Introduction 1
About This Book 1
How to Use This Book 2
Tablet Owners Aren’t Left Out 3
Icons Used in This Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Chapter 1: Revealing Windows 8 5
What Is Windows 8, and Why Are You Using It? 5
What’s New in Windows 8? 7
Should I Bother Switching to Windows 8? 9
Can My Current PC Still Run Windows 8? 9
The Four Flavors of Windows 8 11
Chapter 2: The Mysterious New Start Screen 13
Being Welcomed to the World of Windows 8 14
Understanding user accounts 17
Keeping your account private with a password 18
Signing up for a Microsoft account 21
Figuring Out the New Start Screen in Windows 8 23
Launching a Start screen program or app 26
Viewing or closing your open apps 27
Finding a Start screen app or program 29
Adding or removing Start screen items 30
The Charms bar and its hidden shortcuts 31
Introducing your free apps 33
Managing the Start screen 36
Exiting from Windows 41
Temporarily leaving your computer 42
Leaving your computer for the day 43
Chapter 3: The Traditional Desktop 45
Finding the Desktop and the Start Screen 46
Working with the Desktop 48
Summoning the Start screen and open apps 49
Cleaning up a messy desktop 51
Jazzing up the desktop’s background 52
Snapping an app alongside the desktop 54
Dumpster diving in the Recycle Bin 56
Bellying Up to the Taskbar 58
Shrinking windows to the taskbar and retrieving them 59
Switching to different tasks from the taskbar’s Jump Lists 60
Clicking the taskbar’s sensitive areas 60
Customizing the taskbar 63
The taskbar’s crazy toolbars 64
Making Programs Easier to Find 65
Add five helpful icons to your desktop 65
Creating taskbar shortcuts for
your favorite programs 66
Chapter 4: Basic Desktop Window Mechanics 69
Dissecting a Typical Desktop Window 70
Tugging on a window’s title bar 71
Navigating folders with a window’s Address Bar 73
Finding commands on the Ribbon 74
Quick shortcuts with the Navigation Pane 76
Moving inside a window with its scroll bar 78
Boring borders 79
Maneuvering Windows Around the Desktop 79
Moving a window to the top of the pile 80
Moving a window from here to there 81
Making a window fill the whole screen 81
Closing a window 82
Making a window bigger or smaller 82
Placing two windows side by side 83
Making windows open to the same darn size 83
Chapter 5: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 85
Browsing the File Explorer File Cabinets 86
Getting the Lowdown on Folders and Libraries 88
Peering into Your Drives, Folders, and Libraries 89
Seeing the files on a disk drive 89
Seeing what’s inside a folder 91
Managing a library’s folders 92
Creating a New Folder 94
Renaming a File or Folder 96
Selecting Bunches of Files or Folders 96
Getting Rid of a File or Folder 97
Copying or Moving Files and Folders 98
Writing to CDs and DVDs 100
Buying the right kind of blank CDs and DVDs for burning 100
Working with Flash Drives and Memory Cards 103
SkyDrive: Your Cubbyhole in the Clouds 104
Accessing files with the SkyDrive app 105
Accessing SkyDrive from the desktop 107
Chapter 6: Working with Apps 109
Starting a Program or App 109
Adding and Deleting Apps 112
Adding new apps from the Store app 113
Uninstalling apps 115
Updating Your Apps 115
Finding Currently Running Start Screen Apps 116
Locating a Missing App, Program, Setting, or File 117
Chapter 7: Engaging the Social Apps 121
Adding Your Social Accounts to Windows 8 122
Understanding the Mail App 125
Navigating the Mail app’s views, menus, and accounts 126
Composing and sending an e-mail 129
Reading a received e-mail 132
Sending and Receiving Files through E-Mail 133
Saving a received attachment 133
Sending a file as an attachment 135
Managing Your Contacts in the People App 136
Adding contacts 137
Deleting or editing contacts 138
Managing Appointments in Calendar 139
Chatting through Messaging141
Chapter 8: Entertaining Yourself through the Start Screen 145
What’s an ISP, and Why Do I Need One? 146
Connecting Wirelessly to the Internet 147
Browsing Quickly from the Start Screen 151
Moving Among Web Pages 154
Clicking links 154
Typing web addresses in the Address Bar 154
Using Internet Explorer’s toolbar 155
Playing Music from the Start Screen 158
Taking Photos with the Camera App 161
Viewing Photos from the Start Screen 163
Chapter 9: Customizing Windows 8 and Computing Safely 167
Finding the Right Switch 168
The Start Screen’s PC Settings Screen 169
The Big Guns: The Desktop’s Control Panel 172
System and Security 174
Assessing your safety in the Action Center 174
Avoiding Viruses with Windows Defender 175
Avoiding phishing scams 177
User Accounts and Family Safety 178
Network and Internet 180
Changing the Windows 8 Appearance and Personalization 180
Changing the desktop background 181
Choosing a screen saver 182
Changing the computer’s theme 183
Changing the screen resolution 184
Hardware and Sound 186
Adjusting volume and sounds 187
Installing or setting up speakers 188
Adding a Bluetooth gadget 189
Adding an Xbox 360 game console 191
Adding a printer 192
Clock, Language, and Region 193
Adding or Removing Programs 194
Removing apps and programs 195
Installing new programs 196
Modifying Windows 8 for the Physically Challenged 197
Chapter 10: Ten Things You’ll Hate about Windows 8 201
I Want to Avoid the Start Screen! 201
I Want to Avoid the Desktop! 203
I Can’t Copy Music to My iPod 205
Windows Makes Me Sign In All the Time 205
The Taskbar Keeps Disappearing 206
I Can’t Keep Track of Open Windows 207
I Can’t Line Up Two Windows on the Screen 208
It Won’t Let Me Do Something Unless I’m an Administrator! 208
I Don’t Know What Version of Windows I Have 209
My Print Screen Key Doesn’t Work 210
Index 211
