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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Windows 8: Your questions answered

By | September 15, 2011, 4:59am PDT

Summary: You ask Windows 8 questions, I (try to) answer them!

I’ve been hit by a lot of Windows 8 related questions over the past few hours. I’ll do my best to answer a few of them in this post.

Feel free to ask your own question in the TalkBack, on Twitter, or hit me up via the contact form.

OK, let’s get going.

Q #1 - Is there an option to allow you to boot direct to the traditional Windows Desktop and bypass the Metro UI stuff?

A - Nope, there’s no ‘official’ toggle that I can find anywhere. It can be done via a registry hack, and there’s an unofficial third-party app for disabling the Metro UI (which just seems to implement the registry hack), but nothing official.

Q #2 - How integrated is the antivirus solution? What does it look like?

A - It’s all part of Windows Defender. There’s an entry in Action Center in Control panel:

And there’s the Windows Defender application:

Q #3 - Can you get to the old-school-style Start Menu?

A - Not by any official means other than by digging through hidden folders in the file system. If you disable the Metro UI (see answer to Q #1 above) then it reappears.

Q #4 - What happens when you install an old-school-style application?

A - A link to the application appears as a new tile in the Metro UI.

Q #5 - Can you organize tiles?

A - Only by dragging them about. There does not seem to be any way to logically group them otherwise.

Q #6 - Other than launching an app, what can you do from the Metro UI tile screen?

A - You can:

- Drag them about

-  Right-clicking on an app from the Microsoft Store brings up the option to unpin, uninstall and, in some cases, resize the tile (only two settings, larger and smaller)

- If you right-click on an application tile, you get the option to unpin and an advanced option which brings up a set of options

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Topics

Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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Disable Metro And get Classic menu back (Solution)
wmlcloud 18th Sep
You can completely or partially disable Metro UI using this method, this will also give you the windows 7 start menu in Windows 8: http://www.wmlcloud.com/windows/how-to-partially-or-completely-disable-windows-8-metro-ui-2/
View in thread
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Randalllind 15th Sep
For me I found it pretty useless. I will stick with Windows 7. I want to be able to switch to a real Windows 7 interface. IE 10 even acted liked a brower you would see in a set top cable box or a boxee box.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
imsimsj 15th Sep
@Randalllind That's how I feel about it. I will stay with windows 7. I think windows 8 is junk. I use a windows phone and do not think I will stick with it if this is where they are moving with everything.
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Windows 8 is junk? It's not even a beta!
alsw 15th Sep
@imsimsj

Way to make a decision based on pre beta software. I'm probably going to sit here and laugh at comments like yours and patiently wait for RTM to make a decision.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Cylon Centurion 15th Sep
@Randalllind

So far it feels like Windows 7 with a metro UI laid over top. But keep in mind this is just a preview release. More is to come as it reaches beta.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Hasam1991 15th Sep
@Cylon Centurion I kinda have to agree, is there anything wrong with Windows 7? I LOVE IT!!! Has never crashed on me and it runs fast...
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You found the developer preview useless?
toddybottom 15th Sep
@Randalllind
Please describe to us how you found the developer preview to be useless? Were you unable to write any Metro programs? What were the specific errors you encountered when you tried to write your own Metro program? You should pass those errors on to Microsoft, that is why they gave you this developer preview.

Wait, you did realize this was a preview for developers, right? You would look pretty stupid if you posted about the developer preview and you didn't actually try to, you know, develop anything with it.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Randalllind Updated - 15th Sep
@toddybottom The feel and look is useless to me you don't have to be some one who writes programs to say that.

I know it's not beta but I wrote how I feel. Will it get better not if people like me aren't allow to be honest and say wait this doesn't work for a power user.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Badgered 15th Sep
@Randalllind

The thought would be that perhaps you should wait for something that might more closely resemble a finished piece of work. It could end up a lot like what you've already seen... but then again, could be very different. Wait until the RC comes out before jumping to conclusions.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
BillDem 15th Sep
@Randalllind Another oddity: MS is pushing folks to develop all new applications using HTML5 and Javascript. Has anyone at MS stopped to think about the fact that applications which are pure HTML5 and Javascript will run on ANY modern browser? So, why do we need to buy Windows? If everyone develops in pure HTML5 and Javascript, all of our existing tablets will run those applications just fine. It feels like they are shooting themselves in the foot. Or perhaps they are returning to the days of Microsoft's proprietary browser extensions. If that's the case, we should all be really annoyed.

That issue aside, I feel like the Metro version of Windows 8 should have been released as "Windows Tablet" because that interface tacked on top of a hidden real Windows desktop just seems so clumsy. First of all, old Windows applications won't run on ARM tablets, so what is the point in calling it Windows? Second, when those apps run on an Intel system, they have to bring up the old Windows interface. So, it's really not Metro anymore - it's Windows 7 v2. It all feels like a patchwork of functionality trying to straddle two vastly different worlds. If they want people to embrace Metro, MS needs to do a lot of work to make the transition when running old Windows applications far more smooth and hidden than it is.

For my own tastes, Metro will just get in the way of my desktop work. I have about 50 applications on my Quick Launch bar. They take up very little space and I can launch any of them with one click. I don't have to bring up the Metro UI, then swipe through 8 pages of applications to find the big blocky launch tile, and then finally click. There is nothing about that process which will help me get stuff done faster. Metro makes no sense as a desktop UI, which is why I think it should have been released as Windows Tablet.
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Metro will not be required
LiquidLearner 15th Sep
@BillDem

I'm not sure why this is so hard for people to understand. Yes, currently a registry hack is required to disable Metro. Because the entire point of the developer preview is for developers to get used to writing apps in Metro. Traditional apps, such as Office, will still rely on the core desktop and interface. It's not "tacked on". It's the default because it's a developer preview. You'll have control over which to use.

Considering the smaller footprint, the ability to suspend apps and free up resources and processor time, it should be more efficient with power anyway. But Windows 7 is good too. I just think you're being silly with the whole "Metro is useless on a desktop". They didn't even demo Windows 8 on a desktop at Build, it was all centered around tablets.

Of course, the same happens every time a new OS comes out. I'm sure you were on here posting that Windows 7 wasn't any better than XP, that Win 95 wasn't any better than DOS, etc etc.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
mikenthailand 16th Sep
@BillDem

I agree absolutely, it is essential to be able to launch (and quit) applications as quickly as posible - meaning one click.

Apart from many other reasons for lack of productivity in Office 10, taking the "tradmark" X application closing box from the top corner of Word, etc was a retrograde step, especially when trying to transfer data between several files (or applications) sequentially.

Power users like myself are only intersted in productivity and it would be nice to be able to disable all the "fancy kids stuff" and get a plain and simple interface for office users.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
brianm101 16th Sep
@BillDem
Culdn't have said it better - so I won't!

Keep the two seperate, combining Metro and traditional justs makes both harder to use!
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
brianm101 16th Sep
@Randalllind
Unfortuantly can't help but agree. All it does is to make Windows even harder to use.

So far in my book Windows 8 is the new Vista!
i.e designed by idiots who think they know best

Ok thats a bit hard on idiots happy
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
rshol 15th Sep
My biggest question will probably be forever unanswered. But I'll give it a go. What drugs were the 'Softies pumping through the water supply in Redmond when they came to the conclusion that Metro was a great desktop UI? The obvious corollary question is, can the rest of us have some too?
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
shellcodes_coder 15th Sep
@rshol Microsoft will only fix their crap after their product fails. For eg, ME and Vista so don't expect them to fix it right now
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It's premature to reach any conclusion about Metro right now.
ye 15th Sep
@rshol: It's lacking a lot of Metro native applications which means it's constantly switching back to the traditional Windows desktop for most anything you do with it. I imagine over time the supposed benefit of the Metro UI may become more pronounced.

I can see this being a beneficial interface for non-computer people. What I've seen so far it appears to abstract a lot of the underpinnings from the user. For non-computer people I can see this being a win.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
TsarNikky 15th Sep
@rshol
The Metro UI may be great for users to play with on tablets; but it is a utter failure for serious users on PCs who need to do a lot of data entry. No mention has been made about being able to chose the default interface on booting up--silence is scary.
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And how much data entry do you do in Windows?
ye 16th Sep
@TsarNikky: The Metro UI may be great for users to play with on tablets; but it is a utter failure for serious users on PCs who need to do a lot of data entry.

I'm talking about the OS proper, not applications. When it comes to Windows I spend most of my time pointing, clicking, dragging, highlighting, and moving. Rarely am I typing anything significant into the OS.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
iluvmsft 15th Sep
in a tablet,
I guess we need to PRESS the WINDOW Button to
switch from Metro UI to Classic UI and Vice Versa.

How about in Desktop PC?
How do we switch from Metro UI to Classic UI and Vice Versa?
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
TsarNikky 15th Sep
@iluvmsft
The default interface on booting up should be determined by a Control Panel element. Then, if one wants to ping-pong between interfaces, some key(s) can be pressed.
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Tried it, find it confusing
iRMX 15th Sep
It is neither a PC nor a Tablet OS. Users will have to relearn everything. Windows has been consistent for User Experience from Win95 to Win98 to Win2000 to WinXP to Vista and Win7. Don't get me wrong, MacOS, iOS and Android are also consistent and natural. I have a feeling that the next generation users will not like Win8. The current Windows users and developers are all middle aged to old aged, the young generation will most probably hate everything they see in Win8. There is a saying - a crow wanted to walk like a swan, and in the process forgot to walk like a crow as well thought it could never walk like a swan. That is what Windows8 reminds me of.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Hasam1991 15th Sep
@iRMX YUP And most young people want a MAC anway so this could backfire on Microsoft...
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Badgered 15th Sep
@iRMX The current Windows users and developers are all middle aged to old aged, the young generation will most probably hate everything they see in Win8.

Really? Did you see the interns they had coding apps for Win8's Metro UI. Your statement seems oddly... um... ill-informed.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
regsrini 15th Sep
Could you get it to run in VirtualBox with the full screen. I couldn't. I tried installing guest additions, but since this was released just a few days ago, i understand that VBox doesn't yet support Windows 8. I feel really crippled with the small screen.
I really want to enjoy it full screen without having to install it directly on the hardware, just like other OSes in VBox
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
sjaak327 18th Sep
@regsrini

Two words: remote desktop.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Aerowind 15th Sep
I have a question: How does that search button in the start menu work? The thing I loved the most about Vista/7 was I could hit the windows button, type 3 letters, then hit enter to open pretty much any application I wanted. If they ditched it, I'll be sad.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Cylon Centurion 15th Sep
@Aerowind

Actually, if you're in Metro all you have to do is just start typing. Windows Search goes right to work.
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Can you verify a report that Windows will drop Flash from Win 8 tablets!
kenosha77a 15th Sep
From an Appleinsider article on Sep 15, reports indicate that Microsoft will follow Apple's lead in not supporting Flash on tablets.

Quoting from this article: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/09/15/microsoft_to_jettison_adobe_flash_with_plug_in_free_browsing_in_windows_8_metro_ie10.html

"The tablet-optimized Metro version of Internet Explorer 10 in Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 will be a "plug-in free experience," as the company follows Apple's lead in abandoning Adobe Flash in favor of HTML5 on tablets.

Microsoft revealed Wednesday on its Building Windows 8 blog that the Metro version of IE10 will drop plug-ins because the experience that they provide is "not a good match with Metro style browsing and the modern HTML5 web." The company will, however, continue to support Adobe Flash and other plug-ins on the desktop version of Internet Explorer 10."
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Cylon Centurion 15th Sep
@kenosha7777

Install Firefox! The touch features of Firefox are amazing, plus you'll have plugin support.
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Why does AppleInsider care?
toddybottom 15th Sep
@kenosha7777
I wonder why AppleInsider cares so much about Windows 8?
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re: Why does AppleInsider care?
none none 15th Sep
@toddybottom

Maybe for the same reason Ed Bott cares so much about Apple.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Aerowind 15th Sep
@kenosha7777 Luckily, Windows has a handy dandy classic UI that you can use with plugins to your heart's content...not to mention other browsers entirely.
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Not so confusing but not easy for most users
timiteh 15th Sep
I have installed Windows on Virtual Box this morning and have been testing it since.

At first it seems a bit confusing but in a matter of minutes, i was quite confortable with it and no more confused. However i belong to a R&D team in my enterprise so i am supposed to quickly get used to new technologies.
From what i saw so far i can say that:

1. Even if Windows 8 seems a bit slow on Virtual Box (thanks to the lack of add-on for this O.S, yet), it should be quite fast on physical machines. I will try later. Moreover it clearly requires way less ressources than Windows 7 even with the desktop apps launched.

2. Even if it seems confusing at first, the Metro UI is quite logical and quite intuitive. Off course one needs not to be stubborn or unable to stand changes. Because if one can't stand changes he/she will have troubles to get use to this new U.I. However this UI is clearly way more taylored for touch than for mouse and keyboard. I think that Microsoft still needs to work hard on the keyboard/Mouse user experience through the Metro U.I.

3. This version is clearly unfinished and not optimized enough thus it should provide just a preview of the system and not the final experience. Moreover, i wonder if it is a good idea to enable anyone as there will certainly be a ton os undeserved negative feedbacks. For example the Start Screen really need some work to be more appealing.

4. I secretly expected that one could launch as many desktops as the systems ressources enable but it seems that it is not possible. I seriously wonder when Microsoft will enable virtual desktops out of the box.
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I've been a little confused ...
Schoolboy Bob 15th Sep
@timiteh ... I've been a little confused myself, but I've managed to plod ahead. I've been working mostly outside of Metro since I want to see how to operate things and I will be working with servers mostly.

I like IE 10 so far. How about resizing the address bar. Nice little touch.

Performance on Hyper-V is outstanding. It already had the bits installed. Everything hums quite well. Very stable, so far.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
shellcodes_coder 15th Sep
Hey Microsoft, where's expose, space, app armor etc? Anyways, I prefer Linux and OS X over Windows and we don't see any compelling reason to upgrade from Windows 7
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Cylon Centurion 15th Sep
I have to say, the more I use the "classic" (I feel sad saying that now) UI the more I wish it was Windows 7. It has everything 7 was missing - from the new Task Manager up to the auto colorization features of AERO, and built in anti-malware engine and system wide spell checker. Maybe we'll get some of these features in Windows 7 SP2? (One can wish, right?)

The Windows 8 desktop just feels - complete.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Hasam1991 15th Sep
@Cylon Centurion NO SORRY Welcome to METRO... Why would MS continue to perfect Windows 7? They need another WIN ME and a VISTA....
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
owlnet 15th Sep
Guys this a Developer preview - meaning, its just a glimpse of the Metro UI and the Tradition desktop. The final product would be much different.

If you are not a developer don't bother to download and nag about it, period.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Aerowind 15th Sep
Apparently my post didn't go through, so I'll ask again: How does search in the new start area work? One of the things I love most about Vista/7 is the search bar in start. I can hit the Windows key, type three letters, press enter, and have a program running in record time.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
tk_77 15th Sep

Q #10 - Can I virtualize Windows 8 yet?
A - I???ve only been able to get it to run in VirtualBox so far.

It runs fine in VMWare Fusion 4.0.1. Fullscreen as well.
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It did go through and Cylon Centurion responded.
ye 15th Sep
.
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For the love of God ZDNet fix your forum software!
ye 15th Sep
Get something new instead of the piece of junk you're using now. Duplicate posts appearing, incorrect threading, inability to preview. Please do something about this.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Aerowind 15th Sep
@ye Probably more forum problems, because I've triple checked and don't see my old post anywhere.
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Microsoft seems to have forgotten about workflow...
TheWerewolf 15th Sep
In a consumption device - Metro works, but in a productivity device it's all about workflow. You build up regular patterns of use and you expect things to happen the same way. As you get used to it, you streamline the process by putting things where you need them.

Metro both destroys existing workflows - and makes it hard to create new ones. I expect most existing Windows users to spend almost all their time in the classic desktop once they've managed to beat it into submission (there will be a huge market in Win8 'UI Tweaking' apps, I predict) and get it back to what they're used to.

Newer users who buy tablets with Win8 on it will probably find Metro ok and some will never go past it to the Windows Classic underpinnings.

But there will be a lot of anger and frustration in the middle.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
CobraA1 15th Sep
What happened to "All Programs"?
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
Aerowind 15th Sep
@CobraA1 I haven't used All Programs since XP. The search bar is so much more efficient.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
CobraA1 Updated - 15th Sep
@Aerowind Usually I'm scrollling through that list BECAUSE I've forgotten the name of something. Search doesn't help me there.

And sometimes I'm just browsing through it to see what I can uninstall. You know, get rid of some of the old cruft that's no longer needed but still taking up space.

The search bar is only useful in certain situations. It's not the be-all and end-all of program launchers. In fact, it's quite a horrible one because it relies on your memory, and frankly my memory isn't all that great.

And besides, I'm not saying I like "All Programs," I'm just asking what happened to it. So I don't enjoy my question being hijacked by a "just do search" remark.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
rshol 15th Sep
So, here's my second most important question. How would the Metro UI handle this scenario. I need to respond to an email and need to refer to another email while I write a response to the first. The email I am referring to references an attached spreadsheet to which I must also refer. Additionally I may also need to pull some numbers from the CRM system, or view a trend graph from the same.
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A fun experiment
mixx24@... 15th Sep
I have Win 8 installed on an HP TouchSmart 610 and while the touch experience with metro is nice I have found I don't need it or a keyboard/mouse. While digging around in the control panel I found the option to setup voice recognition. Ever since I have been doing everything with just voice commands. The metro/ribbon interface supports this wonderfully. If you haven't tried it Adrian you should give it a go. Like in WP7 it's a killer feature.
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RE: Windows 8 - Your questions answered
justthinking 15th Sep
if you upgrade a Windows 7 VM (I used Workstation 8) to Windows 8 it works...its slower than hell but it works.
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Disable Metro And get Classic menu back (Solution)
wmlcloud 18th Sep
You can completely or partially disable Metro UI using this method, this will also give you the windows 7 start menu in Windows 8: http://www.wmlcloud.com/windows/how-to-partially-or-completely-disable-windows-8-metro-ui-2/

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