43. Changes to Windows 8.

Even before Windows 8 was released last October, it was clear that Microsoft hadn’t got it right. The question was, would they fix it? If so, when and how? And what would they actually ‘fix’?

We’ve learned the answers to some of these questions over the last few months: yes, there will be a new version later this year (named Windows 8.1), it will address some of the complaints about Windows 8, it will be a free upgrade, and it will demonstrate that Microsoft is now listening to customers. As regards what would actually be fixed, though, any answers have been based mainly on rumour, supposition and hope.

Some of the major changes:

•There will be an option to land at the desktop after logging in, rather than at the Start screen – a tiny detail, but one that will make Windows 8 feel a lot more like its predecessors.
•The Start button makes a welcome return to the taskbar: clicking the Start button takes you to the Start screen; right-clicking it opens the handy ‘Power User’ menu (currently available by pressing Win+X).
•The Start screen can display the same background wallpaper picture as your desktop, making for a less-jarring experience when you switch back and forth between the two.
•The Start screen can be made to display its ‘All Apps’ view by default – an alphabetical list of every installed program (and the closest thing Windows 8 has to a Start menu).
•That ‘All Apps’ view can also be made to arrange all your programs by usage, so that the programs you use most appear first in the list.
•Apps will update themselves automatically in the same way that Windows itself does, rather than forcing you to visit the Windows Store and update them manually.

That’s not the whole list by any means, but it covers the main points, and for anyone already using Windows 8 it should be apparent that some real improvements are being made. We’ll see most (if not all) of these on 26th June, when Microsoft releases a ‘Public Preview’ of the new version which, like the final release due later in the year, will be free for all Windows 8 users to install.

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42. Add Favourite Options to the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Word

If you use Word 2013, 2010 or 2007, do you find yourself hunting through the Ribbon trying to find a favourite option but not remembering quite where it is?

Perhaps you know exactly where it is, but you find it annoying to have to keep switching between tabs to reach it?

If so, here’s a simple tip you may not have discovered. Almost any button you find on the Ribbon can be added to the ‘Quick Access Toolbar’, the little toolbar in the extreme top-left corner of the Word window. The handy thing about this little toolbar is that it’s always visible, so the buttons it contains are always just one click away.

Adding a new item to it is easy. As an example, let’s say that you frequently need to add comments to Word documents, meaning that you’re forever flipping to the Review tab and clicking the New Comment button. Go to that tab now and right-click on the New Comment button. On the menu that appears, click Add to Quick Access Toolbar. Hey presto – that button now appears in the little toolbar, ready and waiting whenever you need it.

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41. How Do I Take a Screenshot in Windows 8?

A ‘screenshot’, as you may know, is a picture of what you see on your screen. It’s useful to take a screenshot for your own reference in some situations (a confirmation web page shown after you buy something online, for instance) or to send to someone by email when seeking help with a problem on your PC. Another reason for taking a screenshot is if you see a wonderful picture which you want to save for future use for use as a Wallpaper or article illustration.

In Windows 8 there are two ways of taking screenshots. The first is the way that’s common to all versions of Windows:
•To take a screenshot of the whole screen, press the Print Screen key (sometimes abbreviated to Prt Scn; it’s usually just above the block of Home/End/Page keys). To take a screenshot of just the window you’re currently using, press Alt+Print Screen.

The screenshot is now stored on the Windows Clipboard. From here, you can paste it into a Word document or a picture-editing program by pressing Ctrl+V and then save the document or picture.

The alternative method, which is new in Windows 8, is to press Win+Print Screen. (Win refers to the Windows key which appears on all modern keyboards). This takes a screenshot of your whole screen, but it doesn't leave you to muck around with pasting it somewhere: instead it saves it as a picture file on your hard disk. Press Win+E to open File Explorer, go into your Pictures library and you’ll find a folder named Screenshots. Open this folder, and you’ll find the screenshot you’ve just created.

Cool eh?

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