Useful Windows 8 tweaks

LIST OF USEFUL WINDOWS 8 TREAKS

 

• Bring back the classic start menu. Another common complaint about Windows 8 is the lack of the old and trustworthy Start menu button on the desktop. Fortunately there are a handful of replacements available from third-parties, including the open source Classic Shell, Stardock’s Start8, and Pokki.


• Simplify search. Windows search isn't perfect. Some of us would argue it's been getting worse. Although you can't do much about this you can make results less cluttered by excluding some apps you don’t intend to use. Go to Win + I > Change PC Settings > Search to manage the search list.


• Restart Explorer. If Explorer locks up for some reason, there’s no need to close the process any more. Just hit press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager, select Explorer in the list, and click Restart on the bottom-right corner of the window (or through the right-click contextual menu).


• Keyboard shortcuts and more. Even before Windows 8 was finalized we were getting our hands dirty discovering what the new OS had to offer. Check out our shortlist of Windows 8 tricks and keyboard shortcuts.

Hot corners

The Start menu is no longer there, but there's a hot corner that makes up for it (unfortunately on multiple screens it's somewhat of a pain to use).

• Lower-left corner + Left click Goes to the Start screen (Metro).
• Lower-left corner + Right click Power user shortcut menu (Device Manager, Control Panel, Command Prompt, Power Options, etc.).
• Upper-left corner Shows open window thumbnails, click to switch between them.
• Upper screen limit + Click & Drag on desktop Move to left or right to snap the current desktop or Metro app to one side of the screen.
• Lower-right corner Windows 8 Charm menu or Windows Aero Peak.
• Upper-right corner Shows Windows 8 charm menu.

Keyboard shortcuts

Windows 8 is very hotkey-heavy, here are some of the shortcuts I find most useful:

• Windows key Shows the new Start screen (Metro).
• Win + type keyword Instant application search (same as in Windows 7).
• Win + D Standard Windows desktop. Also minimizes/restores all open windows in desktop mode.
• Win + Q Shows all installed apps.
• Win + W Instant search for settings.
• Win + F Instant search for files.
• Win + I Settings sidebar (control panel, network, volume, brightness, notifications, and more).
• Win + P Shows multi-monitor options, also useful for connecting an external monitor or projector.
• Win + X Power user shortcut menu (Device Manager, Control Panel, Command Prompt, Power Options, etc.).
• Win + Z Shows App Bar in Metro applications.
• Win + . (period) Snaps the current Metro app to the right side of the screen. Do it twice and it will snap to the left.
• Win + . (period) + Shift Snaps the current Metro app to the left side of the screen.
• Win + J Switches focus between snapped Metro apps.
• Win + Page Up / Down Moves full-screen Metro app to secondary monitor.
• Win + Left / Right arrow Moves and snaps desktop applications in that direction, or to a different monitor.
• Win + Tab Switches between open applications. Similar to using the left-upper hot corner with a mouse.
• Win + L Locks Windows.
• Native screenshots in Win 8 Windows 8 finally adds a screenshot shortcut that doesn't require the snipping tool or another program where you can paste the taken image. Win + Prt Sc does the trick, saving a PNG image file on the Pictures folder.