Get started with Windows 8 in 4 minutes

1. Edges and corners.
Remembering just two interface procedures can do more to get you fluent in Windows 8 than anything else: If you're working on a touch screen, swiping in from the edges should become second nature, to get you back to the start screen, to search, to change settings, and more. Working with a mouse, the corners of the screen are the keys to the interface. The corners on the right side display the Charms (see later slide), and the left corners let you switch between apps, the desktop, and the start screen.

 

2. Don't fear the Start screen: Just start typing.
A lot of users are taken aback by the completely newfangled screen that displays on first boot-up of Windows 8. But just thinking of it simply as a full-screen start button panel will allay some of your fears. Just as with Windows 7's start button menu, you can simply start typing the name of a program to display app names that match the letters you type. If what you're looking for isn't there, say, you want to run the control panel, switch the right-slide selector bar to Settings; if you're looking for a picture or doc, switch it to Files. Note that you can also search within any of the apps listed below these three choices.

 

3. Group apps

The Start screen apps are initially displayed in a fairly random order, but if you'd prefer a more organized 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.

4. 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.

5. Find your applications

To find your apps, hold down the Windows key and press Q or either right-click an empty part of the Start screen or swipe your finger up from the bottom of the screen and select 'All Apps' to reveal a scrolling list of all your installed applications. Browse the various tiles to find what you need and click the relevant app to launch it.

6. 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'.

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.

7. 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.

8. Close an App

If you want to close down an app, 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.

9. Run two apps side by side

Windows 8 apps are what Microsoft calls "immersive" applications, which basically means they run full-screen - but there is a way to view two at once. 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.