Tips for new Win 8 user..

C_Mababejive

Hi..

I have on order a new lappy which will no doubt come with win8.

A couple of months ago a friend showed me their new lappy with win8 on it as they were struggling to use it. I had a play for about 20 mins and to be honest, i was struggling too!

I'm pretty tach savvy..

So when my new lappy comes,what top tips can you think of to ease my transition?

My current lappy dual boots vista and linux ubuntu

Johnmcl7

It depends whether you want to stick with stock Windows 8 or you're fine with installing third party software to modify it. If the latter, I'd recommend something like classicshell which makes windows 8 behave much like Windows 7, it's simple to install and configure as you want.

If you want to stick with stock Windows 8:

- many of the controls have been moved to the right so items like shutdown and the wireless manager are now access by hovering in the lower right or top right corners (or pressing Windows + C) to pull out the charms bar and click the lower settings icon

- there's handy power users menu if you right click at the bottom left of the screen or press windows + X which gives you direct access to add/remove programs, event viewer, control panel etc.

- by default most standard file associations point the files to the touch/Modern version rather than the desktop versions. So I'd recommend changing the standard file assocations (*.jpg, wmv etc.) to use the desktop/Windows 7 versions

- the start screen can be useful if you get rid of all the touch applications and just replace them with the software they want to use, it means you get quick one click access to most of your applications without cluttering up the desktop

That's for Windows 8 anyway, I haven't changed my machines to 8.1 as there seems to be more niggles with it. On the whole Windows 8 is nowhere near as different as people make out, it does feel a bit odd initially but I find with a little time spent you realise you can ignore the touch side (which I do on the touch systems as well) and use it like Windows 7 along with getting the advantages of Windows 8. There's a lot of small touches but I find it's quicker than 7, task manager is vastly improved, the Win + X menu is handy and other little things like hardware devices having their own individual event logs showing which driver versions were installed and when.

edit: I agree with the post below about sticking with stock Windows 8, this is how I use it as I use a variety of machines and it's easier to support others if you're used to the stock OS. I only use classicshell for people that struggle with PC's and I'm not going to be continually supporting.

John

RumRat

Look online at some of the instructional videos/sites and learn how to use it. Try this before you succumb to the inevitable advice of 'Install Classic Shell'.
I never see the point of giving in before you've even started. Its not a hard system it's just different.
Give it a go first, then at least you will be able to use both desktop and apps.
Download W8.1 and the new update as MS are only giving updates to updated machines in the future.
Best tip....Enjoy the learning curve.:)

Steve059

I soon got used to Windows 8's ... how can I put this kindly? ... idiosyncrasies ... on my fiancee's new laptop. You soon get used where not to move the pointer. Disabling "tapping" on the touch pad also stops a lot of unexpected things.

The problem is now trying to reproduce things deliberately, when you do eventually need to do them.

However, from the noises my fiancee makes whilst using it, I'm thinking of doing a "Windows 8 Sound Scheme". For example, open window is "Uh?". Unexpected error is "What the !!!!?".

KxMx

alt+f4 brings up the shutdown menu

right click-personalise-change desktop icons- tick computer & control panel

Strip out the Metro screen of the junk, add in your own programmes and re-arrange as desired, my most frequently used are on the left/"landing" area.

If you ever get really lost just hit the Windows key until you get back to the Metro, then click to where you wanted to go/were.

Those are the things I have found most handy.

What I personally did is spend quite a few weeks using it and getting used to the layout and navigation. Then, I figured out what was taking too many clicks/couldn't find easily and went onto Google for better ways.

RobTang

I always find this guy's videos to be useful http://www.hanselman.com/windows8/

OnAndUp

I'm going be setting up my new W8 desktop in the next couple of days so will follow this thread with interest! As I haven't even seen or tried it yet!

I'm hoping to give it a go for a while before installing Classic Shell if it just drives me bonkers!!

Should I automatically get prompts to upgrade it to 8.1?

Thanks!

RumRat

OnAndUp wrote: »

I'm going be setting up my new W8 desktop in the next couple of days so will follow this thread with interest! As I haven't even seen or tried it yet!

I'm hoping to give it a go for a while before installing Classic Shell if it just drives me bonkers!!

Should I automatically get prompts to upgrade it to 8.1?

Thanks!

If you go to the store 8.1 will be there as a download. The 8.1.1 update will then be a normal Windows scheduled update.

PenguinJim

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the Windows key shortcuts yet. They have been useful for years, but with Windows 8 they're nearly essential.

Windows Key-D goes to Win8 Desktop. Windows Key by itself goes to Metro, and then you can start typing the name of any program you want to launch. For example, want to bring up notepad? Press Windows key, n, o... that should be enough.

After a few weeks of practice it seems faster to me than clicking through the Start menu for some things.

With a touchscreen, don't forget that swiping in from the right brings up a bunch of options.

marvin

It took a while but I got it the way I wanted it without any 3rd party app help. Remember this is really just W7 with a fancy frock on and I now have it operating in W7 mode, mainly.

Don't forget if going to the start screen at start up annoys you as it did me W8.1 allows boot straight to desktop. (simple setting change)

Creating shortcuts is a faff and the charm thing is anything but charming, getting in the way most of the time as it does.

It is nowhere near as annoying as Office 10 is where I think the brief for the focus group that set it up was. "How can we make this as hard as possible and how many useful items can we hide to make it a game trying to do simple things?"

I seem to spend half my time at work helping people find the bits on it they can't find anymore since we started migrating from 2003 to 2010.

Jivesinger

RumRat wrote: »

If you go to the store 8.1 will be there as a download. The 8.1.1 update will then be a normal Windows scheduled update.

You might find that the Store 8.1 is already updated with the 8.1.1 update now, so the later step may not apply (although I'd certainly check for updates in any case).