Windows 8 - the new Start menu


when you install your new version of windows 8 .
you will see a start menu , that looks like this .



once you customize your start menu .
and rearrange the tiles to suit your taste .
it will look something like this .



these are all the microsoft tiles , that i unpin from the start menu .



you can drag and drop and arrange these tiles .



if you choose to arrange your tiles in a grid .
2 wide and 6 deep , seems to be the limit .



keep dragging a tile to the right .
and a temporary gray line will appear .
it shows where the next grid starts .





as you add another grid on the right .
the screen goes to the left .
as the slider control appears at the bottom .





right/click the screen and the [ all apps ] button appears at the bottom .
click it , and all the microsoft and user apps will appear .
as you can see , this is very bare-bones .
it was a clean install of windows 8 pro .





right click on a tile .
the options menu appears at the bottom .
unpin from start .





this tile is considered , live .
as it displays media or information .
this live display can be turned off .



all those extra tiles are gone .
not deleted or un-installed .
only , unpin , from start menu .



here i added , file explorer , to the start menu .
it is also on the desktop task bar .
you have the option to do both .





here is , file explorer , open on desktop .



here i right/click a large tile to make it smaller .





and here i right/click again to make it larger , again .





these are the basics , on how this new start menu works .
if you are using a keyboard and a mouse , as i do .

when you boot into windows 8 , it goes to the start menu .
on the start menu , you will click your , desktop tile .

once on your desktop .
click the , windows key , on your keyboard .

the windows key , will jump you back-and-forth ,
between your desktop and the start menu .

so , it is different .
and it takes a little getting use to .
but it work , pretty good .

i think that what Microsoft did with Windows 8 was take the phone operating system and turn it into a PC operating system. which is a good thing if your 13-22 years old and understand the full functions of doing everything on a phone! but us the slightly older and wiser users have a bit of a learning curve ahead of us as we can care less about how "cool" it is Vs. how "practical" the interface will be....just my 2 cents into this.

well , an interesting viewpoint on your part .

my self , i still don't have or desire a smart phone .

at the house i have an [ OBI 110 ] plugged into my DSL modem .
i registered the [ OBI 110 ] with a Google voice account .

my yearly phone bill is , ZERO .

but windows 8 going through the start menu , before the desktop .
Microsoft claims that allows this one OS , to run on touch screens and mouse alike .

i hated all the bloat in past versions of windows ,
like the media center .

windows 8 , is very light weight .
and requires less system resources than windows 7 .

and i hated how easy windows can be to hack .
system 32 , hacks i learned in windows 7 .
are so far , not working in windows 8 .

operating systems , have always been an arms race .

the hackers , discover a vulnerability .
Microsoft deploys a counter measure .

and the hackers change their strategy .

If thats the menu look for windows 8 i'm staying with 7 unless they have an option for window 7 view????
it looks like a old amstrad 8bit screen...

Well, honestly speaking Windows 8 looks sensational and sounds like it's been upgraded nicely. But I still run Windows 7 and am happy with it also it's a better operating system compared to Vista, I can't really comment here because I don't currently have Windows 8. So I'm out'a here.

After loving and using xp for years, last xmas wife bought me new lappy with 7 pre installed I've just finished this w/e upgrading all other puters in our house to 7 only to find 8 is out then I see this info and am I glad it looks like my daughters windows phone which we both hate (she now has android)
So in conclusion I'm sticking with windows 7

Not liking the Win 8 view, I need a spacious desktop!!!

Agreed, looks like they designed it using minecraft........ my wife's new windows phone is aweful and windows 8 looks identical, i'll stick with my XP pro for now, yes its old but so am i its all i need in an OS, too many bells and whistles it seems......... but then what do i know????

as far as i understand .
Microsoft has nixed any suggestions of going back ?
whether i need info about windows 7 or windows 8 .
i usually check out these 2 sister sites ;

windows seven forums [ http://www.sevenforums.com/ ]

windows eight forums [ http://www.eightforums.com/ ]

yes , windows 7 is still my main OS , on 2 desktops .
just this year , i purchased 4 esata drives .
all my testing has been on these esata drives .
no more messing around with my main drive ,
trying to do partitions .
and then having some thing go wrong .
and risk loosing every thing .
with these esata drives , i have installed and deleted
windows 8 .
as high as 3 times in a single day .
looking at different ways to install .
and not once was my main drive at risk .

I have Windows 8 but I really don't use it. It is not as bad as everyone is saying. The tile view is what you see when you first boot but once you go into the desktop view the differences between 7 and 8 almost disappear.
It really shouldn't even be called Windows 8, more like Windows 7.5. It is just Windows 7 optimized for tablet or touchscreen PC's
People are gonna be disappointed when Windows 8 rolls out. Calling it Windows 8 makes it sound like a whole new operating system. It is not. So unless you have a tablet or touchscreen PC just stick with Windows 7, you are missing nothing.