Dell and Microsoft: Partners in innovation. For more than 30 years, Dell and Microsoft have brought you ground-breaking technologies that are easy to manage and integrate into existing IT environments. Individuals and companies have benefitted from our joint solutions that combine best-in-class software, hardware, and services, while enabling IT efficiency and organizational effectiveness. This tradition of innovation continues with the Windows 8 operating system on Dell devices.
Windows® 8 FOR DUMmIES ‰ DELL POCKET EDITION by Andy Rathbone These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Windows® 8 For Dummies®, Dell Pocket Edition Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
About the Author Andy Rathbone started geeking around with computers in 1985 when he bought a 26-pound portable CP/M Kaypro 2X. Like other nerds of the day, he soon began playing with null-modem adapters, dialing computer bulletin boards, and working part-time at Radio Shack. He wrote articles for various techie publications before moving to computer books in 1992.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions and Editorial Sr.
Table of Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 1: The New Start Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 What’s New in Windows 8?.............................................. 5 Starting Windows 8........................................................... 8 Figuring Out the New Start Screen in Windows 8....... 17 Exiting from Windows.................................................
vi Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Adding Your Social Accounts to Windows 8............... 86 Understanding the Mail App.......................................... 89 Sending and Receiving Files through E-Mail................ 99 Managing Your Contacts in the People App.............. 103 Managing Appointments in Calendar......................... 107 Chatting through Messaging........................................
Introduction T his Pocket Edition isn’t intended to make you a whiz at Windows; instead, it dishes out chunks of useful computing information when you need them. You don’t have to become a Windows 8 expert, you just need to know enough to get by quickly, cleanly, and with a minimum of pain so that you can move on to the more pleasant things in life. Best of all, you can get what you need out of this book whether you’re working on a touchscreen, laptop, or desktop computer.
2 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition How to Use This Book When something in Windows 8 leaves you stumped, find the troublesome topic in this book’s table of contents or index, turn to what you need, and then apply what you’ve read. If you have to type something into the computer, you’ll see easy-to-follow bold text like this: Type Media Player into the Search box. When I describe a key combination you should press, I describe it like this: Press Ctrl+B.
Introduction 3 ✓ When told to click, you should tap. Quickly touching and releasing your finger on a button is the same as clicking it with a mouse. ✓ When told to double-click, tap twice. Two touches in rapid succession does the trick. ✓ When told to right-click something, hold down your finger on the item. Then, when a little menu pops up, lift your finger. The menu stays put onscreen. (That’s exactly what would have happened if you’d right-clicked the item with a mouse.
4 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Don’t forget to remember these important points. (Or at least dog-ear the pages so that you can look them up later.) The computer won’t explode while you’re performing the delicate operations associated with this icon. Still, wearing gloves and proceeding with caution is a good idea. Are you moving to Windows 8 from an older Windows version? This icon alerts you to areas where Windows 8 works significantly differently from its predecessors.
Chapter 1 The New Start Screen In This Chapter ▶ Finding out what’s new in Windows 8 ▶ Signing in to Windows 8 ▶ Understanding the Start screen ▶ Getting used to the Charms bar ▶ Checking out the free apps ▶ Getting out of Windows 8 W indows 8 definitely changes up your Windows experience. It still comes with the traditional Windows desktop, but the new Start screen is creating all the excitement.
6 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition scratch in an attempt to please two camps of computer owners. Some people are mostly consumers. They read e-mail, watch videos, listen to music, and browse the web, often while away from their desktop PC. Whether on the go or on the couch, they’re consuming media (and popcorn). Other people are mostly creators. They write papers, prepare tax returns, update blogs, edit videos, or, quite often, tap whichever keys their boss requires that day.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 7 Figure 1-1: The newest version of Windows, Windows 8, comes preinstalled on most new PCs today. Figure 1-2: The Windows 8 desktop works much as it did in Windows 7, but without a Start button. These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
8 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition In a way, Windows 8 offers the best of both worlds: You can stay on the Start screen for quick, on-the-go browsing. And when work beckons, you can head for the desktop, where your traditional Windows programs await. Because the Windows desktop no longer contains the traditional Start button and Start menu that sprouted from the corner, you now must retreat to the new Start screen.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 9 Figure 1-3: To move past this lock screen, drag up on the screen with your mouse or finger, or press a key on the keyboard. Previous versions of Windows let you sign in as soon as you turned on your computer. Windows 8, by contrast, makes you unlock a screen before moving to the sign in page, where you type in your name and password.
10 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition When you’re in the door, Windows wants you to sign in, as shown in Figure 1-4, by clicking your name and typing in a password. Figure 1-4: Click your user account name and then type your name and password on the next screen. I’ve customized my Sign In screen. Yours will look different. If you don’t see an account listed for you on the Sign In screen, you have several options: ✓ If you see your name and e-mail address listed, type your password.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 11 ✓ If you just bought the computer, use the account named Administrator. Designed to give the owner full power over the computer, the Administrator account user can set up new accounts for other people, install programs, start an Internet connection, and access all the files on the computer — even those belonging to other people. Windows 8 needs at least one person to act as administrator. ✓ Use the Guest account.
12 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Even while locked, as shown in Figure 1-3, your computer’s screen displays current information in its bottom-left corner. Depending on how it’s configured, you can see the time and date; your wireless Internet signal strength (the more bars, the better); battery strength (the more colorful the icon, the better); your next scheduled appointment; a count of unread e-mail; and other items.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen • Keyboard: Hold down the the letter C. 13 key and press • Touchscreens: Slide your finger from the screen’s right edge inward. When the Charms bar appears, click the Settings icon. The Settings screen appears. 2. Click the words Change PC Settings at the very bottom of the Settings screen. The PC Settings screen appears. 3. Click the Users category on the left and then click the Change Your Password button. Or, to create a password, click the Create a Password button.
14 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition 4. Type a password that will be easy to remember. Choose something like the name of your favorite vegetable, for example, or your dental floss brand. To beef up its security level, capitalize some letters and embed a number in the password, like Glide2 or Ask4More. (Don’t use these exact two examples, though, because they’ve probably been added to every password cracker’s arsenal by now.) 5.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 15 ✓ Another new option in Step 3 is Create a PIN. A PIN is a four-digit code like the ones punched into Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). The disadvantage of a PIN? There’s no password hint to a four-digit password. Signing up for a Microsoft account Whether you’re signing in to Windows 8 for the first time, trying to access some Start screen apps, or just trying to change a setting, you’ll eventually see a screen similar to the one in Figure 1-6.
16 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition accounts, automatically stocking your address book with your friends from Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. (Plus, you can access both your own and your friends’ Facebook photos.) ✓ Local account: This account works fine for people working with traditional Windows programs on the Windows desktop. Local account holders can’t run many of the Start screen apps bundled with Windows 8, including the Mail app. Nor can they download new apps from the Windows Store.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 17 Figuring Out the New Start Screen in Windows 8 The new Start screen in Windows 8 whisks you away from the traditional Windows desktop and drops you into a foreign land with no helpful translator at your side. That’s right: Windows 8 no longer has a Start button or a Start menu. Instead, the new Windows 8 Start screen, shown in Figure 1-7, appears whenever you turn on your computer.
18 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition As you work, you’ll constantly switch between the screen-filling Start screen and the traditional screenfilling desktop, covered in the next chapter. Despite the drastic remodel, the Start screen still offers a way to start programs; adjust Windows settings; find help for sticky situations; or, thankfully, shut down Windows and get away from the computer for a while. Some Start screen tiles needn’t be opened to see their contents.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 19 ✓ See the little bar along the Start screen’s bottom edge? That’s a scroll bar. Drag the scroll bar’s light-colored portion to the left or right: As you move that portion, the Start screen moves along with it, letting you see items living off the screen’s right edge. ✓ On a touchscreen, navigate the Start screen with your finger: Pretend the Start screen is a piece of paper lying on a table. As you move your finger, the Start screen moves along with it.
20 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition No matter which item you’ve chosen, it fills the screen, ready to inform you, entertain you, or maybe even do both. I explain the Start screen’s built-in apps later in this chapter. If you feel like digging in, you can begin downloading and installing your own by clicking the Start screen’s Store tile. (I explain how to download apps in Chapter 4.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 21 Figure 1-8: Point in the bottom-left corner of the Start screen. Slide your mouse up the edge to see a list of currently running Start screen apps. 3. To return to an app, click its thumbnail. 4. To close an app, right-click its thumbnail and choose Close. These tips can help you keep track of your running apps, as well as close down the ones you no longer want open: These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
22 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ To cycle through your currently running apps, hold down the key and press Tab. The same bar you see in Figure 1-8 appears along the left edge. Each time you press Tab, you select another app. When you select the app you want, let go of the key, and the app fills the screen. ✓ You can view your most-recently-used apps whether you’re working on the Windows desktop or on the new Start screen.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 23 ✓ Mouse users can right-click on a blank portion of the Start screen. A bar rises from the screen’s bottom showing an icon named All Apps (shown in the margin). Click the All Apps icon to see an alphabetical listing of all your computer’s apps and programs. Click the desired app or program to open it. ✓ While looking at the Start screen, keyboard owners can simply begin typing the name of their desired app or program, like this: facebook.
24 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition To add programs or apps to the Start screen, follow these steps: 1. Press the Start screen’s All Apps button. Right-click a blank portion of the Start screen (or press +Z) and then choose the All Apps button along the screen’s bottom. On a touchscreen, slide your finger upward from the screen’s bottom edge and then tap the All Apps icon. No matter which route you take, the Start screen alphabetically lists all your installed apps and programs. 2.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 25 eager to impart a little humanity to your computer, calls it a Charms bar. Shown in Figure 1-9, the Charms bar’s five icons, or charms, list things you can do with your currently viewed screen. For example, when you’re gazing at a website you want a friend to see, fetch the Charms bar, choose Share, and choose the friend who should see it. Off it goes to your friend’s eyeballs. Figure 1-9: The Charms bar in Windows 8 contains handy icons for performing common tasks.
26 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ Mouse: Point at the top- or bottom-right corner. ✓ Keyboard: Press +C. ✓ Touchscreen: Slide your finger inward from the screen’s right edge. When the Charms bar appears, lingering along your screen’s right edge, it sports five icons, ready to be either clicked or touched. Here’s what each icon does: ✓ Search: Choose this, and Windows assumes you want to search through what you’re currently seeing onscreen.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 27 Tap a Charms bar icon, and Windows gives a hint as to its purpose. For example, tapping the Settings area’s Screen icon on a tablet presents a sliding bar for adjusting the screen’s brightness. Sitting atop the sliding bar is a lock icon that keeps the screen from rotating, which is handy for reading e-books. Introducing your free apps The Windows 8 Start screen comes stocked with several free apps, each living on its own square or rectangular tile.
28 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ Finance: A live tile, this shows a 30-minute delay of the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P. Choose Finance to see the usual charts and graphs of fear and uncertainty. ✓ Games: Designed mostly for Xbox 360 owners, this app lets you see your friends and gaming achievements. You can explore new games, watch game trailers, and buy new games for your console.
Chapter 1: The New Start Screen 29 Google, and others — the People app grabs all your contacts, as well as their information, and stocks itself automatically. ✓ Photos: Covered in Chapter 6, the Photos app displays photos stored in your computer, as well as on accounts you may have on Facebook, Flickr, or SkyDrive. ✓ Reader: This handy app reads documents stored in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). It jumps into action when you try to open any file stored in that document.
30 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition information. (Unless your computer has a GPS — Global Positioning System — the app narrows down your location by closest city rather than street address.) The bundled Windows 8 apps work well within the confines of the Start screen. Unfortunately, Microsoft configured the Windows 8 desktop to use some of these Start screen apps rather than standard desktop programs. Exiting from Windows Here’s the quickest way to turn off your PC: 1.
Chapter 2 The Traditional Desktop In This Chapter ▶ Finding the desktop ▶ Finding the Start screen ▶ Touching the desktop on a touchscreen ▶ Working on the desktop ▶ Retrieving deleted items from the Recycle Bin ▶ Working with the taskbar T he app-filled world of Windows 8 works fine for couch-top computing. Without leaving your Start screen, you can listen to music, check your e-mail, watch the latest funny cat videos, and see whether anything particularly embarrassing has surfaced on Facebook.
32 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition The Desktop tile looks like a miniature version of your real desktop, complete with your current desktop background. When summoned, the desktop pushes aside the Start screen and fills the screen, ready to run your traditional Windows programs. The Windows 8 desktop works much like the desktop found in previous Windows versions. Shown in Figure 2-1, the Windows 8 desktop is almost indistinguishable from the one in the previous version, Windows 7.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 33 The desktop, with its tiny buttons and thin bars, works best with a keyboard and mouse. If you’re using Windows on a touchscreen tablet, you’ll probably want to buy a portable mouse and keyboard for desktop work. The Windows 8 desktop will run nearly all the Windows programs that ran on your old Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 computer. Exceptions are antivirus programs, security suites, and some utility programs.
34 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition mouse and keyboard. Anticipating your frustration, all Windows 8 tablets include at least one USB port for plugging in either a mouse or a keyboard. To use both simultaneously, you have two options: ✓ Buy a USB hub: This inexpensive, small, USBport stuffed box includes a short cable that plugs into your tablet’s USB port. Plug your mouse and keyboard into two of the hub’s ports, and you’ve transformed your tablet into a full-fledged desktop PC.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 35 ✓ Start screen: Although hidden, you can fetch the Start screen by pointing your mouse at the very bottom-left corner and clicking the Start screen thumbnail. (A press of the key returns you to the Start screen, as well.) When summoned, the Start screen still lets you choose programs to run on your desktop.
36 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition the mysterious doodad, and Windows pops up a little box explaining what that thing is or does. Right-click the object, and the ever-helpful Windows 8 usually tosses up a menu listing nearly everything you can do with that particular object. This trick works on most icons and buttons found on your desktop and its programs. ✓ All the icons on your desktop may suddenly disappear, leaving it completely empty.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 37 Figure 2-2: Point at the bottom-left corner to reveal an icon that takes you to the Start screen. 2. When the Start screen icon appears, slowly raise your mouse pointer along the screen’s left edge. As you move the pointer up the screen’s edge, thumbnails of your open apps appear, leaving you with several choices: • To return to an open app, click its thumbnail. The desktop disappears, and the app fills the screen, looking just as you last left it.
38 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition You can also fetch the Start screen by pressing the key on your keyboard or tablet. Cleaning up a messy desktop When icons cover your desktop like a year’s worth of sticky notes, Windows 8 offers several ways to clean up the mess. If you simply want your desktop clutter to look more organized — lined up straight or in organized piles, for example — then do this: Right-click the desktop and choose Sort By from the pop-up menu.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 39 ✓ Show Desktop Icons: Always keep this option turned on. When turned off, Windows hides every icon on your desktop. If you can remember in your frustration, click this option again to toggle your icons back on. ✓ Show Desktop Gadgets: Gadgets are little things like clocks and weather forecasters you can add to your desktop. Introduced in Windows Vista and Windows 7 but rarely used, they’ve been replaced by apps.
40 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Figure 2-3: Try different backgrounds by clicking them; click the Browse button to see pictures from different folders. 4. Click different pictures to see how they look as your desktop’s background. When you find a background you like, you’re done. Exit the program with a click in its upperright corner, and your chosen photo drapes across your desktop.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 41 website’s picture and choose Set as Background from the pop-up menu. Microsoft sneakily copies the image onto your desktop as its new background. ✓ If a background photograph makes your desktop icons too difficult to see, splash your desktop with a single color instead: After Step 1 of the preceding list, click the Picture Location box’s down arrow. When the drop-down list appears, select Solid Colors. Choose your favorite color to have it fill your desktop.
42 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Figure 2-4: Snapping an app (placing it alongside your desktop) lets you view an app from the desktop. To snap an app on your desktop, follow these steps: 1. Open any Start screen app. To reach the Start screen, press the key. Or, using a mouse, point at the bottom-left corner of your desktop and click when the Start screen icon appears. Then open an app you want to snap alongside the desktop.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 43 4. Snap the app of your choosing against your desktop. These steps are much simpler to do than read. But here goes: • Mouse: Point at the screen’s top- or bottomleft corner until a thumbnail of your most recently used app appears. Right-click the desired app and, from the pop-up menu, choose Snap Left or Snap Right to snap the app to the screen side of your choosing.
44 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ You can’t snap an app to the side of the Start screen. The Start screen always consumes the entire screen. But when you switch away from the Start screen, the previously snapped app will still be in place, clinging to its same edge. ✓ You can only snap one app at a time. For example, you can’t snap an app onto each side of your desktop. ✓ You can snap apps only on a screen with a resolution of at least 1366 x 768.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 45 ✓ For a quick deletion rush, click the unwanted object and poke your Delete key. Want something back? Double-click the Recycle Bin icon to see your recently deleted items. Right-click the item you want and choose Restore. To delete something permanently, just delete it from inside the Recycle Bin: Click it and press the Delete key. To delete everything in the Recycle Bin, right-click the Recycle Bin icon and choose Empty Recycle Bin.
46 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ If you delete something from somebody else’s computer over a network, it can’t be retrieved. The Recycle Bin holds only items deleted from your own computer, not somebody else’s computer. (For some awful reason, the Recycle Bin on the other person’s computer doesn’t save the item, either.) Be careful.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 47 Not sure what a taskbar icon does? Rest your mouse pointer over any of the taskbar’s icons to see either the program’s name or a thumbnail image of the program’s contents, as shown in Figure 2-5. In that figure, for example, you can see that Internet Explorer contains two web pages. From the taskbar, you can perform powerful magic, as described in the following list: ✓ To play with a program listed on the taskbar, click its icon.
48 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ You can add your favorite programs directly to the taskbar. From the Start screen, rightclick the favored program’s tile and choose Pin to Taskbar. The program’s icon then lives on the taskbar for easy access, just as if it were running. Tired of the program hogging space on your taskbar? Right-click it and choose Unpin This Program from Taskbar.
Chapter 2: The Traditional Desktop 49 add a second time zone, click the Time/Date area and choose Change Date and Time Settings. Windows Media Center Recording: The glowing red circle means Windows Media Center, available separately as an add-on, is currently recording something off the television. Media Center Guide Listings: Media Center is downloading the latest TV listings.
50 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Task Manager: Coveted by computer technicians, this little program can end misbehaving programs, monitor background tasks, monitor performance, and do other stuff of techie dreams. Windows Host Process: This dismally named icon delivers an even worse message: Your newly plugged-in gadget won’t work, be it your printer, scanner, music player, or other item. Try unplugging the device, running its installation software again, and plugging it back in.
Chapter 3 Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky In This Chapter ▶ Managing files with the desktop’s File Explorer ▶ Navigating drives, folders, and flash drives ▶ Understanding libraries ▶ Creating and naming folders ▶ Selecting and deselecting items ▶ Copying and moving files and folders ▶ Writing to CDs and memory cards ▶ Understanding Windows SkyDrive F olks hoped the new Start screen would simplify their work, finally transcending the complicated world of files and folders.
52 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Browsing the File Explorer To keep your programs and files neatly arranged, Windows cleaned up the squeaky old file cabinet metaphor with whisper-quiet Windows icons. Inside File Explorer, the icons represent your computer’s storage areas, allowing you to copy, move, rename, or delete your files before the investigators arrive. To see your computer’s file cabinets — called drives or disks in computer lingo — open the Start screen’s File Explorer tile.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 53 Notice the hard drive bearing the little Windows icon (shown in the margin)? That means Windows 8 lives on that drive. The more colored space you see in the line next to each hard drive’s icon, the more files you’ve stuffed onto your drive. When the line turns red, your drive is almost full, and you should think about upgrading to a larger drive.
54 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition If you plug a digital camcorder, cellphone, or other gadget into your PC, the File Explorer window will often sprout a new icon representing your gadget. If Windows neglects to ask what you’d like to do with your newly pluggedin gadget, right-click the icon; you see a list of everything you can do with that item. No icon? Then you need to install a driver for your gadget.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 55 Figure 3-2: Windows 8 provides every person with these same four libraries, but it keeps everybody’s folders separate. Peering into Your Drives, Folders, and Libraries Put on your hard hat to go spelunking among your computer’s drives, folders, and libraries. You can use this section as your guide. Seeing the files on a disk drive Like everything else in Windows 8, disk drives are represented by buttons, or icons.
56 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Windows react when you insert something new into your computer, such as a CD, DVD, or flash drive? Earlier versions of Windows tried to secondguess you. When you inserted a music CD, for example, Windows automatically began playing the music. The more polite Windows 8, by contrast, asks how you want it to handle the situation, as shown in Figure 3-3. The same message appears whether you’re working within the desktop or Start screen.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 57 Figure 3-4: Choose how Windows 8 should react the next time you insert a particular item, such as a CD. Seeing what’s inside a folder Because folders are really little storage compartments, Windows 8 uses a picture of a little folder to represent a place for storing files. To see what’s inside a folder, either in File Explorer or on the Windows 8 desktop, just double-click that folder’s picture.
58 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Notice the little arrows between the folder names. Those little arrows provide quick shortcuts to other folders and windows. Try clicking any of the arrows; menus appear, listing the places you can jump to from that point. For example, click the arrow after Libraries, shown in Figure 3-5, and a menu drops down, letting you jump quickly to your other libraries. Figure 3-5: Click the arrow after Libraries to jump to another place in the folder.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 59 Figure 3-6: Creating a new folder where you want it. 3. Type a new name for the folder. A newly created folder bears the boring name of New Folder. When you begin typing, Windows 8 quickly erases the old name and fills in your new name. Done? Save the new name by either pressing Enter or clicking somewhere away from the name you’ve just typed.
60 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition filename or folder name to select it, wait a second, and click the name again to change it. Some people click the name and press F2; Windows automatically lets you rename the file or folder. When you rename a file, only its name changes. The contents are still the same, the file is still the same size, and the file is still in the same place. Renaming certain folders confuses Windows, especially if those folders contain programs.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 61 are highlighted, along with every file and folder sitting between them. Windows 8 lets you lasso files and folders as well. Point slightly above the first file or folder you want; then, while holding down the mouse button, point at the last file or folder. The mouse creates a colored lasso to surround your files. Let go of the mouse button, and the lasso disappears, leaving all the surrounded files highlighted.
62 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition highlighted items whenever you — or an inadvertent brush of your shirt sleeve — press the Delete key. Be extra sure that you know what you’re doing when deleting any file that has pictures of little gears in its icon. These files are usually sensitive hidden files, and the computer wants you to leave them alone. Icons with little arrows in their corner (like the one in the margin) are shortcuts — push buttons that merely load files.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 63 Moving the mouse drags the file along with it, and Windows 8 explains that you’re moving the file. As shown in Figure 3-7, the Traveler file is being dragged from the House folder to the Morocco folder. Figure 3-7: To move an item, drag it while holding down the right mouse button. Always drag icons while holding down the right mouse button.
64 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Depending on your screen’s current layout, some of the following onscreen tools may work more easily: ✓ Right-click menus: Right-click a file or folder and choose Cut or Copy, depending on whether you want to move or copy it. Then right-click your destination folder and choose Paste. It’s simple, it always works, and you needn’t bother placing any windows side by side.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 65 can’t burn discs, remove any discs from inside the drive; then open File Explorer from the Start screen and look at the icon for your CD or DVD drive. Because computers always speak in secret code, here’s what you can do with the disc drives in your computer: ✓ DVD-RW: Read and write to CDs and DVDs. ✓ BD-ROM: Read and write to CDs and DVDs, plus read Blu-ray discs. ✓ BD-RE: These can read and write to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.
66 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition DVDs come in both R and RW formats, just like CDs, so the preceding R and RW rules apply to them, as well. Most DVD burners sold in the past few years can write to any type of blank CD or DVD. Buying blank DVDs for older drives is chaos: The manufacturers fought over which storage format to use, confusing things for everybody. To buy the right blank DVD, check your computer’s receipt to see what formats its DVD burner needs: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, or DVD+RW.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 67 If you just want to copy files to a CD or DVD, perhaps to save as a backup or to give to a friend, stick around. Follow these steps to write files to a new, blank CD or DVD. (If you’re writing files to a CD or DVD that you’ve written to before, jump ahead to Step 4.) 1. Insert the blank disc into your disc burner. Then click or tap the Notification box that appears in the screen’s upper-right corner. 2.
68 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition When the pop-up menu appears, choose Send To and select your disc burner from the menu. • Drag and drop files and/or folders on top of the burner’s icon in File Explorer. • From your My Music, My Pictures, or My Documents folder, click the Share tab and then click Burn to Disc. This button copies all of that folder’s files (or just the files you’ve selected) to the disc as files.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 69 Working with Flash Drives and Memory Cards Digital camera owners eventually become acquainted with memory cards — those little plastic squares that replaced the awkward rolls of film. Windows 8 can read digital photos directly from the camera after you find its cable and plug it into your PC. But Windows 8 can also grab photos straight off the memory card, a method praised by any owner who has lost her camera’s cables.
70 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ Now, the procedure: If Windows complains that a newly inserted card isn’t formatted, right-click its drive and choose Format. (This problem happens most often with brand-new or damaged cards.) Sometimes formatting also helps one gadget use a card designed for a different gadget — your digital camera may be able to use your MP3 player’s card, for example.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 71 ✓ An Internet connection: Without an Internet signal, either wireless or wired, your files stay floating in the clouds, away from you and your computer. ✓ Patience: Uploading files always takes longer than downloading files. Although you can upload small files fairly quickly, larger files like digital photos can take several minutes to upload.
72 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Figure 3-8: The SkyDrive app lets you keep files in a private Internet cubbyhole. When you spot the folder containing the files you want, click it to open it and see its files. 3. Choose the files you’d like to upload to SkyDrive. Click the files you’d like to upload; if you click one by mistake, click it again to remove it from the upload list.
Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 73 Figure 3-9: Click the files to be sent to SkyDrive. The SkyDrive app makes it fairly easy to open files you’ve already uploaded to the cloud, but it offers little control. For more features, visit SkyDrive from These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
74 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition your desktop’s web browser, a chore described in the next section. Accessing SkyDrive from the desktop If the Start screen’s SkyDrive app is too simple for your needs, head for the Windows desktop and visit the SkyDrive website at http://skydrive.live.com. The SkyDrive website offers much more control when shuttling files between your computer and the cloud.
Chapter 4 Working with Apps In This Chapter ▶ Opening a program, app, or document ▶ Installing and uninstalling apps ▶ Updating apps ▶ Seeing the apps you’re currently running I n Windows, programs and apps are your tools: Load a program or app, and you can add numbers, arrange words, and shoot spaceships. Documents, by contrast, are the things you create with apps and programs: tax forms, heartfelt apologies, and lists of high scores.
76 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition expanded the Start button, turning it into a full-screen launching pad for your programs. I explain the giant new Start screen, shown in Figure 4-1, in Chapter 1, as well as how to customize it, adding or removing tiles to ensure you find things more easily. Figure 4-1: Click this Start screen and then click the tile for the program you want to open.
Chapter 4: Working with Apps • Keyboard: Press the Windows key ( 77 ). • Touchscreen: Slide your finger inward from your screen’s right edge and then tap the Start icon. The Start screen appears, refer to Figure 4-1, bringing a screen full of tiles representing many of your apps and programs. 2. If you spot the tile for your program or app, choose it with a mouse click or, on a touchscreen, a tap of a finger.
78 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition If you still can’t find your program on the admittedly crowded Start screen, follow these tips for other ways to open an app or program: ✓ While you view the Start screen, begin typing the missing program’s name. As you type the first letter, the Start screen clears, presenting a list of names beginning with that letter. Type a second or third letter, and the list of matches shrinks accordingly.
Chapter 4: Working with Apps 79 Adding and Deleting Apps Apps, which are mini-programs specialized for single tasks, come from the world of smartphones: computerized cellphones. In fact, the apps in Windows 8 haven’t cut their ties to the cellphone world. Apps you download for Windows 8 can also run on a Windows 8 cellphone. Apps differ from traditional desktop programs in several ways: ✓ Apps consume the entire screen; programs run within windows on the desktop. ✓ Apps are tied to your Microsoft account.
80 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Adding new apps from the Store app When you’re tired of the apps bundled with Windows 8 or you need a new app to fill a special need, follow these steps to bring one into your computer. 1. Open the Store app from the Start screen. Don’t see the Start screen? Press your keyboard’s key to whisk your way there. The Store app fills the screen, as shown in Figure 4-2. Figure 4-2: The Store app lets you download apps to run from your Start screen.
Chapter 4: Working with Apps 81 As you see more of the Store, you see several more ways to sort the available apps, as shown in Figure 4-3. Figure 4-3: Narrow your search by subcategory, price, and rating. 3. Sort by subcategory, price, and noteworthiness, and choose apps that look interesting. For example, you can sort by subcategory, limiting the Games category to show only Card games. Some categories also let you sort by price, and you can choose Free, Paid, or Trial.
82 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition A page opens to show more detailed information, including its price tag, pictures of the app, reviews left by previous customers, and more technical information. 5. Click the Install, Buy, or Try button. When you find a free app that you can’t live without, click the Install button. Paid apps let you click either Buy or Try (a limited trial run).
Chapter 4: Working with Apps 83 Note: When you update an app, it’s not updated for every account holder on the computer. Each person has to update it for him- or herself. That holds true for apps that came preinstalled on your computer, as well as ones you’ve chosen to install afterward. Finding Currently Running Start Screen Apps By nature, Start screen apps fill the screen. Switch to another app, and it fills the screen, shoving away the previous app.
84 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition the screen’s left side. To switch to an app, click it. To close an app, rightclick its thumbnail and choose Close. ✓ Keyboard: Press +Tab to see the list of your most recently used apps, as shown in Figure 4-4. While still holding down the key, press the Tab key; each press of the Tab key highlights a different app on the list. When you’ve highlighted your desired app, release the key, and the app fills the screen.
Chapter 5 Engaging the Social Apps In This Chapter ▶ Adding your accounts ▶ Setting up e-mail ▶ Sending and receiving files and photos ▶ Managing your contacts ▶ Managing your calendar ▶ Sending and receiving instant messages T hanks to the Internet’s never-fading memory, your friends and acquaintances never disappear. Old college chums, business pals, and even those elementary school bullies are all waiting for you online.
86 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Windows 8 about your Facebook account, for example, and Windows 8 automatically stuffs your Facebook friends’ information into the People app, adds birthdays and appointments to your Calendar app, and sets up your Mail and Messaging apps. Adding Your Social Accounts to Windows 8 For years, you’ve heard people say, “Never tell anybody your user account name and password.” Now, it seems Windows 8 wants you to break that rule.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 87 • Mouse: Point at the top- or bottom-right corner to summon the Charms bar. Then click the Start icon that appears. • Keyboard: Press the key. • Touchscreen: Slide your finger inward from the screen’s right edge to fetch the Charms bar and then tap the Start icon. Click the Mail tile, and the app opens. If you haven’t yet signed up for a Microsoft account, you are prompted that you need one. (I explain how to sign up for a Microsoft account in Chapter 1.
88 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition 2. Enter your accounts into the Mail app. To add accounts, summon the Charms bar, click the Settings icon, click Accounts, and click Add an Account. Mail lists the accounts you can add: Hotmail, Outlook, Google, or Exchange. To add a Google account, for example, click the word Google.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 89 Figure 5-2: Import your Facebook friends into your People app. Understanding the Mail App Windows 8 comes with a built-in app for sending and receiving your e-mail. Not only is the Mail app free, but it also comes with a spell checker. Like many free things, the Mail app carries a cost in convenience, as described by these limitations: ✓ You need a Microsoft account to use the Mail app, as well as to use the bundled People, Calendar, and Messaging apps.
90 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition If you need to add a different type of e-mail account, you do it through Internet Explorer on the Windows desktop. There you can visit your Microsoft or Google account and add other e-mail accounts. I explain how to add another account in the following section. Adding other e-mail accounts The Mail app can fetch e-mail only from Hotmail, Outlook, or Gmail accounts.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 91 Figure 5-3: The selected e-mail’s contents appear on the right. To see the mail sent to your account, click the account’s name. For example, see how the name Hotmail is listed in the top-left corner in Figure 5-3? That’s because it’s the currently viewed account; accordingly, the Mail app shows the Hotmail account’s newest e-mail on the screen’s right side. These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
92 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Beneath the names of your e-mail accounts, the Mail app lists its main folders: Inbox: Shown when you first load the Mail app, the Inbox folder lists your waiting e-mail. Mail automatically checks for new e-mail, but if you tire of waiting, click Sync, shown in the margin. That immediately grabs any waiting Mail. (Right-click a blank portion of the Mail app to reveal its menus, including the Sync icon along the bottom edge.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 93 Outbox: When you send or reply to a message, the Mail app immediately tries to connect to the Internet and send it. If Mail can’t find the Internet, your message lingers here. When you connect to the Internet again, click the Sync button, if necessary, to send it on its way. To see the contents of any folder, click it. Click any e-mail inside the folder, and its contents appear in the pane to the far right.
94 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Figure 5-4: As in all Start screen apps, the App bar rises from the screen bottom. These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 95 Composing and sending an e-mail When you’re ready to send an e-mail, follow these steps to compose your letter and drop it in the electronic mailbox, sending it through virtual space to the recipient’s computer: 1. From the Start screen, open the Mail app’s tile and click the New icon (plus sign) in the program’s top-right corner. A New Message window appears, empty and awaiting your words.
96 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Figure 5-5, for example, I’ve added the subject Memorandum for Success. Although optional, the Subject line helps your friends sort their mail. 4. Type your message into the large box beneath the Subject line. Type as many words as you want. As you type, the Mail app underlines potentially misspelled words in red. To correct them, right-click the underlined word and choose the correct spelling from the pop-up menu, shown in Figure 5-5.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 97 5. If you want, attach any files or photos to your e-mail. I describe how to attach files in the “Sending and Receiving Files through E-Mail” section, but if you’re feeling savvy, you can attach them by clicking the Attachment icon on the Mail app’s App bar. Most ISPs balk at sending files larger than about 5MB, which rules out nearly all movies and more than a few files containing digital music or photos. 6.
98 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition 1. Click the Start screen’s Mail tile. Mail opens to show the messages in your Inbox, shown earlier in Figure 5-3. Each subject is listed, one by one, with the newest one at the top. To find a particular e-mail quickly, summon the Charms bar’s Search pane by pressing +Q and then type the sender’s name or a keyword in the search box. (You can also search for e-mails directly from the Start screen’s Search pane, covered in Chapter 1.) 2.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 99 Respond and choosing Reply All from the drop-down menu. • Forward: Received something that a friend simply must see? Click Respond and choose Forward from the drop-down menu to kick a copy of the e-mail to your friend’s Inbox. • Delete: Click the Delete button to toss the message into your Deleted Items folder. Your deleted messages sit inside that folder until you open the Deleted Items folder, click all the messages, and click the Delete button again.
100 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Saving the attached file or files takes just a few steps. 1. Click the word Download next to the attached file. This tells the Mail app to actually download the file. Until you click the rectangle, the Mail app tells you only the attached file’s name and file size. When the download completes, the rectangle turns into an icon representing the newly downloaded file. 2. When the file downloads to the Mail app, click the attached file’s icon and choose Save.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 101 4. Click the word Files in the File Picker’s top-left corner and then choose which library to receive the incoming file: Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos. Saving the file inside one of your four libraries is the easiest way to ensure you’ll find it later. 5. Click the Save button in the File Picker’s bottomright corner. The Mail app saves the file in the library of your choosing. After you’ve saved the file, the Mail app returns to the screen.
102 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition 2. Open the Mail app’s App bar and click the Attachments (paper clip) icon. Open the App bar by right-clicking a blank part of the e-mail. When you click the Attachments icon, the Windows 8 File Picker window appears, shown earlier in Figure 5-6. 3. Navigate to the file you’d like to send. For easy browsing, click the word Files. That fetches a drop-down menu, shown earlier in Figure 5-6, listing your computer’s major storage areas.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 103 ✓ Mouse: Point in the screen’s top- or bottomright corners; when the Charms bar appears, click the Search icon. ✓ Keyboard: Press +Q. ✓ Touchscreen: Slide your finger inward from the screen’s right edge and tap the Search icon. When the Search pane appears, type in a word or the person’s name and then press Enter to see all your matching e-mail. If you have more than one account in Mail, you must search each account separately.
104 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Figure 5-7: The People app stocks itself with friends from your social networks. That means you’ll need to edit some People entries manually. This section explains the occasional pruning needed to keep up with our constantly evolving social networks. Adding contacts Although the People app loves to reach its fingers into any online crevice you toss its way, you can easily add people the old-fashioned way, typing them in by hand.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 105 2. Right-click on a blank part of the People app, and the App bar rises from the program’s bottom edge. Then click the New icon. A blank New Contact form makes its appearance. 3. Fill out the New Contact form. Shown in Figure 5-8, most of the choices are selfexplanatory fields such as Name, Address, Email, and Phone. Click the Other Info button on the right to add items such as a job title, website, significant other, or notes.
106 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition The answer hinges mainly on which cellphone you own. Choose your Google account if you use an Android phone, so your newly added account will appear on your Android phone’s contacts list. Choose the Microsoft account if you use a Microsoft phone, so the contact will appear there. 4. Click the Save button. The People app dutifully saves your new contact.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 107 Clicking Delete removes the person completely. However, the Delete button appears only for contacts you’ve added by hand. If they’ve been added through Facebook or another online social media site, you have to delete them by removing them from your contacts on that site. Unfriend them on Facebook or unfollow them on Twitter, for example, to remove them from the People app.
108 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition The Calendar displays your Facebook friends’ birthdays, for example — if your Facebook friends have chosen to share that information. You can also find any appointments you’ve made in Google’s calendar, a handy perk for owners of Android phones. To see your appointments, click the Start screen’s Calendar tile. The Calendar app appears, listing all your online appointments, as shown in Figure 5-9.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 109 The Calendar opens to show a monthly view, shown earlier in Figure 5-9. To switch to other views, right-click the Calendar app to fetch the App bar; then click the Day, Week, or Month button. No matter which view the Calendar app displays, you can flip through the appointments by clicking the little arrows near the screen’s top corners. Click the right arrow to move forward in time; click the left arrow to move backward.
110 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Figure 5-10: Add your appointment’s date, start time, duration, and other details. Chatting through Messaging A computing staple for decades, instant messaging apps let you exchange messages with other online friends. Unlike e-mail, instant messaging takes place, well, instantly. The screen displays two boxes, and you type messages back and forth to each other. Messaging apps spawn a love/hate relationship.
Chapter 5: Engaging the Social Apps 111 To begin swapping small talk, er, philosophical conversations with your online friends, follow these steps: 1. From the Start screen, click the Messaging tile. The Messaging app appears, shown in Figure 5-11. Figure 5-11: The Messaging app lists previous conversations on the left edge; click a conversation to see its contents on the right. 2. Click the New Message link.
112 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition see a notice from his or her own messaging program, whether it’s on Facebook, a cellphone, or a different system. Figure 5-12: Press Enter to send your message to your friend. When you press Enter, your message appears in your friend’s messaging program. And that’s it. When you’re done typing messages to each other, just say goodbye. The next time you visit the Messaging app, your conversation will still be there, waiting to be continued, if you wish.
Chapter 6 Getting Connected and Having Fun through the Start Screen In This Chapter ▶ Connecting to the web wirelessly ▶ Playing music from the Start screen ▶ Taking photos with your computer’s camera ▶ Viewing photos in your Pictures library I n this chapter, you find out how to connect to the Internet so you can visit websites and find all the good stuff online that you can access from the Start screen.
114 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition Why Do I Need an ISP? Everybody needs three things to connect with the Internet: a computer, web browser software, and an Internet service provider (ISP). You already have the computer, be it a tablet, laptop, or desktop PC. And Windows 8 comes with a pair of web browsers. The Start screen’s Internet Explorer browser works for full-screen, quick information grabs; the desktop’s Internet Explorer browser offers more in-depth features.
Chapter 6: Getting Connected and Having Fun . . . 115 Connecting Wirelessly to the Internet Windows constantly searches for a working Internet connection. If it finds one that you’ve used previously, you’re set: Windows passes the news along to Internet Explorer, and you’re ready to visit the web. When you’re traveling, however, the wireless networks around you will often be new, so you’ll have to authorize these new connections.
116 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition icon changes shape, depending on your surroundings: • Available: When the icon says Available, you’re within range of a wireless network. Start salivating and move to the next step. • Unavailable: When the icon says Unavailable, you’re out of range. Time to head for a different seat in the coffee shop or perhaps a different coffee shop altogether. Then return to Step 1. 3. Click or tap the Available icon if it’s present.
Chapter 6: Getting Connected and Having Fun . . . 117 at home, here’s where you type in the same password you entered into your router when you set up your wireless network. If you’re connecting to somebody else’s password-protected wireless network, ask the network’s owner for the password. If you’re in a hotel, pull out your credit card. You probably need to buy some connection time from the people behind the front desk. 6. Choose whether you want to share your files with other people on the network.
118 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition keep your cordless phone out of the same room as your wireless PC, and don’t heat up that sandwich when web browsing. If your desktop’s taskbar contains a wireless network icon (shown in the margin), click it to jump to Step 3. While you’re working on the Windows 8 desktop, that wireless network icon provides a handy way to connect wirelessly in new locations.
Chapter 6: Getting Connected and Having Fun . . . 119 Figure 6-1: The Start screen’s browser offers hidden menus along the top and bottom. Playing Music from the Start Screen The Start screen’s Music app isn’t as much of a music player as it is an online storefront. Shown in Figure 6-2, the program devotes most of its These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
120 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition onscreen real estate to advertising: Billboardlike tiles promote the latest releases by the latest artists. Figure 6-2: The Start screen’s music player resembles a storefront more than a music player. And your own music? Scroll to the left, and you’ll find tiles dedicated to music already on your computer. To launch the Music app and begin playing (or buying) music, follow these steps: 1. Click the Start screen’s Music tile.
Chapter 6: Getting Connected and Having Fun . . . 121 2. Sign in with your Microsoft account or your Xbox Live account, if desired, or click Cancel. Each time you open the Music app, Microsoft tries to link the Music app with your Microsoft account or Xbox Live account. Because those accounts can be linked to a credit card, you need one of those accounts to buy music. 3. Scroll to the right to sample or buy new music.
122 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition choose to play it on your computer, play it on your Xbox, or add it to a playlist. 6. Adjust the music while it plays. Right-click the screen (or tap it with a touchscreen) to bring up the controls on the App bar, shown in Figure 6-3. The App bar offers you five icons to control your music: Shuffle, Repeat, Previous (to move to the previous song), Pause, and Next (to move to the next song).
Chapter 6: Getting Connected and Having Fun . . . 123 Taking Photos with the Camera App Most tablets, laptops, and some desktop computers come with built-in cameras, sometimes called webcams. Their tiny cameras can’t take high-resolution close-ups of that rare bird in the neighbor’s tree, but they work fine for their main purpose: Taking a quick photo to e-mail to friends or post on Facebook. To take a photo through your computer’s camera with the Camera app, follow these steps: 1.
124 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition your computer. If you see More Options at the pop-up menu’s bottom edge, choose it to tweak even more options offered by your particular camera. • Timer: Helpful for setting up shots, this tells the camera to snap the photo three seconds after you click the screen. (When you click the icon, it turns white, letting you know it’s turned on.) • Video mode: Click this icon to shoot videos rather than still shots. Clicking the screen toggles the video on and off.
Chapter 6: Getting Connected and Having Fun . . . 125 4. To snap a photo, click anywhere on the screen. To see the photo you just snapped, click the arrow on the left edge of the screen; to return to the Camera app, click the arrow to the right of the screen. The Camera app saves all your snapped photos and videos in a folder called Camera Roll in your Pictures library.
126 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition • Pictures Library: These photos live in your own computer, inside your Pictures library. You can see these photos even if you’re not connected to the Internet. Photos stored in the other areas, by contrast, can’t usually be seen without an Internet connection. • SkyDrive: These photos live on Microsoft’s huge Internet-connected computers. You can access them from any Internet-connected computer after you enter your Microsoft account and password.
Chapter 6: Getting Connected and Having Fun . . . 127 2. Click a storage area to see its photos; while inside any storage area, right-click the screen to see its App bar, which offers that screen’s particular menus. Click or tap a storage area to see the photos and folders hidden inside. The Photos app shows photos in a long horizontal strip across your screen, as shown in Figure 6-6. The folder’s name appears across the top. Figure 6-6: Scroll to the left or right to see the photos.
128 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition On a touchscreen, slide your finger up from the screen’s bottom edge to see the App bar. Depending on what you’re viewing, you’ll see icons to Delete, Select All, Browse by Date, or see a Slide Show. To navigate between folders, click the leftpointing arrow in the screen’s top-left corner. (Click or tap the photo to bring a missing arrow into view.
Chapter 7 Ten Things You’ll Hate about Windows 8 (And How to Fix Them) In This Chapter ▶ Avoiding the Start screen ▶ Avoiding the desktop ▶ Stopping the permission screens ▶ Finding the Windows 8 menus ▶ Keeping track of open windows ▶ Capturing a picture of your screen ▶ Finding out your version of Windows H ere are some of the most aggravating things about Windows 8 — and how to fix them.
130 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition ✓ Add user accounts. The desktop’s Control Panel lets you manage a user account. You can toggle a user account between Standard and Administrator, change its name, and even delete it completely. But if you need to add a user account — or even change your own account’s picture — you’re dropped off at the Start screen’s PC Settings screen to finish the job. ✓ Play a music file or view a photo.
Chapter 7: Ten Things You’ll Hate about Windows 8 131 ✓ Click the Desktop tile. This app brings you straight to the desktop zone. To hide this tile or any other Start screen tile, right-click the unwanted app to reveal the App bar and then click the Unpin from Start icon. ✓ Browse files. The Start screen isn’t sophisticated enough to browse your files. As soon as you plug in a flash drive or portable hard drive, the desktop’s File Explorer leaps onscreen to handle the job. ✓ Manage a user account.
132 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition In short, the Start screen works well for most simple computing tasks. But when it comes to fine-tuning your computer’s settings, performing maintenance work, or even browsing files, you’ll find yourself returning to the desktop. I Can’t Copy Music to My iPod You won’t find the word iPod mentioned in the Windows 8 menus, help screens, or even in the Help areas of Microsoft’s website.
Chapter 7: Ten Things You’ll Hate about Windows 8 133 minutes. And, when you belatedly press a key to bring the screen back to life, you’re faced with the lock screen. To move past the lock screen, you need to type your password to sign back in to your account. Some people prefer that extra level of security. If the lock screen kicks in while you’re spending too much time at the water cooler, you’re protected: Nobody can walk over and snoop through your e-mail.
134 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition That leaves you with a more easy-going Windows. When your computer wakes up from sleep, you’re left at the same place where you stopped working, and you don’t have to enter your password anymore. Unfortunately, it also leaves you with a less-secure Windows. Anybody who walks by your computer will have access to all your files.
Chapter 7: Ten Things You’ll Hate about Windows 8 135 blank part of the taskbar and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. When the Taskbar Properties dialog box appears, deselect the Auto-Hide the Taskbar check box. (Or, to turn on the Auto Hide feature, select the check box.) I Can’t Keep Track of Open Windows You don’t have to keep track of all those open windows.
136 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition I Can’t Line Up Two Windows on the Screen With its arsenal of dragging-and-dropping tools, Windows simplifies grabbing information from one window and copying it to another. You can drag an address from an address book and drop it atop a letter in your word processor, for example. However, the hardest part of dragging and dropping comes when you’re lining up two windows on the screen, side by side, for dragging.
Chapter 7: Ten Things You’ll Hate about Windows 8 137 the Administrator account. And the administrator usually gives everybody else a Standard account. What does that mean? Well, only the administrator can do the following things on the computer: ✓ Install programs and hardware. ✓ Create or change accounts for other people. ✓ Start an Internet connection. ✓ Install some hardware, such as digital cameras and MP3 players. ✓ Perform actions affecting other people on the PC.
138 Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition any screen. When the pop-up menu appears, choose System. When the System window appears, look near the top to see which version of Windows 8 you own: Windows 8 (for consumers), Windows Pro (for small businesses), Enterprise (for large businesses), or Windows RT. My Print Screen Key Doesn’t Work Contrary to its name, the Print Screen key doesn’t shuttle a picture of your screen to your printer.
