Sunday, May 5, 2013

Customizing Windows 8 Tips

There are a lot of things that have changed with the new Windows 8 "Modern Interface" design from Microsoft. Microsoft has had a lot of criticism for the changes and has been pressured to keep or scale back some of the design changes. I don't believe they should. I enjoy the new change and new look. It is very easy to navigate. And some people are even changing Windows 8 to look like Windows 7. What is the point of doing that? Why buy a Windows 8 machine only to get rid of the Modern Interface.
There are some tips to help you customize Windows 8 so you may be more productive, and to better organize your tiles around on your desktop. Because when you do install a program it does just add it to the end of the tiles.
  1. Make Groups: There are plenty of ways to arrange your Start screen tiles to taste: Simply click and drag a tile to change its position on the screen (or hold and drag on a touchscreen). For more global changes, you can pinch to zoom out (or Ctrl-mouse wheel), making your whole screen shrink, with all tiles on multiple screens visible. From this view, you can move and even name groups of tiles.
  2. Lock Screen: You can customize the picture on the lock screen like you can  on a smart phone, which is pretty nice. So when your PC or tablet is in sleep mode or locked it will look nice. :) The way you do that is simple. Just go to the right side of the screen to bring up your settings charms. Then click Personalize--> Lock Screen and then choose either the default pictures or add your own picture. SNAPPY!!
  3. Lock Screen Apps: While we are  customizing our lock screen we might as well provide some useful information. While the screen is locked you can also tell how much battery is left, the time, number emails and other useful information. So the lock screen isn't just for being locked. Under the Lock Screen App section click on the plus sign to add an app you would like to run during the lock screen.
  4. Resize the Tile: If you don't like the size of the tile change it. right click on the tile and a menu will appear at the bottom of the screen. If you want to make the tile smaller the smaller option will appear. If you want to make the tile larger the make larger option will appear.
Those are just a few tips to help make Windows 8 a little more user friendly. I hope this helps, and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

Thanks