Windows 10 "tiles" vs old-style desktop

[ChuckTurley1]

Bought a new Dell laptop for my wife that came with Windows 10. Two questions:

First, the desktop that appears when you start the computer is "old style" - not the WIndows 10 tile style. How do I get it to show the "normal" Windows 10 desktop with tiles?

Second, when that old style desktop is showing, the taskbar at the bottom of the screen sometimes disappears, leaving only the start button. Clicking on the start button does nothing. The only way to shut down or restart is to click+alt+delete and get a power button that way. Do that and restart and the taskbar items reappear. What is causing that?

TIA

 

[BigFeet]

The old style IS the Windows 10 interface. The tile interface (Windows 8 style) is tablet mode. Click the notification icon next to the clock, and click tablet mode.

 

[davehc]

I think you may be looking for this:

Settings - Personalisation - Start - Use start full screen.

This will give you the "open", previously called "modern" screen. It can also be accessed, as in Windows 8.1, by clicking the Windows key afterwards