The Windows 8 Charms Bar is supposed to make life easier and it does. It can be easily summoned in a variety of simple ways: a mouse click at the top- or bottom-right corners of the screen, a flick of the finger from right edge towards the center of the screen for touchscreens or by pressing the Windows and C keys on a keyboard.

Once activated, the Charms Bar gives easy access to tasks with its five icons or charms: search, share, start, devices and settings. A tap on a certain charm gives a hint as to its purpose. Continue reading →

The Windows 8 interface may need some getting used to before we can efficiently and effectively use it.  For one, it is very different from its predecessors Windows XP or Windows 7.  For one, Windows 8 no longer has the “Start Button” at the bottom left of the screen. It was replaced by “Windows 8 Style Menu” that comes up when your turn on your Windows 8 device.

Continue reading →

Metro Start screen are live tiles, which display the latest information about certain apps that you wish to be updated on. Among the apps in the new Windows 8 Release Preview that can tap into this feature are Mail, People, Calendar, Photos, Weather, News, and Sports.

While these live tiles are very useful tools, it is good to know that this feature can be turned on and off. Which means you have the option to disable the feature to apps that you don’t need updates for.

For some apps, enabling the system is almost automatic. Just open the app and the live tile feature will be turned on automatically and you will start seeing the latest updates displayed in those two tiles. Continue reading →