Table of Contents

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 How to Use This Book 2 Tablet Owners Aren't Left Out 3 Icons Used in This Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Chapter 1: Revealing Windows 8 5 What Is Windows 8, and Why Are You Using It? 5 What's New in Windows 8? 7 Should I Bother Switching to Windows 8? 9 Can My Current PC Still Run Windows 8? 9 The Four Flavors of Windows 8 11 Chapter 2: The Mysterious New Start Screen13 Being Welcomed to the World of Windows 8 14 Understanding user accounts 17 Keeping your account private with a password 18 Signing up for a Microsoft account 21 Figuring Out the New Start Screen in Windows 8 23 Launching a Start screen program or app 26 Viewing or closing your open apps 27 Finding a Start screen app or program 29 Adding or removing Start screen items 30 The Charms bar and its hidden shortcuts 31 Introducing your free apps 33 Managing the Start screen 36 Exiting from Windows 41 Temporarily leaving your computer 42 Leaving your computer for the day 43 Chapter 3: The Traditional Desktop45 Finding the Desktop and the Start Screen 46 Working with the Desktop 48 Summoning the Start screen and open apps 49 Cleaning up a messy desktop 51 Jazzing up the desktop's background 52 Snapping an app alongside the desktop 54 Dumpster diving in the Recycle Bin 56 Bellying Up to the Taskbar 58 Shrinking windows to the taskbar and retrieving them 59 Switching to different tasks from the taskbar's Jump Lists 60 Clicking the taskbar's sensitive areas 60 Customizing the taskbar 63 The taskbar's crazy toolbars 64 Making Programs Easier to Find 65 Add five helpful icons to your desktop 65 Creating taskbar shortcuts for your favorite programs 66 Chapter 4: Basic Desktop Window Mechanics69 Dissecting a Typical Desktop Window 70 Tugging on a window's title bar 71 Navigating folders with a window's Address Bar 73 Finding commands on the Ribbon 74 Quick shortcuts with the Navigation Pane 76 Moving inside a window with its scroll bar 78 Boring borders 79 Maneuvering Windows Around the Desktop 79 Moving a window to the top of the pile 80 Moving a window from here to there 81 Making a window fill the whole screen 81 Closing a window 82 Making a window bigger or smaller 82 Placing two windows side by side 83 Making windows open to the same darn size 83 Chapter 5: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky 85 Browsing the File Explorer File Cabinets 86 Getting the Lowdown on Folders and Libraries 88 Peering into Your Drives, Folders, and Libraries 89 Seeing the files on a disk drive 89 Seeing what's inside a folder 91 Managing a library's folders 92 Creating a New Folder 94 Renaming a File or Folder 96 Selecting Bunches of Files or Folders 96 Getting Rid of a File or Folder 97 Copying or Moving Files and Folders 98 Writing to CDs and DVDs 100 Buying the right kind of blank CDs and DVDs for burning 100 Working with Flash Drives and Memory Cards 103 SkyDrive: Your Cubbyhole in the Clouds 104 Accessing files with the SkyDrive app 105 Accessing SkyDrive from the desktop 107 Chapter 6: Working with Apps 109 Starting a Program or App 109 Adding and Deleting Apps 112 Adding new apps from the Store app 113 Uninstalling apps 115 Updating Your Apps 115 Finding Currently Running Start Screen Apps 116 Locating a Missing App, Program, Setting, or File 117 Chapter 7: Engaging the Social Apps121 Adding Your Social Accounts to Windows 8 122 Understanding the Mail App 125 Navigating the Mail app's views, menus, and accounts 126 Composing and sending an e-mail 129 Reading a received e-mail 132 Sending and Receiving Files through E-Mail 133 Saving a received attachment 133 Sending a file as an attachment 135 Managing Your Contacts in the People App 136 Adding contacts 137 Deleting or editing contacts 138 Managing Appointments in Calendar 139 Chatting through Messaging141 Chapter 8: Entertaining Yourself through the Start Screen 145 What's an ISP, and Why Do I Need One? 146 Connecting Wirelessly to the Internet 147 Browsing Quickly from the Start Screen 151 Moving Among Web Pages 154 Clicking links 154 Typing web addresses in the Address Bar 154 Using Internet Explorer's toolbar 155 Playing Music from the Start Screen 158 Taking Photos with the Camera App 161 Viewing Photos from the Start Screen 163 Chapter 9: Customizing Windows 8 and Computing Safely 167 Finding the Right Switch 168 The Start Screen's PC Settings Screen 169 The Big Guns: The Desktop's Control Panel 172 System and Security 174 Assessing your safety in the Action Center 174 Avoiding Viruses with Windows Defender 175 Avoiding phishing scams 177 User Accounts and Family Safety 178 Network and Internet 180 Changing the Windows 8 Appearance and Personalization 180 Changing the desktop background 181 Choosing a screen saver 182 Changing the computer's theme 183 Changing the screen resolution 184 Hardware and Sound 186 Adjusting volume and sounds 187 Installing or setting up speakers 188 Adding a Bluetooth gadget 189 Adding an Xbox 360 game console 191 Adding a printer 192 Clock, Language, and Region 193 Adding or Removing Programs 194 Removing apps and programs 195 Installing new programs 196 Modifying Windows 8 for the Physically Challenged 197 Chapter 10: Ten Things You'll Hate about Windows 8 201 I Want to Avoid the Start Screen! 201 I Want to Avoid the Desktop! 203 I Can't Copy Music to My iPod 205 Windows Makes Me Sign In All the Time 205 The Taskbar Keeps Disappearing 206 I Can't Keep Track of Open Windows 207 I Can't Line Up Two Windows on the Screen 208 It Won't Let Me Do Something Unless I'm an Administrator! 208 I Don't Know What Version of Windows I Have 209 My Print Screen Key Doesn't Work 210 Index 211

About the Author

James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner are the bestselling coauthors of The Leadership Challenge, A Leader's Legacy, Credibility, Encouraging the Heart, and The Leadership Challenge Workbook , and over a dozen other books and workbooks on leadership. They also developed the highly-acclaimed Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) , a 360-degree assessment tool based on The Five Practices. They are among the most sought-after scholars and educators on the subjects of leadership and leadership development.