It is no secret to anyone that it is one of the Microsoft operating systems that has given the most talk all over the world. Since, unlike his predecessors and his successor, W8 revealed numerous changes that managed to transform the experience of each user. Reason why, in addition to being distinguished, It has also received much criticism..
However, beyond the controversial modifications that this operating system exhibited, it also stands out for its high compatibility with external devicesits efficient operation and its optimum level of . Therefore, there are many people who prefer to continue using Windows 8 from their PC.
As a consequence, in order to get the most out of this OS, users look for different solutions, alternatives and tricks that allow optimize the different tasks that are carried out from there. That is why, in this post, we will introduce you to a total of 25 tips and hidden secrets that can help you maximize the capacity of Windows 8.
List of the best 25 Windows 8 tricks to get the most out of it
While it is true, the interface Meter has allowed experience a new user experience on Windows computers and, although for many it was difficult to get used to this new operating system, for others it was one of the best solutions available when it came to test your ability. Taking into account that, W8 works side by side with traditional desktopinclusive, with all its new possibilities.
Now, to get the best possible performance from a PC Windows 8it is necessary to know the different processes that can be carried out to achieve this. Since, it is not enough to execute the most fundamental tasks on a machine of these in order to get the best out of it.
Therefore, to use W8 as a truly useful operating system, it is ideal to know the following tricks that we detail here:
Categorize your applications on the desktop
If you collect a lot and other elements on the desktop screen as tiles and do not arrange them, your home screen is likely to become a huge mess. However, to avoid this annoying situation, you can take advantage of W8’s built-in organization tools that are ideal for dividing all this from labeled groups.
However, to make use of this functionality, it is important to carry out a process correctly, which is based on the following:
- The first thing you have to do is drag to the far right of the home screen (in an empty area)all the tiles you want to assign in a single group.
- Then the operating system will form a set with the tiles together and you have to proceed to use semantic zoom to get a panoramic view of the desktop. If you have a computer with a mouse and keyboard, press the Ctrl key and use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. If you use a touch screen, you only have to do it with two fingers (opening and closing).
- After the above, you have to right click on the group or drag it down to be able to choose the option “Group name”.
- Finally, enter its name to the left of the bar displayed at the bottom. With it, you can create multiple groups and enjoy a better organized desktop.
Use the “High Performance” plan in energy options
Default, Windows 8 it is a faster operating system than previous versions. However, in order to add an extra plus of efficiencyit is possible to speed up and make Windows 8 faster just by using the “High performance” plan in the . Basically, this plan is useful for it because set screen and computer shutdown timein addition to fixing the total energy that the CPU must use in order to improve the speed of the operating system.
Now, to modify the default power plan for the high performance one, you have to follow the following process:
- through the Control Panel of the system, Go to “Power Options”.
- next, choose one of the existing power plansaccording to your requirements.
- Additionally, you can also Click on “Change plan settings” within the plan you have chosen. Through there, you will be able to determine when the screen should be turned off or dimmed, when the computer has to be turned off, etc.
Boot Windows directly to the desktop
Naturally, Windows 8 It is characterized by being an operating system that redirects users directly to the Metro UI menu when PC starts. However, many people have criticized this and prefer to access the , as it happens in the other versions of the Microsoft OS. Luckily, there is the possibility of doing it in two ways that are not very complicated.
A) Yes, the first alternative, consists of locating the taskbar on the desktop and right-clicking on any area. Next, you have to select “Properties” to access the tab “Navigation”. Now, in the Home Screen section, activate the box that indicates “When you sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start”. Finally, press the OK button.
On the other hand, the other way of doing it, relies on the System Registry Editor. To do this, access said utility and, in the Execute field, enter the term “Regedit”. Then enter the route “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.”. In order to do so, proceed to change the key called Shell removing “explorer.exe” and placing “explorer.exe /select,explorer.exe”. With this, all that remains is to restart the PC to see the changes made.
Bring back the home button
After the controversial disappearance of the Start drop-down menu on the desktop, countless criticisms and discontents arose from users of Windows 8. But luckily, this is a parameter that can be retrieved currentlyin a simple way.
Thus, the alternative to bring it back and be able to enjoy a proper start button different from the one that Windows 8.1 offers in an extremely poor way; it’s based on make use of an application known as “Classic Shell”. Therefore, you will have to download and install it on your PC in order to make use of an exact replica of the start button that was displayed in Windows 7.
Adjust privacy settings
To get the most out of your PC with Windows 8it is also interesting improve privacy settings. Considering that, by default, there are numerous applications that access users’ personal information and this, without a doubt, minimizes their confidentiality. Well, both your location and your name and your images are intertwined throughout the system.
Therefore, if you do not trust the system and would rather feel more comfortable safeguarding your confidential information, you need to adjust privacy settings immediately. To do this, you must start by pressing the keyboard shortcut “Windows + I” to be able to select “Change system settings”. Done that, choose the option “Privacy” within the list and optimize the configuration of your personal data, disabling necessary solutions (depending on your interests).
Create a magic folder
Windows 8also offers the possibility of create a special folder which, when opened, contains access to different existing tools in Windows and are organized by categories. which is more commonly known as “magic folder” and it is a kind of extensive control panel. Thus, very useful to add all imaginable functions of the system in a single shortcut.
In this sense, to create the magic folder and take advantage of this functionality, you must do the following:
- Directly from your desktop, right-click with the mouse and create a new folder like you do regularly. You have to give it the name you want. For example: “CPanel” to mislead others accessing your PC.
- Next, press the F2 key to be able to modify the name of the folder that you created earlier.
- After that, in the name of your folder, paste the following: . {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. Of course, without deleting the name provided in the first instance.
- Once you do the above, you will see that the folder adopts a characteristic icon and, by default, it only shows the name you gave it when you started.
Create Shutdown, Restart, or Sleep Buttons in Windows 8
Although it is true, in a traditional way, the options to shut down, restart or suspend the operating system, were available in the traditional Start menu. However, in Windows 8 the software company decides to make it more difficult to use these elementary features that influence the PC.
Therefore, an optimal solution consists in resorting to the creation of buttons to suspend, shut down or restart W8 in a simpler and more immediate way. Assessing that, they are buttons that you can have at your disposal on the desktop or on the home screen.
To carry it out, it is important to carry out the process explained here:
- Initially, right-click on the desktop (any empty area) and when the menu appears, select “New” to choose the “Shortcut” option.
- After that, the system will show you a box indicating “Enter the location of the item” and in it, you have to paste a specific path, depending on the button you want to create:
- For shutdown: shutdown /s /t 0
- For reboot: shutdown /r /t 0
- For suspend: shutdown /h /f
- Once you enter the certain term, you must give the shortcut a relevant name and attach an icon to it (right click on it, choosing “Properties” and pressing on “Change Icon”).
- Next, the button will be ready to use it and it only remains to establish it on the home screen. If you want this, right click on the button and click on the “Pin to start” option.
Enable hibernation easily
In the previous part, we explained how you can create a shortcut button that simplifies the steps to follow when putting your PC to sleep. However, so far, there are many people who do not know how they can activate hibernation that, although it guarantees the total shutdown of the equipment, it still keeps available exactly everything that the PC supplied before turning off.
So, unlike machine sleep, hibernation is ideal for prevent the equipment from consuming power in a part of the motherboard and, besides, it is useful to continue normally with the different tasks that you were executing.
If you want to take advantage of this, follow the steps below to achieve enable hibernation in W8:
- Using the keyboard shortcut “Windows + I + Enter”start by opening the on your computer.
- Then select the option “Choose the behavior of the home button” from the panel that…
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