Some Windows 8 Tips And Tricks Everyone Should Know

Since Microsoft announced Windows 8, everyone started speculating its looks, functionality and features. Now it’s almost been a month since Company has released Consumers’ Preview and everyone is eager to know more about this beta version of upcoming operating system Windows 8. Since I am using Windows 8 Consumers’ Preview since the day it was released, I thought of writing a post on tips and tricks on can do in Windows 8 to let everyone know about it. So here we go.

Lock Screen:

Now you must be aware of that Microsoft has added another screen before actual user account login-screen, which can be flicked upward to get access to accounts-screen. But here are few other ways in which you can do so. You can get rid of that screen just by pressing any key on your keyboard, the screen will automatically zoom upwards. You can also achieve the same results by spinning the mouse wheel in downward direction. Quite amusing, isn’t it?

Start Menu:

This feature has received the biggest makeover in Windows 8 over Windows 7. The famous “Start” menu of Windows 7 is displayed in Metro UI in Windows 8 and that too on full screen. You can get access to start menu just by pressing usual “Windows” key or you can take you mouse cursor to lower-left region of screen to open it up.

At first all the options in start menu are randomly ordered. If you prefer them to be organized, you can simply drag and drop menu items to side If you wish to give that group a name, click on the magnifying glass icon situated at lower-right region of the screen to carry out “semantic zoom” and then right click on group to name it.

This makes it easier to find the applications which we use daily from the clutter. If you wish to use simplified “Start menu” then press Windows key + X or make a right click on bottom-left corner to get access to it. Though it is useful, it is nowhere near the old start menu.

Applications:

If you want to search for a particular application which you are tired of searching for, then all you have to do is press “Windows key + Q”. A new application search screen will popup, where you can search all the application just by typing the name. You can also access this app screen by right clicking on the empty space in start menu. You can also pin the any application to the start menu just by right clicking on the name of the application and selecting “pin to start”.

If you want to access all the options related to the application, you can right click on the empty part of the screen while using any application or you can also achieve the same result by pressing “Windows+Z”.

Windows 8 Keyboard shortcuts:

• Windows+Q – application search
• Windows+W – settings search
• Windows+F – files search
• Windows+I – “settings” charm
• Windows+O – rotation lock
• Windows+C – simple “Start menu” and time/date
• Windows+D – Show desktop
• Windows+E – Open Explorer
• Windows+P – Output to projector or second screen

Closing down the applications:

Many of you might have wondered why there is no “close” button on any of the application in Windows 8, right? Because Microsoft has yet bigger plan for Windows 8 when application’s memory usage is  concerned. Whenever you switch the application, the current application is suspended in background which then consumes very less memory and when time comes, when Windows needs more memory, such applications are automatically closed down.

One way to close application is by moving the cursor to the top of the application window until it becomes a hand tool and then dragging the windows to the bottom of the screen. This will close down that application.

Still if you would like to close them down in simple way, you can still use “Alt+F4″ just like previous versions of Windows.

Shutting Down:

You would say, what I am a beginner to show me how to shut down the PC? But with Windows 8, you might need a bit of help as there is no start menu available for you to shut it down directly. So for this you will need access to “setting” charm. Just hover your mouse cursor to the top or bottom right region of the screen and you will see one ribbon carrying few controls popping up. Select settings and then shut down.

Alternatively you can use any of the shortcuts you know like “Alt+F4″ or task manager to shut down the PC.

Screen Captures:

Many times, it happens that we want to share some system snaps with out friends. You can do so by pressing “Windows+print Screen” button on your keyboard. It won’t go anywhere or won’t be copied to clipboard, instead it will be saved to your My Pictures folder.

File History in Windows 8:

Windows 8 sports an excellent feature known as “File history”. This feature can back up all your libraries, favourites and  desk top contacts to another drive. All you have to do is go to Control Panel –> System and Security –> File History. There you can select folder to include in this feature. Once you have selected folders, select destination drive and turn the feature on. Using this feature you can even back up flash drives too.

Virtual Machines:

Yes, Windows 8 do have a feature known as Hyper-V which lets an user create and use virtual machines. Go to OptionalFeatures.exe by searching it in application screen and tick on Hyper-V, it will be added to start screen.

Mount ISO images without third party software:

Windows 8 comes pre-equipped with functionality which allows you to mount disk images without installing any third party software. You can mount an ISO image by right clicking on it and selecting mount. Then you will see another virtual drive has been created besides the actual physical CD drive letter.

So these are some tips and tricks, which we found out in Windows 8. Though the list of new features in Windows 8 is never ending, due to lack of space we can’t accommodate all of them.  But before ending, here is the list of few more features which might interest some of you.

• You can change lock screen trough settings.
• You can ask computer to log you in automatically, again through settings.
• You can set picture password instead usual password comprising characters.

aavishkar Paranjape

Gadget freak, Apple lover; well that’s me! I have been in this wonderful field of freelance writing for quite some time and looking forward to develop more illuminating content related to gadgets or technology as I go along.

More Posts

Follow Me: