50 Essential Tips for Windows 8

It's time to try Microsoft's latest OS. It's not nearly as intiidating as it looks. Windows 8 is bedding in, and you might be trying it out right now. If you're used to Windows 7, XP or Vista, then you're going to notice that quite a bit has changed. In fact Windows has seen the biggest changes since the jump from Windows 3.1 to Windows 9.5.

It's out with the Start menu, and in with the new touch-oriented Start screen, apps, and interface conventions. Even experienced PC users may be left feeling a little lost.

Don't despair, though - help is at hand. We've been investigating every part of Windows 8, uncovering many of its most important tips and tricks, so read our guide and you'll soon be equipped to get the most out of Microsoft's latest release.

Here's the 50 tips

01 LOCK SCREEN
When you start your PC, Windows 8 opens on its lock screen. This is unlike any previous version of Windows, but you just need to tap the space bar, spin the mouse wheel or swipe upwards on a touchscreen to reveal a regular login screen with the user name you created during installation. Enter your password to begin.

02 QUICK MENU
Right-click in the bottom left corner (or hold down the [Windows]+[X] keys) to display a text-based menu that provides easy access to lots of useful applets and features, including Device Manager, Control Panel, Explorer, the Search dialog and lots more.

03 STAY NEAT AND TIDY
Press the [Windows] key to return to the Start screen. To keep things organised, right-click (or swipe down on) apps you don't need and select 'Unpin' to remove them. Drag and drop the other tiles around to organise them as you like.

04 USE THE MOUSE
On a laptop or desktop, you can spin the mouse wheel to scroll backwards and forwards quickly through the Start screen. 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.

05 GROUP YOUR APPS
The Start screen apps are quite randomly ordered, but it's easy to sort them into 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 sign in the bottom right of the screen to zoom out and you can drag and drop the new group (or any of the others) around as a block.

06 NAME A GROUP
Right-click anywhere within the a block of icons (while still zoomed out) and you'll also be able to give your newly created group a name to help identify it. Your Start screen will start to get quite busy if you go on to add another 20 or 30 apps, so this group name will make it much easier to find the tools you need without hunting around for their tiles.

07 BASIC NAVIGATION
Windows 8 launches with its new Start screen. If you're using a tablet then using this will be very straightforward. To navigate, all you have to do is swipe left or right to scroll the screen, and then tap any tile that takes your fancy to run the corresponding app. Apps for Windows 8 are like normal Windows programs, except they run in a special kind of protected environment.

08 FIND YOUR APPLICATIONS
Can't see the program you want? No problem! Hold down [Windows]+[Q], 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 the applications installed on your PC. Browse the various tiles to find what you need and click the relevant app to launch it.

09 EASY ACCESS
If there's a particular application you use all the time, it's worth adding it to your Start screen for quick access. To do this, start by typing part of the name of your application. To access Control Panel, for instance, you would type control. Right-click the Control Panel tile on the Apps Search screen, and click 'Pin to Start'. It's now much easier to find!

10 SHUT YOUR PC DOWN
When you're ready to shut your Windows 8 PC down, all you have to do is move the mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of the screen, select the 'Settings' icon - or just hold down [Windows]+[I] - and you'll see a power button. Click or tap this, then choose 'Shut down' or 'Restart. Some of the tricks you'll be familiar with from previous versions of Windows still apply, too. Press [CtrIMAlt1+[Del3, for instance, then click or tap the power button in the bottom right-hand corner and you'll be presented with the 'Shut down' and 'Restart' options. If you're using the desktop view rather than the Start screen, press [Alt]+[F41 and you'll be able to choose from the 'Shut down', 'Restart', 'Sign out' and 'Switch user' options.

11 USE THE APP BAR
Windows 8 waves goodbye to menus, complex toolbars, and many other interface standards. There will usually be a few options 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 look.

12 WHAT'S RUNNING?
Got several apps open at once? Pressing [Alt]-F[Tab] will show you everything that's running, just as it always has.

13 RUN APPS TOGETHER
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. You can then swap these by swiping again.

14 TASK MANAGER
You can always press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Esc] to see all your running apps in the Task Manager. By default this is simplified, so it's perfect if you don't care about (or actually need) the extra technical detail that appears in earlier versions of Windows, whether you wanted them or not.

15 CLOSE AN APP
Windows 8 apps don't have close buttons, but they don't necessarily need them. Running apps are automatically suspended when you switch to something else, so they're only putting a very minimal drain on your system's resources.

If you decide that you want to close down a Windows app anyway, 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 down to a thumbnail, which you can then drag off the screen to close it. If that sounds like too much hassle, then simply using the [Alt]+[F4] shortcut still works.

If all else fails then you can always press [CtrI]+(Shift1+[Esc] to launch Task Manager, then right-click something in the Apps list and select 'End task'. Beware, though - as with earlier versions of Windows, close something you shouldn't and it's easy to accidentally crash or lock up your PC.

16 MASTER INTERNET EXPLORER IN WINDOWS 8
Select the Internet Explorer tile from the Start screen and you'll launch a full-screen version without toolbars, menus or sidebars, which may leave you feeling lost.

Right-click an empty part of the page or flick your finger down from the top of the screen, 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 screen. Select the spanner icon, followed by 'View on the desktop' to open the current page in the full desktop version of Internet Explorer.

17 ACTIVE APPS LIST
Holding down [Windows]+[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 appers, then drag down.

18 SPELL CHECK EVERYWHERE
Make a spelling mistake and a wavy red line will appear below the word. Tap or right-click this to see suggested alternative spellings, or add the word to your own dictionary if you prefer.

19 RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR
The old context menu isn't available for pinned Start screen apps, but right-click one, and if it's appropriate for that particular app you'll see a 'Run as Administrator' option.

20 MAKE A LARGE TILE SMALLER
Right-click a Windows 8 app's tile, to display a 'Smaller' option that halves its size.

21 HIDE ITEMS
If you want to hide an unused app for the time being, select 'Unpin from Start'. The tile will disappear, but if you change your mind then you can always add it again later.

22 UNINSTALL APPS
If you're certain you'll never want to use a particular app again, simply choose 'Uninstall' to remove it from your system entirely. You can always re-download the app from the Windows store at a later date if you change your mind and decide you want it back again.

23 RESTORE THE START MENU
Start (http://lee-soft.com/vistart) will give you back th familiar menu. It's free, but the setup program will inst. a trial of a Registry cleaner unless you tell it otherwise.

24 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 [Windows]+[I1, click 'More PC settings', select 'Privacy' and click the relevant buttons to disable details you'd rather not share.

25 LOG IN AUTOMATICALLY
Warning: this will make your account lose admin privileges. Hold [Windows]+ [R], type netplwiz and press [Enter]. Clear 'Users must enter a username and password to use this computer', click 'OK' and enter the details of the account that you'd like to be logged in to automatically.

26 OPEN WITH
Double-click an image file within Explorer and you'll be switched to the full-screen Windows 8 Photos app - bad news if you thought you'd escaped such hassles by using the desktop. You can, though, right click the file and select 'Open with' to choose to use a different program.

27 SHUT DOWN QUICKLY
If you don't like the idea of scrolling through app tiles to find the program you need, don't worry - Windows 8 still supports an old shortcut that's perfect if, for example, you want to shut down your PC with a click.

Launch the desktop app, right-click an empty part of the desktop and click 'New > Shortcut Browse to the app you'd like to launch here. For the sake of this example, enter shutdown.exe -s -t 00 to shut down your PC, or shutdown.exe -h -t 00 to make it hibernate, and click 'Next'. Type a shortcut name and click 'Finish'.

Right-click the shortcut select 'Pin to Start' and it should appear on the far right of the Start screen.

28 TAKE A SCREENGRAB
If you'd like to record something for posterity, hold down [Windows]+[PrtSc] and the image won't just go to the clipboard, it'll also be saved to My Pictures.

29 WiNDOWS KEY SHORTCUTS
[Windows]: switches between the Start screen and the last-running Windows 8 app.
[Windows]+[C]: displays the Charms: the Settings, Devices, Share and Search options. [Windows]+[D3: launches the desktop.
[Windows]+[E]: launches Explorer.
[Windows]+[F]: opens the File Search pane.
[Windows]+[H]: opens the Share pane.
[Windows]+01: opens Settings.
[Windows]+[K]: opens the Devices pane.
[Windows]+[L]: locks your PC.
[Windows]+[M]: minimises the current Explorer or Internet Explorer window (works in the full-screen 1E, too).
[Windows]+[0]: toggles device orientation lock on and off.
[Windows]+[P]: switch your display to a second display or projector.
[Windows]+[Q]: open the App Search pane.
[Windowsh[R]: opens the Run box.
[Windows]+[U]: open the Ease of Access Centre.
[Windows]+[V]: cycle through toasts (notifications).
[Windows]+[W]: search your system settings (type POWER for links to all power-related options, say).
[Windows]+[X]: displays a text menu containing lost of useful Windows tools and applets. [Windows]+[Z]: displays the right-click context menu when in a full-screen app.

30 DEFAULT PROGRAMS
Let's fix the photo association for good. Go to 'Control Panel > Programs > Default Programs' and select 'Set your default programs'. Scroll down and select 'Windows Photo Viewer'. Finally, select 'Set this program as default'.

31 TWEAK SMARTSCREEN
Windows 8 now uses Internet Explorer's SmartScreen system-wide checking downloaded files to ensure they're safe before opening them. To tweak its sensitivity, launch Control Panel, open the Action Centre applet, and click 'Change Windows SmartScreen Settings' in the left-hand pane. Here you can keep the warning, but avoid the requirement for administrator approval, or turn SmartScreen off altogether.

32 WINDOWS 8 FILE HISTORY
Windows 8 includes an excellent File History feature, which can regularly and automatically back up your libraries, desktop, contacts and favourites to a second drive. To set this up, go to 'Control Panel > System and Security > File History'. Select 'Turn on' to enable the feature with your settings.

33 CHANGE A BACKGROUND
If you'd like to change your Lock screen User tile or Start screen images then press [Windows]+[I], click 'Change PC settings' and choose 'Personalize'. Browse the tabs and you'll be able to choose alternative images.

34 LOCK SCREEN ALERTS
On the Personalize screen, you can to define apps that will display their status on the Lock screen, including Weather, Mail and more. The app must specifically support this before you can add its status to your Lock screen.

35 SCHEDULE HOUSEWORK
Windows 8 can run common maintenance tasks - software updates, security scanning, system diagnostics and more - at a scheduled convenient time. Unfortunately it doesn't actually ask you what time is convenient, instead setting it to 3am and allowing the system to wake your PC (if hardware and circumstances permit) to do its work. Launch Control Panel and select 'System and Security > Action Centre > Maintenance'. You can now click 'Start maintenance' to launch any outstanding tasks. Select 'Change maintenance settings' to choose a more convenient time for you.

36 PICTURE PASSWORD
Windows 8 enables you to create a picture password, where you choose an image, then draw on it in a combination of taps, lines and circles. Only someone who can reproduce this I specific pattern will be able to log on. Select [Windows]+[l], then 'More PC settings > Users > Create a picture password' to give this a try.

37 HIBRANATE OR SLEEP
You won't necessarily see Hibernate or Sleep in the Windows 8 shutdown dialogs, but if that's a problem then you may be able to restore them Launch the Control Panel Power Options applet (powercfg.cp1) and select Choose what the power buttons do'. If you see a 'Change settings that are currently unavailable' link, choose it, and if Windows 8 detects that your PC supports Sleep and Hibernate options, they'll be displayed. Check the boxes next to whatever you'd like to use, then select 'Save changes'.

38 SIMPLIFY SEARCH
By default, Windows 8 includes every app in its Search results. To make them easier to manage, select [Windows]+[I], then 'Change PC Settings > Search', choose which apps to exclude.

39 TOUCH KEYBOARD
By default, the Touch keyboard will try to help you out by playing sounds as you type, capitalising the first letter of each sentence, adding a full stop if you double-tap the spacebar and more. If any of this gets in your way, though, you can turn the relevant feature off: just go to [Windows]+[I], 'Change PC Settings > General' and customise the keyboard to suit your needs.

40 SYNC AND PRIVACY
Windows 8 can sync your settings with other PCs and devices, but that's not always a good idea when it comes to things like passwords. Hold the [Windows] key and press [I], then select 'Change PC settings > Sync your settings' and disable anything you'd rather not share.

41 QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR
Windows Explorer in Windows 8 features a Quick Access toolbar immediately above the menu, providing access to options like New Folder, Minimise, Undo and more. It's customisable, too - click the arrow to the right of the default buttons, in the Explorer window caption bar, and choose whatever options you need. You can add any other ribbon option by right-clicking it and selecting 'Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

42 SUPER COMMAND PROMPT
Need to run a command prompt with administrator privileges? Just click the File menu in Explorer and select 'Open command prompt > Open command prompt as administrator'.

43 ADVANCED OPTIONS
There are loads of new advanced options on the File menu. For example, you can open a new window in a new process, open Explorer, and even delete your Recent Places and Address Bar histories with a click.

44 SHOW ALL FOLDERS
The default Windows 8 Explorer view doesn't show all the usual drives and folders - Control Panel, Recycle Bin and so on - in the left-hand navigation pane. This minimalist approach certainly keeps the display simple and clean, and if you decide you want to see all your drives then you can just click 'Computer', but if you prefer to see everything upfront then it only takes a moment. Click 'View > Options', check 'Show all folders' and select 'OK'.

45 OPEN NEW FILE TYPES
If you find a file type that none of your applications can handle, right-click on the file in Windows Explorer and choose 'Open with'. You'll see an option labelled 'Look for an app in the Store', which enables Windows 8 to use an automated search tool to find and highlight an app for you. You can also click or tap 'More options' to see currently installed programs and apps that may be able to open the file.

46 APPS WON'T LAUNCH?
Have you clicked or tapped a Windows 8 app, and nothing else happened? This problem is often caused by display issues. In particular, Windows 8 apps don't currently support screen resolutions lower than 1,024 x 768 (or 1,366 x 768 when snapping), so you should try increasing your resolution if you're having difficulty (launch the desktop, then right-click and select 'Screen resolution'). If that's no help, try updating your video drivers.

47 RESTART EXPLORER
If Explorer locks up for some reason, regaining control is now very easy. There's no need to close the process - simply press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Esc], select Explorer in the list, click 'Restart' and Windows 8 will handle the rest.

48 MOUNT ISO FILES
Do you need to take a closer look at an ISO file in Windows 8 without burning it to a disc? It's easy - right-click the file in Explorer, then select 'Mount' and you'll be shown options that will let you view it as a virtual drive, launch the files it contains, or add more if you like.

49 CHECK PERFORMANCE
If your system seems sluggish, the revamped Task Manager may be able to offer some clues. Press [CtrIFF[ShiftifiEsc] to take a look. Click 'More Details'. The Processes tab reveals what's currently using your CPU time, RAM, hard drive and network bandwidth. The Performance tab gives you a graphical overview of resource use over the last few seconds, while App History looks back over days or more to reveal which app is the most resource-hungry.

50 LAST RESORT
Windows 8 has always performed well for us, but if you find that your Windows 8 PC won't boot at some point, you need to press [Shift]+[F81 during the launch process to access its recovery tools. Access the 'Troubleshoot > Advanced Options', and you'll be able to try the Automatic Repair tool, which will attempt to fix the problems you're experiencing.