifications, and Storage

Personalization: Make Windows Comfortable Without Risk

Personalization changes how Windows looks and feels without affecting your files. Safe personalization focuses on visual choices (wallpaper, colors, light/dark mode) and simple layout habits (pinning and organizing) that reduce clutter and make everyday tasks faster.

Change Your Wallpaper (Background)

Your wallpaper is the image or color behind your desktop icons. A clear, calm wallpaper can make icons easier to see and reduce visual noise.

• Picture: A photo or image file.
• Solid color: Simple and distraction-free.
• Slideshow: Rotates through a folder of pictures (useful, but can be distracting if it changes too often).

Step-by-step:

1. Open Settings → Personalization → Background.
2. Choose Picture, Solid color, or Slideshow.
3. If you choose Picture, select an image (or click Browse to pick your own).
4. Set the fit option (names vary): Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile, Center, or Span.

Practical tip: If icons look hard to read, try a darker wallpaper with fewer details, or switch to a solid color.

Accent Color and Light/Dark Mode

Windows can apply a color theme to parts of the interface (like highlights, buttons, and sometimes the taskbar/Start). Light/dark modes change the overall brightness of menus and apps.

Continue in our app.

You can listen to the audiobook with the screen off, receive a free certificate for this course, and also have access to 5,000 other free online courses.

Or continue reading below...

Download the app

• Light mode: Brighter interface; often easier in bright rooms.
• Dark mode: Darker interface; can reduce glare and eye strain in dim rooms.
• Accent color: A chosen color used for emphasis (selection highlights, toggles, and sometimes taskbar/Start depending on settings).

Step-by-step (typical path):

1. Open Settings → Personalization → Colors.
2. Choose Light, Dark, or Custom (if available).
3. Select an accent color (automatic or manual).
4. If offered, decide whether to show the accent color on Start and the taskbar.

Practical tip: If you use dark mode, pick an accent color with good contrast (not too dark) so toggles and highlights remain easy to see.

Taskbar and Start Behavior Concepts: Pinning, Arranging, Reducing Clutter

Small layout habits can save time every day. The goal is to keep only what you use often within one click, and remove distractions.

• Pinning: Keeps an app shortcut in a fixed place so it doesn’t disappear.
• Arranging: Group similar apps together (work, school, media) so you can find them quickly.
• Reducing clutter: Unpin items you don’t use, and avoid pinning everything “just in case.”

Practical approach:

• Pin your top 5–10 apps only (browser, email, documents, chat, notes).
• Unpin apps you haven’t opened in the last month.
• Keep similar items next to each other (for example: Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

How pinning/unpinning usually works: Open Start, right-click an app, then choose Pin to Start or Unpin from Start. On the taskbar, right-click an app icon and choose Pin to taskbar or Unpin from taskbar. (Exact wording can vary slightly by Windows version.)

Notifications: Stay Informed Without Being Interrupted

Notifications are messages from Windows and apps (new email, calendar reminders, chat messages, updates). Good notification settings help you notice important items while reducing interruptions.

Understand Types of Notifications

• Banners: Pop-ups that appear briefly on screen.
• Notification center/history: A place where recent notifications are stored so you can review them later.
• Sounds: Audio alerts that can be helpful or distracting.

Practical idea: For critical apps (security, calendar), keep banners on. For less important apps (games, shopping), turn banners off or disable notifications entirely.

Quiet Hours / Focus Assist Concepts

Focus Assist (sometimes called quiet hours) temporarily reduces interruptions. Instead of turning notifications off forever, it helps you control when you see them.

• Off: Notifications appear normally.
• Priority only: Only selected apps/people can notify you.
• Alarms only: Blocks most notifications except alarms/timers.

When to use it:

• During meetings or screen sharing.
• While studying or writing.
• At night to avoid sleep disruption.

Step-by-step (typical path):

1. Open Settings → System → Notifications (or Focus assist depending on version).
2. Choose the focus mode you want (Off / Priority / Alarms).
3. If available, set automatic rules (for example: during certain hours).

Manage Notification Permissions by App

Windows lets you control notifications per app. This is the best way to reduce noise without missing important alerts.

Step-by-step:

1. Open Settings → System → Notifications.
2. Find the list of apps.
3. Select an app (or use its toggle) and adjust options such as:

• Allow notifications: On/Off for that app.
• Show notification banners: Whether pop-ups appear.
• Play a sound: Useful for urgent apps; off for noisy apps.
• Notification priority: If available, set which apps appear at the top.

Practical example: Keep banners and sound for your calendar reminders, but turn off sound for social apps so they don’t interrupt you.

Everyday Maintenance: Storage and Simple Cleanup

Light maintenance keeps your PC running smoothly and prevents “low disk space” problems. The safest routine is to review storage usage, clean obvious clutter (especially Downloads), and empty the Recycle Bin thoughtfully.

Check Storage Usage

Storage usage shows what is taking space (apps, documents, pictures, temporary files). This helps you decide what to remove or move.

Step-by-step:

1. Open Settings → System → Storage.
2. Select your main drive (often C:).
3. Review categories (Apps, Temporary files, Documents, Pictures, etc.).
4. Open a category to see more detail and available cleanup options.

What to look for:

• Large videos or installers in Downloads.
• Temporary files that are safe to remove (Windows will label these).
• Apps you no longer use (consider uninstalling later if needed).

Clean Up Large Files in Downloads (Safely)

The Downloads folder often collects duplicates and old installers. Deleting the wrong file can be annoying (you may need to download it again), but it usually won’t break Windows.

Safe cleanup checklist:

• Delete old .exe or .msi installers you already used.
• Delete duplicate files with names like (1), (2), or “copy”.
• Keep anything you haven’t confirmed (move it to a folder like Downloads\To Review first).

Step-by-step approach:

1. Open Downloads.
2. Sort by Size to find the biggest items.
3. Open a file only if you trust it and need to identify it (avoid running unknown installers).
4. Delete what you don’t need, or move important files to a proper folder (Documents/Pictures/Videos).

Empty the Recycle Bin Thoughtfully

When you delete files normally, they often go to the Recycle Bin first. Emptying it frees space, but it also removes the easy ability to restore those files.

Good habit: Review the Recycle Bin before emptying it, especially after a large cleanup.

Step-by-step:

1. Open Recycle Bin.
2. Quickly scan for anything you might need back.
3. If you see something important, restore it.
4. Choose Empty Recycle Bin to free space.

Update Apps (Light Maintenance)

App updates can improve security, fix bugs, and add compatibility improvements. Keeping apps updated is one of the simplest maintenance tasks.

• Store apps: Usually update through the Microsoft Store app.
• Other apps: Often have an in-app update option (for example, in a Help or Settings menu).

Practical tip: If an app prompts for an update, prefer using its built-in updater rather than downloading random “update tools” from the web.

Practice Activities (Do These Now)

1) Change Your Wallpaper

1. Go to Settings → Personalization → Background.
2. Set Picture and choose an image you like.
3. Try two different fit options (for example, Fill vs Fit) and keep the one that looks best.

2) Adjust Notification Settings for One App

1. Go to Settings → System → Notifications.
2. Pick one app that interrupts you often.
3. Turn off sound or banners (or disable notifications entirely if you never need them).
4. Keep notifications enabled for at least one important app (calendar or security) so you still get critical alerts.

3) Review Storage Usage

1. Go to Settings → System → Storage.
2. Open your main drive and identify the top two categories using the most space.
3. Write down (or remember) one category you can reduce today (often Downloads or Temporary files).

4) Free Space by Deleting or Moving Files

1. Open Downloads and sort by Size.
2. Delete old installers and duplicates you don’t need.
3. Move files you want to keep into organized folders (Documents/Pictures/Videos).
4. Open Recycle Bin, review quickly, then empty it to reclaim space.