Making Windows 8 that little bit more usable

First of all, let me just say that I actually really quite like Windows 8, so don't expect this to deteriorate into a list of reasons why you shouldn't bother. I upgraded my home desktop almost as soon as I could get my mits on the upgrade, and it's been running on my work desktop for a little while now.

Once I'd got past the initial confusion everyone gets on seeing a new way of doing things, and focused instead on how I actually use my machine and the benefits available in this version, I was well and truly a convert. Yes TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) jars a little at first, no I really don't like it, however and this is the important point, I hardly ever use it! Since Windows 7* introduced pinning your apps to the task bar I've generally had all my regularly used apps pinned, so I rarely needed to click start for anything other than shutting down. So if I didn't use the Start menu in 7, I probably won't use TIFKAM in 8, so it doesn't matter what it looks like!

All that said, there are a number of little tips and tricks I've discovered to resolve some of the little annoyances, and make Windows 8 far better (in my opinion) than it is out of the box. I figured I'd write about them here, if they help someone else then great, if not I've got a handy crib sheet if I need to set things up again in the future.**

• For quick access to the desktop when starting Windows, drag the "Desktop" tile on the start menu to the top left hand corner. This then becomes the default tile and is already selected. When you login to Windows and are presented with the Start menu, simply hit return and you'll be at the desktop.

• To start your applications without needing to use the Start menu the simplest way it to pin them to your task bar. Once they're running, simply right click the taskbar icon, and you'll see an option to "Pin this program to the taskbar". When the app is closed the icon remains without the box surrounding it, making it easy to start next time. You can also re-order them by dragging and dropping them into the order you prefer.

• If you can't find an app, either type its name in the Start menu to search for it, or (and this isn't always obvious), right click in some empty space and you'll see an option for "All apps" which will being up a complete list of them.

• Accessing the Shutdown/Restart menu can be done in multiple ways, moving the mouse to the bottom right and selecting settings, pressing Windows-C to access the Charms menu, or Windows-I to go direct to the Setting Charm, but if nothing is open or no applications are selected (eg you clicked on the desktop / taskbar) you can press ALT-F4 to go direct to the menu.

• By default Hibernate is disabled in Windows 8, however you can get it back using this method. http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/How-to-Enable-Hibernate-31f06825

• If you like having easy access to My Computer, documents, the Control Panel etc, you can get a measure of this functionality back via a taskbar toolbar. Right click on the taskbar, go to Toolbars and select Desktop. You'll now see on the right hand end of the task bar a new entry title "Desktop >>", clicking on the >>'s gives you access to many of those things you previously had through the start menu.

• And finally, if / when you accidentally open something in Metro mode (it loads full screen, and the taskbar etc is no longer visible) it's simple enough to get back to the desktop, however you'll notice a lack of familiar x to close the application. In Metro mode, move the mouse to the top middle of the screen and the mouse changes to a hand icon, click and drag down until the application is gone (effectively dragging the application off your desktop).

Next post will be some of the useful changes you can make in Office 2013.

* It may have started in Vista, but I never used it and prefer to think of it as a beta version of Windows 7!

** Note, there are various add-ons and start bar replacements out there but I haven't touched them. I spend enough time supporting other peoples machines that I don't want mine moving too far from the default.

Windows 8 - First thoughts and future telephone support issues

Now that Windows 8 has been released I've been having a play with it this weekend. In terms of usability I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it currently. On the one hand I'm sure in time I could come to get used to the new way of doing things, and the workarounds to enable the old ways, but on the other I can only imagine the pain and misery to come from trying to do telephone support for it.

The key problem I see is with the schizophrenic nature of Windows 8. Having two completely different UIs within a single OS will at best make things interesting, at worst confuse the hell out of people.

It's not helped by a lack of distinction between the two in regards to names. For instance, now that it's no longer officially called Metro, we have the Desktop and the Modern UI, but the latter isn't a name it's a description! The Desktop UI doesn't exactly look dated either, in fact I'd say it was positively modern. What will we call it in several years time when the "Modern UI" is anything but? It's not helped by many sources also referring to it as the Windows 8 UI, therefore throwing three different names into the mix.

Then there's Internet Explorer, with two essentially different applications using the same name. They function differently, have different options and ways of doing things, yet how do you easily differentiate them verbally? I've seen enough users struggle to understand what IE is at the best of times, but at least then you can tell them to look for the big blue "e". Now you also have to check which UI they're using, otherwise your instructions will be meaningless.

Internet Explorer also handles downloads differently, which could be fun for anyone using a remote support application (eg, getting the client to go to a URL, enter some details, and run a program to give you remote access to their machine). Since IE 9 the download dialog window has been tied to the window that initiated it. If the download was initiated via a popup (eg it provides the download link to click), and that popup closed once the download started, the download dialog would disappear once completed. Fortunately you could bring it back by pressing CTRL-J, and then choose to save or run the download. This still works in the desktop IE 10, but doesn't in Metro IE 10. Instead you get a dialog appear for 2 or 3 seconds giving you the run / save / cancel options, and if you don't respond in time it vanishes. Thus far I've been unable to find a way to retrieve it other than running the download again.

All that said, I have found a few handy features.

Windows + D - Show Desktop - Nothing new here, but importantly it will get you out of Metro to the normal desktop UI.

Windows + C - Charms menu - This is the Metro menu you get by hovering to the right hand corners to access things like settings, shutdown/restart etc.

Windows + Z - Tabs / Address menu in Metro IE and All apps from Metro start page - Again, saves messing around with tricky mouse positioning.

Finally, while there's no way to disable Metro on startup, there is a work around to make getting to the desktop easier. On the metro start screen, drag the Desktop tile up to the top left hand corner (eg top row, first column). Now after typing your password and pressing Enter to login you can immediately go to the desktop by pressing Enter a second time (since the top left tile is automatically selected).

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w8itprogeneral/thread/66df8624-d6bc-46c8-a7a8-2600c6f12193