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Overview
Microsoft has fine-tuned Windows 8 with some important new features, and veteran author Andy Rathbone explains every one in this all-new edition of a long-time bestseller. Whether you're using Windows for the first time, upgrading from an older version, or just moving from Windows 8 to 8.1, here's what you need to know. Learn about the dual interfaces, the new Start button, how to customize the interface and boot operations, and how to work with programs and files, use the web and social media, manage music and photos, and much more.
The new tile-filled Start screen and apps in Windows 8 presented a huge shock to upgraders. Windows 8.1, by contrast, merely polishes many of the roughest edges found in Windows 8. Here are the biggest changes in Windows 8.1, the ways to find its hidden hotspots, and the tricks for using it on a touchscreen device (instead of the old familiar mouse and keyboard).
About The Author
Andy Rathbone's computer books, which include Windows? 2000 Professional For Dummies? and Upgrading and Fixing PCs For Dummies?, have sold more than 11 million copies.
Articles From The Book
3 results
Windows 10
Articles
Windows 8 created two separate worlds: the touch-oriented Start screen and the mouse-bound desktop. Windows 8.1 tries to blend those two worlds a little more evenly. Here are some of the biggest changes and improvements in Windows 8.1:
Windows 8.1 brings back the Start button. Windows 8 dropped the Start button, a mainstay of Windows for a decade.
Windows 10
Articles
If you want to upgrade to Windows 8.1, your computer probably won’t complain. Windows 8.1 should run without problem on any PC currently running Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista. In fact, Windows 8.1 may run faster on your old PC than Windows Vista did, especially on laptops.
If your PC runs Windows XP, it may still run Windows 8.
Windows 10
Articles
Windows 8.1 offers a staggering variety of accounts: Administrator, Standard, Local, Microsoft, and Child. What are the differences among them? And which should you choose?
Here's an easy rundown:
Administrator: If you're the owner of a PC, make sure you have an Administrator account. In fact, Windows 8.1 automatically grants an Administrator account to the first person who signs in to a new PC.
Windows 10
Articles
The Windows 8.1 Photos app offers some basic photo editing tools not found in the Windows 8 Photos app. Follow these steps to crop a photo in the Windows 8.1 Photos app:Open a photo in the Photos app.Clicking a photo from the Start screen or double-clicking a photo from the desktop should open the photo in the Photos app.
Windows 10
Articles
Most apps in Windows 8.1 fill the entire screen. The full-screen view lets you concentrate on the information in front of you. But that also means you can’t see any menus. When you need those menus — to switch between apps, close them, or change their settings — you need to find the hotspots in Windows 8.1. Each hotspot triggers a different reaction.
Windows 10
Articles
Microsoft thinks SkyDrive will appeal to everybody. Unless you choose otherwise, Windows 8.1 begins storing many of your newly created files in the SkyDrive Documents folder. Any snapshots you take with a camera attached to your PC, laptop, or tablet end up in the SkyDrive Pictures folder.
To bypass the SkyDrive automatic storage and store everything on your own PC, follow these steps:From any screen, fetch the Charms bar by pointing at the screen’s bottom-right corner.
Windows 10
Articles
About a year after Windows 8 hit the shelves, Microsoft cranked out Windows 8.1, a free upgrade for Windows 8 owners that makes Windows 8 work much more smoothly.
Windows 8.1 changes Windows 8 in several ways:
Start button: Discarded in Windows 8, the Start button returns to the desktop in Windows 8.1. Don’t get too excited, though.
Windows 10
Articles
In Windows 8, SkyDrive came as a separate desktop program. Windows 8.1, by contrast, builds SkyDrive directly into Windows: You can access your SkyDrive storage space from any desktop folder. However, even though Windows 8.1 makes SkyDrive more convenient, you still need the following things in order to put SkyDrive to work:
Microsoft account: You need a Microsoft account in order to upload or retrieve files to SkyDrive.
Windows 10
Articles
Libraries, a sort of super folder introduced in Windows 7, vanished in Windows 8.1: Microsoft dropped them from the Navigation Pane. To add them back, right-click a blank portion of the Navigation Pane and choose View Libraries.
And now, the primer: Libraries resemble folders, but they monitor the contents of several folders, displaying those folders’ content in one window.
Windows 10
Articles
When you don’t have Internet access, your Windows 8.1 SkyDrive content remains out of reach. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep a copy of your SkyDrive folders on both your computer and SkyDrive, with your computer synchronizing their contents automatically? Well, you can.
To make your SkyDrive files constantly available to your PC, right-click the SkyDrive folder in your Navigation Pane and choose Make Available Offline from the pop-up menu.
Windows 10
Articles
Unlike Windows 8, Windows 8.1 places SkyDrive in every folder’s Navigation Pane, where it’s easily accessible. There, SkyDrive works like any other folder but with one exception: Moving files to SkyDrive moves them off your computer and onto the cloud.
To manage your files and folders on SkyDrive, follow these steps:
From the desktop, open File Explorer by clicking its icon in the taskbar’s lower-left corner.
Windows 10
Articles
Whereas the Windows 8 Music app wasn’t much more than an online storefront for buying music, the much-improved Music app in Windows 8.1 puts your own music up front. When first opened, the program opens to show the music on your own PC.
Although the app is named Music, it calls itself Xbox Music once opened.
To launch the Music app and begin listening to music, follow these steps:Click the Start screen’s Music tile.
Windows 10
Articles
After neglecting scanner owners in Windows 8, Windows 8.1 makes amends with a new Start screen app that specifically handles the chore of turning physical paper into computer files. Dubbed simply Scan, the new app doesn’t work with older scanners, unfortunately. But if your scanner is relatively new, the Scan app is a refreshing change from complicated scanner menus.
Windows 10
Articles
Windows 8.1 removed the Start screen's Photos app's capability to pull in photos from your social networks such as Facebook and Flickr, making it easy to display all your photos from within one program.. To make up for it, Windows 8.1 tossed in some editing tools for touching up your photos.
To view or edit your photos in the Start screen’s Photos app, follow these steps:
From the Start screen, click the Photos tile.
Windows 10
Articles
The Start screen’s SkyDrive app works quite well with SkyDrive, letting you shuttle files between your PC and the cloud. But in Windows 8.1, the Start screen’s SkyDrive app also works as a file manager for your own computer’s files and folders. That makes it handy when you want to copy files to or from a flash drive without leaving the Start screen, for example, a handy option for touchscreen tablets.
Windows 10
Articles
Windows 8.1 includes a new version of Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 11. If you’ve skipped a few versions of Internet Explorer, you may notice something missing: those helpful button- and menu-filled strips across the browser’s top and bottom edges. But you can easily add or remove the toolbars from Internet Explorer.
Windows 10
Articles
A folder is a storage area on a drive, just like a real folder in a file cabinet. Windows 8.1 divides your computer’s hard drives into many folders to separate your many projects. For example, you store all your music in your Music folder and your pictures in your Pictures folder. That lets both you and your programs find them easily.
Windows 10
Articles
Normally, the Windows user account system keeps everybody’s files separate, effectively thwarting Jack’s attempts to read Jill’s diary. But what if you’re co-writing a report with somebody, and you both want access to the same file?
The answer lies with the Public folders. Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 placed Public folders into the libraries, making it easy to swap files between account folders.
Windows 10
Articles
If you upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, this list — which highlights the 11 biggest changes in Windows 8.1 — will clarify issues that might otherwise be confusing to you.
The Start button returns
After listening to cries of anguish from thousands of confused Windows 8 owners, Microsoft added the Start button back to Windows 8.
Windows 10
Articles
Windows 8.1 moves away from the Windows 8 system. In Windows 8, the Charms bar’s Search command was integrated throughout Windows. If you wanted to search for something inside an app, you’d fetch the Charms bar, click the Search icon, and type in your keyword.
Instead, in Windows 8.1 more apps come with a Search box built in to their upper-right corner.
Windows 10
Articles
The Windows 8.1 Music app constantly nags you to sign in. So, what happens if you do? For a start, you’ll encounter these five things:
Xbox Profile: You’re asked to create an Xbox Profile, which is a way to connect you with your credit card. Then you can buy games on an Xbox gaming system or buy music to play on your computer.
Windows 10
Articles
The new tile-filled Start screen and apps in Windows 8 presented a huge shock to upgraders. Windows 8.1, by contrast, merely polishes many of the roughest edges found in Windows 8. Here are the biggest changes in Windows 8.1, the ways to find its hidden hotspots, and the tricks for using it on a touchscreen device (instead of the old familiar mouse and keyboard).
Windows 10
Articles
Windows 8.1 brings users into a new era of touchscreens, whether they're built into tablets, laptops, or even desktop monitors. When you're faced with a touchscreen device, these commands help you maneuver through Windows 8.1. (The term swipe simply means to slide your finger along the screen.)
Swipe from the right edge to see system commands: Swiping from the right side of the screen reveals the Charms bar.
Windows 10
Articles
If you're interested in getting more information and insight about Microsoft's 8.1 operating system, visit Windows 8.1 eCourse. You're free to test drive any of the For Dummies eLearning courses. Pick your course, fill out a quick registration, and then give eLearning a spin with the Try It! button. You'll be right on course for more trusted know how.