The Windows 8 Start screen is an innovation from Microsoft that has pleasantly (and some unpleasantly) surprised users. This is precisely what distinguishes this operating system from her predecessors. The start screen appeared instead of the usual Start menu.

Some found the Windows 8 start screen to be a very convenient tool - all the necessary programs are at hand in a pleasant form, and there are interactive information tiles (weather, news, etc.). Others perceived it as something unusual, uncomfortable and are trying to get rid of it.

In this article, I will tell you about all the features that are available in the Windows 8 Start screen and show you clearly how to use this tool correctly. And then you will understand that this is a very useful innovation.

How to enable or disable the Windows 8 Start screen at startup

The developers conceived that the initial screen would appear when the system starts instead of the desktop. This is perhaps unnecessary; it is enough that it can be called up by clicking on the “Start” button.

There is a simple way to prevent the Windows start screen from appearing immediately when you boot.

Right-click on the taskbar and select “Properties”.

A window will appear in which you need to go to the “Navigation” tab. And here the option “When logging in and closing all applications, open the desktop instead of the start screen” is responsible for whether the start screen will be displayed at startup or not.

I offer my short video review of the Windows 8 start screen.

What's on the Start screen

The Windows 8 Start screen consists of two parts. The first is “Start”, which appears immediately when you click on the “Start” button.

This is the Start menu

Tiles (icons) are collected here and you can manage them: delete, add, change size, group, etc.

The second part is “Applications”. All programs that are installed on your computer are collected here. There is also the opportunity to choose a method for sorting applications and a convenient search form (there is a search in the Start menu too).

This is the Applications menu

You can use this arrow to switch between the two parts.

Switch between Start and Applications

How to add an app to your Home screen

Any app can be added as a tile to the Start menu on the Start screen. To do this, go to the list of applications, click on the desired program right-click and select “Pin to Start Screen”.

Add an app to your Home screen

How to remove an app from the Home screen

Any tile can be removed from the Start menu of the Windows 8 Start screen. To do this, right-click on the tile and select Remove from Start Screen.

Remove an app from the Home screen

Organize your Start screen

The Windows 8 Start screen is a very flexible tool. It allows you to customize yourself in almost endless possibilities.

Moving tiles

Nothing could be simpler. Grab the tile with your mouse and drag it to the desired location

Drag and drop tiles

Changing the size of tiles

To make a tile larger or smaller, right-click on it and select “Resize”.

Change tile sizes

Grouping tiles

The Window 8 Start screen allows you to group tiles. To do this, select the desired tile (or several tiles by holding Ctrl key) and drag it to a free area until a gray vertical stripe appears.

Create groups of tiles

Each group of tiles can be given a name. To do this, right-click on the free space and select “Name groups”.

Give the groups names

Groups of tiles can be swapped. To do this, you need to click on the button with the minus icon at the bottom right and you can drag the groups with the mouse.

The Welcome (login) screen and Start screen in Windows 8, unlike its predecessor systems, give the user much more customization options. Now you can change their background and content without using third party programs. Also in the “eight” it became possible to log into the system using a graphic password and choose what will open after logging in: the home screen, the desktop or a list of installed applications.

The Windows 8 Welcome Screen does not have background picture- it is painted in the color you chose when installing the system.

If you don't like this color, you can install another one. In addition, you have the opportunity to create your own account avatar and customize the appearance of the home screen (background, number and arrangement of tiles) to your liking.

Own functions Windows design 8 is enough for most users. And for those who want to go further and, for example, change the logo that is displayed when Windows startup, you will have to resort to help special utilities. Next we'll talk about how to use them, but for now we'll look at changing the welcome screen and user avatar using the system.

Personalizing your computer using Windows 8

Change the background of the Start and Welcome screens

After installation Windows background The Start screen will be the same color as the Welcome screen. At first it’s just a plain color fill. After activating the system, you will have access to settings that allow you to set a graphic image or desktop wallpaper as the background.

To change the appearance of the Start screen and the background of the Welcome screen, do the following:

• Open the Charms sidebar: press Windows keys+C or drag your mouse from the top right corner down (or from the bottom right corner up). Click on the "Search" icon.

You can also open the search from the menu Windows buttons(“Start”), where you need to select “Find”:

Or click on the Magnifier icon on the Start screen:

• Next, enter “personalization” in the search bar and select “Change the background and colors of the home screen” from what is found.

• Choose one of 20 pictures and customize it to your liking: Windows 8 gives you the ability to change both the main background and the color theme of the image details. In addition to the Home screen, changes will be applied to your account's Welcome screen and a number of other system elements.

To display the desktop wallpaper on the Start screen, open the taskbar context menu, click “Properties”,

Go to the "Navigation" tab and in the "Home Screen" section, check "Display desktop background."

Here you can specify what will open first when you log in: the desktop, the start screen, or the list of applications.

Changing a user's avatar

The Windows 8 user account avatar is associated with the account Microsoft entry and during synchronization various devices running under this OS, it will be the same everywhere.

To set or change your avatar, open the Charms panel and click Options.

Click Change PC settings.

Select from the list of options " Accounts».

To select an avatar, click “Browse” and select the desired picture. Or turn on your camera and take a photo.

By default, the search is performed in the “Pictures” folder. By clicking "This PC" you can specify a different folder.

Choose any picture you like. The system does not impose any requirements on its size and quality.

The selected image will now be associated with your account and appear on the welcome screen.

Changing the image for entering a graphic password

If you have set a graphic password for logging into the system, a picture will open on the welcome screen for entering this password. Initially this will be your account image, but you can change it to something else if you wish. To do this, go to PC Settings -> Accounts again and open Sign-in Options. In chapter " Graphic password» click "Edit".

Confirm your information by entering a text password.

Click “Select another picture”, specify it and create a new picture password.

Changing the Windows 8 logo

The Windows logo is what we see from the start of the system until the welcome screen appears. If you don't like its appearance, you can replace it with something more attractive, but to do this you will have to edit individual system files. We warn you: such manipulations are potentially dangerous - instead of giving you room to experiment, you may end up with Windows loading failure.

For change system files the utilities that we mentioned at the beginning of the article are used. Let's take a closer look at two of them.

8oot Logo Changer

To cancel changes and restore defaults, just click the “Revert wallpaper” button.

This article shows you the steps you can use to set up a second monitor in Windows 8.1

The operating system initially provides support for multi-monitor systems of various configurations, just for those who prefer a computer with multiple monitors.

For many users, one monitor is not enough; they need at least a couple of monitors to have the largest possible workspace. There are also those who need more than one monitor, for example for presentations. In Windows 8.1 this feature is called "Share to Screen"

To connect a second monitor, you need a computer with an additional video signal output to an external display: HDMI, VGA or DVI port, as well as a cable that connects the monitor to the port.

CONTENT:

Access the Cast to Screen feature

There are several ways to access the Cast to Screen feature.

1 way

Method 2

Press the keyboard shortcut + P

The Cast to Screen panel opens.

You have four options for working with a second monitor:

Computer screen only(PC screen only). The second screen remains dark. Nothing is projected onto him.

Duplicate. The contents of the main screen are copied to the second screen. This option is optimal for presentations. In this case, the resolution of both screens should be the same.

Extend (Extend). Two screens turn into one large virtual screen. This makes it possible to display one file on two screens, for example, a large photo.

Second screen only(Second screen only). This option allows you to check the resolution of the second screen. Accordingly, if you have a laptop whose presentation is projected onto a large screen, choose this option for optimal results.

Configuring Monitors

When expanding the screen to two monitors, if more is required fine tuning, you will have to use the classic “Screen Resolution” panel, available in the desktop context menu.

Configuring the taskbar

After extending your Windows 8.1 screen to multiple monitors, each of them will have the same taskbar by default. But this can be fixed. You may prefer to remove the taskbar from one of the monitors altogether, or leave only icons for applications running on that monitor on each panel.

To select the desired configuration, right-click on the taskbar and select Properties from the menu that appears. On the Taskbar tab of the dialog window that opens, find the section Multiple displays. To have the taskbar appear only on your primary monitor, uncheck Show taskbar on all displays

If you prefer the default configuration, where each monitor has its own taskbar, you can set the behavior of these taskbars using drop-down lists. Here are the available options:

■ All taskbars.
The default mode where the same panel is present on both monitors.

■ The main taskbar and the taskbar in which a window is open.
In this case, the taskbar on the main monitor contains icons for all running applications, while on the second monitor it contains only icons of applications that are running on it. Let's say on your main monitor you run Internet Explorer and Word, and PowerPoint and Excel are displayed on the second monitor. The taskbar on the main monitor will contain icons for Internet Explorer, Word, PowerPoint and Excel. On the second monitor there will be only PowerPoint and Excel icons.

■ Taskbar with a window open.
In this mode, the taskbar on each monitor will contain only icons of applications running on this monitor. As a result, if we recall the above example again, only the application icons for Internet Explorer and Word will appear on the taskbar of the first monitor, and PowerPoint and Excel on the taskbar of the second monitor

Selecting a background on monitors

To configure screen design settings, you need to open the “Personalization” panel, also accessible from the desktop context menu or control panel, and go to the section Desktop background. Select a suitable background and right-click on it. A menu will appear as shown in the screenshot below. Here you can select which monitor this background should be placed on. In the same way, select the background for the second monitor.

When developing G8 updates to version 8.1, Microsoft developers seemingly took into account all the wishes of users regarding the Windows 8 start screen.

To a greater extent, the changes in Windows 8.1 affected something that has not yet become completely clear to many - the tiled interface. Previously underrated tiles have evolved into a new stage. The user was able to adjust them by transforming the tiles into small squares, the same as in mobile version OS from Microsoft, or increasing them to the size of two wide tiles.

If a small tile contains only an application icon, then a large tile can contain quite a lot of information, depending on the application for which this tile is responsible.

Large size can be chosen for absolutely any tile Microsoft applications, but only if the application is capable of displaying a large amount of information, for example, like the weather informer shown in the figure above.

Changing the size of tiles is very easy. Just right-click on the icon desired application, and its control panel will open at the bottom of the Start screen. In this panel, you need to click on the icon called “Resize” and select the one you need from the list that opens.

In addition to improving the functionality of the Home screen tiles, an additional button has appeared on it (depicted as an arrow in a downward circle). Clicking this button causes icons of all programs installed on the computer to appear on the screen. Concerning full list applications, then in Windows 8.1 it received a sorting function according to several criteria: by name, by date, by frequency of use and by category.

In addition to this, the tiles received a couple more useful functions, such as special movement mode and group renaming. To get to them, you need to select any tile on the Windows 8.1 start screen and click on the “settings” button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Using a desktop background on the Windows 8.1 start screen

Yes Yes. This is exactly what many were waiting for Windows users 8. Updated Windows versions 8.1, you can use your desktop background as your Start screen background. From now on, the user does not need to install for these purposes additional applications third party developers.

To apply a desktop background to the Start screen, you need to right-click on the panel Windows tasks and select “Properties” in the context menu that opens.

In the “Taskbar and Navigation Properties” window that opens, go to the “Navigation” tab and check the “Display desktop background on the Start screen” checkbox. Click on “Apply” and “Ok”.

Done, now the Start screen will have the desktop background. True, the system will darken it slightly to avoid tiles merging with it.

In addition to the method described above, there is another one with which you can change the background of the start screen and make it the same as on the desktop.

Go to the tiled interface and move your mouse to the bottom right corner of the screen. In the panel that appears, click on “Options” and then on “Personalization”. Now select the desktop wallpaper icon and go back to the start screen.

The greatest user dissatisfaction previous versions Windows experienced two things when migrating to a new operating system:

1. By default, a new Start screen with “Tiles” opened, so to go to the “familiar” desktop you had to click on the corresponding tile. The next time I logged in, the same thing happened again.
2. To turn off/restart the computer using the mouse, you had to “call up the magic buttons, go into the parameters, select the shutdown item and select the desired action.

With the release, it became obvious that the developers made certain concessions to the “Old Believers” who did not want to “relearn.” Here we will briefly describe the most important (useful) features of Windows 8.1, which were sorely lacking in Windows 8.

The "Start" button appeared in its usual place. On click right By clicking on this button, a convenient menu appears with the ability to immediately choose to shut down or restart the PC.

However, when the system starts, tiles still open, not the desktop. To configure the desktop to open instead of "tiles", you must first go to the "Desktop". Then you need to click right mouse button on the "Taskbar".

Next, select “Properties” from the pop-up menu. A window will open dedicated to all the taskbar and “navigation” settings. It is the “Navigation” tab that we need to configure the opening of the desktop instead of the “start screen”. On this tab, find the item “When you log in and close all applications, open the desktop instead of the Start screen” and check the box.

Don't forget to click the "Apply" button, otherwise your changes will not be taken into account. Now, when you turn on your computer or laptop, instead of the start screen (tiles), the good old desktop will always open.

We remind you that the owners licensed Windows 8 can update the system to Windows 8.1 absolutely free - you can do this through " Windows Store". If you purchase one version of a Windows 8 product or