Windows 8.1-What’s new?

Give me back my Desktop and Start Button! 

Yes, we all complained, and millions of voices could not be silenced. Newer wasn’t necessarily better, so Windows 8.1 has returned some old features and improved some others. The desktop is now much easier to access (yay!), but the Return of the Start button, misses the mark. START is back, but only as a means to access the much maligned START screen (boo!).

Return of the DESKTOP

The only thing on my Windows 8 Start screen I ever used was the Desktop tile. So going from boot-up to START screen, and then clicking on Desktop was an extra and unappreciated step. Now, with 8.1, you can re-enable booting up with Desktop.

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Additionally, you can

  • Share the Desktop background with the Start screen,
  • Control the Corner Navigation ‘aka: hotspopts’

To access, RIGHT + CLICK  on the Taskbar , and select Properties, Navigation.

Better SEARCH

With Windows 8.1 your Search includes not only your local drive and apps, but also your SkyDrive and web results. And speaking about SkyDrive, there is better integration and support for SkyDrive users.

Better CONTROL PANEL

The Windows 8 PC Settings was an abbreviated version of the familiar control panel. With limited settings available, To make a setting change one either had to search for it, or access the legacy windows Control Panel. Windows 8.1 has made more control panel applets accessible under Settings (although I still find it easier to use the search  option to locate the setting I am tweaking).

Easier TILING (aka ‘SNAP’)

The Windows 8 SNAP feature was (sorry) annoying, mostly in that you could not control the size of the windows you were tiling. Windows 8.1 improves this feature by allowing you to control the size of the tiled (oops, I mean SNAPPED) windows.

Additional articles to peruse:

Cheers!

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Comments and questions are always welcome!

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Author: quincy harley jr

Quincy is a technophile, coach and Learning Development expert. He has an extensive legal IT background and is practiced in MS Office application support and product development. As a project leader he has been integral in numerous new application rollouts. Whatever spare time he has, is spent with reading, archery and watching his young sons grow.

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