Windows 8 Start screen opens up with Metro applications when you start your Windows 8 based device. But how would you scroll through different Metro apps on a touch based tablet ? You just have to swipe from right to left to scroll through the list using your finger. The same can be done using the scroll wheel of the mouse and the behavior is as expected.
So what’s the latest news about Windows 8?
Windows 8 Start Screen Background with a Custom Image
Use ModernBack Changer (freeware app) to customize your Windows 8 start screen background with a custom image.
The app has 2 tabs. One is used to set the background and the other to select accent color, for the start screen.
This Windows 8 app modifies the registry settings and gives an aesthetic appearance to your Windows 8 background. You can read the full post here.
How to Pin, Unpin, Resize, Move, Close Tiles in Windows 8 Metro Start Screen
According to this article by “AskVg” you can perform various operations on the tiles present in the Metro UI of the start screen.
How to Unpin/Remove a Tile in Windows 8 Start Screen
To remove a tile in the Start Screen, just right-click and choose “Unpin from Start” option in bottom bar (violet color). If it’s a 3rd party tile, you can even uninstall it, by just clicking the “Uninstall” button. You can make a tile smaller or larger by clicking the “Smaller” and “Larger” buttons respectively.
How to Pin a New Tile to the Windows 8 Start Screen
To add a new tile, just press “Ctrl + TAB” keys to access Apps screen. This will show a long list of interesting apps. Right-click an app and click “Pin to Start” option in the bottom violet bar. This pins the app to the Start Screen.
How to Move Tiles in Start Screen
Using simple drag & drop feature, you can move the tiles all around the metro screen.
How to Close Apps in Start Screen
To close a running app, just press the ALT+F4 keys together, just like in the old Windows 7/Vista/XP.
Organize Tiles into Groups on your Start Screen
Not only you can add, delete, move tiles on your Start screen, you can also arrange your tiles into groups. The groups of tiles are divided with a little space in between them. In order to arrange tiles into a group, just move them ( drag & drop) to your desired group.
To name your groups, use the Semantic Zoom feature – hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel down. If you are using a touch based tablet, perform a stretch gesture – place two fingers on the screen and move them apart.
Right-click one of the groups and click the Name group button to enter a name. Each name will appear on the Start screen, allowing you to categorize your tiles, apps, and shortcuts.
You can also turn your Metro interface into desktop-based app launcher. You can pin folders and websites to Start Screen.
You can see some detailed customizations of the Windows 8 start screeen here. These are some of the simple tweaks and hacks you can perform on Windows 8 Start Screen.
