Windows 8 user tips and tricks

The devil is in the details, they say, so besides experimenting with a clean install I tried the upgrade option to see how well it worked. Going from a year-old Windows 7 install to the Consumer Preview was as seamless as you could ask for. File copy dialogs, the task manager and search look better and work faster, and that adds up for an improved experience. I'm not loving Metro on my desktop since there's little I can currently do with the stock apps, but I wonder if that will be true once my most-used programs take full advantage of live tiles.

Without further ado, here's a shortlist of Windows 8 shortcuts and useful quick tricks I've gathered thus far. The Start menu is no longer there, but there's a hot corner that makes up for it unfortunately on multiple screens it's somewhat of a pain to use. Windows 8 is very hotkey-heavy, here are some of the shortcuts I find most useful:. Following user posts in our previous Windows 8 articles , I've seen some of you wanting to completely get rid of Metro and get the Windows 7 orb back.

If that's the case I'd personally recommend you just stick to Windows 7, but if you already jumped ship there's a trick to do so as discussed on AskVG. Updated: A second, improved alternative The clever folks at Stardock have released a piece of software called Start 8 that essentially adds a Start button to Windows 8's desktop mode. When you click on it you get a Metro-esque Start menu from where you can search and access other settings.

As we've seen on older betas, Windows 8 CP shows a wallpaper watermark indicating it's not a final build. The lock screen or Metro UI don't have any similar nagging reminder, and spending a majority of my time in the desktop mode, the message is tacky to say the least.

Here's a solution I found circulating on a few forums:. Drivers Windows 8 won't suffer the same fate Vista did with drivers. For example, to set a picture password for the image above, you could click on the highest palm tree, draw a circle around the island, and then swipe down from the lens flare in the upper right. Just beware: The direction of each gesture matters! After confirming it a couple times, your picture password will be set.

One of biggest complaints about Windows 8 is that it boots straight to the Start screen—an annoyance for many committed desktop users.

The Start8 utility helps you avoid this indignity among other cool features , but you can actually boot straight to the desktop without installing anything extra. To speed up the log-in process, you may want to disable the username and password log-in screen.

If your system is feeling a little sluggish, it may be time for a refresh. In the past we would have to find our copy of Windows 7, back up all of our data, and perform a fresh install to enjoy that back-to-factory-fresh feeling. But now Windows 8 allows you to perform a fresh install from within Windows without losing any data.

In order to perform the refresh, go to Settings and click the Change PC Settings tab near the bottom. It used to be as easy as pressing F8 when the system starts up, but doing so with Windows 8 will take you to Automatic Repair Mode. The trick to getting back to good old fashioned Safe Mode?

Hold down the Shift key and press F8 while booting up. This takes you to the Recovery mode. Select Windows Startup Settings and finally the Restart button. This will reboot the computer and give you the option to boot into Safe Mode. Select the Boot tab and check the Safe boot box. The system will continually boot into Safe Mode until you go back and uncheck the box. When looking at the plethora of tiles on your Start screen, the view can get stagnant, despite all the pretty colors.

This is where Live Tiles come in. A settings bar on the bottom will pop up with an option to turn the Live Tile on or off. Note, however, that not all apps have a live, real-time data-streaming option. Fear not; if you install any current-generation PC game that would regularly save to this folder, the folder is automatically created. Want to avoid some nasty surprises on your credit card? September 3, June 29, Time Zest Accellis is excited to announce a new feature for scheduled tickets called Time Zest.

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