BARD More Express and Windows 10 Problems and Solutions

Question:

One of our tech-savvy Tennessee patrons has been trying to download to a Windows 10 PC using BARD Express. He says it is quite challenging, because Windows 10 is app-based, and that BARD Express needs to have an app “expressly” for Windows 10! He says the only way he was able to get to use it was after he called Windows Accessibility Customer Service, who, luckily, was very helpful!

Answer:

Your patron might benefit by confirming he is using Windows 10’s Desktop Mode. I suspect he is in Tablet Mode by default. I recently helped an older friend with her Windows 10 PC and I found a setting with 3 options: Desktop Mode, Tablet Mode and (something to the effect of) Let Windows Decide. Her computer was set to that last option which was basically deferring to that horribly awful Tablet Mode. I could be wrong, but I think Tablet Mode seems more insistent on apps than Desktop Mode.

One of my complaints about Windows 10 (besides Tablet Mode itself) is that it feels like the location for settings and customizations change or vary from computer to computer. Before I went to work on her PC I looked on my Windows 10 PC at home and tried to document how to disable Cortana and how to turn off a bunch of features that were known privacy concerns. When I got to her computer some of the settings were in the places I had noted while others were not. I don’t know how to explain that. Maybe we had different iterations of Windows 10 (home vs. professional) or maybe our PC manufacturer’s had customized iterations of Win 10. Whatever the reason I have yet to establish any confidence in telling people where specific settings are located.

I tried Google-ing for a page that showed the steps I took when working on my friend’s PC but never found the exact steps I took. Hopefully the instructions on this website will prove sufficient for your patron:

http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/enable-tablet-mode-windows-10

Dan in Minnesota

Return to top of page

DISCLAIMER: Links on the Florida Division of Blind Services (DBS) website that are directed toward websites outside the DBS, provide additional information that may be useful or interesting and are being provided consistent with the intended purpose of the DBS website. DBS cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided by non-DBS websites. Further, providing links to a non-DBS website does not constitute an endorsement by DBS, the Florida Department of Education or any of its employees, of the sponsors of the non-DBS website or of the information or products presented on the non-DBS website.