Friday, 15 August 2014

Windows 8.1 tricks

1. Quick and easy way to access all the settings in Windows 8
One of the annoyances of Windows 8 is trying to find all the various system settings. Here is a way to make them readily available in one big list.

    Go to the Desktop
    Right-click an empty spot on the Desktop
    Choose “New-Folder”
    Give the folder this name:
    All Settings .{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
    Open the folder to see a complete list of settings

(This works in Windows 7 also where it is sometimes called “God Mode”.)
2. How to shut Down Windows 8 quickly
Shutting down Windows 8 the usual way involves multiple steps. You have to open the Charms bar, click "Settings", then "Power", and finally "Shut down". Here is how to create a desktop shortcut that will reduce these four steps to just one.

    Go to the Desktop
    Right-click an empty spot on the Desktop
    Choose “New-Shortcut”
    Go to the line labelled “Type the location of the item…”
    Enter:  shutdown.exe -s -t 0 (The last character is "zero".)
    Click “Next”
    Type a name like Shutdown
    Click “Finish”

Once the shortcut is created, you can pin it to the Taskbar:

    Right-click the shortcut
    Click “Pin to Taskbar”

You can also place the shortcut on the Metro (Modern) interface:

    Right-click the shortcut
    Click “Pin to Start”

Start in this case refers to the Start Screen and places a copy of the shortcut along with the tiles on the Metro interface.
3. How to put commonly used folders and functions on the Desktop
The default desktop in Windows 8 is pretty bare. If you would like ready access on the desktop to some commonly used features, here is how:

    Go to the Desktop
    Right-click an empty spot on the Desktop
    Select “Personalize”
    On the upper left of the dialog box, click “Change desktop icons”(shown in graphic on right)
    In the dialog that opens (shown below) put a check by the icons you want on the desktop. Control Panel is one I like to have
    Click “OK” and close the Personalization window

Change Windows 8 desktop icons
And there you have it - three ways to make using Windows 8 a little easier

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