80. Ten tips for working in Windows 8.1

No matter how you use Windows 8.1 — on a desktop with mouse and keyboard or via the touchscreen — there are some ways to make it easier and more efficient to use. Following are ten tips for getting the most out of Windows 8.1.


1. Use Search to start applications.

There’s no need to browse the Apps list to find a particular program, and no need to remember what category it’s in. To start an application, display the Start screen (pressing the Windows key is one way) and then type the first few letters of the application’s name. In the search results that appear, click the application.

　
2. Reorganize the Start screen.


The Start screen contains tiles for many applications, mainly the ones that come free with Windows. These shortcuts are merely suggestions, though; you aren’t bound to any of them. Removing a tile from the Start screen doesn’t uninstall the application, and you can still access that application from the Apps list any time you want it.

In short, don’t be afraid to remove tiles from the Start screen and replace them with tiles for the applications that you actually use on a regular basis. You can always re-pin any applications there that you end up using more than you thought.

To remove a tile, right-click the tile and choose Unpin from Start. Notice that you’re not deleting the application. You are just releasing it from being represented on the Start screen.

　
3. Pin shortcuts to the taskbar.


You might appreciate that Windows lets you pin shortcuts to the desktop’s taskbar. You could pin all your favorite apps there, and avoid the Start screen altogether 90 percent of the time. Pinned shortcuts on the taskbar appear on the left side, just to the right of the Start button. By default, the taskbar has two pinned shortcuts: Internet Explorer and File Explorer.

There’s a Pin to Taskbar command on the right-click menu for an app. You can use that to pin any application to the Start screen. You can even pin Windows 8-style applications that don’t run on the desktop; when you run one of those, Windows switches to full-screen view for that application.

　
4. Make icons and text larger. 

An LCD screen looks best at its highest resolution (its native resolution), but with today’s high-res screens, the highest resolution is pretty darned high. That means that the text and icons on the screen may be very tiny. Unless you have great vision, and just happen to like everything being small, that can be a problem.

For example, this screen is in 1920 x 1080 resolution and uses the default size for text and icons (Smaller). So tiny!

To change the icon and text size without changing the resolution, right-click the desktop and choose Screen Resolution. Click the Make Text and Other Items Larger or Smaller hyperlink near the bottom of the window. In the Change the Size of All Items area, choose the desired size: Smaller, Medium, or Larger.

　
5. Switch between programs quickly.


When you are running multiple applications, there are lots of different ways to switch among them:

Hold down the Alt key and press and release the Tab key. Each time you do so, a different application becomes active on the bar that appears in the center of the screen. When the item you want is highlighted, release the Alt key to make that window or application active.

If you’re viewing the desktop, click the application’s icon on the taskbar.

To switch among Windows 8 style apps, point the mouse pointer to the top left corner of the screen. A thumbnail of the last-used Windows 8 app appears. Click it to switch to it, or move the mouse downward to see a bar containing thumbnails of all open Windows 8 apps, and then click the one you want. If nothing happens when you point at the upper-right corner of the screen, no Windows 8 apps are open.

　
6. Right-click the Start button.


From the desktop, right-click the Start button, and a shortcut menu appears. On this shortcut menu are links to almost every utility program you might ever want to access in Windows, including Control Panel, Device Manager, Computer Management, File Explorer, Search, Run, and Power Options. It’s all right here.

　
7. Use libraries (or not).


Windows has four default libraries: Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. You can also create your own libraries. The Documents library, for example, monitors two folders: the Documents folder (or My Documents folder) for the current Windows user and also the Documents folder (or My Documents) in the Public User folder.

When you open File Explorer in Windows 8.1, there’s no shortcut for Libraries in the navigation bar, and File Explorer opens to the This PC location. Each of those folders in the Folders section of the listing represent system folders for the currently signed-in user.

If you want to go back to Windows 8.0 and an earlier way of handling libraries, it’s an easy fix. In the navigation pane in File Explorer, right-click and choose Show Libraries. When you do that, the default location shown when File Explorer opens is the Libraries list, showing the four default library locations. The Libraries shortcuts also appear in the navigation pane.

　
8. Save location favourites in File Explorer.


If there are certain locations you use a lot, you can choose to place shortcuts for them in the Favorites list in File Explorer. The Favorites list appears at the top of the navigation pane. To place a shortcut to a folder there, just drag-and-drop that folder from the main pane into the Favorites list.

　
9. Uninstall unwanted applications.


Removing unwanted software can free up hard disk space. Removing software can also make a PC run more cleanly and efficiently if the application being removed loaded a part of itself into memory when the computer started up.

To see what software is installed, and potentially remove some of it, open the Control Panel. Under Programs, click Uninstall a program. Click an unwanted program. Click Uninstall.

To uninstall a Windows 8 app, right-click its shortcut, either on the Start screen or on the Apps list, and choose Uninstall. No prompts or options — it just removes itself quietly.

　
10. Prevent programs from loading at Startup.

 
To see what programs currently load at startup, right-click the taskbar and choose Task Manager. If you don’t see multiple tabs across the top of the window, click More details.

Click the Startup tab, and a list of startup programs appears. The Status column shows whether or not the program is currently set to load at startup, and the Startup Impact column shows how much of an impact on startup time and memory usage this program causes. To disable a program, click it and then click the Disable button.

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79. Finding a misplaced file in Windows 8

Windows 8.1 creates folders to help you organize your files by type. You, the user, should also create folders in which to store your files, separated into type, usage, application etc. Within this mass of folders, it's easy to lose a file. Follow these steps to find a file:



1, To search for a misplaced file, begin on the Start screen.

Click on the Search icon (little magnifying glass). Type the name of a document or photo you have on your computer. The search results panel appears.

To search using a touchscreen, swipe from the right edge to display the charms bar. Select the Search charm. Select in the search box to display the virtual keyboard.

　







2 If you don’t see the document or photo you want, narrow the list of items by opening the Everywhere drop-down menu and choosing Files.

Initially, the search panel shows settings, files, web images, and web videos in the search results.

3 To open a file found in Step 1 or 2, select that file. Hit Enter 
Then, close the app that opens that file by using one of these methods:

Mouse: Move the mouse pointer to the top of the screen. When the pointer changes to a hand symbol, click and hold down the left mouse button. Drag the app down until part of the app is off the bottom of the screen. Then release the left mouse button to close the app and return to the Start screen.

Touchscreen: Swipe down from the top of the screen until part of the app is off the bottom of the screen. Then lift your finger to close the app and return to the Start screen.

Keyboard: Press Alt+F4.

Strictly speaking, if you find what you’re looking for, stop looking. (No extra charge for pearls of wisdom.) In this case, however, keep looking because doing so reveals important information about how files are organized and how you can take control of that organization.



ALTERNATIVE METHOD 




4 On the Start screen, select the Desktop tile. On the desktop, select the File Explorer icon in the taskbar.


File Explorer opens. Note the ribbon, which is the toolbar at the top of the window.

On the ribbon, tools are grouped by tabs, which in File Explorer consist of File, Home, Share, and View, as well as other tabs that appear based on the selection. Tabs are further divided into sections, labeled below the related tools. (Note, for example, the Clipboard section on the Home tab.)

5 Click your mouse into the Search box, below the ribbon and to the right. Type the name or part-name of the item you are looking for.

As you type, File Explorer displays any matching files, highlighting the text that matches. The figure shows the results of a search on my computer using the search term sierra.

On a touchscreen, the virtual keyboard doesn’t appear on the desktop until you select the keyboard icon on the right side of the taskbar.

If the search results include too many files, making it hard to see the one you want, type more of the file name in the Search box. The number of matching files should decrease as you type more text in the box.

6 To change the focus of your search to another more specific folder, select the relevant folder in the Navigation pane.

The focus of a search — where File Explorer searches — determines what files and folders are found. Because File Explorer opens with the focus on your whole PC, your initial search looks for files and folders throughout your computer.

If you have an idea where the file might be, such as in the Pictures, or Music folder, then navigate to that folder and start your search from the same box in that folder. This will narrow down the results.

You can use Search Tools in the ribbon to refine a search, as needed. Start a search, and then select the Search tab. In the section labeled Refine, select Date Modified and then select a time period ranging from Today to Last Year. Select Kind to limit the search to specific types of files. You can even select by size and other properties.

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