31 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets

Windows 8 has been with us for well over a year now, and if you're used to previous versions of Windows then you're going to notice that quite a bit has changed. In fact, Windows 8 has seen the biggest change since the jump from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95.

Out goes the Start menu, in comes the new touch-oriented Start screen with new Windows 8-style apps and new interface conventions. Even experienced PC users may be left feeling a little lost.

Don't despair, though, help is at hand. We've poked around 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.

1. Open from the 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. Handle basic navigation

Windows 8's interface is all colourful 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. Group apps

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.

Windows 8.1 now provides a special Customise mode with much the same functionality. Right-click an empty part of the Start screen, or swipe up, tap Customise, then drag and drop tiles or rename app groups to whatever you need.

4. Use the 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. Download the Win+X Menu Editor and you'll be able to further customise the list with programs of your own.

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. Press Ctrl+Tab, click the arrow button at the bottom left of the Start Screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen and a list of your installed programs will appear. If you can't see what you need immediately, start typing an application name to search for it. Or, in Windows 8.1, click the arrow to the right of "Apps" to sort your programs by date installed, most used, category or name.

6. Make access easier

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. Shut 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'.

In Windows 8.1, press Win+X, click 'Shut down or sign out' and select the option you need.

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' options.

8. Use the 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. Launch apps from the desktop

Windows 8 doesn't provide any obvious way to launch apps straight from the desktop, but this is actually surprisingly easy to set up.

Right-click on an empty part of your desktop, select New > Shortcut, and type Explorer Shell:AppsFolder in the "Location" box. Click Next, enter a name - "All Programs", for instance - and click Finish. Double-clicking that shortcut will open a folder listing all your installed programs, including the apps, and you can launch whatever you like.

10. See 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.

11. Close 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.

12. Hide the taskbar

If you run Windows 8 on a tablet then it makes sense to keep your taskbar on the left, where it takes minimal space and is best placed for easy thumb access. Switch your tablet to portrait orientation, though, and you'll suddenly find the taskbar grabs much more valuable screen real estate.

It doesn't have to be this way, however - not if you install Surface Taskbar Helper. This neat tool enables you to set the taskbar to "auto hide" based on its current orientation, so for instance you can always show it in landscape view, but hide it in portrait, which is a very flexible way to get the most out of your display space.

13. Master 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.

14. 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.

15. Run two apps side by side

Modern UI apps are what Microsoft calls 'immersive' applications, which basically means they run full-screen - but there are ways to view up to four at once.

On Windows 8, 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.

Windows 8.1 expands on this and can display up to four apps simultaneously, if you've enough screen space. Move your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, and when it changes to a hand icon, drag and drop your app to the left or right. Once you've moved it enough, a dividing line will appear, you can drop the app, and it'll appear in just that part of the screen. Use the bar between your apps to resize their window widths, or if you need to make one full-screen again.

16. 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.

17. Make a large app tile smaller

You'll notice that Windows 8 apps come in different tile sizes, and these won't always be set up as you like (if you're not really interested in Sports, say, you might prefer that tile to be small). In Windows 8, right-clicking a tile displays 'Smaller' or 'Larger' options which you can use to resize it. Or in Windows 8.1, right-click a tile, 'Resize' and choose from one of four tile sizes: 'Large', 'Wide', 'Medium' and 'Small'.

18. 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'.)

And, if you're sure you'll never want to use an app again, choose 'Uninstall' will remove it entirely.

Of course, if you like to try out lots of apps then uninstalling them one at a time can get a little tedious. If that becomes a problem, give Windows App Boss a try - it enables you to select multiple apps and remove them all at once.

19. Customise app 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.

The new Task Manager also includes a History feature that tracks the CPU time used by every application. If you're wondering what someone's doing most of the time on their Windows 8 system, launching Task Manager (press Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and clicking the App History tab will give you an idea. But if you don't want someone doing the same to you, clicking App History > Delete Usage History will clear all the figures.

20. Show 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 are ways to bring some of them back.

As we've mentioned, pressing Win+X launches a menu with plenty of technical tools: 'Device Manager', 'Network Connections', 'Computer Management' and more.

If you need more power, 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.

21. Search everywhere

The Windows 8.1 Search tool is no longer just about scanning your own system. It's now integrated with Bing, delivering internet results and (sometimes) even Wikipedia-style summaries of whatever you're searching for.

To give this a try, launch the Charms bar, click Search, type 'Marilyn Monroe' and press Enter. As well as seeing any matches in your own documents, pictures or videos, you'll get a picture, brief bio (birth date, husbands, siblings, date and place of death), and links to films, videos, albums and more.

That's just the start, though. Swipe left (or spin the mouse wheel) and you'll find more pictures and summaries for all the top 'Marilyn' search engine hits: IMDB, Wikipedia, MarilynMonroe.com and Biography.com, as well as further links for images, videos, related searches and more. Click any of these to open a browser window at that site.

This extra search power can be very useful, but if you'd prefer to keep desktop searches to your own system then it's easily disabled. Launch the Charms bar, click Settings > Change PC Settings > Search, and set 'Use Bing to search online' to 'Off'.

22. 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.

It's all done via a single Registry key, too. Just launch REGEDIT and set the value of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx\AllowAllTrustedApps key to 1.

23. Pin app contents to the Start screen

It's easy to pin apps to the Start screen (right-click, select "Pin"), but you don't have to stop there. Many apps also enable you to pin particular content for easy access later.

If you want more ideas for your upcoming holiday in Rome, for instance, you could open the Travel app, right-click, select "Destinations" and choose the "Rome" tile. And then repeat those steps every single time you revisit the page. Or, alternatively, right-click your preferred Destination tile, select "Pin...", and you'll be able to access it directly from the Start screen.

Similarly, if you use the Mail app with multiple accounts then just open these, and you can right-click to select separate live tiles for each one - much more useful.

24. Log in automatically

WARNING: Your account will lose admin privileges as a result of this step

Of course even if you remove the lock screen, you'll still be forced to manually log in every time your system starts. This can also be resolved at speed, though, using much the same technique as in previous versions of Windows.

Hold down the Windows key, press R, type 'netplwiz' and press Enter to launch the User Accounts dialog.

Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" box and click OK.

Enter the user name and password of the account that you'd like to be logged in automatically, click OK, restart your system and this time it should boot directly to the Start screen.

25. Use six apps at once

Launch a Windows 8 app and it appears full-screen, which is fine on a small tablet but not so impressive when you've got a 27-inch widescreen monitor to fill.

Toolbox for Windows 8 helps out, though, by bundling 12 common apps in a single package. You get a Facebook client, browser, calculator, weather app, clock and more. And instead of always appearing full-screen, you can run and interact with two, three, four, even six of these tools, all at the same time.

26. Replace the Start menu

If Windows 8's search and navigation tools still leave you pining for the regular Start menu, installing the free Classic Shell will replace it with something very similar.

Install it and you get the standard menu of your installed programs, for instance, along with Search and Run boxes, the Recent Items menu, and Windows 7-type shutdown options. And it can make Windows 8 boot directly to the desktop, too.

Classic Shell doesn't entirely ignore the modern UI world, though. A menu of installed apps enables you to launch them from the desktop, and you can alternatively switch to the Start screen with a click.

27. Learn Windows key shortcuts

• Win : switch between the Start screen and the last-running Windows 8 app
• Win + C : displays the Charms: the Settings, Devices, Share and Search options
• Win + D : launches the desktop
• Win + E : launches Explorer
• Win + F : opens the File Search pane
• Win + H : opens the Share pane
• Win + I : opens Settings
• Win + K : opens the Devices pane
• Win + L : locks your PC
• Win + M : minimises the current Explorer or Internet Explorer window (works in the full-screen IE, too)
• Win + O : toggles device orientation lock on and off
• Win + P : switch your display to a second display or projector
• Win + Q : open the App Search pane
• Win + R : opens the Run box
• Win + U : open the Ease of Access Centre
• Win + V : cycle through toasts (notifications)
• Win + W : search your system settings (type POWER for links to all power-related options, say)
• Win + X : displays a text menu of useful Windows tools and applets
• Win + Z : displays the right-click context menu when in a full-screen app
• Win + + : launch Magnifier and zoom in
• Win + - : zoom out
• Win + , : Aero peek at the desktop
• Win + Enter : launch Narrator
• Win + PgUp : move the current screen to the left-hand monitor
• Win + PgDn : move the current screen to the right-hand monitor
• Win + PrtSc : capture the current screen and save it to your Pictures folder
• Win + Tab : switch between running apps

28. Boot desktop apps faster

While you can still set up desktop apps to load when Windows 8 starts, they don't have the priority they once did. Quite the opposite, in fact - Windows 8 delays their launch to ensure everything else starts more quickly. This can make the system more responsive as your system boots, but if you're switching straight to the desktop then it may slow you down, so it may be worth turning off the delay, just to see if you can spot any improvement.

Launch REGEDIT and browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Serialize.

Create the Serialize key if it doesn't exist, and select it in the left-hand pane.

Right-click in the right-hand pane, create a new DWORD value called StartupDelayInMSec, and leave it set at zero (or, if a value is already there, set it to zero).

Restart and the desktop apps will now launch more quickly. Try three or four test boots to see if there's any improvement, and if not, delete the StartupDelayInMSec value to restore the default settings.

29. Launch programs fast

If you're a fan of keyboard shortcuts and don't like the idea of scrolling through app tiles to find the program you need, don't worry, Windows 8 still supports a useful old shortcut. Which is perfect if, say, you're looking to be able 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 application you'd like to launch here. Or for the sake of this example, enter

shutdown.exe -s -t 00

to shut down your PC, or

shutdown.exe -h -t 00

to hibernate it, and click Next. Type a shortcut name - 'Hibernate', say - and click Finish.

Right-click the shortcut, select Pin to Start and it should appear on the far right of the Start screen - just drag the tile wherever you like.

30. Take intelligent screengrabs

If a Windows 8 application is showing something interesting and you'd like to record it for posterity, then hold down the Windows key, press PrtSc, and the image won't just go to the clipboard: it'll also be automatically saved to your My Pictures folder with the name Screenshot.png (and then Screenshot(1).png, Screenshot(2).png and so on).

You might hope that pressing Win+Alt+PrtSc would similarly save an image of the active window, but no, sadly not. Maybe next time.

31. Default to Photo Viewer

Double-click an image file within Explorer and it won't open in a Photo Viewer window any more, at least not by default. Instead 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.

If you'd like to fix this, go to Control Panel > Programs > Default Programs and select Set your default programs.

Scroll down and click Windows Photo Viewer in the Programs list.

Finally, click 'Set this program as default' if you'd like the Viewer to open all the file types it can handle, or select the 'Choose default' options if you prefer to specify which file types it should open. Click OK when you're done.