Topic: Windows

12 shortcuts and secrets for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Summary: The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is jam-packed with interesting and well-hidden features. Ed Bott shows you a dozen hidden gems you might not find on your own.

By Ed Bott | April 4, 2012 -- 18:23 GMT (11:23 PDT)

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The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is jam-packed with interesting and well-hidden features.

As part of the research for the next edition of Windows 8 Head Start, I've been digging into Windows 8, looking for shortcuts, secrets, and little bits of magic that aren't obvious at first glance.

In this gallery, I show you a dozen hidden gems you might not find on your own.

Topics: Windows, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Software

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UAC Question

In Win 7 it was suggested to me that a more secure computer is if the normal account is NOT an admin. Only use the admin account/password if programs are to be installed. I have not found out how to do that in Win 8. The options for user accounts are Local and "Microsoft". Also, if you install an application and there are mutiple shortcuts, ALL of them are placed as tiles on the Metro Start Screen. What that means is going back to Metro and remove the ones that you do not want.
I am running Win8 Virtualized on my Win7 box, and it seems to work great.

ronaldr321
5 April, 2012 09:07

Reply Vote
- The first user account is an admin
  
  You need to have at least one administrator account on every PC. So you can't change your one and only account to standard. If you want a Standard account, go to PC Settings, click Users, then set up a second account, either Microsoft account or local (local is easier). When you have both accounts set up, you can go to desktop Control Panel and change one of the accounts to standard. (See Change Your Account Type, under User Accounts.)
  
  Having said that, you might not need to do that. UAC actually means that even your admin account works as a standard account until you need to do something that requires elevation, at which point you are prompted to give permission.
  
  Ed Bott
  5 April, 2012 09:54
  
  Reply Vote
You might want to add some keyboard shortcuts

that get you to basic windows tools like;

[Windows key + R] = run command, try finding that in win8!
that will also get you to a command prompt, the command prompt does come up in Metro with [command] but I cannot find a way to get to the run command from Metro.

AND THANKS for the remote desktop shortcut, really this one is gold.

Dougvbx
5 April, 2012 15:41

Reply Vote
- Better yet!
  
  Doug, right-click lower left corner! Ed revealed this trick some time ago...
  
  SkiDood
  6 April, 2012 07:05
  
  Reply Vote
- Just type.
  
  In Metro Start screen, just start typing your program name, or type ???run", or type "cmd". Don't have to find the run command.
  
  chengyc2002@...
  6 April, 2012 18:17
  
  Reply Vote
Home/small business networking

I like Windows 8 too, but one thing that bugs me is that I can't seem to access the Windows 7 computers on my home network from it. I tried fiddling with Credentials Manager and with the permissions on the computer hard drive shares, but nothing works. I think it must have something to do with using a Microsoft account to log in.

In your book, I hope you'll have a section on how to get a mixed Windows 7/8 network to work properly. I am sure there must be things I need to unlearn, and things I never learned. (Such as, what does it mean to give "Full Access" to "Everyone"? I don't want everyone in the world to have access to my shares, but do I have to do that in order to access a shared Windows 7 hard drive from Windows 8 when I'm using my Microsoft account?) There are an awful lot of alternative ways of setting this up and no decent documentation anywhere.

pdth
5 April, 2012 17:31

Reply Vote
- RE: Viewing other computers
  
  Have you specified the network that the Win 8 machine connects to as home or work? Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs. Network Sharing and Discovery doesn't work unless all clients machines trust the network being used.
  
  mountjl
  9 April, 2012 02:04
  
  Reply Vote
pointless change

One of the things that's beginning to really grate on me is the sliding switches in Windows 8 settings. It's not like check boxes couldn't be touch controls: tap in a checkbox to toggle its state.

I wouldn't be shocked if Office 15's touch-enabled though desktop-bound UI did just this in its dialogs, e.g., the Numbers/Text/Logicals/Errors checkboxes in Excel's Go To Special dialog. Or is the problem that densely packed desktop dialogs present too small targets for big clumsy fingers? But if that's the case, Office 15 may wind up showing the practical difficulties of touch for desktop programs.

hrlngrv
5 April, 2012 18:15

Reply Vote
- Just a speculative guess...
  
  ...it may be a carryover from WP7 Metro UI. And the switches may have been added to WP7 as another point of differentiation to other mobile OS's. Win 8 Metro is maintaining consistency in the drive to a unified Windows Everywhere ethos.
  
  mountjl
  9 April, 2012 02:08
  
  Reply Vote
lack of originality

The Desktop Background dialog looks an awful lot like the one in GNOME 2.x.

hrlngrv
5 April, 2012 18:21

Reply Vote
Metro is a Pain

I think Ed, you are looking through rose colored glasses at Metro. I appreciate you have accepted we will be stuck with this ungainly UI (as a Desktop OS), and are looking for ways to make the experience better, but Metro is a pain in the neck to use on a desktop PC. No matter how you look at it, Metro is designed for touch screen devices. MS sees the day when classic desktop PCs are no longer used, and is planning for it - with Metro. In 3 years - The classic "Desktop App" of Win8 will be gone from the next version of Windows. It will be all Metro, all the time. The future is here and it is Metro - yuck (except on tablets - there, Metro will be good).

jpr75_z
5 April, 2012 20:59

Reply Vote
- Absolutely agree
  
  MS are pushing Metro so they can take over the mobile space but making computer use inconvenient for the desktop user is the wrong way to go. I've been playing around with a Full Install (not in a Virtual machine) of Metro for a while now. Using Metro makes me feel claustrophobic, I can only view on thing at a time. Horrible.
  
  adinas
  6 April, 2012 06:36
  
  Reply Vote
sbgdrfgh

http://cbe.k.af

jjmmuukk
6 April, 2012 06:33

Reply Vote
Off Topic but ...

I just wanted to take a moment to air a pet peeve. I appreciate the info we have access to here at zdnet but, I really don't like having to navigate through these "galleries" for info. Sometimes, it is useful, but usually I would much rather be able to look at it in a blog format or "print" format on one page, or have it made available as a pdf. If it is info I might want to look at later when I have more time I just print it off a pdf or download one. I do not always have the time to look through all the multiple screens, sometimes I get the link from an email, want to check it out, and if I find it of interest, I will save it for later reference. I don't know how many times, I come to the site and simply exit when I see the info is only available in a gallery. I am sure that format gets your site more "page hits" and keeps your advertisers happy, but it annoys the heck out of me, your user. Make it as simple as possible for the user to get the info they need, or your info will often go unread. I rarely if ever come back to find it again ... time is of the essence, save ours or lose us as readers for that item.

Sorry to clutter this discussion with this Ed, but as you are a popular columnist on ZD, perhaps you could forward it to the powers that be if it seems important enough. I did not know where to send this otherwise.

Again, always appreciate the info, good ,bad or ugly....

Michigan Computer Tech Services
6 April, 2012 08:31

Reply Vote
- Agree
  
  I pretty much detest 'slideshows'... even when it's a roundup of new gadgets (which is a good scenario for a slideshow... I -suppose-). I just don't like the compartmentalization of information. Slideshows need an all-on-one-page option, just like some of the larger print articles are providing...on -other- sites. It's usually just a picture and a paragraph... click, click, clicking is tiresome, and if you want to share... it's annoying to copy/paste the items of interest or to force those you want to share with, to have to wade through the slides. (They won't... they simply won't.) Enough already... slideshows are not a new-and-improved form of presentation on the web, but perhaps some presenters want to repurpose their PowerPoint work from elsewhere... say, touch screens?
  
  RpDnn
  6 April, 2012 14:55
  
  Reply Vote
In Support of the Anti-Gallery Comment

AMEN!

Please...Please...Please...let me land on the page and scroll down through one continous document or series of images to get the information...and if you can't stomach that, let me (after watching a 20 second commercial) order email delivery of a PDF version.

I appreciate the content but the packaging is user hostile.

abutler@...
6 April, 2012 08:48

Reply Vote
schizoid...

i want to like metro, really. but whoever rolled out this consumer preview is nuts. want me to like metro? ok, why not make all admin tools metro style? why not put clock/date somewhere on each page? why not make "defender" a a metro "app"? why not require each "app" screen have what you need in buttons (touch or mouse)--like search, shutdown, backup, explorer (with metro interface), and on and on... in other words, this version is half-baked and unconvincing.

i've set up win8 and basically only use the desktop. why? 'cuz metro, for it to be useful almost always forces me to be social (read: "in the cloud")--EVEN WHEN I DON'T WANT TO BE!

jiagebusen
6 April, 2012 09:45

Reply Vote
Windows 7 Recovery

History restores your files. It's like Apple's "Time Machine." I think it works like Backup, I'm unsure.

Exyaster
8 April, 2012 16:01

Reply Vote
Why a PIN at all?

Sorry but rather than using a PIN option why not simply use the PIN as your main password (or no password at all at least for a local account)? If you want a strong password for security reasons then using a PIN simply allows one to do an end run around the stronger security.

pcguy999
9 April, 2012 09:10

Reply Vote
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RiddleMicheal
9 April, 2012 15:19

Reply Vote