Accessibility options in Windows 10: useful for everyone

Windows (and many other operating systems too) have accessibility options. Although they are primarily intended for people with certain disabilities, they can also be useful for general use.

When it comes to accessibility, most people immediately think of facilities for the disabled or people with a disability. This also applies to the Accessibility component in Windows. Yet that is only partly true. Some of those accessibility options also come in handy for the average person. In Windows 10, launch the Settings app via the gear icon in the Start menu, followed by a click on Accessibility. You will now see a column with categories on the left. The Narrator for example, comes in handy for reading text in a document or a web page. So you can do something else while listening, for example. Then there's the magnifying glass that sometimes comes in handy when you want to quickly see small details. It is important to use magnifying glass mode for Lens to choose. If you don't, the entire screen becomes a magnifying glass, which is quite annoying. You can activate the virtual magnifier via the shortcut Windows key + Plus key (numeric keyboard). Switching off is done via Windows key + Esc.

shades of gray

below Color and high contrastWe find some less interesting options for normal use. Although it's nice to shades of gray Once you turn it on, it's almost like you're working on an old black and white monitor. Ah, those good old days! You can usually leave subtitles for what it is. Bee Keyboard you can find some practical settings, for example you can switch on an on-screen keyboard. Handy if you want to avoid keyloggers on a public PC, for example. The other switches here can also make using the keyboard more pleasant for some. Matter of trying.

Mouse

below Mouse you will find a very nice option in the form of the switch below Using the numeric keypad to move the mouse on the screen. Turn this option on and after pressing the key combination Left Alt + Left Shift + NumLock and a click on Yes to confirm, enable the mouse keys. Ideal if your mouse breaks down at an inopportune moment. Or for a media PC with a wireless keyboard, you save a mouse again. You can disable the keyboard mouse by pressing the same key combination again.

Show notifications later

Do you think notifications from the message center are shown too short? Then you are certainly not alone in that regard. You can adjust under More options, simply choose a longer display time. If you are annoyed by Windows animations or if you run Windows on a minimalist system, you can disable the animations using the appropriate switch. This may result in a slightly more responsive whole.

Until recently, you could use Accessibility to get your PC to Windows 10 for free. With the arrival of the Fall Creators Update, that function has finally been removed from Windows. If you now want to update from Windows 7 or 8.1, you will really have to pay.

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