1. Lock screen
Windows
8 opens on its lock screen, which looks pretty but unfortunately
displays no clues about what to do next.It's all very straightforward,
though. Just tap the space bar, spin the mouse wheel or swipe upwards on
a touch screen to reveal a regular login screen with the user name you
created during installation. Enter your password to begin.
2. Basic navigation
Windows
8 launches with its new interface, all colorful tiles and
touch-friendly apps. And if you're using a tablet then it'll all be very
straightforward: just swipe left or right to scroll the screen, and tap
any tile of interest.
On a regular desktop, though, you might alternatively spin the mouse wheel to scroll backwards and forwards.
And
you can also use the keyboard. Press the Home or End keys to jump from
one end of your Start screen to the other, for instance, then use the
cursor keys to select a particular tile, tapping Enter to select it.
Press the Windows key to return to the Start screen; right-click (or
swipe down on) apps you don't need and select Unpin to remove them; and
drag and drop the other tiles around to organise them as you like.
3. App groups
The
Start screen apps are initially displayed in a fairly random order, but
if you'd prefer a more organised life then it's easy to sort them into
custom groups.
You might drag People, Mail, Messaging and Calendar
over to the left-hand side, for instance, to form a separate 'People'
group. Click the 'minus' icon in the bottom right corner of the screen
to zoom out and you'll now find you can drag and drop the new group (or
any of the others) around as a block.
Right-click within the block
(while still zoomed out) and you'll also be able to give the group a
name, which - if you go on to add another 20 or 30 apps to your Start
screen - will make it much easier to find the tools you need.
4. Quick access menu
Right-click
in the bottom left corner (or hold down the Windows key and press X)
for a text-based menu that provides easy access to lots of useful
applets and features: Device Manager, Control Panel, Explorer, the
Search dialog and more.
5. Find your applications
The
Win+X menu is useful, but no substitute for the old Start menu as it
doesn't provide access to your applications. To find this, hold down the
Windows key and press Q or either right-click an empty part of the
Start screen or swipe your finger up from the bottom of the screen and
select 'All Apps' to reveal a scrolling list of all your installed
applications. Browse the various tiles to find what you need and click
the relevant app to launch it.
6. Easy access
If there's
an application you use all the time then you don't have to access it via
the search system. Pin it to the Start screen and it'll be available at
a click.
Start by typing part of the name of your application. To
access Control Panel, for instance, type 'Control'. Right-click the
'Control Panel' tile on the Apps Search screen, and click 'Pin to
Start'. If you're using a touchscreen, press and hold the icon, then
flick down and select 'Pin to Start'.
Now press the Windows key,
scroll to the right and you'll see the Control Panel tile at the far
end. Drag and drop this over to the left somewhere if you'd like it more
easily accessible, then click the tile to open the desktop along with
the Control Panel window, and press the Windows key to return you to the
Start screen when you're done.
7. Shutting down
To shut
Windows 8 down, just move the mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of
the screen, click the Settings icon - or just hold down the Windows key
and press I - and you'll see a power button. Click this and choose
'Shut Down' or 'Restart'.
Some of the tricks available in previous
versions of Windows still apply. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, for instance, click
the power button in the bottom right-hand corner and you'll be
presented with the same 'Shut Down' and 'Restart' options.
And if you're on the desktop, press Alt+F4 and you'll be able to choose 'Shut Down', 'Restart', 'Sign Out' or 'Switch User' opt
8. App bar
Windows
8 apps aim to be simpler than old-style Windows applets, which means
it's goodbye to menus, complex toolbars, and many interface standards.
There will usually be a few options available on the App bar, though, so
if you're unsure what to do then either right-click an empty part of
the screen, press Windows+Z or flick your finger up from the bottom of
the screen to take a closer look.
9. What's running?
If
you launch a Windows 8 app, play with it for a while, then press the
Windows key you'll switch back to the Start screen. Your app will
remaining running, but as there's no taskbar then you might be wondering
how you'd ever find that out.
You could just press Alt+Tab, which shows you what's running just as it always has.
Holding
down the Windows key and pressing Tab displays a pane on the left-hand
side of the screen with your running apps. (To see this with the mouse,
move your cursor to the top left corner of the screen, wait until the
thumbnail of one app appears, then drag down.)
And of course you can
always press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to see all your running apps in the Task
Manager, if you don't mind (or actually need) the extra technical
detail.
10. Closing an app
Windows 8 apps don't have close
buttons, but this isn't the issue you might think. Apps are suspended
when you switch to something else so they're only a very minimal drain
on your system, and if you need the system resources then they'll
automatically be shut down. (Their context will be saved, of course, so
on relaunching they'll carry on where you left off.)
If you want to
close down an app anyway, though, move the mouse cursor up to the top of
the screen. When it turns from the regular mouse pointer to the icon of
a hand, hold down the left mouse button and drag it down the screen.
Your app should shrink to a thumbnail which you can drag off the screen
to close it.
If that's too much hassle, then simply pressing Alt+F4 still works.
And
when all else fails then press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch Task Manager,
right-click something in the Apps list and select End Task. Beware,
though, close something you shouldn't and it's easy to crash or lock up
your PC.
11. Mastering Internet Explorer in Windows 8
Click
the Internet Explorer tile from the Start menu and you'll launch a
full-screen version without toolbars, menus or sidebars, which like so
much of Windows 8 may leave you initially feeling lost.
Right-click
an empty part of the page or flick your finger down from the top of the
screen, though, and you'll find options to create and switch between
tabs, as well as a Refresh button, a 'Find' tool and the ability to pin
an Internet shortcut to the Start page. Click the spanner icon and
select 'View on the desktop' to open the full desktop version of
Internet Explorer.
12. Run two apps side by side
Windows 8
apps are what Microsoft calls "immersive" applications, which basically
means they run full-screen - but there is a way to view two at once.
Swipe from the left and the last app you were using will turn into a
thumbnail; drop this and one app displays in a sidebar pane while your
current app takes the rest of the screen. And you can then swap these by
swiping again.
13. Spell check
Windows 8 apps all
have spellcheck where relevant, which looks and works much as it does in
Microsoft Office. Make a mistake and a wavy red line will appear below
the offending word; tap or right-click this to see suggested alternative
words, or add the word to your own dictionary if you prefer.
14. Run as Administrator
Some
programs need you to run them with Administrator rights before they'll
work properly. The old context menu isn't available for a pinned Start
screen app, but right-click one, and if it's appropriate for this app
then you'll see a Run As Administrator option.
15. Make a large app tile smaller
You'll
notice that some Windows 8 apps have small live tiles, while others
have larger tiles that take up the space of two tiles. Right-clicking on
a Windows 8 app's Start screen tile will display a few relevant
options. If this is one of the larger tiles, choosing 'Smaller' will cut
it down to half the size, freeing up some valuable Start screen real
estate.
16. Uninstall easily
If you want to hide an unused
app for now, select 'Unpin from Start'. The tile will disappear, but if
you change your mind then you can always add it again later. (Search
for the app, right-click it, select 'Pin to Start'.)
Or, if you're sure you'll never want to use an app again, choose 'Uninstall' to remove it entirely.
17. Apps and privacy
It
is worth keeping in mind that by default Windows 8 apps can use your
name, location and account picture. If you're not happy with that, it's
easily changed. Press Win+I, click More PC Settings, select Privacy and
click the relevant buttons to disable any details you'd rather not
share.
18. Administrative tools
Experienced Windows users
who spend much of their time in one advanced applet or another are often
a little annoyed to see their favourite tools buried by Windows 8.
Microsoft has paid at least some attention, though, and there is a way
to bring some of them back.
Open the Charm bar by flicking your
finger from the right-hand side of the screen and select 'Settings' then
'Tiles'. Change 'Show administrative tools' to 'Yes' and click back on
an empty part of the Start screen. And it's as simple as that. Scroll to
the right and you'll find a host of new tiles for various key applets -
Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, Task Scheduler, Resource Monitor and
more - ready to be accessed at a click.
19. Disable the lock screen
If
you like your PC to boot just as fast as possible then the new Windows 8
lock screen may not appeal. Don't worry, though, if you'd like to ditch
this then it only takes a moment.
Launch GPEdit.msc (the Local Group
Policy Editor) and browse to Computer Configuration > Administrative
Templates > Control Panel > Personalisation.
Double-click 'Do not display the lock screen', select Enabled and click OK.
Restart and the lock screen will have gone.
If
you can't easily find GPEdit.msc by searching in the Start screen,
search for 'mmc', and then press Enter. On the File menu, click
'Add/Remove Snap-in', then in the 'Add or Remove Snap-ins' dialog box,
click 'Group Policy Object Editor', and then click 'Add'.
In the
'Select Group Policy Object' dialog box, click 'Browse'. Click 'This
Computer' to edit the Local Group Policy object, or click 'Users' to
edit Administrator, Non-Administrator, or per-user Local Group Policy
objects, then click 'Finish'.
20. Install anything
Most
mobile platforms recommend you only install apps from approved sources
to protect your security, and Windows 8 is the same: it'll only allow
you to install trusted (that is, digitally signed) apps from the Windows
store.
If this proves a problem, though, and you're willing to take
the security risk (because this isn't something to try unless you're
entirely sure it's safe), then the system can be configured to run
trusted apps from any source.
Launch GPEdit.msc (see above for
instructions on how to find it), browse to Computer Configuration >
Administrative Templates > Windows Components > App Package
Deployment, double-click 'Allow all trusted apps to install' and select
Enabled > OK.
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