There are a few tweaks that you can do to maximize and make effective use of screen real estate on Windows 10. Because of this, you will be able to use every single pixel on your screen and make your experience more intuitive.
Maximize Screen Real Estate on Windows 10
Here are a few things you can do to maximize and make effective use of Screen Real Estate on Windows 10:
- Change your Display resolution
- Change the icon size to small
- Unlock the Taskbar
- Use small taskbar buttons
- Change taskbar location
- Hide taskbar
- Hide the Ribbon
- Browse in full screen
Let us talk about them in detail
1] Change your Display resolution
The first and foremost thing you should do to maximize and make effective use of screen real estate on Windows 10 is to set the “Display resolution” to maximum.
Because of this your screen’s pixel density will increase making the text and images look sharper. It also makes the display more intuitive and better.
To change the Display resolution, hit Win + X, and click Settings or just search out Settings from the Start Menu. Now, click System and choose the appropriate Display resolution.
If you are looking for a downside then the only one would be the extra battery consumption but it won’t be too major.
2] Change the icon size to small
The next thing to maximize the screen real estate that you can do is to set the icon size to small. This won’t affect every application but will manage your desktop.
To change the icon size to small right-click on your Desktop > View > Small icons.
This will shrink your icon’s size giving you more screen real estate to play with.
You can even set “View” to “Medium icons” if you think that Small icons are way too tiny for you.
3] Unlock the Taskbar
Now, we are going to tweak the Windows taskbar a little as it is guilty of eating pixels. There are quite a few things we can do to maximize and make effective use of screen real estate on Windows 10 but the first thing is to unlock the taskbar.
To do that right-click on the Taskbar and click on the “Taskbar settings” option. On the Taskbar settings screen, use the toggle to turn off the “Lock the taskbar” option.
Once the taskbar is unlocked you can move to later tweaks.
4] Use small taskbar buttons
After unlocking the taskbar the first thing we need to do is opting for smaller taskbar buttons. It gives you some of the screen real estate back which was earlier taken by that enormous taskbar.
To do that, launch the taskbar settings by right-clicking on it and selecting the “Taskbar settings” option. On the screen that appears, use the toggle to turn on the “Use small taskbar buttons”.
However, if you think that it is way too small, you can always turn it off using the same toggle.
5] Change Taskbar location
Another thing you can do to regain some of the screen real estate consumed by the taskbar is to change the taskbar location to either right or left. This way you will have the whole bottom of the screen empty which is, in most cases, broader than the left or the right side.
However, if you have a square monitor then you can skip this step as it doesn’t make much sense for you.
To do that, relaunch the Taskbar settings by right-clicking on it and selecting the “Taskbar settings” option. Scroll down a bit to reach the Taskbar location on screen and then use the drop-down menu to select either “Left” or “Right”.
6] Auto-Hide Taskbar
One of the most effective things one can do to regain some of the screen real estate back without changing the size or the location of the taskbar is to enable the “Automatically hide the taskbar” option.
Because of this, you will only see the bar when you move the cursor near the taskbar area. This way you will only see the taskbar when you want.
To auto-hide the taskbar, relaunch the Taskbar settings by right-clicking on it and selecting the “Taskbar settings” option. Now use the toggle to enable the “Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode” option. If you have a touchscreen device and you use it as a tablet as well then you can even enable the “Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode”.
TIP: The Auto-hide taskbar feature will hide the taskbar and the start button. If you want to hide only the taskbar, and not the Start Button, use our freeware Hide Taskbar. It lets you hide or show the taskbar with a hotkey. Auto Hide Desktop Icons & Taskbar may also interest you.
7] Minimize the Ribbon
If you want to maximize screen real estate then the easiest way would be to just minimize the ribbon. Most programs like Office, Explorer, etc have a big Menu ribbon. Use their setting to minimize their ribbons.
For instance, in Windows File Explorer use the shortcut key Ctrl + F1 or click on the drop-down arrow present at the top-right corner of the screen to Minimize the Ribbon. Pressing F11 will maximize it even more!
8] Browse in full screen
If you browse a lot and want to maximize your screen real estate in the browser itself then you need to enable the full-screen mode. We have methods for two of the most common browsers used by Windows users Chrome and Firefox.
For Chrome
Enabling full-screen mode in Chrome is pretty easy. You can either use F11 to enter and exit the full-screen mode. However, this method won’t work on all computers.
If this method is not working for you then click on the three vertical dots and then click on the square icon placed beside the zoom menu as shown in the image below.
To exit the full-screen mode, bring your cursor to the edge of the screen and then click on the cross button.
For Firefox
Enabling full-screen mode in Firefox is a bit complex. To do that you need to click on the three vertical dots and then select Customize.
From the appeared screen drag the “Full Screen” icon and drop it on the toolbar. Now, whenever you want to maximize the screen real estate just click on that icon and you will enter the full-screen mode.
To exit the full-screen mode move your cursor to the edge of the screen and click on the “Full Screen” icon again.
All the methods mentioned allow you to use maximize your screen real estate on your PC. Any other suggestions?
