Windows 10: 10 (hidden) modes in Windows and how to run them
By: Sanel Pandzic
Tags: Windows, Windows Phone, Microsoft, PC, Windows 10

Did you know that Windows has several additional modes that give you additional functionality? Some of these modes are hidden, while for some you’ve probably heard they exist in Windows but you may not have had a chance to try them out yet. But don’t worry — we’ll go through them, see what they offer you and how you can run them.

God Mode

While this mode has the best name on the list, this is more of a collection of extra shortcuts than a mode that gives you extra features. It groups all the Control Panel options, and a few that are not so easily accessible to users, into one list.

How to try God Mode? Actually very simple. Right-click on your desktop or select New> Folder. When Windows asks you for a folder name, type this:

“GodMode. {ED7BA470–8E54–465E-825C-99712043E01C}” (without quotes)

Although you can change this “GodMode” part into something else. Either way, type this command and press Enter to create the folder. The folder you created will get the same icon as the Control Panel. Double click on it and that’s it.

You probably won’t use this so often, but it’s nice to have all these commands in one place.

2) Safe Mode

You’ve probably heard of Safe Mode and what it has to do with Windows troubleshooting. When you start Safe Mode, you will get Windows that loaded only the necessary drivers and boot applications. Nothing more. So you can see which third-party driver or application is causing you problems. There may also be a problem with the wrong settings of an application. Anyway, when you have problems with Windows, Safe Mode is what you need so you can more easily discover the cause of the problem.

3) Game Mode

Windows 10 has more gaming features than any version before them. In fact, within Windows 10 there is a whole panel in settings dedicated only to gamers and gaming. One option that is there is “Game Mode” which optimizes the system while playing games.

To find the mode in question, just go to Settings> Gaming> Game mode. It’s just a simple “switch” end that says Game Mode. Turn it on and that’s it. Windows will optimize PC performance for you when you have games running.

This means that Windows will give most of the resources to the game to have the best possible performance, and on the other hand will prohibit any downloading of updates for Windows, installing them, installing drivers… Very useful because before you could play a game and suddenly the game would be minimized because Windows is updating and you would only get a notification that the PC will reset in 60 seconds. Such situations should no longer exist.

4) Battery Saver Mode

If you have a laptop, then you have probably gone through that experience where you panic about whether you will have enough battery life and whether it will last in some critical situations. To minimize such situations, Windows 10 has a mode that tries to save your battery for as long as possible.

This mode is called “Battery Saver Mode” and it essentially disables processes that take a lot of resources and drain the battery, prevents email synchronization, and refreshing applications in the background. Also, this mode will reduce the brightness of your screen.

To set Battery Saver options, go to Settings> System> Battery. Check the “Turn battery saver on automatically if my batter falls below” option and set the battery percentage. We prefer that percentage to be 30–35 percent of the battery, but you set how it suits you.

Also, it is possible to start Battery Saver mode immediately, which will be active until you charge the battery next time.

To make it easier to manage these options in the future, you can always press the “Win ​​+ A” key combination to open the Action Center, with battery-related options at the bottom.

5) Dark Mode

Many operating systems now have native dark mode and Windows 10 is no exception. If you run it, most of the default Store applications will automatically switch to black immediately, ie to their dark mode. This includes the Settings and File Explorer applications.

To turn on dark mode in Windows 10, go to Settings> Personalization> Colors and select Dark in “Choose your color”.

6) Compatibility Mode

Windows generally works well with older software and has “backward compatibility” or support for older software. But in case older software won’t run well on Windows 10 or won’t run at all, there’s a “compatible” mode.

This mode is already in several versions in Windows, including Windows 10. To run it, just right-click on the exe file you want to run in this mode, and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu. Once the window opens, go to the “Compatibility” tab and indicate that you want to run the file that way. Also, there are some other options that might come in handy, and one of them is for “forcing” low resolution.

7) Airplane Mode

Another useful and simple mode is airplane mode. It works very similar to the eponymous mode on cell phones. When you enable or start it, the computer will turn off all wireless communication. This means that the PC will not use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth…

While this is a useful mode when you have a Windows laptop or tablet and are flying, it also comes in handy when you want to save battery. If you work offline and want to “squeeze” extra time out of the battery, then activating this mode could help.

You can find it in Settings> Network & Internet> Airplane Mode. Or simpler — press the key combination “Win + A”, it will open the Action Center where you have the icon “Airplane mode”. Just squeeze it to activate / deactivate it.

8) Tablet Mode

If you are using Windows 10 on a tablet or laptop, then you should know about Tablet Mode. When you turn it on, Windows will change the interface. Specifically, the interface will become different and simpler. Why? So that you can control it with your fingers more easily, that is, so that you can control Windows on the touch screen. It is assumed that you do not control the tablet with the mouse and keyboard, but only with your fingers.

To enable it, go to Settings> System> Tablet Mode. Here you will be able to choose which mode you want by default when you turn on Windows, whether Windows can switch from mode to mode without constantly asking you and the like. Take a look at this mode if you have a need for it. It can be useful from time to time.

9)Focus Mode

Although this feature is called “Focus assist” and not “Focus Mode”, we decided to include it in this text because its unique functionality is similar to “mode of operation”. Focus assist allows you to prevent notifications from appearing on the screen and tries to reduce distractions while you work.

To configure it, go to Settings> System> Focus assist. There you can select options like Off, Priority Only or Alarm Only. Then click on “Customize your priority list” to choose what “may bother you” and what not, while in this Focus.

Below, you can turn on Focus assist to run on its own at a specific time or when you’re doing something on your computer (say, having an open presentation or playing games).

10) S Mode

And for the end, there remains another mode that you probably won’t use, but you might run into. Some Windows machines come with Windows 10 in S mode, which is a little more limited than standard Windows 10. S mode only allows you to install and use applications from the Microsoft Store, and prevents you from using all web browsers except Microsoft Edge.

Precisely because it’s so restrictive, you probably don’t want to use it. If you accidentally bought a PC or laptop that has Windows 10 and activated S mode, don’t worry. It’s easy to get out of it.

Just go to Settings> Update & Security> Activation. Click on the Store link below the “Switch to Windows 10 Home / Pro” section.

This will open a Microsoft Store page titled “Switch out of S mode”. Click on “Get” and confirm the selection that you want to leave this mode. It’s a process you can only do once and you can’t go back to S mode later after that. But you probably don’t even want to, so there’s not much damage.